"Non book readers" - Season 8 Episode 3 "The Long Night" - Spoilers post 2 forwa

Paddy Cow · 29-04-2019 11:43AM

Dany p!ssed me off a couple of times when she put Drogo in danger. First time when she tried to fry the NK and was just hovering above the fire. She's lucky Drogo didn't take an arrow to the knee. Second time was when she was on the ground and Drogo got over run by wights. I honestly thought he was a goner when he took off.

Overall I enjoyed the episode. Yes I was expecting more main characters to die but the more I think about it, the more they're needed for the politics of the Iron Throne. Sansa and Tyrion were getting pretty close in the crypts but his loyalty lies with Dany. The next three episodes will be interesting now that the NK has been dealth with. The battle was no where near as good as others but it was still a decent episode.

Penn · 29-04-2019 11:44AM

Deleted User wrote: »

The dothraki are supposed to be best at fight on an open field with their horses. Fighting like that played to their advantages. Everything you said, will be said in hindsight by the characters. They couldn't have known that the dothraki would be decimated like that.

In fairness though, I don't see why they wouldn't have at least waited until the dead army started charging towards them and met them in the open field closer to Winterfell. Instead when they charged, they charged towards the dead who were in complete darkness.

They could have still fought to their advantages while letting the dead army make the first move.

Paddy Cow · 29-04-2019 11:46AM

Deleted User wrote: »

The dothraki are supposed to be best at fight on an open field with their horses. Fighting like that played to their advantages. Everything you said, will be said in hindsight by the characters. They couldn't have known that the dothraki would be decimated like that.

You can tell by the looks on their faces as the Dothraki swords are extinguished that that's the last thing they were expecting. They were all hardened soliders and you could see them starting to panic. I felt their panic! I thought it was a great scene.

29-04-2019 11:48AM

The Dothraki should have been sent around the back of the wights looking for the WWs. Loads of characters know that's where they always are. Some dragonglass arrows and with that many of them firing, surely they'd kill a few dropping plenty of wights.

Necro · 29-04-2019 11:49AM

That was epic. Problem with TV these days is that GOT and HBO stuff in particular has raised the bar so much that unless people get their own perfect idea come to fruition on screen they're gonna stamp their feet and cry and whinge about it being underwhelming.

It wasn't.
Complaints so far:

The lighting: FFS folks, they're fighting an army of the undead at night, in winter - it was deliberately filmed that way.

Major characters didn't die: The hand wringing over this is actually sad.
In one episode:
Theon, Beric, Edd, Lyanna Mormont, Melisandre and Jorah Mormont all popped their clogs having been relatively large parts of the story, in Theon and Jorahs case since the beginning.
Would you prefer the entire cast was killed and all the extras were left to wander around for the last 3 episodes? Ridiculous.

Arya's kill on the Night King: This has literally been her MO since about 5 seasons ago.
The changing faces, the stealth. Sneaking into a castle and feeding Walder Frey a pie baked of his own family...
I mean... come on.

Now we get back to the plotting and planning from Cersei, which is the main point of the show since the beginning.
God I really hope we get Cleganebowl!

I loved the teaser where Melisandre mentions the brown eyes, green eyes... and blue. I started wondering if Arya would be involved but then dismissed it until it actually happened.

I actually think the NK came across as a coward tbh.

Hiding in the ice storm and sniping at the dragons.
Raising the dead instead of engaging in battle with Jon Snow
About to kill a defenseless cripple.

Overall it was class imo. The battle of the bastards was probably more realistic tbf.

BUT

They were fighting an army of undead, lol. So realism can't seriously be used as a complaint? It was a running screaming army of zombies FFS!

Can't believe the show is nearly done

29-04-2019 11:51AM

Nody wrote: »

But on the other hand this was the culmination of a story arch starting back in Season 1 and the reason for the Nightwatch existence (to guard against the darkness north of the wall); this should have been a hit out of the park episode as you climax a 8 season story arc with the biggest and longest fighting scene in GoT to date with the most CGI to date (i.e. big budget to make it awesomesauce).

Oh absolutely. Even as I typed the part you bolded...I realised the contradiction and why GoT should have had no excuses last night. But really...Barry was surprisingly unreal. I mean I was liking it so far, but last night's episode just blew me away to another level of adoration. It was possibly the best episode of anything I've seen in recent years.

Anyway, back to GoT and problems with this episode...

