Game of Thrones
HBO
Season 7, Episode 5 “Eastwatch”
Spoilers Ahead!
With only a couple of episodes left in the series, ‘Eastwatch’ ramps up the storytelling and assembles a number of key characters in place for the upcoming battles. We’re treated to a fan favorite returning, an amazing team up, surprise reunions and a huge fan theory seemingly confirmed – all in one episode!
After that phenomenal closing scene in ‘The Spoils of War’ with Dany, Drogon and the Dothraki decimating the Lannister/Tarly army, we were all gripped to find out Jamie and Bronn’s fate. Thanks to the series’ break neck pacing, we don’t have to wait too long to discover just what happened! The episode kicks off events with Bronn dragging Jamie out of the river they escaped Drogon in last week. Jamie is clearly pretty shaken up by the whole ordeal and admits there’s just no winning against the dragons. Good luck telling Cersei…
Daenerys addresses the surviving soldiers with a pretty rough ultimatum; bend the knee or die. Lord Randyll Tarly and his son Dickon refuse and are in turn roasted alive by Drogon. Way to go Daenerys, burning alive a father and son in front of everyone, now that doesn’t sound like your crazy father at all does it? “I’m not here to murder – all I want to destroy is the wheel that has rolled over the rich and poor,” really, Daenerys?! Tyrion and Varys sharing a drink following the Tarly bonfire is never a good sign though, are they starting to doubt their allegiances?
Back in Dragonstone and we get the first of the episodes ‘look – Jon is a Targaryen!’ bomb with an amazing moment between Drogon and Jon. Drogon gets face to face with the King in the North, bearing his teeth, yet Jon looks in awe at the dragon and slowly brings his hand up to meet him. Drogon accepts his touch much to the shock of Daenerys – please can we have him ride Rhaegal already?!
Jon receives a raven from Bran warning them that the Night King and the White Walkers march for Eastwatch, bringing about possibly THE most ridiculous and dangerous plan ever formed in the history of Game of Thrones! Jon, Ser Davos and Tyrion believe that if they somehow capture and bring back a wight to show Cersei, they’ll prove that the undead are in fact real and that they should unite to fight against their common enemy. Like Cersei’s not going to see that as a blessing from the seven Gods and let an army of the undead defeat her Northern enemies?! Anyway, Ser Davos agrees to smuggle Tyrion into Kings Landing to meet with his brother, hoping he’ll convince Cersei to a momentary truce…
And because time travel is now a thing in Westeros, Jamie is back in Kings Landing to break the bad news to Cersei, who is again scheming some dastardly plan with Qyburn. “We fight and die or we submit and die – I know my choice,” Cersei retorts, she would genuinely allow Kings Landing to burn to the ground before bending the knee to Daenerys wouldn’t she? Cersei has a bombshell of her own to tell Jamie; she’s pregnant with his child and doesn’t care who knows it’s his. And with that news, any doubt running through Jamie has gone and he’s instantly sucked back into Cersei’s web. You deserve so much better Jamie!
Meanwhile, Ser Davos seeks out everyone’s favorite rower – yes that’s right, Gendry is back! The Barathean bastard now has an amazing warhammer just like his father, and he definitely knows how to use it! In a brilliant scene, Davos is doing what he does best and cons a couple of goldcloaks with a story about how fermented crab is an aphrodisiac until Tyrion appears and Gendry has to put his hammer to good use! Later Gendry also ignores Davos’ instuctions when meeting Jon and instantly tells him of his true parentage, with the two becoming instant best friends discussing their parent’s shared adventures!
Back in the Citadel and we have our second ‘look – Jon is a Targaryen!’ bomb when Gilly casually reads out the fact that the master whose diary she’s reading from actually annulled Rhaeger Targaryean’s marriage AND SAM DOESN’T LISTEN – ARGHHH! So there we have it, the biggest bit of evidence that proves Jon is actually a legitimate Targaryean and therefore has the strongest claim to the throne.
The episode closes at Eastwatch with Jon, Jorah, Tormund and Gendry uniting with the Brotherhood without Banners in the hope of securing and bringing back the wight. It’s great to see Tormund again, he’s definitely one of my favorite characters in the show and it was hilarious how he instantly asked about Brienne! Screw Dany and Jon, Tormund and Brienne are the best couples in Westeros! The Magnificent Seven walk out into the snow, going beyond the wall and cut to black…
Overall, “Eastwatch” is a jam-packed episode with some key reveals, fantastic scenes and amazing character moments. Disappointingly we don’t actually spend that much time at Eastwatch, but I imagine next weeks episode will all but make up for that! Brace yourselves for a bumpy ride though, I’m expecting plenty of nail-biting scenes as well as some key characters deaths – noooo!