Oh ho, the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones is always a good one. And this one, like Blackwater, is all set in the one place.
That place is Castle Black. The men are on high alert for a wildling attack. Tormund and Ygritte's group from the south and Mance Rayder from the north. They are quite frankly, fucked. Jon and Sam are atop the wall on watch. Nosy Sam wants details of Jon's relationship with Ygritte. Jon wants to keep those memories to himself.
It's clear Jon is in love with Ygritte and the fact that he might have to face off against her in battle is melting his little head.
An owl lands near them both. But it's no normal owl. A Wildling has warged into it and is spying on the guards. A wildling that's very close by in a camp.
Tormund and Ygritte are around the campfire preparing for battle. All she wants to do is kill Jon Snow herself for betraying them. Never piss off a redhead. Eeek.
Nearby Gilly is walking towards the Wall. Her and her child are the only survivors of the massacre at Mole's Town.
In the library Sam is researching the Wildling's looking for weaknesses. Maester Aemon admits that knowledge won't help them here, only brute force. He knows Sam is heartbroken about Gilly too. But he's not sad for long when Gilly turns up. His relief is palpable. He even says fuck. Sam you bad man.
She's safe for now. She's staying out. Sam isn't going to let her out of his sight anymore. I love these too. I really hope they make it.
Their reunion bliss is soon shattered by the sound of a horn blast. A blast warning of Wildling's approaching. War is here and no one at Castle Black is optimistic about their chances.
The night sky is lit up. Mance Rayder has arrived at the wall and he's kept his promise. He's lit the biggest fire the North has ever seen and Jon Snow has got a bird's eye look at it all from his elevated position. The look of terror on his face says it all.
Preparations kick off. Jon's friend's Grenn, Pyp and Edd are at action stations. Ser Allister Thorne and Ser Janos Slynt are overseeing everything. There's a sense of mania around at Castle Black's defences are put into place. I love it. The tension is mighty.
Ser Allister admits Jon was right. He should have listened about the size of the enemies army and about blocking the tunnel.
Down below the castle Sam leads Gilly to a safe place. She freaks when he goes to leave. The last time he left her was in Mole's Town. They finally kiss. Ahh that's nice. A bit of joy before the war. Sam promises her he won't die. Never a good promise to make.
Outside Castle Black Ygritte is doing a spot of reconnaisance and she reports back about how undermanned the castle is. The Wildlings and the Thenn attack. On the other side of the wall Mance's men are running towards the wall too. There are so many of them. And they have giants! And giant woolly mammoths!!!!
The attack on the Castle is brutal. Allister joins the ground forces leaving Janos Slynt as commander up top. He's fucking useless. Down below Ygritte is picking off the men of the Night's watch like they are nothing. She's a machine, hellbent on revenge.
Allister Thorne is a surprisingly effective commander and soon has his men raring to go. The battle is violent as hell. Both sides taking loads of casualties. Tormund cuts through his enemies like butter.
The Giants and mammoths attack the tunnel gate and other Wildlings start to climb the wall. Slynt freaks out atop the wall. He'll be no help. He's tricked into going down to the castle and Jon takes over up top. They need a good leader there because the giants are taking them out with huge arrows.
Styr of the Thenns and Ygritte are notching up kills left, right and centre. Things aren't looking well for the Night's Watch. Slynt reaches Castle Black and runs and hides like a sap. Right where Gilly is hiding out too. Pyp makes his first kill and immediately gets killed by Gilly right after. Sam's bud, taken out right in front of his face.
Down below, the giants are using the Mammoth to pull open the gate of the tunnel. Jon sends his friend Grenn and 5 others to defend the gate. Allister faces Tormund. 2 worthy adversaries. Both survive this fight. Sam kills the Thenn Warg with a lucky arrow and ascends the wall to find Jon to tell him he's needed below.
His lift to the top is operated by Olly. A young boy who witnessed Ygritte kills his parents in a village attack a few weeks before. Jon & Edd drop flaming barrels of oil on the mammoth which explode before the gate can be pulled down. Then a giant is killed with a huge spear. Is the tide of the battle turning?
The last giant is enraged and rips open the gate all by himself. Grenn and a handful of Night's watch men ready themselves to take him on. Jon and Sam descend the wall to lead the battle below. Edd is left above to continue the aerial assault.
Jon dives in, slaying Wildlings all around. We see it all in a glorious one take swoop of the castle yard take takes in all our principal characters. It's awesome.
Ygritte hasn't seen him yet. It's only a matter of time. Sam releases Jon's direwolf, Ghost. He's a great weapon to have by your side.
Styr spots Jon and they lash into each other in a vicious battle. Bastard vs cannibal. Ygritte spots Jon during his battle. She's pissed. She wanted to be the person to kill him. It looks like Styr has the upper hand and then Jon buries a hammer into his skull. Oh fuck it's gory. He's survived. Until he sees Ygritte pointing an arrow at him.
He's a goner. He gives her one last smile. She hesitates. She shouldn't have. An arrow takes her down. An arrow fired by Olly. The boy who's parents she killed. Oh that's poetic justice.
She dies in his arms. His wildling lover. Her crowman. It was inevitable. They could have never been together. They get one last moment of peace as the battle of Castle Black rages around them.
The wildlings climbing the wall are near the top. But the wall has one last secret weapon. The scythe. It's let loose. A huge blade swings down across the wall. The climbers are turned into a cloud of blood and guts. That was damn cool. The wildlings belong see this as a time to retreat. They're not going anywhere though.
The battle is over. The only wildling survivor in Castle Black is Tormund. He's wounded but he'll make it. He's way too hardy to die. Jon declines to kill him and places him in chains.
Sam finds Gilly alive and well below the castle. He's kept his promise. She's delighted. He finds Janos Slynt cowering away down there too. Jon also finds Grenn and his men. They died in the tunnel but they died with honour, taking down a giant all by themselves.
To prevent the dead rising Jon demands all the bodies be burned. And now he's going beyond the wall, to try to take down Mance all by himself. Like a fool.
Wicked episode. Packed full of action and moments of genuine drama. This is Game of Thrones at it's very best.
Next up - The Children
Series 1 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Series 2 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Series 3 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Series 4 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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