I appreciate the ambition of the production, as well as them aiming to make it look different than the BotB battle at Winterfell and the challenges with that...but I'm not mad about the night shoot.

I thought the darkness detracted more from the episode than it benefited it.

29-04-2019 11:53AM

martyos121 wrote: »

These sort of posts are the absolute worst.

“I didn’t like it so nobody else should. Also, you’re watching TV wrong.”

That’s pretty much what you said.

I don’t give a shiny fcuk about any flaws in the editing or writing of a major battle episode, I’ve been following the show for years to build up towards a climax like that, and halfway into the final season it arrives. At some point, development needs to slow down and shît needs to happen. You can nitpick all you want, that episode delivered for me and literally everyone else I’ve been messaging in the last hour. You’re entitled to not like it, but the part in bold is just utterly obnoxious and pointless.

Am I allowed to say that I agree with GSPfan? I'd love if I could give this 10/10 and not be annoyed by the flaws, plot armour and repetitive use of deus ex machina devices.

Either Jon Snow dies or D&D stop putting him in unwinnable situations; Jon was literally surrounded once again. There's a reason why I can't stand Marvel films and love GoT.

dusty bin · 29-04-2019 11:55AM

loved that episode. favourite episode ever.

I couldnt sleep for at least another hour after it was over. still managed to get up for work.

My only negative was the light at the beginning, but that was it. Dont understand why too many are crying over the 'lack of deaths'. We lost 6 characters, two of which were original episode 1 characters. There is still four hours of stories to tell, so they needed to keep a lot of characters to fill out those episodes. Those I thought would die based on last weeks interactions, Brienne, Pod, Jaime, Sam, Davos, Tormund, have shown me never to expect anything with this programme.

I'm glad the night king story is now over. The series is called Game of Thrones, not ASOIAF. I am happy to have the remaining episodes now based on who sits on the iron throne. Thats what got me invested orginally.

Let out two roars that woke kids. First when lyanna killed a giant, f@£k yeah! Rip, lady bear.

The second was when arya stabbed the night king. I assumed she would wear a ww face when she was speaking to melisandre, so her killing the night king was not a deus ex machina moment as i was expecting it at the end.

29-04-2019 11:56AM

Some absolutely incredible shots throughout that episode though. The red woman coming through the gate drawing a huge shadow, the dothraki charging in with flaming catapults raining in the background, the dothraki flames being extinguished, the two dragons above the clouds with the moon... I'm sure there was more. I think I'll watch it again and take a few screenshots.

Huntergonzo · 29-04-2019 12:08PM

Very good episode I thought, the suspense was brilliant throughout, you never know who's going to fall in GOT and that puts you constantly on edge, hoping your favourite characters make it through.

Some of it was visually brilliant, like the dragons flying above the clouds under a moonlit sky and the dothraki riding into battle only for a terrible silence to fall over the battlefield soon after. The darkness very much worked for this scene and it set a fitting overtone for the episode however at times it was also visually very frustrating. The episode was too dark in many scenes, I was literally straining my eyes for large parts and that gets a bit tiresome.

The episode did play out roughly as I had expected, which is not a complaint, I thought they'd bring us right to the edge before destroying the Night King but I am a little bit disappointed that it was Ayra who killed him.

Personally I would have liked to see Jon Snow do the job, he's the great warrior who spent all that time north of the wall and who'd fought the dead before. But instead it was Arya, who, ok is tough and is an assassin but didn't feel like the right option to me. It was obvious though after her scene with Melisandre though that she was going to play a big part in the finish.

Nice too, to see Theon go down with honour after all he's been through, and Ser Jorah meeting a brave end.

Overall I though it was very good, not without it's faults but far from a disappointment.

The Iron Giant · 29-04-2019 12:15PM

Necro wrote: »

That was epic. Problem with TV these days is that GOT and HBO stuff in particular has raised the bar so much that unless people get their own perfect idea come to fruition on screen they're gonna stamp their feet and cry and whinge about it being underwhelming.

It wasn't.
Complaints so far:

The lighting: FFS folks, they're fighting an army of the undead at night, in winter - it was deliberately filmed that way.

Major characters didn't die: The hand wringing over this is actually sad.
In one episode:
Theon, Beric, Edd, Lyanna Mormont, Melisandre and Jorah Mormont all popped their clogs having been relatively large parts of the story, in Theon and Jorahs case since the beginning.
Would you prefer the entire cast was killed and all the extras were left to wander around for the last 3 episodes? Ridiculous.

