Game of Thrones s08e03 Rewrite
Spoilers. Obviously.
.Lots of folks were un-enthused by the long-anticipated confrontation between the Night King and the world of men in Game of Thrones. However, most criticisms fall into complaints about the photography, complaints about character deaths (either too many, not enough, or simply the "wrong" ones) or that the ultimate hero wasn't the "right" person. These aren't problems. The problem with the episode is that easily 3/4 of the events which play out serve no narrative purpose. It's spectacle and mood, which is unfortunate, given that Game of Thrones strength has been the depth of its characters and the consequences of their choices. The failings of The Long Night are the same as every other major battle scene in previous episodes of GoT, and nearly every Epic Battle in TV or film in the last 40 years. The writing and storyboarding focuses on what the director thinks will look the most exciting rather than giving any credit to strategy or logic, and after 20 or so minutes of great sacrifice, someone shows up with the Win Button, rendering all that sacrifice meaningless. But hey, at least it looked cool.
So, without going into full screenwriting mode, here is a brief synopsis of how I would have written this episode without changing the fate of any character or altering the ultimate conclusion. I don't mention scenes in the crypts, as those were solid. I really did enjoy the moments with Tyrion and Sansa.
1. The battle plan
The previous episode briefly explains the battle plan. In my rewrite, it would still cover the issues of killing the Night King as the ultimate goal, and Bran as bait. Establish that the size of Jon & Danyeris's forces is too great to simply hole up in the castle and would eliminate the possibility of using seige weapons or effectively employing the Dothraki cavalary.
Rather than deploying in three separate units (which makes no damn sense) the plan is to form a solid line of phalanx with obstacles 10 paces to their front to break up the enemy charge prior to contact. Trebuchets will be sighted just past those obstacles. When necessary they can retreat past the fire trench to regroup where the enemy will be within arrow range from the castle walls and from catapults on the ground. A second retreat will bring forces back into the castle. By then, their size would sadly be reduced to such that they can all fit inside.
Daneryis and Jon will wait with their dragons as before while Bran searches for the night king via raven, ready to strike and kill him. The Dothraki will also wait on the flank, ready to carve a path to the Night King should he be on the ground. All this can be established without expanding screen time via the same planning scene, conversation between Jaime and Brienne, and conversation scenes with men practicing the phalanx formation in the background. Arya is of course present so she understands that killing the Night King is the win button.
2. No battle plan survives contact with the enemy
Episode 3 begins the same way. The alarm is raised, the troops form. Bran wargs into a raven and searches for the Night King. Jon and Danyeris ascend to their perch. Areal shots reveal the battle line, and it looks fierce and impregnable. Melisandre appears out of the fog and ignites the Dothraki's swords. Morale is high. We know the enemy is coming but we can't see them yet. Bran's raven can, though, and its size dwarfs that of the human army. It begins to charge, but where is the Night Ki--
WOOSH! The Night King's dragon drops from a cloud and swallows Bran's raven. We cut to Bran's eyes flashing normal as he says, "oh no..." Cut to a following shot of the ice dragon barreling down on the human line at incredible speed, and rends in it a huge gap. Jon and Danyeris see it and take to the sky. The Dothraki let out a war cry and charge without orders, through the gap and beyond. Jorah shouts for them to stop, realizes it's a lost cause, curses, and kicks his horse to join them. The ice dragon makes one more pass, widening the gap, then vanishes up into the dark and clouds, Jon and Danyeris's dragons chasing him.
Now we can do the scene of the infantry watching the Dothraki's lights going out. It was great cinema and solid tension-ratcheting in the episode as it existed, but now there was a reason for it, and the viewer isn't left wondering "Was that actually the plan? What morons!" Meanwhile the infantry struggle to close the gap, but the great weakness of a phalanx is that can't maneuver worth a damn on a good day, let alone in the dark of night with morale shot to hell. Bran's in another raven now, and through him we see the army of the dead charging in a wedge straight for the gap. It smashes into and through it. The balance of the dead smash into the in-tact line, which proves itself tremendously effective. Dozens of the dead are dispatched for every one of the living. But the line has been broken and begins to collapse from the center outward.
