Game of Thrones: Hardhome, season 5 episode 8, review: 'a horror masterpiece'

The White Walkers, characters who have been lurking coldly on the fringes of Game of Thrones ever since the first season like an ominous January cloud formation, were this episode's key players in a spine-chilling horror masterpiece. Daringly, they attempted to outdo the entire zombie thriller film movement in one epic 20-minute TV sequence. And they might just have managed it.

This episode’s bloodcurdling final act took its time coming, though, in a season that has tended towards too much talking and not enough action. We sat through more details of Arya’s relatively directionless Braavos internship in the hands of the Many-Faced God, without immediately obvious results, and Daenerys’s long-awaited meeting with Tyrion was more muted than expected.

Cersei's continued incarceration remained a source of delight. Refusing to confess to her many sins, she was now so dehydrated that she was forced to lick water from the stone floor to moisten her tongue. And then there was Theon’s pivotal revelation to Sansa that her youngest brothers are alive after all. Surely now everyone has the information they need to start getting some overdue killings, escapes and hostile takeovers ticked off their to-do lists.

But sneaking in before the traditional penultimate-episode battle slot, in this episode Jon Snow led a Night's Watch crew to gather more wildling support in the fight against the White Walkers, only to be greeted by an undead ambush just as the crows were winning the wildlings’ trust.

Ultimately it was a cross between Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Dawn of the Dead and the battle of Helm’s Deep. The high-adrenaline action sequences were exquisitely handled, and the White Walkers themselves, along with their army of the undead, proved themselves to be terrific, instant classic fantasy horror characters. Much scarier than orcs, certainly. Vampires? Can’t hold a candle to them. The Midwich Cuckoos? A harmless lullaby compared with Game of Thrones’s reanimated corpses of freshly killed children, with eyeballs of blue ice and mouldering ribcages open to the elements, feasting on their own still-living mothers. It was nightmare material of grade A purity.

And as the soaring orchestral score slowed and quietened to a deadly hush, Jon Snow coming inches from death at the terrifying hands of his frosty supernatural enemy, everything focused into almost-silence, before a burst of single combat hastened a heart-quickening ringing in the ears. The only glimmer of hope was Jon's sword, made from Valyrian steel, which can apparently shatter the White Walkers into deafeated fragments.

This was virtuoso work from episode director Miguel Sapochnik, who cut the action off at its climax. We were left with thousands of undead slowly rising to face us, a horde of flesh-eating, ever-multiplying hunter corpses poised in a silent challenge to all of Westerosi humanity. Jon Snow was steeped in sinking dread, adrift and utterly powerless. The Wall isn't going to know what's hit it.

What will Sansa do with the information about her brothers?

We haven’t seen Bran and Rickon Stark in ages (the actors weren’t booked for this season), so it was good for us to be reminded that they’re still alive and presumably important. The knowledge that Sansa has twice as many living siblings as she thought should give her some confidence that the Stark family could rise again in the North. But will the information help her to escape Ramsay Bolton’s abusive clutches? She needs to get out of that cell tower as quickly as possible.

Two terrible children of terrible fathers

Tyrion managed to persuade Daenerys that it would be worth her while for him to stay and advise her, which is just what we all hoped would happen. Even better, the agreement happened over an exclusive drinks party for two in which both royal exiles got the chance to explore their complicated relationships with their fathers, and to serve each other some home truths about politics in Westeros. They need to figure out how to be the right kind of terrible rulers, apparently. No matter how terrible they are, I am keen to see Westeros ruled by this wise-talking, wine-drinking double act.

Cersei’s indignity

It was a pleasure, as ever, to see Cersei rebuked and left to become as bitter and dried-up as a long-forgotten prune at the back of the fridge. The High Sparrow is apparently fully briefed on all of the nasty little crimes she has committed over the years, from incestuous liaisons with her brother to masterminding the murder of King Robert Baratheon. It will be a miracle if she manages to argue her way out of this one, but with Tommen dealing with the situation by sulking in his room, can King's Landing function without her?

How is anyone going to defeat the White Walkers?

So far, the Night’s Watch have only known about the potential of Dragonglass to defeat the White Walkers, but Jon Snow’s sword seemed to be pretty handy in the battle too. It’s made from Valyrian steel, and was given to him by Jeor Mormont. Great news, except that the secrets to forging Valerian steel have been lost to time, and there are only a few swords made with it left in existence. Brienne also has one, as does King Tommen. Time to gather them up?