Ever since Hardhome I was expecting the army of the dead to force humanity (what remains) to retreat back all the way to King's Landing or close enough for Cersei (now queen) to realize she needed to act/help or something.

But I was wrong, the White Walkers weren't really that much of a threat. I mean, those White Walkers around the Night King maybe can't even fight and are there just to hang out with the King. They did nothing.

This episode was excellent, except for two parts: Namely the final battle and that the Night King wasnt the ultimate threat.

I mean, Im not against Arya being the one to land the killing blow, but hell, it shouldnt have been this easy.I dont even mean that Jon necessarily should have been the one that faced him, but lets say three of the biggest chracters entered a battle with him(just to throw some examples around: Jon, Jaime and Brienne, each representing a house and a different side of the show) and after when all felt lost and all, then Arya could show up and kill him.Would make it feel way more earned.And honestly, Bran could have been more useful.I dont know, maybe he had some plan other than being a bait, maybe something tied with his powers and the godswood?I dont know, felt like such a huge missed oportunity.

And GOD, why is Cersei the fucking final boss?The entire show was building up to fight against the undead, as they were the ultimate threat, but nooooooooo, it has to be fucking Cersei.That sucks big time.Ugh

Still, it was a great epsiode.An easy 8.5

I loved the episode, it had me on the edge of my seat. Melissandre lighting up the swords, the dothraki riders going up against the dead only for their lights to slowly but surely disappear, the dragon fight on top of the clouds looked MAJESTIC! The final sequence with the song as the Night King got close to Bran was simply superb...

....and then Arya killed the Night King.

Now, I have no problem against the sequence itself (although the fact she managed to sneak up on White Walker elite who are supposed to sense life and a bunch of dead is a bit BS but whatever, I can ignore it) but the fact that Arya, who had zero plot ties to the Night King or the White Walkers, ended up killing who was built up to be Jon Snow's nemesis since Hardhome is just...sad. Imagine if you're playing as Jill through 90% of RE3 and the one who gets to kill Nemesis is Carlos. Or if in Final Fantasy VII you spend the whole game chasing Sephiroth as Cloud and then Cid is the one who kills him. It just feels wrong, completely wrong.

When Jon fell from his dragon and ran to catch the Night King I thought for sure we were getting a badass 1 on 1 duel. I wanted that SOOOOO badly. Yet it didn't happen.

The episode was some of the best TV I've ever seen in my life but the ending kinda ruined it for me. Not completely, but a bit.

I have a feeling that the night king is not dead. It didnt seem like it died, rather disappeared (yeah he shattered)

I found the deletion of the night King to be a little anticlimactic as well. Ever since the very first scene in the very first episode, we're being pushed into believing that they are the big baddie waiting at the end of the series. Ice vs Fire.....

Maybe Cersei is ice? Her heart is certainly made from it. Especially after her children's deaths... Or is she fire? Wildfire is her weapon of choice it seems now.

Arya is not a Mary Sue. She worked hard to earn her skill set. Got knocked down, nearly died several times... Quite different from... Well... You know.

I liked the episode. I'll just like the way George RRRRR Martin ends the books better. There's no way it's ending like this.

Na, he's done. Only 3 episodes to go. Simply not enough time to resurrect him, make it plausible and not jarring.... Then Cersei. Battle or 2 at the least, Jon and Danny incest fallout, so on...

I care quite a bit about military tactics and that stuff so this episode was a complete nightmare for me, probably the worst GoT episode of them all. The WWII space-bombers in the beginning of The Last Jedi were some of the most stupid things I've seen but this battle might actually beat it. It's so clear that they didn't care about the battle making any sense, they just wanted something that looked cool.

First off, it's night. It's pitch black and all they have are a few fires to lit the place? Then Melisandre shows up and provides some light for the Dothraki and I'm like "thank fudge there's at least one person here with some sanity", only to then see the Dothraki charge right into the night. "Hey, it's dark and we're facing an army of undead. Let's just take all of our cavalry and charge right in. What could possibly go wrong!?". What in the world did they hope to achieve? And everyone knows at this point that any killed soldiers will become undead and join the enemy, so not giving the nightwalkers a horde of new recruits should be top priority. And since it was due to Melisandre randomly showing up that the Dothraki got any light at all, it really makes me wonder what the original plan was.

The use of their artillery also made my head hurt. Each piece fired a few shots and then had to stop to not hit the Dothraki. Now, I'm not claiming to be a military genius, but perhaps it's better to start firing the artillery before any charging? So you can make some actual use of them and maybe light up the battlefield. The placing of the artillery was also really weird. If you're defending it's not a very good idea to place the artillery in the front line, because it will be overrun instantly.

Then there's the ditches with pointy sticks. Those are quite good to have, even more so when you place some in front of your infantry. Because, the main purpose of those is to provide more obstacles for the attacker, not the defender. The way they lit them was yet another award-winning stupid moment.

And the battle progress and halfway through the episode we get the typical stealth segment where all of the noise from the battle magically disappears, and this part just goes on for way too long and kills the pace.

Bran...I don't understand what Bran is doing. He did his raven thing and then...nothing. And if the nightking is after him then surely he could've been used in a more clever way? Instead of just sitting under his tree and do his raven thing that did nothing.

I have more vitriol to pour on this one but this should be enough for a rant post.

That's what I mean when I say there won't be any real consequences. If you watch the preview for the next episode, that's exactly what seems to be happening.

Such a good episode. Cant wait to rewatch it. Loving this season so far.

Damn HBO can't keep their stuff secure. There are spoilers out there, be very careful.