Game of Thrones Season 8 (2019) (1 Viewer)

[Greg.K]

We have zero evidence that Jon even knows the skills Arya possesses. Without that knowledge I doubt he'd urge her on to what he would consider instant death for someone who's not battle trained.

Are you suggesting that Jon... knows nothing?

(I went back and watched that scene. I didn't get any impression that Jon had seen Arya at all.)

 

[Hanson]

Someone ran that theory by me yesterday. I watched that sequence again last night, and I do not see it. It does appear that Jon is yelling "Go, Go!", so if your theory is correct, it makes more sense than him just yelling at a dragon (the DirecTV subtitles simply denote "yelling"). However, without a map, I cannot connect where Jon and the dragon are with the Godswood area, and I cannot see anything distinct beyond the dragon.

That was the most confusing part. It wasn't very clear that Jon was right outside the Godswood and that Viserion was blocking his path. Perhaps a reverse shot from the Godswood showing blue flames in the background would have helped make that connection. I just thought Jon was trying to kill the dragon. But after reading this interpretation, it all makes complete sense to me now.

 

[BobO'Link]

Are you suggesting that Jon... knows nothing?

(I went back and watched that scene. I didn't get any impression that Jon had seen Arya at all.)

When it comes to Arya I think most of them are clueless. I'd say that Sansa's the only one who truly knows how dangerous she became with The Hound, Gendry, and Davos having recently seen a portion of her abilities. Jon may suspect after she surprised him at the Godswood but I doubt he knows anything beyond that stealth capability.

 

[Wayne_j]

Briene would at least know she is a very capable fighter. And of course Bran who knows everything.

 

[BobO'Link]

Briene would at least know she is a very capable fighter. And of course Bran who knows everything.

True. I forgot about them.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

If you watch that scene from around when the Night King finally stops right in front of Bran, it cuts to Jon who comes out from behind cover directly in front of Viserion and yells, "GO GO GO!" He's yelling at Arya, who is off-screen and distracting Viserion, who is guarding the entrance of the Godswood. Then the hair blows and Arya leaps towards the Night King.

I finally see that now, but at the time, I didn't realize Jon was so close to Bran, and that Viserion was guarding the entrance. I noticed the White Walker's hair moving, but never put it together with Arya's movement. So she didn't just appear out of nowhere, nor was Jon yelling at a zombie dragon.

Wow, even as the author of the post defending the Arya scene, I did not get this at all. I had no clue that Jon / Viserion were anywhere near Arya. Or that Jon was in communication with Arya. So if that's what they were trying to convey, they failed miserably.

I thought that Jon had just resigned himself to his fate and was yelling at Viserion to distract him and sacrifice himself to let others get past.

Unrelated, I watched the episode on my PS4 through HBO NOW, and while the episode was of course, very dark, there were no compression artifacts or macroblocking. I watched it last night, so it wasn't live at the time everyone else was trying to watch it.

 

[Wayne_j]

I did get that Jon was trying to get past Viserion who was guarding the gods wood. I have no idea if Jon saw Arya or not.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Anyone have a list of those who died in this episode?

I also thought Jon was not near Arya.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Anyone have a list of those who died in this episode?

I also thought Jon was not near Arya.

I think Sam Posten posted the list as a spoiler a page or two back.

Edit: yep, post 211

 

[Tommy R]

A question for anyone who knows; I just created an HBO Go profile because my wife and I are going to be out of town on Sunday, but we will be bringing our laptop so we can watch GoT so we don’t have to wait until we get back on Wednesday. Was wondering how it worked in regards to how early we are able to view to episode on HBO Go. Is it immediately available to watch at the airtime or is there a delay after it airs before it can be viewed?

 

[Johnny Angell]

A question for anyone who knows; I just created an HBO Go profile because my wife and I are going to be out of town on Sunday, but we will be bringing our laptop so we can watch GoT so we don’t have to wait until we get back on Wednesday. Was wondering how it worked in regards to how early we are able to view to episode on HBO Go. Is it immediately available to watch at the airtime or is there a delay after it airs before it can be viewed?

