bs. there are millions of boring 'good human guys vs evil monster' movies. That's Hollywood trash. GoT was always something better because of the lack of black and white , for the human, all too human.
@@JapanischErfahren Yeah, but people were hoping for the Night King to not just be another 'evil monster', that he actually had a purpose and a plan in mind other than just being the bad guy who wants to kill everyone. But nope, guess not.
Not only was this season bad, but it retroactively removed GoT from pop culture entirely. This show used to be what everyone was talking about, now, the only time it is brought up the only thing people ever focus on is how bad season 8 was.
This really can't be understated. It's actually quite incredible how possibly the biggest show in history just vanished from everybody's minds seemingly overnight.
@@LirylCrovyn , not to mention looking creepy as heck with how he looks when he's supposably "seeing the past". It makes the scenes when Littlefinger gets executed much more dumber. Arya: You Littlefinger are sentenced to death for the conspiracy of my father's murder and attempted assassination of my half-brother John. Littlefinger's defense team: Objection! Who does this girl have to collaborate these accusations? Arya: Why my little brother Bran Stark. You see, despite looking immobilized and like some creepy introvert, he can see the past. Littlefinger's defense team: The defense rests, Knights of the Vale. F-Off show....
I think there was a great opportunity missed. Ditch Assassin Spice/Girl power Arya for the ending scene. Instead have the Night King approach Bran's wheelchair. Bran looks up with his bland expression. Then, Bran's face contorts into pure rage and his finger starts tapping the tiny bell on the armrest of his wheelchair...Ding...Ding...Ding...BOOM!!! Cut to Jon Snow, "I win!"
Yeah. Except it wasn't supposed to be f*cking Buffy 🧐 Grrrr. 🤣 Haha. What a let down. I'm glad I don't get overly invested' in modern corporate entertainment or I might be annoyed, rather than slightly disappointed. Most writers today don't have the requisite talent to sustain a coherent narrative over a 2h movie, never mind extensive, and sustained, world building over an 8 season show.
This is why a decent ending is important, it doesn't need to be great, just decent. You can kill a franchise with a bad ending. Mass Effect to this day still haven't recovered from that abysmal ending, even after going to another galaxy to run away from it.
I am pretty much convinced that Martin is in such a shock about how terrible this ending was, that he needs to reconsider the ending. I mean not all of season 8 would be as it shall be in the books. But some of it
@@skowollon84 Imagine seeing your 10 year masteeplan be executed by someone else and it's miserable. I'd need some donuts. And I bloody don't eat donuts xD
it may be that the ending of the books is very similar to the ending of the TV series, which is why the books will never be finished. They have had their critical reception and to release them would damage any of the writers further works.
This is all an elaborate scheme to goad GRR Martin into finishing the books by embarrassing him with this atrocity of an adaptation that will tarnish his legacy.
when they said s7 and s8 will be 7eps and 6eps i was like wait a min dany just left essos and there still cersi and nk how are they going to deal with them cuz these 2 characters deserve a season each to deal with them but apparently the plan was to kill the big bad in his 1st battle and they have the balls to call the ep the long night more like the long hr smh
I’m so glad I waited to see if people liked how it ended - BEFORE I ever watched any of it. I learned my lesson after being so terribly disappointed with LOST. Then, I saw what happened with The Sopranos before I watched it. I thought I would wait with GOT, too. Yeah - Whew!
Seriously there was a plant growing at the end in the last scene lmao...what a joke winters are supposed to last years and be super deadly especially this coming one...and it felt like the weakest winter I've ever seen...canadas springs get more snow than that.
@@Vipre- yeah,but he and the WW were build up from the first scene of the first epidode to be the most formidable and feared entities ever. 8 years and 7 seasons of build up for nothing
I was still in denial then...it didn't even lose me when Jon did that stupid shit and got knocked in the frozen lake...hell it didn't lose me when they botched the entire Dorne retardfest of a storyline...but now my rose-tinted glasses are finally off...they fked up the entire show, all 8 seasons got destroyed with just one episode, it has been getting worse and worse the last 3 seasons and culmination is still yet to come...I feel bad for the ppl who invested themselves into the show like me...hell I even feel really bad for the actors who gave their best only to be served with this crap story at basically the very end...
Melisandre: "Stannis, you need to sacrifice your daughter to make fire." Stannis: "Really? You don't have any alternative way to make fire?" Melisandre: "Nope. What do you expect? That I'd have the ability to just make things catch on fire at a distance with absolutely no consequences or restrictions? What a ridiculous idea...."
@@sskspartan Stannis died in Season 5. Melisandre cast fire on the swords in Season 8. Plenty of time for her to learn new magic or more powerful magic.
@@SunlightGwyn Isn't she hundreds of years old? How is she going to suddenly learn much more powerful magic in like 3 years when she couldn't do it over hundreds?
