I wrote up a few different very long posts but thought it would come off as annoying which is my biggest fear so I deleted it. I suppose we'll agree to disagree MM, but I see what you're saying. I just vehemently disagree with the savage criticism the entire show is now receiving because people's expectations weren't met with one episode. I too am disappointed, but to a lesser extent, and I certainly don't believe it lessens the importance of the conflict over the Iron Throne. The Night King isn't even the most important overarching story, it was just the most pressing. Humanity is finite, power is temporary, Cersei will eventually die, but the undead need no food, no rest, no water, it is analogous to a destructive force of nature, representative of Death itself - every body that falls is another troop for the undead. And I get wanting to know more lore and backstory, but that is the beauty of this whole thing to me. We have been told exactly what the White Walkers were and what the Night King is. The Night King's only goal is to destroy Mankind. The First Men invaded the Children of the Forest's home and they created a weapon to push them back, and it went AWOL on everybody. The White Walkers are sacrificed humans turned magically by the NK, and the wights are the regular plain Jane undead. The main characters have no time to get some cliché last minute speech from the Night King or some lengthy exposition on it, Bran just got right to the point. And I like that. The main characters, even the audience, DON'T need all this secondary info. Sometimes learning more about a legendary, magical being ruins the mystique and draw to the character.
There are two other massive storylines at the very minimum: Daenerys's quest to return home and conquer the throne, and how Cersei is going to attempt to stay in power for good. And they've been in play since episode 1. Night King didn't even show his face until season 4. So while the NK's storyline is more pressing and urgent, and definitely the scariest, I strongly disagree that it is the most important. It is because of its urgency that they've been building it up, and now that it's done for (at least for this cycle, maybe Westeros will eventually relive the threat, we don't know), we can focus on the last obstacle: Cersei, whatever dark shit Qyburn has conjured up, Zombie Clegane, and her army of elephants golden-clad mercenaries.
More characters should've died though. Maybe Brienne got Lt. Dan'd and got her legs eaten