‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 7, Episode 5 Recap Of ‘Eastwatch’: Lost Characters Reappear As A Truce Is Proposed


After last week’s excitement, Episode 5 of Game of Thrones is more subdued, but that doesn’t mean there are no surprises for the audience. This week, a character that disappeared a long time ago reappears to shake things up.

SPOILER ALERT: This article reveals details about Episode 5 (titled “Eastwatch”) of Season 7 of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Please proceed with caution if you wish to avoid spoilers.

Episode 5 of Game of Thrones opens with Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Bronn (Jerome Flynn). Both are alive but Jaime is tasked with having to tell his sister, Cersei (Lena Headey), about the defeat. Cersei is prepared for this and insists she will use mercenaries if she has to. Jaime doesn’t think this will work against dragons. And, just because news can’t get any worse, Jaime decides now is as good as time as any in Game of Thrones to tell Cersei about who really killed their son, Joffrey (Jack Gleeson). Cersei doesn’t believe him at first, but Jaime has some pretty good reasoning as to why Olenna (Diana Rigg) would be telling the truth.

While all this is going on in Episode 5, Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) is making the remains of the Lannister army bend at the knee. Daenerys’ dragons torch those who don’t — most notably Randyll Tarly (James Faulkner) and his son, Dickon (Tom Hopper), even though Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) argues the Tarly house should not be wiped out in this manner. He and Varys (Conleth Hill) are then left with the difficult task of trying to work out how to make Daenerys listen to reason rather than making herself look more and more like her mad father.

[Image by Helen Sloan/HBO]

In the middle of all this, Jon (Kit Harington) gets to pat one of Daenerys’ dragons and receives a raven from Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) stating that the dead are approaching the Wall. Talk then turns to how to get a truce with Cersei so Daenerys can help Jon fight the white walkers in Season 7 of Game of Thrones. A plan is devised which sees Jon and the returned Jorah (Iain Glen) head off to meet with Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) at Eastwatch about how they can trap a white walker to show Cersei.

Tyrion and Davos (Liam Cunningham) will sneak into King’s Landing in Episode 5 so Tyrion can have a secret meeting with Jaime about how to get Cersei to call a truce. While this is going on, Davos heads into the market and meets up with the one person Game of Thrones fans have been wondering about since he rowed off in a boat back in Season 3: Gendry (Joe Dempsie). Eager to be free of King’s Landing, Gendry is happy to travel back to Dragonstone with Davos and Tyrion. He then agrees to travel with Jon Snow to Eastwatch. And, as Vanity Fair points out, with Gendry being a blacksmith still, it is possible he will be helpful if they try to forge Valyrian steel weapons to use against the white walkers.

After Tyrion, Davos, and Gendry leave, Jaime meets with Cersei and she reveals not only that she knew about Jaime’s meeting with Tyrion but that she is pregnant. Along with asking Jaime to never betray her like that again, she also agrees they should probably play into Daenerys’ hands so that they can work out how to make Daenerys play into their hands in return.

At the citadel in Episode 5 of Game of Thrones Season 7, none of the maesters tell Samwell (John Bradley-West) his family is dead and that he is now head of the Tarly house. This is because they are too busy arguing with him over whether white walkers are real or not thanks to the raven they also received from Bran. Sam gets so annoyed with how slowly things are progressing that he ignores what Gilly (Hannah Murray) is saying about a passage she is reading that reveals Rhaegar had his marriage annulled so he could wed someone else in Dorne. Of course, the audience at this point is yelling at Samwell to listen to Gilly because she just revealed Jon Snow isn’t really a bastard at all. Although, Sam is riled up enough he leaves the Citadel for good, so maybe he and Bran can have a little chat about Jon Snow soon enough.

[Image by Helen Sloan/HBO]

In Winterfell, Arya (Maisie Williams) is questioning Sansa’s (Sophie Turner) motives about Jon. But, more importantly, she is following Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) around. It turns out Littlefinger has discovered something he is trying to keep a secret. Arya is not swayed by his locked door, however, and breaks in to discover a raven note.

But, what does the note say?

As Vanity Fair points out, it is one Sansa wrote back in Season 1 of Game of Thrones. While it turned out to be proven this note was written under duress, Arya, who had just been questioning Sansa’s motives, doesn’t know this. Considering Littlefinger watches Arya leave his room, it seems likely he is trying to cause a rift between the two siblings. Game of Thrones creator, D. B. Weiss explains the scene to Vanity Fair.

“[Arya] gets roped into spying on somebody who is actually leading her by the nose. He’s looking for a way to prevent this sister bond from developing further because the tighter they are the more definitively he is caught on the outside of it.”

“On the Sansa end of the relationship he’s seen the opening and now all he needs to do is give Arya a cause to display real rage towards Sansa. He knows full well that with what’s going on in Sansa’s head with regards to Arya and how dangerous she is, when Arya starts to act dangerous and act angry, he knows where Sansa is going to turn.”

Episode 5 of Game of Thrones Season 7 concludes with Jon, Jorah, and Gendry arriving at Eastwatch. After talking to Tormund, they discover the Hound (Rory McCann) and Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) are being held there. They too want to go north of the Wall. After some discussion about everyone’s motives, they arrive at the conclusion their reasons are all the same anyway, so the group heads through the gate and beyond the Wall.

What did you think of Episode 5 of Game of Thrones Season 7? Let us know your thoughts and theories by commenting below.

Season 7 of HBO’s Game of Thrones will return on Sunday, August 20, with Episode 6.

You can view the trailer for Episode 6 of Game of Thrones Season 7 below.

[Featured Image by Helen Sloan/HBO]

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