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"10" Is it exactly how I would have written it? No. Was it awesome, epic, and hard core? Yes.

I suppose that's possible, but I don't think that will happen. I believe that Sansa will end up being the Warden of the North in Winterfell (IF Sansa lives, that is, and I think that's a coin flip, at best), and Arya and Gendry will end up at Storm's End. That's just my gut feeling, though.

Yeah, it's the perfect capstone to Ned and Robert's strong friendship. Way back in season 1, they (Ned and Robert) talked about joining their houses together (via Sansa and Joffrey), and that was a train wreck, but Arya and Gendry ending up together brings great closure in a lot of ways.

I'm still confidently predicting Arya and Gendry wiil end up together. She just has to do one final mission, then she'll return to him, I predict (or he'll follow after her, I guess)

Are we sure Arya didn't tell anyone? My assumption is that she did tell, minimally, Jon, Sans and Bran (although telling Bran would be unnecessary,, I think For that matter even if Arya didn't tell anyone, Bran would soon know anyway, and I'm sure Arya knows that).

Seems to me that if there were ways that you believe you could have improved it, then it was not perfect to you. And yet you gave it a 10, because...it gave something to everyone? Do I have that right? Because in my opinion, lots of episodes have given something to everyone, but I'm guessing you did not give them all 10's. By the way, I'd be interested to hear which characters you believe should have gotten more time in Blackwater, but if you don't want to discuss it, that's fine, of course. Also, do you know whether Blackwater has a "rant and rave without repercussions" thread here at Westeros, or something similar to that, and if so, how many comments have been posted in it? I don't give 10's willy nilly. In fact, although I have not kept track of all my grades that I have given to episodes, I don't think I've given more than five 10's. I do give lots of 8's and 9's, though. If you've been reading my posts, you know I'm generally very positive and optimistic, and tend to focus on what's good more than on what's bad, especially for GoT where there has been so much that they HAVE gotten right (as I believe I mentioned above) To answer your question, though: I give both Blackwater and 803 the same grade, "10," but for different reasons. Overall, Blackwater was more consistently good, but, as I think I've mentioned, 803 had by far the most awesome 10 minutes of the whole series. Beyond that, I really cannot easily say which I consider better overall. Perhaps once I have had more time to digest and consider 803, I will be able to make that decision (about whether I think 803 is better than Blackwater), but right now I cannot easily do that, and I'm not going to sit here pondering it for an hour. By the way, there was other good stuff in 803, too, besides the last 10 minutes, and although a lot of the criticism of 803 is fair, I'm not sure all of it is fair, for a variety of reasons. (Here's a simple example: Lots of people have been complaining about how dark it was. Uh, okay, turn up the brightness on the t.v. or viewing device, and watch it again. I did that, and it made a big difference. And there are other examples, too.) So, is it possible that 803 was maybe a "9" to you, then? Or no?

Was Blackwater "perfect"? No way it could have been improved, in any way? And what was your grade for 803? No

HAR! Okay, hope you love the last 3 episodes!

