Well, the grand Mary Sue character strikes again, this time ultimately ending entire plot lines that have been set up ever since the very first episode.

Seriously though, the only thing I enjoyed about the third episode is everything related to Jorah. Rest felt uninspired and generic.

Great scenery, great acting, superb music in the third episode, but the writing... I was really disappointed by a few things and listed the biggest ones:

-) Dothraki suicide squad:
We have seen all these tacticians in a tent the episode before and all they came up with was "Let's send the dothraki in blindly without dragonglass on the swords and rely on some woman in red coming along to set their sword on fire." It seemed like they just really wanted to get rid of the dothraki plotline.

-) Plot Armor:
With all the plot armor Sam has been wearing this episode it is really understandable how he didn't get up for a while after getting pushed down. That armor must be really heavy by now. It really feels like he survives with the odds of winning the lottery a few battles now.
And not only him, but most of the characters. Isn't this Game of Thrones? Where you get killed randomly while taking a shit or visiting a wedding, but like almost every character survives a battle where they are outnumbered heavily and even someone who has mastered fighting and hiding like Arya barely made it out alive!? Jaime who almost died to one dornish soldier suddenly survives approximately 100 wights? Lyanna Mormont took out a giant? (I get that she is brave and fearless, but come on!)
I don't know what was in the onion soup that Davos gave the little girl but if also every character from the crypt survives that must be one hell of a superpower soup. Every warrior is out there and you are locked in with wights turning up from everywhere and no one dies? Varys, Sansa, Tyrion, Missandei, Gilly and not even one dies there?

-) The big threat for 8 seasons got killed how again?:
The ending really seemed a bit too easy. No clever plan, no coordination of the characters, no plan at all as far I could see. Just Arya running in on her own past all these white walkers who appeared to be chilling the whole episode and jumping in to kill the Night King. Did the others even know that Arya was going to attempt that? It didn't feel like that. How little awareness have all the other White Walker and wights? The Night King was on the open field and Arya should be easily spotted by them. Was the Night King really this big threat when one skilled assassin like Arya could take him out like that? Is this the result from sevens seasons of build up, all that led to him falling for the old switcheroo and dying?
Besides that how should this continue now? What is even the point when they have the perfect killer with Arya who should be able to win the war on her own?

-) Bran going ProCrow:
Not sure what he did there besides watching and almost getting these crows roasted. I really hoped there would be more than the tension between him and the Night King. They were supposed to be the heavy weights from each side and in the end both appeared to be sheep. Why was the Night King even prioritizing killing Bran that much? It's not like he is going to run away suddenly. It just seemed very convenient how things worked out.

-) While the darkness that comes with the Long Night was really fascinating and poetic I still doubt that it was necessary to make such a huge part of the episode this dark. Some good parts were more like an audio book than a movie. Get some torches, maybe use oil to set wights on fire, but if I were in that battle I probably would have killed just as many fellow soldiers as wights since I couldn't see shit.

+) All the deaths were really sad, but very nicely done and absolutely necessary to show how big of a battle that was.
Theon really had completed his arc with him saving Bran from all the wights. It really shows how much he has grown over time and his character development is just really intriguing.

-) Dothraki suicide squad:
We have seen all these tacticians in a tent the episode before and all they came up with was "Let's send the dothraki in blindly without dragonglass on the swords and rely on some woman in red coming along to set their sword on fire." It seemed like they just really wanted to get rid of the dothraki plotline. I would also like to see map of the battlegrounds, every squad seemed to be placed very randomly. Why were the Unsolid standing outside of the pitfall in the beginning? Why didn't they have fire sources near the pit? If it seems that all the dothraki are going to die, just light up the pit and stand behind it.

-) The big threat for 8 seasons got killed how again?:
The ending really seemed a bit too easy. No clever plan, no coordination of the characters, no plan at all as far I could see. Just Arya running in on her own past all these white walkers who appeared to be chilling the whole episode and jumping in to kill the Night King. Did the others even know that Arya was going to attempt that? It didn't feel like that. How little awareness have all the other White Walker and wights? The Night King was on the open field and Arya should be easily spotted by them. Was the Night King really this big threat when one skilled assassin like Arya could take him out like that? Is this the result from sevens seasons of build up, all that led to him falling for the old switcheroo and dying?
Besides that how should this continue now? What is even the point when they have the perfect killer with Arya who should be able to win the war on her own? I think this was good plot twist, I realized it only just before it happened, when Night King was potrayed for a long time, his blue eyes in the center, that Red woman said to Arya that she has one blue eyes left to kill. It could have been done better tough. Without the sudden pop-up that was a pain in the ass the entire s7.
I was hoping that Bran had something big under his sleeve, given that he had so much on-time in last two episodes.

