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Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Beautiful Lannister stained glass window rises in Belfast
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“The Long Night” breaks overnight ratings record for Game of Thrones and HBO!
The Night King is so happy about the ratings he may just EXPLODE
“The Long Night” was as close to a mid-season finale as a show with such short seasons could possibly get. As the much-anticipated, fiery, harrowing climactic battle in the war between the living and the dead, how did this episode do in terms of viewership?
As reported by Deadline, “The Long Night”, the third episode of season eight, was viewed on 12.02 million American TVs during HBO’s first airing, almost matching the record held by the season seven finale, “The Dragon and the Wolf”, at 12.07 million viewers.
At 12.02 million viewers, “The Long Night” is the second most-watched Game of Thrones episode on the first US broadcast. Will the final three episodes break the seeminly insurmountable record set by “The Dragon and the Wolf”? We’ll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, here’s a chart showing how season eight is, overall, ahead of the pack:
Finally, accounting for overnight airings as well as a partial streaming count, which is how increasingly more people are watching TV, “The Long Night” had 17.8 million viewers in the US. This is a new high, breaking the record of 17.4 million set by the season eight premiere, “Winterfell”, a few weeks ago. Though by the traditional first-airing broadcast metric season eight has broken no major records, it’s still being watched more than any previous season; it’s just spread out among many platforms.
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The Writing on the Wall: An Ode to Spectacle
What do we say to the God of Death? Not today.
The spectacle of Game of Thrones is famed and infamous. We can never forget the wildfire that spread across Blackwater Bay, our wide eyes reflected in Tyrion’s (Peter Dinklage) shocked horror at what the “pig shit” was capable of. We were quietly terrified when the Night King raised his army at Hardhome. We were sure that Jon (Kit Harington) might very well drown in a sea of stampeding bodies at the Battle of the Bastards because that’s the kind of show this is. Now we have the Battle of Winterfell, perhaps the biggest battle to rule them all.
What makes battle sequences tick from a writing perspective are the characters within them. It is one thing to write pure spectacle and that in and of itself is quite difficult. Ask a plethora of writers, whether they are writing fantasy, historical fiction, or even a nonfiction recreation of a battle and most if not all will note the immense difficulties that come with that responsibility. There has to be a cohesion in the battle sequences, an ability to visually construct a scene that is thrilling yet not so overwhelming that it becomes a byzantine mess. I have no desire to knock writing that is based on spectacle, for that on its own can be quiet enjoyable.
The visuals are often stunning on Thrones, accompanied always by a gorgeous score from Ramin Djawadi. It’s often a pleasure to look from one scene to the next, just seeing exactly how many screensavers you can garner from just one episode. In “The Long Night” alone there are a plethora of simply gorgeous scenes. The opening charge of the Dothraki is stunning. The shot of Rhaegal and Drogon descending through the full moon lit clouds with Jon and Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) is breathtaking. The colors of Drogon encircling a mourning Daenerys and the body of Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) are haunting in their elegiac quality.
That aforementioned sense of catharsis comes from when writers are able to focus on a character within a battle sequence. That first and foremost requires an ability to understand who these characters are. Would Bronn (Jerome Flynn) be in a particular battle? Why would he be there? How would he act besides self-preservation? Samwell (John Bradley) killed a White Walker but in spite of his bravery at Castle Black, he is not a warrior at heart. Would he be out there, stabbing wights left and right? Probably not. Would Edd (Ben Crompton), in spite of all his camaraderie-laced snaps at Samwell, save his friend’s life and die in the process? Yes, he would.
The Battle of Winterfell ended in ways that I simply did not expect, but what made its internal mechanics click from a writer’s perspective is how the writing weaved characters in and out of the technicalities of the battle sequences and largely in an organic manner. I was tense and stressed not necessarily out of the sheer “ooh and aah” of what was on the screen before me, but out of a concern that far too many of the characters I had come to know and love were going to perish at literally any given moment.
I was the most concerned for Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson). Writing-wise, Grey Worm was in an incredibly difficult position. He was, in a failure of writing to be quite honest, the only member of Dany’s armies we had come to know. He had been given a truly touching romance with Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel), a romance that had become all the more truly enriched when you remember the sheer trauma and suffering the two of them had gone through together. On a personal level, I wanted this Black love to succeed in spite of all the narrative odds that said a resounding
There were several moments when I thought that it was it for Grey Worm. At his heart, Grey Worm is a kind and honorable man with a deeply rooted sense of loyalty and commitment. He is committed to his Unsullied brethren, his Queen in Daenerys and his love in Missandei. His sense of personal attachment to them all is intertwined with his sense of duty towards them. Those moments where I thought he would die worked as the writing required. Grey Worm would absolutely sacrifice himself to light the trenches because that meant that the two most important women in his life would have a better chance at surviving to dawn. It makes sense that he would do so for a tactical reason as a military man, lighting the trenches when the men trying to do so were all falling rapidly bit by bit. I was terrified that he was going to light the trench himself and die after giving the living a better chance at making it to the next day. That’s good writing.
Lyanna Mormont (Bella Ramsey) was intended to be a one-scene character before the showrunners realized just how powerful of a character they had on their hands. The Lady of Bear Island is a child in years, but she is a fierce warrior at heart who stands shoulder to shoulder and indeed quite often, ahead of the grown men who have a socially accepted grip on warriorhood. She is a warrior who would never back down from a fight, but not for any reasons of machismo or wanting to just prove her mettle. She was in a position of leadership and she took that position quite seriously – and if she was going to lead the people of Bear Island, she was going to do it from the battlefield, goddamnit. Plenty of grown adults would have run from that giant, but not Lyanna. She knew that she could muster the strength to take down that giant wight who was going to kill countless others and she did with all of the strength she had left. It was a fitting end for a giant of a leader.
