Game of Thrones Battle of the Bastards Instant Reaction

                       Episode 9 usually delivers the big knockout punch of a Game of Thrones season, from Ned's beheading in season one to the massive Battle on the Wall in Season Four.  This season was no different with the highly-anticipated Battle of Bastards when,  In the most expensive TV episode ever produced, the Northern Plot was finally brought to a head.   Meanwhile Danny Targaryen in the east is facing her own epic battle.  Big budgets and flashy battles are well and good, but did this penultimate episode of the season live up to to the previous 9th episodes?  And how does it fit in a big season overall?

                        Bellow, I will quickly break down my instant reactions and quick predictions based on my thoughts right after the episode.  This will be filled with spoilers, so read at your own risk.  Tomorrow, you can find my larger, more detailed breakdown after a few rewatches.   I made this decision to get my review out to you quicker, especially after such a hyped episode.  Let me know what you think of this decision in the comments or on social media.

               WHAT I LOVED

• The Battle of Snow's Deep: For years, Game of Thrones has been known as the show that pushes boundaries for television, often being talked about as a series of 10-hour movies rather than a traditional television series.  This season alone cost HBO over 100 million dollars, a budget that is obscene even for many feature films.  With this battle for Winterfell, Game of Thrones delivered on all fronts.    The pure intensity and visceral adrenaline of this culmination of chaos was unprecedented on television and puts some of the tallest Epic Fantasy films to shame.  The ability to put us right within the battle, as if we were one of the fighters engulfed by the random insanity, fighting for our lives, is astounding.  Where many Fantasy battles tend to rely on tall bird's eye view to show the scale, Game of Thrones was unafraid to sweat the details and enforce the grounded realism the series has always been known for.  No four minute rally speeches, no magic spells or fantastic beasts, simply two armies in a brutal clash.
  
• There Must Always Be A Stark in Winterfell: After so many seasons of headless Starks, Red Weddings, and desperate fleeing, there was something inherently and viscerally satisfying about watching Stark banners fly from the walls of Winterfell again.   The Starks are back home, but they're entirely different people, changed to the core by their experiences.  How they will react to the potential peace of their home and warm beds will be fascinating as they finally get the chance to sit and take in what they have been through.  Will they be able to settle into the calm, or have the animals been free too long?  With so much time spent here and so many other plots to catch up on in the finale, we may have to wait a long time before we're given a deep look at this new Stark reality.
  
• Ice and Fire: The Battle for Winterfell was not the only masterful battle of the episode.  In Meereen, Danny was facing impossible odds of her own and managed to deliver a fully satisfying battle on the other side of the Fantasy spectrum. Where Jon's battle relied on the tight shots and limited perspectives, Danny's opened the scale as wide as it could go, with sweeping charges and massive distance.  While the three dragons finally being unleashed on the ships of slavers is the talk of the scene, the timely arrival of the Dothraki to clear the streets along with the symbolic slaying of the slave masters establish this as a battle of fire well worth standing beside it's colder counterpart.  

WHAT I LIKED

• Ramsay the Scooby Snack: Ramsay Bolton no more!  After terrorizing the heroes for so many season, the bastard has bit the dust.  The brutality of his exit, from Jon's bare-hand beating to Sansa's ruthless feeding was a long time coming and memorably satisfying and will probably be looked back at as a big moment for TV character deaths. Giving the killing move to Sansa was a very smart move by the writers, who received a lot of negative press for their treatment of her character through Ramsay.  Sansa's actions also deeply portray her change as a character from the dress-sowing prince-loving girl to a Stark-fueled bastard-killing woman.  Her development as a character has been one of the more backdoor archs of the series, but this episode finally brought it to center stage.
  
