WEW LAD, WHAT AN EPISODE
I understand and share some of the disappointment folks have mentioned, but even with that factored in this was an absolute powerhouse episode. They clearly cranked everything up to 11 for this one, and every damn thing from the cinematography to the pacing to the music were on point to set the mood perfectly. I noted the distinct tone shifts at a couple points in the episode, and the behind the scenes stuff confirmed that the episode was intentionally constructed with three acts: suspense, then horror, then action. They nailed all of them, imo, and the MVP of the episode was Ramin Djawadi for all that mood setting music.
Regarding the specifics of the episode, I have mixed feelings about the character death aspect, but not because not enough died. There's only so much time in an episode, and taking a minute to show a named character dying means taking time away from other important bits, so I get why they didn't just slaughter the cast. Also, there's only so much you can throw at the audience before they just become numb to the deaths, so I'm glad they were more sparing and made sure the deaths generally mattered, whether as a way to put a shiny button on a character's arc to finish it off or as a way to set the tone and show how real this shit is. Dolorous Edd getting shanked from behind, Lyanna Mormont going out like a badass, and even the massacre of the Dothraki and Unsullied all acted as tone setters and "oh shit" moments. The rest all finished off character arcs in a fitting way that felt very satisfying.
My problem with the character death of the episode was more about those who lived. Like I noted above, I get why they couldn't have tons more deaths, but... why in the fuck did they have ALL the named characters in the battle being the last ones standing in their respective areas? They might as well have a narrator come on and say "these folks have plot armor too thick for the wights to pierce" when they show a bunch of shots of the characters we know and love fighting desperately without a run of the mill soldier in sight. It would have made the plot armor thing so much less glaring if each of those groups of survivors had at least a handful of mooks standing shoulder to shoulder with them during their final stands.
Arya being the one to take down the Night King was both unexpected and perfectly fitting for the show. They have consistently tried to avoid the obvious tropes of the genre and storytelling in general (which has been a hit or miss effort to be sure), so having the two Chosen One type characters (Jon and Dany) get basically swatted away like flies and left for the low tier minions was a fantastic way of doing that. It also worked as a great culmination for Arya's character, putting her training and experience to a use that was very vital to the plot of the show. If she'd done all that training just to end up killing the Freys and maybe Cersei later on, then it would have felt rather lame. She's a supernatural assassin, after all, so it makes sense that she was the one to take out the supernatural badass enemy in a situation when assassination of a single target was the only chance of victory. I will, however, agree that it would have been nice if they did more to foreshadow her preternatural stealth abilities before this episode, like... literally anything more than sneaking up on a couple people chilling in the godswood.
And on the topic of supernatural stuff, Melisandre was laughably ineffectual until it came time to give Arya a pep talk. She was all hype, no impact in her two big actions, which is very fitting for a character that is equal parts legitimate magic user and charlatan. The flaming weapons for the Dothraki didn't seem to do much at all, and lighting the trenches only cost like a few dozen undead soldiers to deal with it. I'm sure some of the proper warriors racked up better kill counts than she did, though she does earn assist credit for the entire army of the dead getting taken out in one blow.
I'm hoping they use some of the next episode to answer some questions (Is Ayra actually Azor Ahai reborn somehow? Was there any deeper motivation to the Night King's stuff or was he legit just seeking to destroy humanity? The fuck was Bran doing during the battle? Is Cersei and the fight for the Iron Throne really the end game after all or are we in an extended epilogue?), but I'm rather satisfied with the episode as it stands.
Also
And a coworker mentioned that maybe he is fireproof like Danny? But he may not know about Danny's ability to walk through fire?
Probably not fireproof at all, actually. First book/season shows him burning the hell out of his hand when he grabs a lantern to chuck it at the wight that was trying to kill Lord Commander Mormont. To contrast that, Dany was able to grab braziers with hefty fires blazing in them in order to massacre the khals and take the Dothraki as her own. Jon's Stark blood is probably too used to the cold to be able to resist fire, whereas Dany is supposed to be almost pure Targaryen and is also special in some other uncertain way (otherwise Viserys wouldn't have died to molten gold, nor would some historical Targaryens have died to various kinds of fire that claimed their lives).
