So when Tyrion and Varys verbally joust in the Dragonstone throne room, there are two enormous problems occurring at once. First, Tyrion is arguing for a version of Dany that long since ceased to exist. To a degree, this is part of the text of the scene. But Varys isn’t the type to mince words in moments like this. That he doesn’t go as hard at Tyrion on this point as he could suggests Benioff and Weiss are, like Tyrion, a bit blind to what their Khaleesi has become, or at least would rather the viewers not fully realize it until things get worse next week.
More importantly, though, you have two of the show’s most vividly-etched figures (played by two of the best actors in the whole ensemble) arguing over which flavor of vanilla (Jon or Dany) would be the most exciting to serve at the end of this 73-episode meal. The writers haven’t served Tyrion particularly well in a while (his recent conversations with Sansa excepted), and Varys has always played a limited-by-design role in things, but it’s not hard to wish that they were somehow the top two contenders to replace Cersei. Or that Sansa and Bronn, or Gilly and Davos, or nearly any random surviving duo you could name, were at the front of the line for when Cersei finally leaves the balcony where she’s been standing smugly all season.