TV Show Review - Game of Thrones (Season 8, Episode 3)

Season: 8
Genre: Adventure/ Fantasy/ Drama/ Action
Episode: 3
Episode title: The Long Night
Air date: April 28th 2019
Starring: Kit Harrington, Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Lena Heady Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner, Liam Cunningham, Nathalie Emmanuel, John Bradley, Gwendolyn Christie, Alfie Allen, Conleth Hill, Rory McCann, Jerome Flynn, Kristofer Hivju, Joe Dempsey, Jacob Anderson, Iain Glenn, Pilou Asbæk, Gemma Whelan, Richard Dormer, Anton Lesser, Daniel Portman

Description: The Night King and his army have arrived at Winterfell and the great battle begins.

Review: A build-up of almost eight seasons, getting ready for the most epic battle. One of the greatest 80 minutes in TV history. ATTENTION: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
In the first few minutes of the episode, we see everyone getting ready for battle. Some people hiding in the crypt, the rest in the line of fire. The Dothraki attack first, but never return. That’s when the real battle begins. And it looks like a battle they will never win.
“The Long Night” was directed by Miguel Sapochnik. He also directed “The Battle of the Bastards”, “Winds of Winter” and “Hardhome”. So it’s obvious he knows his way around battle scenes. It’s a pretty chaotic battle, but we switch between those battle scenes and shots of our heroes.
And it is tough to keep such a long battle interesting. But somehow you are on the edge of you seat the entire runtime of the episode. And that’s because you feel the constant threat. Not only because of the darkness, but also because of all of our favorite characters. And you never know when one of them might bite the dust. You want them all to survive, but that’s simply impossible. But I did expect more of the ‘big names’ to die. Somehow I think it’s still somewhat of a miracle that Sam and Brienne got out, because they were in several life threatening situations I thought would be their end.
Edd is the first to go and it was expected. Same goes for Beric, he has served his purpose. I didn’t expect Lyanna Mormont to die. But she went out with a bang. Her being killed by that giant and then stabbing him with her last breath. Theon was also an expected death, but I didn’t think he would go out the way he did. He made the ultimate sacrifice. Theon has changed over the seasons, from being an asshole to a ‘slave’ to a hero. Great way to go. Melisandra kind of predicted her own death. She had a pretty important role in the battle and like Beric, served her purpose. The one that got me the most and made me ball my eyes out, was Jorah. He has always been one of my favorites and I hated seeing him go. I was afraid for him the entire episode, but it looked like he was going to make it. Until he didn’t!!! He died the way he wanted: protecting Daenerys. And I loved how he kept fighting, until the whights fell down. That’s were he gave up and died in her arms. Knowing she was safe.
The scene in the crypt, between Sansa and Tyrion, shed new light on the couple. They were once married and Sansa tells him that he was the best one. Not that hard, when the other two were Joffrey (almost married her) and Ramsey. When the dead come to life in the crypt, Sansa and Tyrion hide and have a great moment together. What will happen between the two next? I somehow now think Sansa might even take the throne, with Tyrion by her side. They are a truly great duo and would make great rulers. Probably a better couple than Jon and Daenerys ever were.
Arya was absolutely awesome and she confirms again why she is my favorite character. The scene in the library was filled with tension and I was on the edge of my seat constantly. You know she will probably survive, but still it’s a fantastic scene. And in the end, Arya saves the day, or actually mankind. How badass was that? I think it was predicted that either Daenerys or Jon would eventually kill the Night King, but it’s such a cool twist to make Arya the hero. Bran knew that she was the one, because in episode 2 he handed Arya the dagger. And Melisandra also knew that Arya was the one.
The scenes with the dragons were simple perfect. They looked stunning and the inevitable fight between ‘dead’ dragon Viserion and his brothers was amazing and heartbreaking at the same time.
One to mention is Ramin Djawadi, the composer. His music is fantastic, but especially for this episode. It perfectly builds up and it’s phenomenal.
People say it’s anti-climactic. I think that the Night King was killed a bit too easy, especially since we’ve been waiting for it for almost 8 seasons. But still I think that Arya killing him the way she did was brilliant.
“The Long Night” is an intense episode. I can’t remember the last time I watched an episode with my heart beating in my throat like that. I was so excited for it and it paid off. It’s an epic episode, that will ruin a lot of lives.