@@maryf720 also she never left westeros since she showed up there..... not liek she went back home to other red priests that might´ve had something to show/tell/teach her... no she stayed in westeros where she was the only red priest/ess
For years, I couldn't quite figure out WHY the Night King's death bothered me. I mean, the quick stab-shatter-whitewalkergobyebye demise was VERY unsatisfying....but it wasn't THAT. There was something else that I just couldn't quite put my finger on about the Night King's death that bothered me. It was only recently that I finally figured it out: WE NEVER SAW HIM FIGHT!.....NOT! FUCKING! ONCE!!! Throughout the entire series, we saw his army fight wildly to kill every person it could. Then when he finally got to his target, there was no fight. No back and forth. No clinking of swords as he fought a valiant foe. All we got was Theon clumsily charging at him and the Night King taking half a step to the side, and feeding him his own weapon. They built him up into such a powerful force, that was incredibly OP, and theeeeennnn....YOINK! stab! The end (of iceman). No fight. It was as dissatisfying as ending a fantasy story with "And then he/she woke up. The end."
I'm very happy we didn't see him fight. They would've screwed it up big time by having Jon or Arya or who knows who effortlessly dispatch him the way Jon did to every White Walker he faced.
For real his confrontation with Jon Snow was built up for so many seasons only for it to not pay off. He should have atleats killed half the cast him and have a epic sword dual with Jon.
Not really. She can be the person to kill the king but there just had to be more. Jon at least trying and failing, maybe wounding and distracting him or something
Nah, it'd be more like Daredevil killing Thanos. Daredevil's very capable on his own and can beat most any typical foe, but Thanos is WAY out of his league.
I don't know why but after John Snow died I stopped watching because it was the end in myy mind ... NO REGRETS AND I SPENT MY TIME WASTING ABILITY ON OTHER STUFF MUHAHA
This is very interesting: and absolutely spot on. I worked on this episode in Belfast, filming about 3 weeks of the 50+ days of night shoots in a freezing quarry. I worked in the physical SFX dept, so we did the fires, smoke, flaming swords, etc. I'll tell you why they only used the Trebuchet's once: because they didn't actually work that well during filming! At one point, it flung its load directly up whilst the extras were running into shot, and the flaming balls (very real) came very close to hitting someone. So, they had to cut around them, as they were established in the footage by this stage. My favourite meory of this was sitting back of set as the horsemen were all being lined up for their various passing shots, huddled around an Artem smoke machine, when I was suddenly surrounded by an entire legion of White Walkers in full make up, as they waited to be positioned into the next scene. I didn't hear them come up behind me because of the wind and storms we were filming in, and I leapt off the floor in shock! Anyway, I had a lot of fun filming this (some scenes, like the flaming pike pits, were filmed inside a studio - that was HOT!), and I thought it'd be amazing. But the way the White King was killed off so...so...well, easily; it just ruined it for me.
Props for your efforts! It's a shame so much hard work by the cast and crew went unappreciated due to the mediocre direction and writing. The visual effects that season were top, that much I can say.
The greatest part of the episode was seeing Sansa Stark save her people by hogging the only dragon glass dagger in the crypt while hiding as children were slaughtered. Her rise to queen for her bravery was well deserved.
Too be honest, Sansa is the character who has upside down in development. She showed her potential to be a manipulator in Season 4 by lying of Littlefinger for killing her aunt only in Season 5 she becomes Ramsay's toy and weak again. Then, in Season 6, she becomes the voice of the reason for Jon to take over the North from Boltons and even lying to him to call Littlefinger with the Vale armies and in Season 7, they tried to make her care to the North remains only later being Littlefinger's victim again by baiting Arya with the letter that she sent from King's Landing a long time ago and out of nowhere, she outsmarts him. And she tried to be badaas in last Season by shutting down Dany about "What will you do to the North?" Only later just be there, whining, complaining, and Boom! She's the Queen of The North. As much as I don't like Dany, but at least Dany has a lot of moments of struggling and how she develops as person while Sansa looks like a cheater.
@@margarethmichelina5146 Bran's first act as king was to betray the trust of everyone and hand the North to his family instead of uniting the 7 Kingdoms in a way only he could. All because Sansa wants to be a queen and everyone is for some reason ok with that.
Sansa was in my opinion the worst character in the show. She needed someone there all the time to survive. And she says to Arya, you don't know what I had to do to survive. Or something like that. She probably had the easiest time in the show. Bran also suck, i feel sad, that the girl who saved him, was not there at the ending. I liked her more.
@@rowanmelton7643 so, her time was harder than bran? Or Jon, or Arya, or Jaime. Who do you think was easier. Im counting the characters who go through a bigger change. So im not really counting Cersei. Who is easier in your opinion?
When you have a "go girl" on your side, what actual armies do on the battlefield becomes simply irrelevant. Anything becomes possible except perhaps good battle scene.
@D M They did that Dothraki charge because of visuals, that's it. But Dothraki can't defend static position with horses , they are attacking force and not much disciplined. They should have waited for dead to charge and then attack. But what's your plan, to put all those forces into Winterfell, really? Can they even fit in there, i don't think so. So what's the plan when dead stormed the walls like in Hardhome, ha what then?
Can we say since his father was a pure targareon that Jon CANT be burned by fire. Or can he? Why is Cercie the main baddy and not the evil as death incarnated name the Night King? Is there any continuity remaining in the story to end this well?
@@leoki4804 but Dany's brother was "pure" and he was burned when he died. And it's called game of THRONES, not game of death incarnated. It's about the throne. I always thought the white walker story was filler.