Arya (Maisie Williams) would always be at the front and center of a battle. She has been a warrior of prowess since the beginning of the series, fighting back literally and figuratively against a patriarchal system that did not have any space for who she wanted to be. So she carved out that space. She trained with the fierce Braavosi Syrio Forel (Miltos Yerolemou), she went on a terrifying journey of survival with Yoren (Francis Magee), and fought through the war-ravaged countryside with Sandor (Rory McCann) by her side. She trained to the degree of almost losing her sense of self and for a while her literal sight under the auspices of the House of Black and White and the literal God of Death. It makes complete sense from a writing perspective for her to be the character who, after facing so many variations of Death, is ready to meet its most terrifying harbinger yet head on.
In a story where the narrative was just as obsessed with prophecies and traditions as its characters, it would be Jon who deals the killing blow to the Night King. That may be what a lot of us expected, but it is not what Game of Thrones is. There are certainly plenty of questions that “The Long Night” leaves behind but the writing is more concerned with the living characters than anything else. Game of Thrones is a subversive show in many ways and it certainly challenged the audience yet again with “The Long Night”. But it may have committed its most subversive act yet amidst the spectacle, terror, and melee when a young girl who had been fighting her whole life to be who she truly is was able to become her true self in spite of all the trauma that life had seen fit to throw in her direction. Expectations and prophecies be damned.
Moments like Arya ending the Night King by the same trick she used with Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) in “The Spoils of War” work because the spectacle of it all is lifted by true character heft. This surprise would not have worked if we had not gone on this long, traumatic journey with Arya and watched her learn, fail, and grow. It would not have worked if the writers hadn’t combined those lessons, failures, and growth and applied them to her fight choreography. Seeing Arya victorious works because it combines the best of what Game of Thrones has to offer: layered character work that builds to an earned payoff and the simultaneous subversion of what we have come to expect, even from a show that thrills in writing the unexpected at most of its narrative turns.
Valar Morghulis.
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The Night’s Cast Episode 21: “The Long Night” Recap and Reactions
I don’t know about anyone else, but seeing Daenerys wield a sword (albeit shortly) was a thrill.
Episode 3 of Season 8 of Game of Thrones, “The Long Night,” may go down as one of the most divisive episodes in the series’ history — and just like everyone else, The Night’s Cast, the official podcast of Watchers on the Wall, has opinions!
This week, Petra and Samantha weigh in on the halfway point of the final season of the show and what worked, what didn’t, and how this might affect the final three episodes.
Don’t forget — The Night’s Cast is going live for Season 8! Every Sunday until May 19th, you can find us livestreaming at 5 p.m. EST on the Watchers on the Wall YouTube channel.
The podcast is available on iTunes and SoundCloud, and you can follow us on Twitter as well. Happy listening!
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Monday, April 29, 2019
“The Long Night” is the most tweeted-about scripted TV episode ever
Game of Thrones Post-Mortem of “The Long Night”
The Game of Thrones episode we had all been anticipating (and dreading) has come and gone, and it was full of action, horror, heartbreak, and triumph. “The Long Night” kept us on the edge of our seat as Winterfell’s fate hung in the balance, before delivering a victory for our heroes in a rather unexpected way. As always, the cast and crew have plenty of thoughts to share, so let’s go behind the scenes with today’s interviews and videos!
The episode’s MVP was definitely Arya Stark, but Maisie Williams wasn’t sure how fans would react to her killing the Night King. She tells Entertainment Weekly that she “immediately thought that everybody would hate it; that Arya doesn’t deserve it. The hardest thing is in any series is when you build up a villain that’s so impossible to defeat and then you defeat them. It has to be intelligently done because otherwise people are like, ‘Well, [the villain] couldn’t have been that bad when some 100-pound girl comes in and stabs him.’ You gotta make it cool. And then I told my boyfriend and he was like, ‘Mmm, should be Jon though really, shouldn’t it?’” Maybe it’s time for a new boyfriend…just saying.
Williams came around to the idea quickly, however. “When we did the whole bit with Melisandre, I realized the whole scene with [the Red Woman] brings it back to everything I’ve been working for over these past 6 seasons…It all comes down to this one very moment. It’s also unexpected and that’s what this show does. So then I was like, ‘F—k you Jon, I get it.’”
For his part, Kit Harington was willing to let someone other than Jon have the glory. “I think it will frustrate some in the audience that Jon’s hunting the Night King and you’re expecting this epic fight and it never happens — that’s kind of Thrones. But it’s the right thing for the characters. There’s also something about it not being the person you expect. The young lady sticks it to the man.”
For all of her training, Arya has never been in a real battle, and Williams had no idea how grueling it would be – but the reward was well worth it. “You try and you train but nothing can prepare you for how physically draining it is. It’s night after night and again and again and it just doesn’t stop…But the sense of achievement after a day on set is unlike anything else. One of those really tough days, you know it’s going to be part of something so iconic and it will look amazing.” That it did.
For more on Arya’s big moment, head over to EW.
EW also brings us an interview with Carice Van Houten, whose character had a significant role in the Winterfell battle as well. Van Houten wasn’t sure where Melisandre’s storyline would end, but she admits she didn’t have high hopes. “I had a bit of a feeling it was not going to end well for me. I was a bit emotional. I really like that we finally know what she came for, and it’s the end of her journey. ‘I can go now, my work is done’ — without it being really dramatic. It’s a life that’s been hundreds of years that’s come to an end now.”
