The battle of the living vs the dead was disappointing. We can all engineer reasons to support why it HAD to be this way in order to simply defend the show, but it really was a disappointment. I say this as an aren't fan of the books AND the series.

What was the point if sending 10000 dothraki, armed with only scythes ( so essentially defenseless against the wights and with no weapon to actually hurt them) into a sea of dead. Only when Mel came along did they even get fire. So what was the point ? Pure and simple suicide.
And the battle itself was a series of major characters hacking at the dead portrayed from side angles.

I can understand the plot. I enjoyed it. But there is no denying that it was poorly written.