Arya's kill on the Night King: This has literally been her MO since about 5 seasons ago.
The changing faces, the stealth. Sneaking into a castle and feeding Walder Frey a pie baked of his own family...
I mean... come on.

Now we get back to the plotting and planning from Cersei, which is the main point of the show since the beginning.
God I really hope we get Cleganebowl!

I loved the teaser where Melisandre mentions the brown eyes, green eyes... and blue. I started wondering if Arya would be involved but then dismissed it until it actually happened.

I actually think the NK came across as a coward tbh.

Hiding in the ice storm and sniping at the dragons.
Raising the dead instead of engaging in battle with Jon Snow
About to kill a defenseless cripple.

Overall it was class imo. The battle of the bastards was probably more realistic tbf.

BUT

They were fighting an army of undead, lol. So realism can't seriously be used as a complaint? It was a running screaming army of zombies FFS!

Can't believe the show is nearly done

Excellent write up! Absolutely nailed it.

29-04-2019 12:15PM

Exclamation Marc wrote: »

You're right, those dragons, a girl surviving fire, a guy being brought back to life every time he dies, white walkers, giant wall etc. were straight out of Attenborough.

It was always fantasy.

You are completely missing the point here

ricero · 29-04-2019 12:18PM

Can't believe they ****ed up the night king arc which to me was to whole focal point of the show since the opening of season 1.

They have dropped the ball big time this season.

The Iron Giant · 29-04-2019 12:18PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

You are completely missing the point here

I guarantee you that I'm not. It's fantasy or it's not. You can't say that something is fantasy up to a point and then when one thing strays a bit further that it's unrealistic. It's only unrealistic to someone because they've sat yourself within the boundaries that they believed were there.

Necro · 29-04-2019 12:19PM

Deleted User wrote:

Some absolutely incredible shots throughout that episode though. The red woman coming through the gate drawing a huge shadow, the dothraki charging in with flaming catapults raining in the background, the dothraki flames being extinguished, the two dragons above the clouds with the moon... I'm sure there was more. I think I'll watch it again and take a few screenshots.

Yeah there were some epic visuals alright. The ones you mention above probably the best.

But as well I loved the change in tempo with Arya in the hall and dodging the undead. Thought the sense of dread was really well captured.
The drip drip of the blood on the floor was brilliant.

29-04-2019 12:20PM

Are we all grumpy cos we’ve had little to no sleep?

The Iron Giant · 29-04-2019 12:22PM

I thought Beric's holding off of the hordes (for Arya) by sandwiching himself in the door frame was so heroic and magnificent TV writing.

It really closed off his character arc beautifully given what transpired by the end of the episode.

Ficheall · 29-04-2019 12:23PM

Meh.

Washout · 29-04-2019 12:27PM

ricero wrote: »

Can't believe they ****ed up the night king arc which to me was to whole focal point of the show since the opening of season 1

the night king was a distraction to what is the focal point. which is who actually will sit on the throne.

I couldn't see any way the night king surviving this episode for the simple fact that if he won the battle of Winterfell and marched on Kings landing. who or what was going to stop him from completing his objective of ridding the world of all life.

29-04-2019 12:30PM

Washout wrote: »

the night king was a distraction to what is the focal point. which is who actually will sit on the throne.

I couldn't see any way the night king surviving this episode for the simple fact that if he won the battle of Winterfell and marched on Kings landing. who or what was going to stop him from completing his objective of ridding the world of all life.

That's a plausible outcome though, so it could have happened.

29-04-2019 12:31PM

Paddy Cow wrote: »

You can tell by the looks on their faces as the Dothraki swords are extinguished that that's the last thing they were expecting. They were all hardened soliders and you could see them starting to panic. I felt their panic! I thought it was a great scene.

Yeah I completely agree. One of the best moments of the episode. It was a silly tactic in hindsight. Of all the complaints about the episode, this is not one for me. The characters make mistakes.

LastLagoon · 29-04-2019 12:36PM

We should just count ourselves luck that the writers didn’t throw in some top gun style “hit the brakes, he’ll fly right by “ ****e in the dragon dogfight, or maybe they did and we just couldn’t make it out.

ricero · 29-04-2019 12:37PM

Washout wrote: »

the night king was a distraction to what is the focal point. which is who actually will sit on the throne.