As I mentioned above, I think the grading is highly subjective, including how the grades are determined in the grader's mind. To you, it means "perfect." Well, very little or nothing is "perfect," so why does the grade of "10" even exist? Have you ever given an episode a 10? If so, I'd be curious to know which one(s), and then, I'm guessing, I could nitpick stuff in that episode or episodes too, if I wanted. (Consider the Star Wars franchise. MANY people would grade Episode IV, A New Hope, a "10," yet it has fairly major flaws in a variety of areas. And Star Wars is just one other example that I chose among many, many others I could have chosen.) To me, a single truly excellent moment can make up for other flaws. To you, I guess it can't. Part of your point in this thread, as I understand it, is that you can't understand how anyone could give Episode 3 a high grade, much less a "10." Well, I'm trying to answer your question, and I think I have, which I'll now summarize: I believe that not everybody gives grades in the same way, but rather, it is highly subjective, different from person to person. I do think it's worth noting, though, that last time I checked the grades of "10" for Episode 3 had FAR more votes than any other grade, and as I recall, over 50% gave it a 7 or higher. I think that means most people disagree with your evaluation (by the way, what IS your grade for Episode 3? If you mentioned it above somewhere, I either missed it or don't recall it.). I don't view the flaws in Episode 3 to be anywhere near as severe as a bird doing what you describe, for reasons I already described at great length above, and won't rehash. But again, this is highly subjective. Some people go to restaurants and spend nearly the entire time complaining about the smallest imperfection in their meal (and/or service), and others go and have a different perspective (and therefore a different experience) entirely. I choose to not be a person who focuses heavily on negativity, as I've also talked about above, I think. Having said that, I do not deny the flaws in Episode 3. Oh yeah, they were there, they were real. As I've said, I had it at a 6 or 7 until the last 10 minutes or so, but then the last 10 minutes were the best 10 minutes of the entire series for me, and that carried a LOT of weight in my final grade. GoT/ASOIAF is larger than D&D. The story was here before they arrived on the scene, and it will be here long after they depart the scene (indeed, it's already moving on without them, as D&D head over to Disney to make a Star Wars trilogy, I believe). D&D do not get the credit for the vast majority of the story (GRRM does, obviously), and to me they can't ruin the series as a whole just by stumbling pretty badly here and there (and they HAVE stumbled, although to be fair to them, D&D have gotten a WHOLE HECKUVA LOT right over the last 9 years, too. Let's be fair to D&D, without them we probably would never have seen anything remotely like the production we've seen over the last 9 years, and GoT/ASOIAF has been propelled to international popularity well beyond where it was before, bringing in tens and tens of millions (probably even "hundreds of millions," I would guess) of new fans in the process. Isnt't that an incredibly good thing?) And this MIGHT be the only ending we ever get to the original storyline. That is a very real possibility (I believes Winds of Winter will be published, but I have little to no confidence that Dream of Spring will be, at least not written primarily by GRRM), and IF this HBO production does end up being the only ending we ever get, I choose to spend my time watching it while focusing heavily on what they DO get right, and savoring every bit of it. But hey, that's me, and I fully understand other people approach life differently.

