Television Review: The Long Night (Game of Thrones, S8X03, 2019)

The Long Night (S8x03)

Airdate: 28 April 2019

Written by: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss
Directed by: Miguel Saponchik

Running Time: 82 minutes

In the ever-evolving landscape of prestige television, a distinct structural convention has emerged whereby the penultimate episode of a season serves as the vessel for the most consequential narrative development, reserving the season finale primarily for the emotional and political aftermath. Game of Thrones had firmly established this practice long before its final season, most notably with episodes such as Blackwater in Season 2 and The Watchers on the Wall in Season 4. These instalments delivered the series’ most spectacular set-piece battles, functioning as the "wham" moments that redefined the geopolitical landscape of Westeros. However, the eighth and final season brought this practice to a new, arguably reckless level. By placing the most significant and consequential episode of the entire series—both in terms of plot and thematic weight—mid-season, specifically in the third episode, the showrunners demonstrated an unprecedented confidence, or perhaps desperation, in their storytelling. This episode was The Long Night, a feature lenghth behemoth that was the longest episode of the series, the most expensive, and, by that point, the episode with the highest viewing rating. Yet, despite its monumental scale and technical ambition, it proved to be one of the most divisive episodes of the franchise, with many critics and fans pointing to fundamental conceptual and technical flaws that ultimately rendered it inferior to the series' earlier, more tightly constructed battles.

The eighty two minutes of The Long Night depict the event that resolves the core conflict of A Song of Ice and Fire: the eternal struggle between forces of Good, embodied by flawed, imperfect, divided, and ultimately weak humanity, and forces of Evil, represented by the cold, grotesque, and unstoppable zombie-like army of the White Walkers and their mysterious leader, the Night King. Eight thousand years prior, humanity prevailed during the First Long Night, and though the Wall was built to contain the threat, the White Walkers had bided their time for millennia, waiting for the right moment to shatter the barrier and march southwards to erase all living memory. The only thing that truly stands in their way is Winterfell, the ancestral seat of the Starks, where various factions had gathered for what would be the last stand of humanity—or at least of what remained of it in Westeros.

Given the monumental importance of this encounter, the preceding episode had been dedicated almost entirely to setting the stage. It was a masterclass in exposition, establishing which human characters would take part in the final conflict, outlining the defensive tactics, and palpably raising the emotional stakes for a showdown that would undoubtedly result in the death of the majority, if not all, of the protagonists. The episode is aptly titled "The Long Night," a name that references the ancient cataclysmic event but also serves as a literal descriptor of the battle itself. It was meant to be a long, bloody, and epic engagement that would occur over the course of a single night. And live up to its name, it did; the battle lasted for hours, it was overwhelmingly bloody, and for the vast majority of the runtime, things were dark—both figuratively, as hope dwindled, and literally, as the lights of the world were extinguished.

The defenders of Winterfell, a formidable combination of local Northern forces, Vale knights, exiled wildlings, the Unsullied, and the Dothraki, arguably constituted the strongest and most effective military force ever assembled in the history of the Seven Kingdoms. Yet, they were simply no match for the sheer, inexorable numbers of the Army of the Dead, which could constantly replenish its ranks by converting the slain enemies into more wights. This imbalance became immediately obvious in the first major exchange of the battle. Under the command of Daenerys Targaryen and assisted by the Red Witch, Melisandre, the Dothraki cavalry, armed with arakh blades and magically set alight by Melisandre, were unleashed to make the first charge against the enemy, which was still hidden in the far darkness of the battlefield. The defenders watched as a sea of light swept across the horizon, only to see it quickly extinguished as the wights swarmed the riders. A few survivors returned to Winterfell, but the vast majority had been slaughtered before they ever struck a blow. It was a tactical error of catastrophic proportions, a meaningless sacrifice of the Dothraki's strength solely for visual spectacle.

As the wights moved against Winterfell itself, the one-sided nature of the fight became even more apparent. Their sheer numbers overwhelmed the defensive lines outside the fortress, and the defenders were forced to retreat back into the castle proper. This retreat was bought at a terrible cost, with the Unsullied heroically holding the line while the rest of the army fell back. Even the elements conspired against the humans; the weather, manipulated by the Night King, brought high winds that prevented the defenders from setting the intended trench alight. The plan was saved only by Melisandre's desperate and last-minute incantation that finally started the fire, but this was merely a temporary reprieve. The Night King, showing a cold, calculating pragmatism, ordered his wights to walk directly into the fire and use their burned corpses as stepping stones to breach the fortifications. Once through, the assault continued towards the inner walls. Wights climbed over the ramparts, penetrated the courtyard, and caused absolute carnage. Even Sansa Stark, Tyrion Lannister, Varys, Gilly, and other people who had taken shelter in the crypts were not safe. The Night King used his necromantic abilities to raise the dead, and among them were the ancient Stark skeletons in the crypt, which attacked and killed some of the refugees hiding within the walls.

In the skies above, Daenerys and Jon Snow attempted to turn the tide of the battle using their dragons, Drogon and Rhaegal. The original plan had been to lure the Night King into the Godswood using Bran Stark as bait, protected by Theon Greyjoy and a small band of Ironborn. However, this plan was thwarted by a sudden storm. Worse still, the Night King used his powers to reanimate Viserion, transforming him into his own undead dragon. This led to a vicious and chaotic aerial combat between the living and the dead. Daenerys, watching from the ground with horror, saw that dragonfire was ineffective against the Night King. In the end, she had to fight on foot, protected by Jorah Mormont, who would later be mortally wounded.

