Yeah I don’t get the hate on this one either. A lot of characters are gonna bite the dust over the next 2-3 episodes and last night’s episode was basically the culmination of 7 seasons worth of character development for most of the important characters in the show.
I think this episode did a good job of:
Wrapping up the threads of why all the characters in Winterfell are there and what many of them mean to each other. It showed the weight of many of the relationships these characters have formed throughout years of shared traumas.
Showing just how out of place Dany is in the North on multiple levels. Not only is she basically a stranger to many of the characters assembled in Winterfell, she sees firsthand the bonds of love and trust that many of those surrounding her have. She comments that she’s only had 2 people like that in her life as she’s surrounded by reunions of people who love each other and will fight to the death for one another. You really get a sense of her being completely out of her element on two different levels this episode, and it made her reaction to Jon at the end that much more interesting.
Hey I’m a kind of a weirdo nihilist and I don’t want that! Just because I don’t believe in any inherent cosmic meaning or purpose to life doesn’t mean I think every story should be utterly bleak.
I’m sure there’s a gap between our beliefs that can’t exactly be bridged, but I do think you could accept (if not totally understand) that for some people who not believing in an inherent purpose, meaning, or plan to existence actually leads to a deeper value of things like love and hope. If the universe isn’t providing an all encompassing reason for hope or love, it makes the love and hope we find and create on our own that much more special
