Enjoyment of this episode is likely going to depend greatly on one’s interest in the events at Castle Black.  Jon Snow is at the center of that drama, and one could argue that until this season, he was a bit bland and unworthy of the attention spent on him.  On the other hand, that would ignore the notion that he was meant to be that unassuming and formless; it would be his experiences that would shape him into the man he becomes.

 

It’s easy enough to step back and say that this episode didn’t really mean much in the end.  This was one night of survival, and the odds are no better at the end of this night than they were before it began.  If anything, they are worse, because one band of wildlings almost took Castle Black on their own, and Mance lost what amounts to maybe 100 of his 100,000 strong.  It was less about massive shifts in fortune than a demonstration of character.

 

It’s also something that a lot of viewers may not fully appreciate: the culmination of four seasons of setup.  One might strain to recall that it was the mystery of where the usual wildling villagers had gone that prompted the action at Castle Black in the first season.  Not only is this paying off roughly 38 episodes of plotting, but it’s still just the beginning of that process.  Not a lot of shows, regardless of how serialized, manage that sort of feat.  (I think regular readers/listeners can guess which show I would invoke here.)

 

This is essentially the Battle of Helm’s Deep on a television budget: the night of reckoning and the recognition that some must be sacrificed if all are to be saved.  Barring the sudden arrival of Gandalf and the Rohirrim (and astute, observant viewers might have already guessed where this is going), Jon’s decision to face down Mance on his own, in the hopes of killing the lynchpin of the uprising, is a last-ditch effort that speaks of the desperation of the Night’s Watch.

 

I might have agreed with the criticisms about the lone focus on one big fight scene if it hadn’t been for two other factors: Sam/Gilly and Jon/Ygritte.  Sam/Gilly is moving things forward on that front a bit more quickly than in the source material, but that seems perfectly fine to me; the choice is somewhat made by necessity, like many of the other subplots that have been re-engineered to fit the adaptation medium better.  It also does much to repair some of the weirdness of the Sam/Gilly relationship, which worked well enough on paper, but was awkward on-screen.

 

But that’s nothing compared to the tragedy of Jon and Ygritte.  I’ll be honest; this was a development that hit like a punch to the gut when I read it in the books, and I was dreading the culmination of the plot thread in this episode.  I thought it was well done, at least in terms of Ygritte’s hesitation, and Jon’s sincere grief at her passing.  It encapsulated the tragedy of their romance, though I quibble at how the exact circumstances of her death deviated from the source material.

 

What may not be apparent to many viewers is how much set-up for future events is hidden in the episode.  Those who survive will have to account for their choices, and that is going to lead to uncomfortable circumstances.  What should be apparent, however, is that the survivors are going to have to look at Jon very differently now.  He tried to warn them about the giants, about the sheer size of the wildling army, and the weakness of the gate.  All were factors in this first night of the Wall’s defense.  In fact, one could argue that if Jon’s gambit doesn’t work, the gate is even more of a weakness than before, since the Inner Gate is all but gone.

 

 

One of the highlights was the method of defense.  The Wall itself is the best weapon they have; it’s really a matter of defending the gates and killing anyone who tries to climb their way up.  If the gate wasn’t a weak point, and there wasn’t a band of wildlings already behind the Wall ready to ambush the defenders, there’s not a lot that those 100,000 wildlings could really do.  It’s true enough that I was once again struck by the illogical choice to attack Castle Black in the first place!  Why not one of the other castles along the Wall, where the defenses are practically non-existent?  Of course, there are reasons, but I’m not sure they were given in the series.

 

With the entire episode taking place in one location and focusing necessarily on action and key character dynamics, there’s not a lot more to say.  It presents an interesting deviation for the fourth season: if this is how the infamous “episode 9” played out, what about all those other major plot threads that still need to come to a head?  This season, the finale might end up being the biggest episode of them all, instead of a forward-looking denouement.