Game of Thrones ‘The Long Night’ review

After two episodes of a slow-paced build up, it’s time for the final season of Game of Thrones to step up the action, which it does in spectacular fashion. At 82 minutes long, this episode is the longest of the season, and is filled with tense moments, quick-paced action, and some quite heart-breaking scenes. The Night King is here, and he’s brought some undead friends with him. As the army of the dead attack Winterfell, who will be left standing by dawn?

Filled with tense moments, quick-paced action, and some quite heart-breaking scenes

A special mention deserves to be given to the score. Last episode brought us the haunting ‘Jenny of Oldstones’, performed by Florence and the Machine. This episode’s music tends to be more orchestral, but is consistently fitting to the atmosphere, and in the tensest moments only serves to heighten the tension. As the episode draws to a close, the music somehow manages to sound both mournful and yet strike a hopeful tone.

While a good number of characters meet their ends at the hands of the Night King, I had hoped for a slightly more thorough culling. A number of characters ended up in situations where in earlier seasons they would have died, only to be saved by Dragon ex Machina or another cast member showing up out of nowhere. For several major characters, there was the lost opportunity for a truly hard-hitting death, surrounded and against impossible odds. However, those characters who did meet their ends did so in a spectacular fashion, in a poignant goodbye to characters that we’ve known for many seasons.

The music somehow manages to sound both mournful and yet strike a hopeful tone

The episode was very impressive visually, with some excellent overhead shots of the battlefield, and some very good camerawork in one tense scene with Arya sneaking through a zombie-infested library. However, it was often far too dark to actually see what was going on, a common complaint in a season which so far has had 75% of its scenes take place inside a dimly lit castle or at night. In the fight between the dragons, it’s very difficult to actually tell what’s going on, and which dragon is which. While this might be an intentional choice to raise tension, it somewhat ruins the enjoyment of the fight as it happens.

There are also some questionable choices made by characters who are supposedly experienced military commanders. On several occasions we are left wondering why on earth various forces charge to certain death, and while the last episode heavily emphasised how safe everyone will be in the crypt, you have to wonder at the logic of hiding all these people in an underground room full of dead bodies.

It was often far too dark to actually see what was going on

However, the episode is strong overall, and the sheer length and scale of the episode make it one of the most impressive of the entire show, matched only by the largest scale battles of previous seasons. With three episodes left to tie up the plot in the north and for the battle against Cersei, the pace is sure not to let up.

Review of the previous episode ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’