User Reviews

I've never written a review for a GoT episode, but I had to for this. The only reason I'm giving this a 7/10 is due to the monumental amount of effort the cast and crew invested into the making of this episode. The set designs, the production value, the CGI, the mammoth battle sequences, and the acting of the cast members. I can only imagine how tiring it was for the cast and crew during those 55 long days and nights. I applaud their perseverance. Yet, the entire time I watched this episode, not for a minute could I stop and appreciate their efforts. The writing was just that mediocre. The main characters were shrouded with layers upon layers of plot armour. Jamie and Podrick are backed into a corner by an army of the undead yet somehow fend them off. Tyrion, Sansa, Varys, and Gilly are trapped in the crypts with the undead yet somehow survive with only two daggers. Jon Snow gets surrounded by the undead but manages to fight them off long enough for Dany to save him. I could keep going on. The writers took the realism aspect that GoT is infamous for and tossed it in the rubbish bin. You hype up the Long Night for 8 seasons and paint the White Walkers as the supreme supernatural threat of the series only for them to be defeated in one episode without any casualty from the main characters. There were a few noticeable continuity mistakes between the transition of scenes, but those can be forgiven. You take on the huge task that was this battle sequence, there's bound to be some mistakes. The script, however, can not be forgiven. Hardhome was on a smaller scale yet I consider it leagues above this episode. It's a shame. Let's hope the last three episodes can make up for this.

I remember watching this when it came out and being let down. After the red wedding and Jon's death this felt super predictable etc etc, you can read any other user review for that take on things. But on rewatch, when fans didn't have a week between episodes to come up with outlandish hypotheses for what was going to happen in future episodes, this really felt like as close to perfect as it could have gotten. It's the most epic battle in the entire 8 seasons for gods sake! What were we expecting, the night king to be Tyrion's real father? Jon Snow to turn into a white walker only to be controlled by Bran's warging and sabotage the night army behind their backs? I think it would have been silly and an injustice to the pure, powerful storyline to have anything but a big epic battle. Also, in hindsight the fact that fans are always rooting for main characters to be killed is weird.

Anyway, I think at the time everyone built this up ahead of time to be something so ridiculously revelatory that it was always going to be impossible to appease fans. But I dig it.

"Winter is coming". Those three words had been repeated ad nauseam in the last 8 years. So much so that even people who hadn't even watched Game of Thrones recognized the phrase.

So after all this time winter finally came. And what happened? Absolutely nothing. No epic battles, no sacrifices, no impactful casualties, no hard decisions. White Walkers were brushed aside with ease in just one episode. Winter came and winter went - just like that.

By the time I'm writing this, almost 70 000 people have given this episode a perfect 10. Let that sink in - 70 000. Surely those people must have watched an entirely different episode because this mess deserves nothing more than 1/10. One of the biggest blunders in TV history.

I'll start with the regular cliché- this is my first review in IMDb. Never bothered to write one, and obviously didn't expect the first one to be for an episode of a show, even if it's my favorite one. But it's a little irritating seeing everyone letting themselves get carried with the online negative-buzz surrounding this episode, which makes them belittle the hard work that had to be done to bring us this magnificent episode, so I feel like I have to at least state my piece.

First and foremost, calm down- I had issues with the episode as well. The thing is, these issues mainly come from things I expected to see and didn't happen, and definitely not stuff like "the writers ruined 8 years of buildup" and stuff like that- which I personally don't understand. So yeah, I was expecting to see Jon engaging a little bit more in the battle and get some Hardhome/BotB type material here. More than anything I was a little bit disappointed the White Walker themselves didn't engage more in the battle. But on the contrary, a lot of things I expected were indeed delivered in this episode, and some exceeded expectations. I also had more minor complaints, like some characters seemingly surviving impossible situations and what happened to the Dothraki, which seems like a fail of logic on the strategic side. But wait- isn't the good strategic logic the exact reason the White Walkers chose not to engage the battle themselves, because if they do they can get slayed and huge chunks of the Army of the Dead will immediately get destroyed?

