*spoilers (and explicit content…spoilers mainly) will follow*
I feel like these reviews and recaps are getting longer and longer each week. This week is no exception to that rule. You can check out the other reviews here: but I’ll warn you ahead of time – one is better than the other.
Woah…that episode of Game of Thrones was an incredible feat in television creation. It was a near masterpiece from an editing and pacing point of view, it subverted expectations, the music was flawless, and it had the biggest payoff in the show so far. The episode invigorated emotions from everyone who watched it, and like the greatest forms of art, created divisions among the GOT fandom. The instant reaction by the entire fan base seemed to be grouped into three takes.
- What follows is a rant about people complaining about the episode for the wrong reasons.
If you want, you can skip up until the recap. I just need to get this off my chest.
First, Arya just pulled off the most incredible and dramatic kill of all time. Second, what was the point of the Night King and why were our heroes able to defeat him so easily when he’s supposed to be the end of the world? Third is: why didn’t more of our heroes die? I can understand all of the takes (I am in the former camp) and I believe you can still enjoy the episode even if you fell into the second or third camp. This is for a few reasons.
The first is that we learned about the Night King last episode. Bran told us he wants to cause an Endless Night and killing Bran is the easiest way to do so. Bran is the world’s memories and without him then the world becomes nothing more than an uncivilized mess under the control of the Night King. The biggest fear in a society, especially in literature (i.e. 1984 and Fahrenheit 451), is absolute rule and a lack of free will. Without our memories to learn from the past then we will be forced into eternal darkness where we have no agency over our own decisions. This would basically be the real-life equivalent of Europe after the fall of Rome and before the Medieval Ages (the Dark Ages). We literally become wights. I think this is a twisted and demented objective for any one bad guy. He is the incarnation of pure evil, created by the Children of the Forest as a weapon to protect against the humans as they traveled farther north thousands of years ago. So the Night King’s goals aren’t as complicated as we predicted them to be. Just because we are incorrect in our predictions doesn’t mean that the show is wrong for how they chose to address the Night King.
On top of all that, the story isn’t about the Night King. Game of Thrones is about the Starks, Targaryens, the Lannisters, and the Baratheons. It is about their survival and their fight for Westeros. Their four sigils are at the end of the intro to the show. It is all about them and we have to remember that.
Now to address the idea that people are upset not enough of our favorite heroes died. Fans constantly confuse tension and stakes with death. There are plenty of examples where tension can exist when our main characters aren’t going to die. Look at the battle with Rey and Kylo versus the Praetorian guards in The Last Jedi. That scene had unbelievable emotion and tension but we all new neither of them would be killed by an unnamed soldier. The battle of Helmsdeep in LOTR had many important characters that we knew wouldn’t die, but it was tense, nonetheless. At the Battle of the Blackwater Bay, in this very show, no one important died but it was still one of the most tense and suspenseful moments in the show’s history as Cersei held Tommen ready to commit suicide with him the moment the Red Keep fell.
Just because the show subverted our expectations of a fantasy show by killing Ned, Catelyn, Robb, Oberyn, and others during the first four seasons doesn’t mean they need to continue creating a body count. In addition, the circumstances surrounding these characters’ deaths are completely different than they are now. How many of these characters died fighting in a huge war? None of them. They all died because they failed to play the game of thrones properly and because of their own character flaws. The only major characters who fell in battle before this week were Ygritte, Pyp, Grenn and Hill, Stannis (kind of), Barristan Selmy and Wun Wun. So GOT, despite its reputation for killing main characters, hasn’t really killed anyone major in several seasons. This story, when it comes down to it, is still a fantasy story and we need to remember that. It is about the forces of good uniting together, despite their differences, to fight the ultimate evil. Now that the biggest evil is dead, we can debate what comes next and debate the stakes of the next three weeks. We don’t need to debate whether an episode was good or not because not enough of our favorite characters died. For fans whose favorite characters were Jorah, this episode was devastating for them. The quantity of deaths do not equal the quality of one massive one especially when he is being sent out like a hero. Each of these characters we have grown to love all deserve great sendoffs like Jorah. You can’t just kill a ton of them off screen against thousands of CGI wights.
