Originally Posted by
eskimo
It was her conversation with Jon at the start of the episode that sold it for me. She wants to rule through love, but nobody loves her anymore.
Jorrah is dead. Missandrei is dead. Jon might love her, but he's not down with the whole incest thing. The people in the north don't trust her, they trust Jon. Cersei has convinced the city that she's an invading usurper so the people of kings landing hate her. She's lost 2 dragons fighting for the people of Westeros and has nothing to show for it.
So she chose to rule by fear instead. And she's inspiring fear now. She associates herself with freedom and breaking chains, and is too hurt by what's happened to her to realize that stops being true if she rules by fear. The association of herself as a freedom bringer is enabling her to take extreme actions to take power, and is blinding her to how her actions are preventing that from happening.