Spoiler alert: this recap is published after Game of Thrones airs on HBO in the US on Sunday night and on Foxtel in Australia on Monday. Do not read unless you have watched episode four of season eight, which airs in the UK on Sky Atlantic on Monday at 2am and 9pm, and is repeated in Australia on Showcase on Monday at 7.30pm AEST.

‘We may have defeated them, but we still have us to contend with’

Phew. If anyone was wondering just how David Benioff and DB Weiss intended to move things forward after last week’s battle with the Night King, tonight’s episode delivered a resounding answer.

Dracarys! Is madness about to reign in Game of Thrones? Read more

Forget Long Nights and large-scale battles, this was an epic episode in the true sense of the word: raw with emotion and high on intrigue, filled with a sense of impending doom and featuring a final scene that was both heartbreaking and inevitable, as poor Missandei lost her head after Tyrion learned yet again that Cersei is not a person to be swayed by the power of mere words.

Nor was Missandei’s death the only emotional moment in an episode full of them, from the Stark siblings’ fraught final meeting in the Godswood to Brienne’s tender love affair with Jaime and its devastating climax (“She’s hateful and so am I”) which left her weeping in the dark.

It was also an episode intent on hammering home a key point: this has never been a Lord of the Rings-style story about good defeating evil in a world where heroes triumph and bad guys turn to ice. Instead, the world of Westeros is more concerned with humanity and the things we do in its name.

This is a show about love and loss, desire and hate, ambition and betrayal. It has always been keen on big Shakespearean themes (tonight’s director David Nutter made much of that, with tableaux that would have been just as at home on the stage as on TV) and, as such, understands that the true horrors are found in the actions of men and women, not in the hordes of ice zombies scrabbling at your door.

‘I’ve never begged for anything but I’m begging you. Don’t do this, please’

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The raw heartbreak of the living left behind ... Game of Thrones. Photograph: HBO

Where a lesser show would have hurried the action, moving us swiftly on to the battle with Cersei, The Last of the Starks took time to show what the true cost of the Battle of Winterfell was, from the mass funeral of the dead – say what you like about Jon Snow (and I’m about to say plenty) but he gives good eulogy – to the raw emotions of the living left behind.

For how do you live when the supernatural threat that has been hanging over you for years has been vanquished? What do you do next if you are Arya Stark, newly acclaimed hero with no desire to be hailed as such? Or Sansa Stark, who has the skills and wit to rule but not yet the affirmation from those who still believe a man should govern?

What of Brienne, finding love so briefly with Jaime until his self-loathing won the day? Or Grey Worm, who saw his dreams of escape and joy shattered on a tall tower in King’s Landing? What of the ordinary people in Winterfell and King’s Landing, who only Varys truly speaks for?

Above all, what if you are Dany, the girl who, as Tyrion pointed out, walked into a fire with three stones and came out with three dragons? A woman forged in fire who believes she has been put on this Earth for a purpose – to rid the world of tyrants. And who has just seen those closest to her, be they dragon, protector or friend, die brutally.

In many ways (though it has not always been well-told) Dany’s journey is the most interesting. This is a drama fascinated by the puncturing of myths, those gaps between the hero stories portray and the bitter reality – and the flip-side of the all-conquering, chain-breaking mother of dragons is an increasingly lost figure, out of her depth in a country she has never known, lashing out first and thinking later.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Are we witnessing her descent into madness? ... Dany in Game of Thrones. Photograph: HBO

From her knighting of Gendry, which was born out of bright desperation, a way of saying ‘look I can play this game well too’ to the final moments when she watched Missandei die, what we were witnessing felt not like a hero’s progress but a descent into despair and, for all Tyrion’s trust, possibly madness. When it comes, the dragon queen’s vengeance – born of fire and blood but also grief – will not be a pretty sight to behold.

‘The men in our family don’t do well in the capital’

Oh Jon Snow, you truly do know nothing.