- rant done
Okay. With all of the immediate controversy out of the way, let’s get into the recap and review. I thought The Long Night was great, if that wasn’t obvious already. The episode was perfectly paced, the battle scenes were perfectly broken up, the ending was the second greatest moment I saw this weekend (Endgame was better and if you saw the movie then you know exactly which scene I'm talking about).
This episode was broken into three acts, three different episodes basically. The suspenseful episode, the horror episode, and the action episode. All three acts were amazing, and each connected together culminating in Arya’s final moment. The only major criticism I have was the lighting. Obviously that is for dramatic effects, budgetary reasons, because and I don't have the best TV. The lighting got better once Melisandre showed up so I can forgive some of those early lighting issues because everything else about this episode was awesome.
This episode was also a big time: don’t forget that someone ran off somewhere twenty minutes ago because they are gonna show up any minute now and save the day. Jorah did this when he heard Dany’s dragon scream and Arya did this after getting a pump-up speech from Melisandre.
Recap
The episode begins with a tracking shot on Sam as he can barely hide his nervousness whil everyone gets ready for battle knowing very well that this could be the end of them all. This opening scene sets the tone for the entire episode. Every character is nervous and uncertain which establishes that we as the audience should be too.
As I mentioned, one major gripe I did have with the episode was the lighting early on. When everyone was lining up for battle you could barely see how many people were lining up and, until Mel rides up to light the swords of the Dothraki, you could barely see everyone in formation. Mel rode up to the battle ready to die in this “strange country” and give us some much-needed lighting for the episode. The light inspires hope in the Dothraki and gives them the courage to charge into battle towards the dead. However, just like us viewers at home. The dead are darker than night and they can’t see them at all until it is too late and they all charge into their death.
Act 1 - Suspense
There was an incredibly cool visual in this opening war scene as the Dothraki’s arrow shaped charge went out slowly but surely as they were overwhelmed by the dead. The devastation in Dany’s eyes are noticeable as she actually sees what she and her army have gotten themselves into. She had promised the Dothraki the world…and within seconds they are all dead. Dany has been in war, but she has never been in war where the outcome was so uncertain. She is unfamiliar with having the odds stacked against her in battle and this week it showed.
Then after the Dothraki lights go out, Bran’s vision of the storm from Season 7, Episode 1 becomes a reality. We know at this moment that the storm Bran saw was not metaphorical or a dream. It was truly what the army of the dead looked like.
The bring their sheer cold with them and humanity begins its last stand to save everyone. It was kind of tough to tell what was going on because the episode was so dark but once Dany and Jon started using the dragons to literally light up the battlefield, they also lit up my screen – so thanks for that.
Dany and Jon then get encompassed by the storm of the dead which leads them to be absolutely irrelevant and unhelpful for the next ten minutes. While in the ice storm, Jon and Dany accidentally run into each other (they have terrible combat chemistry – I wonder if something is on their minds) and you can see how terrified Dany is once again. She is totally out of her element.
Then, Arya begins to sense the humans are losing the battle, so she sends Sansa to the crypts, Edd dies saving Sam (pour one out for one last Edd moment) and we get shots of: Brienne, Jaime, and Greyworm all fighting desperately to survive. This battle is unlike anything they have been in before and it shows. They call for a retreat back to within the walls of Winterfell as the dead swarm them even more.
Dany, neutralized by the ice storm, and Jon (who escaped the storm but doesn't keep fighting and only stares at Bran for a fewminutes) both miss the signal that they need to light the trench to surround Winterfell. The foot soldiers plus Arya shoot all the arrows they can to try to light the trench, but the cold is too much. Thanks to one last prayer by Melisandre they are able to successfully do so. The key to her success lighting the trench was her desperation and desire. When she said the prayer the first couple of times it didn’t sound like she meant it. The very last time had the passion and plea necessary to create a miracle. It was the same desperation she had in her voice when she brought Jon back from the dead. It was the same emotion Thoros expressed when he raised Beric from the dead. It’s what’s necessary to bring back the dead and fight off the dead.
Back down in the crypts, Tyrion laments the fact that he can’t help the living. He is sure he’d be able to help in some way when everyone down there knows that isn’t true at all. I like to see that Tyrion is desperate and eager to help even though he can’t. I’m afraid he’d make a mistake like he did before. He tells Varys that he had a good idea at the Battle of the Blackwater so he could have another one now. Tyrion, once again, has no idea what kind of enemy he’s facing. Finally, in this scene, Sansa tells Tyrion that a marriage between them would never work because Tyrion would be too split between her and Dany…and she’s right.