We don’t know much about Melisandre’s story, and Van Houten wishes the show could have explored it more. “I would have liked to know a bit more about her past. Because she was a slave. It would have been a nice moment to show she is human and connect her to to others. As an actor it’s more interesting to play doubts and secrets. And it’s nice to tap from your own s—. I wish we knew a bit more about her s—.” Perhaps we will find out more in the books?
As to how the series ends, Van Houten is unsure of how fans will react. “People have had so much time to make up their own story. I guess they become attached to something they wish or fear for. Some will be surprised. Above all, they’ll say that it’s over. It’s a pretty f—ing unique show, let’s face it. This is freeing in a way. You need to jam in life a bit. Now I’m going to try another instrument.” It seems the best way to view the finale is with an open mind – much easier said than done of course!
Read the rest at EW.
One character who didn’t have a pivotal moment last night, was Samwell Tarly, who was just trying to survive. Actor John Bradley doesn’t mind, though; he tells Esquire that “you need a character like Sam to represent the man on the street, because then that contextualizes all of the threats and all of the stakes. You need a Sam for Jon Snow to make sense. In order for Jon Snow to appear above and beyond the regular guy, you need to see the regular guy. And as much as a lot of men don’t like to admit it…Sam’s coping with it is probably how they cope with it.”
Even thought Sam is a “regular guy” and not a warrior, he felt a responsibility to stay and fight. “He wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if Jon or anyone else died while he was safe in the crypts.” As he sees the woman and children heading to those “safe” crypts (ha), Sam “decides that these are the people he’s fighting for. He decides to fight for his own sense of duty. I think that’s a really powerful moment.”
Like Van Houten, Bradley is also unsure how the audience will feel about the show’s ending. “One word that I always use to describe how people feel about the show is satisfying. Happiness isn’t something that this show goes about too well, because they’ve never bothered about keeping an audience happy. So when people say, ‘Am I gonna be happy with the ending?’ It’s like, well, maybe not. Because everybody’s got a different way that it wants to end.” Truer words were never spoken.
Check out the entire interview here.
Speaking of ends, Ser Jorah Mormont met his during the battle. Iain Glen tells the Making Game of Thrones blog that he “went through a real range of emotions” when he read the script. He admits he “felt at peace with it. Because in some ways Jorah has been offering himself, his life, to Daenerys for six or seven seasons. So there was a completeness to it.”
In the episode prior to Jorah giving his life, he gave Daenerys advice – to make amends with Tyrion and win over Sansa. Glen explains, “Whatever you say about Jorah, one of his good qualities was that Dany’s best interests were always paramount…Jorah realizes that people do need to compromise and come together. He’s very persuaded that Tyrion has Dany’s best interest at heart. He trusts him. With Sansa, he’s trying to encourage a unified front and stop any instinct Dany might have to separate herself. He feels quite strongly that’s not the way to win the war.”
On a personal note, tragedy almost struck Glen in real life as he filmed his final fight. As he was rehearsing on set, he received a message from his wife. “She was in the hospital — she had suffered a brain hemorrhage. The nature of it, after it was all said and done, means it’s never going to happen again, and she’s fully recovered, but I was completely on the floor at the time, a total mess. And of course there was a connection with Emilia, who I know has spoken publicly about her medical issues, and she was brilliant, and she, Miguel [Sapochnik] and [executive producer] Bernie Caulfield told me to go, get on a flight.” Thankfully his wife pulled through and he was able to finish his scene two weeks later.
For more on Jorah’s journey, read the full interview at Making Game of Thrones.
House Mormont lost another member (and the last one we know of) last night, as Lady Lyanna fell during the battle as well. Bella Ramsey doesn’t mind, however, since she got to go down fighting. She tells Making Game of Thrones, “I was so excited to get going and full of gratitude to even be asked back. I didn’t expect it. So when I read Episode 3, I was shook. But in a good way.”
Although filming the battle was difficult, Ramsey rose to the occasion. “Intense is an understatement. There were weeks after weeks of night shoots in very cold weather. It was one of the toughest things I’ve had to do, but I love a challenge so I’m not complaining. There were these massive wind machines, tons of fake snow falling, lots of battle cries, and a mass stampede of people…It was thrilling, for me as an actor. I was completely immersed in it.”
As Lyanna died, Ramsey states that director Miguel Sapochnik helped her imagine what her character was experiencing in that moment. “And then the battle cry. That was the best bit. I had this song in my head which we sing at church quite often which goes, ‘There is victory in the end, your love is my battle cry… every giant will fall.'” She may be gone, but Ramsey has no regrets. “If you’re going to die on Game of Thrones, at least die well. That final scene took ages, lots of green screen, lots of long night shoots, but it’s all worth it. RIP Lyanna.” RIP indeed, fierce little bear.
In this week’s “Inside the Episode,” David Benioff and Dan Weiss break down the climactic battle between the living and the dead.
The next two videos are from HBO’s website and are only available in the United States. In “The Great War” several cast members discuss their characters’ roles in the battle.
In “An Act of Love,” Emilia Clarke and Iain Glen share their thoughts on Jorah’s death (keep the tissues handy for this one).
“The Game Revealed” is a fascinating look at the incredible efforts by the cast and crew to bring Game of Thrones biggest battle to life.
What happens now that the Army of the Dead has been defeated? Check out next’s week preview below!