@@taylorgriffin5445 the series is called a song of ice and fire, game of thrones is only the first book. Game of thrones is just a more marketable tv show name, so no. It has always been about the white walkers coming and showing that squabbling over a chair isnt important and the realm of men must come together, like the children of the forest and the first men, to survive
@@leoki4804 jesus...no targs arent fireproof. The first time for danny was because of magic, the second time in the hut was....idk wtf that was. But targs arent fireproof
@@taylorgriffin5445 You're being very superficial with your view of the show. If the show is only about the throne, and the white walkers are filler, then literally the entire show is useless and filler. George R.R. Martin is very anti-war, the point of the story is to show that if people would work together (in this case, to fight the night king), instead if squabbling over petty issues (in this case, the Iron Throne), the world would be a better place. But the show threw that out so we're left with meaningless crap now
I was laughing with my friends at how the white walkers finally cross the wall and all die at the first place they attack. They murdered every single character arc: Brianne became a whiny little girl Aria forgot her entire list and became Captain Marvel with stealth powers just long enough to air-drop and kill the Night King Tyrion became an idiot who couldn't strategize his way out of a wet paper bag Varris became a cowardly little bumbler who Tyrion betrays for no reason whatsoever Jon Snow became 100% irrelevant to everything in the series Night King and his white walkers became an 8 year long con pulled on the audience Jamie forgot everything he learned and all this personal growth and sided with Cersi again anyway Danie completely forgot she wanted Cersi dead and decided to snap and kill random peasant families instead, just so Jon Snow could kill her The Hound became an immortal god with enough endurance to shrug off attacks from the Undead Super Powered Mountain Bran became king for no reason in the universe and provided no help at all to anyone in season 8. Sansa becomes queen of the north; there was no reason for her to be in most of season 8 at all And finally Cersi watched her city burn and decided she was tired of acting.
Everything is correct except The Hound part because that was the only part in season 8 that made sense to me, the redemption arc for Sandor, one of my favourite characters.
@@AakashSharma-qd5uo I mean the Mountain crushed a man's head just by shoving him. He was extremely superhuman so the Hound's head should have broken from one punch, and he got punched like 20 times and he was basically fine. I hate inconsistencies like that. He should have outsmarted the Mountain without taking a punch bc no human could do that
I think the characters who got the worst treatment in the last season (in terms of completely undoing their entire character arcs) were Jon, Dany, and Jamie. Jon is being built up to be a great leader and then devolves into a spineless baffoon muttering, "She's muh queen" for an entire season. Dany goes from being an idealistic young woman with a claim to the throne who has been the moral compass of an entire movement to a maniac seemingly overnight. Jamie has spent the entire show going from completely unlikable sister f*cker to one of the more noble and good characters, then they have him completely revert back to his former self and go die with his sister when it was PERFECTLY set up for him to go down in a blaze of glory as both Kingslayer and Queenslayer, killing Cersei. The story had practically written itself and somehow they undid three of the most important character arcs in the series. Not to mention Tyrion completely lost his swagger and clever lines in the last couple seasons of the show. It absolutely sucks how they ruined this show. It went from being a show you recommended to everyone to a show you don't recommend to anyone.
Yea I already started disliking the show after last season. You could already see then that they had no idea how to treat the characters. I mean, Arya didn't even actually train. She was stabbed in the gut and tossed in a gutter only to barely eek out a win and for that she was offered training and declined lol. Yet suddenly in the next season she is capable of killing an entire keep full of enemies. So cringy. It sucks too because she was my favorite of the Starks. She went from a level headed honorable person, surviving despite the harsh world she was thrown into only to become an arrogant, unlikeable Mary Sue that is suddenly infallible.
Nope , they had source material they just did not bother , look at Dorne and Iron Islands plots for that . Also no Mummer King either . They are just streamlining it and stripping away everything , the mysticism around the lord of light , the others , Varys , Lady Stoneheart . They clearly just want it to be done .
To be fair, the GRRM source material since 2000 hasn't been that great either. He's slow-walking the release of the next book for a reason -- he has no idea how to end this thing.
"Oh, drunk heathen Northerners with their superstitions... Oh, your army has been decimated and you're marching south? Well, you still have two dragons, so I guess you'll win... What? You want us to teach our children that you defeated the Great Evil? And if we don't, you're burn us alive with your dragons? Insecure, much? What, we can't question your fighting the Great Evil? Questioning the Great Evil will be a beheading crime for wrong think? What are you talking about?"
Exactly, the white walkers didnt do shit to Westeros. Even people just down in the riverlands have no idea, and Cersei was right all along in not going 🤷♂️ really she saved lives by not sending her forces there
I will only tell you this: i actually started watching the episodes(season1) again 2 days ago with my father, and i wanted to skip every and any scene with the Night's watch/the wall/wildlings you name it. Any scene that had anything to do with wight walkers used to be suspenseful and interesting, now i just wanna skip it. Show ruined , real long night begins until the old man finishes the books.
To paraphrase: “Well, we built Jon up to be the hero who would face the Night King. But to subvert everyone’s exceptatiins, we decided that Arya should do that instead, because of all the foreshadowing.”
