OFFICIAL GAME OF THRONES THREAD | HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Premieres 8.21.22 | OFFICIAL TRAILER REVEALED

[second2nonee]

Should've had each one of the generals fight all the tier 2 characters. Have them raise their own army of the dead, instead of the NK raising ALL of them from outside the castle.

Each general 1v1 against Jaime, Brienne, Pod, etc...

Leaves Jon to safely solo dolo the NK. Then Arya swoops in for the save while Jon is near defeat

 

[TipsyMcStagga]

Where the hell is Howland Reed?? Thought he was supposed to make an appearance this season

 

[RustyShackleford]

Ya'll *****s talking like you'd see NK with the hands or something.

He'd wash you *****s.

Speak for yourself famb. NK don't want dis work. I got one move I know would guarantee me the W....

Spoiler: It just gotta be crushed dragonglass

 

[osh kosh bosh]

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/review-game-of-thrones-episode-3-season-8-subverti/1100-6466520/

Spoiler

Game of Thrones Season 8 spoilers ahead.
By Michael Rougeau | @RogueCheddar on April 30, 2019 at 12:44PM PDT



We were left cold by Episode 3 of Game of Thrones Season 8, "The Long Night." Below, you'll find our review, which dives into our issues with this climactic battle with the Night King and the White Walkers.

If you're all caught up and have watched the episode, check out what happened to Jon's dragon, what happened to Ghost, and our new theories based on Episode 3. You can also refresh yourself on everyone who's died this season, including at the Battle of Winterfell, and pore over all the Easter eggs and references you might have missed this week. What did you think of this episode? Let us know in the comments below, and then take a look ahead at the Episode 4 preview, which shows the forces in the north beginning to ramp up for one final battle--this one against Cersei, the Lannisters, and the Golden Company.

Through all the twists and turns over the last eight seasons, Game of Thrones has never been straightforward--until now. Season 8 Episode 3, "The Long Night," brought one of Game of Thrones' main storylines to its conclusion. The battle with the dead is over, the Night King is defeated, and the forces of the living are victorious. And it happened in the least inventive, most predictable way imaginable.

It's possible that I've been immersed in the world of Game of Thrones theories, speculating, and prophecies for too long. But that's a huge part of the fun of being a Game of Thrones fan: The books, and sometimes the show, are crafted so densely, with layers on layers of meaning and allusion, that combing through line-by-line to suss out every last secret feels endlessly rewarding. Fan communities across the internet have been cranking out theories for literally decades, even as the pace of book releases slowed to a crawl (and apparently stopped altogether at some point).

All these years of deep-digging have sometimes made it hard to enjoy the show, which is (understandably) simplified compared with the source material. But it also gives the series' biggest fans a huge amount of perspective: We can see all the possibilities for which the groundwork has been expertly laid over the years. And in "The Long Night," those possibilities all amounted to basically nothing.

Where do I even start? I guess with the fact that it seems like Game of Thrones, the show, has just missed the point of the entire series: that the squabbles between the great houses of Westeros are nothing compared with the unstoppable force of nature slowly bearing down on them from the wintery north. Game of Thrones was never supposed to actually be about the battle for the throne--it's supposed to be about the characters coming together to realize what was really important. The quintessential human fallacy, according to the brain of George R.R. Martin, is believing with absolute certainty that your personal battles are the most important fights that exist. It's a failure of perspective.

Now, with three episodes left, the series' ultimate threat died with a whimper, and its most short-sighted characters turned out to be right, their selfishness justified. As we saw in the preview for next week's episode, the survivors are going right back to their squabbles. They won the great war, but lost the thematic throughline. Why did any of this matter? To give Arya a cool hero moment? So Bran could keep doing absolutely nothing? So Theon could die pointlessly?

The litany of "whys," "whats," and "wheres" won't stop marching through my mind: What has Melisandre been doing in Volantis since last season? Where was undead Rickon Stark (or any other recognizable character) when the Stark corpses came alive in the crypts? Why was there so much foreshadowing about the crypts if nobody important was going to die down there? Why does the show refuse to acknowledge Ghost or include the direwolf in any meaningful way? Why did Jon's revelation to Dany--one of the most important plotlines in the entire series--occur right before this battle if it wasn't going to have any bearing on the events of this episode?


There's no catharsis or payoff in anything that happened in "The Long Night." Yes, it was cool to see Jon and Dany tearing through the sky on their dragons laying waste to the army of the dead with massive gouts of flame. But this episode felt weirdly self-contained, like everything that's happened leading up to it didn't matter. Every fan theory I've seen about the battle with the dead--whether it's a theory from the books 20 years ago or from Reddit last week--is immeasurably more interesting than what actually happened.

One of my favorites until now was that the Night King wouldn't actually show up at this battle--that the attack on Winterfell was a feint, and he was flying to King's Landing to roast Cersei on her throne. There was a ton of evidence for it, but it still would have been a shock. And even better, it would have fit that ultimate series theme--that the fight for the throne was a petty squabble, and the people who failed to see the big picture (i.e. Cersei) would pay a price for it. Instead, the Night King took the bait at Winterfell and died like an idiot. He took his entire race with him, and we never learned anything about them besides "White Walkers=bad."

There are so, so many things that will just never be paid off now. Dany unified the Dothraki tribes and brought them to Westeros so they could die, one and all, in a single ill-conceived charge (seriously, what was the strategy there?). What was the point of Melisandre's entire storyline--the Lord of Light, the resurrections, the Prince that was Promised? Was it really all so she could light some swords on fire and tell Arya to go stab a dude?

Even within the confines of this episode's story--Night King is just a dumb Big Bad Guy after all, he comes to Winterfell, he gets killed--there are endless more rewarding ways it could have gone down. Remember when Dany magically survived Khal Drogo's funeral pyre in Season 1? Now imagine Jon hadn't told Dany about his true identity last season, and instead she had realized there was more to him than she thought when he stepped into her dragonfire, unharmed, and stabbed the Night King in the back. Or it's Arya--but instead of nonsensically jumping onto the Night King's back, she employs her Faceless Men magic to pose as Bran. Bran stabs the Night King, removes his face, bam, it's Arya.

That's payoff. This was boring.

The battle wasn't even that cool, for all the show's creators hyped it up. Long, yes, but much of it was so dark that it was hard to read the action and tell what was happening. And all their strategies were terrible: They wasted the Dothraki in a single pointless charge, Jon and Dany flew around in the clouds doing nothing for minutes on end, and they sent their most vulnerable people underground to the place with dozens of pre-packaged zombies just waiting for the Night King to pop them into the microwave. Dany sat on the ground for no reason and didn't notice the horde of undead crawling onto Drogon's back, and the Night King and all his generals didn't hear the young woman sneaking up on them through the snow. Every single character, living or dead, acted in the stupidest ways possible. It's incredible to me that this episode was written by showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss, because it feels like it was written by somebody who's never seen the show before, much less has any understanding of the source material.

With three episodes left, Game of Thrones has pulled one of its final twists: It subverted all our expectations in the worst ways possible. We expected some real, impactful main character deaths in this episode, and it turned out the stakes weren't nearly as high as we thought. We expected some payoff for things Game of Thrones has spent seven seasons setting up, and the reality is much of it was simply pointless. And worst of all, we expected the culmination of Game of Thrones' most important storyline--the literal battle between life and death--to matter.

We expected Game of Thrones to be better. And unfortunately, the show did what it's done so many times before: It turned our expectations upside-down. But being surprised by Game of Thrones has never felt worse.

So Arya was going to kill bran and take his face, to okie doke the night king (who presumably always knows who the real brand is because the mark he put on him)?

Do better guys.

g

that article is laughable.

all his complaints boil down to, "I THOUGHT GAME OF THRONES WAS ABOUT THE GUY IN THE RUBBER MASK...AND IM MAD ON THE INTERNET ABOUT IT."

 

[hand2handking]

all i wanna know with all this prophecy talk is what happened to quaithe?

 

[VARNELL HILL]

Speak for yourself famb. NK don't want dis work. I got one move I go would guarantee me the W....

Spoiler: It just gotta be crushed dragonglass

I wonder if it works on impact like that. Cause if so Jon could have done this and saved thousands of lives when he ran up on him.

 

[IATT]

Where the hell is Howland Reed?? Thought he was supposed to make an appearance this season

only 6 episodes, cant have everything

 

[aNYone]

The previous 3 eyed raven was stuck in a damn tree with an elf protecting him there was absolutely no danger for the NK

All series long he avoided exposing himself to direct threats but walks into an obvious trap with victory within reach?

I’m not with it, **** seemed silly and way out of character.

The entire world isn’t Westeros. There’s several continents on “planetos”. The NK couldn’t track the 3 eyed raven before now he could.

 

[macbk]

Silly question, but Benjen is donezo right?

Should've had each one of the generals fight all the tier 2 characters. Have them raise their own army of the dead, instead of the NK raising ALL of them from outside the castle.

Each general 1v1 against Jaime, Brienne, Pod, etc...

Leaves Jon to safely solo dolo the NK. Then Arya swoops in for the save while Jon is near defeat

I'm actually good with not having seen Jon square up with the NK. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Jon fan. But for some reason I'm not about him always being a hero.

 

[osh kosh bosh]

So do we just completely disregard seasons 5,6, and 7 as minor distractions? And disregard every single time we've been told "these fights for the throne don't matter in the large scheme of things"? Those words and scenes were written by the SAME writers. Hardhome, the episode that's supposed to show us how important the WW threat is, doesn't even happen in the books (and was a great addition by the writers)

the night king was an extistential threat to bring all the heroes together. It did that? What more was left to do?


Dude, think about every great war in history, humans beings come together to face an existential threat and when the battle is over...they go back to squabbling.

its actually extremely realistic.

the show has to end with the HUMAN drama not with silent dudes in rubber masks.

 

[extraordinary swag]

Where the hell is Howland Reed?? Thought he was supposed to make an appearance this season

probably saving him for when Jon inevitably tells everyone else about his heritage

Speak for yourself famb. NK don't want dis work. I got one move I know would guarantee me the W....

Spoiler: It just gotta be crushed dragonglass

I was hoping for a dragonglass bomb or something. Those are the gripes yall aren't talking enough about. Their battle strategies were TERRIBLE but all everyone cares about is the lack of a damn sword fight with the NK

 

[shogun]

Where the hell is Howland Reed?? Thought he was supposed to make an appearance this season

He was? They don’t really need him now. sam and bran already revealed the info he knew to Jon.

 

[Barbados Slim]

plenty of legit gripes in this article. The one part I disagree with is when has the NK shown any knowledge of the throne? Or Kings Landing or caring to go there? He said it was a ton of evidence the Night King was headed around Winterfell to go to Kings Landing instead to kill Cersei. I must have missed ALL of that in the show.

I think people for whatever reason can't come to grips with the fact the show might be a hell of a lot LESS deep than they thought it was. Being mad your popular theory was squashed doesn't mean the show is bad. And there's still three episodes left, idk bout yall but my hopes for this show didn't ONLY rest on the outcome with the Whitewalkers. I've seen enough zombie shows and movies, a mindless evil is not entertaining to me. I prefer the character drama.

I'm one of the people that were a bit disappointed in the last ep but I agree with what you're saying. The NK never showed any interest or even knowledge of KL. It was built long after the Long Night, so idk what evidence they're talking about either. And again, wtf is it with people thinking all Targs are fire proof?

 

[ksteezy]

Famb NT has ruined both IW and Endgame for me. Both times during opening weekend. My jimmies are in shambles right now.

Only reason I am still going to see Endgame is because I am treating all the kids I tutor to it on Friday. Only reason I didn't see it this weekend is one of them asked me not to watch it with him. Now I gotta sit through this three hour joint, with knowing the ending.

That what I get for being nice to kids I guess

Nobodies fault but yours fam, this was one of those moments when you and ONLY you mattered, it was gonna be the Wild Wild West and every man was for themselves, wife worked at 7am Friday and we caught the 1130p showing Thursday night, I gave her the option to gracefully bow out, but she came anyways, one thing for certain...I was going with or without her...lol

You waited a week to watch it bro, you can only be mad at yourself for someone on the internet ruining it.

 

[second2nonee]

Silly question, but Benjen is donezo right?



I'm actually good with not having seen Jon square up with the NK. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Jon fan. But for some reason I'm not about him always being a hero.

Technically he's not the hero in that scenario but at least it gives him a shot at ending his arc that the show presumably alluded to. Arya still gives them their preferred ending

 

[hand2handking]

and wouldnt he be mad both his kids are dead?

 

[robtoofresco]

the millions of memes celebrating the moment means you're probably in the loud minority.

People would have made memes no matter who killed him. Or if no one killed him, memes would have been made. It’s the times we live in.

Plus, the majority

at anything that is deemed a spectacle. If we don’t

along with them without voicing our opinions, we’re being “unreasonable nerds.”

 

[ihust1e]

So Arya was going to kill bran and take his face, to okie doke the night king (who presumably always knows who the real brand is because the mark he put on him)?

Do better guys.

g

that article is laughable.

all his complaints boil down to, "I THOUGHT GAME OF THRONES WAS ABOUT THE GUY IN THE RUBBER MASK...AND IM MAD ON THE INTERNET ABOUT IT."

yea i wish he left that part out that def doesnt make sense unless bran was dead

 

[IATT]

 

[VARNELL HILL]

probably saving him for when Jon inevitably tells everyone else about his heritage





I was hoping for a dragonglass bomb or something. Those are the gripes yall aren't talking enough about. Their battle strategies were TERRIBLE but all everyone cares about is the lack of a damn sword fight with the NK

I'm shocked they had Ghost on the front lines and he made it outta there

He must have been putting in WORK

 

[second2nonee]

just hit em with the Bron "go back to your broke lives"

 

[RustyShackleford]

Nobodies fault but yours fam, this was one of those moments when you and ONLY you mattered, it was gonna be the Wild Wild West and every man was for themselves, wife worked at 7am Friday and we caught the 1130p showing Thursday night, I gave her the option to gracefully bow out, but she came anyways, one thing for certain...I was going with or without her...lol

You waited a week to watch it bro, you can only be mad at yourself for someone on the internet ruining it.

Dude miss me with this.

 

[vinotwofour]

when the crypt wights started coming out, I thought tyrion was gonna be the hero and start clapping them to prove he deserved to be out there fighting

 

[RustyShackleford]

Of all the poor planning, I wondered why they didn't ask Cersei for wildfire during their meeting (or did they, maybe I missed it)

Because if you gotta light a bunch of dudes on fire, some of that **** would of definitely helped. Plus you kinda get a better sense if she is acting in good faith if she doesn't at least give you the recipe.

 

[macbk]

Of all the poor planning, I wondered why they didn't ask Cersei for wildfire during their meeting (or did they, maybe I missed it(

Because if you gotta light a bunch of dudes on fire, some of that **** would of definitely helped. Plus you kinda get a better sense if she is acting in good faith if she doesn't at least give you the recipe.

She's definitely saving whatever she has left for her own use.