I'm not going to try and debunk every complaint that's ever risen to this episode, but I will just state my point of view of some of the things. Firstly, ever since the first season we saw Arya training to be an assassin. It's one of the most prominent arcs in both the show and the books, and it was all leading to a big culmination of some sort eventually. So, what are those Faceless Men basically? Do you remember all the sneaky stuff J'aquen did in Harenhall in season 2? He did much worse than 'jumping'- that's what the Faceless Men are all about, stealthy and deadly assassins. And indeed- Arya stark slayed the Night King not in a single combat, but with stealth. How would anyone get near the Night King for a single combat anyway? If someone approaches he can just do what he did when Jon tried to do that- and raise the dead around him for protection. With such a central conflict (not the most central, though!) in the most popular TV series of all times, you can expect a lot would get disappointed from who will make the final blow. But how can you say it's 8 years of buildup ruined? We had hints about this for quite some time (Melisandre and Arya in Season 3, Bran giving Arya the dagger exactly where the Night's King was defeated and several other callbacks). People say the battle ended too easily- when actually it was undoubtedly the bloodiest and longest battle in the show, and had the most character deaths from any one of the battle episodes of the show yet. It ended with one dagger-blow, yes. But you can't say the entire conflict was solved with a swoosh.

So about Jon- what about The Price that was Promised, all the Melisandre prophecies, the flaming Sword and Nissa Nissa? The most important thing is to first identify what belongs only in the books and what is on the show. You can't expect theories that showed up in the books only to come to full closure in the TV series that has nothing to do with any of them. As for the show material, it is known that Melisandre's prophecies aren't 100% accurate, but what she said did come true, if you think about it. The Prince that was Promised? Definitely Jon. He is literally a prince, and as the prophecies said, he ended the Great War. Yeah, Arya gave the final blow. But Jon united the North and the Wildlings, gathered Daenerys' Dragons and armies for support and arranged the entire defense of the north and lead the battle, right until the big victory. Again, the battle was not against the Night's King specifically, but the Army of the Dead. And with that view Jon ended the war just as much as Arya. Without him, Westeros would have been in ruins right now. So now, Instead of one arc closing, we got two (Army of the Dead and Arya's development as a warrior) that came together for a single seemingly unpredictable result for both.

Enough with the defensive now, I'll just finish with two things: I'm not even going to go to the whole "no lighting thing". This is the biggest effort a production ever went for a simple episode, and that's what some people have to say? And also, the White Walker's motives are perfectly clear, just watch the show again.

I'll end with some good things- Miguel Sapochnik gave us one of the most glorious spectacles ever seen in television or film, and in my opinions it's one of the best episodes I've seen in my life. Ramin Djawadi was brilliant as always- and kudos to the production for pulling all the effort to bring us this episode, I wish people were a little bit more appreciative. Anyway, the show is ending in a second, and when people will go back to watch all the average TV series out there I'm sure they'll miss it, even with all their nitpicking. And people seem to forget that despite what makes them 'hyped' the most- the show was always about people, and the War for the Throne. I never fooled myself even once with thinking the show will end with the War for the Dawn and was pretty surprised that many did.

You don't need to think this is a masterpiece, and I understand reasons for disappointments from many. Put don't blow it out of proportion. It's indeed a little sad to see the 8-year-old fandom falling apart, but I think people should be a little more open minded and should learn to be affected much less from negative buzz. And I definitely think in the future people will look at this episode with a much more positive light.

