➤ Game of Thrones 8x03, the review 🎮

Attention! This is the review of Game of Thrones 8x03, the third episode of the final season of the series: in the next lines we will analyze the plot, so you will inevitably find previews and spoilers. Don't read any further if you haven't seen this episode yet!

Here we are at the third-but-not-too-much review of the last season of Game of Thrones, the hugely popular television series that, after seven seasons and a two-year hiatus, is approaching the grand finale. Inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire, George RR Martin's fantasy epic enters the heart of season eight with the first, true battle between the forces of Winterfell and those of the White Walkers. This was the reason that led Jon Snow in the presence of Daenerys Targaryen in Dragonstone last season, then the two fell in love and now have joined forces against the supernatural invaders. In the first two episodes of the season, the creators of the TV series, David Benioff and DB Weiss, took it easy and gathered friends and former enemies behind the walls of the Stark castle. The White Walkers got right on time, when Jon Snow revealed his origins to Daenerys: he's actually her nephew and rightful heir to the Seven Kingdoms throne ... a piece of information Dany didn't take too well.

MVP: Arya Stark

Okay, we might as well start from the end, because we are sure that this episode of Game of Thrones, beyond an objectively crazy production level in every technical aspect, will become one of the most debated ever. Yes, eight seasons to prepare the inevitable final confrontation with the mighty King of the Night, and the war against the White Walkers was resolved within eighty minutes, a few important departures and the defeat of the villain in question by no less than Arya Stark. In the final scene, after killing poor Theon, the Night King looms over Bran Stark, he is about to mow him down ... and suddenly Arya appears out of nowhere like a real ninja, almost runs dry and then, using the same move with whom he had knocked Brienne out of their brief training duel of Season XNUMX, little, big Stark stabs the King of the Night, destroying him along with his army of White Walkers, Undead, and Zombie Dragons. What we thought would be the "final boss" of the series died suddenly, a bit like when the protagonist of Game of Thrones lost his head in the first season: the circle has come full circle.

The episode, written by David Benioff and DB Weiss, does its best to suggest to us that everything has been predestined for a long time. In the second season, Melisandre knew Arya and prophesied that they would meet again, and that Arya would forever close many eyes: dark, green, blue. The Lord of Light continually brought back to life Beric Dondarrion by the hand of the late Thoros to fulfill a purpose he too did not know, which was to save Arya in this episode just before he died. The Valyrian steel dagger with which Littlefinger tried to have Bran assassinated was passed from hand to hand just to get to Arya, so that she could use it to strike the Night King. And everything Theon did, right or wrong, led him back to Winterfell - home, as he said. Bran - so that he could take time with his latest desperate charge. Of course, we can argue for a long time about whether they were choices of convenience, a bit like the interpretations of the prophecies of Nostradamus, but it is fascinating to think that every misfortune that has occurred in recent years had a specific purpose and served to lead the various characters to the place. right, at the right time.

It must be admitted that the final fight left us a bit of a bitter taste because, although little Stark is one of our favorite characters, and to reduce everything to a duel between Jon and the King of the Night would have been quite obvious, it is equally. It is true that Arya's storyline has never even touched that of the White Walkers: her decisive intervention seemed almost out of place, although they were attacking her house and her brother. Not that Jon stepped aside, mind you. It is true that he spent the last few minutes of the episode playing hide and seek with zombies-Viserion, but first he faced the Night King along with Daenerys in a scene that looked like something out of How to Train Your Dragon, an area battle between the three dragons that looked like a movie rather than a television series. Either way, we expect Arya's ability to splash like lightning between lieutenants will be discussed at length. Strangers of the King of the Night to take him behind everyone's eyes: a spectacular narrative choice, but also a bit risky, especially after staging his desperate escape from the library shortly before. Let's take it for granted that Arya trained with the Faceless Men for just a moment like this ... also because if we started scrutinizing every single frame, without suspending disbelief, we would stop having fun in front of the TV, whatever it is. the series or film in programming.

The Battle of Winterfell

Miguel Sapochnik he had already directed some of the best episodes of the series: Aspra Dimora, The battle of the bastards, The winds of winter. Famous in particular for his talent in directing action scenes, Sapochnik is back at the helm for this episode - and for the fifth, and penultimate, of the season - and his imprint is immediately recognizable not only in the visceral and in wide-ranging tracking shots, but also in the choice of an enchanting photograph and in its truly unique ability to generate incredible tension without resorting to dialogue or jokes for very long minutes. After what happened in the last episode, we have reached the end of The long night with my heart in my throat, fearing for the lives of our darlings at every shot, glued to the chair especially in the last minutes when the ever more pressing music stifles the screams and moans, accompanying the Night King on his deadly march.

It turns out that the siege of Winterfell has reaped a few really important supporting actors and that the actual battle, thanks to the haze, the smoke and the night time, has developed in a confused and unclear way. To make a risky comparison, we thought back to the battle for Helm's Deep The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. That fight also took place at night, but the action was much clearer and the parties involved were easily discerned. We had the distinct impression that all these visual artifices were used to mask the computer graphics to make the episode more spectacular than it really was: a solid strategy that, however, also diminished the visual impact of some scenes, albeit recalling the confusion and the sense of claustrophobia of a real battlefield. Other scenes, on the other hand, hit us directly to the heart. No computer graphics would have been able to involve us like the moments that Tyrion and Sansa have spent together in the Stark crypt or as the last stand of the brave Lyanna Mormont, not to mention the first time Daenery wields a sword to fight poor Jorah or Melisandre's demise.

Deus ex machina of the episode, Melisandre comes out of nowhere at the beginning of the episode to give a hand to the Stark army, first by setting fire to the Dothraki weapons, then the trench that just didn't want to catch fire. As prophesied in the sixth season, Melisandre died in Westeros: fulfilled her purpose on behalf of the Lord of Light, she abandoned the necklace that kept her young and withered on the snow at dawn, under the incredulous eyes of Davos. Most of the characters who fought in the battle had their moment of glory, although we were surprised to see little or nothing of the trio consisting of Brienne, Podrick and Jaime, who made it through the night unscathed despite being in great difficulty. Sam did it too, as did Gray Worm, Tormund and the Hound: in this sense, Benioff and Weiss fooled us, averting our most pessimistic forecasts. It goes without saying that we are happy that some of them made it, but their survival is unlikely and in a way it scales down the whole battle. However, three episodes are missing from the end of the season, and of the series: you can bet that someone else will die before a king or queen takes a seat on the Iron Throne.

Comment

Resources4Gaming.com

8.5

Edd the Sorrowful, Lyanna Mormont, Beric Dondarrion, Theon Greyjoy, Jorah Mormont, Melisandre: they were the ones to eat the dust in an hour of great TV show that will have fans of Game of Thrones arguing for a long time. Some controversial narrative choices and a dynamic but perhaps a little too chaotic direction diminish the impact of a very important episode, graced by a fast pace, a lot of suspense and excellent special effects. We are at the turning point: now we are entering the second half of the final season. Every man for himself.