SPOILER ALERT! So am I the only one excited about a new round of GoT?

[AKULA]

Have to say, I really enjoyed that! No idea how it is going to end.

SPOILERS....




Must admit when the wildfire stores started to cook off, I was expecting the whole city to go in one Big Bang. Episode 6 would just be Sansa receiving a raven.

 

Not only has Dany gone full Targaryen, but Greyworm had the blood lust as well...(understandably signposted after Missandei’s execution)...did you note the look on his face when Jon tried to stop the slaughter? Will be interesting to see whether his mood has changed after the destruction of Kings Landing...if not, am half expecting him to go for Jon.

[Hammers]

So the latest Targaryen monarch proved to be just as mad in the head as the worst of her forebears.

I really get the feeling they don't want us to be on Daenerys' side any more. There is hardly a shot when she isn't grimacing like a mad woman or has a thousand-yard-stare.

I have some mild gripes, but on the whole I thought the episode a good one.

I thought Varys' toin coss analogy was quite acute (in the light of the read of the Targaryen rule of Westros).

[Antonio J Carrasco]

Man! What a mess of episode! Almost as bad as S8E4! Almost. Annoyingly predictable; characters' deaths as thrilling as watching mussels  feed, and overall bad writing. Honestly, the only thing that would save this mess is for Daenerys killing Jon Snow and marrying Sansa Stark. At least, THAT would make for a really interesting ending!

[Ogrob]

I very much enjoyed it. Was a bit down after last couple of episodes where it felt like characters were just making stupid decisions out of character, but this episode felt true to character more than we've seen since ep 2.

[Lowtardog]

I thought it ruddy good. Quite ’The Bunker’.... And a whole lot of other tropes. Am I tve only one who thinks they are letting the directors roam quite wild lately?

 By the way: Arya will kill Danaerys, and possibly Cercei, she and Jamie are not dead.  Varys has ade sure Westros knows Jon is the trueborn king.

My prediction although tycoon could still die

[Belligerentparrot]

Not only has Dany gone full Targaryen, but Greyworm had the blood lust as well...(understandably signposted after Missandei’s execution)...did you note the look on his face when Jon tried to stop the slaughter? Will be interesting to see whether his mood has changed after the destruction of Kings Landing...if not, am half expecting him to go for Jon.

Yeah, thought that was a great subtle bit!

My prediction: Jon Snow kills Arya by mistake (she is wearing a face in order to assassinate Dany- which she may successfully do).

[Captain Blood]

Well I thought that was visually brilliant. Think that’s where the budget went in this series. And it had some nice moving moments as well.
I’ve decided Lena Headley is a bloody marvellous actor, whatever you think of the character.
I do agree however, that...

The dragons are useful only when the plot demands it and those scorpions are useless when the plot demands it. 

The ridiculous over-effectiveness of the dragon as an invincible and apparently inexhaustible weapon of mass destruction in this week’s episode (doesn’t it need to refuel somehow from time to time?) just points up the glaring expediency and inconsistency of the dragon as a completely feeble and useless asset in last week’s episode. So why didn’t this week’s Daenerys+dragon do that to the Iron Fleet last week, since it managed to do it so completely effortlessly this week? Stupid and irritating.

Overall though, I have to hand it to them. As pure spectacle it takes some beating. And some wonderful cinematic moments, including the ending.

Yep. Arya to kill Daenerys - if John doesn’t get there first. I still reckon it’ll be Tyrion and Sansa on the Iron Throne at the end of it...

[Belligerentparrot]

So why didn’t this week’s Daenerys+dragon do that to the Iron Fleet last week, since it managed to do it so completely effortlessly this week? Stupid and irritating.

Totally agree on LH's acting! Hadn't really realised how subtly good she is. Here's a more positive spin on the dragon stuff: Daenerys didn't need/think about tactics before, convinced of her invulnerable dragons; now she knew she needed to change her angle of attack. So she did - steep dive rather than almost horizontal charge. And it worked! I also wondered about the refuelling though - I'll give you that.

But yeah, fantastic spectacle, and as you say that is where the budget went. Now we really know why the night king attacked in the dark!

[AKULA]

So why didn’t this week’s Daenerys+dragon do that to the Iron Fleet last week, since it managed to do it so completely effortlessly this week?

The key difference was the mindset (or mental state) of Daenerys

Episode 4 - Rhaegal got taken out easily because Daenerys wasn’t expecting an attack by Scorpions and the dragons weren’t weaving. When Dany adopted the correct tactics and dived with Drogon she broke off the attack because her rationale side (or maybe some subconscious instinct for self-preservation) overcame her anger. If she’d pressed the attack without fear of the consequences she might have taken out the Iron fleet there and then.

Episode 5 - Daenerys was by this point very aware of the threat posed by the Scorpions and used the correct tactics from the outset....the difference this time is that her anger (over the death of Missandei AND the “betrayal” by Jon) had left her mentally unhinged and meant that she was fully committed to the attack...with no regard for her own safety.

[Condottiere]

Now we really know why the night king attacked in the dark!

You're over thinking it...

'Game of Thrones' cinematographer addresses 'The Long Night': 'I know it wasn't too dark'

A pair of pretentious prats...

