Summary: Gilly returns to Castle Black and Sam promises to help her. The wildling attack is signalled and Sam takes Gilly to safety. They kiss. The attack begins. Alliser goes down to the south side to fight, leaving Jon in charge of The Wall. Sam fights with Pyp until Pyp is killed by Ygritte. Giants start smashing down the gates so Jon sends Grenn to stop them. Grenn dies but is successful. Jon eventually goes down to join the battle. Tormund defeats Alliser but isn't able to kill him. Ygritte finds Jon but before she can kill him, Olly kills her. The battle is won as the wildlings retreat. Jon knows that they can never win as they will attack again the next night. Jon goes north in an attempt to assassinate Mance.
The Good: This episode was a total spectacle and it was brilliant because of it. The battles in the show are fantastic to watch, and I thought this was a definite improvement over the Battle of Blackwater in terms of action and spectacle. The set-up wasn't as engaging as the extreme tension and foreboding from "Blackwater" isn't present here, but we did get some solid storytelling. I liked Jon and Sam's brief conversation as Sam is desperate to get an idea of what love is like before he dies. Then there's his nice conversation with Aemon about love which I thought was effective at making us understand what Gilly means to Sam. Then, Gilly returns and Sam's desperation to have her back feels earned and I thought the kiss was a nice moment. There isn't anything fantastic here, but everything is solid and I enjoyed it. I really like that Sam's arc continued in the battle too. Now that he has something to fight for he is more confident in himself and his abilities as he gets in battle, leading to several great moment for his character as he is finally able to shake off his cowardice and "become nothing" as he puts it. I really liked Pyp's death as it was handled in the best possible way. He wasn't a significant character, but the scene was effective due to him finally gaining some confidence in himself after getting a kill, only to die moments later. It was a great moment to show the horrors of battle. Jon had good moments too as he got to become a proper leader here. He took charge of the Night's Watch and he helped them defend The Wall before joining the battle afterwards. The stand-out for him was certainly his final moments with Ygritte which were suitably sad and gave the battle a proper sense of consequence (see: Best Moment). The rest of the battle was spectacular to behold. I am a massive fan of "The Lord of the Rings", so I love battles like this one. The action here was relentless and exciting, and the state of the battle was much clearer than in "Blackwater". I particularly loved the one sequence where a single shot covered all of the carnage which was happening in Castle Black, a spectacular feat of cinematography. The effects and sound editing were perfect as well, adding to the immersion and effect of the battle. It's stunning to see something like this in a TV show. I also really liked Grenn's final stand, as it was a touching moment to see him rally his five men to stand guard and prevent the giant from entering. It was a fitting death for him, adding to the body count coming from this battle. The Bad: There was one particularly weak moment in the battle. Jon had his head bashed hard against an anvil, but it leaves no mark and hardly fazes him. The very thought of that is ridiculous and it was a surprisingly weak moment for an episode with such good action. This battle also didn't feel as significant as "Blackwater" as the characters involved weren't as important or engaging. In this battle, the notable characters are Jon, Sam and Ygritte but that's it. It's a far cry from the amount of important characters whose lives were at stake in "Blackwater". The ending hurts the episode overall. It feels like the episode is incomplete as we have had a massive battle, yet the story is still more or less in the same place as before the battle, just several characters have died. I would have liked a proper ending to this battle, especially since an entire episode was dedicated to it. The Unknown: What will come of Jon going to kill Mance? Will he succeed? Will he make a deal? What is going to happen? Best Moment: Olly kills Ygritte, avenging his parents, but sadly it isn't a moment to cheer as Jon has to say goodbye to his lover. Ygritte's wishes that they could go back to the cave were very sad, capping off this love story in tragic fashion. Character of the Episode: Sam. Conclusion: This was a spectacular episode. A massive action spectacle with enough human drama to remain engaging and riveting. This was executed better than the last battle, and while it doesn't have the same impact on the story and characters, I enjoyed it more. Another great episode in a season which has been full of them. Score: 75
1 Comment
Joe Y
6/21/2022 04:14:40 pm
"The Watchers on the Wall" is my favorite episode of Game of Thrones, I think. Though I think "Baelor", "Fire and Blood", "Blackwater", "Kissed by Fire", and "The Lion and the Rose" are all solid contenders as well. But this one has an exceptional battle sequences--one of the most stunning that I've ever seen, let alone on tv--and a sense of focus that I really love, especially since "Game of Thrones" has a tendency to meander. And in addition to that, it managed to add some legitimate emotional resonance to the Night's Watch story, which was also an impressive feat since I wouldn't say it was one of the stronger story threads in the show. Amazing stuff all around, really.
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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