Game of Thrones: Season 8 Episode 3

*SPOILER ALERT!!

The episode we've all been waiting for: The Battle of Winterfell. The beginning of the end, or so we thought. Winterfell is saved and all of our favorite characters besides Jorah and Lady Mormont are safe (as far as I can tell). And now we must think of what to expect when The Mother of Dragons and The "King" of the North encounter Cersei.

I am glad that the Night King is gone and the threat is finally over, but does anyone else feel unfulfilled? I personally I feel like this season has been extremely rushed and I have no idea what they are going to drag along for the next 3 episodes. I get it, the creators have a budget and they can't afford to put CGI in every scene while spending money on run time but this still feels lackluster to me.

I'm not sure about what everyone else's opinion on this episode is, but I just hope they make up for the way they ended this story arc that has been building up for the entirety of the show. First off I have to defend Arya because she is a superb character that endured a lot this series and is by far one of the best fighters on the show, but, we all knew the 'but' was going to come, I personally didn't feel like she was the right character to kill the Night King.

A part of me feels like people are letting their love for Arya block out the underlying plot issues for me. Why didn't someone who is more connected to the Night King and apart of that whole story arc kill him? I felt like Jon would have been the most logical (and obvious) character to kill him. Honestly, even Samwell Tarly or Bran himself would have made more sense than Arya for me.

I thought Arya would end up killing Cersei and The Mountain and I'm sure she eventually will, but besides survival, there wasn't much motivation between her and the Night King. She didn't have a beef with him like Jon and Samwell, and she wasn't being targeted like Bran was, so why her?

I am a big lover of plot twists and though this one isn't super absurd and far fetched, because like I said Arya is a great fighter, it just felt rushed and almost...mediocre? I don't know, maybe I'm too harsh of a critic, but in my mind there is no way I can see the show making up for what I feel is laziness.

I think if they had just left the episode with Bran and the Night King face to face it would have been fine because the anticipation would be grueling, but I just can't believe the Night King is dead. Just like that. My favorite episode of all time will always be the finale of season six because that was the most beautifully shocking episode in my eyes. I thought maybe this one would top it but I can't even put it in my top five unfortunately.

As far as my feelings on the season so far, my hopes were high, but they definitely were not exceeded. I'm not one to think I could do better than the writers for a multimillion dollar company, but I can for sure tell when writing is rushed and lazy. I'm sure that's why the creator of the books isn't much of a fan anymore, but anyway that's how I feel about this season. I don't care if people agree with me or not because like I said those are my feelings.

The only positive thing I can say is this season has been very sentimental and it's definitely nice to see all the main characters coming together in Winterfell fighting for one cause. The videography and acting is beautiful and well done as should be expected from this show and even if the final season doesn't reach my expectations, Game of Thrones will always be one of my favorite shows.