Game of Thrones: S4E9 - The Watchers on the Wall

An entire hour dedicated to the battle at the Wall. I was looking forward to it, but at the same time, dreading seeing all the death. I knew going into it that Jon Snow survives, thanks to him dropping the news accidentally in an interview that he had begun filming for season 5, so I knew I wouldn't be TOO upset. 

One of the best things about this episode is the scale of it, seeing creatures that we'd heard about in previous episodes (ie the giants), the musical score was exceptionally great.

Gilly's alive! (yay.... yay....) I'm seriously NOT a fan of this character, but she makes Sam happy, so there's that. He tells her he never wants to be away from her ever again, and the first thing he does is "Lori, I've got things... stuff and things!!" and runs off to play war with the big kids. I don't blame him. I would have too, but for very different reasons. Hell, I might have even used her to weight down a barrel. 

Remember when Mance Rayder said he would signal the beginning of the attack on Castle Black by setting the "biggest fire the North has ever seen"? Well.. he kept his word. Smokey the Bear was not pleased. 

Prior to this episode, there was debate about whether or not giants existed. There is no longer any question. OH YEAH, and they've got mammoths. You'd think someone somewhere at some point during the ranging expeditions of the Night's Watch, someone would have seen one of these fucking things. I mean it's not like you can exactly hide a mammoth.

And here we have everyone's favorite asshole, Alliser Thorne. He'd already, in no so many words, told Jon Snow that he was right, expecting an obligatory "I told you so", but it never came. He did give quite the rousing "hey lets go kill these guys" speech. He could have said "yeah I know that there's only 100 or so guys here, we're pretty much fucked, but lets go die glorious deaths!" and he didn't. He was determined that Castle Black would stand come the following morning, and he was not wrong. This time. Course, he was wounded, so for those of us who haven't gotten this far in the books yet, lets hope for the best.. and by that, lets hope the wound gets infected and he dies. 

Ygritte came looking for dangly bits to wear about her neck. I had a feeling she would choke.

He looked like he wanted her to just let the arrow fly.

Hey, remember that kid a few episodes back who was bragging about being the best shot in his hamlet? Remember how everyone laughed at him? Yeah... he wasn't kidding about being good with a bow. Unfortunately it didn't go so well.

This was probably the most heartbreaking thing I've seen all season. I didn't cry because she got killed. I cried because for all the hate she felt, for all the things she'd said, they did love each other, right up to the very last. I cried because the amount of hurt on his face just tore me to shreds. 

Of course, the prettiest of the direwolves given to the Stark children had to be a part of this battle. He knew there was a fight to get to, his eyes were already glowing blood red. I'll admit I was a little scared for him, but he came through just fine.

One lone giant made it past the first gate and charged, attempting to get past the Night's Watch guarding it. Jon had told them no matter what, that gate must hold.

And hold it, they did. Not without some fear. Okay, alot of fear. But this was probably the most bone-chilling, courageous moment I have seen yet in all of the series. As the giant begins his charge, they begin reciting the Night's Watch oath, before the scene fades to black.

Battle has raged all night, and now day has come. Thormund Giantsbane was captured and is now being held captive. Many have fallen, many others still injured. But the war is not won, and Jon knows this. So he does the only thing that makes any sense. He leaves Ghost behind, and leaves his sword in the hands of Sam, because he'd promised Lord Commander Mormont he would not lose it again, and goes off to face Mance Rayder without any weapons whatsoever. Because that makes all the sense in the world.

Finally I'd like to give a little spotlight to some of the battle tactics and weapons used during the battle, just because they were extremely awesome: 

The predator drone-sized arrow, or what my children were calling "an arrow made from the leghair of Chuck Norris"

And the Swinging Scythe of Slicing Slaughter (that has been the focus of many Miley Cyrus-esque memes.. way to ruin it for everyone, you people who thought that was funny and clever!) 

I joke, to some extent, throughout this post, but really it was a great episode, and I refuse to read the full-on articles regarding the season finale, but there's rumors that the finale is going to be the best yet. I desperately hope so, given how lackluster the season 3 finale was, following the buildup to the Red Wedding. Everyone seems to think Lady Stoneheart will be making her appearance soon, and I'm more than ready for the show to put a little more focus on the threat of the White Walkers as well.