This is a divisive opinion, but I'd like to talk briefly about what a fantastic, well-written character Jaime was, all the way through tonight's swan song in an episode (and season) that I consider to be an abomination and an-all timer for how not to end your TV show. Jaime is a phenomenally written character and one of the few to actually stay in-line with some of GRRM's early masterpiece ones. His on screen behavior and arc, while some of it clearly should have been thrown away, are in-line with this and are an accurate portrayal.

After hitting the zenith of his seasons-long redemptive arc a few episodes ago, Jaime hears Cersei is fucked and immediately returns to his core, hitting his nadir after tumbling all the way back down and eroding the good will he's built with all of us on the redemption wagon. He's like an addict who's worked so hard to get sober for years and then one day gives in again and just lets his abuse take him. At the end of the day, Jaime simply cannot escape who he is, which is such a genuine, human thing to do. His response to Cersei's peril and reversal of his behavior brings with it an authenticity that we have applauded time and time again throughout this series. George's best writing always has had the audience infuriated with the decisions his characters have made because we, obviously (and in some cases upon further review) see their mistakes with the knowledge of the bigger picture and can extrapolate out.

Certainly some of the things that happened to Jaime along the way to that final destiny, especially in tonight's episode (manufactured D&D BS like somehow getting captured, having to be freed by Tyrion, fighting Euron, somehow getting inside the Red Keep) were incredibly annoying and definitely not things we needed to see. But Jaime Lannister, IMO, was one of the best characters GRRM has even written, if not the best, and the way he went out wasn't a betrayal, it was an extremely faithful rendering of his truest self.