[Spoilers lie within!] Rate s08e03.

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

Woo.. first to vote!

Liam O

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

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

4.

Lots of money.

Little return.

Kirby

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

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

Kirby

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

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

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

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

Tipsy McSwagger

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

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

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

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...

Nody

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

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

What did Sky say in the episode description?

bazermc

Shanotheslayer wrote: »

What did Sky say in the episode description?

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

ThunbergsAreGo

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

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.

bazermc

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Sleepy

Just to add, I'm not hating on the episode. I literally looked to Mrs Sleepy and said "again?" as soon as we'd finished it last night and did, in fact, watch it twice in a row. (Something I think I haven't done since the very first episode of the first season.) I rated it at a 7

Some of the criticisms are valid though I'd discount the "too dark" one: if you've spend hundreds on a 4K television and didn't configure it correctly that's on you imo.

TheIrishGrover

Well, I've read a fair bit of fantasy novels/series over the years and, bar the fact that it took some detours here and there, it's still turned out to be pretty standard fantasy. Especially as we now get closer to the end: The Bastard/low born/orphan/cripple/whatever who would be the long lost king. The cool ninja. The conflicted "baddie". The fairy/otherworldly/dragon lady love interest. The books and show morphed. There was less grey area: The goodies lost a certain amount of their greyness and the baddies lost a certain amount of their nuance. They are practically twirling moustaches at this stage. Character who were once people are now heroes.

As was said previously, originally these were normal mortal people: Arya got stabbed by one girl (Admittedly a trained assassin, but still). Now she's laying waste to zombies like a mini-Blade and leaping through the air and killing immortal white walkers (Nice backup crew he had there in the Godswood. Way to go, lads). Jamie is suddenly able to fight off hoards of zombies with his bad hand. F*cking SAM was killin' lads!!!!

It is a pity because, up until about the end of book three the characters were still people. I mean, let's face it, the books were never Shakespeare. But they were interesting.

OK, that comes across a bit more negative than I intended. I do enjoy the show. I did enjoy last night's episode but only as a bit of fun. I think the show looks great, the characters are enjoyable but it's still just TV. I genuinely cannot understand how Thrones is so popular with mainstream audience. The same people who would run a mile from a fantasy book are suddenly poring over the history of swords etc.


I did enjoy the bit with the Dothraki riding in and the flames slowly winking out one by one. It was very effective. (Poor choice of words )

Greyfox

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

I genuinely cannot understand how Thrones is so popular with mainstream audience.

Because simply put there's nothing else like it on TV. I love great battles and love Vikings and the last kingdom but there not a patch on GOT. epic storytelling with quality characters like Tyrion, Arya, Jamie and Cersei is rare. Overall GOT is still a very well written TV show

banie01

Killing off of the Dothraki and the Unsullied in the manner they did was very stupid from a character/leadership standpoint.

Makes Bran's precognitive ability seem a little pointless.
One does not defend a besieged strongpoint by wasteful head on assault.
Further one does not fight fast zombies in the open! In any reality.

The loss of Dany's armed strength and the salvation of the North's is IMO a plot device to allow the Lannisters forces with the Golden Company to "balance" Jon and Dany for the remainder of the war.

The elimination of the Wight threat was a bit of a disappointment in that the whole tension being directed there for 7yrs was wasted with very little payoff.
Here's hoping the battle for the 7Kingdoms is a bit more strategically nuanced!


PS.
Glad I watched that episode on an OLED!
Can only imagine how hard it would have been on a backlit LCD!

Loafing Oaf

banie01 wrote: »

PS.
Glad I watched that episode on an OLED!
Can only imagine how hard it would have been on a backlit LCD!

I watched on an OLED and much of it was still a blur for me.:( I gave it a five but on reflection that's a bit generous. Not mad on battle scenes generally and this one just went on and on, with the continuing survival of some of the key characters getting more and more risible.

Six months from now, I'm going to to do this poll again. See how time changes opinions.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Six months from now, I'm going to to do this poll again. See how time changes opinions.

