This week, I got to watch Avengers: Endgame and GoT’s Episode 4: The Long Night.

Endgame Mind Games

So, everyone’s theory that the surviving heroes will use the quantum realm to time travel proved true. They have their theory pretty much worked out by Professor Hulk, and Stark…until the end when Cap decided to go AWOL and pop back up old and frail. If he popped out of this timeline, how does he get back to it to pass on the mantle of Captain America to Sam Wilson a.k.a. The Falcon?

Banner explained to the Ancient One that while it is true altering a timeline creates a separate timeline, restoring the alteration at exactly the same time should also restore the previously altered timeline. So, what does Roger’s return to this timeline mean?

Best guess is, of course, he goes back and alters a past but knowing about Henry Pym and his Pym Particles, he just might have borrowed some to make a jump to this timeline, at a time he knew Professor Hulk, Bucky and Sam would be. Of course, it would mean that this timeline will be altered but I guess they will just have to live with that. Bucky didn’t seem surprised; so, I’m guessing he knew this would happen.

Remember, this isn’t the only wrinkle in time since there’s a version where Loki gets his hands back on the Tesseract after the War of New York. We might learn more about this and other possible timelines when Disney+ runs their shows on their streaming app.

So, what about the movie itself? Epic. Sure, there were problems here and there like the fat shaming thing with Thor, and why the skies went dark after the aerial bombardment by Thanos, but they did string it along just fine that it didn’t feel like it ran for three hours. That’s how good the storytelling was. Joss Whedon started great and the Russo brothers ended it by kicking it up by leaps and bounds. A perfect ending for a new beginning.

The Night Ends

Teased for seven seasons, the battle between the living and the dead finally happened and, unlike Endgame, this felt like a disappointment.

First of all, you could hardly see anything. I’m sure that went with the feel of the story but it can only go so far.

Second, the battle made no sense at all. You are up against a guy who can raise the dead. Battles result in a lot of death, and they decided to throw everyone out of walls of Winterfell? They had catapults but it was hardly used.

They had cavalry but they just threw them away. I mean it was night and they could hardly see the enemy. The Dothraki are light cavalry, they could have looked for the flanks of the dead, or the front line to feed intel to the catapults and have those bombard the lines with fire. Once softened, the Knights of the Vale can charge in. That’s how it’s usually done but, no, the Dothraki charged with flaming swords and all only to be decimated, and the Knights fought on foot.

The surprise ending was great although one had to wonder how Arya managed to sneak in when the entire courtyard was surrounded by white walkers and wights.

The rest of the episode, however, was just so disappointing. Sure, some great scenes here and there but, overall, it felt rushed. I thought it would take a couple of prolonged episodes to tell the story right but they did it in one and it came up short. Sadly, my dark horse, Theon Greyjoy, did not make it and Cersei was a no-show. I understand this is The Game of Thrones, not a Song of Ice and Fire, and there are only six episodes, so the real end comes when we see who sits on the Iron Throne but still the battle with the Night King was supposed to be a big thing. After seven seasons, I guess it wasn’t. Now, we are just supposed to shrug this off and move on the next battle.

I may be among the minority here but I really did expect more.