Game of Thrones lost its ruthlessness with the Battle of Winterfell

The Ringer

"For a show practically synonymous with character death, it’s been a while since Game of Thrones inflicted a truly gory fate upon one of its full-fledged protagonists," says Alison Herman. So in that sense, Sunday's episode was a disappointment. "More than its supersized run time—at 82 minutes, the longest in Thrones history—or eye-watering consumption of resources, the possibility of an old-school bloodbath was what enticed about the Battle of Winterfell, the event that made up the entirety of 'The Long Night,' the third episode of Thrones’ final season," says Herman. "As the show grew closer to its predetermined conclusion, the plot armor around its core cast only seemed to thicken, in stark contrast with the body count that contributed to the story’s appeal. It’s no coincidence that the most widely criticized installment of Season 7 also involved a half dozen heroes emerging from an ambush of the undead with minimal casualties. But in Thrones’ home stretch, at least theoretically, that plot armor has fallen off. Why else would so many characters have been spared so many brushes with the afterlife, if not for the writers to cash in their chips when our accumulated investment would have the most impact? There’s only three episodes left after 'The Long Night'; the cast’s concentration at Winterfell, and their final stand against the Night King and his hordes, is what the entire show has been building toward. At least in terms of raw screen time, there isn’t much to stick around for after this. The Battle of Winterfell was therefore poised to thin out the ensemble in maximally affecting fashion, especially since last episode’s meditative pace read to many like a series of de facto farewells. And yet, as the credits rolled on Miguel Sapochnik’s overwhelming spectacle, the list of fatalities remained surprisingly short."

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• Season 8 has now essentially spent three of its last episodes on fan service: "That isn’t just lazy, predictable writing," says Judy Berman. "It’s a betrayal of what made George R.R. Martin’s epic so great. In season 1, Ned Stark’s execution implied we were in for a different kind of fantasy narrative—one where genre conventions were always being upended, where the good guys didn’t always win and where part of the fun of watching was in realizing that any of your faves could die at any moment. Game of Thrones still has three weeks to end on a thrilling note. It’s just getting harder and harder, with each new episode, to imagine how that finale could possibly deliver on eight seasons’ worth of anticipation."
• The battle speaks to a problem the showrunners have been struggling with for years: "Deciding whether the series’ ultimate threat was the Night King or Cersei....it also weirdly turns the apocalypse into a very expensive distraction"
• "The Long Night" played out more like a horror movie than an action-adventure: "What’s fascinating about 'The Long Night' is how it seems to take its time with the action, to some degree," says Liz Shannon Miller. "It’s hardly a roller coaster ride, but that’s actually why this might be one of the better battle-focused episodes of “Game of Thrones” to date; it makes every moment of dread feel truly lived-in, lets each character beat scattered between the battles sink in."
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