Looks like the writers hove no idea how defensive castle sieges work, "Hey I got an idea let's put all of our defenders and defences outside the castle walls" "hey I have another Idea, let's copy Ramsey's failed tactic of charging when we have the defensive advantage" "hey I have an idea, let's not put any archers on the wall" "hey I have an Idea, let's not use boiling oil,and other useful castle defences" "trebuches and catapults outside the castle walls? GENIUS!" Phalanx = wall of shields - "lets put wall of shields IN FRONT OF WALL OF STONE! UNBELIEVABLY INNOVATIVE! STUNNING AND BRAVE!" "Did you know that swords can penetrate a steel breastplate?" "No, but know that I know I will add it into the show, and whenever someone grazes plate armour, they will also cut through the layers of chain mail and layered cloth, making sweet, sweet blood squirt all over the battlefield!" "Did you know that you can use light cavalry as shock cavalry?" "No, but now that I know, I make these light weight barbarians charge into the bulk of the enemy forces, what a clever idea, AND SO INSPIRING!" "OOH! Mr. Dragon can napalm/ carpet bomb undead? Fuck that, lets blindly chase each other in the clouds for a few hours." "Bigboy Giants can bash through our gates, do you think we should reinforce it? Remember Castle Black? Remember BATTLE OF THE BASTARDS JOHN SLOW? Don't worry, this pint sized grumpy girl can stop whatever comes through the gate because ZOMBIE giants are secretly ENJOY killing and vaingloriously look at their victims up close." "Here is another logically infallible idea, what if Sir Brienne of Fokin' Tarth (a glorified body guard, not without merit) commands a major section of the army over Jaime Fokin' Lannister, who has first hand experience leading troops offensively, and defensively?" "OWEN WILSON WOW! that must be our most innovative idea yet, I twirl my pretend mustache at my own intellect!" Visually stunning, but undeniably stupid episode.
"Hey how should we have them defend the magic raven boy? Should we get a large number of men to make a phalanx around him?" "Nah just get some fucking archers and spread them out." "Well, you'll add some swordsmen too for when they run out of arrows right?" "Psh, why the fuck would we do that?"
Great post. It's funny when some posters object to anyone using common sense and logic in their criticism, since the whole series is based largely on elements of fantasy - dragons, white walkers etc. But while we're all willing to suspend reality to a degree in order enjoy this type of show, there has to remain some level of logic and sensibility. "Vaingloriously look" - loved that.
@@jimrb67 Precisely, the show (and book) is based heavily on our own classical and medieval history, and it is quite grounded despite some of its fantasy elements. The story has established that the same rules of historic warfare apply in GOT, they have just added fantastical elements. It shouldn't be, by any means, controversial to make any of the critiques I have made. The show even hyped the defensive capacity of Winterfell, in season 2 by Theon Greyjoy himself. And its not like there weren't a good number of defensive tacticians in Winterfell. From characters who planned defenses, to characters who fought defensively, it's theoretically stunning to see (within the story) the defensive tactics implemented, and the defensive tactics not implemented.The true fault goes to whoever wrote and planned out the episode. It was either a display of spectacle in spite of reason, or it is simply ignorance. Glad you found the post entertaining.
and that is what is most annoying. on at least 3 occasions they have shown us that they understand basic battle tactics.....so why ignore them on your biggest battle? Entirely sacrificed reason for the sake of spectacle.
@@kerbe3 hey we have this magic raven boy and he is litterally the primary target and we already know that NK likes to kill 3 eyed ravens himself and we know that we have this assassin chick that can kill NK....so shouldnt we send Bran somewhere far away from all the people so NK doesnt kill them all trying to get to Bran? Nah screw that noise there must be blood!
The perfect tactical disposition of troops before a middle age combat has always been: first front line: unprotected cavalry, second line artillery you can't use because the cavalry is to close, third line infantry to protect the artillery once it has been destroy. And last line the huge walls of your castle (why would you be protected inside it when you can fight unprotected outside?). Cesar invented it!
If you kill enough of your own troops, you'll win a moral victory over the enemy. The bad guys will feel like they're fighting special needs soldiers and surrender out of guilt.
season 1: winter is coming season 2: winter is coming season 3: winter is coming season 4: winter is coming season 5: winter is coming season 6: winter is coming season 7: winter is so close... season 8: winter is h- oh its gone see you in ten thousand years
Nathan Warnes the battle of winterfell was long enough but they could've dragged it on for longer with other battles. Imagine how cool it would be with the White walkers trying to take out all these other castles slowly parading down to kingslanding and idk
Two words: fan service. That’s what the writers and show runners thought they were doing with Arya killing the Night King. And maybe some “fans” did enjoy it.
Remember when the riders of Rohan were about to charge outside Minas Tirith and King Theoden gave that speech? Everyone got goosebumps. Why can't anyone write a script anymore?
this really needed something like that to happen. maybe the Dothraki weren't even there yet since they were coming back from High Garden or whatever. and they arrive in the morning to out flank the army from the rear. it could have been triumphant. but no. just ride blindly into an army of dead ice zombies. great.
It should have been Jon. But in a real fight with a smug overpowered NK. And Jon would lose but could stab him in his last breath. That would be a victory under a great loss. GoT-style... Or better kill Jon earlier by the NK. Then revive him with all the other Zombies. Later before NK kills Bran, let him have his mighty Soul moment or Bran getting in his head so he kills NK as a zombie and dies again. So many possibilities!
The white walkers could hear drops of blood in the library, but couldn't hear Arya running, screaming and flying through the circle of white walker guards to get to the Night King?
