While BoTB is arguably the series's best directed episode, it still contains a lot of the issues S6 had when it comes to the writing, albeit to a lesser degree but are still incredibly hard to ignore. To get the good out of the way though, BoTB from a technical standpoint is the best battle in tv or film since Lord of the Freaking Rings. Not only is it simply gorgeous to look at but it perfectly portrays the chaos and brutality of war with that one minute long take of Jon in the battle perfectly portraying the death and luck that soldiers in war face and it's incredibly violent, visceral and exciting. The death of Ramsay at the hands of Sansa and his hounds is all incredibly satisfying; seeing this psychopathic villain get the gory death he deserves was brilliant and Iwan did a fantastic job as usual in his final episode and Kit Harrington did a great job here as well, bringing the idea of being in a battle to life effectively.
Ok, enough of the good. This battle is incredibly idiotic when it comes to parts of the writing: 1. Jon's plot armour throughout the battle was ridiculous. In S3, Ygritte shoots him 3 times, causing him to struggle getting on his horse and collapsing when he reaches Castle Black but here, he is charged at by an oncoming calvary, is hit by a storm of arrows, is trampled on by hundreds of wildlings and northerners and somehow survives all of that with no injury, completely ruining the tension and misunderstands what made GoT so special in the first place. Actions used to have consequences but Jon makes idiotic decisions and doesn't suffer for it.
2. Sansa for some reason doesn't tell Jon about the Knights of the Vale, leading to hundreds of northerners and wildlings unnecessarily dying and leads to a deus-es-machina ending where they arrive and save the day. Also, how the hell did no one notice them arriving considering they were battling on flat land so they should've been spotted from miles away
3. Sansa has no emotional reactions to Rickon's death and there's no ceremony honouring all those who died to save the home of the Starks.
4. It's just a cliché good vs evil battle, which is fine in something like Lord of the Rings but in a series that constantly tells us that there are no pure good people or pure evil people, this cliché good vs evil battle with a lack of nuance is such a disappointment and misunderstands why this show was so special.
This episode as well isn't just this battle but is also the siege of Meereen and that entire section is awful. After 2.5 seasons of developing the Meereen conflict, Daenerys resolves this complex slavery issue by unleashing her dragons and burning down slave ships. Wow, so exciting! There was nothing clever or intriguing to show how far Daenerys has grown as a character but instead shows dragons are always the resolution and what the heck were Rhaegal and Viserion doing the last 7 episodes? Did they literally just leave their lair now cause that's very convenient. It's such a rushed, unsatisfying conflict that makes this whole Meereen shenanigan seem pointless. Good job writers! Overall, BoTB is a phenomenally well-directed and visually stunning episode with great acting but the writing really holds it back.
Ok, enough of the good. This battle is incredibly idiotic when it comes to parts of the writing: 1. Jon's plot armour throughout the battle was ridiculous. In S3, Ygritte shoots him 3 times, causing him to struggle getting on his horse and collapsing when he reaches Castle Black but here, he is charged at by an oncoming calvary, is hit by a storm of arrows, is trampled on by hundreds of wildlings and northerners and somehow survives all of that with no injury, completely ruining the tension and misunderstands what made GoT so special in the first place. Actions used to have consequences but Jon makes idiotic decisions and doesn't suffer for it.
2. Sansa for some reason doesn't tell Jon about the Knights of the Vale, leading to hundreds of northerners and wildlings unnecessarily dying and leads to a deus-es-machina ending where they arrive and save the day. Also, how the hell did no one notice them arriving considering they were battling on flat land so they should've been spotted from miles away
3. Sansa has no emotional reactions to Rickon's death and there's no ceremony honouring all those who died to save the home of the Starks.
4. It's just a cliché good vs evil battle, which is fine in something like Lord of the Rings but in a series that constantly tells us that there are no pure good people or pure evil people, this cliché good vs evil battle with a lack of nuance is such a disappointment and misunderstands why this show was so special.
This episode as well isn't just this battle but is also the siege of Meereen and that entire section is awful. After 2.5 seasons of developing the Meereen conflict, Daenerys resolves this complex slavery issue by unleashing her dragons and burning down slave ships. Wow, so exciting! There was nothing clever or intriguing to show how far Daenerys has grown as a character but instead shows dragons are always the resolution and what the heck were Rhaegal and Viserion doing the last 7 episodes? Did they literally just leave their lair now cause that's very convenient. It's such a rushed, unsatisfying conflict that makes this whole Meereen shenanigan seem pointless. Good job writers! Overall, BoTB is a phenomenally well-directed and visually stunning episode with great acting but the writing really holds it back.
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