The situation looked desperate for the living. Theon Greyjoy, having returned to Winterfell to redeem himself, stayed behind to defend Bran Stark in the Godswood. When the Night King finally arrived to personally kill the Three-Eyed Raven, Theon dashed against the Night King in a desperate charge, only to be killed. It was a heroic death, and he seemed to find redemption in his final moments. Yet, it was ultimately Arya Stark who delivered the killing blow. Utilising the stealth skills she had learned from the Faceless Men, Arya had managed to evade the wights that had penetrated the Winterfell walls and infiltrate the Godswood unseen. There, she used a Valyrian steel dagger to stab the Night King in the belly, a move that Jon had seemingly anticipated. The Night King fell, and with him, his entire army of wights. The defenders of Winterfell scored a final, miraculous victory.

The episode ends on a melancholy note with Melisandre, having fulfilled her mission of bringing the darkness and seeing it end, venturing onto the field to drop the medallion that had kept her youthful and alive for hundreds of years before dying just as the dawn was about to break, finally at peace.

On a technical level, The Long Night is well-made and generally delivers on the grand promises that had been made before it. The battle is relentless, very grim, and its general outcome remains uncertain until the very last minute. The editing is impressive, with the audience, at least partially, being given a sense of where the tens of different characters were located in the sprawling and confusing battlefield. It provides a lot of visceral action, high drama, and genuine horror, particularly in the scene in which Arya has to outsmart the wights that have penetrated the Winterfell.

The acting is also strong, especially with Ian Glen, who delivered a great death scene as Jorah Mormont, a character whose loyal service had been a constant through the series. He is joined by Alfie Allen, whose character is given a heroic demise that provides emotional closure to Theon's arc. The death of Lyanna Mormont, the young Lady of House Mormont, is both heroic and brutal—a little girl is crushed by a zombified giant, but she manages to stab him in the eye with dragonglass before succumbing to her injuries, a moment that perfectly encapsulates the grim resolve of the North.

Despite these merits, all this success cannot hide the two major flaws of the episode. The first and perhaps most fundamental flaw is conceptual. The Battle of Winterfell is, without question, the most important event of the entire series. It is the culmination of the White Walkers' threat, the resolution of the "Long Night" mythos, and the death of the ultimate villain. Yet, by putting it in the middle of the season, it looks like a less important part of the business agenda. The death of the Night King and the defeat of humanity's most formidable foe is utterly anti-climactic. It lacks the mystique and the terrifying inevitability that George R.R. Martin had built up over eight seasons. Furthermore, Benioff and Weiss happened to make the most popular characters survive, and the Night King conveniently meets his end at the hands of the most popular of them all: Arya Stark. While Arya's character arc is compelling, her killing blow to the Night King feels contrived, prioritising fan favourite status over narrative necessity. It also reinforces the critics' complaint that the showrunners favour modern feminist tropes, conveniently arranging for a female character to deliver the final blow against the patriarchal threat.

And what follows this monumental battle is the final three episodes of the season, which are rather predictable soap opera in which what used to be a distraction now becomes the greatest issue: who will ultimately win the Iron Throne. The political machinations that follow feel cheap, trivial, and utterly disconnected from the existential threat that was just vanquished. The gravity of the victory is immediately undercut by the petty squabbles over the throne.

The more obvious flaw is strictly technical. Many critics have complained that the episode is simply too dark, to the point where some viewers had genuine trouble seeing what was going on. This darkness was sometimes explained away by technical trends related to the use of digital cameras and data compression by streaming services. However, in any case, although there is still spectacle and visceral drama, the effect is much subdued in comparison with previous grand battles that had entire episodes built around them. When compared to Blackwater in Season 2, The Watchers on the Wall in Season 4, and Battle of the Bastards in Season 6, The Long Night falls short. The latter, directed by Miguel Sapochnik, looks more effective for the simple fact that it was depicted occurring during daylight, allowing for clear visibility and tactical clarity. The previous battles, despite being night battles, used lighting and fire effectively to reveal the action. The Long Night relies too heavily on darkness, often leaving the action muddy and indistinct, relying on sound and context rather than visual clarity to convey the fighting.

Various military experts have also ripped the episode to shreds, specifically commenting on the incredibly stupid tactics employed by the Winterfell defenders. The defenders failed to use the fortress to their advantage, instead allowing the majority of their forces to be slaughtered in the open field. The most egregious error is the Dothraki cavalry charge that opens the battle and results in a pointless and utterly demoralising loss of a large section of the defending army. This does not serve any military purpose other than to provide great visuals and confirm HBO promotional material about the Battle of Winterfell being the greatest ever produced on screen. It ignores centuries of military wisdom regarding the optimal use of cavalry. Furthermore, the defenders did not dig trenches or fortify the approach to the castle more effectively; they simply waited for the enemy to come to them.

In the end, The Long Night is a flawed masterpiece. It is an episode of colossal ambition, technical prowess, and emotional weight, yet it is ultimately let down by poor tactical decisions and a conceptual structure that fails to respect the gravity of its subject matter. While it delivers on the spectacle promised by the show's marketing, it fails to deliver on the tactical and narrative realism that made the earlier battles, such as Battle of the Bastards, so beloved. The episode is a stark reminder that even the most well-funded television productions can stumble when they prioritise visual impact over narrative logic.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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