For most of this series now, I have avoided the toxic (and blatantly sexist) element that exists on the Reddit threads and the superfan forums. However, there was too much time to wait between this season and the last, so I grew bored and decided to read up on some of these fan theories and predictions. Boy, was that a mistake. Most of the outrage found in the user reviews of this episode seems to be coming from individuals who got too wrapped up in these threads: "What about Azor Ahai" "What about Lightbringer?" "The prophecy was never fulfilled!" After reading these threads this past year, there was always an issue in the back of my mind that never quite crystallized until now-If these are such big questions, then why has the series said virtually nothing about them? I don't understand the shock at the series not answering questions that it was never asking to begin with. It seems to me, there was a dedicated group of Reddit users who fell prey to these elaborate theories based on the books, but not at all based on the series. The disconnect only grew wider as the seasons progressed. Another big topic of outrage was the ending (SPOILER ALERT): How could Arya Stark be the one to take down the Night King? I don't find this to be much of a leap at all. She the entirety of the series training as a fighter and, more importantly, a highly-skilled assassin. That's not an exaggeration, we see her archery skills all the way back in the series premiere. I would argue that she is the only logical character to pull off an assassination of the Night King, an ending which was foreshadowed last season in the Beyond the Wall episode-"We only need to kill him (The Night King)". Granted, no one saw it happening in episode 3, but the point still stands. Enough about the outrage. Let's focus on what this episode did well, which was just about everything. It must have been a gargantuan task to try and pull off this epic battle while focusing on all of the interwoven character plot lines and arcs. The writing, pacing, choreography, and direction were all top-notch. There are some truly glorious moments in this battle that are overshadowed by a two things: 1. Yes, the lighting sucked. It was at night and there was a blizzard, but they could have done a better job communicating that effect to the audience without going back and forth between nearly complete blackout darkness and whiteout blizzard snow. Look back at the Helm's Deep battle from LOTR for an example of exceptional lighting at night during inclement weather. 2. The ending with Arya and the Night King. I've already touched on that. Give this episode another shot without bringing these elaborate, yet delusional, theories in with you and you'll find that it was a great battle with major plot points that the creators have been setting up throughout this entire series.

This is my first time doing a review in there.

I've never thought I would write a review but when I saw how cruel the rating are I couldn't fr.

Yes, this ep is quite disappointing in lot of sides, we surely wanted a 1vs1 but as we can see nearly no one can 1vs1 him he could easily return deads like he did so the only way to kill him and win for the alives is by treacg and the only one capable to do it is Arya as we saw she were training for that long time ago and about the night walkers not being involved in the fights that's because if anyone of them dies a lot of the army will fall so the only reasonable thing to do is to stay behind and btw this war isn't just with night walkers and night kings, it's with army of deads the whole one and in that term this was peak.

I wouldn't say this ep is the best one of the show or something but it's the most underrated one one for sure.

People wanted just to see what they wanted si when it's not the deal they rate it as 1/10 and keep hating.

It surely could've been lot better but even this way this ep is 9+ rating and soo great✅.

Killing of the NK in the way that the writers did was just so disappointing that I sincerely hope they will reedem themselves by connecting all the lose ends by the end of the finale. If not this was such a waste of potential and truly a laughable conclusion.

The episode deserves a better rating than 1 star thought but sinse its got such a high total atm im giving it a 1!

Immediately after watching this episode, I thought it was amazing. It kept you on the edge of your seat for the whole episode. I loved that Arya was the one to kill the Night King, especially after they usually leave all the 'hero' stuff to Jon and it makes the most sense considering her training. But then it sinks in that nearly 70 episodes of build up has lead to that. We learnt nothing about the Night King and his motive leaving us to be believe that he's just another stereotypical random bad guy who wants to destroy the world for no real reason. The Night King and his army have been teased as the biggest threat for the whole series just to be killed like that and ultimately serve no purpose for the entire series. I'm hoping something happens in the coming episodes that changes this and shows that they were more significant than they seem to be but it doesn't look like that will happen.

Another issue is the plot armour that all the main characters had. It seemed as if all the significant characters besides Theon and Jorah (whose death everyone saw coming) were invincible. There were numerous times that characters were completely surrounded by wights and should have been easily killed just to be unexplainably saved. There is now way that Brienne, Jamie and Pod could have survived the wights being backed up against the wall like that no matter how good a swordsman they are. There's no way that Jon would have survived after the Night King raised the wights around him and having Dany save him at the last second was a cliche that the show has generally avoided up to this point.

If they were going to kill off the Night King in this episode, it would have been much better if it was in combat against Jon, have the Night King beat Jon and then have Arya come in, save Jon and kill the Night King. They've been teasing a fight between Jon and the Night King for years which amounted to nothing.

I still don't understand what the point of Bran is. Again, I'm hoping something happens in the coming episodes to explain why he did literally nothing. At this point, it seems as if he just warged into some ravens to watch the battle for a bit so I'm hoping that there was more to it than that. His character has just been annoying to watch since the end of season 4.