In the Godswood with Theon, Bran reassures him that everything he has done up until this point has led him to right here. Theon is still clearly upset about the pain that he caused the entire Stark family, but Bran has forgiven him and is over it. Without Theon, Bran may have never had a reason to leave Winterfell in the first place and then he may have never become the Three-Eyed Raven. Bran should really be thankful to both Theon and Jaime for being in the place he is today.
After their brief exchange, Bran wargs into some ravens and we see the Night King is high above the castle of Winterfell commanding his troops. He commands them to make a bridge out of their dead bodies and they fall one by one until the dead start to walk on top of each other and climb the walls of Winterfell. Jon sees the Night King do this and he springs into action to attack him. During all of this action, we having Jaime commanding the troops on top of the walls as the dead climb on top of each other World War Z style to reach the top of them
We cut to the Hound who’s terrified to do anything until Beric points out to him that Arya is fighting for her life (making work of any wight in her way) and that he needs to do the same. Seeing her fight gives him a desire to fight again. Davos, watching this, approves of Arya’s fighting and is genuinely impressed and surprised.
It is with a heavy heart I recap this next part. We lose the first of two Mormonts in this scene as Lyanna dies taking down a giant wight that breaks down the gates of Winterfell. She went out like a badass though with a death for a champion, like she deserved.
Back to the dragon battle in the sky, we see Dany’s desperation to survive again as the Night King has her on the ropes. She is literally whimpering as the Night King uses Viserion, her child, to try to kill her. They lose track of the Night King in mid-air and we end Act 1.
Act 2- The Horror Movie
We start with Arya sneaking around the halls of Winterfell. Arya stumbles into the library and is met by at least a dozen wights lumbering about as they search for someone. I am presuming they are wandering aimlessly because the Night King can’t command them at this moment since he is busy with Jon and Dany. This allows her to sneak around and eventually get out of the room. The prosthetics and makeup on the wights are really, really good, and really, really scary. It was truly incredible to watch as Arya had to put her stealth skills to the test in order to escape. She used her spear skills from her training with the waif to fight in open combat, she used her agility and light footedness to escape the library, what will she use her training to do next?
Back in the crypts, we hear the door being hammered and screams come from the outside. Everyone in there knows something is wrong now.
Back to Arya again…she runs into Beric and the Hound who are both also trying to stay alive in the halls of Winterfell. They help escort her to safety in the Great Hall with Mel, but not before Beric is stabbed repeatedly and dies sacrificing himself to save Arya. It was at that moment when I knew Arya was going to do something important this episode, I just wasn’t 100% sure what yet. Beric wasn’t resurrected seven times just to die protecting a girl who won’t help stop the Endless Night. Beric’s whole purpose was to serve the Lord of Light which means defeating the Night King. That’s why he went north with the Hound in Season Seven. If he died for real this time you knew that it was for a major reason.
Arya turns and see Mel waiting in the room for her. It is time for her to fulfill her purpose. Her final purpose is to give Arya the strength to kill the Night King. She told Arya back in season 3 that she would close “brown eyes, green eyes, and blue eyes”. Blue eyes obviously imply that she will kill White Walkers. Beric had to protect her in order to make that happen. Mel had to rally Arya by reminding her about the worlds she lives by: “what do we say to the god of death?”, “not today”. The god of death is the Night King and Arya must stop him. She has been training her entire life for this exact moment. She thought her purpose was to finish her list, she then thought it was to kill Little Finger. She had no idea that her purpose would be so large and that it would be to literally save everyone in the world. Arya rushes off to face the Night King.
Act 3 – The Action Movie
Jon fights the Night King above Winterfell with their dragons and blinds Viserion in the process. Dany then swoops into save Jon as the Night King readies to take down Rhaegal. The Night King falls off, Dany then tries to burn him with dragon’s fire and fails. The Night King then throws a 2015 Peyton Manning duck pass and misses Drogon wide left. It was at this moment I knew the Night King was washed.
The Night King, like at Hardhome, wanted to make a statement in this moment by allowing Dany to hit him with fire. His M.O. is to constantly instill fear and hopelessness into his enemies. That’s why he always moves so slow and doesn’t kill his enemies every time he should. He is the embodiment of death and he feels like that he will always be inevitable which is eventually what leads to his downfall later.
