Eastwatch focuses on building alliances for the coming war while the Lannister’s grapple with the power of Daenerys’ forces… and dragons. In Game of Thrones‘ fifth episode, Tyrion appears to struggle with Daenerys’ show of force as he tries to find a way more diplomatic path forward. To accomplish this, he hatches a dangerous plan to sway Cersei in joining their cause. Arya is becoming increasingly suspicious of Little Finger while Sansa struggles to keep the nobles sworn to the North allied with her. Meanwhile, Jon Snow makes a couple of new friends at Dragonstone. Eastwatch moves us one step closer to finding out who will be allies and who be enemies as the series begins to come to a close.
Game of Thrones Episode 5 – Eastwatch
Eastwatch opens with Bronn pulling Jamie out of the water after narrowly avoiding Drogon’s fire-breath at the end of the last episode. Jamie says that he could have let him die, but Bronn counters that he doesn’t get to die until the Lannister’s give him what he is owed. They are rattled by the dragon attack and they realize that they don’t stand a chance against Daenerys’ dragons.
At the Reach, Tyrion walks through the ashes clearly feeling uneasy with the carnage and burnt bodies that surround him. He reaches Daenerys as she speaks to the Lannister army to tell them that she is not as Cersei has depicted her. She offers the soldiers another path… they can bend the knee and swear allegiance to her… or they can die. All but a few do, but the Tarly’s are among those that do not. Randyll Tarly stands firm as he refuses and tells Tyrion that he betrayed his family when chose a foreign invader as his Queen. Tyrion tells Daenerys that she should send him to the wall as punishment, but Randyll, sealing his fate, says she is not his Queen and cannot send him to the wall. Dickon Tarly then refuses to bend the knee also in support of his father. Daenerys stands behind her words as she sentences them both to death while Tyrion asks her to have mercy. They are incinerated by Drogon in front of everyone causing every remaining soldier to immediately bend the knee to the Mother of Dragons.
Jamie goes to Cersei at King’s Landing and tells her that they cannot win the war against such a force as they recently faced. She refuses to believe it. He says the Dothraki fight like it is a game for them, but she remains unconvinced. He also tells her that Olenna revealed to him that she was the one that killed Joffrey. Cersei tells him that she wishes she would have died screaming instead of the merciful death that Jamie gave her. Cersei tells him that their choices are now fight and die or submit and die.
When Daenerys arrives by dragonback at Dragonstone, Drogon walks briskly towards Jon. He holds his ground and stretches a hand as Drogon lets Jon touch him. Daenerys tells Jon that the dragons are not beasts to her, they are her children. When asked, Jon tells her that he is uneasy about the number of men she has just killed, but she tells him that his army also killed men when they took back Winterfell, which seems to satisfy him. She asks about Sir Davos saying he was stabbed in the heart at their previous meeting. He tells her it is a figure of speech, but she seems unconvinced. As they talk, Sir Jorah Mormont returns to her, cured of his disease (thanks to Samwell Tarly) and is welcomed back.
Back in Winterfell, Bran is viewing from a raven’s eye as it flies in a flock past the Wall. He sees a huge army of the dead marching south. The Ice King spies the raven he is inhabiting and breaks his spell with only his gaze.
In Old Town, Sam overhears the maesters say a crippled boy saw the dead on the march through a raven’s eyes. They laugh as they clearly do not take the message seriously. Sam speaks up and says it is Brandon Stark that sent the message and that they ought to listen to him. He compels the maesters to use their stature to tell everyone that the dead are on the march to rally the people to fight. The maesters, however, will only agree to write to the maester at Winterfell for clarification as they still do not believe the threat is real.
Back at Dragonstone, Tyrion and Varys are discussing the burning of the Tarly’s. Tyrion reinforces that even though this seems like a cruel action, Daenerys is not as cruel as her father. Varys tells him that he needs to find a way to make her listen to his council. As they speak, a scroll comes for Jon from Winterfell that informs him of Arya and Bran’s return. He thought they were dead.