The battle plan also seemed pretty stupid. Why send the Dothraki into slaughter like that? It was obviously not going to achieve anything and just wasted thousands of good fighters. It was cool to see all the flaming swords die out to show the size of the army though. But that again raises the question of how did so many characters survive being surrounded by wights when they were able to immediately slaughter the Dothraki? Jon was also basically useless. Why does he need to be on the dragon when they're fighting? The dragons been fighting for Dany for years so why does she now need Jon as a pilot? He would have been much more useful if he was in the fighting. Also, I know this is besides the point but how could anyone possibly hold onto a dragon flying that fast? You would be thrown off in seconds if it were realistic. What was trying to achieve at the end when he literally just yelled at a wight dragon?

The episode wasn't all bad though, the action scenes were amazing even if it was too dark. Arya's journey was awesome to watch and it was amazing to see the pay off for all her training. Her scenes with Beric, the Hound and Mellisandre were amazing. Lyanna had the perfect death for her character, as did Theon and Jorah. Seeing Theon's arc come full circle was a very satisfying payoff. The acting was as good as always and I still thoroughly enjoyed watching it.

I think that the people complaining about Arya killing the Night King seem to be forgetting or ignoring that she's had years of training and can move silently in complete darkness which is how she was able to get to the Night King in the first place.

This episode could be improved if the next few episodes explain some of the biggest issues I have but currently it's hard to give it any more than 6.

+ Arya killing the Night King instead of Jon or someone else + Basically anything to do with Arya was awesome + Theon's arc + Perfect end for Theon, Jorah and Lyanna

• So many unanswered questions about the Night King - main question being what was the point?
• Lighting was too dark
• Plot armour saved too many significant characters/ unrealistic survivals
• What's the point of Bran?
• Apparent lack of battle plan
• Jon was basically useless

Such an amazing episode! I love how the series has developed over the last 8 years. The earlier seasons were a little bit shaky in terms of what we, as an audience want to see. They focussed too much on clever, well-written dialogue, interesting character development and a well thought through plot. Since season 4 however, the writers have realised that what we REALLY want is shallow action sequences, poorly written one-liners, and characters being epic badasses in situations where anyone who isn't a main character would have definitely died (hello..?! superhero movies are popular for a reason!) Here are a few things which made this episode VERY cool:

1) I loved the way that the cinematography cleverly reflected the theme of the villain. He's the NIGHT King. The way that they not only filmed everything at NIGHT but also bravely refused to use any competent lighting really improved my viewing experience. The fact that I had to strain my eyes to figure out what was going on for most of the episode really added to my immersion. I felt like I was actually there, bewildered in the darkness. Not only that, but the excessive use of 'shaky cam' and quick cuts made me feel like I too was being physically assaulted! (Didn't actually get hurt at all though. Clearly I'm a main character too! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!)

2) The writers of this episode cleverly realised that having the characters make sensible, realistic decisions is nowhere near as important as seeing cool stuff happen! Having the Dothraki cavalry inexplicably charge blindly into the enemy is something which, in the earlier seasons would never have been thought of. Rob stark, Stannis Baratheon and Tywin Lannister were all bogged down in being true to their character and using actual tactics (BOOOOOORING!) All the flaming swords disappearing into the night was so epic, and seeing the whole army standing OUTSIDE the castle with the trebuchets as the front line was a super cool visual!

3) The editing was incredible! The way that the main characters would be surrounded by enemies with absolutely no realistic way of surviving, only for the camera to cut away and for them to be fine 5 minutes later was so clever. This happened roughly 3 times for EVERY major character, and every time I was on the edge of my seat. Such a brilliant way of manufacturing meaningless and unsatisfying tension! In the earlier seasons the main characters were just like anybody else. It felt like they were actually in danger when the action started which I really didn't like. They're supposed to be epic, badass heroes guys! Come on!