• Are You a Robot?:  I think we will see many people online complain about some of the more illogical actions of characters this week.  From Jon's emotional biting of the bait to Rickon's Prometheus impression, many of our heroic characters made big mistakes.  While this can be frustrating to see, it is part of what makes Game of Thrones as great as it is.  These characters are humans.  They make mistakes.  They act out of emotion.  These decisions were not tactical or thoughtful, but they were purely human.  Jon watched his brother killed, it fits for him to charge.  Rickon is young and desperate, do you really think he is going to have the mental capacity to stop and think about attempting some reverse Matrix moves.  The fact that our heroic characters are acting as humans and not Vulcans is what makes the characters so enjoyable and the characters are what make Game of Thrones such a successful phenomenon. 

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

•  Harder and Stronger:  The arrival of the Greyjoys in Meereen was inevitable for the end of the season, and the scene itself was not terrible, but it felt sudden and sort of out of place.  Meereen was burned and destroyed, surrounded by slavers and filled with corpses.  Suddenly it cuts to Danny on her throne talking with Theon and Yara.  It felt as if there was a missing scene that would have showed clean up or aftermath, especially to explain how the Greyjoy AWOLs were able to arrive unmolested.  While it is good to see Danny making concrete plans of a Westeros invasion, the scene felt very strange and probably could have fit better in the next episode.
  
• Six Feet Too High:  Sure, it is great to see the good guys win sometimes.  After so long, Ramsay getting entirely destroyed was great.  But I find myself feeling a little let down that there wasn't a big loss on the Stark side.  Rickon's death is sad and Wun Wun's was certainly big too, but I feel like Jon took back Winterfell with very little true consequence.  My heart would have hated to see a beloved character like Davos or Tormund fall, but my head tells me that so many victorious good guys feels a little too lucky for Game of Thrones.  The finale may deliver on a big death, but for a show known in pop culture for its heartless death, main players are starting to grow a pretty thick plot armor.
  

WHAT I HATED

A Mile Away: It is hard to hate something in this episode, but there is certainly a flaw that stand out.  While the episode was incredibly satisfying overall, it did feel very predictable.  Any Reddit thread or podcast episode could have told you the beats of this episode weeks ago, with very little deviation.  Not every plot needs to throw in wrenches and twists, but Epiosde 9 has delivered on the Red Wedding and Ned's execution, arguably the two biggest twists of the series.  I spent a lot of this episode waiting for the inevitable Littlefinger arrival to the point where the moment itself lost much of its intended impact.  The sudden arrival of a large force to save the day at the last second is common in fictitious battles in general, but it has happened in Game of Thrones itself possibly one too many times. I also think that Sansa not informing Jon of his allies in the Vale ended up portraying her as a bit more ignorant than she truly is just so the show could have a surprise arrival that was not truly very surprising.   
 

BREAKING THE WHEEL

               Once again Game of Thrones manages to execute unprecedented quality in a medium so often ignored and belittled.  This episode stands firmly and tall among the ranks, unphased by the competition of brave hearts and retuning kings.  Where this series will go as the end comes is yet to be revealed, but regardless of what lies ahead The Battle of the Bastards has already cemented its place in TV history for decades to come and one day years from now we will be lucky enough to say we were part of the lucky ones who got to experience every thrilling second as it aired to the world.  

              Tomorrow, you will be able to find my detailed breakdown of the episode as well as predictions of where the finale will take us.  For now, you can check out my previous Game of Thrones posts, including weekly reviews and lore pieces at TheFilmFanAwakens.blogspot.com.  You can find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheFilmFanAwakens and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/FilmFanAwakens.  I am currently looking for suggestions on a series to cover weekly as Game of Thrones goes dark for a year, so let me know what you're excited to see on social media or in the comments here!  

See you tomorrow and remember, if you have an army of thousands, you should probably let your brother know.  


I'm Tristan Mayer from The Film Fan Awakens.
Thanks for reading!

Note:  All images used in this post are the property of their respective creators and copyright holders.  They are used here under Fair Use for Criticism and Commentary.  If you have any concerns, email me at TheFilmFanAwakens@gmail.com and we can work together to resolve the issue.