The scroll also informs him of Bran’s vision of the White Walkers. Jon says he must go home and he asks for Daenerys’ army to go with him. She will not send the army because she knows Cersei will seize the opportunity to attack if her forces leave. Tyrion proposes to bring a single White Walker to King’s Landing to prove their existence, but he must try to speak with Jamie to get his agreement to gain an audience with Cersei. Tyrion recruits Davos to smuggle him into King’s Landing to find Jamie. Sir Jorah volunteers for the mission to capture a White Walker and Jon says he will accompany him on his journey to Eastwatch. Daenerys disagrees with the plan but Jon asks her to trust him as he trusted her.
When Davos and Tyrion arrive on the beach at King’s Landing, Tyrion heads toward Jamie as Davos heads toward Flea Bottom. Jamie and Tyrion’s meeting is very tense as Jamie is still angry with Tyrion for their father’s death. Tyrion defends his actions by explaining to Jamie that his father knew he was innocent and wanted to kill him. They move on to the subject of Daenerys as Tyrion tells Jamie that she will win the war, and Jamie’s face says that he clearly knows it. Jamie says Cersei will never bend the knee… Tyrion says Daenrys has a more important request.
In Flea Bottom, Davos finds Gendry. Davos tells him that bad things are coming as Gendry, unprompted, says he is in and he is coming with him. He brings along a gruesome looking battle hammer since he is not a swordsman. As they return to the boat they arrived on, Davos and Gendry are approached by gold cloaks on the beach. Davos pays them off, but they want to search the boat. He cleverly hides the hammer and they begin to walk off, but Tyrion appears and the gold cloaks turn around. Gendry gruseomely takes them out with the hammer when they start questioning Tyrion.
Jamie interrupts a meeting between Cersei and Qyburn, and tells her that he met with Tyrion. She, of course, already knows about the meeting. He tells her that Daenerys wants to meet with her to discuss an armistice. He tells her that an army of dead men is marching toward the south, and she wants to discuss an alliance in fighting them. Cersei dismisses the threat of the dead, and tells Jamie they have to be clever in fighting Daenerys because she has the numbers. Cersei then informs Jamie that she is pregnant again with another one of his children. They kiss as Cersei warns Jamie to never betray her again.
Back at Dragonstone, Davos brings Gendry to meet Jon Snow, and the two men instantly like each other because of their fathers’ friendship. Gendry says he’s going north to Eastwatch with Jon. Before they set off, Tyrion meets Jorah on the beach as he is getting ready to board the boat. He tells Jorah that he has missed him, and gives him the coin he got from a slaver. He tells him to bring it back from his journey. Jon shows up to board the boat as well and tells Daenerys that he wishes “her fortune in the wars to come” as he boards.
Sam appears to have hit his limit with not being able to access the restricted records. He feels that his tasks are petty and a waste of time. Sam still has the key to the restricted section, and goes back in to steal more records. He stops on his way out and looks at the place as if its the last time. It turns out that it is because his family is awaiting him in a wagon outside. As they leave Old Town he says, “I’m tired of reading about the achievements of better men.”
Back in Winterfell, Arya spies Little Finger give a young girl something in secret. She starts watching his every move, and sees him meet with some of the noble men in private. She overhears one of them tell Little Finger that he found it. The man hands Little Finger a scroll, and he says, “Are you sure this is the only copy in Winterfell?” He then leaves his room and Arya sneaks in. She searches the room and finds the scroll hidden inside the mattress. It says something about stealing the throne. She leaves the room quietly and locks the door, but Little Finger is lingering around the corner and sees her. Arya may not yet be as skilled in deception as Little Finger.
Jon, Jorah, and Gendry arrive at Eastwatch and meet with Tormund to discuss their plan to capture a White Walker. They find that Tormund has captured members of the Brotherhood Without Banners and the Hound. Gendry says they should not trust any of them because they sold him to the Red Witch. After some discussion, Jon decides to free the men to come with them because they are all on the same side as they are all “breathing men”. They head out from Eastwatch beyond the wall in a blizzard as the episode closes.
There are only two episodes left this season. Tell us what you thought of Eastwatch in the comments below!
Featured Photo: Kit Harington (Credit: Courtesy of HBO)