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Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3 “The Long Night” Written Recap Round-Up
‘The Long Night’ has come and gone, but one thing’s for sure: Criticism lasts forever. Heading into this roundup, I had a distinct feeling that this would be the most divisive episode yet. And reading over the reviews, boy was I right. For some, it was the action-packed epic it was promised to be, and nothing ill can be said against it. For others, it was a massive letdown, in which the lighting played no good part.
Every week, I’ll be deconstructing the multitude of reviews out there, boiling them down to one short summary sentence that will perfectly encapsulate what the original author was saying, no questions asked…and by that I mean that I will deconstruct whole essays down to one sentence apiece. What I will do is attempt to summarize the original review as best I can, and if my tease whets your appetite for their style of review, you are encouraged to head over to their site and let them know…after of course letting us know your thoughts in the comments below. All squared? Jolly good, let’s dive in.
Here at Watchers on the Wall, we encourage you to ‘Always Support the Bottom.’ This naturally extends to your support of our editor-in-chief Sue the Fury, and her ‘Sullied recap’ of the episode, in which her background knowledge of the books informs her perspective on the episode. Once you’ve done that, you would do well to support our peerless Oz of Thrones‘s ‘Unsullied recap,’ in which his fearless determination to avoid reading the books has outlasted all others, continuing on for 8 full seasons. After this, you can check out what these Internet critics thought of ‘The Long Night’:
Akhil Arora, Gadgets 360 – In which he thinks that if you don’t think too much, the moment works quite well.
Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone – In which he does a deep dive into climactic killing of the Night King and why it fell flat for him.
Alex McLevy, The A.V. Club – In which he states the surviving members of this conflict were almost comically limited to identifiable characters.
Alyssa Rosenberg, The Washington Post – In which she calls it a visual comprehensibility problem, whose persistent technical devilment culminated in what feels, at least on a first watch, like a nearly unmitigated artistic disaster.
Dave Gonzales, Thrillist –In which he argues the crypts end up being the least consequential thing in the episode, unless it was a way to set up a Sansa/Tyrion opposition to the upcoming Targaryen rule.
David Malitz, The Washington Post – In which he thinks that all things considered, this was a pretty straightforward episode without any left-field twists and turns.
David Rosenblatt, Squinty Overanalyzes Things – In which David – Hey wait, that’s me! I wrote this review. No free peeks. Go check it out!
Erin Keane, Salon – In which she thinks there was more than a solid hour of fighting between the living and the dead, some stretches more relentless than others, but punctuated with highly satisfying moments.
Hillary Kelly, Vulture – In which she says that this time we get the deus ex machina we deserve.
James Hibberd, Entertainment Weekly – In which he calls the relentless and mammoth battle a super-sized series of setpieces that never wore out its welcome and generated constant dread and nerve-wracking suspense.
Jeremy Egner, New York Times – In which he believes the episode exceeded all expectations.
Joanna Robinson, Vanity Fair – In which she questions whether Lyanna really needed to die.
Josh Wigler, Hollywood Reporter – In which he goes over why the deaths matter.
Julia Alexander, The Verge – In which she says that there were few mic-dropping one-liners, but the number of people who could deliver those snarky comebacks was literally cut down, and most of the rest of the cast didn’t have the breath for wisecracks
Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture – In which she tallies up the dead.
Kelly Lawler, USA Today – In which she found the battle deadly, beautiful, and disappointing.
Kim Renfro – Business Insider – In which she goes into detail on details you caught and details you missed.
Laura Hudson, WIRED – In which she questions the necessity and truth of prophecies.
Laura Stone, Hey Don’t Judge Me – In which she fittingly sends up the heroic Ser Jorah Mormont.
Lauren Sarner, New York Post – In which she goes over how the dead characters will inform the living characters’ forward momentum.
Lindsey Romain, Nerdist – In which she whittles down the characters to select the MVP of the episode.
Mark Perigard, Boston Herald – In which Bran telling Theon was a good man was the emotional highlight of a bloody, brutal episode.
Michael Rogeau, Gamespot – In which he thinks the long years of expert groundwork amounted to basically nothing.
Mike Bloom, Parade – In which the Battle of Winterfell is reported in the Westeros World News.
Neela Debnath, Express – In which, despite his gripes, he thinks there was never a dull moment and this is how you make a compelling, narratively cohesive battle sequence.
Rob Bricken, io9 – In which he notes that while the battle was incredibly epic, it was not quite perfect.
Ron Hogan, Den of Geek –In which he thinks the Dothraki torches being lit, only to be quickly extinguished was a brilliant shortcut to avoiding a lot of difficult horse combat.
Sarah Hughes, The Guardian – In which she says that the moment the Dothraki flaming weapons were extinguished was both emotional and beautifully shot by director Miguel Sapochnik, despite the show’s failure since Khal Drogo’s death to give even a couple of Dothraki individual personalities has long been one of the show’s biggest flaws
Sean T. Collins, Rolling Stone – In which he praises the half-masterpiece that leaves us lingering with a “What happens next?” problem.
Soumya Srivastava, Hindustan Times – In which she enjoyed the episode but feels the victory feels cheap at the end considering we didn’t lose any main character.
Todd VanDerWerff, Vox – In which he looks at the six winners and six losers of the episode.
Tori Preston, Pajiba – In which she acknowledges that truly satisfying everyone all the time is basically impossible.
Verne Gay, Newsday – In which he crowns it an exhilarating and a spectacular technical achievement in its own right.
Thanks for joining this week. Whose reviews did you love/hate, with all due respect of course, and as always?
