Everyone knew that Sunday’s episode of “Game of Thrones” would be devoted to the long awaited battle at Castle Black, but no one knew just how epic it was going to be. Just by looking at the rating, the episode consisted of graphic violence and language but absolutely no nudity. A big rarity for Game of Thrones, it foreshadowed that the episode would have less talking and more fighting; and it delivered on that front. The ninth episode, “The Watchers on The Wall”, was visually stunning and spent more time killing wildlings than just talking about it like in previous episodes.
After having a particularly slow season, this was Kit Harrington’s opportunity to shine. At the beginning, he started off as uncertain as to defeat an army that was 1,000 to 1 but by the end of it, he demonstrated true heroic abilities by killing wildling baddies such as wildling chief Styr. Unfortunately, sacrifices had to be made, such as the death of his close friends, Pyp and Grenn. But on the positive side, it gained him respect from Allister Thorne, who at one point despised him. But Kit Harrington wasn’t the only one that stole the spotlight. John Bradley (Sam) finally got some action as well. When Gilly makes her escape from the Mole town massacre, she begs Sam to hide her in Castle Black and to stay with her until the battle is over. But being scared is no longer part of Sam’s personality. He firmly tells her that he’s going to fight with his brothers until the end, but he promises her he will not die (does he not know what show he’s in?).
Love plays a huge role in this episode. While Sam loves Gilly and Jon once loved Ygritte, either of them are the top candiates for dying. In a very memorable speech by Maester Aemon, he tells Sam that “love is the death of duty” and goes on to reminisce about a former lover of his when he was young. But that key sentence goes on to foreshadow the eventual death of one of those characters.
While Ygritte wasn’t seen much in this season unless she was killing children’s parents or prostitutes, people still remember her snarky attitude towards Jon in the previous season. But what stood out even more was how that snarky attitude even turned into love towards him and he eventually broke his vows and slept with her. They were a short-lived couple but when they finally reunite at the battle, it looked they were just picking up where they left off. Everyone knew that Ygritte wanted to be the one to kill Jon Snow and he betrayed her but seeing her extremely hesitant face with an arrow pointed towards him showed us that she was never going to kill him. The feelings that she has for him was still there, and before anything could be done ,she is shot and killed by Olly- the child whose parents were murdered by her. With his parents’ murder and Pyp’s murder under her belt, it’s not clear whether I was supposed to be happy that she was dead but in either case, I wasn’t. I still remembered the chemistry between them last season and it was sad to see her go. Before she dies, she simply whispers to Jon, “You remember that cave? We should have stayed in that cave”. It was touching to see that Ygritte never stopped loving Jon.
But with that battle being done, it left the Wall completely vulnerable and unprepared for Mance Rayder’s next attack. The only thing left to do is find a way to “negotiate” with him. Jon prepares to leave for Mance Rayder completely unarmed and without Ghost a partner. Being criticized by Sam for even considering this suicide mission, he looks at him and admits, “You’re right. It’s a bad plan. What’s your plan?”
But even with the over dramatic situations, I definitely saw where most of this season’s budget went; visually, this was the best episode of the season. While we only got a slighter shorter episode with the only focus on the Wall, it, at least, wasn’t boring to look at. The mammoths and giants were both a huge stand-out among the wildling army and they looked quite stunning for a television show’s budget. In fact, the whole battle reminded me the battle at Helm’s Deep in “The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers” . While a lot of fans didn’t appreciate the complete episode being focused on the Wall, I’m at least glad that the battle got wrapped up in one episode instead of dragging on and on like their segments have this season. According to the previews of the season finale, this won’t be the last we see of Jon Snow, so let’s see what kind of cliffhanger we get with him.
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