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[Dlacy13g]

-Whats the point of the night king? The night king winning makes more sense as I can't recall learning anything about it or it's kind. Unless there's a bigger baddie, I don't understand why this battle took place because most of the main characters survived. To show Daenerys army is crippled before taking on cersei? Seems lame.

Cersei is the bigger baddie in the shows eyes. I think the White Walker story arch took on a life of its own from the writers/directors and HBO never truly intended to go all full special effects zombies ... .this show was always supposed to be about the deep political divides of these warring families. Seems to me like as the White Walker story arch grew in popularity the show took it on but never had the budget for it so they tried to wrap it up early in the season so they can focus back on the roots of the show.

 

[bigedole]

So the episode writing was great... loved the progression of the battle and thought they made some great choices for how it all went down. HOWEVER the choices for how they filmed this, in particular the overly dark first 2/3 of the episode was horrible. For all those defending "it was mood and tension" I call BS... this was a move to save budget and not have to show as much special effects on screen. They could have easily used the darkness at the start with the Dothraki charge and then from their lightened all of the filming moving forward but they chose to keep everything dark and ultimately it hurt the episode more than it helped.

Did you seriously just say "So the episode writing was great" without a hint of sarcasm and mean it sincerely????

 

[Starfield]

The Night King is basically Thanos in the GOT world. That's like *********** in act 2 in Infinity War.

You fucking asshole should get banned. Not everyone has seen that movie yet. Fucking idiot.

 

[Teletraan1]

Overall I enjoyed the episode. It was the big dumb battle scene. Worrying about the writing seems farcical.

The tactics of the battle were pretty stupid. Perhaps Tyrion was right that he should have been up there rather than the meatheads running this op just running Dothraki into the abyss. Perhaps that will be addressed in the next episode.

Everyone mad that everyone didn't die would be the same people screaming that only a handful of real characters and a bunch of nobodies were able to defeat Cersi and her pack of nobodies in the next few episodes. There are still plenty of ways that these characters can die more meaningful deaths rather than just get overrun by essentially mindless zombies. I would rather see the Hound vs the Mountain than the Hound get killed by a no name Zombie. The death list wasn't zero, Theon, Jorrah, Ed, Barrick, Leanna, Melisandre all got got on GOT.

The complaint about not being able to see shit, well they have only been saying for years that The night is dark and full of terrors. Not The night is brightly lit and full of terrors.

I am glad Jon Snow wasn't the one to kill the NK. I didn't mind that it was Arya. She seemed like the only one trained to be an assassin rather than a meathead swinging a sword. She was built for this. As Bran keeps saying, everything that these characters have done brought them to this point.

Everyone called the crypt thing. It was pretty obvious. I was hoping they would have a beheaded Sean Bean attack Sansa and have her kill him with that dagger.

 

[Fox Mulder]

You fucking asshole should get banned. Not everyone has seen that movie yet. Fucking idiot.

That comment isnt spoiling anything.

 

[CrankyJay™]

You fucking asshole should get banned. Not everyone has seen that movie yet. Fucking idiot.

I haven't seen it yet either and I could have guessed that's what happened. I'm over it.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

Seems like charging your Dothraki horse into an ocean of undead enemies you can’t see probably wasn’t the best idea?

One last thing I’ll add:

If this just really comes down to luring the Night King to Bran and stabbing him dragonglass to end the whole thing, that will feel a little cheap imo. I hope there’s a lot more to it than that.

If the Night King and his army were that vulnerable (all die if he dies, and just needs a dragonglass arrow to destroy him) I feel like he wouldn’t have been nearly as visible as he has been. I mean yes, he does remain on the back line most of the time but he’s straight up walked forward into conflict a couple times (outside the tree, when he killed the old three eyed raven, and when they had the crew surrounded in season 7, I mean at one point he was directly in front of Jon and I thought Jon was gonna charge him with his Valyrian steel sword and end it right there). I’m just saying, if it’s gonna take is one piece but of dragonglass/v-Steel to destroy the entire dead army I feel like the motherfucker would always be surrounded by a wall of protection

I dunno. I just feel like it needs to be more than just a Bran Trap ambush. I’m sure it will be.