In a years time you could do one about GOT across the board, and the general consensus will be that the standard dropped significantly I would imagine..

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

In a years time you could do one about GOT across the board, and the general consensus will be that the standard dropped significantly I would imagine..

Watched episodes 1 and 2 last night again with my brother who's seeing them for the first time, and he was already saying "wtf" quite a lot.

I feel sorry for him knowing what's about to hit him in episode 3.

podgemonster

Almost 80% of voters have given the episode 7/10 or greater.
Fairly consistent with the RT score of 75%. Its fairly conclusive that this episode while not perfect was generally positive and viewers enjoyed it.

And after watching it for second time last night with a cuppa tea I enjoyed even more. Looking at the screenshot stills and listening to the music Djawadi's soundtrack here at the mo and its is simply stunning.

stronglikebull

I enjoyed this episode quite a bit, but there were a few things that I rolled my eyes at.

Jon on the battlefield when the dead all rose up - should have easily overcome him with those numbers and he should be dust by now. Much like the time last season up north of the wall when he was left behind and surrounded by hundreds of dead soldiers, he shouldn't have survived that either. Guess we'll put it down to plot armor again, but they really should just plan that scene a little more believable.

Why sacrifice all the Dothraki so stupidly at the start? Bombard with the catapults first, then send them in once the dead army got closer. After all the tactical battles being fought, and previous mistakes made by all the leaders in this battle, they should and would have known better than this. Poor writing at it's worst.

The hand to hand combat scenes were very difficult to see what was going on, especially with how dark this episode was. I watched it with the lights off, brightness on the TV up and contrast edited to make it just about visible. If this was deliberate thing by the producers to make an episode - the episode that everyone has been waiting 8 years for - that can only be seen on super dooper TVs and not by anyone else, then I'm even more pissed off with them. I couldn't tell who was fighting half the time, and thought Aria, Jamie, The Hound and a few others were dead on more than one occasion.

The survival rate of the main characters. They really should have had more killed off. You would expect that front line fighters would not all survive in a battle like this, and even though this is pure fantasy, the show has always taken a hard cull to favourite characters when you least expect it. I would have thought that Jamie, Brianne, The Hound and maybe one of the Starks would bite the dust in this one.

Good end for Jora, going out protecting the woman he loves and spent the whole show serving.

Lianna Mormont - good end too, taking down a giant. Thought they might let her go on to fight more though, and maybe sacrifice other characters in her place.

Thought Bran would have done more, but it seems he just flew around a bit as a raven, and did nothing else. Didn't even see the point to that astral projection scene. Maybe it was because I couldn't actually see what was happening on screen.

Kind of a quick and sudden end for the Night King too. He didn't feature much in the episode. Glad it was Aria that got him, as it's been building to that for years now with her faceless assassin training and all. I actually thought for a minute that Bran was actually Aria, and he had sacrificed himself to her to trap the NK.

Overall, I give it a 7. I enjoyed it, it was a big fight with loads going on, but it could have been better if they had just made it that bit more realistic (for a complete fantasy that is).

Joshua J

4. Garbage.

Wailin

podgemonster wrote: »

Almost 80% of voters have given the episode 7/10 or greater.
Fairly consistent with the RT score of 75%. Its fairly conclusive that this episode while not perfect was generally positive and viewers enjoyed it.

And after watching it for second time last night with a cuppa tea I enjoyed even more. Looking at the screenshot stills and listening to the music Djawadi's soundtrack here at the mo and its is simply stunning.

Soundtrack was pretty sh!te for me and offered nothing to the episode. Which surprised me as I love the music to this show in general. Not a patch on Cersie's theme when burning the sept, or khaleesi theme from winds of winter where she's finally crossing the narrow sea.

Ragnar Lothbrok

Sleepy wrote: »

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.

I started reading the books soon after the first series on TV was repeated, and I've read and enjoyed them all. I will definitely be re-reading them after the TV series has finished.

As is pretty much ALWAYS the case, I enjoyed the books more than the TV show. However, I just love the TV show so much that I feel almost protective of it, despite the "occasional flaw"