Miguel Ángel Pérez

No more Q... That's still quite very sad. It's like watching The Simpsons without, huh, Ned Flanders? But, hey, at least no more Margo and Josh! Hooray! Though that scene near the end with the two of them "together" made me sigh a little with frustration... Anyway, speaking of Margo, having Eliot and her together on screen again is a true sight for sore eyes. I'm oh so glad to have that dynamic duo back!... Aaand of course the show would find a way to break them apart, again. Gotta feed the drama, right?

The unintentionally misogynistic man pig (pig man?) was a hoot! Julia looked so baffled, it was hilarious! I hope we'll see more of him. He still has a quest to bestow, after all, I think?

I'm very, very curious about what happened in Fillory 300 years ago. And about Penny's mysterious signal. This season is already kicking off with some tasty mysteries! Nice!

And I absolutely love when this show mentions "magic" and "dangerous" in the same context. That very last scene left me gasping for more! Both the show runners and the actor who played Quentin have already confirmed that Quentin is gone from the show, so... What is Alice bringing to this world? HOT DAMN SO MANY MYSTERIES ALREADY!!

Also, I just finished eating and now I'm craving for a ham sandwich. Maybe I should go make one while I wait for next week's episode.

Nothing makes sense in this episode.

• Baby Yoda does nothing except for being cute just to draw viewers and every character is just attracted to him for no reason.
• Tusken raiders showing up out of nowhere in a vast empty desert, like a scene straight out of comedy skit
• Someone who appears to be dead is hanging from a dewback (mount) and The Mando didn't even realize it's a trap? So much for a so-called professional bounty hunter.
• They're up against a sniper in the lone desert and they still pop their heads in the open.
• And they have to wait until nighttime for no reason despite the fact that their strategy involves the use of flare gun. Oddly the bounty just wait for them as if she has nothing to do.
• The rookie bounty hunter changed his mind very quickly in the face of the bounty. He knows he can't even handle the bounty well by himself, why would he did what he did?

Dialogues feel forced. Like the previous episode, everything is shoved just to make the plot moves. Especially terrible every time the rookie has a conversation.

This episode and the previous feel like series of unrelated events. Nothing literally happened in these two episodes. There are some cool throwbacks and references (cantina scene, dune sea, Amy Sedaris blurping Star Wars jargons, etc) but it's all fanservice. It appears the show is directed by people familiar with Star Wars universe but has zero sense of screen writing.

Very disappointing episode. Anyone saying it’s the best episode of this show is just caught up in the hype.

Visually, this episode was fantastic. And as a stand-alone episode, it was very good. But when you take this as an episode of Game of Thrones and think about everything that led to this, it’s undeniably disappointing.

Barely anyone died. Most of the characters had super thick plot armour. Lots of plot holes. Anti-climactic ending. I don’t mind that Arya killed the Night King. I also don’t mind how it happened. But for it to happen so soon... the army of the dead have been hyped up since season 1 as the true enemy, and we were told that they were the most dangerous army in the show. Yet all they accomplished was the deaths of a few side characters. It’s pathetic compared to the feats of other characters and armies in past seasons. The Night King should have taken Winterfell and killed at least a few main characters. The survivors should have them retreated somewhere and then beat the Night King in a later episode. The Night King and the army of the dead did not come across as very threatening by the end of this episode. They were unable to kill any main characters, and they were defeated in the first proper battle they took part in.

Very disappointing. My rating is only as high as it is because of the great visuals and the value of the episode as a stand-alone piece of television.

Thanks to Melisandre we could actually see what the fuck was going on!
This episode was so dark, even the Night king's guard didn't see Arya coming...
My therapist will hear about this episode.
They didn't even need the Dothraki. Greyworm, Gendry, Tormund, Brienne, and Jaime killed like 2,000 wights each
The Night King was reduced to Tyrion level of Stupidity.
Confirmed death count: R.I.P
Edd
Beric Dondarrion (aka. Barricade Dondarrion)
Lyanna Mormont (Lyanna 'Giantsbane' Mormont. Killed a giant at the age of thirteen in the Battle of Winterfell. Her greatest and final act. And now her watch has ended.)
Theon Greyjoy
Jorah Mormont
Night King
Melisandre (Melisandre: "I will be dead before the dawn.")
99.8% of the Unsullied
99.9% of the Dothraki (Dothraki's flaming weapons slowly disappearing in the dark was the most terrifying scene EVER)
Confirmed living:
Ghost
Drogon
Rhaegal
Jon yelling at a fucking Dead Dragon!
Jon: We did it. We defeated the dead.
Bran: We don’t have time for any of this. Cersei has 4 elephants.
One of the Best part was the slow piano montage of everyone dramatically fighting to the last breath with a shot in the middle of Sam lying on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.
RIP Azor Ahai Theories
RIP Night King
RIP Logic
RIP Lighting in the Episode
RIP Lyanna Mormont True King in the North
RIP Arya as a good character
RIP Melisandre the confused woman
RIP Theon protecting Useless Boy
RIP Jorah and Beric Defending Strong woman
RIP Good storytelling and 9 years of Hype
RIP Winter and the Long Night
RIP Me