She didn't scream until the final second. And she did that on purpose - she expected him to hear her and disarm her. But, her "dancing instructor" from season 1 taught her to make him think you're going to go left when you're really going to go right. Plus, the music was pretty fucking intense out there, vs being silent in the library.
“she expected him to hear her and disarm her” What? As opposed to stabbing him in the back? That makes no sense on any level, and if her plan was to be heard and disarmed, it would have failed had he just crushed her throat instantly. Or just parried. Or moved. All of which were entirely possible, but he didn’t do for plot reasons.
@@taylorgriffin5445 She didn't know nothing about NK, so she bet her life, that guy who want everything dead doesn't instantly kill her ? Good tactic ? Maybe she should spend more then year in bravos, or maybe somebody should resurect mr Forel, so she could train with him more then few months ......... Really nobody wonder why is she such killing machine ? On that battlefield there were thousands of man who had more combat and actual battle experiences and more training then she had. John snow trained every day + he fight few wars he didn't spend years traveling and years in captivity
Watching Game of Thrones is like going to a Hibachi Steakhouse and being seated in front of a masterful chef whom has no rival in performance or culinary mastery. The exquisite commanding of both crowd and knife as they entertain the crowd around the grill. Perfectly timed flips and twirls of sharp tools and even sharper wit presenting the most tasteful and beautiful morsels of food in appetizers and entertainment. The seated guests are amazed and enthralled with every passing moment, each one as special and tasty as the one before it. Money and time truly well spent! As the chef prepares the main course the sight and smell of the final dish sets an amazing precedent of what's to come when it finally enters the mouth... but to everyone's surprise the chef reaches behind and appears to grunt out a wet shit and throws it across the food. Not missing a beat, the chef does it again, and again, until the piles of shit smother what remained. The chef continues to prepare the shit-smothered food with the same dedication and skill as with the previous dishes and appetizers, apparently oblivious to how offensive the material is now to the customers. The customers are wide-eyed looking at each other with confusion, filled with shock, horror, rage, and disappointment to realize that one of their greatest experiences was forever ruined by this obvious blatant act of betrayal, and even more shocked that this chef is still doing it with the same seriousness as presented before. Then as the smoldering pile of "what used to be good but is now covered in shit" monstrosity is served to each customer, the chef removes their hat and uniform, folds it neatly and places it on top of the grill, lights it on fire in front of everyone and happily skips away leaving the restaurant.
This show is the very definition of "Its not about how you start, its about how you finish". It went from the most talked about show to something people make jokes about
Well, her story ark was mostly completed after she killed the freys, she mostly walked around teh castle and was picking fights with her sister after that.
@Joey's steamy taint Cries for mercy Not really. It would tie in nicely with her having missed the opportunity to have Tywin killed, and Cersei was always right up there on her list.
Arya will kill Cersei using Jaime`s face. Then she kills Daenerys using Cersei`s face. Then she kills Jon using Dany`s face. Then she kills Sansa using Jon`s face. Arya is the new Queen. The End.
Writers: "Jon's a white straight male...he couldn't possibly have epic battle with Knight king." Janitor: "But sir, we've been building up to this for 10yrs?" Writers: "We're subverting expectations." P.s Arya failed her assassin training and screwed them over. Assassins guild didn't want revenge and she somehow became the greatest assassin ever. (She did train for 3-4 days so makes perfect sense)
It was not only "The Long Night" that killed 8 years of character development, there were very fewe characters that actually retained their character arc in season 8. Almost all of them basicaly spat on the face of the last 7 seasons.
George R. R. Martin set out to write a fantasy story without all the clichés and tropes typical of the genre. No plot armor for important characters, no convenient last second rescues, no evil villain that had no other motivation than being evil etc. And when the show runs out of book material, they start introducing every damn trope Martin hates! Especially the convenient last second rescue! It happened all the time in this episode! And I really hate that!
Oh they started changing stuff in season 3. Arya for example never has a scene with Melisandra at all in the books. Dorne..the most equal/free society in westeros was shit on as well as all the characters from there. I think of the TV show now as Fan fiction as it has deviated so much from the books and adds or removes characters just for there own story plot.
Yes. This isn't George's story anymore. He has barely mentioned the show since he left the production back in season 4. That tells you a lot right? I bet it's painful for him to watch.
You can't just blame the show writers for this. GRRM has pretty extensive creative control over the series and even wrote episodes for it. If he had better ideas for and ending of the Night King arc he could have forced them onto the show.
Totally - could have been an epic scene, kinda like where she kills Lord Baylish but with her instead of Sansa doing the Judge Judy as well as Executioner...damn, so many opportunities missed...
Having Arya kill the Night King could have been fine. Just have Bran suddenly stand up out of his wheelchair, stab the mofo and then take his mask off and voilà, Arya. At least then her skillset would have been applied properly. Christ.
