Game of Thrones - And Now Our Watch Has Ended!

[May Day 10]

It was an army that attacks only at night and brings blizzard conditions, against a foe, who's primary defense is a massive amount of fire.  It will be tough to see.

I watched some of it a second time.... and not being all strung out, worried about characters dying, trying to make out faces, which dragon was which, etc... it was a lot easier to view.

It was an impossible thing to pull off.  Battle of the Blackwater set the standard.  Hardhome upped the ante and was an unexpected punch in the gut.  Battle of the Bastards was perfection, and probably cannot be topped.  I thought they did a really good job looking at all the challenges involved.  
I think if the Night King raises the dead that time, and it becomes a rout, kills or takes Bran, and a few characters narrowly escape and need to regroup in the iron islands...  the positive buzz on this and anticipation would be a fever pitch.

[eball]

31 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

It was an army that attacks only at night and brings blizzard conditions, against a foe, who's primary defense is a massive amount of fire.  It will be tough to see.

I watched some of it a second time.... and not being all strung out, worried about characters dying, trying to make out faces, which dragon was which, etc... it was a lot easier to view.

It was an impossible thing to pull off.  Battle of the Blackwater set the standard.  Hardhome upped the ante and was an unexpected punch in the gut.  Battle of the Bastards was perfection, and probably cannot be topped.  I thought they did a really good job looking at all the challenges involved.  
I think if the Night King raises the dead that time, and it becomes a rout, kills or takes Bran, and a few characters narrowly escape and need to regroup in the iron islands...  the positive buzz on this and anticipation would be a fever pitch.

 

Except that's not at all what the "real" story is about.  My opinion?  It was an epic battle in impossible conditions -- it felt "real" because they focused upon individuals rather than just large, unending battle scenes, they resolved the NK story in a fulfilling way (i.e., the culmination of Arya's training and Melisandre's prophecy), and they left enough major characters intact (while still killing memorable ones) to now address the "true" culmination of GoT -- the quest for the Iron Throne.  It wasn't perfect, but it was damn good.

[May Day 10]

to me, the Night King/WW story was not ended in a fulfilling way.

 

mind you, I don't hate it and aren't running around complaining about it all over the net.  This is actually the first Im mentioning it.

 

It was kind of "easy" and quick.  This was the main threat throughout the books and series.  I have a hard time imagining that the war with the Others is going to not be the ending of the books (with a bit of tying loose ends after).  There is a whole theme of "Your Marching the Wrong Way" when Robb marches South.  Even in the show, for those who are 'woke', there is a whole theme that all the thrones, titles, and lords do not matter.  These White Walkers and night king battled a hardy and all-wise race of Children of the Forest for thousands of years to no conclusion.  Having Arya just "sneak up" on the Night King and stab him, killing all the WW just feels like a convenient way out.  The whole theme is "this is way bigger than titles, and man forgot"... but it changed to "well, I guess this girl took care of that, I guess titles were the bigger deal after all".  They didn't develop this over several 1,000s of pages and 7+ seasons so the Night King slips on a banana peel and ends the threat at the first resistance before getting halfway out of the North.

 

Now the last half of the last season, we have the big culmination of the series with the antagonists being Cersei, a non-developed-just introduced Golden Company, and a little developed Euron.  

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by May Day 10

[HeHateMe]

No matter what, people will find a way to complain about anything.  Thought the episode was great, even better a second time. 

 

People just have unrealistic expectations, there is only so much they can do with the TV show with limited time and budget.  

[eball]

23 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

to me, the Night King/WW story was not ended in a fulfilling way.

 

mind you, I don't hate it and aren't running around complaining about it all over the net.  This is actually the first Im mentioning it.

 

It was kind of "easy" and quick.  This was the main threat throughout the books and series.  I have a hard time imagining that the war with the Others is going to not be the ending of the books (with a bit of tying loose ends after).  There is a whole theme of "Your Marching the Wrong Way" when Robb marches South.  Even in the show, for those who are 'woke', there is a whole theme that all the thrones, titles, and lords do not matter.  These White Walkers and night king battled a hardy and all-wise race of Children of the Forest for thousands of years to no conclusion.  Having Arya just "sneak up" on the Night King and stab him, killing all the WW just feels like a convenient way out.  The whole theme is "this is way bigger than titles, and man forgot"... but it changed to "well, I guess this girl took care of that, I guess titles were the bigger deal after all".  They didn't develop this over several 1,000s of pages and 7+ seasons so the Night King slips on a banana peel and ends the threat at the first resistance before getting halfway out of the North.

