[Poll] How would you rate episode 508?

[Elric of Melnibone]

loved almost everything about this episode

-- the long awaited Tyrion/Dani meeting of the minds

-- Sansa finding out her little bros are still alive

-- the scene with Jon and Tormund and the other wildlings was really well done

-- the battle was by far the best of any depicted on the show so far. Far better than Blackwater Bay or the battle at the Wall

-- seeing more of the WW and NK

Overall a very satisfying episode, and sets up the season finale well with the gladiator pit as well

[Hiram McDrogon]

My goodness I seem to rate on a different pattern than other people, maybe because I'm rating on an "all TV shows" scale rather than "normal Game of Thrones" scale. I give it a 9, maybe 9.49 (to avoid rounding up to 10; I believe I've given everything also this season 7, 8, or 9/10). The battle looked great. The Arya stuff was very good. Cersei was very good, and the scene with Qyburn was fantastic. The Thenn + Jon duel with a White Walker was fantastic, and I loved the economic character-building and deaths done with both the Thenn and the Val-figure at Hardhome. I think Sansa's been great for this episode and the previous one. Wun Wun was one of the coolest things ever seen on TV.

But 10 is perfect, and it just wasn't. Tyrion and Dany were in my opinion OK, not great - while I hoped that Tyrion would bring up the Meereen material, I now fear the Meereen material may instead bring Tyrion down. For story weirdness and inconsistency, this episode was a step up on the past few, but where was the fire? Sure the Wildlings are on the run from the wights and Walkers, but they at least know how to use fire to fight the wights - that was long since established as the only real effective way to deal with them. The battle layout seemed too inconsistent, although maybe it'll look better on a rewatch - there are swarms of undead, and they're overrun, and then suddenly it's Tormund and Edd and Wun Wun and Jon with no zombies around. Sometimes the wights keep fighting when they've lost massive chunks of their body, other times an arrow through the skull seems to do them in. The zombies in this episode seemed to go down like orcs, and that doesn't match earlier in the story. There's a massive crowd of people pushed against the outside of the gate, and then suddenly they all presumably, um, back up into the fog to die in screamingly painful but unseen ways? Jon and Tormund seemed to be holding the rear, but suddenly there were lots of people left behind them. With the panicked flight from the beach, how could there have been a boat left for our heroes at the end? Yeah, I know these are all nitpicks, but there are enough of them that I can't justify a 10.

Don't get me wrong - I'm giving at a 9, and I thought it was a fantastic hour of television! - but it wasn't perfect.

[Ran]

374 votes, 9.22 average, 9.49 with top/bottom 5% removed, 10 median.

[clawson24]

9.5 out of 10 but I'll round up for the sake of the poll. The first 30 minutes ranged from solid to great but holy freaking hell...the entire Hardhome segment was tremendous. My expectations always feel unreasonably high and I'm often left disappointed but this absolutely shattered my expectations. The atmosphere, the intensity, the terrific mix of action and horror, the shocking moments, the new revelations, the sound effects, the music, the cinematography...bravo.

I can't explain how refreshing this was. In a series that often downplays it's fantasy elements, this felt so damn awesome. Watched it in a room with a mix of book readers and Unsullied and there were countless group HELL YEAHS as well as stunned and nervous silence. I mean we had freaking Wun Wun smashing wights by the dozens with a burning beam, Jon shattering a White Walker with Longclaw, the Night's King announcing his presence in a huge way. Just speechless. Tremendous.

[AlpenglowMemories]

7.5-8

Olly continues to be a ham-fisted plot device. We've had, what, three scenes dedicated to this exact same information? It's tiresome now. The Tyrion/Dany scenes were fine, although still underwhelming. The Sansa/Theon scene was nice as well. Hardhome is obviously intended to be the highlight. I thought it was mostly good. There was sufficient build-up (although it seems Jon's developed a very modern potty mouth) and the CG and effects work was very impressive - possibly the best they've done. I have two gripes though: firstly, some of the close-combat stuff was almost incomprehensible, and I can't fathom why they continually shoot action like this. And I don't think the fast-moving, super agile, climbing around like Spiderman wights are all that scary. The White Walkers are cool though, I'd have liked to see more of them.

So, it was a good action set-piece, though not as good as Watchers on the Wall.

[Brlackenwood]

Absolute 10.

[Mance R Targaryen]

I give it 10/10. That battle made it the best episode of the season. And that scene when Tormund beats up Lord of Bones... :bowdown: Omg i love that scene!

[clawson24]

9/10

This season has been mostly disappointing for me...mostly due to departure from the books. But I must say, this episode was awesome. I enjoyed every minute of it. Tyrion meeting Dany, Reek finally denying killing Sansa's brothers, Arya as Cat of the canals, Cersei getting what she deserves...and then of course the battle.

Why not 10/10? Well, I think that the less we know about the enemy, the less he shows up, the more terrifying he is. And in this episode, they basically showed the White Walkers, how they transform the dead into wights....and I feel like there's not much mystery left, since the characters now know what they really look like, what they can do (not saying that's all they can do but still). Plus the super fast skeletons were a bit annoying for me.

