This episode won't age well. It was a visual spectacle and advanced the necessary plot points, but it was a massive departure from previous GoT episodes.
Here's just one detail among the multitude, some which have been mentioned already.
Let's look at some major character death scenes and see if you can spot the difference between them and the ones from Ep 3:
Deaths before S8:
- Jon Snow: in a surprise twist, murdered by his friends. Dies silently while his blood darkens the snow.
- Oberyn Martell: In a surprise twist, murdered by a nearly defeated Mountain. Dies screaming.
- Rickon Stark: In an mild twist, murdered by Ramsay Bolton. Dies gasping and clutching for air while Jon Snow watches just a few feet away.
- Ygritte: In a twist, killed by Olly in battle. Dies in Jon Snow's arms.
- Robb/Talisa/Catelyn: In a huge twist, murdered by the Freys at the Red Wedding. All die horrible deaths.
- Ned Stark: In a huge twist (the first of many), sentenced to death by King Joffery. Dies worried about his kids.
- Shireen: In a twist, burned to death by her parents. Dies screaming.
- Littlefinger: In a twist, sentenced to death by the Starks. Dies choking after Arya cuts his throat.
- Hodor: In a huge twist, killed by wights while holding a door to let Bran escape. Dies a horrible death as he's torn slowly to pieces.
- And so many more. Tommen, Myrcella, Renly, Balon, Ramsay, Roose. You get the point.
Now let's look at S8 deaths:
Ep 1
- Lord Ned Umber: In a twist, murdered and turned into a wight by the Night King. Dies screaming when Beric burns him back to death.
Ep 3
- Edd: Killed in battle by a wight while heroically saving Sam.
- Beric: Killed in battle by wights while heroically saving Arya.
- Lyanna Mormont: Killed in battle by a wight giant after heroically stabbing it in the eye with a dragonglass blade.
- Jorah Mormont: Killed in battle by wights after heroically saving Daenerys.
- Theon: Killed by the Night King after heroically defending Bran. (edited to add him. Guess I forgot this one already)
It's clear. This isn't the GoT that existed for the first 7 seasons. The first three episodes of season 8 have completely subverted everything the previous seasons have established.
The overarching menace of the Night King, which Jon Snow harped on about for years, was defeated in a single night. Instead of tragic awful deaths we get glorious hero deaths. Wars are no longer simply miserable endeavors full of unintended consequences and multitudes suffering for the selfish desires of a few. Now they're heroic and virtuous. And to top it off, Cersei was right all along and now she has the larger army after Dany and the Northerners did the dirty work for her.
This episode was just a traditional tv battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil. The only thing surprising about it was how quickly the evil was defeated.