‘Game of Thrones’ review: The death of romance

Reminder: This post discusses plot points from the Sunday, May 5 episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Don’t let me be the one to tell you what Missandei had to say.

If you were one of the people who for some reason thought not enough people died last week in “The Long Night,” well, I hope you’re happier than Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) is right now.

Because, after an episode that began with a mass funeral and ended in a beheading, Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel), the love of his Unsullied life, is no more.

Also, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) is down to one dragon, and maybe one adviser.

Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham) may be annoyed with the Lord of Light, but I’m grateful to whatever lord made it possible for us to see this week’s episode, some of which was filmed in actual daylight. A lot of things happened, many of them unfortunate, particularly for the individuals involved, and at least one that is bound to have satisfied a portion of the audience so completely that I’d almost classify it as fan fiction.

Missandei had been marked for death the moment she and Grey Worm started talking about making a life together somewhere warmer, but from a character standpoint, I suppose she died a good one, defying Cersei (Lena Headey) with her last word before Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane (Hafpor Julius Bjornsson) beheaded her: Dracarys.*

Still, hers is the death that seems certain to send Daenerys over an edge she’s been teetering on for several episodes, if not longer. Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) is doing his best to save King’s Landing from her wrath, but those people in the Red Keep whom Cersei is using as human shields may not stand a chance.

Or at least they won’t if Dany actually has a shot at unseating Cersei militarily, something that seems increasingly doubtful. It looks as if this, too, might be a job for Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) and her crotchety companion, Sandor “The Hound” Clegane (Rory McCann).

We learned tonight that Jon Snow/Aegon Targaryen (Kit Harington) cannot keep a secret, and neither can his sister/cousin Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner).

We learned that Lord Varys (Conleth Hill), of all people, is the only one who seems in any way struck by the fact that Jon is sleeping with his own aunt. (Tyrion, who knows both Targaryen history and that of his own family, seems to think there’s nothing wrong with keeping these things in the family as long as it helps secure the Seven Kingdoms.)

We learned that Arya, who turned down a proposal from the newly elevated Lord Gendry of Storm’s End (Joe Dempsie), is pretty good at the it’s-not-you-it’s-me thing.

I know that some people hate it when I bring politics into a discussion of a show that is all about politics, but now that the Mother of Dragons is the Mother of Dragon, maybe we could talk about the not-so-magic aspects of her campaign to rule Westeros?

Bear with me, because I saw Laurie Metcalf and John Lithgow in Hillary and Clinton on Broadway Saturday night, and I couldn’t help thinking about it as I watched Tyrion and Varys debate the relative merits of a woman who thinks ruling is her destiny and a man whom people just really, really like but who might not have many ideas of his own.

I will not attempt to introduce any other politicians into this, but can we agree that Bronn (Jerome Flynn) made a strong argument for income redistribution, even if it came from behind a crossbow?

We are definitely seeing the unpleasant side of Dany this final season, and the scene in which she first begged Jon to keep his secret identity secret from everyone, including the people he calls family, and then appeared to threaten that family didn’t help. These two are not on the same page. At all.

What made it worse, though, was her assumption that Sansa was double-crossing her when she suggested, quite reasonably, that their decimated armies might not be ready to take out Cersei before they’d had some rest. And, as we’ve seen repeatedly, she’s too dependent on her dragons, something Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) demonstrated all too effectively when he used the big anti-dragon crossbow Maester Qyburn (Anton Lesser) came up with last season, and took down Rhaegal.

That I’m increasingly unimpressed by Daenerys as a tactician doesn’t mean I think that Jon, who’s still easily led by a portion of his anatomy I shouldn’t mention here, would be any better leader.

Sansa and Arya, kicking ass and taking names?

Now that might work.

Other thoughts about the eighth season’s fourth episode:

*Dracarys — high Valyrian for dragonfire, and the word that Dany uses the way certain dog owners might use the word “sic.”