Anarres

It's been the central focus of seven seasons of Game of Thrones, though. That, and the drama it generated among human beings - each with stories, histories, conversations, motivations, faults, etc. Fighting zombies is not nearly as interesting, and even though you can make any old premise cool if you tell the story well, it's still just going to be hordes of zombies.

I doubt anyone can make it interesting without a complete overhaul of the faction. The White Walkers have literally said nothing at all. Nothing. Together with the wights they're just a swarm of animated bodies. A natural disaster with a humanoid appearance. Bran surmised a motivation behind their actions, but even that was thoroughly half-baked. The Three-Eyed Raven is the World's Memory? What kind of nonsense is that; not even his own family cares to come to him for more than a few Fun Facts. Did people even know there was such a thing as the Three-Eyed Raven? Probably not. Now perhaps there is going to be a moment in which Bran's (non-)participation in this event is given meaning, but I wouldn't count on it.

I have my gripes with this episode, but the biggest surprise is seeing people complain about the writing of the episode by bigging up the most awful of genre-cliche's... prophecies. I'm glad this zombie stuff is by all appearances over and done with. It's been one of the weakest parts of the show.

5/10 It was nicely done, but it seemed formulaic, from the banter between the usual suspects to the telegraphed reversals (Littlefinger's 'imagine the worst', Daenerys and her 'the only way to get pregnant is to try!', and Jon and his truth-telling - I'd be amazed if there was a single person who believed Cersei wasn't lying about her decision). Theon gets kicked in the balls, of course. Come on now. That was just goofy and played for laughs. Speaking of which, the Night King on a dragon looks silly. He looks far more imposing on horseback than this. It's almost comedic. But all in all I'm glad we got to see Cersei have some time again. Lena Headey is by far the most impressive actress on the show and it sure beats having Jon and his Queen stare at each other. I suppose I'm not too excited for the final season. I find the lack of context about the Night King very dull. Heck, even the name Night King alone is only slightly better than Dark Lord. A disappointing season!

I'll give it a 6. It was enjoyable in a way that action flicks are enjoyable - but it was below what I've come to expect from GoT. Far too many contrivances, and I don't think it was possible for me to have cared less about Dragon #3 being hit. I suspect this was supposed to be the big event of the episode, but even Drogon is barely a character in his own right, #2 and #3 are not at all.

Now there's a twist that'll have the ratings board scratching their heads!

This episode underlined my policy to "just enjoy it for what it is". It's nothing like the first couple of seasons at this point, but whatever - until someone else bothers making a big-budget fantasy series I'll just enjoy the wrap-up season of Game of Thrones. I've seen to much of the story to now suddenly stop watching. I suppose they wanted the dragon's death to be a major issue, but we've seen this guy do what? Sit around in a dungeon, do one fly-by over Mereen, and well... what else? That's no way to build a connection. It turned into a total 'meh' situation, not helped by the painfully obvious foreshadowing with... the... slow... panning.... of ... the ... camera... come on! Things I want to see in the final episode: - Euron and Yara situation resolved. - Greyworm return. - Resolution to the Bank and Golden Company story. - Anything at Winterfell. - Arya to face-change into the meeting with Cersei... but as which character?!

And reject his vows to the Night's Watch? Is there any precedent for this in the books? Other than Jon's resurrection we saw in the tv show, of course.

Seven, with allowances. The show is running out of time. They messed up the pacing badly but it's too late to fix that now. So I'll accept the rush, even if it's almost a completely different show from the first two or so seasons. A lot of things that were impossible then and influenced characters' choices no longer matter in today's world of instant teleportation. That's a huge shame, because it introduces such weirdness as capturing an undead and bringing it to King's Landing... wait what?! Jaime obviously needs to be in the story, but this nonsense cliffhanger stuff needs to just stop. Nobody believes it anyway. It was terribly contrived, but I guess it can't be helped. I think of this episode as a bridge between the first phase of the war for Westeros and now the arrival of the Dead at or near the Wall. I suppose it remains to be seen if that becomes the main focus. I'd be surprised if it does, still. Spend seven seasons building up to a binary conflict? I don't buy it. That'd be very weird for this story.

Fun episode, obviously a bridge between the start and the finale of the season - but it worked well enough (taking into account limitations of time and media). How about Joe Dempsie as Gendry, that guy just jumps off the screen! Great work. The way 'a-an-nul-le-ment' was brought up in stammering fashion was hilarious, if a bit convenient. Of all the ways...! Cersei had better have something up her sleeve, or her attitude seems completely inappropriate. I like Arya and Sansa's scene. Arya is Jon's sister far more than she is Sansa's (not biologically, of course). Arya is also both ignorant of the ways of politics and at the same time she has a very keen eye for observing people, something she learned in Braavos. The possibility that she may have been tricked by Littlefinger is interesting, but that letter by Sansa to what must have been Robb seemed real enough. Not sure what Jon and his snowmen are hoping to achieve, but whatever. Should still be amusing; even if it's probably going to be lights out for at least one or two of them.

A solid 7, as I was entertained apart from the silly ending. It relies too heavily on contrivances for me to really get into the story as in the earlier seasons, but at this point that's a ship that's sailed. I'll enjoy it for what it is, and there's good fun to be had.

I quite enjoyed the episode, so a good solid 7 from me. The Hound getting Arya Stark to smile? Who'd have thought! Davos Seaworth at last having a mature conversation with Stannis Baratheon was also nice to see, and his point about the timing of Stannis' act of mercy was quite good. The general awkwardness of the Tyrion Lannister and Sansa Stark wedding was pretty well captured, with nice touches like Tywin 'always critical of his son' Lannister not tolerating any snickers about Tyrion's lacking height and Cersei Lannister threathening to have Margaery Tyrell killed in no uncertain terms. Joffrey Baratheon's threats and schemes are so juvenile that he doesn't become personally threathening in a way people like his grandfather are; it's just annoying now. I wasn't as fond of the drunken Tyrion scenes, or of Melisandre's antics (What's that about keeping the lamb calm, again? Gendry was screaming like a madman!), but what disappointed me most about this episode was the extremely convenient way the Second Sons confrontation played out for Daenerys Targaryen. I'm curious to see how this story goes on in future episodes, surely the mercenaries will have a few questions about this sudden shift in their organisation? The focus on a smaller number of characters was quite welcome. I wouldn't mind if they carried this forward into the next season.