After eight long years and countless emotional hours invested into this series, we finally witness the showdown between the Night King’s legion of the dead and the living! In an extended episode (82 mins), the build up to the glorious battle is here. No more campfire stories, or wine sloshing, or even long overdue reunions, nope its time to grab that dragon glass and get to the frontlines.
We begin with an overwhelming feeling of anxiety in the air. Hope? No not really. Readiness and confidence on the look of the soldiers? Not quite. Scared shitless of what’s about to march down from the dark and icy field. Yup, let’s go with that. As Samwell Tarly is bumbling around looking for his weapon, he proceeds to the frontlines where the Unsullied and Dothraki are assembled and waiting for their orders. Out of nowhere in the distant midst, the Red Woman arrives and approaches the troops. Seems that she’s come to lend a helping hand as she lights the Dothraki weapons on fire. Ok, that’s pretty awesome and just like that the battle juices are flowing! Thanks for the upgrade witch!
The battle kicks off with a massive Dothraki charge and with their weapons lit, the sequence of them charging forward looks really badass. No stopping this hoard of savage warriors, right? The Dothraki charge into the darkness and to complete and utter shock the audience witnesses the flames being extinguished, until there is just one left. Just like that the Dothraki were wiped out. I guess it wasn’t going to be that easy anyway.
As the wights crawl closer and closer, Dany and Jon are watching the battle from the distant cliffs. Wondering if its time to take the Dragons for a spin. “The Night King is coming!” Jon argues, Dany replies “The dead are already here.” I guess it’s time to saddle up.
The battle to this point still seems to be going well for the living as the “scorched earth” technique seems to be working. That is until the conditions of the battlefield drastically change as the Night King blows in the polar vortex. The fire is sucked away and the dragon’s flame are rendered useless in these settings. At this “oh crap moment”, Arya sends Sansa to the crypt with a Dragon glass dagger. Any instructions on how to use this thing? “Stick them with the pointy end.” Says Arya. Ahh ok got it…
So far, the battle has raged on without any monumental loss regarding our characters. Samwell nearly gets killed by a wight but is saved in the last second by his brother in the Night’s Watch Eddison Tollett. Then Tollett takes one for the team as he becomes our first prominent death. Oops, spoke too soon, I guess.
Dany and Jon are kind of not contributing at this point as the Dragons seems to be really affected by the current blizzard. Flying around in the atmosphere and unable to provide cover for the boots on the ground, they continue to bump into each other in disarray. Meanwhile down below the dead continue to march forward and have reached the trenches in front of the castle. Just before the wights can reach the sprawling trenches, the Red Woman uses her magic and lights the trenches a flame, preventing the dead from moving forward. Score one for the good guys…
Below in the crypt, Sansa enters the halls where all the frightened people are hunkered down. Not knowing what kind of hell is erupting above them. Tyrion and Sansa start reminiscing about their “married” days as Tyrion jokingly says, “Maybe we should have stayed married?” Sansa adds “You were the best of them,” to which Tyrion replies, “What a terrifying thought.”
Shoot over to Godswood where Bran and Theon are chilling. Bran has much on his mind but takes the time to let Theon know that “Everything you did brought you to where you are now,” he says. “Where you belong. Home.” Seems pretty reassuring for a kid who knows and sees everything. Before Theon can respond, Bran activates Raven mode and soars away.
Back to the castle where the living dead have breached the trenches and have made their way onto the premises. At this point there is all sorts of mayhem going on and we have reached FUBAR levels. Arya starts slashing away at her post and the Hound is seen cowering in a corner. “We can’t beat death!” he shouts. To which Beric replies “Tell her that!” as he nods to Arya.
In a moment of terror, a giant makes its way into the castle and is confronted by none other than Lyanna Mormont, everyone’s favorite child soldier. The giant grabs the pint-sized fighter and starts to squeeze the life out of her. That is until Lyanna stabs the oversized orc in the eye. She may have slayed the beast, but she pays the price as she perishes. Above the battlefield we witness the arrival of Viserion (evil dead dragon) as he is controlled by the Night King. Jon and Dany try their best to avoid the blue scorching flames that Viserion is firing but not much comes out of this skirmish. Back at the castle.