Jon and Danyeris continue to search for the Night King, but Bran finds him, and his raven explodes with blinding light (because why not he's goddamn magic). Jon and Danyeris see this and attack. Cue dragon battle, which again can play out similarly to the episode as it exists. NK's dragon is grounded, Jon is knocked off of his.
We cut between this and the deteriorating situation on the ground. The army retreats to the second line, torches won't light the trench, Grey Worm forms a wall of men around Melisandre, who lights the trench just in time. The army of the dead stops. Men on the wall (We saw Arya save the Hound from there a moment ago) pelt them with arrows. Catapults pummel them with stones. Scores of the dead go down, but there are still so many. The Night King, now on the ground, casts Blizzard, the fire goes out, the army of the dead charges, and after a brief struggle the army of men retreats into the castle.
3. The end
The dead swarm up the walls and the giant beats down the door. Arya fights on the wall with her Darth Maul staff. We get that wonderful and terrible moment with Lyanna Mormont, whose sacrifice buys time and gets the Hound off his ass. The night king, having exposed himself again, is caught on the ground by Danyeris, but we discover that dragonfire doesn't faze him. Then he casts Raise Dead and brings the dead human soldiers to his legion. Arya sees it happen from the wall.
Danyeris is dismounted, rescued by Jorah, surrounded by the dead. Arya loses her weapon, gets saved by Barric (who dies) and the Hound, says she's got to protect Bran, runs into Melisandre who does the "blue eyes" line.
The rest of the episode plays out the same way, except Bran has a goddamn flock of ravens which kamikaze into the dead to help Thon's last ditch defense. Jon is racing toward the Godswood while Jorah dies for Danyeris. The Night King gets to the Godswood and Bran's last ravens plunge toward him. The Night King raises his hand; they freeze and crumble."You're a good man Theon," Jon, nearly to Bran, is stopped by the downed Ice dragon, who he fights (did you notice him shouting "GO!" in the episode? He clearly saw Arya toward the end and distracted the dragon for her, but that could have been more obvious.) Arya does her Michael Jordan impression, Melisandre chooses the wrong grail, end credits.
.Lots of folks were un-enthused by the long-anticipated confrontation between the Night King and the world of men in Game of Thrones. However, most criticisms fall into complaints about the photography, complaints about character deaths (either too many, not enough, or simply the "wrong" ones) or that the ultimate hero wasn't the "right" person. These aren't problems. The problem with the episode is that easily 3/4 of the events which play out serve no narrative purpose. It's spectacle and mood, which is unfortunate, given that Game of Thrones strength has been the depth of its characters and the consequences of their choices. The failings of The Long Night are the same as every other major battle scene in previous episodes of GoT, and nearly every Epic Battle in TV or film in the last 40 years. The writing and storyboarding focuses on what the director thinks will look the most exciting rather than giving any credit to strategy or logic, and after 20 or so minutes of great sacrifice, someone shows up with the Win Button, rendering all that sacrifice meaningless. But hey, at least it looked cool.
So, without going into full screenwriting mode, here is a brief synopsis of how I would have written this episode without changing the fate of any character or altering the ultimate conclusion. I don't mention scenes in the crypts, as those were solid. I really did enjoy the moments with Tyrion and Sansa.
1. The battle plan
The previous episode briefly explains the battle plan. In my rewrite, it would still cover the issues of killing the Night King as the ultimate goal, and Bran as bait. Establish that the size of Jon & Danyeris's forces is too great to simply hole up in the castle and would eliminate the possibility of using seige weapons or effectively employing the Dothraki cavalary.
Rather than deploying in three separate units (which makes no damn sense) the plan is to form a solid line of phalanx with obstacles 10 paces to their front to break up the enemy charge prior to contact. Trebuchets will be sighted just past those obstacles. When necessary they can retreat past the fire trench to regroup where the enemy will be within arrow range from the castle walls and from catapults on the ground. A second retreat will bring forces back into the castle. By then, their size would sadly be reduced to such that they can all fit inside.