4) The resolution of the white walker narrative could not have been more BRILLIANT! 7 and a half seasons of build-up, Jon Snow engaged in a constant struggle against the Night King and the army of the dead (even dying and being resurrected in the process) the idea that all the petty squabbling for the iron throne is trivial when compared to the real threat; the personification of death itself... all resolved by Arya stabbing him in the tummy! Such genius writing! Arya is such a badass little ninja! YAAAAS QUEEN! It subverted all of our expectations in such a satisfying way! In the earlier seasons shocking things happened as well but they were always foreshadowed, they involved characters who actually had an investment in the particular plot-line, and they had a strong emotional impact. These are all unimportant ideas. When Arya jumped past literally hundreds of enemies out of nowhere like an actual superhero (Marvel/GoT crossover episode yes please! I can only dream!!) and resolved a 7 season long plot-line which she had nothing to do with, it was so badass! She literally only found out the white walkers existed a few episodes ago! Nobody could possibly see it coming! Such genius writing! Some people seem to think that Jon Snow should have had some input, but it's way more expectation subverty if he doesn't. I love that his whole purpose as a character was taken care of without him in such an unsatisfying way, and I love that he didn't die or anything to give any kind of closure or emotional impact. I also love that bran did literally nothing other than act as bait even though hours upon hours of showtime was dedicated to the three eyed raven plot (LOL Jojen and Hodor why'd you bother dying for him you numpties!) I also love that the white walkers didn't end up having any interesting backstory or motivations and that they were literally one dimensional cartoon bad-guys who just want to kill everyone because that's what they do. Most of all I really love that we have such an emotionally engaging conflict now with the middle-aged alcoholic and her pirate boy-toy over who gets to sit on the pointy chair oregfihaweporgihWEOIGHVOWIHGERRWHGVOAIHG!!

Art is dead and everyone seems to love it

Dear Daario,

we just witnessed the most brutal carnage that mankind has ever seen. Here, in Winterfell, the army of the dead was upon us. You cannot imagine the utter destruction they brought. My entire Dothraki horde was killed within seconds! It was a living nightmare. I do not know what to do, because in utter despair, about 90% of our people were slaughtered. Those who could not fight hid away in the crypts, only to be massacred by the dead buried there. I am devastated.

Believe, it borders on an utter miracle that Jon survived. And Tyrion. And my two dragons. And Sansa. And Arya. And Jaime. And Sam. And Davos. And Bran. And Brienne. And Sandor. And Varys. And Missandei. And Gilly. And Tormund. And Podrick. And Grey Worm. And Gendry.

Hugs and kisses, Dany

There are some writing decisions that doesn't make any kind of sense. All The Night King plot ending this way is in the absence of a better word disappointing. I really hope that Cersei plot stand out because if it doesn't they just ruin everything.

Applause for the cast and crew. Fantastic job to them. Such a shame their incredible effort is literally annihilated by the absolute disgrace of mediocrity they call writing.

I honestly saw this coming ever since that episode in season 7, when Jon and Co. are surrounded by an army of wights only to have Danny do the clichee swoop in save. But hey, at least she lost a dragon, which enabled NK to bring down the wall. So it came at a big cost. And even SO, it still left a horrid taste. That's just not the kind of thing you expect from GoT. There are no clichee swoopsaves. People don't have plot armour. And not having plot armour is exactly why Jon's bringing back to life was so mysterious and interesting. That just does not happen in GoT, so why did it?

Well, it apparently happened so that he could yell at an undead dragon. That, and be generally useless in every other aspect of the final battle. I just don't get it. He basically orchestrated this alliance, only to aimlessly wonder around on a dragon for half the episode, time during which his army is getting decimated.

Not to mention he again gets clichee saved by Danny, while again surrounded by an entire army of wights.

• I'd be ok with this, if she then just flew off. But no, the writers are absolutely keen in insulting the masterpiece this show used to be and ALL IT'S AUDIENCE. For some very cheap drama points, dragon gets overwhelmed by wights and she falls off. Now she's surrounded by an army of wights.
• I'd be ok with this, if she at this point gets killed. I love her character, although I feel sub-par writing is slowly turning her into a tyrant for no real apparent reason. But she doesn't die, because it's her turn to strap on some Legendary Plot Armor and get clichee saved by none other than Lord Friendzone himself.

