Game of Thrones (TV, fantasy) Thread

[MetalJunkie]

My mind was fucking blown multiple times.

[Prog Snob]

You must be shooting puffs of smoke by now.   

[faizoff]

Definitely the most satisfying episode and man was it heartbreaking to lose Rickon. Even though he had no lines this season, I was very warm to his presence since season 3 when they part with Brandon. Man what an awesome and thrilling episode that was. I was so nervous the whole time and yet Sansa's smile at the end was the relief I think we all needed.

[faizoff]

Oh and I have to add, that was some of the best battle cinematography I  think I've ever seen on TV. I mean the battle was going pretty much by the numbers but I was so engrossed the whole time. I think this is my favorite episode so far of the season, I'm super content now.

[orcus116]

For a casual show watcher Rickon wasn't much of a loss. I was more sad about the giant than him.

[orcus116]

Oh and I have to add, that was some of the best battle cinematography I  think I've ever seen on TV. I mean the battle was going pretty much by the numbers but I was so engrossed the whole time.

The Knights of the Vail coming in reminded me of Gandalf and the riders of Rohan coming down the mountain in the Two Towers. Complete deus ex machina storytelling wise but it makes for good entertainment.

[MetalJunkie]

"A pincer move."
"..."

[faizoff]

Oh and I have to add, that was some of the best battle cinematography I  think I've ever seen on TV. I mean the battle was going pretty much by the numbers but I was so engrossed the whole time.

The Knights of the Vail coming in reminded me of Gandalf and the riders of Rohan coming down the mountain in the Two Towers. Complete deus ex machina storytelling wise but it makes for good entertainment.

I don't think it was a surprise that the Knights of the Vail were going to come, and many like me expected they'd show up at a critical point and save the day. Cliche, deus ex machina, predictable, etc, etc..Yet knowing all of that I was still surprised when they came as I'd forgotten about them during the episode because of how intense it was with all that amazing cinematography and action. It was very entertaining indeed. I enjoyed every second of it.

[gmillerdrake]

Dont even care how cliché or predictable the Nights of the Vale arriving was. We knew it was gonna happen because Sansa asked for it to happen. Every instance of an army 'swooping' in to alter the tide has made perfect narrative sense.

This episode was awesome! IMO the best Dany sequence (screen time) of the show thus far....awesome carnage and whooping from the dragons....just all around great.

The battle of the bastards was incredible. Incredibly filmed and choreographed.....just killer stuff. I knew that giant was a goner.....he's too big a target, death by a thousand slashes.

John letting Sansa finish Ramsay off was great. Loved how when it came down to it Ramsay was a little bitch and was just whipped by Jon. And the final scene wa so sweet. I was certain he was going to be a POW....but his demise was fantastic.

[Progmetty]

RIP Ramsay, you went exactly how you would have wanted to go
Probably had a hard on from the pain as he was dying.

[MetalJunkie]

Dont even care how cliché or predictable the Nights of the Vale arriving was. We knew it was gonna happen because Sansa asked for it to happen. Every instance of an army 'swooping' in to alter the tide has made perfect narrative sense.

This episode was awesome! IMO the best Dany sequence (screen time) of the show thus far....awesome carnage and whooping from the dragons....just all around great.

The battle of the bastards was incredible. Incredibly filmed and choreographed.....just killer stuff. I knew that giant was a goner.....he's too big a target, death by a thousand slashes.

John letting Sansa finish Ramsay off was great. Loved how when it came down to it Ramsay was a little bitch and was just whipped by Jon. And the final scene wa so sweet. I was certain he was going to be a POW....but his demise was fantastic.

This. All this.

[Accelerando]

That was one of the best shot, best choreographed battle sequences in recent memory in either tv or film. One of the best episodes of this show, easily.

[Adami]

Very good episode, sad we lost the giant, but I think we all saw that coming.

I'm bad with names, but I'm really glad that one guy didn't die. Or that other one guy.

[faizoff]

In the excitement for this episode, I had forgotten that the finale is going to be even longer than this episode and directed by the same guy. It probably wont contain any battle is my guess at least definitely not to this scale but should be an amazing finale nonetheless.