I couldn't see any way the night king surviving this episode for the simple fact that if he won the battle of Winterfell and marched on Kings landing. who or what was going to stop him from completing his objective of ridding the world of all life.

I honestly couldn't care about that for me it was all about the night king which is more important than who is the king or queen.

Also so many questions not answered about the night king. Disappointing end to a fantastic and well built plot.

GSPfan · 29-04-2019 12:39PM

martyos121 wrote: »

These sort of posts are the absolute worst.

“I didn’t like it so nobody else should. Also, you’re watching TV wrong.”

That’s pretty much what you said.

I don’t give a shiny fcuk about any flaws in the editing or writing of a major battle episode, I’ve been following the show for years to build up towards a climax like that, and halfway into the final season it arrives. At some point, development needs to slow down and shît needs to happen. You can nitpick all you want, that episode delivered for me and literally everyone else I’ve been messaging in the last hour. You’re entitled to not like it, but the part in bold is just utterly obnoxious and pointless.

First off, how dare you talk to me like....,..,

Only joking. I apologise if I came across as if I was being a díck, it was meant to be a light hearted comment. I actually meant what I said that I’ve become so critical of tv/movies that when I see obvious flaws it takes me out of the experience. I also would like to swap eye sight with whoever could see what was going on.

It was still a badly produced episode in my opinion and I think they blew it in terms of creating a truly brilliant piece of tv history. I think they could go back and re-edit that into a brilliant episode because it has all the ingredients but whoever put it together in that order and in that quantity got it wrong.

29-04-2019 12:40PM

lol from Reddit:

What do we say to the God of Depth? Not today.

The Iron Giant · 29-04-2019 12:40PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Yeah I completely agree. One of the best moments of the episode. It was a silly tactic in hindsight. Of all the complaints about the episode, this is not one for me. The characters make mistakes.

Agreed. I think as well that the Night King made a couple of tactical mistakes, most notably taking too long to raise the dead. If he did it long before Jon was charging him down, its arguable they'd have destroyed the living with the significant additions to their numbers.

cian68 · 29-04-2019 12:58PM

Really liked the episode but I will say that the reason I was on the edge of my seat as the night king approached Bran is because I thought we might learn some new info. Will the Night King talk, will we learn more about what he wants? so when he died I definitely felt a bit like 'oh, guess that is that'

Theboinkmaster · 29-04-2019 01:01PM

Ficheall wrote: »

Meh.

Exactly my reaction to episode - very underwhelming.

GSPfan · 29-04-2019 01:06PM

Things they could have done to improve that episode......

1. Improve the lighting. As soon as everything went on fire the place should have been a lot brighter and realism would have been maintained. Snow on the ground also makes any area brighter even under moonlight.

2. Allow the battle to look somewhat winnable at the start with tactics and troop movements winning out over mindless zombies rushing at the walls. Allow the dead to advance slowly toward Winterfell as the episode progresses with all main characters retreating as they slowly lose ground.

3. The cat and mouse dragon chase was good. It kept them busy somewhat but maybe they could have had one of the dragons chase the night king and one scorching the dead to help thin out the enemy forces to manageable levels.

4. Allow the dead inside the walls eventually and have a more manageable amount attack our favourite characters. This shows that there is a chance of winning this but they are still coming.

5. Allow the night king to get within killing distance of Brann after taking out a few of our heroes and have him share some dialogue (even if it’s just Brann talking) to allow us to understand his motivations a bit better.

6. Have Arya appear disguised as a zombie and have the night king confused until she stabs him. Takes off the mask to reveal herself and all the zombies die just when our remaining heroes are starting to look like they are doomed.

brianblaze · 29-04-2019 01:14PM

GSPfan wrote: »

Things they could have done to improve that episode......

2. Allow the battle to look somewhat winnable at the start with tactics and troop movements winning out over mindless zombies rushing at the walls. Allow the dead to advance slowly toward Winterfell as the episode progresses with all main characters retreating as they slowly lose ground.

6. Have Arya appear disguised as a zombie and have the night king confused until she stabs him. Takes off the mask to reveal herself and all the zombies die just when our remaining heroes are starting to look like they are doomed.

2. I loved the hopelessness of it, the inevitability of the army of the undead. It was like when Jon was swamped at the Battle of the Bastards. Perfect tonality IMO.

6. The dude that knew that a flock of birds were Bran would probably see through a disguise easily enough

"Non book readers" - Season 8 Episode 3 "The Long Night" - Spoilers post 2 forwa

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