GoT S7E6

I’ve had a night to digest yesterday’s episode, plus read some recaps/reviews this morning.  My initial reaction still stands, which is one of mild disappointment.  I should have written down my predictions before the episode started.  For a start, I thought we might lose more members of the Magnificent Seven – rather than just Dennis Pennis – but that is because I didn’t realize that there were additional members on the team with no names and no lines, so just like Star Trek away team extras they were always doomed.  I think it was pretty obvious that Dany was going to save the day – much like Gandalf in Lord of the Rings.  And it was also obvious that one of the dragons was going to die – though the prospect of a very CGI-heavy zombie dragon is an interesting one (does it breathe ice now instead of fire?).  But the whole thing is just too soaked in ridiculousness - the mission was stupid in the first place, the various 2-way conversations in the lead up to the battle were as corny as hell, the Night King was able to take a dragon down just by throwing an icicle javelin – really?!, all sense of time and distance has been totally ignored throughout this season (just how long were they stuck on that island, and don’t the undead army have any kind of projectile weapon?), and how remarkably timely Uncle Benjen’s brief cameo was.  Compared to other battles, this one I was emotionally disconnected to – just mowing down one zombie after another in a very Walking Dead type manner.  And too much fan service – think Tormund and Brienne, Arya and Sansa, and particularly Jon and Dany.  We need the emotional impact of a major character death – it had better come in the season finale.