[adace]

Just when I think GoT couldn't get any better along comes this episode. Incredible stuff.

[Progmetty]

If we get a make out scene with Yara and Daenerys they'll pronounce my death by means of continuous involuntary ejaculation.

[Phoenix87x]

Sucks for Stannis that he didn't bring Onion knight to the first battle. His night walks the evening before battle probably would have allowed him to see the sabotage team coming to torch the camp.

I was almost expecting to see another sabotage attempt by ramsey this time around.

Great episode though.

[Cyclopssss]

I think my mind was blown several times only ten minutes into the episode. That was an EPIC episode, surpassing even Hardhome. View the ´inside the episode´ clip made of the choreography of the battle scenes. They done a fantastic job.

[cramx3]

I will say that battle sequence was amazing.  The piles of bodies was really crazy and how the army smothered them using the wall of dead bodies made for some crazy TV.

I will also say that this show has become very predictable.  I think I called Rickon dying and the Knights of the Vale saving the day as well as Ramsay dying and it was too easy (so much so that I felt like none of that would actually happen).  That is my biggest gripe, there was not a single curveball.  Even in Dany's story, it went down exactly all the previous battles have for her with the Dragons saving the day.  NOTHING happened that wasn't seen from a mile way.  I found that slightly disappointing.  Also, compared to the books, there was no turn against the Boltons.  The north simply did not remember (besides Lady Mormont who I was surprised to see at the battle herself).

Having said that, the episode was still very intense and awesome.  I liked the Greyjoys meeting with Dany and Tyrion bringing up the last time he saw Theon.  The relation between their father's was pretty cool. 

The other dragons breaking out through the walls was really cool to see and we got to see the masters die!

I do wonder what LF is going to ask for in return for saving the day.  The Giant dying was probably the saddest part of the episode.  Rickon really never made an impact on the show to really care that he died.

[gmillerdrake]

I do wonder what LF is going to ask for in return for saving the day. 

Well....that's as obvious as the rest of the things you mentioned. He wants to marry Sansa, or at least shag her.

The Giant dying was probably the saddest part of the episode.  Rickon really never made an impact on the show to really care that he died.

Yeah...you'd think that Giant knew he was gonna be killed as well, being such a threat and large target....guy probably took a  hundred aarows and countless spear stabs. And, Rickon being killed wasn't that big a surprise or bummer. Had he lived it'd just been another character that would have stolen lines and screen time from the characters that are actually interesting***cough**cough***any Dorne scene***cough***cough****

[hefdaddy42]

The cinematography and effects in that episode were film quality.  The Battle at Winterfell was the most brutal medieval combat sequence I've seen since Braveheart.  Simply amazing.

I'm surprise they have enough money left in the budget to do a tenth episode lol

[cramx3]

I do wonder what LF is going to ask for in return for saving the day. 

Well....that's as obvious as the rest of the things you mentioned. He wants to marry Sansa, or at least shag her.

Yea, but he is going to make that public now?  I guess by attacking the Boltons he openly went against the crown anyway.  He just seems to never lay all his cards down.

[cramx3]

That was one of the best shot, best choreographed battle sequences in recent memory in either tv or film. One of the best episodes of this show, easily.

Well, since Hardhome last year.    Same director did both battles.  This guy deserves an award or something.

[gmillerdrake]

I do wonder what LF is going to ask for in return for saving the day. 

Well....that's as obvious as the rest of the things you mentioned. He wants to marry Sansa, or at least shag her.

Yea, but he is going to make that public now?  I guess by attacking the Boltons he openly went against the crown anyway.  He just seems to never lay all his cards down.

Maybe he just wants a 'handy' down in the stable or something. Have Sansa 'churn his butter' as a thank you for the Knights?

[cramx3]

   that's the least she should do for saving the North

Some part of me does feel like her marriage to Tyrion may last in the end, when Dany comes to Westeros and brings him back, that "alliance" could be important down the line.

[gmillerdrake]

Some part of me does feel like her marriage to Tyrion may last in the end, when Dany comes to Westeros and brings him back, that "alliance" could be important down the line.

This could be. I think he was a gentlemen and respectful to her and she will remember that.