So, in a roundabout way, this is pretty much what we got, and what I was afraid of. I dunno how I feel about it

 

[KillCleanEat]

Cersei is the bigger baddie in the shows eyes. I think the White Walker story arch took on a life of its own from the writers/directors and HBO never truly intended to go all full special effects zombies ... .this show was always supposed to be about the deep political divides of these warring families. Seems to me like as the White Walker story arch grew in popularity the show took it on but never had the budget for it so they tried to wrap it up early in the season so they can focus back on the roots of the show.

When I said bigger baddie, I meant something behind the night king. The politics of the thrones permeating through actions against the night king is what I thought the show was leading up to.

Is that the case with the white walkers in the books? Are they not the threat or focus that the show has built them up to be? I feel it's a mistake to commit that much to them last season only to show them and kill them in one episode in this season.

 

[NickFire]

During the confrontation with Bran I was hoping for the NK to say a few words about his purpose. But other than not getting that, I really liked it even though it was by and large predictable. I have really enjoyed Arya's journey to bad ass killer, and found it very fitting that she would be the one to save the day. Especially after I was convinced for a split second that she was toast, more than once.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

I thought it was a great episode, a little surprised how many characters survived. not surprised with Night King dying because honestly.... Cersei was always the biggest villain in the series.

I don’t agree that she was always the biggest villain, but I get what you’re saying, overall.

I don’t mind that NK died but it felt kind of cheap to me, and I also think a lot more of our heroes should have died in the battle. Seems like they’ve gone away from that in S7 and so far in 8. Seems like a lot of “plot armor” going on.

 

[NickFire]

I don’t agree that she was always the biggest villain, but I get what you’re saying, overall.

I don’t mind that NK died but it felt kind of cheap to me, and I also think a lot more of our heroes should have died in the battle. Seems like they’ve gone away from that in S7 and so far in 8. Seems like a lot of “plot armor” going on.

You're not alone. I was overall satisfied, but the appearance of pending death and lack of death scenes was awfully convenient for some major characters. I'd probably be more annoyed but I was convinced it was going to be a cliff hanger ending, and the finish got me excited enough to let it all go.

 

[Trogdor1123]

I assumed that the night king needed to be the one to kill Bran.

I was hoping to see some major characters go at it 1:

 

[bigedole]

I don’t agree that she was always the biggest villain, but I get what you’re saying, overall.

I don’t mind that NK died but it felt kind of cheap to me, and I also think a lot more of our heroes should have died in the battle. Seems like they’ve gone away from that in S7 and so far in 8. Seems like a lot of “plot armor” going on.

It's just so clear the writing has plummeted in quality once they ran out of book material. D&D were great at bringing GRRM's story to life cinematically, but they absolutely can not be trusted to come up with the story on their own. I feel this very strongly right now. This episode also really changes my feelings about the second episode now too. I really wanted more emotional payoff for it, but in the end it's only Theon and Jorah in the most predictable and boring of ways. They needed to kill at least one of Grey Worm/Missandei, Brienne/Jaime or Tormund to get some payoff on these relationships.

 

[Dlacy13g]

Did you seriously just say "So the episode writing was great" without a hint of sarcasm and mean it sincerely????

When I said bigger baddie, I meant something behind the night king. The politics of the thrones permeating through actions against the night king is what I thought the show was leading up to.

Is that the case with the white walkers in the books? Are they not the threat or focus that the show has built them up to be? I feel it's a mistake to commit that much to them last season only to show them and kill them in one episode in this season.

Oh I agree... I think the White Walker story arch should have been the actual focus for the entire final season. I am certainly speculating on my part as to why the series went the way it has but it feels like I could be more right than wrong as I recall hearing grumblings that HBO wasn't happy with sudden increased budgets needed for GoT's once the White Walkers became more of a focal point.

 

[Silent Duck]

I can’t be the only one who was reminded of this after the episode ended...

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

I feel like Grey Worm, Brienne, and Sam should have died. Probably Jaime too but I understand he needs to be around for the final fight

Just my opinions, of course.

