HBO's "Game of Thrones"

[VolunteerHillbilly]

Battle of Winterfell was shot much like Battle of the Blackwater. I expect the final battle will be a daylight affair like Battle of the Bastards where you'll get to see snotbubbles, blood, guts and the rest of it.

 

[JP_UT_O&W]

Visually and audibly, the episode was great.

Dragon fight, fire swords, dark chaos, etc were all great.

The plot kinda sucked.

I was hyped when Arya killed NK and was at the edge of my seat the whole episode. But it was all so hollow and inconsequential looking back. Really had to suspend disbelief a few times (Dothraki death & Lyanna vs. Giant scenes).

The offensive strategy was dumb. You can wait 8000 years; wait an hour longer for the job to be finished? No WW attacks at all? So what if they die and their armies die with them. The NK could just revive the wights.
The defensive strategy was dumb. Send your insanely skilled cavalry into a death trap? Put artillery in front of infantry? Only 1 baby moat? Only use archers for 5 seconds and after the cavalry charge?
No major character deaths? Dany/Jon/Sansa/Tyrion/Varys/Missandei/Grey Worm/Arya/Hound/Jaime/Brienne? All should've died at some point. I'm fine with a few escapes, but for all of them to escape was a bit ridiculous. Edd, Lyanna, Beric, Melisandre, Theon (semi-major death), and Jorah (semi-major) don't count as major deaths.

Bran warging was for nothing apparently. The NK already knew he was there. His whole plot has kind of been wasted now.

WW did nothing. No sword fights with anyone. Wasted.

Tyrion/Sansa/Varys could have had some intelligent dialogue...Nope. I did enjoy the marriage jokes, but I wanted more. Tyrion has been wasted for seasons now.

NK was arrogant and rushed in instead of using his horde fully. Wasted.

Not mad that Arya killed the NK, but it felt hollow.

Would've liked to see Jon vs NK before Arya killed him after years of their build up. Wasted.

Or Bran and NK interacting in some way would've been nice. Just blank stares? Wasted.

We've been built up for this being the real enemy for 7 seasons...Nope! Wasted. Cersei is the real enemy now.

How convenient.

It was just a letdown for the penultimate conflict/battle/important episode of the series.

I don't really care about Cersei. They're going to kill her and Jon/Dany will rule now.

Fairy tale ensues.

But we aren't watching ASOIAF. We haven't been since seasons 4/5. This is now GoT.

It was a great episode for TV. It was a lackluster GoT episode.

 

[RikidyBones]

tl;dr

 

[JP_UT_O&W]

tl;dr

tl;dr Cool shots. Meh story. Need books.

 

[VOLNPA]

Some of yall misremember the library scene. She masterfully navigates around and not seen by a single wight until she stabs the one in the throat. She also doesnt make a noise with the door. Its another room that sparks all the noise and they come crashing through the other door like a bunch of crackheads.

While concussed

 

[BowlBrother85]

tl;dr Cool shots. Meh story. Need books.

Kinda sounds like you are one who would have been hard to please no matter what and I get it... this season itself was a 20 month wait and the build up for this battle has been in the works since the very first moments of the series 8 years ago. It was going to be impossible to live up to the hype and anticipation of it all. Not being a book reader myself, I just wanted an intense combat with drama and resolution. I feel like I got it... could it have been done better? Maybe.

 

[Regulator]

There hasn’t been a movie, or a TV show episode as long as a movie, that had as little dialogue in it as last night’s episode since silent movies were the rage. I watched it at work late this morning and one of my co-workers was like, “I’ve heard very little dialogue in what you’re watching, just mostly yelling and grunting.” Just something uncommon in this day and age, I thought.

 

[Paper_Towel]

All it ever did was kill wights...nothing like setting them on fire. I don't think people understand the numbers involved. The army of the dead numbered in the millions. It was an oceanic tide of death.

I had a gripe with the wights laying on the trenches to put the fire out. Everytime a wight came as close to breathing an ember in they would go up in a blaze of glory. But now they can just walk of to a fire trench and have twelve of them out it out?

 

[615vols]

Gonna have to disagree with the notion that "no major characters died". Jorah and theon are both major characters. Then we lost berric, the little lady, melisandre , on top of the wildlings/unsullied/dothraki being basically reduced to nothing. There has to be someone left.

 

[VOLNPA]

Gonna have to disagree with the notion that "no major characters died". Jorah and theon are both major characters. Then we lost berric, the little lady, melisandre , on top of the wildlings/unsullied/dothraki being basically reduced to nothing. There has to be someone left.

Dolorous Edd

 

[JP_UT_O&W]

Kinda sounds like you are one who would have been hard to please no matter what and I get it... this season itself was a 20 month wait and the build up for this battle has been in the works since the very first moments of the series 8 years ago. It was going to be impossible to live up to the hype and anticipation of it all. Not being a book reader myself, I just wanted an intense combat with drama and resolution. I feel like I got it... could it have been done better? Maybe.

Yes, I think I would've been hard to please anyway they took it. This was the most obvious choice.

But take Avengers: Endgame [NO SPOILERS] for example...I have my gripes, but I know that there will be more MCU and the characters whose stories are over went out in a fitting manner.

