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

I weighed in with a bit about the lighting earlier, but as regards the episode in general:

I've read so much here that I don't know if I've much new of any substance to add but anyways -

Most people seem to be resolutely defending one position or the other as regards to the episode's quality. It was either (A) the single greatest episode of Game of Thrones and anyone who says different is an idiot, or (B) a complete let-down and anyone who says different is an idiot. As per usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle. There's numerous things to praise about the episode, which I'll get into, and there's unfortunately a lot things that just didn't work, which I'll definitely get into....

First of all, you gotta give the episode props for its scale and ambition. It's a bit of a cliche to say that now, even less than a day than it was broadcast, but I can't deny that the episode pound for pound - disregarding everything else - delivered in terms of action; considerably delivered. It was a pretty full on sustained 80 minutes of propulsive visceral action - we haven't seen anything on that scale before on television, never mind just on Game of Thrones. I have criticisms about the lighting and the editing and other things, but I can appreciate outstanding craftsmanship and ambition when I see it. If I was to plonk someone, who'd never watched the show before, in front of their TV and made them sit through the episode I'm pretty confident they'd be amazed at the spectacle, probably stunned really that this is the state of the art in television production. I can't consider my prior lofty expectations on the action front to have been un-met.

I think the episode had great moments too - Arya delivering the knife in the guts, The Night King smiling away after emerging from the flames I thought the tracking shots were excellently done, Lyanna Mormont's heroic exit. The performances were brilliant and the parallel editing between different sub-stories was fairly masterful. Ah, there was a lot to like, there was really. If I was to just look at the positives I'd rank that amongst the very, very best episodes of GoT.

But, unfortunately, I have to be honest...

For all of the praise the episode rightly deserves, I must admit, that the one feeling I had - above all others - in the immediate aftermath of watching the show earlier today was of faint disappointment. The episode delivered a lot, loads, but, man, it could have been so much better.

A few things first - As much as it pissed me off I can overlook the poor lighting to a large extent. Obviously, it's a black mark against the enjoyment of the episode, but the show is ultimately about the narrative and the characters, so I'd forgive it that up to a point if I felt like the stuff that I'm not fully able to see on screen at all times is still worthwhile and plausible in theory.

Plus, the people giving out about the millitary tactics. Lads c'mon, I think you're watching the wrong show...

Game of Thrones is fantastic. I love it. It's the best thing on television, but this episode absolutely made it clear to me - and it's been there to see since roughly the end of season five - that fundamentally the show has lost the balls that made it the mighty beast it once was.

There should have been more death. That statement might seem laughable in the face of an eighty minute onslaught of practically nothing but people being hacked and slashed with extreme prejudice, but, fck me, a lot of the blood-letting was, in terms of story, remarkably safe and predictable.

Characters you knew weren't going to make it didn't make it and those you kinda hoped wouldn't die didn't die.

Just to be clear, I'm not a homicidal maniac, I'm not gripped by an insatiable blood-lust to see these characters butchered en-masse, I don't want the cast decimated. But in an episode such as this, at such an advanced stage of the whole saga - when the inescapable fact of death seemed inarguable - to have all of our big hitters walk away in the end, merely a bit pooped after a hard night's work facing insurmountable odds, felt cheap in the extreme and reeked of fan service.

To see a few meaningful on-screen demises would have underlined the gravity of stakes of the episode and set the tone for the remainder of the show. When the battle gets going there's a moment where Brienne looks like a goner. She was collapsing under the onslaught of white walkers and was roaring out; shit was well and truly getting out of hand. I was up off the couch - "BRIENNE NOOOOO!" - and yeah, in the moment, I was a relieved viewer when she was miraculously plucked from the jaws of death, but think about it: in that moment the pitiless death of a beloved character would have hit home hard. It would have sent the message that all bets were off; this was for real. The episode was by and large a chickening out of resolve on the part of the story writers. Or take the moment when Jon makes a snap decision not to try to save Sam - how the fck did Sam survive, seriously - because there's no time. If Sam had actually bought it then, that would have had such impact. But, it didn't happen. I wasn't rooting for the character to die, but it would have reinforced the gravity of the situation - it would have been brave; it would have been like the old show

GoT was a character driven story that would completely blind-side you and take your breath away: no-one was safe, the show had a vicious edge and didn't play by the established rules. That more than anything else - more than the scale, sets, blood and tits and ass - made it so great. But, as time has gone on, it has inevitably become safer and conscious of viewer expectation - and this episode was the poorer for that.

Finally, I feel an incredible sense of anti-climax having watched the threat of The Night King just go *poof* suddenly. I'm not going to lie, I've never been truly behind The White Walker sub-plot. The Night King was a one-dimensional villain. The multi-dimensional dick moves of the humans in the show were always far more interesting in comparison. But, the threat of The NK was pushed and pushed to the foreground of the story until almost everything else felt like an afterthought and now after all that endless foreplay... a quick knife in the guts? Even if it was a surprise and I'm glad it was Arya that sealed the deal, but didn't all of it feel a bit neat? Ah, well, turns out he wasn't unstoppable after all. Sorry about the eight season build up...

Maybe the remaining episodes will be mind-blowing, now that it's back to Cersi Vs. The World, but I sincerely hope they throw us some curve-balls from here on out - and try to remain true to what originally made the show what it once was.