Daneryis and Jon will wait with their dragons as before while Bran searches for the night king via raven, ready to strike and kill him. The Dothraki will also wait on the flank, ready to carve a path to the Night King should he be on the ground. All this can be established without expanding screen time via the same planning scene, conversation between Jaime and Brienne, and conversation scenes with men practicing the phalanx formation in the background. Arya is of course present so she understands that killing the Night King is the win button.
2. No battle plan survives contact with the enemy
Episode 3 begins the same way. The alarm is raised, the troops form. Bran wargs into a raven and searches for the Night King. Jon and Danyeris ascend to their perch. Areal shots reveal the battle line, and it looks fierce and impregnable. Melisandre appears out of the fog and ignites the Dothraki's swords. Morale is high. We know the enemy is coming but we can't see them yet. Bran's raven can, though, and its size dwarfs that of the human army. It begins to charge, but where is the Night Ki--
WOOSH! The Night King's dragon drops from a cloud and swallows Bran's raven. We cut to Bran's eyes flashing normal as he says, "oh no..." Cut to a following shot of the ice dragon barreling down on the human line at incredible speed, and rends in it a huge gap. Jon and Danyeris see it and take to the sky. The Dothraki let out a war cry and charge without orders, through the gap and beyond. Jorah shouts for them to stop, realizes it's a lost cause, curses, and kicks his horse to join them. The ice dragon makes one more pass, widening the gap, then vanishes up into the dark and clouds, Jon and Danyeris's dragons chasing him.
Now we can do the scene of the infantry watching the Dothraki's lights going out. It was great cinema and solid tension-ratcheting in the episode as it existed, but now there was a reason for it, and the viewer isn't left wondering "Was that actually the plan? What morons!" Meanwhile the infantry struggle to close the gap, but the great weakness of a phalanx is that can't maneuver worth a damn on a good day, let alone in the dark of night with morale shot to hell. Bran's in another raven now, and through him we see the army of the dead charging in a wedge straight for the gap. It smashes into and through it. The balance of the dead smash into the in-tact line, which proves itself tremendously effective. Dozens of the dead are dispatched for every one of the living. But the line has been broken and begins to collapse from the center outward.
Jon and Danyeris continue to search for the Night King, but Bran finds him, and his raven explodes with blinding light (because why not he's goddamn magic). Jon and Danyeris see this and attack. Cue dragon battle, which again can play out similarly to the episode as it exists. NK's dragon is grounded, Jon is knocked off of his.
We cut between this and the deteriorating situation on the ground. The army retreats to the second line, torches won't light the trench, Grey Worm forms a wall of men around Melisandre, who lights the trench just in time. The army of the dead stops. Men on the wall (We saw Arya save the Hound from there a moment ago) pelt them with arrows. Catapults pummel them with stones. Scores of the dead go down, but there are still so many. The Night King, now on the ground, casts Blizzard, the fire goes out, the army of the dead charges, and after a brief struggle the army of men retreats into the castle.
3. The end
The dead swarm up the walls and the giant beats down the door. Arya fights on the wall with her Darth Maul staff. We get that wonderful and terrible moment with Lyanna Mormont, whose sacrifice buys time and gets the Hound off his ass. The night king, having exposed himself again, is caught on the ground by Danyeris, but we discover that dragonfire doesn't faze him. Then he casts Raise Dead and brings the dead human soldiers to his legion. Arya sees it happen from the wall.
The rest of the episode plays out the same way, except Bran has a goddamn flock of ravens which kamikaze into the dead to help Thon's last ditch defense. Jon is racing toward the Godswood while Jorah dies for Danyeris. The Night King gets to the Godswood and Bran's last ravens plunge toward him. The Night King raises his hand; they freeze and crumble."You're a good man Theon," Jon, nearly to Bran, is stopped by the downed Ice dragon, who he fights (did you notice him shouting "GO!" in the episode? He clearly saw Arya toward the end and distracted the dragon for her, but that could have been more obvious.) Arya does her Michael Jordan impression, Melisandre chooses the wrong grail, end credits.
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