Because obviously it’s the most important thing right now and because *of course* the world can’t wait to hear my two cents, here is how I think the GoT S8E5 disaster could have been avoided:

Yes, the switch to Mad Queen mode was way to rushed. But that’s not the actual deal from my point of view. The one thing that really broke it for me was: why the civilians? That wasn’t rushed - it was completely unmotivated.

Now think back to the final scenes of S8E4, the beheading. A minor but important addition could have changed it all: instead of Daenerys watching the beheading in terror (which I’m sure was the moment intended to “flip the switch” for her by the writers), imagine...

...a more “typical” middle-ages scene: a beheading that takes place within the city, with all the citizens watching and, not uncommon afaik, cheering. Imagine Daenerys watching in horror how her best friends is slaughtered, while the crowd applauds.

That would have plausibly delivered the motivation for her to go “fuck it, the animals don’t deserve my mercy - they now have to pay for all that has been done to me!”