Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 3 Review: The Long Night!

The night is dark and full of spoilers.

“Sweet merciful lord, how can they do this to us!?”

Our heroes are scared, shivering in the darkness of the icy zombies and their leader the Night King. As much as they try to hide their fears, their deaths are mirrored in their wide-open eyes.

Also Read: Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 2 Review

The Anticipation Game

One of the longest episode in the history of Game of Thrones series, the long night lasted for about 1 hour and 17 minutes. GOT fans waited for the epic battle between the living and the dead; the battalion of the living, headed by Aegon Targaryen (Jon Snow) at Winterfell, various soldiers from different houses – Starks, Lannisters, Greyjoys, Mormonts, Baratheon Bastard, Clegane and Dondarrion join forces to fight the army of the dead, The White Walkers headed by the Night King. The darkest night of all was literally dark and visually confusing for the viewers who complained that they could not see who died and who survived. Background music was mesmerizing and stroke a chord or two in our heart as the battle ensued at Winterfell.

The Great War

The army fighting at Winterfell was thoroughly prepared and strategically placed in the previous episodes. The Dothraki stationed at the front are ready to Doth Wreck, the unsullied are ready to sully and are accompanied with our fighting heroes from Hardhome. Sansa, Tyrion, Varys, Gilly and the other non-fighters are sealed in the crypts which was supposed to be one of the safest place. Bran Stark, the three-eyed-raven is stationed at the Godswood as bait, protected by Theon Greyjoy, in a final attempt to redeem himself along with a few Iron Borns and fewer arrows. Jon Snow and Daenerys are weighing their options on whether to stick to their plan or go full on dragon assault. When the lit swords of Dothraki are extinguished, Khaleesi loses it and charges as the mighty Dragon Queen riding Drogon and Jon tumbling behind her riding Rhaegal. Up in the icy clouds they fly to help their warriors using dragon fire but are faced with the undead Wight, ice monster Viserion.

“Stick ‘em with the pointy end” Arya who majored in Dagger-ship at the University of the Faceless men, Braavos, motivates Sansa and gives her a dagger to protect herself in the Crypts.

While fan theories predicted as much, we see the Red Woman back at Winterfell who gains the trust of the fighters when she lights the swords of the Dothraki warriors giving them the first chance of fighting against the dead. The next time Melissandre appears, she ignites Arya with her words and predicts that the sacrifice made by Berric was destined to save Arya which proves useful later in the episode. Berric Dondarrion was brought back to life many times earlier to serve a purpose by the Lord of Light R’hllor and now we know his purpose.

Up above the clouds, Viserion the evil dead arrives spewing icy blue fire but Drogon and Rhaegal, take the lead as elder brothers. Great at spewing red fire and lighting the Wights, not so great with directions, the two Dragons try to find a way to enter the cloud and join the battle on the ground. The Dance of Dragons muses us with a song of ice and fire flames, it is a touch confusing as to who is doing what!

Daenerys utters “Dracarys” and dragon spews fire over the Night King, in an attempt to burn him, but the Night king stands unaffected and gives a stare that says – “Not today!”

“What do you say to the god of death?” asks Melisandre repeating the epic line by Arya’s dance master Syrio Forell from Season 1, Arya replies – “Not today!” and fans can’t get enough of Arya!

You go, girl, young assassin!

The Noose is Tightening over at Winterfell

The Wights erupt over the walls of Winterfell blatantly killing everything in sight; Ser Jamie, Ser Brienne, Lady Mormont, Grey Worm, Ser Jorah fight on the wall protecting each other. We hardly get to see who is killing whom because of the darkness and the blur. When we know that all is lost; the knights are pressed against the wall, counting their final moments, Theon gets killed by the Night King as he strikes with his pike and the Night king with a flip kills him instead; when the dead Starks are raised from the crypts and the dead soldiers join the army of the dead, Night King in a slow-mo effect walks towards Bran to wipe any memory of Westeros, in a nerve-wrenching scene Arya jumps from behind and caught by the Night King. While we wait for Arya’s death by strangle, with quick wit her dagger, it falls to her other hand and she decimates the Night king who shatters into powdery ice thus all his army of dead die and our favorite heroes remain alive.

The Night King’s end had to be so precise that the dagger should be struck exactly at the spot where it entered him centuries ago when he was killed by the Children of Forest. Bran conveniently lured him to the weirwood which was crucial for his demise. The Night King can only be killed by a Valerian steel dagger used as a catspaw to assassin Bran who was in a coma, the dagger given to her by Bran which is the same dagger knocking around in Game of Thrones since Season 1. The death of the Night King created a ripple effect and all his progeny of White Walkers collapse on spot and are destroyed.

That was a nerve-wrecking episode that left audience with goosebumps. Although fans anticipated much gruesome deaths and bid farewell to their favorite characters, the end of Ser Jorah, Lyanna Mormont, Edd the Night’s Watch Commander, Melisandre and the Night King was still hurful. Now that the Night King is dead, we can get back to the politics of Westeros in the upcoming three episodes.

Also Read: Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 1 Review