Its thanks to the cable companies. They compressed the shit out of it. I couldnt tell what was happening half the time and I have a $1300 4K TV that plays beautiful 4K films. HBO should have known by now how bad TV compress everything and told the director to light it better. I feel cheated out of this episode and extremely mad, and Im not the only one.

Look on the bright side- at least we're rid of those tiresome zombies and can get back to the major question, who will gain the iron throne? I would have been happier if they'd skipped the whole white-walkers storyline in the first place.

Here's an article reviewing the ep confirming the poor lighting and also some other things not cool about the ep. I am not slamming the ep or the show but really, the biggest baddest ep as they hyped it and hardly anything can be seen! This was a ball drop on the show runners part or a technique to disguise that they really could not afford to mount such a huge battle in-spite of their ambitions. So bad lighting and a snow storm; the one two obscurity punch!

"...the episode also fails in making any or all of this clear, simple, or even possible to follow. It’s easy enough to piece together the general flow of battle, to tell when Jon and Dany are disoriented in a blizzard blast or Arya is fleeing from wights through the house where she was raised. But figuring out who’s alive, who’s dead, and who’s merely dying, where each of these incidents take place in relation to one another, and the cause and effect of all these grisly events soon becomes an opaque nightmare amid the rapid fire cuts, murky lighting, and array of images bleeding into one another throughout the episode."

https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/04/tv-review-game-of-thrones-season-803/

@Oldnewbie said:

Here's an article reviewing the ep confirming the poor lighting and also some other things not cool about the ep. I am not slamming the ep or the show but really, the biggest baddest ep as they hyped it and hardly anything can be seen! This was a ball drop on the show runners part or a technique to disguise that they really could not afford to mount such a huge battle in-spite of their ambitions. So bad lighting and a snow storm; the one two obscurity punch!

"...the episode also fails in making any or all of this clear, simple, or even possible to follow. It’s easy enough to piece together the general flow of battle, to tell when Jon and Dany are disoriented in a blizzard blast or Arya is fleeing from wights through the house where she was raised. But figuring out who’s alive, who’s dead, and who’s merely dying, where each of these incidents take place in relation to one another, and the cause and effect of all these grisly events soon becomes an opaque nightmare amid the rapid fire cuts, murky lighting, and array of images bleeding into one another throughout the episode."

https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/04/tv-review-game-of-thrones-season-803/

I think that was the real issue. They didnt have the budget to do what they wanted so they tried to cover it up with ash and snow as much as possible and called it 'artistic' touch...yeah a touch that half the people couldnt see!

@Oldnewbie said:

All I feared from the trailer came to pass. I hoped and hoped the trailer was just the trailer and the actual episode would be lit better. Yes, lousy lighting made this episode impossible to enjoy.

If all went into the making of the battle was as the show runners and cast have said then 85.5% of them ran themselves ragged for nothing. That is because a good 85.5% of what went on could not be discerned. After the long "suspense build up" (wasn't that what last week was for??) and the armies charged (after the first wave of "living" were quickly snuffed out) it became impossible to tell the living from the dead. Unlike movies of yore when there was a night battle you could tell the Allies from the Axis soldiers, here they were all shadows. Grant a close up or two showed Jamie, Jon and Dany, etc but really, the battle was one big mess of shadows.

Then to add further obscurity; the show tosses in a SNOW STORM. Thanks guys.

Yes the burning swords helped. Yes the burning moat helped. Yes by the end the glow in the sky from the moat helped illuminate things better but nonetheless most of what was on the screen was shadows on shadows with a flash or two of blades.

Yes yes you need LIGHT to make SHADOWS but lets not nit pick me. The ep was too darn dark. Period.

Shoot the "biggest battle ever on screen" and you shoot it at dawn when most epic battles in history began. No one prior to the modern age fought at night because... it was f**king dark out! Battles during the Civil War, for example, ceased at night and began again the next dawn.

We did see the key deaths, though. Even so, some characters fates remain to be known (especially Sam and his wife; both whom appear to have perished).

Over all a wasted effort. Every bit of this episode could have been shot using models (the moat fire), CGI, with studio shot scenes of the actors faces and all close fighting sequences, and the denouement. Tint it all in darkness and... The same result only no one seeping in the cold, up all night, run ragged, etc.

I give it a 6.0 for bringing the tears at certain points. Still, the best emo moment for me was Dany's dragon cradling her as she wept over the body of Jorah.

OMG I thought it was my TV. The cinematographer should be in a bread line. Who the fuck shoots that and says, "Oh yeah, that looks PERFECT!" . What. An. Asshole.

@OddRob said:

Its thanks to the cable companies. They compressed the shit out of it. I couldnt tell what was happening half the time and I have a $1300 4K TV that plays beautiful 4K films. HBO should have known by now how bad TV compress everything and told the director to light it better. I feel cheated out of this episode and extremely mad, and Im not the only one.

Dude, I get HBOnow and it looks absolutely terrible. I think its because it is not able to handle the traffic. I rarely was able to get 1080p as it barely held on to HD. HBO has had this issue since they started streaming YEARS ago and they still havn't gotten their shit together. Pathetic. I shoulda just added it to my cable package.

@movie_nazi said:

@OddRob said:

Its thanks to the cable companies. They compressed the shit out of it. I couldnt tell what was happening half the time and I have a $1300 4K TV that plays beautiful 4K films. HBO should have known by now how bad TV compress everything and told the director to light it better. I feel cheated out of this episode and extremely mad, and Im not the only one.

Dude, I get HBOnow and it looks absolutely terrible. I think its because it is not able to handle the traffic. I rarely was able to get 1080p as it barely held on to HD. HBO has had this issue since they started streaming YEARS ago and they still havn't gotten their shit together. Pathetic. I shoulda just added it to my cable package.

Really? I know people who have HBO Go or whatever its called and they said it was fine for them.

@OddRob said:

@movie_nazi said:

@OddRob said:

Its thanks to the cable companies. They compressed the shit out of it. I couldnt tell what was happening half the time and I have a $1300 4K TV that plays beautiful 4K films. HBO should have known by now how bad TV compress everything and told the director to light it better. I feel cheated out of this episode and extremely mad, and Im not the only one.

Dude, I get HBOnow and it looks absolutely terrible. I think its because it is not able to handle the traffic. I rarely was able to get 1080p as it barely held on to HD. HBO has had this issue since they started streaming YEARS ago and they still havn't gotten their shit together. Pathetic. I shoulda just added it to my cable package.

Really? I know people who have HBO Go or whatever its called and they said it was fine for them.

Yeah, and even though I have great internet (120 mbps and 30 up) I checked it from my job and I would get like 720p quality. Now, if you wait a few weeks for the hype of the episode to slow down it looks fine.

haha, I thought I was the only one. As I was watching the episode I kept thinking to myself, "is my TV fcked up or is it just really dark? I couldn't tell what was going on half the time either.