A Game of Thrones (contains spoilers)

[jpotter33]

Unpopular opinion - while I thoroughly enjoyed this episode/battle (even with the deaths - poor Jorah 😢) and liked it better than the Battle of the ****s, I still think the Battle at Hardhome was better. I found it more entertaining, and it was like the first time you got to see a major battle with the white walkers and wights, along with the Night King.

[nickagneta]

I thought it was awesome. The lack of hope and fear running through the castle before the battle turns to hope when the Dothraki charged only to see their very existence disappear like the light of their swords and all hope faded.

The dragon battles were epic. Great CGI. Again hope is given and then lost when Dany can't kill the Night King with dragon fire. Then all hope is lost. Jon can't fulfill his prophecy as he is held off by the ice dragon but Arya, trained as an assassin comes to the rescue with the kill.

Favorite scene was the death of Lyanna Mormont. Loved it.

Scene I hated was the dead rising in the crypts and somehow having the strength to break through inches of rock to break out of the funeral beds. Somehow pressed against the wall by countless dead people, the dead didn't have the strength in huge numbers to kill a left handed Kingslayer and Brienne but the dead can just push themselves through rocks in the crypts. Bad logic there.

[Moranis]

Arya. Never would have guessed so I got that part wrong but they did defeat the night king in the episode and the Starks all lived.  No truly major characters died either. Strange episode

Yeah, definitely a strange episode, but I liked it. The Arya thing was so unsuspected, and I really liked the Red Woman angle. You have to think that Bran knew the outcome the entire time, right?

That said, I do find it a bit strange and contradictory that they handled the White Walker threat before Cersei. I feel like the entire arc of the story was pushing the narrative that the White Walkers abd Army of the Dead were the true focus and greatest evil that they would face, so it seems strange to end with Cersei and have the battle for King’s landing be the final storyline that ends the show.

The books and show is called the Game of Thrones.  The Night taking was never landing in the throne so he was never really the focus

[nickagneta]

Anyone else have to turn all the lights off to watch it in the dark because almost the entire episode was in the dark? With the lights on it was hard to make things out for a while there.

[Sophomore]

That was basically 80 minutes of not being able to see well. I am disappointed with that episode.

1. Why did the dragons fly off into the middle of nowhere for most of the battle?
2. Why did Bran warg and essentially provide no insight throughout the whole episode?
3. How did Arya get out of that room when no one else could even leave a ten foot radius?
4. Why didn’t we at least find out ANYTHING new about the Army of the Dead?

No one talked during the entire episode. UGH

After that battle, assuming any Dothraki stayed in Essos, they aren’t getting on ships again for a long, long time. Cannon fodder.

[Sophomore]

Anyone else have to turn all the lights off to watch it in the dark because almost the entire episode was in the dark? With the lights on it was hard to make things out for a while there.

Same

[CptZoogs]

Unpopular opinion - while I thoroughly enjoyed this episode/battle (even with the deaths - poor Jorah 😢) and liked it better than the Battle of the ****s, I still think the Battle at Hardhome was better. I found it more entertaining, and it was like the first time you got to see a major battle with the white walkers and wights, along with the Night King.

Hardhome was the bomb.  One of the best episodes of the whole series.

[jpotter33]

Arya. Never would have guessed so I got that part wrong but they did defeat the night king in the episode and the Starks all lived.  No truly major characters died either. Strange episode

Yeah, definitely a strange episode, but I liked it. The Arya thing was so unsuspected, and I really liked the Red Woman angle. You have to think that Bran knew the outcome the entire time, right?

That said, I do find it a bit strange and contradictory that they handled the White Walker threat before Cersei. I feel like the entire arc of the story was pushing the narrative that the White Walkers abd Army of the Dead were the true focus and greatest evil that they would face, so it seems strange to end with Cersei and have the battle for King’s landing be the final storyline that ends the show.

The books and show is called the Game of Thrones.  The Night taking was never landing in the throne so he was never really the focus

I mean, the books aren’t titled Game of Thrones, though, only the first book is. They’re called A Song of Ice and Fire, which seems more focused on the White Walkers/long night issue than political issues. And while I’ve only read part of the series so far, it certainly seems much more focused on the threat beyond the wall rather than the “game of thrones”.

Perhaps that’ll be the difference between the books’ ending and the show’s ending?

[nickagneta]

Arya lived in Winterfell and knew every deserted hallway, room and path. I have no doubt she would be able to circumnavigate her way to the Godswood without detection.

[LarBrd33]

Weirdly I think that was the worst episode of the series.  I can say that comfortably.

[jpotter33]

One other thing - outside of the Night King stuff, we didn’t get any other white walker fight scenes at all. That was disappointing, as I thought that was some of the better stuff in previous episodes/battles, especially the sword fight scenes.

[LarBrd33]

Anyone else have to turn all the lights off to watch it in the dark because almost the entire episode was in the dark? With the lights on it was hard to make things out for a while there.

I get they were going for something, but I thought that was poor direction.

[green_bballers13]

Weirdly I think that was the worst episode of the series.  I can say that comfortably.

Interesting take. I thought it was awesome. There were a ton of little parts that I liked, including the Mormont girl and undead giant, the distortion caused by the weather, Melisandre's return/exit, the Night King bringing Tormund back to life, etc. I thought they kept my adrenaline going for a solid 80 minutes. 

[LarBrd33]

Weirdly I think that was the worst episode of the series.  I can say that comfortably.

Interesting take. I thought it was awesome. There were a ton of little parts that I liked, including the Mormont girl and undead giant, the distortion caused by the weather, Melisandre's return/exit, the Night King bringing Tormund back to life, etc. I thought they kept my adrenaline going for a solid 80 minutes.

I mean it had moments and I get that most of it was a choice, but I actually thought the first 1/3rd was just a complete visual mess that was impossible to follow with any clarity.  You see those closeups/quick cuts in poorly choreographed action films.  I get they can only do so much with their budget, so turning everything into a grey blurry mess was maybe their only option, but I just thought it looked like trash. 

A couple fun fan moments, but actually pretty low stakes all things considered.  The biggest thing frustrating me is that they never really do a good job explaining why Bran is there... what his purpose is... why they are trying to lure the Night King... what the Night King wants... what the purpose of any of that is... why are we even bothering with this...  and then Arya out of nowhere is like "uh... ok?  so... that's it?"

It just felt like really awful direction to me.  Still fun, because Game of Thrones is always fun, but that was the worst episode of the show for me.

[jpotter33]

Weirdly I think that was the worst episode of the series.  I can say that comfortably.

Interesting take. I thought it was awesome. There were a ton of little parts that I liked, including the Mormont girl and undead giant, the distortion caused by the weather, Melisandre's return/exit, the Night King bringing Tormund back to life, etc. I thought they kept my adrenaline going for a solid 80 minutes.

Tormund? He didn’t die. Are you meaning Jon’s Crow friend and acting Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch Dolorous Edd?