• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, May 8, 2019

Daenerys is gettin’ upset!

That’s her in the photo accompanying today's TV Blog -- Daenerys Targeryen, the Dragon Queen of “Game of Thrones,” played by Emilia Clarke.

While watching this scene on the show this past weekend -- Episode Four of the show's final, six-episode season -- you could almost hear the voice of the episode's director, David Nutter, directing his actress. “More anger, Emilia! You've just witnessed a friend get beheaded! More anger!” The result was the snarl-face you see here.

Well, you might say the dragon-riding queen had plenty to snarl about. Her rival for the Iron Throne, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), had just blithely ordered the grisly death by decapitation of Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel), the one-time slave who became Daenerys' trusted adviser and handmaiden.

Earlier in the episode, Cersei's naval armada -- deploying new, high-tech weaponry -- killed one of Daenerys' beloved dragons. And since there had been only two dragons, this dragon death effectively cut Daenerys' power in half.

These new weapons, deployed on multiple ships, consisted of gigantic crossbows capable of hurling great, oversized arrows with immense force and accuracy. They not only brought down one of the dragons, but they also laid waste to an armada of Daenerys' ships as well.

The surprise appearance of this new generation of superweapons drove home one of the central themes of “Game of Thrones.” This theme seems to be: The world is almost always on the brink of some sort of war, and when rival states are not on the brink, they are then at war -- but almost never at real peace.

In this environment, an arms race is inevitable. And suddenly, Daenerys' aircraft are no longer invulnerable. In fact, they might now be obsolete in the face of this superior firepower.

The destruction of this fleet led to the kind of scene that can really make one's eyes roll, as various characters were seen crawling out of the sea onto a nearby beach, having evidently survived the sinking of their ships several hundred yards out in rough, cold water and then, somehow, swimming the entire way to shore in heavy clothing.

I realize “Game of Thrones” is a fantasy, but most if not all of these characters should have either drowned, or perished from hypothermia.

Equally hard to explain was the standoff outside the city walls between Cersei and Daenerys and her allies -- including the dwarf Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage).

They were arrayed neatly like sitting ducks before the cold-hearted Cersei, who clearly held the advantage of position and armaments well above her enemies. If she was cold-blooded enough to order the death of Missandei right before their eyes, there is little to explain why she didn’t just mow down Daenerys and the others right then and there.

However, such an act might have ended “Game of Thrones” prematurely, and we would not have then witnessed the grimace on Daenerys’ face that hinted at more war to come.

But will there be more coffee too? The appearance of that coffee cup in the banquet scene in “Game of Thrones” this past weekend was unbelievable, but there it was, sitting on a tabletop not far from where Daenerys was sitting. Next week: Be on the lookout for a Subway sandwich.