In the distance, Jorah hears the scream of Dany’s dragons and he runs off after her.
Jon chases after the Night King as he walks to the Godswood. Then the Night King turns around and raises his hands to raise the dead around them. Jon sprints after him to try to stop him but he is too late. They are all too late. At this moment it seems like the Night King has won. Just as all of our heroes thought they had fought off the dead, all of their friends come back as wights to kill them. And “the safest place in Winterfell” – the crypts - as told to us by at least six people last episode, gets overrun by Stark wights. Fortunately, it doesn’t look like it was anyone we know…but maybe after all the crypts were damaged, the survivors next episode will find something in one of the broken crypts that proves Jon’s parentage.
Jon is overrun by wights, then Dany saves him with Drogon’s fire! Then Dany is overrun and bucked off Drogon, the Jorah arrives to save Dany! As Jorah defends Dany with every last bit of life he has, Jon runs through the castles of Winterfell watching all of his friends fall one by one as he is unable to save any of them. A staple of Jon’s character has always been his selflessness, especially towards Sam when he helps him in his times of need. Jon had always been there for Sam and now he has to look away and press on towards the Night King who, along with his generals(?) (I don’t know what their ranks are) are walking into the Godswood ready to kill Bran. As Jon runs towards Bran, the castle of Winterfell literally falls apart all around him symbolizing how much their own hope of surviving is quickly falling apart.
As the Night King and his wights arrive in the Godswood, all of our heroes put up one last epic stand as the music begins and almost all the sound around us goes to zero. Dany picks up a sword to help Jorah, Theon reaches for his last arrow and is unable to find one, Sansa and Tyrion look into each other’s eyes and realize they may need to die so that others can escape. The piano music begins to play and is reminiscent of “The Light of the Seven” that begun Season 6, episode 10. The music is truly what makes these next 10 minutes unbelievable. You feel the suspense, the hopelessness, and the action all culminating together as we desperately hope our heroes have one last bit of fight in them and can save Bran.
Jon tries to get to the Godswood but is held off by Viserion. You then come to the realization that Jon isn’t going to make it to save Bran. He’s isn’t going to be able to face off with the Night King. It is just Theon and Bran - alone against the White Walkers.
Theon’s Last Stand
I’d be lying if I told you Theon was my favorite characters. Even if he was top five, I’d be lying. But dammit if I didn’t feel emotional as Bran told him he’s a good man and thanked him for protecting him I’d be the biggest liar of all. Theon finally got the acceptance and closure he had been waiting for all of his life. He finally wasn’t afraid to face his death; he wasn’t afraid to do the right thing.
When Robb needed Theon’s help in Season 1, he betrayed Robb and sacked Winterfell. In Season 5 he had the chance to light the candle for Sansa and he didn't do it. In Season 7 he could have chosen to save his sister from Euron, but he chooses not to because he was afraid; he was a coward. Now Theon is no longer a coward because he has closure and accepts who he is. He faces death head on in the bravest way he can. However, he is instantly owned by the Night King and killed, but his death buys just enough time for Arya to arrive at the last second to save Bran.
A Common Mistake All Clever People Make
The Night King slowly, methodically, makes his way towards Bran, unguarded and unprotected like usual. Jon rises up, ready to make his final stand against Viserion. One White Walker looks to his side as something rushes past him and we see Arya leaping to make the kill against the Night King. He spins quickly, grabs her by the throat, Arya drops the dagger, and…in the greatest hand switch since MJ in the 1991 Finals against the Lakers, she drives the dragonglass dagger that Bran gave her into the Night King, destroying him in the exact way he was made. The Night King was so preoccupied with his central goal that he forgot to mind his surroundings and was killed by someone he never expected. That is how you subvert expectations.
This scene has so many layers and so much significance to it that I’m not sure if I can keep track of it all. First, the Night King was killed in a Godswood with a Valeryian steel dagger in the same way he was created. The symbolism isn't lost on me during such an important moment.
