[Spoilers lie within!] Rate s08e03.

29-04-2019 08:07AM #1

A simple poll to see what people thought of the episode.

29-04-2019 08:09AM

Woo.. first to vote!

29-04-2019 08:38AM

Gave it an 8 as while greatly enjoyable there were some things that didn't really make sense. Plot armour more important than real armour. Silly plan of meeting the dead in the field. All of which I could forget in the moment but on reflection thinking of Jon and Dany being surrounded by hundreds/thousands of dead and not being completely overwhelmed was a bit stupid. Especially since the night king's motivations have been confirmed as not anything bar destruction of humanity they would have been dealt with quite quickly. Incredible scale and riveting watch though.

Nody · 29-04-2019 10:19AM

Gave it a 4 to be honest; between stupid decisions (catapults as the first line of defense; stop shooting them when the enemy is charging you etc.) bar a few minor fights (a certain giant comes to mind) most of the fighting was all rapid camera movements, shaking and running around and not showing any real fighting etc. I found earlier fights that they have done to be much superior to this one; thinking of for example the fight at the village in the north etc. I think the fighting in general could have benefited of a) more focus on key characters and b) more high level view between those showing the whole castle being surrounded etc. In short I did not find myself glued to the screen worrying for 90 minutes but rather having it running on a secondary monitor and split my time reading the news which is not how the climax of a key GoT story line should have me reacting.

Mr. Incognito · 29-04-2019 11:03AM

4.

Lots of money.

Little return.

Kirby · 29-04-2019 11:24AM

While the visual of all the Dothraki lights going out was a great one, tactically it's beyond retarded.

You don't charge light cavalry straight at the enemy........especially one that outnumbers you so heavily. A twelve-year-old commander would know to wait until the dead have reached the walls and then attack them in the rear or sides. The ridiculousness of this scene is not saved by how cool it looked. There are better ways to kill of the Dothraki without making a mockery of tactics.

Beyond that, I thought it was good. Not amazing, but good. I gave it an 8 but I was surprised at how few deaths there ended up being.

Theon, Ed, Berric, Jorah and Lyanna Mormont. That's it? They got off easy.

lertsnim · 29-04-2019 11:28AM

I expected more to die. I know it's fantasy it was a bit far fetched at times.

29-04-2019 11:39AM

Kirby wrote: »

While the visual of all the Dothraki lights going out was a great one, tactically it's beyond retarded.

You don't charge light cavalry straight at the enemy........especially one that outnumbers you so heavily. A twelve-year-old commander would know to wait until the dead have reached the walls and then attack them in the rear or sides. The ridiculousness of this scene is not saved by how cool it looked. There are better ways to kill of the Dothraki without making a mockery of tactics.

Beyond that, I thought it was good. Not amazing, but good. I gave it an 8 but I was surprised at how few deaths there ended up being.

Theon, Ed, Berric, Jorah and Lyanna Mormont. That's it? They got off easy.

Jon et al. always know the WWs stay out back and watch from afar.

Kit up the Dothraki with dragon-glass arrows / swords and send them out looking. Each WW dropped makes some of the dead fall.

Whelo79 · 29-04-2019 07:01PM

I gave it an 8. I don't think it was the best GOT episode ever but I thought it was excellent. Gripping from start to finish. A couple of simple additions (Jon v NK fight and one of Sam, Brienne, Jamie, Thormond or Greyworm dying in the courtyard as Jon runs through) would have improved it further.

messinkiapina · 29-04-2019 10:19PM

What class of shyte did I just watch? They should rename the Battle of Winterfell as the Night of 1000 Rambos, it was that ridiculous.

Body counts in the billions for all the heroes. 2 or 3 prominent but ultimately unimportant characters lost, and the fearsome Night King destroyed by a child with a dagger. God almighty.

dudara · 29-04-2019 10:24PM

A solid 7. Good stage setting and scenes, great use of music and silence, but ultimately a bit hollow.

Tipsy McSwagger · 29-04-2019 10:27PM

9/10. An epic episode bringing TV drama to a whole new level. I was on the edge of my seat for the full 80 or so minutes. I try to avoid this forum, full of negative idiots.

TerrorFirmer · 29-04-2019 10:49PM

messinkiapina wrote: »

What class of shyte did I just watch? They should rename the Battle of Winterfell as the Night of 1000 Rambos, it was that ridiculous.

Body counts in the billions for all the heroes. 2 or 3 prominent but ultimately unimportant characters lost, and the fearsome Night King destroyed by a child with a dagger. God almighty.

This would all be perfectly fine if GOT had been like this since the beginning.

The fact that it absolutely was not - and was entirely the polar opposite - is the problem, and it's a very valid criticism.

I'd give it a 6/10 really. Entertainment at its best, GOT at its worst.

abcabc123123 · 29-04-2019 11:17PM

Kind of reminded me of a weaker episode of The Walking Dead. I've invested too much time in the show and books over the past 9 years or so to stop watching now, but gawd, it is poor now.

galwayllm · 29-04-2019 11:23PM

This eps was not a patch on season 5 eps 8 Hardhome!

