Game of Thrones, Eastwatch review: Bombshells, surprise reunions and sisterly strife
With Game of Thrones going full dragon apocalypse in episode four there was an obvious danger episode five would be a damp squib by comparison. However, what the hour lacked in Drogon-fuelled destruction it more than made up for with bombshells, surprise reunions and chilling intimations of sisterly strife.
First the surprises. Cersei is pregnant! By Jaime obviously – though, with the Seven Kingdoms literally burning down around her, you’ll forgive the Queen if she wasn’t in the mood for celebrating. Also registering on the shock scale was the return of Gendry, the sole surviving heir of Robert Baratheon last seen taking the slow boat to wherever it is Game of Thrones loose ends got to die.
Well now he’s back and busy striking up a thigh-slapping bromance with Jon Snow, with whom he shared one of Game of Thrones's all time great meet-cutes. Forget Jon and Daenerys – here was the zinging chemistry we’ve been holding out for all season.
Also setting the figurative air alight was the tension between Arya and Sansa, though this was an entirely negative crackle. Sansa’s competent rule and unwillingness to go around randomly beheading anyone questioning her decisions has earned the suspicion and potential violent enmity of her sister – who threw Sansa the sort of daggers you tend to fling when hastily updating your mental kill list.
Amid the baby announcements and sororal unhappiness, a storyline occasionally reasserted itself too. Jon was putting together a crack team to venture north of the Wall and acquire a living, breathing (i.e. dead, not breathing) Walker, so as to impress upon Cersei the urgency of the zombie threat.
To that extent it was very much a bridging instalment, linking Daenerys’s barnstorming barbecue from with the looming stand against the Night King. However, if the creak of plot levers being not so deftly manoeuvred into place was hard to avoid, there was so much delicious skulduggery that Eastwatch, if not 2017's most epic episode, undoubtedly ranked as one of the more satisfying. Here is the rest of what we learned.
Jaime survived – obviously
The previous episode’s cliff hanger-that-wasn’t saw Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) sinking to his death (not really) after Bronn (Jerome Flynn) rescued him from Drogon’s fire attack. For the benefit of the three people seriously concerned that the Kingslayer had sneered his last, the episode confirmed, with minimum of fuss, that Jaime and his sidekick had indeed paddled to safety. “I have to tell Cersei,” sputtered Jaime a bit redundantly (we assume word of a dragon razing her army has already reached the Queen). Bronn, meanwhile, had an important pronouncement of his own. Tangling with dragons was where his partnership with Jaime ended. Harsh but prudent Bronn – though if you’re done with the Lannisters why the enormous risk of arranging Jaime’s secret and actually rather moving reunion with Tyrion?
Farewell House Tarly – you made the most of your limited screen time.
“I'm not here to murder – all I want to destroy is the wheel that has rolled over the rich and poor,” said Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), having recently murdered the entire Lannister army (confusing). “Refuse and die,” the Mother of Dragons added helpfully, prompting what remained of Cersei’s forces to fall to their knees. Two notable exceptions were Randyll Tarly (stubborn and proud) and his son Dickon (dim and expendable). One temperature-raising puff from Drogon later and they were no longer for this world – elevating the unsuspecting Sam to the position of Lord Tarly. Theirs was a noble exit – but one that also explained why so many key players had mystifyingly survived the earlier battle. They had been saved only so they could roast in slow motion in episode five.
Cersei didn't take defeat terribly well
“We fight and die or we submit and die – I know my choice,” said Cersei (Lena Headey), whose resolve to stand firm on the face of the Targaryen threat was, if anything, reinforced as Jaime debriefed her about Drogon’s destructive capabilities. Last year, Cersei destroyed the Great Sept rather than stand trial – now she confirmed her willingness to allow King’s Landing burn to the ground if it meant not bowing to Daenerys. Oh and did she mention she was pregnant with Jaime’s child? He was understandably overcome. Cersei, too, appeared to be in the grip of powerful emotions as she later countenanced a temporary alliance with the Mother of Dragons – a piece of cunning statecraft that flew in the face of her earlier obstinacy.
Ser Jorah is back in the game
His greyscale cured, Ser Jorah (Iain Glen) was magically transported to Dragonstone where he shared a platonic hug with Daenerys. This earned a jealous glare from Jon – a further clunking reminder that he and Daenerys are potential romantic partners. The alleged chemistry between the King in the North (Kit Harrington) and the Queen of the South has yet to convincingly manifest on screen. Nonetheless, he was visibly displeased at the appearance of a potential rival. Quick – someone put Jon out of his misery and tell him Ser Jorah has been doomed to wander the friendzone for all eternity.
The Maesters are quibbling while Westeros burns (and freezes)
It was possible an army of the dead was marching south towards the Seven Kingdoms, allowed Archmaester Ebrose (Jim Broadbent) upon receipt of Bran’s urgent missive from Winterfell. It was equally plausible, however, that rumours of an undead zombie horde had been fomented by the Dragon Queen. You would imagine the prospect of imminent wight invasion would have woken the Citadel from its academic slumber – but despite Sam’s entreaties, the blundering boffins preferred to prevaricate. Sensibly Sam (John Bradley-West)– still in the dark about his father and brother’s transformation into human fireworks – opted to leave Oldtown. But what about that titbit Gilly (Hannah Murray) stumbled upon regarding Rhaegar Targaryen’s secret marriage (presumably to Jon Snow’s mother Lyanna Stark)? Was this a major plot strand quietly introduced – or an easter egg for us to snack upon and forget about?
Why is anyone still listening to Tyrion?
The Hand of the Queen (Peter Dinklage) hasn’t covered himself in glory, with one cunning plan after another coming unstuck. Undeterred, he had another helpful suggestion: Jon Snow would kidnap a White Walker and present it to Cersei as proof of the threat posed by the Night King (Cersei is famed through the Seven Kingdoms for her rationality and respect for logic). An undead army against a hastily assembled ragtag squad. You’re right Tyrion – what could possibly go wrong?
Arya and Sansa are officially not getting along
Sansa’s softly-softly style of rule clashed with Arya’s kill now, ask questions later (questions optional) stance. Bad enough that Arya (Maisie Williams) accused her sister of lusting for power – but she also took issue with her choice of their father and mother’s chambers as private quarters. Glimmerings of disloyalty towards Jon – and bagsying the best workspace in all of Winterfell. What a monster Sansa (Sophie Turner) had become. By the end of the hour, Arya’s paranoia was out of control as she uncovered the letter Sansa had been forced to write while a prisoner of Cersei, in which she urged the North to bend the knee. The document had been planted by Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen), never more Littlefinger-ish than when driving a wedge between sisters.
Welcome back Gendry (takes a moment to remember who Gendry is)
King Robert Baratheon’s surviving heir (Joe Dempsie) was last seen rowing into obscurity in season three. With time on his hands as Tyrion chinwagged with Jaime, Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham) this week tracked Gendry down in Fleabottom, where he was back grumpily tending his blacksmith’s forge. During his spell away he had acquired an impressive warhammer and was soon trading blokey jibes with Jon Snow as they set off to kidnap a Walker. Jon and Gendry’s banter-filled introduction veered worryingly close to Game of Thrones fan-fiction. However, with the King in the North and Daenerys still failing to click as a potential couple, let us appreciate this true bromance while it lasts.
