Let’s get this out of the way right up front: the Second Battle of Winterfell, the titular Battle of the Bastards, does for medieval and fantasy warfare what Steven Spielberg did for World War II cinema in Saving Private Ryan. The intensity of the battle, the intimacy, the choice to stay in narrow focus on Jon Snow in the midst of chaos during an extended long-shot, all worked together to create an experience that had me not only on the edge of my seat, but holding my breath as I watched. But more on that later – let’s begin with beginnings.
The episode opens on Mereen, where the Masters are continuing to bombard the city. It’s daylight – so we know the attack has been ongoing for some time. Dany is giving Tyrion her best not-amused face, …show more content…
This battle does similar things, just as visceral, with the advantage of both having movies like Ryan to refer to, and much improved CGI and years more practical effects experience. We see men with legs chopped off crawling over bodies; men trying to hold their steaming intestines in as they cry for help; men drenched in blood – theirs and others’ – as they struggle to make sense of the chaos all around them. Jon cuts through numerous foes, but always seems surprised by the next Bolton falling upon him. On more than one occasion, he’s saved from imminent death by the fortuitous advent of another battle knocking through him, or an ally taking down an unseen enemy, or another volley of indiscriminate arrows from Ramsay’s archers taking out both friends and foes around them. Jon has never seemed more vulnerable, more mortal than in this moment, despite having actually died in the last season – even there, there was always a sense that he’d somehow overcome even death. Here, there’s a sense that if he goes down, that’s it – it’s final. Of course, this might have something to do with the DNR (Do Not Resuscitate – or Resurrect, as it were) order he gave Melisandre prior to the battle, but the stakes here seem so much more permanent than anything he’s faced
The episode opens on Mereen, where the Masters are continuing to bombard the city. It’s daylight – so we know the attack has been ongoing for some time. Dany is giving Tyrion her best not-amused face, …show more content…
This battle does similar things, just as visceral, with the advantage of both having movies like Ryan to refer to, and much improved CGI and years more practical effects experience. We see men with legs chopped off crawling over bodies; men trying to hold their steaming intestines in as they cry for help; men drenched in blood – theirs and others’ – as they struggle to make sense of the chaos all around them. Jon cuts through numerous foes, but always seems surprised by the next Bolton falling upon him. On more than one occasion, he’s saved from imminent death by the fortuitous advent of another battle knocking through him, or an ally taking down an unseen enemy, or another volley of indiscriminate arrows from Ramsay’s archers taking out both friends and foes around them. Jon has never seemed more vulnerable, more mortal than in this moment, despite having actually died in the last season – even there, there was always a sense that he’d somehow overcome even death. Here, there’s a sense that if he goes down, that’s it – it’s final. Of course, this might have something to do with the DNR (Do Not Resuscitate – or Resurrect, as it were) order he gave Melisandre prior to the battle, but the stakes here seem so much more permanent than anything he’s faced