 

[Fox Mulder]

I don't know shit about the books but know they ran out of that material awhile ago. I thought it was fine with some issues. Stupid strategies and plot armor isnt anything new to film or tv. HBO was also crying about the budget to do prolonged white walker CGI stuff with dragons.

More people needed to die, but it was a neat spectacle. I'm fine with it focusing on Cersei for the end. I get why people hate it.

 

[oagboghi2]

The funny thing about this post is that you list loads of things that were wrong with the episode and the say "but there were so many cool moments to make up for all that" but then you don't actually list any of them

It's like people decided this episode was going to be "legendary" no matter what happened, no matter the quality.

 

[General Lee]

Oh I agree... I think the White Walker story arch should have been the actual focus for the entire final season. I am certainly speculating on my part as to why the series went the way it has but it feels like I could be more right than wrong as I recall hearing grumblings that HBO wasn't happy with sudden increased budgets needed for GoT's once the White Walkers became more of a focal point.

The show is called Game of Thrones for a reason. The whole White Walker story was mostly a waste of time, and absolutely needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later. The best part about this show isn't battles against monsters, it's actually some of the worst things about it. If 6 episodes is what they've got to tie things up, I'm glad they got this over with as fast as they could.

 

[Bannister]

What kills the whole episode for me is the sheer amount of plot armor. The biggest threat to mankind, the biggest battle of the whole series and somehow every single A-Character & plenty of B-Characters are still alive. Absolutely ridiculous & unsatisfying.

 

[NickFire]

What kills the whole episode for me is the sheer amount of plot armor. The biggest threat to mankind, the biggest battle of the whole series and somehow every single A-Character & plenty of B-Characters are still alive. Absolutely ridiculous & unsatisfying.

Just throwing this out there. Isn't it possible that some people assumed alive are actually dead, with the reveal being next week to dramatize the enormous sacrifices it took to win?

 

[manfestival]

1 scene = Important character surrounded by white walkers. Generally being smothered in a precarious location(cut off from any other support or the surrounding cast being murdered) as they may be being stabbed.

NEXT scene = Suddenly all of the wights have cleared the area and are now running 1 by 1 towards said important character where they now suddenly are fending off this swarm.

Also same character = probably was on the front line of the original wave that quickly took out the dothraki horde. Which means that if they somehow survived that very low probability of survival position. They would be EXHAUSTED from fighting off so many people. To then get smothered later.

I mentioned the above while watching this with friends and one of my friends quickly dismissed it with "they are fighting for their lives." I then responded with, that is not how the body works. I guess I watch too much real fighting(I fight myself) to turn off this part of my brain. Exhaustion is real but not convenient.

 

[Teletraan1]

The "Bran dint do nuthin." complaint is hilarious. He has no fighting capability, he was shit with a bow, watch ep 1. He has not shown any sort of other offensive capabilities. He is a living book in a wheelchair, when sam was beating you over the head with that the previous episode you probably tuned out. As usual the some of complaints make me wonder how much people are paying attention to the show.

The episode wasn't the greatest of all time, I still enjoyed it. Entertainment isn't a zero sum game. It was entertaining if you weren't looking for some engrossing plot. It would be like watching the helms deep part of that movie and complaining about the plot. Who does that? Other episodes that actually came out of the book have been far superior but at least complain that you don't like these stupid mindless battle episodes rather than expecting it to be something it is not.

For all the blood thirsty people. There are only 3 episodes left. There will be more battles. Plot armor will be stripped away for battles that have more gravitas than mindless zombie zerg rush.

 

[Uhtred]

Ill just chime in and say it was intense. I was sweating. Excellent payoff in both battle, and dialogue. Just great stuff. Arya is a god damn ninja.

We lost some greats, and I know we will probably lose a lot more, which makes me sad, but Im just so happy that we get 3 more episodes post this battle to see the fallout, and what happens now.

 

[oagboghi2]

Overall I enjoyed the episode. It was the big dumb battle scene. Worrying about the writing seems farcical.

The tactics of the battle were pretty stupid. Perhaps Tyrion was right that he should have been up there rather than the meatheads running this op just running Dothraki into the abyss. Perhaps that will be addressed in the next episode.

