After this night, Castle Black will stand.
1. Gilly returns to Castle Black.. At first I suspected Ygritte was using Gilly as some kind of assassin or tool in exchange for sparing her and young Sam’s life. I think this was a plot twist missed but it was great to see Sam step up as Gilly’s protector and see their relationship move to the next level in the form of a kiss.
2. The Wildlings overrun the gate.. Is it me, or did the Knight’s Watch seem to have more than 100 men. They held Castle Black with much more strength and determination than I thought possible. There were a few moments where I really thought the Castle would fall.
3. Jon Snow leads the defense at the top of the wall.. Finally there was a spark of respect for Snow from that stupid general. Snow led the defense admirably and even managed to take down a giant in the process, until being called down to the Castle.
4. Hold the inner gate.. A few members of the Knights Watch put up a very brave and firm stand against the giant who breached the outer gate. Although their deaths were off screen, it was a sad but inspiring moment when Snow and Sam found their bodies strewn around the corpse of the giant.
5. We say goodbye.. SPOILERS. We said goodbye this week to several characters, most of them small ones, some of which I don’t even know their names. Their loss however was nonetheless emotional. Pyp’s death was particularly tragic. Martin really knows how to make a battle realistic. In most epics the majority of named characters make it through, however like Pyp many of the Knight’s Watch and Wildlings were sent to their deaths. I was glad to see the cannibalistic leader of the wildlings get hammered by Snow. The greatest loss of the episode would have to be Ygritte, who even more tragically was killed by the little boy, now robbed of his innocence. Saying goodbye to Ygritte was hard, especially when she uttered her trademark phrase; “you know nothing Jon Snow.” Her last words will ring in my ears for a while.
6. A journey North.. Next season we may see Snow and Mance reunited, but I hear rumors over Facebook that the show has caught up to Jon Snow’s POV. I wonder if he’ll be absent from the next season or if the producers will consult with Martin to advance Snow’s story beyond the current coverage in the books. We’ll have to wait until the first trailers in 2015 to find out.
Conclusions.. The Battle of Castle Black is not really over. The Wildling army still lurks beyond the wall, and the Knight’s Watch have lost most of their men. I wish the other powerful Westerosi characters would take matters at the wall more seriously. The Lannisters, Frey’s, Boltons, Vale, or Stannis Baratheon could easily send some kind of help North to fend off Mance, but they don’t. Who care’s anyway, it’s not like the rest of Westeros is depending on Castle Black or anything.
5/5
Watch the trailer for the fourth season finale below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeB1-tdgL80]
-JoelE
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