 

Now the last half of the last season, we have the big culmination of the series with the antagonists being Cersei, a non-developed-just introduced Golden Company, and a little developed Euron.  

 

 

 

 

I'm not a reader of the books so I couldn't care less about them, but I've watched the entire series three times through.  That episode and the way they ended the NK arc was perfectly satisfying -- to me.

 

To each his own.

[K-9]

Question: are the people that are dissatisfied their predictions didn’t come true, the same people who complain about shows being too predictable?

[Deranged Rhino]

6 hours ago, Doc Brown said:

The inside the episode show producers said they knew for three years that Arya would kill the Night King.  

 

100%. I have to believe that's from Martin directly and how it will (would if he finishes) go in the books. She's his favorite character for a reason.  

 

36 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

to me, the Night King/WW story was not ended in a fulfilling way.

 

mind you, I don't hate it and aren't running around complaining about it all over the net.  This is actually the first Im mentioning it.

 

It was kind of "easy" and quick.  This was the main threat throughout the books and series.  I have a hard time imagining that the war with the Others is going to not be the ending of the books (with a bit of tying loose ends after).  There is a whole theme of "Your Marching the Wrong Way" when Robb marches South.  Even in the show, for those who are 'woke', there is a whole theme that all the thrones, titles, and lords do not matter.  These White Walkers and night king battled a hardy and all-wise race of Children of the Forest for thousands of years to no conclusion.  Having Arya just "sneak up" on the Night King and stab him, killing all the WW just feels like a convenient way out.  The whole theme is "this is way bigger than titles, and man forgot"... but it changed to "well, I guess this girl took care of that, I guess titles were the bigger deal after all".  They didn't develop this over several 1,000s of pages and 7+ seasons so the Night King slips on a banana peel and ends the threat at the first resistance before getting halfway out of the North.

 

Now the last half of the last season, we have the big culmination of the series with the antagonists being Cersei, a non-developed-just introduced Golden Company, and a little developed Euron.  

 

Couple thoughts, particularly on the bolded. 

 

There are three episodes left, but it's not really half a season. It was already a shortened season of a shortened telling of a massive story that's spanned multiple books and now 8 seasons of TV. We're in the denouement now of the entire saga -- and there have always been two prominent storylines: the war for the iron throne and the Great War. As soon as Cersei made the decision not to march north, there was never going to be a way to resolve both those storylines simultaneously in one sequence/chapter. 

 

But even though the NK story is wrapped (perhaps), it doesn't mean (in my opinion of course, this is all subjective) that those themes you pointed out above are resolved. Dany wants to break the wheel (or so she says), that would make all those titles and houses moot every bit as much as the Great War would have had the dead not been defeated. The North has its mysteries and legends -- now more than ever considering the body count / lack of witnesses left, and I fully expect (however the ending plays out) for the North to be given its freedom under Sansa and Tyrion's rule. 

 

As for Arya, they did such a brilliant job with her story throughout the books and show. What did Bran say before the battle when they asked him who could kill the Night King -- "no one": 

 

 

She didn't "sneak up" on the Night King. Theon sacrificed himself (unknowingly to him, but knowingly to Bran) to buy her time to make her approach. We spent a good five minutes in the library showing how stealthy she is -- even around the dead -- not to mention the several seasons worth of her training. 

 

Just my worthless 10 cents.  

[John from Riverside]

I finally got to watch it last night....I have a 4K tv so it was not that hard to watch.  My thoughts.

 

- I was extremely pissed on what they did with the Dathraki (sp) that is in essence the "heavy horse" or cav for Dany's army and they SIMPLY SENT THEM IN TO DIE....WTF did they do this?  Besides the fact that I loved them in this series it was simply not tactically smart.   I felt the best thing to do would be to use the dragons to light up the forest (and improve vision on the battle field with straffing runs.....hold the dathraki to the side of the battle until the enemy had been engaged by the unsullied.....the flank from the side of the formation.   Whoever sent Dany's cav to just be sacrificed needs to have their head removed.

 

- I was happy that no more dragons were lost....but was really hoping that in some way the now turned ice dragon would redeem in some sort of way but it was not to be.   Something that would actually save Dany even if it did not survive itself.

 

- It feels like Dany literally lost her WHOLE army here......in the end....just like always.....Cercei is the ninja....holding back her forces and allowing Dany to give up all of hers in the battle with the night king which they won but at a huge price.

 

- Very upset that Dany lost her armies and the unsullied are more men then most regardless of having male parts removed.