What was that with Dany and Jon flying mindlessly inside ice storm?! What were they trying to do? Were they lost? One would think that dragons have atleast some sense of direction, like birds do. I was so frustrated that I wanted to scream.

Theon part was great, except the way hi died. Ok, hi's no knight, but trained fighter still. Show me one fighter who takes a spear deep in his armpit and just runs forward? Kids do that. Please.

There were so many things annoying me in this episode. But still, I think it was very good. Best episode for a long time. It really shows up how they saved the budget in last episode and used it all here. I just wish that I had a better TV.
The sounds, the music, the crushing feel of hopelessness... By the Seven!

[quoteWell, the grand Mary Sue character strikes again,
[/quote]
Although I am not that big of a fan of Arya, how is she a Mary Sue?
Dothraki: This was much more for story purposes than anything else. Cavalry attacks in movies are always or usually the thing that saves the Heroes. The Dothraki proofed that their charge can be devastating and now they charge in with flaming arakhs(torches of hope). They were playing with most of the audience or the characters in the show like: Maybe there still is hope.....

Plot Armor/Deaths: Yeah this is very sad that so many characters who should not survive survive this. I think it would have been better for the episode for Sam to be in the crypta and saving some people from the Stark kings. Or Sansa killing someone with that damn dagger "by accident" in order to save Tyrion or something like that. Instead they had this look together and I thought they were going to suicide there and then.

Night King/Bran: Up to the point when Arya jumped out of the Dark I had the opinion that all this is Bran seeing into the future, seeing how they would fail. The cost of human lives/soldiers were simply to high. I mean: The Dothraki Vanguard-gone
Unsullied-should be gone
Wildlings-pretty much decimated
Northeners/Arryns-Heavily decimated
folk in crypta-not much info but lots of dead can be assumed
The Castle was overrun and every single living had his back against the wall fighting off a horde on their own. They cant logically hope ot best Cersei after this...So I dont actually have a problem with Arya killing the knight king like this, although it would have been cooler with Bran. What the hell were these Ravens doing? Whats his purpose anyway? He has not yet proven his powers to anybody in winterfell but everyone simply believes him....

Lighting: Yeah some more fires would have been pretty nice. I mean if you know that a defensive battle is fought against an enemy who doesnt rely on such things as eyes, but your soldiers definetly need it you could put some firepits here and there....

Shortversion: I think it was a very nice episode catching the feeling of doomsday(music epic as always). The outcome of this episode was expensive and cheap in the same way: Most of the redshirts have died (expensive) but only a few main characters.

Really enjoyed the episode and I don't mind how this series is sticking to having the politics as the main threat to Westeros. It feels more thematic to the early seasons to me. First three episodes have been a marked improvement to last season.

It's not really one of my favourite episodes but I liked it and thought some of the shots looked amazing. The dragon fight needed to be shot brighter though.

I would have preferred it if Sam had stayed in the crypt. Maybe they could have even given him a heroic moment fighting a wight in their. Instead he was a distraction during the battle and added nothing. A shame given he was one of the best performers in Episode 1.

Theon's arc has been handled magnificently.

In fairness Sam has always had ridiculous plot armour. Remember in season 2 when he was surrounded by thousands of Wights and several White Walkers , completely in the open with no chance of escape...and yet he got away. It was even worse.

I think maybe he was trying to tempt the Night King to come for him. The Night King's hunger to kill him is probably connected to how he was created as a failed weapon. Overall, it wasn't handled the best.

Hi guys,

Just like many of you out here, I loved and hated episode 3, and I`m looking forward to number 4.

I think that the episode had bad and good aspects about it:

The battle itself was a complete fuck up from a strategic point of view, the Dothraki being sent out on a suicide mission without any logic, the only thing nice about it was that feeling of hopelessness that everyone got watching their lights slowly fading away into the night, other than that...stupid move.

