dalbowski

So did all the Night Watch guarding the inner gate die? And the giant had a heart attack? I was half expecting the giant to knock down the gate onto the watchers and walk right over them.

Why does Slynt get to live?

Jackskeleton

Man, there's a bunch of criticism all up in this thread.

It was a good episode. Sorry you guys don't give a shit about the wall.

xraybies

Fantastic episode, I enjoyed the Jon Snow and Wall portions of the book up to this point and this did it justice. I loved that panning shot over Castle Black as melee battles are being fought everywhere, Neil Marshall really brought it again. Can't wait until the finale next week!

Tommy Ceez

The most expertly choreographed sweeping camera shot of a battle I've ever seen, on par with True Detectives' raid on the drug house as the hilight of the TV season

Two amazing single combat sequences. Ser Allister vs Tormund and Jon vs the Thenn

A storytelling trope turned on its head; Ser Allister, who on 99% of the shows and movies out there turns out to be a coward, here becomes an inspirational leader who dies a hero

Giants and mammoths, including Grenn (who no one cares about apparently) steeling the reserve of 5 dudes facing a bull rush.

Yeah, it sucked...

Tommy Ceez

Btw, as a book reader, and taking the clues from this seasons story lines, I can only assume that next Sunday has to go at a breakneck pace just to fit all the cliffhangers in.

Kicker_of_Elves

Next week's episode is 66 mins long.

I thought this was a great episode but would've liked to seen a lil bit more of the other characters. Especially with 1 episode left in the season.

anomynous

Didn't realize people would be so annoyed some of us thought the episode was boring.







Blackwater was much, much better.

thebunk

Agreed with everything you said.

thebunk

You have over 52,000 posts on this forum and you make a statement like that? Are you really surprised there would be criticism on any form of subject matter, let alone a series that so many people are as invested in (which does speak to the greatness of the show and books, for better or for worse).

silentbob007

Are you sure he's dead? On first glance I thought he got cut high on the leg.

Hiro11

With all due respect some of you are crazy, that was easily one of my favorite episodes of the series. For context, I've read the books. I can understand (I guess) finding the various Wall story line to be boring (I completely disagree with you, but OK) but I'm really confused as to how one could dismiss this entire episode.

Good:
- Amazing cinematography and special effects. The shot of the Haunted Forest on fire, that cool little shot of Gilly sneaking by the Wilding camp in the blowing snow, that incredible shot of the top of the Wall at the beginning. Etc, etc. Guys, this is a TV show. Name one show in history that has shown visuals as impressive, evocative (and as expensive) as those on display in this episode. If nothing else (and there was plenty "else"), the several minute long tracking shot of the entire Castle Black engaged in brutal fighting made the episode worth it: the amazing Castle set, the fact that you could pick out each character, the construction of the shot. Just incredible.
- Resolution of all of the Wall plot lines: Jon going from outcast to leader. Ygritte/Jon. Slynt and Alliser's true personalities revealed. Sam / Gilly. All of this stuff is important.
- All action, all the time. Enough Red Keep chit-chat, this episode just wanted to kick ass. No jumping around between stories as has been the case in every single other episode (with the possible exception of Blackwater), just non-stop fighting.
- Speaking of the fighting: amazing fight choreography. Ygritte doing a sniper impression. Tormund in beserker mode, the giant Thenn flailing his axe, the Scythe, Jon coming out of the elevator like Jet Li. Top drawer stuff.
- Great scene between Sam and the Maester. We needed to be reminded who Aemon is. Also, this episode was arguably about the power of love (to quote Huey Lewis), which has been a central theme throughout the show. Everything turns on various love affairs going on. Aemon's monologue captures the essence of the show's view of love.

The Bad
- they left a lot for the last episode, perhaps too much.

