re: I seriously am in shock reading this board with the negative opinions

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I want the character arcs to make narrative sense. Not for everything that’s transpired for 7 seasons to be thrown in the trash at the last second

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I mean just because Jamie went back to Cersei doesnt mean he’s a terrible person and negate his prior growth. in fact when he talked about it he seems to have a kind of survivors guilt about bran etc thinking that there is no redemption. Good people for whatever reason fall in love with pieces of crap all the time and keep going back to them over and over and over typically rationalizing the persons behavior or by having real or false guilt and that they don’t deserve anyone better. Cersei is his Delilah

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but now all the kingdoms know the danger of challenging her.

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the dragon wasn't enough?

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the dragon wasn't enough?

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Obviously they fear the dragon, but now they know she will use it on anyone who challenges her. Not just the leaders or the solders, but every single person.

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oh the visuals and scope were amazing for TV

the writing, story, characters, etc were the bad parts

the thing is, this isn't a show built on amazing visual spectacles and big battles. it's built on writing, story, characters, etc

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Oh, it's perfectly acceptable to say "I don't like the way they took this story". That's legit, from many angles, whether it be that you don't get the subtle character interactions you wanted, or whether you rooted for Dany as champion of the downtrodden for 7 seasons, and now she's a terrible monster.

But story aside, the effort dumped into this episode is amazing. Someone commented "it's like a Michael Bay movie"; but bullshite. Bay hasn't gone THIS BIG in detailed utter destruction, and he's made feature films with probably 90% of the budget devoted to that.

And I might point out, most of the writing, story, characters, etc- they've been moving in a direction from the get-go. If nothing happens and all you get is dialogue, then it's basically a witty Brit tv show. There aren't future seasons, this is a story that is coming to an end, and the characters need resolution.
Dany has been coming for the Iron Throne.
Jon has been the reluctant hero.
Cersei has been rolling towards disaster, wilfully blind to the probable final outcome. Jaime has been both noble and also hopelessly devoted to his sister.

The North has despised the South, to the point that they would not accept a Southern ruler, even if they needed said ruler to help defend against a zombie apocalypse. If you spit on them before that battle, then of course you're likely not going to be particularly gentle when you storm into their castle in battle. Hell, Sansa might say what Dany did was wrong, but a lot of the Northern leaders might decide "well, she let us slaughter those frickers, she might not be so bad afterall", because that's what most wanted.

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Sansa might say what Dany did was wrong, but a lot of the Northern leaders might decide "well, she let us slaughter those frickers, she might not be so bad afterall", because that's what most wanted.

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I didn't even think about that. Good point.

I still hate Sansa.

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That was an all timer episode of TV

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For what reasons?

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If for no other reason, the fact that it was a mammoth production that surpassed most contemporary feature films in terms of visual presentation and effects.
Go watch the "making of" link. There's very little CGI in this. Basically, the actual dragon, the wide angle shot of King's Landing from above, and maybe the Iron Fleet at sea. And I guess the arrows maybe.

They built the main street and a lot of alleyways as a complete set, preemptively damaged and then completed it in full repair, so that they could keep filming it in various states of destruction.
Dragonfire? They filmed a high pressure flamethrower that they moved around, from 8 different cameras, to get all sorts of different dragon bursts, and they layered it into the final images. They also filmed a lot of explosives and integrated that with the fire footage. They built half-scale models of the front gate and blew it up. They used real stuntmen on fire, falling off walls or rolling on the ground, not CGI animation.

They fricking hired amputees and put prosthetics over their stumps with fake blood, so that you really do film some people without arms and legs crawling away from the carnage, instead of altering it digitally afterwards.

Somebody commented something to the effect of 'yeah, if you like big explosions and all, but the story sucks'. But this isn't a Michael Bay movie, or a Peter Jackson movie, or a Marvel Avengers movie. It's episode 5 of a TV series, in a season where we've already had one big budget battle already. Not that long ago, the producers joked about not having the resources to do an undead bear, and now we get both this and the battle of Winterfell in the same season.