Arya is outrunning some baddies in the library, where she is frantically dipping and diving through the dark halls. She runs into the Hound and Beric, where they assist with those annoying growling corpses. Just before they think they are safe, Beric takes multiple slashings from a wight but manages to escape with the other two. Barricaded in the next room, the three soldiers see that the Red Woman is waiting for them. As Beric’s flame fades away (No not Beric… my personal fave!) The Red Woman asks Arya, “What do we say to the God of Death?” To which Arya replies “Not today!” Then bolts out.
The battle so far is not favoring our heroes, as the stranglehold on the castle tightens up. Up in the clouds Jon and the Night King are involved in some dragon on dragon fisticuffs. Scratching and clawing each other, Jon nearly flies off his dragon but regains control, Jon’s dragon delivers a severe blow and the Night King falls down. Yay! We won, its over!!! No not quite yet but at least Viserion is out of the picture for now.
The Night King plunges and Dany sees the opportunity to completely roast him back to the depths of hell. Dany puts Drogon on full blast and scorches the Night King. We quickly learn that sweltering dragon flames don’t affect him at all. He rises from the flames and with a little smirk he makes a gesture that brings the dead back… from… the dead? Yea its confusing but all the corpses that were slaughtered reanimate and get back up. Well I guess we’re royally screwed now.
At this point of the battle a montage depicts the dire situation and clearly things are not going well. It’s starting to seem that the odds are impossible against this kind of foe. On the castle grounds, Jon is feverishly dodging flame attacks from Viserion, as he scurries from one barricade to another to find cover. Elsewhere, Drogon is being attacked by the numerous wights, as they crawl all over him. The dragon bails on his mother and flies away, leaving Dany on the grounds surrounded by the dead. Maybe the dragons are not so loyal but Ser Jorah sure as hell is. He defends Dany as they stand their ground.
The next sequence offers more slow shots of our heroes in agony. Jorah has been stabbed, Jaime and Brienne are fighting off wights, Sam is doing his best Private Ryan impression as he is crying on the floor. Things look really bad now. Back to Godswood, Theon is holding off numerous enemies, when Bran finally decides to return to his body. Just at the right time since the Night King and his crew walk into the scene. Theon who is running on fumes hears Bran calling him. “Theon,” he says. “You’re a good man. Thank you.” Bran obviously knows what’s about to happen and with a tear running down his face, Theon charges the Night King only to be impaled. That’s the end of Theon’s redemption tour.
Finally, the real showdown is about to take place. The Night King is closing in on Bran and is just about to secure the victory for the dead, but out of nowhere! HOLY MOTHER OF DRAGONS!!! Arya lounges toward the Night King to stab him, but he grabs a hold of her as she drops her blade. No worries, with her quick reflexes and her newly acquired powers she catches the blade with her other hand and guts the Night King.
At this point, many watching were probably incredibly shocked at what they just witnessed, not to mention also wondering if this is really the end of the Night King. Well, it sure was, as he crumbled to a million pieces. I can only imagine how audiences reacted across the world.
With the Night King vanquished, and all of his minions turned to crystal dust. The battle has been won, but at what cost. Ser Jorah Mormont is fading away, and Dany is sobbing over his body. All those years of loyalty and service, Jorah paid the ultimate price for his love and queen.
Back at the castle, the Hound and the Red Woman appear. Melisandre mentioned earlier how she would be dead by dawn. She takes off her amulet that was around her neck and walks away from the castle. With the anti-aging magic gone, she is seen in the distance changing to her true form where she dies.
What an episode! Honestly, we were expecting more brutal deaths and perhaps even multiple episodes featuring this showdown, yet we were served some incredibly memorable moments. The build up to the war against the dead was a long one and now our characters can get back to what they do best, and that’s killing each other for the throne. So try to catch your breath, wipe those tears and get ready for the final three episodes!