All is lost as the Night King approaches Bran. The few people left living struggle for survival. In the background we hear AC/DC start playing... all of the sudden Iron Man flies in and vaporizes the Night King with a laser beam. Tony Stark is the Stark that saves Winterfell. This is about as random as Arya leaping 10 ft in the air and stabbing the Night King.
slight revision: The song playing is "Back in Black" and, as we see Tony land in the clearing near Bran, we notice that he is wearing Mk. LXXXVI armor that has a very distinct "Crow" feel to it with all the dark colors, feathers and fur. He scoops up a few abandoned dragonglass weapons and asks Friday for "some help with this." Friday affirms his request and the armor reforms itself to consume the weapons. Tony attempts to amuse the Night King and his merry band of white walkers with witty banter and a few awkward jokes. The Night King remains silent. The Night King is not amused. The Night King is still trying to figure out how this asshole flew into the clearing without the aid of a dragon or other magical creature. Friday, in her sexy robot brogue, notifies Tony that the modifications are complete. Tony takes a step back and smugly says, "fire." Tony's faceplate closes up. Two batteries of mortars rise and lock into place on the rear shoulder areas of the Ironman suit. Several dozen finger-sized projectiles launch vertically from Ironman's shoulders in rapid succession. The last few notes of "Back in Black" give way to the popping sound of the little bombs and the night sky is illuminated by Stark's fireworks show. The light rains down in the distinct weeping willow pattern of cluster-bombs. The bomblets explode yet again just before impact with the ground. The wights, white walkers and the Night King are all showered with tiny slivers of dragonglass. They didn't stand a chance. Tony Stark gives the crowd a smug "you're welcome" before turning, taking a few steps and blasting off into the night sky. The triumphant living spend the rest of the night celebrating, building funeral pyres and tweezing shards of dragonglass from faces, necks, hands, asses and any flesh that was not sufficiently shielded during Stark the Sorcerer's great fireworks show.
"Stark the Sorcerer? If the weirdo in the cape finds out about this, he'll never let me live this down. Or Banner. Friday, any way we can get a few ninth-grade chemistry books to these cavemen before I hit the portal?"
I would honestly have enjoyed that more. George RR must be spinning in his grave.......What do you mean he is still alive. Why the hell hasn't he released the last book?
I think Jon should have gone one on one with the Night King and lost. Just as he's about to finish Jon, Jaime comes out of nowhere, and plunges Widow's Wail into the Night Kings back but not before being mortally wounded in some way. Jon and Bran comfort Jaime as he dies, Jaime remarks "I lived a kingslayer, I die a kingslayer" Bran tells him that he had to push him out of that window to find himself here. Jaime dies, completing his character progression.
This is now canon as far as I'm concerned. I feel all warm and fuzzy knowing Jaime completed his redemption arc. A full 3 years later and I still need comment section group therapy
The writers have lost the plot. Rather than deliver a satisfying, organic story whuch wraps up 8 years of of building plot.they are focused on delivering spectacle, fan fav moments and surprises that are poorly set up.
@@mr.raslyon6626 That's what i thought was going to happen. I watched a review before the episode itself, as i don't care for spoilers that much, and it was said that she was going to sneak past the zombie guys and kill the night king. I did not expect her to jump out of the fog screaming like that.
She did it on purpose, guys...she knew she couldn't fully sneak up on him so she went with her other tactic (learned in s1) - make him think you're going left but you're really going right.
@@mr.raslyon6626 No offense but OMG I wish people would stop saying that. 1st they have no face. 2nd she has to kill them to steal their non existing face and when they die ( only way to kill them dragon glass or fire) they turn to dust and bone
Eowyn wasn't a raging political statement retrofitted to ancient times, she was deeply flawed as well. Plus she honoured family and loyalty. That's what made her such a great character.
It's like if you build up Harry vs. Voldemort for 8 movies and then in the end you don't get the epic Harry vs. Voldemort duel but instead Voldemort gets hit in the back with a killing curse from Neville or Hermoine. Brilliant writing because they "subverted expectations"!!!
Well said but one has to ask: just how does a righteously gurl-powah'ered, 5 foot nothing little poppet being implausibly badass (to the detriment of strong male characters, naturally) 'subvert expectations' in the current year?!
The issue is not really the hand that makes the kill, is the vomit inducing timing. Voldemort is the last boss, he has to escape several times and win several times too. What Got made here is kill Voldemort in the movie 5 and made the last boss the annoying pink woman from the ministery whose name i don't remember
At the end of Hardhomme, they set up a promise with Night King staring down Jon. You knew it would come to a final conflict between the two. They renege on this promise completely, letting Aria steal the moment. Storytelling 101 disaster. They also built Cersei up to one of the greatest villains of all time, only to have her do literally nothing in final season. As far as Dany going psycho, that was telegraphed from way back. You're just in denial if you don't see it.
"As far as Dany going psycho, that was telegraphed from way back. You're just in denial if you don't see it." So true. But that's what's funny about season 8, they managed to annoy everyone. People who thought Arya killing NK was cool hated Dany's turn and people who saw Dany's turn coming from a mile off thought it was dumb that Arya got to kill NK. Everyone got a little of what they wanted, and a lot of what they didn't. That's what happens when you're more concerned with pleasing people than telling your story I guess.
Dany going mad wasn’t developed properly, and it felt like she was out of character in S8. They literally flipped a switch with her, even if there was some ambiguous foreshadowing.