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Unsullied Recap, Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3: The Long Night
Spoiler note: The discussion in this post is primarily for non-book readers (book fans can discuss the show-only here). We ask that all Sullied book-readers refrain from posting any mentions/references to the books in the comments here, veiled or otherwise. No spoilers, at all! This show is best viewed without knowing all the surprises beforehand or afterwards, so please be respectful of your fellow fans. Thank you!
How do you even begin to recap that episode? Wait… how do you recap that episode at all? Which dragon was that? Did Jaime just die? Was that Beric? Who just got stabbed?
I’ve been concerned about the lighting since we found out about the 55-night shoot. But if the story is that the NK and the Frozen Cadavers show up at Winterhell at night, then it is what it is.
What I do know is that if you are not a Lord of Light worshipper yet, you should probably reconsider your priorities. Join a man for a Long Night…
Lets be honest… I don’t know how any of them survived.
The Cold Before the Storm
Lots of movement. Not a lot of dialogue. The episode sets the tone from the beginning with intense music while some frantically make last minute preparations while others ponder their existence.
Sam’s hands are cold. Lyanna shouts orders (hell yes). Tyrion reluctantly heads to the crypts. The rest watch over the wall or stand on the battlefield waiting on the first signs of the impending doom. How many of them will be left, if any?
Ghost!
The Unsullied surrounding Winterfell were really a sight to behold. Dany and Jon watch over a hillside ready to find the Night King and attack by air.
And then… RED VELVET!
Melisandre lights up a Dothraki fatty, tells Davos she’ll be dead before the dawn, and before they even get a good toke in, they all go dark.
You gotta know you’re in a buttload of trouble when the same Dothraki who tore through the Lannister army during the Loot Train go down immediately to the AOTD. This is probably when my brave ass would have found a good horse and started trotting south. Sayonara MF’s!
But visually, that symbolic fire-to-darkness was actually one of my favorite scenes. Jon apparently wanted to wait for the NK to arrive. But Dany having seen all of her Dothraki faithful bite the dust in a matter of minutes is ready to take action.
And then, Winterhell broke loose.
When Dany and Drogon swoop in and light the first line of arctic ambassadors up, we get a sense that maybe there is hope. But it would go south from there pretty quickly, which is coincidentally what I was begging everybody at Winterfell to do the whole damn time, Cersei and the Golds be damned.
The Storm
At this point, it’s just a matter of which character we know and love is going to die first. I still don’t know how as many of them made it out as they did. The magic of television, I suppose.
Someone forgot to tell Jon and Dany that flying a dragon in a blizzard is not an ideal weather condition, but they try it anyway. Do dragon wings freeze up?
On the ground, it’s just utter chaos. Brienne. Jaime. Sam. Jorah. Clegane… all just fighting for their lives, and us at home holding our collective breaths.
The first major casualty was Edd, right after he saves Sam.
At the request of Arya, Sansa heads down to the crypts which is a sign to everyone down there that things above are not going well.
Brienne and Tormund begin commanding everyone fall back to the castle and Lyanna orders the gate to be opened to allow reentry. Worm and the Unsullied stand to protect the retreat where I was fully prepared to see him die next. Instead, he backs up and orders the trench to be lit and struggles with the decision to pull the bridge knowing that he is leaving his Unsullied brothers to die.
Davos signals to Dany to light the trench, but blizzard conditions. So, they try to do it with arrows which fail because of, you know, blizzard conditions.
RED to the rescue! The Lord of Light lights it up again. And the Hound REALLY retreats.
Back down in the crypt, Tyrion is itching to be up where the action is but Sansa wisely reminds him that there is nothing he could do. Sansa tells Tyrion that he was the best of them and goes on to say that a marriage now wouldn’t work out because of their divided loyalties. Missandei reminds them that without the Dragon Queen, they would already be dead.
This was your subtle reminder that even though a victory eventually happened, there are going to be issues with sides even after this is over. Yes… more Jon and Dany drama.
Back at the Weirwood, Theon tries to apologize to Bran. But Bran interrupts and tells Theon that he is exactly where he needs to be… home.
World War Z 2
We finally get a glimpse of the NK who orders the dead to start sacrificing themselves by laying on and smothering out the trench fire, creating bridges and leading to World War Z Pt. 2. In the meantime, Jon spots the NK on his dragon and takes back to the air to chase him down.
Once the walls were breached, I just don’t know how any of them survived (how many times am I going to say this), especially Jaime, Brienne and Pod. At one point, it looked like Jaime had four dead on him and a few seconds later he was freed. Don’t get me wrong… Im happy he made it. His presence will definitely make the eventual meeting with Cersei more intriguing. But come on.
Ok. Enough nitpicking. For now, anyway.
As the dead encroach, our hero Arya gets to work smashing everything she sees much to the amazement of Davos. The only thing that could get the Hound back in the game was to see Arya in trouble as she had saved him earlier with an arrow shot from the wall.
One of my biggest fears for all of them were the giant wights. Unfortunately, it was the brave Lyanna Mormont who would get the misfortune of meeting one of them first. And it didn’t go well. In her final act of heroism and even after her insides had been crushed, Lyanna stabbed the giant in the eyeball with dragonglass, killing it instantly. RIP Lady Mormont.
In one of the most iconic scenes, Jon and Dany find the NK in the air and get hazed with blue fire. The two dragons flying above the clouds during their search in the moonlight were beautiful.
Arya somehow finds herself in a library that Sam is NOT in, but instead is full of dead people. In one of the more terrifying sequences, Arya finds herself on the run (the scene from the trailer, no less) and eventually crashes through a door where Beric and the Hound are standing. Beric throws his lightsaber to save her life but also leaves himself unarmed. Dammit… this would be the end of the great Beric Dondarrion.
