We spend the first 35 minutes of the penultimate episode of the final season of “Game of Thrones” wondering if or when the Battle of King’s Landing will come, but the opening credits – and, you know, this whole show – tell us that peace isn’t happening. Seeing that “The Bells” is directed by Miguel Sapochnik, the helmer of this year’s”The Long Night” (and pretty much every big battle episode of the show), indicates that we will not escape this episode without a fight, despite a moment where it looks like we just might.
In the opening scene, old habits die hard for Varys (Conleth Hill), who cannot move past his history as the Master of Whisperers – or his loyalty to the realm above all. He is writing a letter about the true leader of the Seven Kingdoms. “Men decide where power resides,” he says. “Whether or not they know it.” He still questions how good of a leader Daenerys will be, and it’s a question that will be his end.
Grief and betrayal are not the best look for a haggard Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), who has definitely earned the right to look less than at her peak. Varys and Jon Snow (Kit Harington) have separately learned that she’s not eating, but it isn’t just her sadness over the death of Missandei; it’s that she knows that Jon told Sansa her secret, Sansa told Tyrion, and Tyrion, in turn, told Varys, like they’re in high school or something. Melisandre’s prophecy that Varys will die in his adopted homeland comes true, and she calls for him to answer for his treason against her. That death comes at the word, “Dracarys,” as Drogon’s fire swallows him. We don’t see Varys in flames; instead, we focus on Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson), and finally Jon, while he sees what others have warned him about in Daenerys, including Varys in one of his last moments.
A scene alone between the aunt and her nephew gets weird, both in their hesitant kiss (yuck) as well as in Daenerys’ admission that she only has earned fear (and not the love that Jon has received) from the people of Westeros. When it’s clear that she’s lost everything when that kiss gets awkward, she becomes content with fear. In the next scene, Tyrion tries to get her to give the people of King’s Landing a chance to surrender, and she agrees, but it comes with a warning after she tells him that they’ve captured Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) en route to his sister: “The next time you fail me, will be the last time you fail me.”
Tyrion reunites with his brother, but it isn’t just a sweet reunion between the two Lannisters. Tyrion sets Jaime free, hoping that he’ll be able to give the signal of surrender – a ringing of the bells – while he’s in King’s Landing trying to save Cersei. Tyrion does this knowing that if Daenerys finds out, it’ll be his death as well, but he’s willing to make the sacrifice. We see the city’s bells, and the Iron Fleet in the harbor. Soldiers prep the dragon-killing “scorpions” as the city readies itself for battle. Arya (Maisie Williams) and The Hound (Rory McCann) simply walk into King’s Landing, with the chaos as cover. Jaime also walks in as the Golden Company marches toward the gates to a pounding score from Ramin Djawadi.
Drogon swoops in, taking out much of the Iron Fleet and the Golden Company with ease, knocking Euron (Pilou Asbæk) into the water and unhorsing Harry Strickland (Marc Rissmann), who is quickly killed. Everyone who didn’t bother to learn his name clearly took the correct route here. Cersei (Lena Headey) watches from above, while Tyrion walks among the death and destruction on the ground, waiting for the bells.
“The Red Keep has never fallen,” Cersei says. “It won’t fall today.” She’s sure that the defenses will stand and her soldiers will die for her, but she’s quickly proven wrong. When faced with a dragon roaring in their faces, the army of King’s Landing lays down their swords. Cries of “Ring the bell!” echo through the city, followed (FINALLY) by the peals themselves. I breathed a sigh of relief, but that feeling was short-lived. Daenerys isn’t satisfied, and she is finally proven to be more of a monster than the dragon she rides, for anyone who had doubts after last week’s episode (and hints throughout the series). They fly over the streets, razing soldiers and civilians alike on their way to Cersei. There won’t even be anyone left to fear her.
Jon looks surprised and horrified, trying to keep the soldiers from fighting, but it’s no use. Djawadi’s score feels more like the sounds of a horror movie, and that’s what we’re watching on screen as blood spurts and heads fly. After Missandei’s death in last week’s episode, Grey Worm doesn’t care about dying. (And he’s clearly not cared about by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss either since we don’t see what his fate is in this episode.)