[hefdaddy42]

Yeah, he's treated her better than any other man since she left Winterfell.

[gmillerdrake]

That smile on her face as she walked away while Ramsay was being torn apart and eaten alive was just awesome!

For a moment, when Jon stopped short of beating him to death I feared he was doing it to keep him as a prisoner. It wasn't until I saw her standing at the cell gate that I realized he was just allowing his sister....the one who had truly been ravaged and humiliated by him....to have the honor of killing him.

[cramx3]

Yea and death by his own dogs was very fitting, they haven't eaten for 7 days!

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Aahhh this episode was pure:

[RuRoRul]

Amazing episode.

In the end it was not really surprising at all... except in just how well done the battle was, and in how intense and harrowing it was to watch despite "knowing" what the eventual outcome had to be. I knew Rickon had to die, I knew Jon Snow had to live, I knew the Vale forces were going to arrive... but seeing Rickon almost reach Jon Snow, seeing Jon Snow facing the cavalry charge alone or getting buried in the crush of trampling men, seeing the wildling and loyalist forces surrounded by Bolton shieldwalls and piles of dead bodies... I felt that maybe Rickon would make it, maybe Jon was brought back to die here, maybe the Bolton forces would destroy the wildlings before the knights of the Vale arrived. That to me is why it was a great episode - with viewers starting to feel a little fatigue with villains winning and twists for the sake of shock value, we really needed the "obvious" outcome that Jon Snow wins and Ramsay dies to happen in this battle... but due to how well it was done, we felt every moment of tension and every bit of loss that was suffered to achieve that victory.

The director Miguel Sapochnik was responsible for Hardhome last year which contains perhaps the greatest sequence in the show, and he also directed The Gift which I was really impressed by even though it flew under the radar comapred to the big episodes to follow. Now with this episode he has lived up to all the hype of having the Hardhome director do the biggest battle in the show - and we haven't even seen the season finale yet which is going to be the longest episode of the show so may have a lot of stuff in it! The directing and the cinematography, particularly in creating the battle that managed to combine the brutal portrayal of the ground-level horrors of war of Saving Private Ryan with the spectacle of the Lord Of The Rings, was brilliant in this episode and I see that it is getting a lot of well earned praise.

[gmillerdrake]

In the end it was not really surprising at all... except in just how well done the battle was, and in how intense and harrowing it was to watch despite "knowing" what the eventual outcome had to be. I knew Rickon had to die, I knew Jon Snow had to live, I knew the Vale forces were going to arrive... but seeing Rickon almost reach Jon Snow, seeing Jon Snow facing the cavalry charge alone or getting buried in the crush of trampling men, seeing the wildling and loyalist forces surrounded by Bolton shieldwalls and piles of dead bodies... I felt that maybe Rickon would make it, maybe Jon was brought back to die here, maybe the Bolton forces would destroy the wildlings before the knights of the Vale arrived. That to me is why it was a great episode - with viewers starting to feel a little fatigue with villains winning and twists for the sake of shock value, we really needed the "obvious" outcome that Jon Snow wins and Ramsay dies to happen in this battle... but due to how well it was done, we felt every moment of tension and every bit of loss that was suffered to achieve that victory.

So true. Although you just knew that Jon was going to live and that he'd eventually win.....they did such a good job of taking us right up to that point of 'Oh my gosh....he's gonna die, Ramsay's gonna win.....WTF!?"

I agree the obvious outcome was needed and DESERVED here. If this were season two or three I could see them killing off Jon and the army being destroyed and that being that. But with it so close to the end of the show they have to start gearing this towards an end....which they are, and the Ramsay arc was done and not important to the ultimate ending of the show.

[MetalJunkie]

RIP Wun Wun. Some giants held doors, you opened them.

[Prog Snob]

RIP Wun Wun. Some giants held doors, you opened them.

I was sad to see him go but I assumed either he or Tormund would die last night. When I found that spoiler article, I knew it was going to be Wun Wun. It didn't take anything away from it because reading an article and seeing how he actually died were two entirely different things. The drama played out well. He WAS the last giant, wasn't he?

[hefdaddy42]

That shot of Jon Snow preparing to make his stand before the oncoming cavalry charge was fucking ICONIC.