Velvet makes it clear that the Lord of Light brought back Beric to serve a purpose and that the purpose had been served (to save Arya). Then, she reminds her about the “eyes” comment. Brown. Green. BLUE.
The dead begin to encroach on Bran while Jon and the NK battle dragons in the air. The NK is knocked off Viserion as is Jon off of Rhaegal. And when Dany has her chance… Dracarys. Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, it doesn’t work.
But Jon sees his opportunity to go after ol’ blue eyes himself. Of course, the issue is that blue eyes can raise the dead surrounding him and Jon never makes it. When the dead start rising all around the castle, the general reaction from everyone was, “we’re fucking toast.”
To make it worse, the dead in the crypts rise as well and now all of the women and children are as good as gone. Tyrion and Sansa share a sentimental moment realizing that they are both about to perish. Maybe they do end up together after all, and it is considered a betrayal. But that’s just some worthless Oz conjecture for ya.
As Dany lands to save Jon (who then runs to save Bran), Drogon is piled on by the dead knocking Dany to the ground. Drogon is forced to fly off just to survive and Dany is aided by Jorah.
Meanwhile, Jon does everything he can to get to Bran while Theon does everything he can to protect him. But Jon cant get there due to the ice-fire-blaster Viserion burning the joint down.
Whenever the Djawadi piano music hits in GoT, be ready for tragedy. In this case, Jorah goes down fighting like hell and Theon goes down on a suicide run at the NK. Both gave their lives. Both redeemed. Fuck this show anyway.
And just as Jon is about to get freeze barbecued and Bran is about to get NK’d, Arya jumps in like a wolf to attack ol’ Blue Eyes. When he catches her in mid-air, I was sure she was done. But Arya drops the dagger into her other hand and plunges it into the NK. He shatters. The dead all drop. And the Great War is concluded.
With her job fulfilled, Velvet walks among the piles of bodies, drops her necklace, and quickly dies of old age as Davos looks on.
Poetic. Haunting. Tragic.
Episode 803 Personal Awards
Favorite Quotes:
“Stick them with the pointy end.” -Arya
“At least we’re already in the crypt.” -Varys
“Fuck off! We cant beat them.” – Clegane
“Brown eyes. Green eyes. BLUE eyes.”
The unspoken “I’ve always loved you” by the dying Jorah Mormont.
Favorite Sequence: Way too many to pinpoint. So much of it was visually stunning. I’ve already watched it twice and really can’t wait to watch it again.
The “Ow, That Shit Hurts Award” goes to: There were plenty, but Beric’s damn death by a hundred jab holes was horrible for me.
Official Season 8 DEAD Penis Count: A HUNDRED THOUSAND
Death Toll: Jorah, Beric, Red Velvet, Lyanna Mormont, Theon, Edd, Qhono, and the Night King with all of his groupies.
Overall Thoughts: The expectations for this episode were so high that there was no possible way it was going to meet everyone’s expectations. But for me, it did. To truly understand how incredibly difficult it had to be to film this at night over an extended period of time and to even get close to getting the lighting right without making it look like there were spotlights everywhere is really astounding.
That said, it was difficult to follow at times. But hell, it should have been. Thousands of dead people invading should invoke chaos. And on screen, it looked chaotic. Yes, there were plenty of television’s magical “happened to be in the right place at the right time to save someone” sequences. But I’m not going to take a dump on something that had me on the edge of the couch for an hour and twenty minutes and felt like a movie over a couple of lucky coincidences.
I’m probably most pleased with the fact that it was neither Jon nor Dany who killed the Night King. It was f’in Arya!
What are your thoughts? Share them below and let’s discuss. We ain’t got many left.
Until next week, hang out and stay awhile. Invite a friend to join us. And may there always be peace in your realm. –Oz
Follow Oz on Twitter.
**SPOILER NOTE: The Management of this fine site would like to remind you that spoilers (book or leak) are not allowed in Unsullied posts. This includes spoilers covered by code or otherwise. Personally, I appreciate feedback from Sullied and Unsullied alike, so long as they do not include any type of hinting or conversation related to the written verse. However, spoiler coded comments do tend to lead to further Sullied conversation and for that reason, we ask that you please refrain from posting any SPOILERY content whatsoever in Unsullied posts. Thank you for the coop, ya’ shits. -Oz
The post Unsullied Recap, Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3: The Long Night appeared first on Watchers on the Wall.
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The sound engineers on Knightfall explain how they bring history to life (WiC Exclusive)
Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3 “The Long Night” Recap
Tonight on Game of Thrones, we were treated to the most intense 80 minutes of television ever. Ever. So buckle up, friends, because no one’s getting any sleep on this Long Night.
Spoiler Note: This is our book reader’s recap, intended for those who have read the A Song of Ice and Fire series. The post and the comments section may contain spoilers from the novels, whether or not that material has appeared on the show yet. Because no, we are not all Unsullied now. If you have not read the books yet, we encourage you to check out our non-book-reader recap, by Oz of Thrones!
Right off the bat, watching the episode, I wondered, “Does anyone else feel like throwing up or is it just me?” And then I saw Samwell Tarly and thought, “Oh good, it’s not just me.” I can see Sam shares my anxiety about the upcoming battle. Director Miguel Sapochnik (and his always-amazing DP Fabian Wagner) pulls us right into the terrifying shit with Sam and Tyrion in Winterfell with a beautiful tracking shot. Preparations are underway, with the army of the dead just outside the walls, and the tension heavy among the living. Everyone is very very still and waiting. It’s haunting, and I can barely breathe. My stomach hurts. (Hey, wait, there’s Ghost! That’s a nice happy thing, right?)