@@silkscrim There was nothing ambiguous about it, it was plainly obvious. I can only assume people got distracted by her boobs and didn't think her burning her enemies alive was a red flag. Dany let Drogo brutally kill her brother as she watched; burned the witch alive for tricking her; locked Doreah and Xaro in a vault to starve to death; burned Kraznys alive and stole the Unsullied, immediately using them to kill their former masters; crucified hundreds of the Meereen masters; burned one of the masters alive in front of the others to intimidate them into obeying her; burned the Khals alive to take control of the Dothraki; burned Randall and Dickon Tarly alive to force their soldiers to join her. Most of her arc is literally just her burning people alive to gain power, in what way was she out of character in S8?
@@Kydos37 wow everything you mentioned you’ve twisted into something it wasn’t lol. I guess we interpreted her actions and motivations very differently lol. And what boobs? You need to get out more
So, yeah, I get that, except he's overcome that fear of fire multiple times throughout the show. He straight up fought and killed Dondarrion while he had a flaming sword. Yes, fire scares him, but he's a warrior and knows how to overcome his fear. I'd expect fire would cause him to pause for a moment, not freeze up entirely.
Why do people not understand his motivations? TO KILL ALL OF HUMANITY. That's what he was designed to do, because humans were destroying the planet. He wants endless night and death. What more do you want? Turns out Bran stole his girlfriend years ago and he wants revenge? He's death. That's it. Death wants to kill you.
@The Man With no life Normal White Walkers are immune to fire, as well. One walked right through it in Hardhome. You’re thinking of the wights, who are the undead.
The hottest take from people who dislike season 8 is that Dany shouldn't have turned. They laid the groundwork for that from season 1 onwards, she was always a narcissistic, ruthless killer.
The Red Woman tells Arya that she “will shut many eyes…brown eyes, “blue” eyes and green eyes” in season three. The loudest foreshadow in the whole series.
I encourage you to speak up in future when you notice such things; it means 10x as much (in this area of discussion, at least) when you protest. A male tends to get labeled a nazi incel when he objects to said pandering.
@@zoopdterdoobdter5743 at least i would do. This show made me realise how female viewers might have feel when they watch a show where female characters have no plot development are treated as ovum donner, or just a love Interest and a helpless person that needs saving every single time by the hero. Its disgusting.
Holding John back? He's the whole reason this battle was possible in the first place! Was riding a dragon, slaying countless undead, dueling the Night King mid-air, coming up with the battle plans, and uniting the North, the Wildlings, and Danny's forces not cool enough for you?
Yeah. I'm a lady too and it has seemed to me for a while that they're making this show center on the females and neutering the males. So unbalanced, and doesn't feel at all authentic. I don't like being pandered to. Plus, after watching this last episode with my husband and teenage son we all ended up looking at each other and saying, well what in the hell are they going to be able to do after this? Seems like the rest of the season is going to be pretty anticlimactic indeed.
Kathleen Kennedy told Benioff & Weiss that they could have a Disney deal if they made Arya Stark the hero and John an insignificant footnote. You can see how that turned out for the show and their Disney careers.
@@johnny_thunder_1815 not sure how exactly it played out but the gist of it: they had talkings about being allowed to write star wars for disney, they decided to rush to the ending to finish fast and get to that deal, game of thrones flopped hard and their deal about star wars stopped
I will never forget when I was watching this episode. We were watching it with a friend who was not that big into the show or somethin, and right before the red lady light their swords on fire, he said in his own words, "she's probably going to give them flaming swords or something." Then she lit them on fire and we all freaked out. It was great.
They give the coolest death scene to that smug little 8 year old girl while characters like Ed, Jorah, and Theon who have been around since season 1 die like chumps. Jorah stabbing the giant in the eye to protect Dany would have been a much better and more satisfying death but D&D have a hard on for that little girl. Thank god this is the last season. If there was a season 9 all the men would be dead and the show would just have all the women standing around trying to out-smug each other.
"From my blood come the prince that was promised, and HIS will be the song of ice and fire." I guess that's just George R. R. Martin trolling us, and let that be a lesson for all the naive children out there!
Arya using Jaime's face to kill Cersei = poetic justice and the culmination of all of her training. Arya killing the Night King = weird creative choice meant to SubVeRt Ur eXPeCtaTiOnS
... you could have actually given Bran a great degree of menace during a scene where Arya murders Jaime while Bran tells Jaime about his ultimate purpose as a skin sack that'll help them kill his true love.
Yup this would've been such a beautiful round off since cersei was on her list and she'd have died at the hands of the one person she actually trusted.
I knew they were going to use arya to kill the night king since she serves death and the night king works against it by using the dead as weapons. However the fight sucked. I thought it was going to be way cooler than what happened.
I can live with Jon not being the one who kills the night king, but I am so pissed till this very day for the fact that he didn't even get to have a one on one epic battle with the Night King, I was expecting something like the battle between Hector and Aquiles and the show really teased it so many times and we got nothing
That's silly. Had nothing to do with it. This has been foreshadowed for YEARS. By GRRM. It was part of the plot. Granted, the execution of the final scene and the battle was a little absurd.
oh good another incel that hates girls. at least the whole ARYA shit was SET UP SINCE SEASON 1. This episode was fucking so stupid. The tactics of the battle were infuriating. and so fucking stupid. Then you constantly see people being attacked buried by dead people and then the next scene they are fine. they are ALL FINE. so dumb. How the fuck are they ALL FINE? they should all be dead. ALL OF THEM. It really deflated the enemy. SO easy to kill and survive. What were we all worried about all these years?