It will be available sometime the Sunday of it’s first showing.

 

[Wayne_j]

Usually a few minutes before it airs.

 

[JimmyO]

It doesn't make any sense to me at all that Jon was urging Arya on. Mostly because:

- for it to make sense the viewer, they would have to have been clued in that Jon was near the godswood and that he was yelling at Arya

- if that was their intent, for us to know that Arya was being urged on by Jon, it would completely ruin the surprise in the end as Arya lept at the Night King.

Unless the showrunners acknowledge that this is exactly what Jon was doing (forgive me if there is a link that shows that and someone posted it), then I am going to chalk it up to Jon just being totally frustrated at not being able to advance and he just basically surrendered to the dragon as all hope was lost and he was tired of hiding behind cover.

 

[Greg.K]

 

[Charlie Campisi]

I agree that the interpretation of the scene works a lot better if Jon is trying to get past Viserion and to the godswood. To add to its credence, our heroes’ plan all along was to draw out the Night King and lure him to Bran. Just the fact that Viserion was there and on the ground could’ve told the viewer that the Night King was nearby (though dragons fly and so the NK’s proximity was not a certainty).

I’ll watch it again, but didn’t pick up on this in my first two viewings. IMO It would not dumb down the scene if there was a line of dialog that indicated Jon was himself trying to get to the godswood to kill the Night King. That the eventual killer was Arya would still have been a revelation.

 

[Dheiner]

But he knew the end as well as Dr. Strange!

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

I watched the episode again on HBO GO, and without 17 million people streaming at the same time the picture was a lot better and I could see everything. I don't know why the broadcast version was so smeary and terrible, but this time around was significantly improved, with no adjustments to the set necessary.

My big takeaway on this second viewing was just how spectacular the MUSIC was (Ramin Djawadi). When the major orchestral track subsided to the piano, it signaled basically everyone was going to die (even though basically no one major did), just as the images were strongly implying with every major character overwhelmed. And then adding the strings for the final approach of the Night King... it was all just perfect. Bravo.

You also get the meaning of the simple close up looks from everyone the second time around. When Sansa sees the dragons torching the wights, she's got a look that says, "Hey, maybe this dragon queen's not such a bad bitch."

Melisandre basically eye communicating to Arya her mission after the blue eyes comment. It's all there.

Even the Worm has his close up, "Oh shit," moment, during the retreat. Though I just heard from the showrunners on Kimmel that what he was improvising screaming at his troops during those moments (and buried in the sound mix) was, "Mike Pence! Mike Pence!) LOL

Great stuff. Can't wait to watch the blu-ray next.

 

[RobertR]

An announcer on classical radio station KUSC said "and now, we will play for you a non Stark related aria".

 

[Carabimero]

Anyone have a list of those who died in this episode?

I also thought Jon was not near Arya.

Me either. I was like, Why is Jon giving his life up standing in front of the dragon. I'm glad to know the reason, but the filmmakers dropped the ball on communicating that one, IMO.

 

[BobO'Link]

I watched that sequence with Jon and Viserion several times last night to see if I'd missed anything (going back to a few minutes before their appearance). There's no indication I could find that makes it clear Viserion lands at the door/gate into the Godswood. From the way it was presented it could be almost anywhere in the castle where there's a doorway/gate in a somewhat choke point. The GoT Wiki says: "Jon, meanwhile, fights his way back into the courtyard of the castle on foot - only to be pinned down by the grounded, but still very dangerous Viserion." If he's truly in the courtyard, which would be on one of the roads leading to the castle and likely the front of this image (also from that wiki site), he's quite a way from the Godswood entrance - or he managed to get from the main battle on the South road (front of image below) to the Northern entrance rather quickly.

I didn't notice Jon looking at *anything* other than Viserion while yelling and couldn't tell if it was "Go..Go.." or "No..No.." The interpretation of the sequence makes sense but there's absolutely nothing presented on screen to support it. It all plays as several disconnected scenes and action that culminates in the killing of the Night King. All they needed to do is have one or two shots of Arya in strategic locations. Would that have ruined the surprise? Possibly. As it is, it's a confusing mess.