[rating=9.00] “The Long Night”
With the first supersized episode of the season, Game of Thrones finally delivered on one of the promises made with the very first scene of the entire series. The threat of the White Walkers has been building for years, and things seemed dire as the previous season came to a close. It was difficult not to be worried by the image of the Walkers surrounding Winterfell that closed out episode two; what would become of the characters we love, especially given that the majority of them sat behind the walls of Winterfell?
“The Long Night” was an exercise in suspense and terror. From the episode’s beautiful tracking shot in the opening moments—which expertly reminded us where all the pieces on this particular chess board lay—the tension built into a mountain. It did, for the most part, deliver the kind of excitement we expect from Game of Thrones.
Shocking was the way in which the episode subverted those expectations. We’ve long since come to terms with the fact that we can expect the unexpected—if we didn’t learn that with Ned Stark’s death, then we certainly learned it with the Red Wedding—but “The Long Night” took a different approach. Going into the episode, we certainly expected to see the deaths of all, most, or at least some of our favorite characters. Surprisingly, most of our favorites made it out still standing.
Well, most of the important ones, anyway. I must admit, it was hard to see Lyanna Mormont go out but what a moment it was! Let it not be said that she didn’t die how she lived: with brave defiance that belies everything you might think about her from looking at her. It was a terrifying moment, seeing the corpse of Wun-wun barreling through the gates of Winterfell, swinging his club and taking out groups of soldiers with his massive sweep. Lesser men would have run. Lesser men did. But Lyanna was no man. Even under the crushing grasp of his giant hand, as the life was draining from her child’s frame, and as her eyes for the first time ever betrayed her feelings, she did what she came to do.
It was a one-two punch of emotion—delight in victory and despair at her death—and it largely set the tone for the episode at large. Every moment of hope was met in equal or greater weight in a moment of doom. We saw this from the battle’s opening. As the horde of Dothraki rushed into the black unknown of the night, their arakhs raised and alit with the magic fire of The Red Woman’s god, the flaming balls of dragon glass streaking across the sky, it seemed possible to allow yourself to hope. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad. Maybe it was going to be okay. Then came the horror.
Watching the fires burn out one by one was terrifying, and a massively effective decision. Each light represented the light of the Dothraki, and one by one they all went out, with nothing but our imaginations to tell us what happened. We were reminded that hope is a fool’s game in Westeros. As the Dothraki horde was wiped out, it seemed like nothing would stop the onslaught of death. If the Dothraki can’t, what could?
What was interesting was how quickly the episode shifted. While the first half was a chaotic affair—made worse by the fact that the episode was shot almost too dark to see anything—the second half morphed into a survival horror. The dead had stormed the gates and roamed freely on the grounds of Winterfell. This led to one of the best scenes of the entire series, Arya in the library.
Arya’s journey from romping tomboy to cold blooded assassin has been fascinating to watch over the course of the show. From her early days learning the art of Water Dancing from Syrio to her days in the House of Black and White, we’ve watched her grow in amazing ways. Her growth culminated (well, seemingly) into the scene in the library, as Arya combined her Water Dancing and Faceless Assassin training to avoid being seen by the small horde of Walkers. It was a stunningly choreographed scene fraught with tension and horror. Would this be the end of Arya? How could she make it out of this?
Even the jump scare, which had been telegraphed since the scene began, was effective. Knowing it was coming, it would have been easy for it to fall flat, but no. Instead we saw how quickly she’s able to react, and to make her killing blows a part of her intricate dance, with all the quiet she has previously demonstrated. What do we say to the god of death, indeed.
The evening was not without its share of deaths, to be sure. Aside from Lyanna we lost Beric, who died protecting Arya from the horde, and Jorah, who died protecting Daenerys from the horde, and Edd, who was…also there (okay fine, he died protecting Sam from the horde). Emotional moments, to be sure, but decidedly lacking the oomph of the deaths from previous seasons of Game of Thrones.
In the running for most emotional death of the evening, however, though perhaps somewhat behind Lyanna Mormont, was Theon. Theon’s low key sucked for years now, even as they skirted round the edges of his redemption arc for the last several seasons. No doubt his torture at the hands of Ramsey Bolton was, shall we say, a bit excessive, but it was hard to feel that bad for him since, well, the fall of Winterfell was sort of his fault anyway. He’s always been impetuous, more eager to prove himself than to think about what he’s doing. Terrible as his situations have been, there were kind of his fault.
So it was nice to be reminded why we liked him in the first place. There was finally valor in his protection of Bran. Bran’s forgiveness of him and telling him that he was where he belonged was a moment rife with emotion and the show finally gave us permission to root for Theon again. He did not disappoint us this time. He single handedly took on as many Walkers as anyone, and even faced down the Night King himself. We knew his charge was doomed before it began, but that didn’t make it any less powerful. After years of turmoil and torture, he reclaimed his true self. He died a warrior’s death, fitting for a man of the Iron Islands; fitting for a man raised by Ned Stark.
Though he didn’t get the most screen time last night, the Night King’s presence loomed hard over the entire episode and led to some of its best moments. How cool was it to see the dragons dogfighting? Or the rehash of the infamous “come at me, Snow,” moment? It certainly didn’t look good for Jon when the Night King rose those slain in the battle to do his bidding. And, by god, Twitter was right about something—it was harrowing to watch the dead from the crypt rise to terrorize those hidden away from the battle. (Anyone else kind of hope that Sansa and Tyrion get back together? Their moments in the crypt were some of the sweetest of the entire series.)
By the time he walked into the Godswood to meet Bran and claim his long-held goal of calling a Three Eyed Raven to his ranks, it seemed hopeless. Surely this would be it. This would be the emotional devastation we’d all been waiting for. At the very least, we’d lose Bran. Jon was corned by a dragon wight. Daenerys was pinned down with Jorah in the battlefield. Jaime and Brienne were busy trying to kill all the resurrected soldiers inside the walls of Winterfell (including Lyanna, *sobs*). The Hound was…I dunno, probably telling someone to “fuck off” somewhere. All our hopes dashed. Everyone was going to die. Fuckfuckfuck.
We’d long since forgotten about Arya, last seen fleeing an oncoming horde. Seeing her fly out from the darkness, weapon in hand, was beautiful. I screamed—so loud, my kids ran downstairs to check on me, yelling, “Are you okay?” and I could only answer truthfully: I was not—as the Night King turned and grabbed her. I screamed again as she dropped her weapon and caught it in her free hand, stabbing him, and ending his reign.
Turns out the Drowned God was wrong. What’s dead can die. As the Night King shattered, so too did his horde. Humanity won. The North was victorious. Of course, with three more episodes left, there’s still so much ground remaining. Even with the immediate threat of the White Walkers gone, Cersei still sits upon the Iron Throne. We now head southward, to King’s Landing. Our heroes are broken, but still standing. Do enough of them remain to handle whatever forces Cersei has mustered since last we saw her in episode one? Can Daenerys break the wheel? Will Westeros be left intact? Victory here does not protect us from defeat in the long term. There are three episodes left, and anything can happen.
Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9pm/8pm central on HBO.
