Got S8E3: The Long Night, The Big Battle
In Game of Thrones S8E3, "The Long Night", we see the battle for the world. The surviving members of most of the northern houses, allied with Queen Daenerys and her Dothraki horde and Unsullied troops, assemble at Winterfell to meet the onslaught of the Night King's army of the dead, possibly 1,00,000 strong.
Seeing how season 7 ended with two major battles to resolve- the battle against the dead, and the battle against Cersei for control of Westeros- I knew that series 8, with just 6 episodes, would have to move quickly to finish the series. Thus I wasn't surprised that this climactic battle arrived in just the 3rd episode.
On the whole I really liked this episode. It's the longest of the series with a run time of 82 minutes, and it's pretty much all battle. That's long. Even epic movie battles are half that. For example, the Battle at Helm's Deep in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the longest set-piece battle in movie history, clocked in at just 40 minutes. The showrunners of Game of Thrones keep it from dragging by focusing on the the experiences of a limited number of characters such as Jon Snow, Arya Stark, and Bran Stark. We see threads of the story more or less through their eyes. While there are a lot of other first-person characters in the episode (Danerys, Tyrion, Sansa, Brienne, Jaime, Sam, Sandor, et. al.) they have short viewpoint scenes. We mostly see them as they intersect with the episode's main through-lines.
While this episode had the highest viewership ratings of the series and also the HBO network as a whole when it aired in 2019, with nearly 18 million overnight viewers, it also attracted a lot of fan criticism. It seems fans were unhappy primarily with two things. One was a technical matter: the visuals are very dark, making it hard to see what's happening in action sequences.
The fans are right... though I'll note that this was not a new problem with this particular episode. It's been a problem across many episodes of Game of Thrones that critical scenes are under-lit, rendering the visuals murky and confusing as to what's happening. As a note, I've adjusted the levels and contrast in the pictures above to make them more vivid. (Do you see how the Night King's eyes really "pop"? Simple Photoshop trick.)
In other productions, particularly in movies, filmmakers use extra lighting in low-light scenes so the visuals show better. There's a story- and perhaps it's apocryphal- that one of the lead actors in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers challenged a director on where all the light at the Battle of Helm's Deep (mentioned above) was supposed to be coming from, as the battle took place in the dark and rain. The director shot back, "The light comes from the same from the same place as the theme music."
The second major fan frustration involves who defeats the Night King. This is a major episode spoiler; find it after the cut.
The overall heroic arcs of the story make a person think it might be Jon Snow. Does he sacrifice himself so that everyone else lives? Does he survive but only narrowly? Does Daenerys do it? Possibly with her dragons? No! It's Arya Stark. Arya kills the Night King- and with a single fatal blow crumbles 100,000s of undead to dust.
I think Arya landing the fatal blow is awesome.
First, it's an awesome combat scene. The armies of the dead are overwhelming the living, the Night King is about to kill Bran, heir to the power of his immortal enemy, the Three Eyed Raven; Arya comes screaming out of sky like Xena: Warrior Princess screaming Ai-ye-ye-ye-ye! to attack from behind. The Night King whirls around to grab her and seems to foil her sneak attack, but Arya deftly switches hands with her weapon and plunges a Valyrian steel dagger in the monster's chest.
Second, it's a fitting character Arc for Arya. She worked hard to develop deadly combat skills. She gave up most of her humanity along the way. And her role here is deftly foretold.
Melisandre's vision a few seasons ago, "You will close many eyes", is recalled here, when Melisandre meets her mid-battle inside Winterfell. Melisandre asks her to recall that vision, emphasizing that she will close blue eyes (the dead all have glowing blue eyes) and asking her what one says to Death ("Not today!"). This scene in the middle of the episode gives Arya new, clear purpose as she heads out to confront the Night King.
Seeing how season 7 ended with two major battles to resolve- the battle against the dead, and the battle against Cersei for control of Westeros- I knew that series 8, with just 6 episodes, would have to move quickly to finish the series. Thus I wasn't surprised that this climactic battle arrived in just the 3rd episode.
On the whole I really liked this episode. It's the longest of the series with a run time of 82 minutes, and it's pretty much all battle. That's long. Even epic movie battles are half that. For example, the Battle at Helm's Deep in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the longest set-piece battle in movie history, clocked in at just 40 minutes. The showrunners of Game of Thrones keep it from dragging by focusing on the the experiences of a limited number of characters such as Jon Snow, Arya Stark, and Bran Stark. We see threads of the story more or less through their eyes. While there are a lot of other first-person characters in the episode (Danerys, Tyrion, Sansa, Brienne, Jaime, Sam, Sandor, et. al.) they have short viewpoint scenes. We mostly see them as they intersect with the episode's main through-lines.
While this episode had the highest viewership ratings of the series and also the HBO network as a whole when it aired in 2019, with nearly 18 million overnight viewers, it also attracted a lot of fan criticism. It seems fans were unhappy primarily with two things. One was a technical matter: the visuals are very dark, making it hard to see what's happening in action sequences.
The fans are right... though I'll note that this was not a new problem with this particular episode. It's been a problem across many episodes of Game of Thrones that critical scenes are under-lit, rendering the visuals murky and confusing as to what's happening. As a note, I've adjusted the levels and contrast in the pictures above to make them more vivid. (Do you see how the Night King's eyes really "pop"? Simple Photoshop trick.)
In other productions, particularly in movies, filmmakers use extra lighting in low-light scenes so the visuals show better. There's a story- and perhaps it's apocryphal- that one of the lead actors in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers challenged a director on where all the light at the Battle of Helm's Deep (mentioned above) was supposed to be coming from, as the battle took place in the dark and rain. The director shot back, "The light comes from the same from the same place as the theme music."
The second major fan frustration involves who defeats the Night King. This is a major episode spoiler; find it after the cut.
The overall heroic arcs of the story make a person think it might be Jon Snow. Does he sacrifice himself so that everyone else lives? Does he survive but only narrowly? Does Daenerys do it? Possibly with her dragons? No! It's Arya Stark. Arya kills the Night King- and with a single fatal blow crumbles 100,000s of undead to dust.
I think Arya landing the fatal blow is awesome.
Click to viewFirst, it's an awesome combat scene. The armies of the dead are overwhelming the living, the Night King is about to kill Bran, heir to the power of his immortal enemy, the Three Eyed Raven; Arya comes screaming out of sky like Xena: Warrior Princess screaming Ai-ye-ye-ye-ye! to attack from behind. The Night King whirls around to grab her and seems to foil her sneak attack, but Arya deftly switches hands with her weapon and plunges a Valyrian steel dagger in the monster's chest.
Second, it's a fitting character Arc for Arya. She worked hard to develop deadly combat skills. She gave up most of her humanity along the way. And her role here is deftly foretold.
Melisandre's vision a few seasons ago, "You will close many eyes", is recalled here, when Melisandre meets her mid-battle inside Winterfell. Melisandre asks her to recall that vision, emphasizing that she will close blue eyes (the dead all have glowing blue eyes) and asking her what one says to Death ("Not today!"). This scene in the middle of the episode gives Arya new, clear purpose as she heads out to confront the Night King.