Then, a rider emerges from the darkness, and we’re all expecting something terrible- but no, it’s just Melisandre! As usual, arriving at a strange time and giving everyone a heart attack. The fire priestess brings the mojo just when it’s needed, turning every arakh into Dothraki versions of Beric’s flaming sword. The first charge is ready to fight the dark.
Davos isn’t so pleased to see her though. They have unfinished business on account of her torching Shireen. But she shrugs off his crankiness with a prophecy (self-fulfilling as it turns out): she announces she’ll be dead before the dawn.
The Dothraki screamer attack, led by Jorah, is impressive (and gorgeously filmed- they’re really bringing the cinematography eye candy) but easily beaten back, with the fiery blades snuffed out. They thought they were ready, but can you ever be ready for a horde of zombies? I mean honestly.
The army of the dead arrives and dominates the defenders of Winterfell, with our brave heroes looking beaten down pretty quickly. Jaime saves Ser Brienne from a gruesome death at wight hands, just before Daenerys swoops in with dragonflame to save them all. On Rhaegal, Jon scopes out the situation and spots the row of White Walkers nearby. He’s getting good at handling his mount, but the Walkers use the cover of snow to confuse Jon in midair.
With the battle getting ugly, Arya sends Sansa down to the crypts with dragonglass and sage advice: “Stick ’em with the pointy end.” Ugh, my heart! It’s okay, I already knew this episode would destroy it. It might as well be with a sweet moment.
In the godswood, Bran awaits his destiny with Theon guarding him, while Jorah, Jaime, Brienne, Tormund, Gendry, the Hound, and others hack their way through the undead. In the thick of it, Sam is nearly killed by a wight, but Dolorous Edd saves him. His relief can only last for a moment though as his old Night’s Watch friend is killed just then by a wight.
In the crypts, Sansa finds a group of scared women and children accompanied by Tyrion- an awkward reunion, to say the least.
Jon and Dany discover how difficult it is to fly their dragons in battle with the White Walkers throwing the skies into wintry chaos, while below the fighters are forced to fall back and retreat into Winterfell’s courtyard, leaving the Unsullied to guard the walls outside. The army of the dead attack the trench posts where they can, while Arya picks off wights with her fiery arrows. The living aren’t doing so hot; it’s only a matter of time.
Grey Worm is sweating under his helmet; he gives the order to light the trench, but Dany can’t see the signal due to the snowy air. Improvisation is needed; aren’t you glad now that we have a fire priestess around! Even with all her abilities, Melisandre nearly fails though. It’s nice to know there’s still something human in her that falters when she’s confronted by the zombies attacking. But she succeeds, and the trenches alight, buying them time.
The Hound can’t handle the fire; he retreats from it, as usual. PTSD is a real bitch.
In the crypts, Tyrion argues in favor of going above to help; after all he might be able to, using his mind. Sansa thinks that’s a crap plan, and that the most heroic thing they can do is be truthful. Truth in this case includes acknowledging their marriage, with Sansa pointing out why it won’t work. Missandei gives them a good stinkeye and reminds everyone they’d all be dead without Dany.
Bran is his typical eerily calm self as he waits in the godswood. Theon takes the opportunity to try to apologize, but the Three Eyed Raven isn’t having it. Everything Theon did brought him back home, so it’s all good. But now Bran is checking out, for a timely dose of white eyeball/ravenvision time.
The trench was a great plan- it bought them enough time for, say, a bathroom break? But the Night King is here and is saying, “Enough of that!” He directs his army to lay down on the trenches and form bridges, rendering the barriers useless. The wights quickly swarm the walls, and now the battle is truly begun. There is no retreat. There is no being saved from this.
Watching Gendry panic, seeing the wights crawl up the wall, I was absolutely positive he was goner. (Wrongly, as it turns out.) All the dragonglass weapons are shattering around them. Hapless souls fall to the wights, Jaime and Brienne fight at each other’s backs. Sam almost dies again, but Jorah saves him- his father would be so proud of him. But humans are dying everywhere, so badly outnumbered in the battle.
Huddled off to the side is the Hound, shaking from the trauma of the flames, just as he did at the Blackwater. Arya bursts into the courtyard, chopping and twirling through the undead. Beric tries to rally the Hound into action. Arya takes on a crowd of wights, but even she looks like she no longer is excited to be facing Death itself. That spark of arrogance is gone, and that’s what’s really frightening. Seeing her in trouble, the Hound finally jumps into the fight.
Meanwhile a David and Goliath (or Lyanna and Macumber) showdown happened in the courtyard, and I don’t like it one bit. This is the point where I started gasping and then cry-laughing because goddammit. Goddamn. This girl. This amazing person.
We saw an undead giant in the season 7 finale- we knew it was inevitable, a great weapon for the Night King to wield. And wield he did, on Winterfell and one of its smallest but fiercest warriors. The wight giant knocks aside several men killing them. The injured girl pulls herself up and runs at this massive thing, screaming. He scoops her up, and he’s crushing her, killing her (it’s killing me), and then- she fucking kills the bastard, dragonglass in the eye.
They both fall to the ground, dead. I am absolutely wrecked at this point.
The battle is in the skies now, with Viserion attacking his siblings and their riders. They’re holding their own though…for now.
Arya has run into a challenge: making her way silently through the Winterfell library overrun with zombies. It’s like a game of Frogger, jumping from row to row, trying not to get nailed. She makes it out alive, but the tension in that scene and the long run from the library nearly killed me. Seriously:
JESUS FUCK I CANT TAJE ANOTHER HALF HOUR OF THIS #GamefThrones
— Sue the Fury (@SueTheFury) April 29, 2019
Back to the crypts where everyone is very quiet but still alive! Someone’s a-knock-knocking on their door but judging from the screaming, don’t answer.