Sure, I hear you about there being flaws. In fact, I went out of my way to describe them, AND mention that for me the grade was hovering around a 6 or 7 until...KABOOM, the last 10 minutes or so were just flat out awesome. In fact, they were SO awesome that for me, the other flaws just melted away, and really didn't much matter for my final grade, especially since: (1) The darkness was a major gripe I had, but then I turned up the brightness and watched again, and it was much better. Maybe some of the other people griping about the darkness should...turn up the brightness on whatever device they are watching on and watch it again, too? Maybe. (2) Sure, their tactics were terrible, but WHO is supposed to be the great military mind here anyway?? Dany?? She has no background in that. Sure, she's been in fights, but military tactics and strategy?? Naw. Jaime?? Nope. He was a great fighter, but no great military mind, ever. Tyrion?? Practically zero background in that area. Jon?? Nope. Not only does he have no background in that area, but we've seen him make huge tactical mistakes and blunders before, most notably in the very popular "Battle of the Bastards." Davos? Naw, not really. He's called the Onion Knight, but he has no real military background. Jorah? Maybe, but again, he's a great fighter with very little if any strategy experience or training, so far as I know. Varys? Nope. Missandei? Nope. Grey Worm? Maybe. We've seen him show some good stuff in this area before, but that doesn't mean he'd be a good pick for planning something like this on such short notice, and even then it's not really clear how much (if any) "command" training he was given., if any. Lyanna Mormont? Nope. Sandor, Arya, Tormund, Brienne???? Nope, nope, nope, nope, just more great fighters or warriors with little to no background or training in military tactics or strategy, so far as I know. So, who is the great military genius that I'm overlooking in this group that was supposed to put together a great battle plan, especially on such short notice? Gendry? Nope. Melisandre? Nooe. Beric? Nope. (3) Regarding the plot armor for many of them (most notably Brienne, Jaime, Gendry and others). Did I like the plot armor? NO. Can I accept it? Sure, I basically have no choice, cuz that's the way it's gonna be in fiction (books and movies), and that's how it has already been in this show AND in other ultra-classic fantasy fiction. (Indeed, Lord of the Rings has PLENTY of this stuff. Ever see The Two Towers? Wow.) So, yeah, these are all flaws, and I acknowledged them, but then that ending of Episode 3 was simply epic and awesome to me, and that took it up to a 10. Next, I would note that grading episodes is highly subjective and, in my opinion, often reflects the personality and outlook on life of the grader. Some people are pessimistic by nature, and are going to focus on the stuff they didn't like to the near-exclusion of everything else. There are people in this world who, if they see something 97% good and 3% bad, are going to lock in on the bad 3% and declare that the whole thing sucks. I guarantee you that there are such people in this world. On the other hand, some people tend to be more positive and optimistic in life, and tend to focus on the good things, and I think I'm generally one of those people. Did I see flaws? Yes, I listed them in my post above this post. But then the ending was just a grand slam, totally knocked it out of the park, and THAT is what left a lasting impression on me, and that is what I'll remember this episode for. Finally, I would note that some people, in my opinion, are just predisposed to dislike this episode because it was The Big Showdown With The Night King (my words) and their favorite character(s) didn't have the spotlight as they have been predicting and/or fervently hoping for years would happen, and they are deeply disappointed by that. But how many people do you know who say Arya is their favorite character, yet still hated this episode? I'm guessing "not many." (For me, Arya is one of my favorite characters, certainly top 3 to 5, but I don't think I could say who would rank #1 for me.)

10. Was it dark? Yes (but I watched it again with the brightness turned up on my t.v., and that was much better.) Were the military tactics and strategy abysmal? Yes, I daresay they were. Did certain characters have plot armor about 2 feet thick (Brienne, Gendry, Jaime, others)? YES. But when the music really slowed down, and the Night King was closing in on Bran, and the other characters were so close to getting crossed off, but then ARYA CROSSED OFF THE NIGHT KING, it was the single greatest moment ever on the show for me. I loved it, and it brought the episode all the way up in my mind from a 6 or 7 (where it had been hovering) to a rock solid 10. P.S. The death of Lyanna Mormont was devastating, right up there with what happened to Shireen. I'll be scarred and traumatized by that forever, I think.

Yeah, I think you're probably right, it came about 3 episodes later than it should have. I think it would have been much more realistic for Bran to show up and tell Sansa "Uhhhhh...you know that guy's evil, right?? Oh, no, you didn't know that, not really? Well, lemme tell you what he's been up to for the last 6 or 7 years..." After which LF would have been crossed off within about 30 minutes or so of Bran being wheeled into Winterfell. But they saved it for the finale, and I thought it was worth it when it finally came.

10. Best scene: "3 Starks Gang Up on LF and Cross Him Off."

Maybe. You could be right. In my mind, I'll judge it by whether, after it is resolved, everyone just basically returns to where they were before the issue arose. I'll make this prediction, though: NONE of them (Arya, Sansa, Littlefinger) will die this season. Perhaps if one of them leaves Winterfell this season b/c of this issue, that will qualify as a significant development, but I honestly don't believe that will happen, either. Even IF Arya and Sansa discover that LF let Arya find that letter (and I don't see how they could discover that, short of LF admitting it, which he is NOT going to do), he hasn't even told any lie or anything here. The letter IS real, it IS legitimate, Sansa doesn't even deny it. (Not that I think that makes Arya's reaction reasonable, though)

Agreed. The whole Arya/Sansa sub-plot has the feel of "filler" to me, to give those characters something to do while much more important stuff is happening elsewhere. I'll be surprised if any of it leads to any significant and permanent events for Arya, Sansa, and/or Littlefinger.