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

Utopia Parkway · 29-04-2019 01:14PM

I certainly enjoyed it anyway. The first 30 minutes it was pretty dark and sometimes confusing alright but once they lit the fire trench it was fine for the last hour. The last 30 minutes was tremendous. They did a great job building the tension early on with long sections with very little dialogue.

And a special shout out to the score which was absolutely fantastic especially towards the end.

I think some feel cheated that more big characters didn't die but of course there is still the battle with Cersei to come so a strong possibility that a few more characters will not make it to the end yet.

Hulk Hands · 29-04-2019 01:16PM

Jorah's big claim trying to sell himself to the slave master when him and Tyrion were captured was that he beat a single Dothraki in open combat, implied to be a huge feat. Yet we see the entire Dothraki army wiped out in seconds, while Jorah, or even characters like Sam, Dany etc with no combat history fighting off dozens of wights in the same episode. The extinguishing lights of the Dothrakis does set the tension but it made no sense tactically or in overall ability terms.

I get that it's hard to have a main character killed by some generic skeleton, but they pushed it a bit far with the vast majority surviving. Having say, Sam, fight bravely but just get overrun by numbers of wights and fall is an acceptable way to go imo

GSPfan · 29-04-2019 01:25PM

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

I certainly enjoyed it anyway. The first 30 minutes it was pretty dark and sometimes confusing alright but once they lit the fire trench it was fine for the last hour. The last 30 minutes was tremendous. They did a great job building the tension early on with long sections with very little dialogue.

And a special shout out to the score which was absolutely fantastic especially towards the end.

I think some feel cheated that more big characters didn't die but of course there is still the battle with Cersei to come so a strong possibility that a few more characters will not make it to the end yet.

The score was the best part of the episode. That bit with the Night King walking up to Brann was amazing. It’s on youtube, season 8 soundtrack called The Night King.

I think they prepared us to have a good lot of them die and the battle was an absolute failure from the good guys perspective so it is just strange to see so few people left alive and almost all of them are our main characters.
I’m alright with them surviving but they kind of tricked us there and it wasn’t relief people felt, it was more like disappointment.

Bonzo Delaney · 29-04-2019 01:28PM

podgemonster wrote: »

I can see it now.

Sandor: Well brother its just you and me
Mountain: Grrrrr
Sandor: I've waited for this all my li....

*Arya jumps out, stabs Mountain in the neck, job done.

To which The Hound shouts out " will you ever just **** off ya wee sneaky **** ya!!!!"

RobertKK · 29-04-2019 01:32PM

It was a very dark episode, some of the stuff was happening so fast it was hard to see.

The Night King being a targaryen was a surprise.

homerun_homer · 29-04-2019 01:33PM

GSPfan wrote: »

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

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.

She wouldn't be able to get one of their faces. Stabbing a Wight Walker with dragonglass and valerian steel disintegrates them. Trying to take it's face as it is the living dead is getting too close and it would probably be able to turn her to a wight in the process.

castletownman · 29-04-2019 01:33PM

The best way to sum up my thoughts of the episode is to quote the two most common lines I uttered throughout:

"Focking hell"

"Ah be the lord"

I can understand some of the complaints, but I thought it was amazing. As visually outstanding as any thing produced in any medium. The use of the piano score and very little dialogue in the final fifteen minutes or so really captured the tension and was a brilliant use of music. I genuinely found myself on my knees dumbstruck when Ayra revealed herself at the end, and the fact it was tied in with Jorah's heroics right to the end was an emotional headwreck. Theon's redemption and his tears knowing he probably wasn't going to kill the NK was lovely as well.

God I will miss this show.

29-04-2019 01:34PM

RobertKK wrote: »

It was a very dark episode, some of the stuff was happening so fast it was hard to see.

The Night King being a targaryen was a surprise.

There is nothing to really suggest that. The Targaryans came a few hundred years ago. Sure, maybe people from Valyria came 8000 years ago but it's a stretch, and not everyone from Valyria is immune to fire.

The Iron Giant · 29-04-2019 01:36PM

Theon's absolution was wonderful.

His protection til the end of Bran and the acknowledgement of him being a good man was heartbreaking as was his inevitable death rush at the Night King.

If you take the character arcs of the more major players who died, they really were finished out wonderfully and speaks to the incredible writing of the show.