Everyone mad that everyone didn't die would be the same people screaming that only a handful of real characters and a bunch of nobodies were able to defeat Cersi and her pack of nobodies in the next few episodes. There are still plenty of ways that these characters can die more meaningful deaths rather than just get overrun by essentially mindless zombies. I would rather see the Hound vs the Mountain than the Hound get killed by a no name Zombie. The death list wasn't zero, Theon, Jorrah, Ed, Barrick, Leanna, Melisandre all got got on GOT.

The complaint about not being able to see shit, well they have only been saying for years that The night is dark and full of terrors. Not The night is brightly lit and full of terrors.

Oh come on. Really. "Dark and full of terrors" is not an excuse for shit lighting

This episode is underwhelming because it feels like such a let down for what this show normally is. GoT is normally layered, and has a history on top of of another history. Prophecy on top of prophecies. Etc etc.

This was just a long fight scene that falls apart if you think about it, but worse of all doesn't lead to anything interesting. We still have loads of questions, and issues that might never be resolved, as now our attention will turn to Cersei.

It's moved away from the central idea in the books to one of the political intrigue warring families , that honestly isn't that interesting. Who cares who sits on the iron throne? The White Walkers threatened the world. That was of much greater urgency, and it was much more interesting because of what that urgency was able to convince people to do.

 

[Raynes]

The "Bran dint do nuthin." complaint is hilarious. He has no fighting capability, he was shit with a bow, watch ep 1. He has not shown any sort of other offensive capabilities. He is a living book in a wheelchair, when sam was beating you over the head with that the previous episode you probably tuned out. As usual the some of complaints make me wonder how much people are paying attention to the show.

The episode wasn't the greatest of all time, I still enjoyed it. Entertainment isn't a zero sum game. It was entertaining if you weren't looking for some engrossing plot. It would be like watching the helms deep part of that movie and complaining about the plot. Who does that? Other episodes that actually came out of the book have been far superior but at least complain that you don't like these stupid mindless battle episodes rather than expecting it to be something it is not.

For all the blood thirsty people. There are only 3 episodes left. There will be more battles. Plot armor will be stripped away for battles that have more gravitas than mindless zombie zerg rush.

You do know Bran can literally go into other living things body and control their every move? You do know that Bran can see the whole of the past and present? He did fuck all with that. No one was expecting him to get a bow a start shooting, get out of here with that. It was a shit show, actually read the criticisms and stop imagining what the criticisms are.

 

[manfestival]

The "Bran dint do nuthin." complaint is hilarious. He has no fighting capability, he was shit with a bow, watch ep 1. He has not shown any sort of other offensive capabilities. He is a living book in a wheelchair, when sam was beating you over the head with that the previous episode you probably tuned out. As usual the some of complaints make me wonder how much people are paying attention to the show.

The episode wasn't the greatest of all time, I still enjoyed it. Entertainment isn't a zero sum game. It was entertaining if you weren't looking for some engrossing plot. It would be like watching the helms deep part of that movie and complaining about the plot. Who does that? Other episodes that actually came out of the book have been far superior but at least complain that you don't like these stupid mindless battle episodes rather than expecting it to be something it is not.

For all the blood thirsty people. There are only 3 episodes left. There will be more battles. Plot armor will be stripped away for battles that have more gravitas than mindless zombie zerg rush.

You have entirely missed the point in your complaint. It strikes me as you are not actually reading the complaints and creating your own version of it so you can dismiss it.

 

[Teletraan1]

You do know Bran can literally go into other living things body and control their every move? You do know that Bran can see the whole of the past and present? He did fuck all with that. No one was expecting him to get a bow a start shooting, get out of here with that. It was a shit show, actually read the criticisms and stop imagining what the criticisms are.

And what advantage would the 3ER have entering someone's body to control them?

You have entirely missed the point in your complaint. It strikes me as you are not actually reading the complaints and creating your own version of it so you can dismiss it.

Yeah, I will stick to criticising people in a piece of entertainment for not being tired like you.

 

[manfestival]

Yeah, I will stick to criticising people in a piece of entertainment for not being tired like you.

Clearly you can't handle criticism with your disingenuous and petty response.

 

[Tygeezy]

I was entertained and on he edge of my seat the entire time, but boy was I disappointed with the Night King being just a guy.