I didn't get that with GoT. We may never get the 6th & 7th books, so I was counting on the show to do all of the mysteries of the world justice. It's never going to happen. It was unrealistic of me and others to expect more.

They had 6 episodes to wrap everything up, and I think most of the things will just be very short and to the point. What else could they be?

 

[JP_UT_O&W]

Gonna have to disagree with the notion that "no major characters died". Jorah and theon are both major characters. Then we lost berric, the little lady, melisandre , on top of the wildlings/unsullied/dothraki being basically reduced to nothing. There has to be someone left.

Jorah and Theon haven't been major characters since season 3 or 4.

 

[615vols]

Dolorous Edd

Thank you! How did i forget him..

 

[615vols]

Jorah and Theon haven't been major characters since season 3 or 4.

Like i said, disagree on that.

 

[VolNExile]

Got to say the episode was scored masterfully, including the times there was nothing but silence.

About 5 min after it started, I texted my daughter “quietest war ever”

I was ready to jump out of my skin. So well done!

 

[Weezer]

JMO, but they should have stretched this into two episodes and fleshed out the battle more. I have no problem with Arya scoring the kill, but it would have been cool to at least see Jon and the NK square off. Imagine the NK getting the best of Jon getting ready to deliver the death blow, when out flies Arya. And there should have been some one on one WW battles. Both Jaime and Brienne carry Valeryian steel blades. Jorah was carrying one as well. And as noted by others, the battle strategy could have been much better. The greatness of GoT's has always been in the details. I enjoyed the outcome, but I simply feel it could have been delivered in a better way.

And before people get all offended and start defending the episode, if you were completely happy with it, good for you, but we're all entitled to our own opinions. I thought it could have been done better, much better. It wasn't about number of deaths, or Arya scoring the kill, or any thing particular that happened in the episode. It was wanting better writing, better storytelling.

 

[JP_UT_O&W]

I understand that. I really enjoyed Theon's redemption arc & Jorah's as well from his exile to greyscale to returning to Dany...

I just don't think their deaths are 'shockers' by any means. Most people expected Jorah to die protecting Dany somehow and Theon to die protecting Bran.

 

[JP_UT_O&W]

JMO, but they should have stretched this into two episodes and fleshed out the battle more. I have no problem with Arya scoring the kill, but it would have been cool to at least see Jon and the NK square off. Imagine the NK getting the best of Jon getting ready to deliver the death blow, when out flies Arya. And there should have been some one on one WW battles. Both Jaime and Brienne carry Valeryian steel blades. Jorah was carrying one as well. And as noted by others, the battle strategy could have been much better. The greatness of GoT's has always been in the details. I enjoyed the outcome, but I simply feel it could have been delivered in a better way.

And before people get all offended and start defending the episode, if you were completely happy with it, good for you, but we're all entitled to our own opinions. I thought it could have been done better, much better. It wasn't about number of deaths, or Arya scoring the kill, or any thing particular that happened in the episode. It was wanting better writing, better storytelling.

Yeah, I'm 100% in agreement with this.

 

[615vols]

I understand that. I really enjoyed Theon's redemption arc & Jorah's as well from his exile to greyscale to returning to Dany...

I just don't think their deaths are 'shockers' by any means. Most people expected Jorah to die protecting Dany somehow and Theon to die protecting Bran.

I hear ya. I expected theon, not jorah quite yet. But honestly even if brienne wouldve been killed it wouldnt have been shocking. Alot expected it . 3 episodes as well, plenty more will fall.

 

[Paper_Towel]

Another big battle for episode 5 probably. The director who's done all the big ones, including episode 3, also did S8E5.

 

[JP_UT_O&W]

I hear ya. I expected theon, not jorah quite yet. But honestly even if brienne wouldve been killed it wouldnt have been shocking. Alot expected it . 3 episodes as well, plenty more will fall.

That's fair. Maybe I'm disappointed at the lock of a shocker death more than a major character. Because Jorah/Theon/Brienne/Tormund are all major characters at this point. I expected Brienne or Tormund to die. Not yet Jaime as he has unresolved stuff with Cersei.

I don't think those 4 I mentioned are top 5-10 major, but they're certainly top 20-25 or so.

 

[Weezer]

Think about it, they took two episodes to focus on these characters coming back together, and one episode to deal with the threat they've been building since the first season.

 

[Weezer]

I think my biggest complaint about everything is the rush to finish the story when there is so much left to tell. They're leaving meat on the bone.

 

[JP_UT_O&W]

Another big battle for episode 5 probably. The director who's done all the big ones, including episode 3, also did S8E5.

Yep, Miguel Sapochnik. His episodes have all been action-packed/battles (Hardhome (S5E8), Battle of the Bastards (S6E9), The Winds of Winter (S6E10)) except his first. And David Nutter, who did episodes 1 & 2 this year, directs episode 4. (Side note: Nutter also directed the Red Wedding episode among others)...

 

[JP_UT_O&W]

I think my biggest complaint about everything is the rush to finish the story when there is so much left to tell. They're leaving meat on the bone.

GRRM didn't do them any favors by not finishing the books...He also only told major plot points and how it all ends, so they're coming up with this on their own. That's a bit much with the complexities and the total number of interwoven plotlines to this point.