Euron appears on the beach alongside Jaime, goading the Kingslayer into a fight he’s unlikely to win. It’s an ugly scrap, with Jaime taking a few daggers to the gut and Euron finally getting run through his belly. Plenty of unfair shit happens on this show, but stupid Euron getting the honor of killing Jaime would be as unfair as it gets. “I’m the man who killed Jaime Lannister,” he says, dying (probably) with a smile.
Cersei is finally persuaded to leave the tower of the Red Keep and head to Maegor’s Holdfast by Qyburn (Anton Lesser) alongside The Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson), but there’s little safety anywhere in the fortress. “Go home, girl,” The Hound says as he tries to dissuade Arya from a fatal mission as he heads toward his brother. This is a profound moment of humanity from The Hound as the Red Keep crumbles around them, and it earns a sincere thank you from Arya, who runs to safety. Meanwhile, nearby The Mountain stands over Cersei, protecting her from the falling rocks, but even her commands are not enough to stop him from fighting his brother when he arrives.
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“Hello, brother,” The Hound says, and Cleganebowl is on, with Qyburn as its first casualty. “Yeah, that’s you,” The Hound says to his brother, which is nice confirmation since we haven’t seen the Mountain without his helmet in several seasons. They fight, and The Hound seems to have the better of him, but The Mountain, who’s already dead, isn’t really put off by a little thing like a sword in his belly or stabs to the gut. The show cuts between their fight and Arya as she tries to escape, and it’s effective – at least in its effect on my stress level. Arya has seen some shit, but the carnage in King’s Landing is a lot even for her. This show is relentless, as we watch Arya get trampled. Cuts between the two scenes are really effective on everything but my stress level, which cannot take this. “Fucking die!” The Hound yells, and he is all of us. When a dagger in the eye isn’t enough to take down The Mountain, The Hound leaps onto his brother and takes them both tumbling down into the flames to their mutual deaths, which is especially poignant given The Hound’s famed fear of fire.
The Hound has his revenge as well as his redemption in sending Arya away with compassion, and she, too, is redeemed if anyone was still worried for her soul (or whatever the Westerosi equivalent is) when she tries her best to save a woman and her daughter who saved her earlier in the episode. But it’s all for naught, as Daenerys and Drogon are unstoppable and nearly inescapable. Arya appears to be the only survivor we see in the streets.
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Cersei and Jaime reunite, and they head to the bowels of the Red Keep. They say some stuff that would be sweet if they weren’t BROTHER AND SISTER, like “I want our baby to live,” and “Nothing else matters. Only us.” But they die as the castle they’d fought so hard for falls on top of them (no symbolism here), but it doesn’t feel like a satisfying end for either of them. Jaime had glimpsed redemption but ultimately found himself unworthy of it last week, and this feels true to his character if not ultimately worthy of him and his arc. But at least he didn’t technically die by Euron’s hand? Meanwhile, anyone who was rooting for Cersei’s death likely wanted a more visceral one for her (though there’s definitely enough carnage to sate anyone’s bloodlust otherwise in this episode). A whole building falling on her may seem too quick and too kind for a woman who engineered much of the show’s suffering, but it’s certainly poetic.
With episodes like “The Bells,” so many deaths in a row makes it impossible to feel the impact of any single one, but it may also just be exhaustion after eight seasons of characters being killed. Many of these should cause the sting of tears (with the exception of Euron, Qyburn, and The Mountain), but I felt nothing. But what’s most significant about this episode isn’t necessarily the deaths of individual people, it’s the death of the idea that Daenerys has any chance of being a good ruler. There’s no doubt in the audience, and now there’s no doubt for Jon, Tyrion, and the other characters, setting up a series finale that will definitely not be a happy ending.
RIP
Varys
Harry Strickland
Euron
Qyburn
The Hound
The Mountain
Cersei
Jaime
Next week is it! The final episode:
