The Game of Thrones Thread (With Spoilers)

Effin' brilliant! They put them on the ramparts, why not bling out the dragon?

 

Here's the latest preview... it just dawned on me that Cleganebowl is pretty much a given now, Arya killed the NK and they can't let her have all the fun.

 

Those crypts must be made out of tissue paper to let dried out bones punch through them as easily as they did.

After the episode I couldn't stop thinking that Ned probably came back too, but since he was decapitated it would have just been his head rolling around in the stone coffin, useless.

 

Not what I was hoping for. The scene in the library was very good. The scene with Arya and the red witch I liked. Several good one liners. Loved they had Arya shattering the NK. I am so glad I have my 1080p plasma TV. Otherwise it would have been impossible to follow any of the dragon battles or much of the battle scenes. The director said he purposely filmed the episode in as much natural light as possible. Must have looked great on his monitor, but on LCD it was shit. Honestly I paused it to use the can, and when I came back realized there was 56 minutes left, I thought, “how the hell are they going to fill all this time?” Just seemed like a very long 82 minutes. I just re-watched Innerstellar last week. Runs close to 3 hours. It went by faster than last nights GOT episode. What does that say? I’ll hope for some miracle episodes, but if magic was going to happen, I think it would have happened by now.

 

This is pretty good:

https://www.wired.com/story/game-of-thrones-winterfell-battle-tactical-analysis/

 

That is awesome. They could really have used some TACCOMS as well since sending a raven in the middle of a dragon/dog-fight isn't too useful. I would also say that Arya is definitely spec-ops, and more of a Delta than a SEAL as she works best solo...

 

Ah shit, you're right. That scene was jarring to watch too even as a kid but I tend to forget about it. The bad dudes just went straight up dead when they so little as touched the horses. Now that I think about it more, the battle is good up until the wall explodes (much like GoT up until the wall's breached). Nostalgia goggles at full effect for that one, my bad.

Back to GoT, I'm also having trouble with how Sam survives. Turns out lying on a sea of corpses, crying, and just spams stabbing is a good strategy.

 

He's in a group shot in front of Winterfell in the Ep4 trailer.

 

Thought they missed a real chance with the Dothraki. Charge, lights extinguished, darkness. Then the sound of riders (so we think its the survivors coming back). Nope. Horde raised (with appropriate fresh wounds etc), to crash back on the faithful at Winterfell. Would have been an epic counter-punch to the stupidity of them charging.

Enjoyed the episode though. Some of it very far fetched, but sets up quite a good finale. Much depleted North vs Cersei's army. Should be a doddle with the dragons though.

 

Awesome article. Reading this I wondered did the showrunners not call in one military expert? They should have soaked the approach to Winterfell with oil. Wait for the dead to advance into it, then light it up.

 

It goes back to your (I think it was you) previous point...they wrote themselves into a corner, Old Blue Eyes was just too damn powerful. Too many people DIDN'T die for a battle like this.

It's part of the reason I never Liked Zombie movies I think...it's almost unwinnable, & I feel manipulated feeling uncomfortable at watching 100(0) near misses, waiting to see how it can be resolved. Which 99% of the time can only be a Deus Ex.

One of the problems I had with this episode was (also was previously mentioned) you already know the "how". Kill the man with the ball - you have to off the all powerful (f'ing fire resistant) Night King. That makes watching all the near misses more uncomfortable for me because now I know how it has to end (maybe not the who does it or the specifics) so every 'almost gotcha' is just there to make me sweat.

Some great directing for sure. The Dothraki imagery was beautiful, but the strategy was indeed stupid beyond belief, but yeah the whole damn thing was shot too dark.

It did feel a little rushed in that the build up was so huge, but it really could only end one way. I would have liked to have seen a little more intelligence on the part of the living...some strategies that worked a bit better.

I mean once the castle was breached, why did they stop with the trebuchet? How about trying to kill some of the porkers trying to get into the castle?

Where was their copy of 'Castle Defense 101' anyway? No buckets of burning pitch going over the side?

Why dosen't there ever seem to be any burning extension from one dried up zombie corpse to another when they're packed so tight together trying to get over the wall?

They could have given a little sense of hope. It probably would have been more satisfying to me if it was 2 episodes...have the 1st one build the tension (it went on a little too long in the beginning before the action IMO but not horrible) then lets have the humans start off with some well thought out strategies & effectiveness before we start to loose hope. Then in the 2nd episode have things start to crumble & become overwhelmed before the final resolution.

I didn't have much of a problem with No One sneaking up on the Blue Balls. They're cocky & think they're all but unstoppable, and the whole reason Arya went & became faceless was to learn this borderline superpower assassin shit. It worked for me up until the part where she was screaming as she flew toward Old Blue Eyes...I don't think Jaquen ever taught her that.

 

I don't really care about the story failures as I understand the show writers had to adapt R. R. Martin's mess for room temperature IQ television audiences and somehow wrap it up. But this episode totally triggered my military tactics autism.

1. Who was actually commanding the defense forces? It seems like each group had their own commander, total fail in terms of tactical organization!
2. Why did they essentially suicide their entire cavalry in a frontal charge in complete darkness? Dramatic effect aside, total fail and waste of resources!
3. Why were the Unsullied in a marching formation (rectangular column) instead of any number of anti infantry formations? These are supposed to be the best spearmen in the world? They got trampled on by a bunch of zombies, total fail!
4. Considering the 85 IQ zombies can only charge straight ahead, why were the spikes and other fortifications used AFTER 70% of the fighting force was dead? I realize that the odds in terms of numbers would never mean victory for the mortals, but seriously - flaming spikes and other entrapment's with two rows of Unsullied spearmen behind them = dead undead for hours straight with minimal losses.
5. Speaking of entrapment's and prolonged engagements - WHY was there no archer support until 70% of the melee fighting force and 100% of the cavalry fighting force was dead? The archers sat on the battlements looking pretty.
6. Why were they using trebuchets, other than for cool effect during the cavalry (suicide) charge? Trebuchets are siege weapons. They were only fired once or twice, and ballistas would've been more effective.

This is all I remember for now, but totally egregious and bothered me for the entire episode. This was supposed to be humanity's last stand and they fought like clowns.

 

Comparing/contrasting battle strategies: an elf friend of mine was at Helms deep. They spent most of their time standing, unsuitably clad, in the cold wet windy Wellington winter night, without food or hot drinks provided, to be periodically shouted at by generals with megaphones to mill around a bit or run hither & yon, all for very little reward. She swore afterward that was her last ever fight for Peter Jackson.

I imagine many of the footsloggers on both sides at Winterfell would have felt the same way.

 

Don't y'all forget the white baby.

 

Who probably died when the Night King died but who knows what they may pull.

Oh, the baby survives and becomes next contest in the White Walker spinoff, the fight to be the next Night King.

 

Her brother was about to be killed, so a little emotion makes sense, even if she's more the silent assassin type.

I can't say I was overwhelmingly happy with how the episode played out, but everybody being basically useless and Arya saving the day was my favorite moment. Too many Jon Snow/Dragon Queen fanbois.