Second, the significance of the dagger is incredible. Not only was it the dagger than Bran gave to Arya in Season 7, but it was also the dagger that was used in the attempted assassination on Bran in Season 1. Bran’s direwolf, the sigil and soul of House Stark, Summer saved him then and Arya, his sister, saved him now. Arya, along with the rest of the audience watching the show, was under the impression that Bran gave Arya the dagger in order to kill Little Finger with it. We couldn’t have imagined that he gave it to her because he knew she would use it to kill the Night King. Do you remember where Bran gave that dagger to Arya? Right there in the Godswood in Winterfell. The same place he gave it to her was the same place she used it to destroy the Night King. Arya said to Gendry last episode “deaths has many faces…and I am eager to meet this one”. Arya was destined and trained for this moment. What do we say to the god of death? Not today.
The Death of a Knight
Jorah went out the only way he knew how, defending Dany until his very last breath. He refused to die until every last wight around Dany had fallen because he loved her and knew that he would never let anything happen to her. He loved Dany and Dany loved him. It wasn’t a romantic love, but it was a familial love. He was family to her, and he continued to protect her until the very end. This death was devastating for me. Jorah is perhaps the purest character on the show, and I was so sad to see him go. He will be missed, and he is the ultimate example of how devastating and heartbreaking an episode of GOT can be, despite not many major characters dying. Just one death can outweigh dozens of others.
Davos Learns the Truth…Sort of…He Sees Mel Get All Old and Die
Now she can finally beat peace and now she can finally die in this “strange land”. The sun rises and the world is saved from the longest night. End episode…
The Aftermath: What Comes Next?
The biggest bad in the entire show is dead but we still have three episodes left in the season. So what happens now? We will have to find out how much damage the Night King really did to Winterfell and the North’s army next episode. We also have to find out how Cersei reacts to the news of the victory at Winterfell. Will she attack them immediately while they are vulnerable? Or will she continue to stay put and assess how much damage has really been done to the North?
The initial reaction to the Night King being defeated is: will there be tension in the show now? How can GOT simply return to a political drama and have higher stakes than what we had this week? To answer this question, I have to go back to what I said to start this recap. This show is about the four families: the Starks, the Lannisters, the Targaryens, and the Baratheons. It only makes sense that the show ends by resolving the disputes between all of them. We forget, Cersei has an army of 20,000 soldier ready to attack whenever she needs them. Winterfell had a few thousand and probably only hundreds at this point. Luckily, they have two dragons still or else any attack by Cersei would certainly mean death for our heroes.
Another question: what condition are the dragons in? They are Dany’s biggest weapon in the war to come, but if they are still injured from the battle with the Night King then they won’t help at all in battle.
The Night King being defeated so early on also allows for other plots to be resolved without the threat of the Endless Night hanging over our heroes’ heads. For example, Mel told Arya she would close three sets of eyes: brown, blue and green. The brown eyes refer to the people Arya has killed before, the blue eyes refer to the Night King, and the green eyes? Well, Cersei has green eyes of course! In the most recent book, ADWD, during the epilogue, “Cersei lifted her chin, her green eyes shining in the candlelight”. So I think we all know who Arya is coming for next.
Another plot that needs room to breathe and needs to be resolved - Jon and Dany's familial problems! The news was devastating for both Jon and Dany to hear but I couldn’t help but feel that the news was insignificant since the Night King was literally around the corner when Jon told Dany about his parentage. They haven’t addressed this issue fully yet and I have a feeling Dany is not going to stand for Jon having a claim to the Iron Throne despite his reluctancy to take it. Dany brought her army North, her dragons, and Jorah. Now she has lost basically everything to help him win his war against the dead. Everything she has worked her entire life for is basically gone – plus she no longer has the strongest claim to the throne. Dany and Jon have a lot to work out over the next three weeks.
There is still a lot to resolve in this show. Getting rid of the Night King helps simplify a lot of the issues still remaining because you can address the more pressing matters in the show without worrying about his impending army marching down on you.
The MVP
I don’t usually give out MVPs for episodes, but after this week I need to award one to the hero who: got laid last week, had a sick custom weapon made for herself, fought like a badass on the walls of Winterfell, and killed the Night King! Arya Stark is your MVP for this week and the first half of the Final Season of GOT. She may have even had the best two week stretch of any GOT character in the history of this show.
Power Rankings:
1. The Long Night – this episode was too epic to not be number one.
2. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
3. Winterfell
Next week it's back to politics and the game of thrones! See you then!
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