Hey now everybody and welcome to my recap and review of Game Of Thrones Season 8, Episode 3: The Long Night! Wow, what an incredible spectacle that was. All these years of learning about the history and lore of this world, being introduced to dozens of characters and building up to an inevitable showdown between the Night King and our heroes has lead us to this point. It's bittersweet in a way, on the one hand knowing that this show is almost over, but also finally getting to see how it all ends. One thing's for sure, this was a very divisive episode. Some people are saying it's the best, while others are very upset. No matter what happened here I don't think it was possible to make everyone happy, but now that the Battle Of Winterfell is over I'd love to give you my thoughts on it.
First a quick recap of what went down in The Long Night. This was basically an hour and a half long battle sequence. Apparently it's the largest battle ever done in cinematic history so that alone is an impressive feat. A battle lasting that long could easily get boring very quick, but the showrunners did a great job of changing the pace periodically and switching the focus between our various main characters, so it didn't feel like one big clash of swords. This episode was as long as a feature length film, but it kept my full attention the whole time and it seemed to go by very fast. There was a lot to take in and a lot to digest afterwards.
Hardly a word was spoken for the first five minutes, with the camera jumping between our beloved characters, showing the fear and dread they are experiencing. In the dark of the night the North's armies are lined up outside Winterfell, ready as they'll ever be for what's to come. The enemy stays just out of sight, blending in with the darkness and waiting for someone to make the first move. Finally the Dothraki soldiers rush forward to start the battle, but they are easily taken down in a matter of moments. Things don't look good for our heroes right off the bat and any battle plans that were made quickly fell apart. The unstoppable force of the Night King's army is just too much to contain.
The remaining soldiers stand their ground as a flood of Wights engulf everything and complete chaos ensues. Jon and Dany stand perched on a high cliff atop their two dragons watching as this massacre unfolds. The plan was to wait until the Night King exposes himself, but Dany can't just sit there as her troops are decimated and so she rides down to the battlefield spraying fire onto the undead army. The Night King's generals conjure up an ice storm that completely overwhelms the dragons which unravels the original plan Jon and Dany had. Now everyone is in a panic as the Wights keep advancing. At this point retreat is the only option, as Winterfell's army head back behind the walls.
There's too much to unpack so I won't go into every little detail here, but after the retreat we get separate scenes that follow Sam, Arya, Sansa and Tyrion, The Hound, Jamie and Brienne, Theon and of course Jon and Dany trying to tackle the Night King. The Wights completely overwhelm Winterfell, climbing over the walls like something out of World War Z. Some characters are in an unwinnable situation, but somehow make it out alive, while others are not so lucky. There's an epic clash of dragons as Jon, Dany and the Night King fight each other high up among the clouds, which was a major highlight of the season so far for me. Then it all comes down to the final showdown between Bran and the Night King.
Things don't exactly work out the way some people were hoping they would, in fact I'm sure most people didn't expect the battle to end the way it did at all. From what I've seen a lot of fans are upset that their predictions didn't come true and that's where most of the negative reviews are coming from. Like I said before, it's pretty much impossible to please everyone no matter what the conclusion was. Some people wanted more main characters to die for some reason, while other wanted an epic one on one battle between Jon and the Night King, but that's not what happened. What we got was indeed a surprise and regardless of what you thought of it you can't claim it was boring or predicable. I wonder, if George R. R. Martin ever finishes the books will they have an ending that satisfies everyone, or will it be similar to the show?
This was a one sided battle right from the start and our heroes didn't stand a chance against such an unstoppable force as the undead army. Jon never got his chance to go toe to toe with the Night King and at one point it seemed as though all was lost. But miraculously Arya pulls off the impossible, stabbing the Night King in just the right spot which causes his army to crumble into dust. Bran survives and so do the vast majority of our main characters. I kind of figured most of them would survive because we still have three episodes left and another big fight against Cersei at Kings Landing, so it would be a bit strange if everyone died here. This was an action packed, badass battle that had me on edge the entire time. I absolutely loved it, but it wasn't exactly perfect.
The Long Night was extremely impressive in many ways, probably one of the best battles I've ever seen in any show or film. I've watched it again just to see if I missed anything and it was just as enjoyable the second time around. But one thing that bothered me was the way they would show a character get engulfed by Wights, looking as though they were dead, just to have them saved at the last second somehow. It took a lot of the tension out of the battle knowing that most of our main characters would be fine. I also didn't like how Dany just sat there, letting her dragon get covered in Wights, when she could have easily flown off. Finally, it didn't seem like anyone was leading the fight on our side and nobody stuck to any kind of plan. It just seemed a little sloppy for a battle with such high stakes.
That being said, those complaints didn't really bother me that much in the grand scheme of things. This was definitely one of the most memorable episodes of Game Of Thrones I've ever seen, with some incredible moments that blew me away. I wasn't sure how it was going to end, my heart was beating so hard throughout the whole thing and now I can't wait to see what happens next. The Night King and his massive army were too much to handle and it made for a truly epic hour and a half long episode that was full of surprises. Some things could have been handled a little better, but with so much going on I think the showrunners did a fantastic job. We still have three more episodes left so let's enjoy the end of this ride everyone. I'm going to give Game Of Thrones Season 8, Episode 3: The Long Night a grade of........................................
A -
Thank you for reading my review of Episode 3 for the final season of Game Of Thrones, I hope you enjoyed it!