Beric and the Hound are cruising for bruising in the halls of Winterfell, and luckily they find one in the form of Arya needing a hand with a brawl. Arya is saved, but Beric’s last life is lost when he takes several wounds. They manage to get him away, but just long enough to bring him to a room where Mel is. Isn’t that just like R’hllor? Bringing his followers together for one last laugh.
Melisandre isn’t worried about Arya killing her though. Prophecy, remember? Arya will shut different colored eyes include blue ones. Blue eyes, get it? Arya gets it! Okay, good, we’re on the same page here.
The Night King is coming for the godswood, via his wights picking off the Ironmen, while he and Viserion personally tear up Jon and Rhaegal. He has that damn Olympic-caliber javelin with him so we know he means business. Jon hits the ground, but soon so does the Night King, exposed for Daenerys to take her shot.
DRACARYS!
Except…it doesn’t work. The Night King is unscathed by fire, not a surprise to anyone who has seen what a White Walker can do to fire. They weren’t sure whether dragonfire would be different- now they know. It’s useless.
Faced with the threat of the javelin thingamabob, Dany and Drogon retreat. Reckless as ever, Jon makes a run for the Night King on foot. But the Night King is too fast.
HE raises all those who have fallen- every Unsullied, every Dothraki, every Northern soldier.
Lyanna Mormont. Dolorous Edd. Qhono, that one really hot bloodrider.
Oh, and the SKELETONS IN THE CRYPT! I TOLD YOU!
They’re tearing up the place, the innocents in the crypt, the wights in the gods wood (you go, Theon!), the monsters all over Winterfell. It’s nightmare central. This is a straight up horror movie and I honestly can’t take it. Somehow I went from sitting on the couch to crouching on the floor in front of the TV, shaking. When the hell did that happen?!
Drogon is being attacked by wights, downed to the point where Dany is on foot and about to become zombie chow when Jorah swoops in and saves his khaleesi! Drogon flies off to save himself briefly, while Jorah and Dany kick some ass- yes, our queen can handle herself sufficiently with a sword when need be.
In the godswood, Theon has no more arrows. So he fights with his bow. He’s a goddamn hero.
Jorah slashes away, taking more hits, and some deep ones, as he defends Dany.
The crypts are sheer hell, with women being torn up. Sansa and Tyrion share a tender unspoken moment, pull out their dragonglass and run.
Vierion lands in the center of Winterfell, and starts blowing it all to hell with his blue flame.
Our favorite warriors are fighting, but losing is inevitable now. Jon, Jaime, Brienne, Pod, weeping Sam, Theon, they’re fighting to the last.
Bran waits, as the Night King arrives in the godswood. He returns to himself to see the end of Theon, and tells him he’s a good man. It means the world to Theon, we can see.
Theon makes a suicide run at the Night King who kills him quickly.
Jon looks for a chance at Viserion, but doesn’t find it. The blue-eyed dragon is unstoppable.
The Night King is on Bran, approaching him as he did the other Three-Eyed Raven. It seems like this will end the same way. But then- just over his shoulder- a leaping woman, Arya diving for him.
But the Night King turns to catch her! And I was convinced, completely, in that moment, that she was done for. But then Arya drops her Valyrian steel dagger into her other hand and aims low, for his heart, the place where the dragonglass penetrated so long ago to create the Night King.
And he shatters. Every White Walker shatters into ice and every wight drops where they stand. Viserion’s flame dies, and he’s gone.
Standing by Dany, Jorah drops to his knees- and falls to the ground.
Survivors around the castle stand in awe of what has happened, gazing at the now-still dead.
As he dies, Daenerys weeps for her protector, who has traveled with her for so long, from so far away. Drogon curls himself around Dany to comfort her.
Melisandre leaves the castle, and makes her way through the dead as the skies lighten. Dawn is coming.
She pulls her necklace from her throat, as Davos watches. In a way, he’s always been the one who sees her for what she really is, isn’t he? With her true age coming upon her, Melisandre dies.
Stray Thoughts
My main reaction, in general:
I'm still shaking jesu fucking christ almighty fuck fucking fucing motherfucking jesus fucker #gameofthrones
— Sue the Fury (@SueTheFury) April 29, 2019
Bring Out Yer Dead: Who died in The Long Night? Melisandre, Jorah Mormont, Theon Greyjoy, Beric Dondarrion, Lyanna Mormont, Dolorous Edd Tollett, Qhono the bloodrider, The Night King (and all his sons, and every damn wight everywhere!) Big Curtain Call week, y’all.
Theon’s Last Stand: Beautifully done. Bless Alfie Allen and everything he brought this underrated role and performance, all these years. He was graceful, to the very end.
Blue Dragon Down: I loved the totally terrifying chaos that Sapochnik brought in the direction, it reminded me of modern war movies like Black Hawk Down. It was disorienting but deliberate, scary and very well done.
Djawadi’s piano returns: Djawadi has said before he rarely uses piano in GoT but when he does, boy it packs a punch. WaterTower Music has uploaded the track online already- it’s called “The Night King.”
Overall Rating: 9.5/10 (Not a 10 because sometimes it was a little confusing in some details like where the hell did Gendry and Ghost go, but that’s a pretty minor quibble shhh numbers are arbitrary just have fun)
The post Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3 “The Long Night” Recap appeared first on Watchers on the Wall.
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