WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Daybreak Season 1, streaming now on Netflix.
Netflix's Daybreak focuses on young nerd Josh Wheeler (Colin Ford) as he attempts to survive in post-apocalyptic Glendale, California, in hopes of being reunited with his high-school crush Sam Dean (Sophie Simnett), whom he's convinced is the love of his life. He cuts his way through territorial tribes, zombie-like adults called ghoulies and the motorcycle-riding, cannibalistic bogeyman, Baron Triumph.
However, just as Josh's misfit group emerges victorious against Triumph's army, and he believes he's freed Sam and the other teens from tyranny, she pulls a Daenerys Targaryen and seizes the throne Triumph and Turbo Bro Jock held before. But while it may seem as if Daybreak's writers pulled a Mad Queen, this heel turn is far better than what we saw on Game of Thrones.
The HBO drama's final season left fans divided, in large part because of the descent into madness by Dany (Emilia Clarke), who had previously been one of the protagonists. Her actions -- the burning of King's Landing and her unwillingness to make peace with those who opposed her -- resulted in her murder at the hand of Jon Snow (Kit Harington). Critics felt it was a bit sudden and even forced, especially as the show went out of its way to build her up as a compassionate liberator and "Breaker of Chains."
But as surprising as Sam's twist is in Daybreak's Season 1 finale, it's pretty much in keeping with her character arc and feels a lot more natural. While viewers may not enjoy seeing her spurning Josh's love and turning on his Daybreakers, her actions really do make sense. After all, although Josh and their classmates saw Sam as the "perfect girl," and friend to everyone, her choices and words don't match that ideal.
It's pretty obvious once you scrutinize Sam's relationship to Burr, before the nuclear attack and his transformation into Triumph. She served as his amiable liaison, matching new students to their corresponding cliques, and effectively being a friend to all. But upon closer inspection, Sam appeared to enjoy the influence she exerted. When she's given similar agency by Mona Lisa, Turbo's second-in-command among The Jocks, she swiftly helps to depose the leader and replace him with an imprisoned Burr. However, Sam is far more subtle than the Mother of Dragons, with a charm that everyone can fall in line with, and, as seen in the finale when she convinces the Jocks to abandon Burr, she's someone everyone wants follow.
That's why it's on brand for her to stake her claim once Triumph's forces are taken down and the (literal) throne is vacant. And rather than be shocked by her actions, all audiences have to do is look back to her repeated reminders to Josh that she's not the person he thinks she is. She wasn't someone to place on a pedestal, as she was still finding her way in the world, and when she reiterates he only loves the idea of her, that's the moment we can see Sam isn't pretending the way Dany was.
And so, from Sam's accomplishments and her drive, there's no sense of entitlement or brattish privilege; she simply believes she's earned the throne. Not by killing or punishing people, but by winning their favor, as seen when most of the kids assembled in the Season 1 finale bend a knee to her. What they recognize is a cunning queen who wasn't governed by emotion, but by logic. So by the time Sam confesses the apocalypse wasn't the best thing that happened to Josh -- a callback to his declaration in the first episode -- but instead the best thing that happened to her, all we have to do is remember how Josh's pint-sized ally Angelica kept saying, "Everybody loves Sam," and we can see Sam Dean made a move that was telegraphed, but nevertheless still packed a heavy emotional gut-punch.
Streaming now on Netflix, Daybreak stars Matthew Broderick, Krysta Rodriguez, Colin Ford, Sophie Simnett and Austin Crute.