@@IDPhotoMan That's absolute bollocks 🤨. However, the episode wasn't just absurd friend, t'was FUBAR (shame I couldn't really see any of it though, but ye get ma point)... It was a monumental clusterf*ck.
@@IDPhotoMan D&D said themselves they only decided Arya would kill the NK only like 2 and a half years ago. There was no foreshadowing lmao. They decided to alter earlier quotes because they make it up as they go along.
They put their artillery outside of the castle walls, along with their entire army. They sent the cavalry out first in a frontal assault. I'm no military strategist, nor a show writer, but I would have written this battle better.
@@mattdiller6003What are you talking about? Nearly all of her prowess came from the training shes done with Jaqen Hagar in the house of Black and White. Before then she was not much of a fighter, so it would be idiotic to include those years. Like I said before, in about 2 years of training her able to complete these feats is illogical. And with this concept, Ja'qen Haagar stomps everyone in Westeros, including the Nights King.
@algogy exactly. It's so frustrating to see people defend season 8 when it was such a blatant insult to everything that made the show great, as well as basic common sense. And then the writers had the gall to blame it on the fans! Fucking disgusting.
You made a great point about the Night King and Bran not having a conversation of some sort. They should have been about to reveal or resolve something related to the 8 season build up.
That made everybody fuming. Jon whole arc was about killing that f*cker and then comes Arya who had nothing to do with that arc and killed him. What huge piece of 💩
The show is complete fan service with unlimited plot armour for main characters. Theyve lost what made the show stand out from the rest, nobody was good or evil everyone had their own motives and dreams. And nobody was safe from dying. Thanks for the honest review good sir
Jon should have died when he was surrounded by the newly risen wights. They could have at least had Ghost rush in to help him fight until he found an opening. I guess direwolves are smart when it comes to not bumbling into a situation where the odds are not in your favor.
@D M not to mention he was the mf lord of the vale with 20,000 men, and they publicly executed him because a crazy boy in a wheelchair said he seen him in his dreams. Nothing makes sense in the show anymore
@@TheJollyMisanthrope the writers dont have the balls or ingenuity to have jon be killed or to have him saved by his telepathicly warged wolf ffs. It seems so obvious to us but the writers are so inept
Yup, my G got resurrected 6 times just to throw a sword at 1 simple wight so that person he 'saved' could then proceed to kill the main villain in the most anti-climactic way possible.
Shit hurt my soul. Dondarrion is one of my favorite characters from the books & especially the show. They massacred my boy. He could have at least died protecting Bran or something.
Arya killing The Night King is honestly my least favorite moment in any fictional media. All this buildup of an undead army assembling for centuries, the real threat in the series, not selfish families squabbling over a damn throne, and a teenage girl suddenly appears and just stabs The Night King and that destroys the entire army halfway through a season! WHAT THE FUCK?! The worst part is people actually defend this piece of crap writing! Oh, wow, a girl kills the night king, why are you celebrating over such bad writing?!
I could get used to the idea that it is Arya who offs the Night King, but what really pulled me out completely was the fact that the last time we saw her before her Jack-in-the-box appearance was trapped in the library, letting go all hope. Oh wait, no. She changed her mind that - _without _*_any_*_ change of her situation and her options_ - she was not going to die after all. Was that it? I really can't be sure. There are so many convenient plot contrivances that I completely lost count before the end of the episode. Let's just settle on she comes out of nowhere that makes sense for her character. Her big skill is _infiltration,_ not teleportation. I mean, if she had put on a fallen zombie's face to smuggle herself into the White Walker army to get close to the Big Cheese, then it would not be a very poetic resolution, but it would at least not come out of complete left field. I do agree that this is very much the stupid "guess you didn't see *_that_* coming!" script writing that is in its full putrid blossom in this day and age and that gave us the priceless turd collection they call Disney Star Wars.
It's the casual fans who aren't invested in the show or books. They got cool special effects and fan service of little girls doing things that make absolutely no sense. It's a hollywood block buster.
Explain what was wrong please, other than the battle strategy (which you can nit pick battle strategy in any tv show/movie). What was wrong with Arya killing the NK? Please anyone explain, I am not just some blind fan, I have all the books and I have been invested in this show for a very long time. I would love to hear what people think is wrong with this episode, all I see is people bitching to bitch...
The red woman was built up for seasons culminating in the scene where she finds her final purpose of enflaming the cavalry swords in holy fire just to have them charge into darkness and die off camera. Nice 8 season payoff.
I remember in the break between 7 and 8 I thought for sure she went to Essos to get The Fiery Hand or whatever... all the priests of R'hollor to come and use their fire to fight the ice zombies. Nope. Sad!
Imagine building up this awesome and powerful villain for 8 years only for him to die after 1 hour of the final fight by a tiny girl who somehow ran past his entire army without them noticing her. Fck this shit dude
You were the the chosen one! it was said that you would destroy Hollywood cliches, not join them! bring balance to the entertainment , not leave it in darkness!!!
This whole season should have been fighting the undead. Getting pushed back to where the series started. They should have built up dread of losing battle after battle. All the while searching for a way to defeat the Night King, which should have been something more substantial than finding a special blade...