In another article, I can't find now, it was purely an aesthetic choice: differentiating Winterfell's carnage at night with daytime one at King's Landing. They must've forgotten that Blackwater occurred at night, yet one had no issues differentiating one person from the other. Even the overrated Battle of the Bastards was rather blurry and it was during the day. I'm bored of this Saving Private Ryan style cinematography, as it only works scenes focused on squad level small groups, not big sweeping pre-modern style battles - these should be colorful displays of heraldry and initially shining equipment.   

[Condottiere]

Have D&D forgotten that Winter is Here? It was starting to snow last season: . Even if King's Landing didn't end up with a few inches, I would've thought there would've been some effort to depict cold weather. The Night King had nothing to do with the season, AFAIK.

What was the point of bringing in the Golden Company? Never mind that the soldiers weren't depicted as described in the books, but I was expecting more than merely Unsullied with balls. I think they were included for decimation, due to the commanders rebuffing with laughter, Viserys' offer in the first season

[Captain Blood]

The Golden Company was a bit disappointing I must admit. Given that they were supposed to be 20,000 strong, they could have done with some CGI multiplication, per the Unsullied in previous episodes.
I don’t recall their appearance from the novels, but I rather liked their outfits in this. Kind of Byzantine, which I think works in the context of Essos as against Westeros.
The main problem was that there only appeared to be a few dozen of them, rather than the promised 20,000. They deployed in front of the city (again!) And they did absolutely nothing. 

[AKULA]

Have D&D forgotten that Winter is Here? ...... The Night King had nothing to do with the season, AFAIK.

I read an interview the other day (will see if I can dig it out) where GRRM hinted that the weather cycle wasn’t natural (either the Night King or something else). It was noticeable that the blizzard followed the NK, and the storm broke after he was killed.

The Golden Company was a bit disappointing I must admit. Given that they were supposed to be 20,000 strong, they could have done with some CGI multiplication, per the Unsullied in previous episodes.
I don’t recall their appearance from the novels, but I rather liked their outfits in this. Kind of Byzantine, which I think works in the context of Essos as against Westeros.
The main problem was that there only appeared to be a few dozen of them, rather than the promised 20,000. They deployed in front of the city (again!) And they did absolutely nothing. 

I agree, I liked the look of them, although I don’t fancy having to paint loads of those shields 

Could definitely have done with a few more wide shots of them to build the tension (and convey the scale), but there was more than a few dozen...



Interesting that there are a few holes in the line...lack of discipline compared to the Unsullied, or are these the ones that Euron killed on the voyage over...   

There was a scene later with Tyrion walking through the shattered gates where there were a whole bunch of Golden Company running away from the city, so I took it as the rest broke left and right ...away from the breach, and the charging Targaryen/Northern forces.

[Hammers]

Totally agree on LH's acting! Hadn't really realised how subtly good she is. Here's a more positive spin on the dragon stuff: Daenerys didn't need/think about tactics before, convinced of her invulnerable dragons; now she knew she needed to change her angle of attack. So she did - steep dive rather than almost horizontal charge. And it worked! I also wondered about the refuelling though - I'll give you that.

But yeah, fantastic spectacle, and as you say that is where the budget went. Now we really know why the night king attacked in the dark!

It really takes some acting to make me (and apparently  many others) to hate Cersei as much as I do.

[Malebolgia]

Loved most of it. Especially how Danny sees how to attack with her Dragon, to burn the enemy and basically to instill terror into the enemy. You might have a cool ballista that brought down a Dragon in an ambush, when Drogon swoops in and burns everything you're pissing your pants in fear...so the ambushed becomes the ambusher. It felt good to see Drogon get to work.

*The opening with Varys was fantastic. I saw it coming, but losing such a big character within 5 minutes was a great way to get this episode started. Loved the acting in that scene too.
*I actually loved how the Golden Company was decimated in seconds. They may be veteran soldiers, but when a huge dragon attacks from behind and takes out a large chunk of your formation (including your leader) in a big explosion of rocks and flame, even these guys will lose it. Discipline and experience probably won't matter when that monster arrives. It's just pure chaos then and then they're easy prey for Jon's forces.
*Loved Arya's scenes, no "super assassin" stuff, just a person trapped in a city attacked by two monsters. It's her scenes that showed Danny's madness the best. And now she wants to kill Danny...
*Cleganebowl was a good crowdpleaser. Had a good laugh when Qyburn was squashed like a bug too.
*Jaimie's story was an odd one. Although I'm glad Euron's dead (he was just a stupid cardboard character), I didn't expect him to take down the Kingslayer. And then Jaimie saved Cersei (meh) and they were just buried beneath the rubble. Oh, not really epic. Then again, this is Game of Thrones and people die can unexpectedly and unheroically (Rob Stark anyone?). But good to see Cersei gone.
*And Jon was...just Jon. Not really noteworthy and really predictable.
*Maybe my favorite scene was Tyrion and Jaimie...a toast to you mr. Dinklage!
*Only thing that bugged me was how long Danny's tantrum lasted. After a while it got a bit boring to see Drogon keep torching the place and it felt a bit off. Even her rage must have burnt off by then.

Can't wait for the finale!