29-04-2019 01:37PM

Exclamation Marc wrote: »

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.

So would you have any issue if Cersi killed off her enemies using laser beams coming out of her eyes? The line has to be drawn somewhere. Usually the line is drawn by the rules established by the source material itself. Some people feel these rules have been broken. I'm not even sure what the original point of that other poster was, but I just hate the argument of "its all fantasy anyway, so anything can happen".

29-04-2019 01:38PM

homerun_homer wrote: »

She wouldn't be able to get one of their faces. Stabbing a Wight Walker with dragonglass and valerian steel disintegrates them. Trying to take it's face as it is the living dead is getting too close and it would probably be able to turn her to a wight in the process.

The poster was saying wight, not white walker.

GSPfan · 29-04-2019 01:38PM

homerun_homer wrote: »

She wouldn't be able to get one of their faces. Stabbing a Wight Walker with dragonglass and valerian steel disintegrates them. Trying to take it's face as it is the living dead is getting too close and it would probably be able to turn her to a wight in the process.

No no no no. The long haired lads on the horses disintegrate but the normal zombies (dead people) just die. Arya stabbed one in the hallway up through the bottom of the jaw earlier in the episode in a very deliberate scene so I was wondering at that stage if she was going to take her face.

I’m not too critical of the final Arya scene apart from the apparent Randy Orton type levels of stealth. With the score in full flow and her doing the dagger drop it was very satisfying for it to be her.

29-04-2019 01:41PM

normanoffside wrote: »

I thought she was the whitwalker behind the NK to the left as you looked at the screen.

don't think so. one of the generals noticed something because there was a breeze / air disturbance which meant to me Ayra running past quickly or jumping down from a height or something like that that.

that was also how the night king knew to turn around and grab Ayra - some sort of hive mind thing that the night king has going on.

was a bit of a cheap solution really - she literally came out of nowhere.

the dagger drop and catch and the sideways eyeball movement of realisation of the night king was well done tho.

leggo · 29-04-2019 01:42PM

A lot of people, as usual with these things, are criticising it because it’s not what they expected, rather than what it was. Like while I get the disappointment that can bring, it’s kinda like saying a 4-4 football match was poor because you expected two good defences: the nit your picking is with your expectations not being met, nothing to do with the quality or lack thereof of the content itself. And that’s a total fallacy if you’re going to come on here and stake your word on this being a ‘bad’ episode, though I also acknowledge the feelings can be real sometimes. I give myself an adjustment period to process, and let go of my own hopes so I can judge it on its own merits, whenever something like this happens before I start typing.

There was one moment in it I didn’t enjoy: when Lyanna killed the giant. That came across as too Disney. When the giant was squeezing the life out of her, I thought “Wow they’re gonna Oberyn Lyanna, ballsy!” Then she conveniently took it down at the death. It was a bit too fan servicey for my liking, though at least she didn’t survive that and they made up for it by making her a wight later.

I didn’t expect the NK storyline to end here, I came on both here and the GoT podcast I do and said as much. But I’m also not going to criticise a show for not doing what I think it should do. If I could write this stuff, I would. But I can’t, so I watch and hope the writers come up with better than what I have in mind. I’ll give them a chance to round things off their way before making my mind up on that.

I LOVE Arya as Azor Ahai. Never saw it coming but man...it was all there for us. From as early as S3 with Melisandre telling her she’ll shut “green eyes, blue eyes, brown eyes”, to last season them seeding her quick hand swap shimmy while training with Brienne. It’s so perfect and I laughed so much that Jon didn’t get to be the hero. It fits perfectly with the whole notion that prophecies never pan out as we expect them: people are acting Billy Big Balls online today acting like they saw it coming. I didn’t see that predicted anywhere beforehand. But it works.

Fine with who did/didn’t die. If the NK battle is over and we’ve three episodes to deal with Cersei/Jon/Dany and who’ll sit on the Iron Throne, we need some big deaths left and we got plenty here.

I’ll have more thoughts no doubt. Still processing.

GSPfan · 29-04-2019 01:44PM

Arya was screaming as she flew through the air. The Night King didn’t need eyes in the back of his head, just ears.

golfball37 · 29-04-2019 01:45PM

The episode was dark and full of errors!

brianblaze · 29-04-2019 01:45PM

Question now is, with the Night King dead, is the land beyond the wall now in Spring? Winter is over, has the North now expanded into more lush pastures?