To be fair we're 48 episodes into the story. They've been a mystery for long enough. Viewers need to understand the threat they pose and realize just how dangerous they are.

[A Prince of Dorne]

First 10 since Baelor. My goodness, that was amazing.

Who directed this episode? Get him/her on more of them!

[A Prince of Dorne]

7.5-8

Olly continues to be a ham-fisted plot device. We've had, what, three scenes dedicated to this exact same information? It's tiresome now. The Tyrion/Dany scenes were fine, although still underwhelming. The Sansa/Theon scene was nice as well. Hardhome is obviously intended to be the highlight. I thought it was mostly good. There was sufficient build-up (although it seems Jon's developed a very modern potty mouth) and the CG and effects work was very impressive - possibly the best they've done. I have two gripes though: firstly, some of the close-combat stuff was almost incomprehensible, and I can't fathom why they continually shoot action like this. And I don't think the fast-moving, super agile, climbing around like Spiderman wights are all that scary. The White Walkers are cool though, I'd have liked to see more of them.

So, it was a good action set-piece, though not as good as Watchers on the Wall.

You're batsh*t crazy, IMHO, if you think Watchers on the Wall was better than what we just saw

[DireWolfSpirit]

A solid 9.

The battle scene was my favorite since Blackwater.

My cringe level was red-lining when Jon lost the Dragon glass, also I wasn't aware a Valyrian sword could

do that? Wunwun is going to be so entertaining going forward can't wait for more of him.

I thought Dany and Tyrion were interesting. Emilia played it perfectly imo. Jorah wants to

play gladiator apparently.

Another great job at Winterfell, with Ramsay chiding Roose for permission to go

all Rambo against Stannis. Sansa drawing out of Reek that the dead boys weren't Bran and Rickon was so huge and long awaited for me!

Can't think of anything that I didn't like from the episode.

Really would've enjoyed seeing a catfight out of Cersei and that beastly

septa or whatever her title is.

Edited June 1, 2015 by DireWolfSpirit

[Littlefingers In The Air]

10/10. In this entire series, only Blackwater was better than the battle in this episode. Good god, that was awesome.

I hate Dany and Tyrion, but they click on the show, so that's awesome. Sansa's narrative has been set going forward. She needs to try to find Bran now. That's great. Arya is good to go as a badass assassin. I can't wait to see how that progresses. Even Jorah going back to the fighting pit makes sense to me. Lena Headey and Alfie Allen continue to be amazing actors.

[Hiram McDrogon]

You're batsh*t crazy, IMHO, if you think Watchers on the Wall was better than what we just saw

I'm not the one you're originally responding to here, but in Watchers on the Wall we cared about characters on both sides. That can make a big difference for how you view a battle. Personally I think the two episodes are about on a par in overall quality - yes, I'd say Hardhome looked cooler, but Blackwater and Watchers on the Wall had deeper character dynamics enriching them. If this makes any sense, I'd say Watchers and Blackwater were "human" battles done very well, whereas Hardhome was a morally black-and-white fantasy battle done very well (and, for TV, amazingly well).

[lilix96]

best episode of the season how the night king looking at jon i know they will meet again :D

[JagLover]

Just as people had started to write off this season they produce an episode like that.

Near perfect from start to finish. 10/10

Not only the Hardhome scenes either. As suspected once Tryrion reaches Mereen it became allot more interesting.

[Alboin]

F**k the ratings, this is unbelievable!

[Everett Snow]

I gave it a 10. Honestly, the only nitpick I have is that Dany's "break the wheel" line felt a little forced and cheesy.

[JonSnowed]

By far the best episode of the season and one of the best across all seasons. Hard to fault it, Hardholme was amazing, loved Tyrion schooling the mad queen, Theon revealing to Sansa that Bran and Rickon were not killed and anyone pick up on some foreshadowing by Sam to Ollie?

[the hound of sansa]

for me it is a 9
Dany-Tyrion was just ok, nothing special, but Cersei, Sansa, Arya were very good
And then Hardhome would be perfect if only there were less CGI sceletons and more corpses. Also i could do without the Nazgul screech, and with less Walking Dead-like zombies
But a great episode overall

[Lord Freypie]

4.

Daenerys asking a Lannister for advice in how to treat Mormont in their very first dialogue !?

Saint Tyrion/ Saint Daenerys dialogues were ridiculous. The wheel after the ladder, stop with allegories please.

Battle was well done, but I couldn't stop to see there all the budget they should rather have spent in for example making Dorne look as Dorne (+ it reminded me World War Z movie, criminal offense).

Liked the new Theon scene (you know with the secondary character who married Ramsay). Alfie for an Emmy as usual.

One more Olly scene in case the viewers are so stupid they don't remember who he is or still haven't understood what he thinks.

Decent Arya scene, although I hate when they change names for no reason to use completely different characters names. Also don't understand why they needed to show her the hall of faces in previous episode... only to make her continue using hers.