Hiro11

This is arguably one of the most important themes of the show: while the Seven Kingdoms squabble, huge threats are building around the borders. These threats have the scope to destroy the all of the Kingdoms and yet no one takes them seriously. The White Walkers are not to be fucked with. Dragons are not to be fucked with. The fact that the Seven Kingdoms have allowed the Night's Watch to degrade from the most elite fighting force in the land to a Gulag shows how the Seven Kingdoms have forgotten their past and forgotten about Winter. Perhaps the show hasn't made any of this clear enough.

Rocketdog2000

Well said. I have read the books, and I didn't find that boring in the least. That was epic.

Bandoman

Loved this episode. While I agree that most viewers (myself included) don't have as much emotional attachment to the Black Watch characters, this episode was very important to the story, given how much of a threat Mance and his army are, and how oblivious the rest of Westeros is to that threat. As others have already said, the visuals were movie quality.

Bandoman

Exactly.

Osiris3657

^Night's Watch, not Black

Maybe it's because I didn't watch the episode on a big TV with surround sound (laptop instead) that I didn't get to appreciate all the cinematography and effects. I need to make sure I watch the finale on a TV.

Bandoman

Oops! You are correct, Osiris. Night's Watch. Got to keep that straight.

thebunk

Don't think anyone is hating on the special effects, cinematography, the amount of action or the fact this is the only TV show of this caliber out there. I agree with all of that. That said, does that mean people are not allowed to disagree or voice a different opinion?

I think the underlying issue is that people are "currently" not as invested in the characters or the story of the North. And yes, BlackWater was MUCH better then this episode. Part of which is that Tyrion's character and arch are just much more interesting then that of Jon Snow's. Also, the rest of the Kings Landing characters are also more interesting then those in The North. And as someone else mentioned, there was little suspense.

Canis Firebrand

I fully concede that it was a very well done episode.. That's not the reason for my dislike of it. It was filmed well and translated to an impressive episode.. But, to me, that's all it was. It was a very pretty looking episode wrapped around a part of the story that I find tedious and boring. The people, well maybe 95% of them, at the wall are not nice people. They are rapists, murderers, thieves, etc. Many are name that can't be remembered, if they were even said, or have had their name said once. I just have no emotional attachment to any of them. It doesn't help that I find Jon annoying and Sam is meh. You'd think that I kicked a puppy instead of just stated my opinion based on some of the responses when I called the episode boring. People are free to like what they like. I get the wall is important and I understand that it needs to be told/shown.. But that doesn't mean that I have to like it. Nor does it mean that I want it to be skipped instead of the show focusing on the portions of the book that I like.

CaptainMarvel

Did Ser Allister die? I saw him get cut and fall down, but I thought his men were dragging him to safety? I was a little distracted during that bit.

Osiris3657

Ser Alliser is alive. He got slashed on the leg and fell on a bale of hay.

Bandoman

It looked like his femoral artery was cut, he was gushing blood. We don't yet know whether he's dead.

Hiro11

Think about it this way: the biggest current threat to the entire Seven Kingdoms is the Wall being breached. Mance's army, while untrained, is larger than anything the Lannisters or whoever else can field (actually, the Lannisters are broke, so they can't field anything). The White Walkers are a simply unstoppable force in winter. Despite this huge threat, a tiny band of forgotten, disparaged outsiders are the sole line of defense. They are forced to hold the line despite the fact that the very people they are defending hate them, laugh at them and believe these completely legitimate threats to be fairy tales. This contrast is the central dramatic tension in the story of the Wall and why the characters are interesting. To me, at least.

Again, maybe the show hasn't done a good enough job in setting all of this up.

flashburn

Come on, it's Game of Thrones, everyone is just a sack of blood.

Shannon Nutt

That's what I thought too...it reminded me of a TV version of Helm's Deep. Although I kept needing to explain to my wife that there were TWO groups attacking from opposite sides of the wall.

I actually thought Sam was going to die in this episode - given all the screen time he got, plus the promise that he made to Gilly that he wouldn't get killed (usually the kiss of death).