I'd rate this one 4/10....

All bark and no bite really...

29-04-2019 11:25PM

Nody wrote: »

Gave it a 4 to be honest; between stupid decisions (catapults as the first line of defense; stop shooting them when the enemy is charging you etc.) bar a few minor fights (a certain giant comes to mind) most of the fighting was all rapid camera movements, shaking and running around and not showing any real fighting etc. I found earlier fights that they have done to be much superior to this one; thinking of for example the fight at the village in the north etc. I think the fighting in general could have benefited of a) more focus on key characters and b) more high level view between those showing the whole castle being surrounded etc. In short I did not find myself glued to the screen worrying for 90 minutes but rather having it running on a secondary monitor and split my time reading the news which is not how the climax of a key GoT story line should have me reacting.

Ah here. Ya gotta give it your undivided attention. Phone away. I learnt that a long time ago. You will enjoy things more if you do, or else you will realise they aren't worth your time whatsoever.

Optimalprimerib · 30-04-2019 06:40AM

I gave it 10. It was a visual treat, the music was excellent and some of the sequences, the library scene in particular was one of the best scenes in tv.

The wit in the dialog of game of thrones has gone out the window this season, so luckily this had hardly any.

I don't think the night king was the most interesting of enemies, so I am glad it's done and it was done in an epic fashion where all did seem to be lost.

Sky can suck a dick though. The resolution was awful and they threw a spoiler into the episode description.

Shanotheslayer · 30-04-2019 07:38AM

What did Sky say in the episode description?

bazermc · 30-04-2019 07:48AM

Shanotheslayer wrote: »

What did Sky say in the episode description?

“The long night: Arya looks to prove her worth as a fighter.”

ThunbergsAreGo · 30-04-2019 08:20AM

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

messinkiapina wrote: »

What class of shyte did I just watch? They should rename the Battle of Winterfell as the Night of 1000 Rambos, it was that ridiculous.

Body counts in the billions for all the heroes. 2 or 3 prominent but ultimately unimportant characters lost, and the fearsome Night King destroyed by a child with a dagger. God almighty.

This would all be perfectly fine if GOT had been like this since the beginning.

The fact that it absolutely was not - and was entirely the polar opposite - is the problem, and it's a very valid criticism.

I'd give it a 6/10 really. Entertainment at its best, GOT at its worst.

That is the entire problem. Rewatching the series again the battle ones are the least I enjoyed. GOT was about maneuvering, intrigue, double crossing and big moments.

Episode was way way too long for me.

We have had longer Winters in Dublin, big anti climax.

theteal · 30-04-2019 08:29AM

I've gone for a 5. I wanted to know the story, I was entertained even though I had to stop myself asking "but why. . " quite a few times. It was a kind of leave your brain at the door episode which is a bit sad.

30-04-2019 09:25AM

bazermc wrote: »

“The long night: Arya looks to prove her worth as a fighter.”

I wouldn't call that a spoiler. Its her first big battle with all of her family and friends. She was even given a special weapon in advance. She was gonna get in fight.

Wailin · 30-04-2019 09:47AM

6 for me, possibly being too kind. Reading lots of comments saying "best GOT episode ever!!!". No, not even close. Winds of Winter, Baelor, Mountain and the Viper to name a few very much leagues ahead. Lots of viewers seem to equate mindless action to great entertainment. Give me good dialogue and great acting like the earlier seasons anytime.

Sleepy · 30-04-2019 09:54AM

My only real complaint would be about how stupid the defensive strategy was.

Sending light armoured cavalry archers into a head on charge of a numerically superior force?
Heavy Infantry in front of the palisades?
Taking heavy cavalry off their horses? (unless Sansa deliberately held her Knights of the Vale out of the fight? We never saw them mounted).
Catapults and Trebuchets were forgotten about after a single volley.
No pitch / oil to be dropped from the walls?
No channel of pitch running to the wall to allow the moat be fired from the castle walls?

A lot of that took me out of the episode tbh and there's no way I can see GRRM letting his characters act so stupidly. The score was immense, it looked amazing and the dramatic beats were used well with plenty of quieter moments within the chaos to allow it breathe and it made perfect sense that the assassin was the one to take out the night's king.

A 7 from me

Mrnew · 30-04-2019 01:26PM

so how many of the army are left now to try go south bit confused as it looks like there is only main characters left. unless some of them had the day off that day and they are the ones who will now fight

Nody · 30-04-2019 01:35PM

Mrnew wrote: »

so how many of the army are left now to try go south bit confused as it looks like there is only main characters left. unless some of them had the day off that day and they are the ones who will now fight

Expect them to be able to have enough magical plot armor survivors to have an army to go south with but that is smaller than what Cersei got in total so they need to be sneaky and smart to outmaneuver her to win. Which in turn was the whole point of the stupid defense plan to get rid of an unbeatable army to make it more interesting when they march south. Expect there to be some bargaining about the status of "The north" to get Dany more army from the wild/clans not there etc. to bulk her army up or similar in the next episode (this is my personal speculation only).

