Season 6 Episode 9 Battle of the Bastards Rating 7/10 SPOILER ALERT!!! It is a good episode, when it comes to the direction and cinematography. The CGI was brilliant and the scenes looked real. And finally Ramsay dies a well deserved death. But I am giving it a rating of only 8/10 cause of the following things
1) Daenerys - Taking her own sweet time
As soon as the battle of the masters start on Mereen, she reaches on the pyramid with her dragon. She waits and discusses things with Tyrion and then goes out to meet the masters and takes her own sweet time to deliver a punch dialogues and then flies off to save the city. If she was as caring as she shows she is she could have done all this without waiting.
2) The Unsullied - Useless in battle
When Daenerys tries to get the unsullied from Astapor, the master says there are 8,000 unsullied men. If at present there are at least a half of them present at Mereen, that is 4,000, should they all be huddled up in the pyramid or helping the civilians on the streets? They were getting slaughtered by the enemy ground forces with no defense and there were only about 20-30 of the enemies in that particular scene.
3) The Dragons - No one tries to attack with any real effort
Granted, seeing 3 dragons burning up a ship can be pretty scary, that doesn't mean you shouldn't attack them. There are about 50 ships shown in the scenes and not one even tried to actively attack them? In S05E09 it is shown that the dragon gets affected by spears. So the ships could have tried to attack cause they don't know that Daenerys only plans to attack one ship.
4) Jon Snow - Trenches
In the war council scene, Jon Snow says he'll dig trenches along the flanks to prevent a double envelopment though nothing can be seen in any of the battle scenes.
4) Jon Snow - The not so brilliant tactician
Face it, this battle was not won through any stroke of brilliance by Jon Snow. When he said he had fought against greater odds we all felt there will be some awesome strategy coming up but nothing was there. He wanted Ramsay to come at him at full tilt instead of that he went alone taking his army with him to their deaths.
5) Jon Snow - Incredibly lucky
It is definitely a miracle he survived. He didn't have a shield and wore just a flimsy Armour and somehow he miraculously survived hoards of arrows with no difficulty apparently. Especially the scene in which he alone is there charging with a horse.
6) Ramsay - Not killing Jon Snow
Why did he let his cavalry charge when Jon Snow was alone after his horse died? He could have finished him off then with arrows and be done with it.
7) The Battle - Unrealistic
The bodies piling one by one to form small hills and act as a barricade for Snow's army was a bit too much.
8) The Battle - Numbers don't add up
Before the battle Ramsay says that he has 6,000 men and Jon Snow has less than half of that. According to that, in the trap with the circle the remaining soldiers of Snow's army must be much less in number than Bolton's but it doesn't seem so.
9) The Battle - Bolton's archers suddenly disappear
There were a whole lot of archers in the previous scenes, but during and after the trap, Bolton is accompanied only by 2 or 3 other men. Doesn't seem right does it? It's the cavalry that charges for the trap mainly, not the archers.
10) Sansa - Showing unnecessary thug life
She could have discussed with Jon Snow that she can bring another army into the picture, not just wait till Snow's army gets almost fully killed and then enter in style. Was all of this worth it for a smirk in the end?
So considering all of this, this is definitely not even one of the best battles I have seen and not worth a rating of 10/10
1) Daenerys - Taking her own sweet time
As soon as the battle of the masters start on Mereen, she reaches on the pyramid with her dragon. She waits and discusses things with Tyrion and then goes out to meet the masters and takes her own sweet time to deliver a punch dialogues and then flies off to save the city. If she was as caring as she shows she is she could have done all this without waiting.
2) The Unsullied - Useless in battle
When Daenerys tries to get the unsullied from Astapor, the master says there are 8,000 unsullied men. If at present there are at least a half of them present at Mereen, that is 4,000, should they all be huddled up in the pyramid or helping the civilians on the streets? They were getting slaughtered by the enemy ground forces with no defense and there were only about 20-30 of the enemies in that particular scene.
3) The Dragons - No one tries to attack with any real effort
Granted, seeing 3 dragons burning up a ship can be pretty scary, that doesn't mean you shouldn't attack them. There are about 50 ships shown in the scenes and not one even tried to actively attack them? In S05E09 it is shown that the dragon gets affected by spears. So the ships could have tried to attack cause they don't know that Daenerys only plans to attack one ship.
4) Jon Snow - Trenches
In the war council scene, Jon Snow says he'll dig trenches along the flanks to prevent a double envelopment though nothing can be seen in any of the battle scenes.
4) Jon Snow - The not so brilliant tactician
Face it, this battle was not won through any stroke of brilliance by Jon Snow. When he said he had fought against greater odds we all felt there will be some awesome strategy coming up but nothing was there. He wanted Ramsay to come at him at full tilt instead of that he went alone taking his army with him to their deaths.
5) Jon Snow - Incredibly lucky
It is definitely a miracle he survived. He didn't have a shield and wore just a flimsy Armour and somehow he miraculously survived hoards of arrows with no difficulty apparently. Especially the scene in which he alone is there charging with a horse.
6) Ramsay - Not killing Jon Snow
Why did he let his cavalry charge when Jon Snow was alone after his horse died? He could have finished him off then with arrows and be done with it.
7) The Battle - Unrealistic
The bodies piling one by one to form small hills and act as a barricade for Snow's army was a bit too much.
8) The Battle - Numbers don't add up
Before the battle Ramsay says that he has 6,000 men and Jon Snow has less than half of that. According to that, in the trap with the circle the remaining soldiers of Snow's army must be much less in number than Bolton's but it doesn't seem so.
9) The Battle - Bolton's archers suddenly disappear
There were a whole lot of archers in the previous scenes, but during and after the trap, Bolton is accompanied only by 2 or 3 other men. Doesn't seem right does it? It's the cavalry that charges for the trap mainly, not the archers.
10) Sansa - Showing unnecessary thug life
She could have discussed with Jon Snow that she can bring another army into the picture, not just wait till Snow's army gets almost fully killed and then enter in style. Was all of this worth it for a smirk in the end?
So considering all of this, this is definitely not even one of the best battles I have seen and not worth a rating of 10/10