22 best moments from Game of Thrones season 8

15. Cersei and Jaime are buried alive

I don’t think I’m alone in feeling that Cersei was underutilized in this last season. Lena Heady is a fantastic actor, and over the years has had some spectacular chances to show off what she can do. In season 8, she leaned hard into her cold, impenetrable side. She’s surrounded by people who, while allies, don’t know her very well.

But in Cersei’s final hour, she’s reunited with her brother-lover Jaime. The sacrifices it took for all the members of her family — Tyrion included — to make this moment happen made it immediately powerful. For Jaime, the penultimate episode of season 8 is all about getting back to Cersei in the hopes of rescuing her, and failing that, being with her in the end.

Lena Heady’s breakdown when she first catches sight of Jaime is only topped by her realization that she wants to live once the twins discover that the secret passage out of the castle has collapsed. As she hysterically proclaims that she doesn’t want to die (for the first time in this entire sequence, mind you), Jaime grabs her and forces her to focus on the fact that they are together. They came into this world together and they left it together, buried beneath the castle that informed so much of both of their lives. It was a tragic yet fitting ending for two of the most fascinating characters on the show.

Honorable Mention: Tyrion finding Jaime and Cersei’s bodies in the next episodes was one of the saddest scenes this season. It had the feel of something Shakespearean, and Peter Dinklage sold Tyrion’s sense of loss perfectly.