‘Game Of Thrones’ Trolled Everyone Who Thought ‘The Long Night’ Was Too Dark

Revealing Kit Harrington and Emilia Clarke’s reactions to that series finale scene, and precisely how Arya Stark managed to kill the Night King, weren’t the only big takeaways from Sunday’s Game of Thrones documentary “The Last Watch.” The two-hour-long feature about the popular HBO program’s final season also included a blink-and-you-wouldn’t-hear-it bit of trolling in regards to the cinematography on “The Long Night,” the mid-season episode that many viewers complained was too dark.

As noted by The Ringer and a few gleeful commenters on Reddit, a sequence of shots from the filming of the Battle for Winterfell included a rather interesting musical selection: the late Leonard Cohen’s “You Want It Darker,” the title track from his 2016 album. Specifically, the sequence only uses a few brief musical flashes from the tune, as well as the opening line from the chorus — “Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name” — but it was more than enough for a few viewers to know precisely what the Thrones team was up to.

https://twitter.com/just_joeeee/status/1132980137627197441

The week after “The Long Night” first aired, fans and critics alike voiced their issues with the episode’s darker-than-normal lighting. Even so, Thrones and HBO stood by the episode. Cinematographer Fabian Wagner even weighed in on the controversy — to TMZ, no less — with a brief response that many interpreted as condescending. “We tried to give the viewers and fans a cool episode to watch,” he said at the time. “I know it wasn’t too dark because I shot it.”

(Via The Ringer)