 

[Raynes]

And what advantage would the 3ER have entering someone's body to control them?

Are you seriously asking this? He could worg into Ghost and actually attack strategically. Or since the dragons are blinded by the snow he could worg into one of them and take control of it, because you know he could probably make better use of them whilst blinded since he can see past and present so he'd know where the fuck to go.

It's also interesting how you left out asking what advantage would him seeing past and present would have and just didn't want to admit you're wrong there as well.

 

[Musky_Cheese]

Bran could have controlled a flock of birds that had dragon glass arrow heads attached to them. Flew them into White Walkers

 

[Northeastmonk]

The two main comments my wife and I had during last night's episode:

Spoiler

1. The battle resembled Helm's Deep and 2. Daenerys was stupid for just sitting there while her dragon gets stabbed to death.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

I’m definitely curious to learn what Martin does differently in the final book whenever that comes out. I doubt I’ll ever read the books even though I keep telling myself I need to, but I’m interested in all the differences.

I think my ideal scenario would have been Night King wins at Winterfell and a few remaining survivors retreat to King’s Landing. Cersei, seeing how truly powerful the Night King is, allies with the surviving norherners and somehow together they defeat the NK. Or NK just wins Westeros and few survivors retreat to Bay of Dragons and Mareen and that’s how humanity survives.

Whatever though, I know I’m a filthy casual.

If I had to rate each episode so far:

Episode one: 7.5

Episode two: 6.7

Episode three: 9.2

Even with my gripes on the writing/choices, this episode was just so well made. The score, the tension, the cinematics. Beautiful

I’m pretty clueless as to how this is gonna end now. I don’t see how they can invade King’s Landing now

 

[EviLore]

They are best in charging in and riding + jumping on there enemy's. It makes no sense to keep them standing still and waiting for them to get swamped. I just assumed they wanted to push through the death to flank them from behind and get a shot at there leaders. It also makes sense if you understand how they fight which we saw multiple times. hell even hitler did this to destroy huge army's.

We saw how they fought on their own as pure cavalry. Here they're part of a unified, mixed force army taking part in a castle defense. They charged blindly into vastly superior numbers, away from their support, essentially feeding themselves to the undead.

Then there are other factors, AA nightking that can snipe there dragons. Which means they need to keep distance for now. And AA generals that they probably with this attack wanted to take out first or create chaos to the point they can join the battlefield. It's also a good option to weed out the nightking and his dragon in order to flank him while they still have the advantage of 2 dragons. It's basically a war on two fronts.

When and why does "for now" end? They committed the dragons anyway despite the risk of javelin attack, after waiting for a large percentage of their forces to be slaughtered, as if it were a sensible tactic.

What makes you assume he could raise deaths from such distance? Also where do they hide then? on the battlefield? Also if the night king would be close at that point he could ressurect them, he would already be in the palace and everybody would have been overrunned + already added towards his army. It doesn't matter at that point anymore. Pretty much exactly what you saw in this episode. Made total sense.

The Night King didn't need to participate in the battle or raise another wave of undead for his army to win. The wights alone were shown to get the job done, and the White Walkers never bothered to fight.

 

[greyshark]

You fucking asshole should get banned. Not everyone has seen that movie yet. Fucking idiot.

I haven't seen it yet either and I could have guessed that's what happened. I'm over it.

He's talking about the previous movie, not the new one. Infinity War, not Endgame.

The show is called Game of Thrones for a reason. The whole White Walker story was mostly a waste of time, and absolutely needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later. The best part about this show isn't battles against monsters, it's actually some of the worst things about it. If 6 episodes is what they've got to tie things up, I'm glad they got this over with as fast as they could.

Which one are you, Dan Weiss or David Benioff?

 

[MastAndo]

I assumed she was in hiding in the trees tbh and dropbeared him. Makes sense in that regard. One way of getting to him without alerting the wights below.

I think it was implied that she stealth sprinted (?) past the White Walkers, as the gust of wind lifts their hair causing them to look around a bit right before Arya actually strikes. I can suspend my disbelief but I'm still finding the whole end sequence ridiculous even after allowing it to digest for a bit.

