Game of Thrones final season [spoilers]

[Clueless Morgan]

I really enjoyed the episode. Granted, I'm a show fan not a book fan (I've tried, I just can't) so I haven't been steeped in the theorizing and whatnot.

What I liked:

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I loved some of the lighting and the way they used it to tell the story of the battle. I loved how you just saw the flickering out of the Dothraki swords as they're swallowed by the army of the dead, the way the charge just hit that black wall across the field as Dany and Jon watched from above, how the dragon fire lit up the storm clouds as Sansa was watching from the ramparts - excellent and beautiful.

I loved seeing Arya in her battle element, but also how she was knocked down a peg after she hit her head so that you felt like she was in jeopardy more than she otherwise would have been. There were people that I figured were safe from death (Dany, Jon, Sansa, Arya, Tyrion, Bran) but I wouldn't have put it past the show runners to seriously injure them.

Loved Sansa's interaction with Tyrion and when she said that he was the best of them. lol

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What I didn't like:

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I had a moment at the end after Arya stabs the Night King like... is that it? I thought that moment, while I was screaming and cheering and losing my shit with glee, was ultimately anti-climactic. I figured, at least, that they would be able to stave off the army of the dead and retreat further south rather than literally stop the army of the dead at Winterfell. At most I was expecting several lieutenants to die but the Night King suffer a temporary defeat of some kind and ultimately give chase as the Northerners fled to Moat Cailin or the Twins. I didn't think the battle to go further south then the Twin, but not even past Winterfell?

The whole episode was too dark. I understand that keeping the battle dark played into probably keeping CGI costs lower and in some cases the darkness really served to add to the ambiance of the battle (the initial Dothraki charge) but mostly I found it frustrating because I couldn't see who was who and what was happening.

The initial Dothraki charge. Really? Jon was at Hardhome and had a major hand in planning this battle and he thought that would work?

I watched the After the Thrones interviews and David and Dan were both saying things like how everyone would expect the Dothraki charge to be more effective or would forget that Arya just ran off after her encounter with Melisandra... nope. I even said, outloud, during Arya's scene in the library "what do we say to the god of death?" only for Melisandra to say it in the episode 5 minutes later. There was a lot of predictability in this episode.

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