Hot Off The Press - Game of Thrones season 4 episode 9 'The Watchers on the Wall'

Now this is a weird place to start. Not at the start of a series, not even at the start of a season but now with only one more episode left to go, here are my spoiler filled thoughts on episode nine of Game of Thrones.

By the way, if you haven't started watching, you really should as you're missing out! So in short, you should check this out.

While the penultimate episode is an odd place to start, no one quite does it like Game of Thrones. First we see Ned loose his head, the battle of Blackwater Bay, the Red Wedding and now we have the siege of Castle Black. On one side are wildlings, Ygritte and Tormund with their team, alongside the grisly Thenns, lead by Styr. (Yes, writing their names, via assistance from Google, isn't ideal) And on the northern side of the wall, we have Mance's huge army lead by two giants and a mammoth. Caught in the middle are Jon Snow and his fellow Brothers of the Nightswatch in this thrilling episode.

Where previous seasons have had several stories in their penultimate episode, the creators are smart and devote an entire hour to a single story. Admittedly we've seen many action epics on the big screen that involve sieges where heroes must fend off great numbers of enemies, but sometimes we feel nothing and it can become mundane. Yet within the space of an hour and with the budget a fraction of a hollywood film, 'The Watchers on the Wall' never wastes a second and keeps the action fresh, which is far from easy considering the shock and awe felt by viewers after last week's duel.

Now this is a spoiler filled article but before I get there, this has to be one of the most visually impressive episodes so far. Everything from the visual effects, the direction, the fight choreography, the use of a single take to capture the chaos, is all topnotch. Kit Harrington and the rest of the cast all deliver great performances and help ground the audience into the situation surrounding Castle Black.

Being a Game of Thrones fan, and following last weeks surprising death, we viewers have become used to witnessing our favourite characters die, and it was inevitable as giants start charging through the tunnel that we would loose a few more. Grenn and Pypar were the two Brothers who departed and despite only being minor characters in a far bigger picture, their deaths still carried weight having been with Jon since the start. Yet it was Ygritte who took an arrow in the back while aiming at Jon that came as the biggest surprise. Her brief relationship with Jon presented a different side to him, and having just put a hammer through Styr's head, the two shared a moment amidst the chaos before it was taken away. That said, for all its effort, Jon and Ygritte had not been on the screen together for nearly a year, and as a result, her death didn't quite carry the desired impact others had managed to bring.

By the end, the wildlings are dead, with Tormund now held captive, but Mance's army still outnumbers the Nightswatch. Moving away from the cold snowy North, Tyrion is to now be sentenced to death in the season final. With his champion's corpse still warm, things have never looked worse as Tywin gave the sentence. Where I found episode ten of season three to be a little disappointing, almost readjusting following the massacre and setting up for season four, next week is loaded with potential as we head back to the hot and sweaty King's Landing. Now, with the intention of killing Mance alone and scattering the armies he has brought together against Castle Black, it will be interesting to see what happens next for Jon, and if he'll ever find out what happened to his uncle?