None of the prophecies mattered, nothing was resolved between Bran and Night King, all eight seasons of build up and the NK dies from one quick stab. No surprising twists, no intelligent storytelling, the storyline ends like this. The whole long night ends in one battle.
The war council preparing for a siege, they send out their cavalry to die in the first 10 seconds, 20 or more wights surrounded every character, and yet every main character manages to retreat. Theon with around 20 archers managed to defend against a horde of wrights. We see Jon surrounded by a crowd of wights, and next scene there's no more wights left.
I think this time it's a bit of a stretch to say DB Weiss and David Benioff planned this well. By their own admission they've only known Arya was going to land the finishing blow for 3 years and when you account for the 2 year hiatus, that's just season 7. Even then, Arya got the job because she's a fan favorite, not because this is what she's been building up to. Her story never even had a hint of "White Walker" plot. I think Mel talking about shutting eyes forever back in season 3 was purely about her faceless man training. Mel said the "Blue Eyes" comment second in season 3 but they retro actively made it the last color while reiterating it this episode to force prophetic weight onto it.
From a story writing perspective this was not Arya's fight to win anymore than it would've been Oberyn Martell's. Her experiences made her a highly skilled fighter but her plot didn't set her up to be the savior of the realms of the living.

I read all of the books in the series before the show premiered. After a couple of episodes, I was done with the show. The thought of repeating all of that horror and misery, only on the screen instead of the page, didn't seem worth it, production values be damned. Some months later, I happened to walk into a room where someone was watching one of the last episodes of the first season. It was a scene where Tywin Lannister sermonises to Jaime while butchering an animal. It was a scene not taken directly from the books, but made whole cloth for the TV show. I was mesmerised, and suddenly, all on board again.
To me, the appeal of Game of Thrones has never been in the way it brings the books alive, but in how it diverges. It's been in the way it's emphasised, through performance, the humanity of its characters (both for ill and good), thus giving me something I never got from Martin's writing. Where some have lamented the direction the show has taken since it started outpacing the source material, I've actually grown fonder of it. The farther away it's gotten from the cutting of those adaptational apron strings, the more I feel like it's grown into its own thing.

So, while I don't doubt that the remaining episodes of this final season will break my heart in lots of ways – and George R.R. Martin will find several more when he gets around to telling the "real" version of the same story – I thoroughly appreciate that Game of Thrones is the kind of the show that knows the importance of showing people coming together, huddling for warmth in the face of impending doom. I could still feel the claw in my gut, of the horror to come, but I'm glad that's not all the show is about.

Best lines
I’m waiting for an old friend - Bran
You left me for dead - Hound
I also robbed you - Arya
I’ve always had blue eyes! - Tormund
Whatever they want - Dany
but
It had its moments - Sansa

They need wheelchair ramps in Winterfell. They left Bran in the courtyard overnight!