[Nanker]

I'm thinking that 2 dragons > The Golden Boys. 

Urine Greyjoy will get his comeuppance courtesy of his niece, and she takes over the navy. 

Perhaps there's still an undead or two that the North team can bring to have a personal meeting with Cercei... she seemed to be amused by the one she met at the end of Season 7. 

Cleagane Bowl in Episode 5 or 6? 

 

Can't wait for Sunday night to get here. 

[Deranged Rhino]

16 minutes ago, John from Riverside said:

- I was extremely pissed on what they did with the Dathraki (sp) that is in essence the "heavy horse" or cav for Dany's army and they SIMPLY SENT THEM IN TO DIE....WTF did they do this? 

 

... It reminded me of the South Park movie:

 

 

 

They were the foreign savages of the day... 

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

17 minutes ago, John from Riverside said:

I finally got to watch it last night....I have a 4K tv so it was not that hard to watch.  My thoughts.

 

- I was extremely pissed on what they did with the Dathraki (sp) that is in essence the "heavy horse" or cav for Dany's army and they SIMPLY SENT THEM IN TO DIE....WTF did they do this?  Besides the fact that I loved them in this series it was simply not tactically smart.   I felt the best thing to do would be to use the dragons to light up the forest (and improve vision on the battle field with straffing runs.....hold the dathraki to the side of the battle until the enemy had been engaged by the unsullied.....the flank from the side of the formation.   Whoever sent Dany's cav to just be sacrificed needs to have their head removed.

 

- I was happy that no more dragons were lost....but was really hoping that in some way the now turned ice dragon would redeem in some sort of way but it was not to be.   Something that would actually save Dany even if it did not survive itself.

 

- It feels like Dany literally lost her WHOLE army here......in the end....just like always.....Cercei is the ninja....holding back her forces and allowing Dany to give up all of hers in the battle with the night king which they won but at a huge price.

 

- Very upset that Dany lost her armies and the unsullied are more men then most regardless of having male parts removed.

 

Don't worry ..  I'm willing to bet she still has an army of thousands to march south 

3 minutes ago, Nanker said:

I'm thinking that 2 dragons > The Golden Boys. 

Urine Greyjoy will get his comeuppance courtesy of his niece, and she takes over the navy. 

Perhaps there's still an undead or two that the North team can bring to have a personal meeting with Cercei... she seemed to be amused by the one she met at the end of Season 7. 

Cleagane Bowl in Episode 5 or 6? 

 

Can't wait for Sunday night to get here. 

 

The finale.   The war will be won then Danny and crew will go into KL to deal with Cercie and then the Brothers will battle it out.  

What is Dead May Never Die  The Northern armies faced death and triumphed.  

 

The living won't cause then fear.   

[John from Riverside]

2 minutes ago, ShadyBillsFan said:

 

Don't worry ..  I'm willing to bet she still has an army of thousands to march south 

Coming from where?

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

43 minutes ago, John from Riverside said:

Coming from where?

the magic of cinema of course.   

you see what appears to be a total annihilation yet the next day hundreds more are ready to fight. 

 

I had also suggested the remaining houses of the North that may not have gone to the aide of Winterfell will appear in their support.  

Is there a House Baratheon?

There are still the Greyjoy's, House Tarly, House Tully, House Arryn, and House Reed aka Crangomen. 

 

There may also be the following point some may have forgotten about

 

 

The Iron Bank intends to support the strongest faction in Daenerys Targaryen's invasion of Westeros. 

 

Securing Riverrun would have Dany a route to ferry her soldiers back to Dragonstone. And with Tyrion’s charm, the series of victories could have helped convince the Iron Bank to invest in her, cutting off Cersei’s main source of funds—and potentially won over the remaining Ironborn and River Lords. She’d have a supply route stretching from Casterly Rock—should she want to hold it, she has the men—to Riverrun, and from there to Dragonstone. With Varys’ little birds and a small army of sellswords serving as spies, she could track Cersei’s army, crippling their supply lines with strafing, hit-and-run dragonfire attacks as it marches. If the Ironborn try to sail to the other side of Westeros and attack Dany at Dragonstone, she’d have enough troops to defend it from landing attacks and dragons to punch holes in any blockade.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by ShadyBillsFan

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

 

 

“The Long Night,” or the longest ever “Game of Thrones” episode, was watched by 12.02 million viewers during its initial broadcast.

 

That represents almost a two million viewer bump on the previous episode, which garnered 10.29 million viewers on initial viewing, and even more than the season 8 premiere, which drew 11.8 million eyeballs on the linear channel.

