Game of Thrones season 8 episode 3, a show of 82 minutes, is the longest of the remaining episodes.
The first of the season episode written by Benioff and Weiss and directed by Miguel Sapochnik starts where the last one left off. Everyone is gearing for a war they think they have no chance of winning. The first shot is of Samwell (John Bradley) nervously arming himself before the impending bloodshed as the camera moves from character to character before finally seeing the massive frontlines of battle awaiting the Night King and his army to emerge from the darkness.
Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and his Auntie/Lover (ew, again) Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) look on as the first wave of troops charges into the void like its the Battle of Wakanda. Before we know it they disappear and their swords are no longer aflame.
The battle
As Jon and Auntie D attempt to navigate their dragons in what seems to be some sort of supernatural snow storm, bodies hit the floor. immediately anticipate was the deaths of favorite characters — and the return of the White Walker dragon. As the battle rages on, we see our first casualty: Dolorous Edd (Ben Crompton), the acting Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch is stabbed while saving Samwell.
The army retreat as the supernatural army of undead droolers become too much to handle and the storm worsens. They attempt to build a ring of fire around Winterfell to no avail — but then Melisandre walks up. She casts another spell and she eventually finds the power and the trench surrounding Winterfell is engulfed in flames, preventing the Army of Darkness from coming in.
Meanwhile, the night King has rolled up into Winterfell with his White Walker dragon and the undead army has found a way around the ring of fire. The army starts invading Winterfell as more blood is shed.
Zombies Rising up
The level of bonkers begins to slowly increase in the episode and it hits peak crazy when a zombie giant enters the castle killing everyone in his path. The Hound (Rory McCann) is having an anxiety attack while Arya is racking up the points showing us why she is a badass. And in one of the most upsetting moments of the episode, the feisty Lady of Bear Island Lyanna Mormont (Bella Ramsey) takes on the giant zombie only to be crushed in his hands — but she doesn’t go out like a punk. She stabs him in the eye before breathing her last breath, bringing the giant down.
jon and Dany take the fight to the air with their dragons having a fight with the Night King and his White Walker dragon. Meanwhile, Arya goes off on her own in the halls of the castle fighting off more of the undead and it plays out like a horror movie.
It doesn’t take long before the Night King and his dragon breath fire on to Winterfell. The Night King is taken down but Jon is as well. This leaves Dany and her dragon in the sky. She comes face to face with the Night King and she stares upon him saying Dracarys.
The Night King recycles the dead bodies surrounding him to build a whole new army of White Walkers including Lyanna.
The Long night battle continues
Jon rushes to Bran as Dany’s dragon is attacked by a swarm of White Walkers. Dany is sans dragon and is about to be killed but it’s Jorah (Iain Glen) to the rescue.
What follows is a montage of impending defeat. We see nearly everyone in hand-to-hand combat as Winterfell beings to burn to the ground.
The Night King and his entourage reach Bran and they make eye contact with Grejoy. Bran says to Theon You’re a good man, thank you. A valiant Theon attacks the Night King only to be met with defeat.
The Night King reaches Bran and was about killing him and Arya shows up. She kills him and, in turn, his entire White Walker army dies including his dragon.
As the dust settles, everyone looks around at the devastation of the mournful victory. Dany cries over the dying body of Jorah while Melisandre. After that Red Priestess removes her magical choker and steps out into a field and turns to dust.