He might only be a Stark on his mother’s side, but the noble stupidity of Jon’s actions tonight marked him out as Ned’s in all the ways that count. From the perfectly delivered eulogy to the inexplicable decision to send Ghost up north with the Wildlings, Jon’s behaviour was that of a true son of House Stark: honourable, honest and all but certain to end in his death.

That’s before we get to his most stupid decision – telling Arya and Sansa about his true parentage. I can just about see why he did so (although turning to Bran, the moody teenage oracle, for help was not the best idea) but only a fool would believe that if you told a juicy secret about how you were actually the true heir to the Targaryen claim to the Iron Throne to your sisters, they would keep it quiet.

To be fair to Ayra, it’s unlikely she’ll spill the beans on her murderous journey of reckoning with the Hound. Sansa, on the other hand, understands the game, although she was genuinely conflicted about letting Tyrion know. The problem is that once she’d told Tyrion, he was bound to tell Varys – and if the Spider knows, you might as well hire a public stand and a loudspeaker and announce it to the populace of King’s Landing three times an hour.

Besides which, is Varys right that sometimes the best king is one who does not want to reign? Jon might be a war hero and a man who literally came back from the dead, but his desire not to rule is a genuine one. I felt that Varys’ speech, which boiled down to ‘yes, but he is a man’ was a clever reminder that the criteria for being a good ruler are so much lower for a Jon Snow than a Daenerys Targaryen, a Cersei Lannister or a Sansa Stark. That said, it’s also true that he’s far less likely to incinerate an entire country than the first two, so swings, roundabouts.

Additional notes

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Euron should brace himself for an almighty showdown when Jaime arrives at King’s Landing ... Game of Thrones. Photograph: HBO

• Poor Gendry. I loved his touching declaration to Arya and her sad rejection. Full credit to Maisie Williams, who allowed the sense of loss to flicker across Arya’s face before admitting that she wasn’t a lady and never could be.

• Kudos too to Kristofer Hivju, who in just a few seconds made us see how sad Brienne’s rejection made Tormund. Let’s face it, if she’d picked him she’d be having an uncomplicated laugh in the north right now.

• I really liked the ambush scene. It demonstrated that all the dragons in the world mean nothing if your enemy has had time to think and counteract.

• Cersei’s power lies not so much in strategic skill as in her ability to do the unthinkable, which may yet let leave her vulnerable to defeat.

• That said, when will Tyrion learn that his big sister has no better nature to appeal to?

• I remain tickled by the fact that Dany and Jon talk constantly about how bad it is that he has a claim to the Iron Throne, while seeming unbothered by the whole ‘she’s his aunt’ thing. At least Varys and Tyrion mentioned it.

• I would like Bronn to deliver his own motivational classes on ‘How to succeed in Westeros without really trying’. Next up, Highgarden. He’ll be the last cockroach standing, just you wait …

• Congratulations to everyone who called it about Gilly’s pregnancy. Good luck Gilly and Sam, please stay in the North, currently the safest part of the land (and yes I never thought I’d write that).

• Speaking of pregnancies: while it was a smart move for Cersei to claim Euron is the father of her child, I’m guessing we’re in for an almighty showdown between him and Jaime (the actual father) once he gets to King’s Landing.

• Finally, another fallen hero with only two episodes to go: raise your glasses to Missandei of Narth. She died bravely. Dracarys.

Nudity count

Only one moment this week as Jaime and Brienne finally got together, warming my heart before shattering it into tiny bits.

Violence count

One Tyrion punched in the face by an infuriated Bronn, one dead dragon (poor dragon, Dany really should take better care of them), several more dead soldiers sacrificed in Dany’s cause and the execution of poor Missandei, who served her Queen faithfully and only ever wanted a quiet life with Grey Worm.

So what did you think? Will Dany lose the plot entirely now that Missandei has died too? Can Jon get to King’s Landing in time to stop the carnage? Or will he be left as King of the Ashes once Cersei and Dany have had their way? As always, all speculation and no spoilers welcome below…