Here's my view:
Dany is going to win. Even one dragon will be enough to destroy that fleet. "Fire > wooden ships" every time. But she's going to do some stuff that makes her a tyrant. and they are going to have to kill her or she's going to die. Arya is going to try and kill the queen and fail. Her purpose is done - she killed the Night King. Now she's playing on house money and will find out that she's still just a young woman who is biting off more than she can chew. Jaime will come south and kill Cercei as predicted. We will get the Clegaine Bowl as fan service, but this isn't a happy ending show. I can see the Hound winning but dying in the process or being killed after by guards. But he's never been allowed to be happy.
So in my view, who gets to sit on the Iron Throne? I'm hoping it ends up being Sansa & Tyrion. I really don't see it being Jon Snow, but I've been wrong before. The only people with claims are: Jon, Tyrion, Gedry, Sansa, Bran, & Arya. Jon doesn't want it, the people would never accept Tyrion, GEDRY makes complete sense, Sansa would be good, Bran would be a foolish choice and I think it would be the "Maggie shot Mr. Burns" ending, Arya would make a terrible ruler.
So I'm hoping either Sansa/Tyrion or Gedry. Now watch it'll end up being Grey Worm or some stupid shit.
I haven't actually seen the episode yet, but the version of events I had predicted in my head was that
after Missandei dies, Dany declares that she's going to honor her final wish, dracarys, and burn down King's Landing. She specifically says she's going to "burn them all". Jaime hears these three words, and is triggered to all hell and back, for obvious reasons. He wants to kill Dany, but he can't, because she's too well protected. Thus, Jaime leaves Dany and Jon and returns to King's Landing, where he decides the only way to stop the massacre will be to kill Cercei and end the war. And so he does.
And it sounds like my version didn't come to pass, did it.
Arya was hit on the head more times than Fred Flinstone.
Interesting that Cersei had vats of wildfire positioned all around the city.
Dany had a dragon, she could have landed in Cersei's solar and melted the bunch.
It's never been a shit show. People just struggle greatly because it does not give them what they want.I have never watched game of thrones and never felt the desire to despite it being such a cultural phenomenon. Only now, with one episode left, do I regret that choice, because my god it sounds like it's been a shitshow and I hate that I have no context to understand the fury.
Edmure Tully : Hey! What the fu....Riverlands; entire royal family dead
What people wanted was a reasoned, well paced final season. It definitely did not deliver.It's never been a shit show. People just struggle greatly because it does not give them what they want.
Danny has never been a decent person. Not since Drogo died. She is childish, petty, vindictive and a bully. Her go to response to any crisis is burn it to the ground.
About subverting expectations:My issue isn't even really the pacing, it's the character development and the payoffs.
Some examples...
Every season built up the Night King as a terrible, unrelenting force. The whole show started from the very first scene about his looming threat, and he died during his first actual battle south of the wall. He basically become the early season distraction.
Jaime was slowly pushed away from Cersei and her actions, and him walking away from her at the end of last season was him finally doing the right thing, rather then just what he felt was better for Cersei. They even let him show actual romantic love for Brienne, only for his final moments to be running back to Cersei as if we were back in season one.
Dany was always hinted to have some madness inside her, but her entire story was her attempts to subvert that madness, and her entire arc seemed to be that she would "beat the system" and not prove all the terrible things people feel about her (mad child of incest, a woman not fit to rule, etc). This was the woman that freed slaves and did her best for people disenfranchised and vulnerable, yet now even after the town surrenders, decides to burn thousands of innocent people anyways.
Hell, even the small stuff really disservices people. Sansa went through a lot of shit and came out stronger because in the end she was always stronger then she realized, yet when talking with the Hound she basically said she only got stronger because she was raped.
I could go on and on.
Again I understand GoT is about subverting some expectations, but you still need to get a payoff. I don't see that happening here after what happened yesterday, not unless they do some crazy shit next week.
Every season built up the Night King as a terrible, unrelenting force. The whole show started from the very first scene about his looming threat, and he died during his first actual battle south of the wall. He basically become the early season distraction.
Jaime was slowly pushed away from Cersei and her actions, and him walking away from her at the end of last season was him finally doing the right thing, rather then just what he felt was better for Cersei. They even let him show actual romantic love for Brienne, only for his final moments to be running back to Cersei as if we were back in season one.
Dany was always hinted to have some madness inside her, but her entire story was her attempts to subvert that madness, and her entire arc seemed to be that she would "beat the system" and not prove all the terrible things people feel about her (mad child of incest, a woman not fit to rule, etc). This was the woman that freed slaves and did her best for people disenfranchised and vulnerable, yet now even after the town surrenders, decides to burn thousands of innocent people anyways.
Hell, even the small stuff really disservices people. Sansa went through a lot of shit and came out stronger because in the end she was always stronger then she realized, yet when talking with the Hound she basically said she only got stronger because she was raped.