They had siege equipment such as trebuchets and catapults, they`ve only used them once or twice and they were placed in the front line, instead of having them at the back and having them rain fire upon the enemy all night.

They had a trench that was behind the troops, instead of being in front of them, which in the end called for almost all the Unsullied to be sacrificed, just as the Dohtraki were, for no particular reason.

It seems that the whole tactic of this battle was thought of and executed by one of the wights, to their advantage...

I won`t write again about all the people that should have been dead but aren`t, like Sam the Slayer, Jamie etc, I think you guys have already covered that, but I will like to say something about what`s left.

I think you`ll all agree with me that in the current format, even with the dragons, Dany has little to no chance in defeating Cersei, I know, she`s got the dragons, but don`t forget that Euron has been to the end of the world, he even visited the ruins of old Valyria and he`s not worried about the dragons, because he`s got something for / against them - his words.

With the Dothraki gone, the Unsullied gone, and most of the Arryns, Northerners and Wildlings gone, they`re no match for the Iron Fleet that Euron now commands, the Lannister army and the Golden Company, even with the dragons.

Here`s some food for thought:
1 - Where is Dany`s champion, former sellsword and fighter in the arena, Dario Naharis?

2 - What do you know about the Golden Company?
Is Daario with them?
I`m guessing most of you know that it was founded by Westerosi knights that were defeated in the Blacfyre rebellion and had to flee.
What if their ancestors came back "home" under a different contract than the one Cersei thinks? After all, it is well known that they never broke a contract, but who are they contracted to? It was the Iron Bank of Braavos that paid them, who owns that bank?

And there`s one other thing, Euron killed the sandsnakes but Dorne has not completely vanished, it`s still there, it still has an army and whoever is leading them now might want revenge for what the Lannisters have done to the Martells for years now, starting with the massacre from Kings Landing and killing Elia, the killing of the red Viper by The Mountain, Trystane dying without anyone knowing who killed him, except the sandsnakes who are also dead now...so where`s house Martell? Where are the "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken"?

Ewww... S08E04 They have only gone and resurrected the Dornish alliance

After having overcome the slight disappointment of the last episode: It felt like Game of Thrones again!
But from the beginning, starting with the negative:
So actually only half their army died and there are still enough left to call them "the dothraki" and "wildlings"? Certainly did not looked like it.
Which Prince of Dorne? The royal family of Dorne is wiped out with male and female heirs....(bastard or not)

What I enjoyed in the feast scene and the whole story evolving around Dany and Jon, was Game of Thrones kinda being back to its roots. Schemes, Secrets, Power and the usage of it.
The enemy making logical moves like ambushing at Dragonstone. Although you might argue for what they(Daenerys) still needs it? This overconfidence leeds to important characters dying with severe effects on the remaining(someone said "Burn them all!"?)

Edit: But srsly not a Single scene between ghost and jon!?

As far as allies go, someone is always going to be in charge of Dorne. They botched that storyline in the show, but it is probably the biggest army in play by far, because they've not taken any part so far. Their history and political climate (judging by the Sandsnakes being able to coast to power) would indicate they would fight for Daenerys.

Tyrells were defeated, mostly because all of their bannermen defected to the Lannisters. The Reach should now be beholden to Daenerys (see Loot Train episode in season 7 were they bent the knee for some reason…).

Given time, she might win over the Stormlands as well, if Gendry is accepted. Same with Riverlands whoever is in charge there now.

Because of all of this, it doesn't make any sense to strike now. Cersei has few allies and can't afford to keep mercenaries sitting around forever, never mind feeding people while confined within the city walls. Therefore burning the city with thousands of civilians is a dumb plan but will probably be her plan, sadly.

I fear they are trying to raise GRRMs and Dorans plan from the dead, and pull up the Quentyn card.

I hate Varys from the beginning, Harakon, he was pretty annoying as Robert advisor, wanted to kill Dany, had bad influence on Rose that led her to death, then he was good ally of Lannisters, then changed sides again to not get killed (he should have been killed with Mad King in my opinion)... Hope Melisandre words from last season will be true and we will have pleasure to WATCH it.

But for what exact reason do you hate him? All the time he tried his best to protect the common folk. He was the one intriguing against Littlefinger so he does not get too powerful. Also you cant blame him in season one for planning to kill Daenerys....she and the claim she had were more dangerous to westeros than a king robert.