That whole sequence just relegated the Night King and his white walkers to your typical dopey/inept villains just completely (and inexplicably) letting their guard down after decimating everyone and everything in their path prior to that. It was just an extremely lame choice of ending.

 

[SirKicksalot]

Why didn't they just sprinkle some valyrian steel Legos on the floor? Would've been a better death for Darth Maul.

 

[General Lee]

Which one are you, Dan Weiss or David Benioff?

Are you seriously trying to argue otherwise?

 

[Iorv3th]

When I said bigger baddie, I meant something behind the night king. The politics of the thrones permeating through actions against the night king is what I thought the show was leading up to.

Is that the case with the white walkers in the books? Are they not the threat or focus that the show has built them up to be? I feel it's a mistake to commit that much to them last season only to show them and kill them in one episode in this season.

Well that is what the gods of light and god of darkness are. So the god of light and god of darkness are always at war with one another. This time the god of light won, but the night king wasn't the god of darkness himself. So there will probably at some point be another cycle of this. There is a lot of stuff they didn't show getting wrapped up. Like the night king turning the baby in that one episode. There could be future night kings like how bran became the 3 eyed raven and the previous 3 eyed raven died.

 

[EviLore]

 

[JimiNutz]

I’m definitely curious to learn what Martin does differently in the final book whenever that comes out. I doubt I’ll ever read the books even though I keep telling myself I need to, but I’m interested in all the differences.

I think my ideal scenario would have been Night King wins at Winterfell and a few remaining survivors retreat to King’s Landing. Cersei, seeing how truly powerful the Night King is, allies with the surviving norherners and somehow together they defeat the NK. Or NK just wins Westeros and few survivors retreat to Bay of Dragons and Mareen and that’s how humanity survives.

Whatever though, I know I’m a filthy casual.

If I had to rate each episode so far:

Episode one: 7.5

Episode two: 6.7

Episode three: 9.2

Even with my gripes on the writing/choices, this episode was just so well made. The score, the tension, the cinematics. Beautiful

I’m pretty clueless as to how this is gonna end now. I don’t see how they can invade King’s Landing now

I'm sure that the decision to defeat the NK in a single episode was mostly budgetary and I suspect that the WW will be a longer lasting threat in the books (if they are ever finished).

I intended to read the books also and started book one around the end of season three, thinking that by the time I'd read through them all Martin would have finished the remaining books! I quickly stopped when it became apparent that the books weren't being finished anytime soon. It's a real shame because I really enjoyed what I read but I refuse to invest the hours required to read the series until I believe that it will one day be finished.

I think that the episodes this season have been getting progressively better but maybe wouldn't rate quite as highly as you.

I'd say

Ep 1: 6/10
Ep2: 7/10
Ep3: 8/10

Hopefully they continue on this trajectory and just build up to the great finale that the show deserves.

At the moment I'm not in the camp that think the show is now suddenly shit but I'm def really feeling that dip in quality that became quickly apparent once they ran out of source material to adapt.

I love this show though and am hoping that the finale delivers. I definitely hope that it doesn't just boil down to a simple tale of two sides going to war at the end. I want to see more backstabbing and maneuvering from certain key players (Sansa, Danareys, Cersi) so that the current alliances are tested and torn apart. Give me more narrative surprises with room for real gut renching/heartbreaking scenes, like we used to get in the earlier seasons, and less of the fan-fiction/Hollywood cheese that we've been served recently.

 

[CrankyJay™]

I'm not too worried about the WW stuff...remember this is still Game of Thrones. WW presented a crisis, and crisis is an opportunity for someone.

 

[Javthusiast]

We basically have been snoked ladies and gents.

 

[NickFire]

We saw how they fought on their own as pure cavalry. Here they're part of a unified, mixed force army taking part in a castle defense. They charged blindly into vastly superior numbers, away from their support, essentially feeding themselves to the undead.

When they first charged I assumed it was too light up the battlefield, either to show the dead weren't there, or to show the scope of the enemy they were facing. Then they kept going further and further away from the rest of the troops. My internal rationalization for such a blunder was that they were so terrified they didn't put the best plan together.