29-04-2019 01:46PM

The whole thing has just descended into Disney/marvel tackiness..
At this stage I just want it to finish,..

brianblaze · 29-04-2019 01:47PM

Deleted User wrote: »

The whole thing has just descended into Disney/marvel tackiness..
At this stage I just want it to finish,..

It's a fantasy show, that's how they always go!

29-04-2019 01:48PM

leggo, Arya isn't azor ahai. They said they decided three years ago that she'd be the one to do it, basically as no one would expect it.

She doesn't fulfill the prophesy at all. The writers don't care about lore.

homerun_homer · 29-04-2019 01:49PM

GSPfan wrote: »

I’m not too critical of the final Arya scene apart from the apparent Randy Orton type levels of stealth. With the score in full flow and her doing the dagger drop it was very satisfying for it to be her.

That can be chalked down to everything she learned from the Faceless men. Sure she was sneaking from under the tables without a peep. The blood drips from her face being louder than her movements.

The Iron Giant · 29-04-2019 01:49PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

So would you have any issue if Cersi killed off her enemies using laser beams coming out of her eyes? The line has to be drawn somewhere. Usually the line is drawn by the rules established by the source material itself. Some people feel these rules have been broken. I'm not even sure what the original point of that other poster was, but I just hate the argument of "its all fantasy anyway, so anything can happen".

Well that's absolutely stupid and the suggestion is clearly idiotic at very best. Id hardly equate Sam surviving, Jorah getting around the field, the dothraki being overpowered and the crypt not being completely obliterated with lasers out of someones eyes. Jesus, you're embarrassing yourself with that logic.

I never said 'anything can happen'. Best read what you're referring to in future.

leggo · 29-04-2019 01:50PM

GSPfan wrote: »

Arya was screaming as she flew through the air. The Night King didn’t need eyes in the back of his head, just ears.

Yeah, he caught her.

29-04-2019 01:50PM

brianblaze wrote: »

It's a fantasy show, that's how they always go!

If the books are finished, and it's inevitably remade, it won't turn into this Marvel type stuff.

29-04-2019 01:51PM

Also yes I'm sure that the darkness had something to do with budget. It was too much. I be like

in fairness, it could have been a lot worse - thanks to this lady for most of the lighting

29-04-2019 01:52PM

*Groan*..Euron Greyjoy.. just when you think it can't get any worse..

mrkiscool2 · 29-04-2019 01:54PM

brianblaze wrote: »

Question now is, with the Night King dead, is the land beyond the wall now in Spring? Winter is over, has the North now expanded into more lush pastures?

No, the last Winter with the dead was called The Long Night, the name of this episode. There have been numerous Winters between then and this. So, it's not the end of Winter just because the Night King is dead.

MisterAnarchy · 29-04-2019 01:56PM

ERG89 wrote: »

Euron Greyjoy and Cersei Lannister are characters I've not missed when not featured in the last few weeks

Agreed ,up to the start of this season I thought the final villain would be the Night King but as soon as this 3rd episode was billed as the big battle for Winterfell it was pretty obvious that the Night King was going to be taken out to leave the last 3 episodes deal with the battle for the Iron throne.

Cersei is a 1 dimensional character I never liked and frankly has lasted about 5 series too many.

Necro · 29-04-2019 01:56PM

glasso wrote:

Also yes I'm sure that the darkness had something to do with budget. It was too much. I be like

The darkness was clearly there because the battle took place:

A: at night

B: during winter

C: during an ice storm as it progresses.

Why do people not get this? If they made it bright and summery there would actually be more room for complaint tbh.

29-04-2019 01:56PM

Exclamation Marc wrote: »

Well that's absolutely stupid and the suggestion is clearly idiotic at very best. Id hardly equate Sam surviving, Jorah getting around the field, the dothraki being overpowered and the crypt not being completely obliterated with lasers out of someones eyes. Jesus, you're embarrassing yourself with that logic.

I never said 'anything can happen'. Best read what you're referring to in future.

Its an extreme extension of what people are complaining about. Jon taking on and surviving 100+ undead around him is idiotic at the very best imo.

By and large, I did enjoy the episode but its not without its glaring flaws that some people are happy to ignore, and more power to them. I do try but I wish little thing didn't bother me so much.

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

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