Long Night Review

Long Night came and went by!

I am kind of frustrated because Episode 3 was great but also insanely bad. So much wrong with the writing on this episode.

When I watched the episode I was excited and had so much anxiety but after the ending, I was like.. whew… okay let me think about what happened and the more I think about it.. the more it was such BS.

Bad Writing

1. What war tactician would run the Dothraki into a horde on undead you cannot see nor know the strength. Cavalry is used for shock and awe or flanking support and although the scene was cool with the lit up swords and the lights go out in the distance, it was a horrible and idiotic war strategy.

dothraki long night

2. Ghost: Why the hell was ghost running with Jorah and the Dothraki. Jon would never have put Ghost in danger like that and he would have put Ghost more likely in the Crypts to protect his Sister Sansa or even Bran. Ghost was unused for no reason.

Way Too Many People Survived The Long Night

Way too many people survived from the main characters. Brienne, Jaime, Podrick, Sam, Tormund, Greyworm, and a bunch of others survived when this was the red wedding episode to kill off people who’s story arch would have ended.

White Walkers Did Nothing

The White Walkers never even got to fight. They literally are like the generals and can do the most damage and they just stood back chilling. Such a waste.

Where Was Bran Warging?

Why was Bran warging for no reason? He just sat there the entire episode and had no impact as someone who can warg into animals. Another waste.

Melisandre’s Death

I really enjoyed her here. But her reason for being there felt totally wrong. She lit the swords and the pit which was fantastic but since season 2 she was working to defeat the Other race by finding Azur Ahai and create Lightbringer which she tried with Stannis Baratheon to create the sword to defeat the night king and she basically gave Arya a pep talk.

Melisandra is MADE OF FIRE. Her whole plot device is to carry out Nissa Nissa and for Azur Ahai to stab her with his weapon in the heart to create Lightbringer. SO pissed they ignored this.

Beric’s Death

Beric’s death was to help Arya for 5 seconds escape to the next room? He died 19 times + and went past the wall to defeat the Night King and they literally gave him a crappy half Hodor scene. His death felt cheapened.

Jon’s Role

Jon did not do a damn thing this episode. He killed a couple of wights but he had no impact on the fight with the Night King.. which leads me to Arya killing the Night King.

Why Arya Stark?

WTF! Arya did not deserve to give the killing blow on the Night King. Her destiny is all about changing faces and is an assassin to most likely kill Cercei wearing Jaime or Tyrion’s face. Arya has a list of people she is after to kill. The Night King was not on her list and she never had any interaction with wights, White Walkers or the Night King before this fight. She did not earn that kill and I felt it was total fan service ignoring George R.R. Martins folklore about Azor Ahai, Prince that was promised, Nissa Nissa, Lightbringer.. etc.

The Ending

I feel like George R.R. Martin would never have ended these books this way. In interviews he has discussed this ending and said the HBO directors ending would not be the ending he would have made but the premise is the same. In the interview with the directors, they stated they wanted to go off the script of what should have happened to surprise people. NOOOOOOO. Jon’s destiny or maybe Khaleesi was the Prince or Princess that what promised. It was Jon’s story arch to kill him.

The Night King Did Nothing

The Night King did nothing the entire show. He killed Theon underwhelmingly but the reality he did no damage what so ever. His death and purpose felt entirely empty of a plot device that never fulfilled what it was intended to do.

Jon Should Have Killed The Night King

Why Jon should have been the one to kill the Night King?

  • Jon Joined the Night Watch and learned about the others.
  • Jon Went beyond the wall and brought Wildlings and Night Watch together for the purpose of defeating the night king.
  • The Night King watched as Jon killed one of his White Walkers with his Valerian Steel sword.
  • The Night King in front of the dock raised all the dead Wildlings to show him how powerful he was.
  • Jon went and gathered Khaleesi and her Dragons to help fight the night king and showed her the paintings of the children of the forest.
  • Jon went beyond the wall again to gather a single wight to show Cercie and freeze the war to kill the Night King.
  • Beric stood there and pointed at the Night King with Jon that they had to kill him to stop the army.
  • Jon was a King and the Night King was the King and in old lore, the Kings would fight each other to finish a battle just like the battle of Bastards.

I could make 4 pages of the reasons why Jon should have been fighting the Night King. He might not be the finishing blow but it was his fight that he had worked for that was stolen from him.

SO FRUSTRATED they played fan service to ARYA and ignored everything in the books. In the books Melisandra never even met Arya and that whole brown eyes, Green Eyes, Blue eyes was never mentioned.

Long Night Should Have Lasted Longer

I wish the long night should have lasted more than 1 episode. All these seasons they were building up to this moment and then it was just 1 episode. That makes no sense. They are gonna have 3 episodes to reclaim that iron chair now from Cersei. Think about it. Is Cersei a bigger threat than the Night King and his army of the dead.

The only thing I really liked was the music by Ramin Djawadi. He killed it with his badass music!