 

[Jon Neu]

Wow this is amazing looking



He says "they killed the night king in 1 episode". What do you want them to do? Stab him in 1 episode and have him bleed out in the next? They fought him a few times. That statement doesnt make any sense

How did they fought him a few times?

He literally never take out his sword. He just raised the dead while Jon was escaping and then he killed Viserion with that stupid javaline scene.

 

[greyshark]

Are you seriously trying to argue otherwise?

Sorry should have added a to my post - wasn't meant to be totally serious. I imagined either D&D saying a version of your exact words and it sounded funny to me.

I completely agree that the show-runners view the "Game of Thrones" plot more importantly than the "White-Walkers" plot - but that does not seem consistent with the build the show has been on since the Pilot. The 'Game of Thrones' is supposed to be trivial when literal Death comes to your door, and you are to put that aside for the sake of survival. I thought that was the entire theme of Season 7 - which feels like a wasted season now.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Jorah and Bronn were my favorite characters for different reasons, obviously.

 

[Jon Neu]

It's incredibly sad to see how a show so smart has become the epitome of dumb storytelling. The "strategy" of the battle is so stupid even people without any background in battles know it's incredibly stupid and doesn't make any fucking sense.

Game Of Thrones defined how you destroy plot armor to feel that the characters are in real danger and the world is just as cruel as it can get, yet this episode is "plot armor: the movie". They build up the white walkers for 7 seasons, azor ahai, the prince that was promised, Winter is coming, always has to be a Star in Winterfell, the 3 eyed crow, the weirwoods, etc... And then they kill the Night King in one single episode, with three more to come and without even seeing him take out his sword. He's gone from badass to clown so fast even show Euron is embarassed. And all the lore about the white walkers, the long night, winter is coming, etc... It's just not only properly explained, it's just has become completely irrelevant. Now we are supposed to care about Cersei, that buffon called Euron and a bunch of mercenaries after the white walkers got defeated so easily. Terribly anticlimatic. We are supposed to feel in awe about Arya killing the Night King in a scene so ridiculous it almost felt like I was watching Dragon Ball Z. You know, something totally unexpected that was done decades before by fucking Lord Of The Rings. Something that was done a year before by that horrible movie called the Last Jedi with Rey doing the exact same lame move to kill a praetorian guard. Snoke or the Night King, who has handled the worst and had the most anticlimatic ending? Well, at least Snoke wasn't hyped for 7 entire fucking seasons.

I remember GRR Martin critizing Lost for how contrived the show feel at the end. For how ridiculous everything turned and how unsatisfying the little or almost no explanations they gave about the lore and mysteries. And now is happening the exact same shit to his show. Life do comes at you fast and comes back to bite you in the ass.

 

[Javthusiast]

After some time to reflect I definitely think the episode was kind of a train wreck. The anticlimactic ending which utilized predictable formulas (magical asspull at the exact moment all hope is lost) -- and the really dumb way they decided the Night King had to die are just the tip of the iceberg. Often it was impossible to even tell what was going on half the time. Whereas the horrifying chaos of battle was pulled off excellently in the Battle of the Bastards, here it was simply frustrating.

A big part of it has to do with stakes. This isn't just a season climax, it's a SERIES climax. So it has to be treated differently than the usual stuff. This drawnout battle where tactics apparently aren't a thing didn't justify an 8-season buildup. Also in other battles, you never really knew which side was going to win. And there were often awesome moments where one side did something unexpected/badass. There was really nothing interesting here. The wights just charged and piled on like they always do. No strategy, no surprises. The Night King just smirked invincibly and WALKED to Bran.

Part of it is that we've already seen almost everything that happened in different battles, where everything was executed much better. Hardhome was so much more interesting a fight against the dead. At least there the Walkers participated in battle. They literally did nothing in this one.

The Battle of the Bastards was a much better clash between armies at Winterfell's doorstep. The siege on Castle Black incorporated many similar battle elements (and giants) better as well. And Dany flying out and incinerating the Lannister forces at Highgarden was infinitely more satisfying than spewing into the mist at random wights.

But no, what I really want to see is Arya do a fucking Resident Evil roleplay for 10 minutes in the library, while the gutless writers slowly kill off the most minor possible characters until there's absolutely no tension left.