The gate sort of seemed to go right through the middle of the settlement, so maybe they were hedging. If there was an attack by see, they could all go mountain side (assuming the gate could also be barred on that side somehow) and if trouble came over the mountains, they at least hoped to use it to stall for a while to retreat to the sea.

Finally. Hopefully the last two eps are as good.

Yeah I don't know that they were her kids for sure, but there appeared to be a pair of girls that seemed about the size of her daughters. There were numerous wildlings trying to pile on to the boats (she even clubs one of them) so my theory was that her kids' boat got overloaded and tipped, they waded back to shore, and got zombified. I can't see her just giving up and laying down to be killed if it is just random kids turned to zombies and hers are still alive out there.

But nobody got zombified until the Night's King did that rise up thing with his arms, right?

Is Jorah maybe replacing Quentyn Martell to some degree?

Do we know the process of going from Wight to White Walker? The king picks those he feels are worthy?

I just think his grayscale will replace the Pale Mare as the horrible disease outside the city, hence his awkward story at this point

I don't think there is (yet) any reason to believe people can even become White Walkers. Dead people just become wights. White Walkers could just be their own species.

If there is some way to become one it probably involves some long and complicated ritual.

We've already seen one of Craster's sons get turned into a White Walker earlier in the series.

I thought he turned that baby into one last season when he touched it on the cheek?

I thought it was implied the baby who got his eyes turned blue was going to become a white walker.

I guess the Wildings though the mountains would be a natural defense, but then Edd and Jon saw the second wave of wights just run over the cliff. That was probably what happened behind the fence that we couldn't see, causing what looked and sounded like an avalanche.

Might actually be useless - perhaps you just have to touch it with dragonglass or valyrian steel.

Also, those were just kids, not that woman's children. She was just shocked at zombie kids, not that they were her own.

Longclaw didn't disintegrate the wights though, only the white walkers. Not sure about dragon glass, but maybe the same? it looks like it would be somewhat fragile if used for anything other than stabbing a white walker in the throat.

Haha, I'm the opposite of you guys. I thought the episode was great except for the Hardhome stuff. Thought that was a confusing mess.

Dany meets tyrion + 2m witty banter = they're best friends gets an A+?

There is no depth to the show. There are some good scenes (drogons return should be sick) but on a scene by scene basis the show is so much worse and especially cheesier than anything from s1 or 2.

I can't wait for Dany to fly away on Dracarys

the dragon's actual name is Daenerys

You mean Khaleesi?

Definitely think this is the case. They didn't kill him they turned a living baby into a Walker. The baby would have little to no value as a wight..

I enjoyed Arya in Braavos. Glad she finally got out to wander the area.

Agreed. Think the scenes from this episode only remind fans of great scenes from s1 s2..

Agreed. Think the scenes from this episode only remind fans of great scenes from s1 s2..

I think they could have worked a little more on the dialogue.. Imo what makes got great is the dialogue/ scheming/ anticipation.. Not action scenes

Still one of the best episodes this season (doesn't say much)

- Tyrion and Dany: this is one improvement over the book thus far--getting Tyrion to Daenerys might make her character a bit less insufferable going forward. I have tried to like Daenerys (on my first read, she was in my top 3 characters), but I just can't do it. A few commenters were claiming this was the best set of exchanges since Tywin/Arya, but that's a bit far IMO. Arya is already 50x more astute that Dany, and she is supposed to be a good 6+ years younger. And maybe it's the writing, but Maisie Williams is way more elite than Emilia Clarke. "I'm not going to stop the wheel. I'm going to break the wheel." Finally, I have proof! Daenerys is Shai'tan!

- Jorah: "just one more fight, and THEN she'll like me! And if that doesn't work, I'll just hold a boombox over my head outside her window!" ... it's getting sad, bro.

- Arya: whew, we've moved up from body-rinsing to... oyster selling! Wow, compelling TV! This is topped only by hearing Jaqen explain the elaborate life insurance-assassination plots that are apparently a thing in Braavos. Is the Iron Bank underwriting these? I want to hear about their mortgage securities schemes! Meryn Trant is still missing in action, but my guess is Arya will go off mission to cross a name off her list and end up being chastised by Jaqen... possibly in a manner relating to one of her senses.

- Olly: bro, we get it. But either sack up and stab Jon in the face or turn into Batman already. We're ****ing tired of hearing about your dead parents. Sam, would it have been so much to ask to pull out a Tywin-esque line like "you don't need to make formal alliances with people you trust."

- Cersei: hanging out in jail, giving lip to that nun everyone in Catholic school probably had as a 3rd grade teacher. Drinking some puddle water, trying to bribe Sister Ratchet, getting updates from Maester Mengele... if we could get to the point sometime soon, that would be nice.

- Jon and Tormund: OK, time out. No snide remarks here. Holy ****, this scene might hand single-handedly saved the season. RIP Rattleshirt/Lord of Bones, lol. Tormund, nothing but heart emoticon here. I was really excited to see another potentially badass wildling lady-warrior (who apparently was named Karsi in the GOT wiki... not sure if we actually heard her name or not)... guess that's not happening. Wun Wun smashing wights: awesome. Learning that Valyrian Steel does in fact = Dragonsteel is an interesting reveal. Along with the Night's King--assuming that is not just a new twist from the showrunners--is one of the few book "spoilers" the show has actually introduced vis-a-vis the books (I think the show has also all-but-confirmed R+L=J, but that's a discussion for another time). As I've mentioned to a few other posters, why do the White Walkers look so different now? In early seasons, they looked like shirtless old men. Now they have armor and look a good deal younger. Is this just special effects adjustments, or is there an actual correlation with the climate, with the White Walkers actually gaining strength and vitality as Winter Actually Shows Up? I am intrigued, and this fight scene beat the **** out of the laughable Xena-esque fight scenes in Dorne earlier in the season. That last scene? Chills. Winter is Here, mother****ers. And I love it.

The episode as a whole was... OK. But the Hardhome bits were the best of the season, maybe in several seasons. This is why I got into A Song of Ice and Fire in the first place, and I hope we will be seeing more of this soon.

Thought Emilia Clark acted well in her two scenes with Tyrion. Maybe she's actually a decent actress when not given the worst writing of the show to deal with all the time?

Anyways, that was FUN. I keep picturing the night king raising his hands/the dead and getting all hyped up I have to get up from my desk and walk around.

I didn't even find the dialogue to be that witty. I bet GRRM really goes to work on this scene and when we read the books we'll realize how this scene hardly scratched the surface of its real potential.

Also after watching the scene I'm at a loss as to why Barristan was killed. Seems like she's pretty well informed about Varys. Really hope something happens later which explains why Barristan had to die, he's such a great character and his death was so ridiculous.