Fracture · 30-04-2019 02:09PM

Nody wrote: »

Expect them to be able to have enough magical plot armor survivors to have an army to go south with but that is smaller than what Cersei got in total so they need to be sneaky and smart to outmaneuver her to win. Which in turn was the whole point of the stupid defense plan to get rid of an unbeatable army to make it more interesting when they march south. Expect there to be some bargaining about the status of "The north" to get Dany more army from the wild/clans not there etc. to bulk her army up or similar in the next episode (this is my personal speculation only).

i'd wonder how sneaky they need to be, they still have two dragons. I'd imagine before the final episode the dragons will be dead. I wonder will the next big battle be in the final episode?

Sleepy · 30-04-2019 02:14PM

Honestly, with the two dragons how difficult would it be to take on the Gold Company?

Unless they're brilliantly dug in or Kings Landing has better defences than we've seen in the past you'd imagine you could destroy large parts of Cersei's new army with a few sneak attacks: Swoop in at night while most of the troops are asleep in their tents, "Dracarys" and fly back home before the scorpions can be brought into play. You'd have killed a large chunk of them, injured hundreds more and scared the living **** out of the survivors who are sellswords (which, as we saw from Stannis' experience are prone to doing a runner when they know they're on the losing side).

Though such "nuanced" tactics are probably way beyond Jon or Dany.

Ragnar Lothbrok · 30-04-2019 02:47PM

Sleepy wrote: »

My only real complaint would be about how stupid the defensive strategy was.

Sending light armoured cavalry archers into a head on charge of a numerically superior force?
Heavy Infantry in front of the palisades?
Taking heavy cavalry off their horses? (unless Sansa deliberately held her Knights of the Vale out of the fight? We never saw them mounted).
Catapults and Trebuchets were forgotten about after a single volley.
No pitch / oil to be dropped from the walls?
No channel of pitch running to the wall to allow the moat be fired from the castle walls?

A lot of that took me out of the episode tbh and there's no way I can see GRRM letting his characters act so stupidly. The score was immense, it looked amazing and the dramatic beats were used well with plenty of quieter moments within the chaos to allow it breathe and it made perfect sense that the assassin was the one to take out the night's king.

A 7 from me

Sorry Sleepy, but I hate this type of complaint. I'm not watching a documentary about medieval warfare, I'm watching a massively entertaining brawl with swords and magic and dragons and wights and giants and so on and so on.

If you want a documentary, stick to the History Channel.

Mr. Incognito · 30-04-2019 03:04PM

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

Sorry Sleepy, but I hate this type of complaint. I'm not watching a documentary about medieval warfare, I'm watching a massively entertaining brawl with swords and magic and dragons and wights and giants and so on and so on.

If you want a documentary, stick to the History Channel.

This seems to be the defence of most people to any sort of rational criticism.

Criticism: It's too dark.
Answer: Its in the Winter in the Snow.

Criticism: Well that's a bit silly. I dont watch Shark week underwater. Its telivision. Its supposed to be entertainment. We are supposed to be able to SEE it.
Answer: It's Skys fault.

Criticism: Jesus all the major characters managed to survive.
Answer: That's their character arc. They are bad ass.

Criticism: You would think that all those major military minds and Tyron would come up with a competent strategy.
Answer: uuuu It's not Military History channel.

Criticism: How did Jorah and John teleport over or through the 100,000 dead.
Answer: Look. Its a show with Dragons. Deal with it.

Criticism: Jesus, they took really intelligent books and kinda made a cartoon out of it. It's gone downhill.
Answer: FILLER EPISODE. FILLER EPISODE. Blood and **** blowing up. Whooooooo

Criticism: You are not too bright are you.
Answer; YOU are not to bright. Arya kicks ass. KICK-ASS YEAH.

Sleepy · 30-04-2019 03:07PM

Out of interest, did you read the books Ragnar? It's something of a hallmark of GRRM that he's reasonably historically accurate on much of his details about medieval stuff (almost painfully so at times as many are quick to point out).

I enjoyed the episode but the obvious stupidity of some of the battlefield tactics to someone who has no more than a passing interest in them did take me out of the story a few times and imho unnecessarily so.

In fact, it may have actually made the horror of the army of the dead even more terrifying had they shown the defenders of Winterfell taking out thousands of them before eventually succumbing to their sheer numbers (kind of like how the ill-disciplined wildlings held their wooden gate at Hardhome before the wights eventually broke through / over and under). That and it might have made it easier to explain how some of the fan favourites managed to survive the battle.

Now, maybe it's more entertaining to watch Jon be spectacularly stupid again but they were distinctly trying to show him as having learned from his tactical mistakes by trying to get Dany to stick to the plan (and even had Davos make a comment about him being someone who learns from his mistakes in the past). Maybe I'm the stupid one and their defensive strategy was a Machiavellian ploy designed to lure the Night King into the Godswood by sacrificing 90% of their forces but, if so, it'd be nice to hear it commented on and see it's repercussions discussed in the next episode.

[Spoilers lie within!] Rate s08e03.

Rate season 8 episode 3 out of 10. 284 votes

Comments