[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Mike F

Yes, yes it was! And that was because they took the time to set the stage, raise the stakes, and ramp up the tension so that the outcome was exhilarating and had an emotional punch. You had conversations between Sansa and Jon that warned of Jon's underdog status and Ramsay's scheming, the battle had a great, slow introductory staging, with the armies facing off and Ramsey goading Jon into rashness with Rickon, the battle itself was shot and staged magnificently, with the heroes taken to the brink of defeat, individually and collectively, before they're pulled from the coals by Littlefinger, and a thoroughly satisfying ending, with Jon, Wun Wun, and Tormund storming the castle, and Jon beating down Ramsay.

It had everything the battles in the last two episodes have lacked: context, great character moments, strategy, and coherent arcs to the fight that raised tension and allowed the outcome to be emotionally satisfying.

The same things were present (if to a slightly lesser extent) in the Battle of Blackwater, and it similarly had a very satisfying feel to the conclusion.

Now I acknowledge that you can't make every battle a Battle of the Bastards, but this show deserved for them to take the time to add some of these elements to the battles going on so that there was some degree of strategy, tension, and emotional kick to them.

I think the problem is, you want every minor skirmish or plot-advancing battle to have weight, but frankly, any full-fledged battles remaining aren't going to be just little segueways into the next part of the episode, but will be full-on conclusions that will have 7 seasons of build-up.