 

“The Long Night,” which clocked in at a massive one hour and 22 minutes, is now the second most watched episode in “Thrones” history, behind only the season 7 finale which drew 12.1 million linear viewers. Sunday’s episode was also the most tweeted-about television episode of all time, with more than 7.8 million tweets. The new record only refers to scripted TV episodes.

 

OH and remember ....  Episode 4 · May 5, 2019  Don't celebrate to much prior to the show ...

[TPS]

2 hours ago, HeHateMe said:

No matter what, people will find a way to complain about anything.  Thought the episode was great, even better a second time. 

 

People just have unrealistic expectations, there is only so much they can do with the TV show with limited time and budget.  

Yep. Did my usual and watched it the second time on iPad with subtitles.  Despite that military stupidity of sending the Dothraki to take on the dead, it was a fantastic way to set the mood: Starting with Fear (of the unknown dead army), hope (when Melisandre lights the swords), absolute dread, as the swords are extinguished and a handful of Dothraki (and Jorah) return...awesome stuff!

 

Sometimes it's the little things that leave an impression on me.  As I mentioned, I really liked that quick shot of a Whitewalker turning his head and woosh of breeze (of Arya) going by. Reminded me of the shot of Ghost stirring just before John Snow came back to life.

 

In the discussion after the episode, B&W did say that the Weirwood tree at Winterfell was the same one where the Children of the Forest created the Night King.  Fitting.

 

[May Day 10]

8 minutes ago, TPS said:

 

 

In the discussion after the episode, B&W did say that the Weirwood tree at Winterfell was the same one where the Children of the Forest created the Night King.  Fitting.

 

 

in the creation flashback, there was a mountain

 

 

which was the same here, apparently viewed from the other side when they went beyond the wall last season

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by May Day 10

[DrDawkinstein]

3 hours ago, May Day 10 said:

to me, the Night King/WW story was not ended in a fulfilling way.

 

mind you, I don't hate it and aren't running around complaining about it all over the net.  This is actually the first Im mentioning it.

 

It was kind of "easy" and quick.  This was the main threat throughout the books and series.  I have a hard time imagining that the war with the Others is going to not be the ending of the books (with a bit of tying loose ends after).  There is a whole theme of "Your Marching the Wrong Way" when Robb marches South.  Even in the show, for those who are 'woke', there is a whole theme that all the thrones, titles, and lords do not matter.  These White Walkers and night king battled a hardy and all-wise race of Children of the Forest for thousands of years to no conclusion.  Having Arya just "sneak up" on the Night King and stab him, killing all the WW just feels like a convenient way out.  The whole theme is "this is way bigger than titles, and man forgot"... but it changed to "well, I guess this girl took care of that, I guess titles were the bigger deal after all".  They didn't develop this over several 1,000s of pages and 7+ seasons so the Night King slips on a banana peel and ends the threat at the first resistance before getting halfway out of the North.

 

Now the last half of the last season, we have the big culmination of the series with the antagonists being Cersei, a non-developed-just introduced Golden Company, and a little developed Euron.  

 

 

 

 

Dont dismiss Arya as just "this girl". She's a highly skilled and trained assassin, probably moreso than any other character we've seen in the show considering that has been her entire story arc since the beginning. She has been training for this moment since Ep 1. She has studied under numerous legendary tutors. She leaves a path of dead in her wake.

 

The NK wasnt killed by some girl. He was taken out, in the middle of his own crew, by ARYA M&*$#-F$%#ING STARK.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

4 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Dont dismiss Arya as just "this girl". She's a highly skilled and trained assassin, probably moreso than any other character we've seen in the show considering that has been her entire story arc since the beginning. She has been training for this moment since Ep 1. She has studied under numerous legendary tutors. She leaves a path of dead in her wake.

 

The NK wasnt killed by some girl. He was taken out, in the middle of his own crew, by ARYA M&*$#-F$%#ING STARK.

 

 

Arya   = 

 

[DrDawkinstein]

 

9 minutes ago, ShadyBillsFan said:

 

 

Arya   = 

 

 

 

For real tho. Check out this knife flip...

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by DrDawkinstein

[Doc Brown]

2 hours ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

... It reminded me of the South Park movie:

 

 

 

They were the foreign savages of the day... 

That actually crossed my mind when watching it.  The Dothraki are known to be great fighters on horses so sending them first makes sense as they can cover a lot of ground.  They just didn't know what they were really up against.