Parallelism between Season 1 Episode 1 and Season 8 Episode 1

1. S01E01 Winter Is Coming. S08E01 Winterfell.
2. Opening shot of the King and Queen arriving with the same soundtrack called "The King's Arrival."
3. S01E01 Winterfell showed grass but S08E01 it’s covered in snow.
4. The kid from the beginning was climbing on trees to get a good view, similar to Bran climbing the castle to get a good view. He was made to look similar to Bran in the Pilot.
5. Arya being a kid watching the King coming, compare to her letting a kid get a good view of the Queen coming.
6. S01E01 Jamie is arriving at Winterfell taking off his Golden Lannister Helmet and showing his blond hair, clean shave, and everyone staring at him. S08E01 Jamie arriving in Gray cloaks and taking a hood off to show darker hair and a beard and no one except Bran noticing him.
7. Both episodes ending with Bran and Jamie, except this time Jamie looks terrified.
8. Both episodes have amputated limbs from the white walkers spread out in a gory way to send a message.
9. Scenes in the Winterfell crypt except instead of visiting Lyanna Stark they are seeing Ned Stark.
10. S01E01 Cersi and Catelyn Stark talk about their kids possibly getting married while looking at them from a distance. S08E01 Varys, Tyrion, and Davos talk about Dany and Jon while looking at them from a distance.
11. S08E01 The reunion of Jon and Arya at the Godswood (weirwood tree) is similar to S01E01 Ned and Catelyn at the Godswood.
12. Incest between visiting monarchs and Bran watched both lewd acts. Bran controlled the staring scene from Drogon. Another interpretation is,
13. Dragon and riders can have personality. Drogon’s emotional expression is essentially warning Jon that this is all smoke and mirrors (as Varys noted earlier, nothing lasts). The “real” Daenerys is not the flirty kissy-face girlfriend joking about eloping; Daenerys’s true nature, underneath the playfulness, is reflected in Drogon’s intensity and focus. That’s who she is, and Jon shouldn't forget that.
14. S08E01 brothel scene with Bron is similar to S01E01 Tyrion’s scene and it is both interrupted with someone walking in.
15. S01E01 Catelyn: "Where's Arya?" "Sansa, where's your sister?". Sansa: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ S08E01 Jon: "Where's Arya?" Sansa: "Lurking somewhere."
16. S08E01 Sansa (Current Ruler of Winterfell) saying “Winterfell is yours, Your Grace.” to the arriving monarch (Daenerys Targaryen). S01E01 Ned (Former Ruler of Winterfell) “Guarding the North for you, Your Grace. Winterfell is yours.” to Robert Baratheon.
17. S01E01 Robert Baratheon to Ned "I have a son, you have a daughter, we shall join our houses." S08E01 Arya (Stark) and Gendry (Baratheon).
18. S08E01 Sansa being more than wary of Daenerys, similar to Catelyn in S01E01 was of Cersei. She is exactly like her mother (Catelyn) in the greeting.
19. S01E01 Robert asking Ned to be his Hand of the King in the crypts is similar to Sam in S08E01 telling Jon he is the king in the crypts (Hinting Sam might become Jon's Hand of the King).
20. Sam and Ned both share a few similarities; Sam is the smarter one in their duo, Sam and Ned's fathers/brothers were burned alive by Targaryens.
21. Jon/Robert - great warriors, “brothers” to Sam/Ned, and both seeking for the iron throne but also both doing it for reasons beyond wanting the throne (protecting the realm / saving Lyanna and removing the mad king).
22. S01E01 Ned’s farewell to Jon he says “the next time we see each other, we will talk about your mother. I promise.” In S08E01 Jon is staring at Ned's tomb while Sam tells him about his real parents (Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen).
23. S01E01 Jon is distraught over his identity crisis as a bastard. In S08E01 Jon is distraught over his identity crisis as a king.
24. In S01E01 Cerci tells Jamie to kill Bran. In S08E01 Cersei tells Bron to kill Jamie.
25. In S01E01/S08E01 Arya is jumping into Jon's arms as he lifts her!
26. S01E01 A child is “dead” and crucified to a tree. Child attacks brothers of the nights watch. A brother goes south (then executed by Ned Stark). In S08E01 a child is crucified to a wall. Eddison Tollett (Edd) witnesses, and he goes south to warn others. Side note: Opposite of what brother of the Night's Watch did from S01E01: safe to say he won’t be executed by Lord of Winterfell considering he was one of the reasons the current Lord of Winterfell is alive after himself being executed.
27. S08E01 Daenerys "The North is as beautiful as your brother claimed, as are you." Similar to S01E01 when Cersei said "Hello, little dove." "But you are a beauty".
28. S01E01 The last time Jon and Arya spoke, she was given her sword Needle and jumped up on Jon to hug his neck. S08E01 Arya jumps up to hug his neck, then shows Jon that she still has Needle.
29. If Cersei taught Sansa anything, it's not to blindly trust a beautiful queen coming into Winterfell and promising to protect her and fulfill her wildest dreams.
30. S01E01 The whole family standing in line for the king. S08E01 The remaining Starks and their advisers waiting for the queen and Jon
31. In S01E01 Jon Snow gets a pet Direwolf (Stark), in S08E01 Jon Snow gets a pet Dragon (Targaryen).
32. S01E01 Surprising return of and the existence of dire wolves south of the wall shocking the northerners. In S08E01 The return of and existence of dragons also shocking the northerners.
33. The arrival at Winterfell, the only person that rode in both caravans, was The Hound. In S01E01 the hound wore his trademark dog helm, but in S08E01 he wore nothing. It seems to symbolize his transition away from The Hound and to being himself, Sandor Clegane.
34. In S01E01 Ned kills the deserter and tells Bran "the white walkers been gone for thousands of years." Bran in S08E01 says we don't have time; the white walkers are coming.
35. S01E01 Robert and Ned are standing in front of Lyanna Stark's tomb. In S08E01 Sam and Jon are standing in front of Lyanna Stark’s tomb.
36. S01E01 lady of Winterfell (Catelyn) reading a letter by candlelight. S08E01 The lady of Winterfell (Sansa) reading a letter by candlelight.
37. In S08E01 When Sansa and Tyrion were discussing the wedding at Joffrey. Tyrion said "Last time we spoke was at Joffrey's wedding" "Miserable affair" Sansa said "It had its moments" recalling Joffrey's gruesome death and being satisfied by how it went down. Recalling "fondly" in this instance would be sarcasm. In S01E01, Sansa thinks of Joffrey fondly because she wants to be queen.
38. S01E01 Sandor Clegane comes to Winterfell with the Bastard Joffrey Baratheon. S08E01 Sandor Clegane comes to Winterfell with the Bastard Gendry Baratheon.

Foreshadowing (from different Seasons/Episodes.)

01. S03E05“ “Let’s not go back. Let’s stay here a while longer,” Ygritte tells Jon. “I don’t ever want to leave this cave, Jon Snow.” S08E01 “We could stay a thousand years. No one would find us,” Daenerys says to Jon.
02. Sam is suggesting rebelling against the Targaryen because they burned his father and brother alive. Similar to when Robert's Rebellion, began when Rhaegar Targaryen, allegedly abducted Robert's betrothed, Lyanna Stark.