I'm not even going to address how he even managed to find her, let alone get to her. Had Danny died just in time for him to see it, yet be unable to help, that's the GoT we know. Had he also died now because he tried to save her, got there too late, and now found himself surrounded too, that's the GoT we know. Not this.

I'm not keen on seeing them die. But if you're going to put them in situations where they should die, then they need to die. But hey, 7 seasons in plot armor becomes a thing, so to hell with everything this show used to stand for, right?

Need I even mention battle tactics?

This is the biggest battle we've ever known. We have dragons and a castle. You know, that thing with big walls? yeah, that. So what do we do? Not fortify them. At all. The dead literally climb the walls at some point, because NOTHING was done to counter that. They have 0 defenses. No one thought some oil cauldrons would be useful to rain some fire down on climbers. I mean fire is only their biggest weakness, easy to forget after all. No one thought to spike the walls up with some dragonglass shards? Could that maybe be useful? Ofcourse not. Nevermind such nonesense. Lets instead roll our siege engines out to the, you guessed it, front lines. Ballistas, and you place them just in front of your Unsullied formations. I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that the writers believe spears have a longer effective range than what are virtually artillery units. Christ...

Not to mention the outer fortifications. They had like one ditch, 5 feet from the castle walls no less, and some wooden spikes. Against the greatest threat the world has ever known. 10/10. A God damn sand castle build by an 8 year old is more defensible.

And the Dothraki. Oh dear God the Dothraki. I'm gonna give them points for the epic scenery though. Flaming swords were cool and the way they all get extinguished is bonechilling at least. Really got me on edge there, but that's simply because I wasn't expecting them ALL TO DIE for NO REASON. Cavalry skirmishes are a thing, and I honestly believed they'd be doing some sort of recon run by since the visibility wasn't that great. Nope. They just charge in and die. Who gives that order? You have MOUNTED shock troopers that can literally trample undead hordes and relieve pressure from ANY flank due to their exceptional mobility. You're also hopelessly outnumbered. You have no battle field visibility. So what do you do? Send them all to die. Why? Because it looks cool. That's GoT now.

Bran is useless. Wargs into some ravens to do nothing in particular. Then sits there for the rest of the battle, doing nothing in particular. Tells Theon he'll die, while continuing to do nothing in particular. Then NK gets gutted by Arya when she superhero jumps in, not two seconds later, time during which Bran does, you guessed it, nothing in particular.

Theon's redemption arc was cool. But he didn't die defending Bran. He basically speared himself into the NK. You wanna know who went out like a beast? Berric Dondarrion. Theon could very well had not moved a single muscle for like 5 more moments and he'd still be breathing.

You know what's the worst part? I'd be ok with her being hyper sneaky and getting the jump on NK like that. She's had years of assassin training, so sure, why not. But if you're trying to sell that point, DON'T SHOW HER FAILING AT IT JUST MOMENTS BEFORE. For the love of God she almost died trying to sneak though a damn library not 15 minutes prior.

NK is a disgrace. One of the most disappointing villains in the history of fiction. And that's purely by virtue of wasted potential. He was SO cool. Dude can one shot a damn dragon. All the mystery around him. Presumably EONS of battle experience and he never swings his sword once. Not ONCE, in 8 seasons. And worse still, doesn't even go out in a fight.

Every major character should have died. Every. Single. One. Because the writers put all of them in situations were death was inevitable. Why? to "subvert expectations" and create cheap emotional thrills.

Such a disgrace. Such a waste. And I'm supposed to care about what happens with Cersei now? Phhbt.

Imagine if Lord of the Rings killed off Sauron and then were like "Woah woah, hold up. There's still Saruman to worry about". Jesus Christ.

Ladies and gentleman, that's GoT now.

Dothraki - the most powerful wild horde in the world, all died in seconds;

Unsullied - the most powerful soldiers in the world, 99.7% of them died;

Sam Tarly - Sam survived.

They were the whole point from EPISODE 1 and nothing was explained, nothing matters, no lore, nothing. Absolutely horrible, one of the worst endings of TV shows in history. Worst than LOST. 3 remaining episodes are completely useless no matter what happens now.