Game of Thrones season seven recap: Episode five, 'Eastwatch'

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Game Of Thrones season seven, episode five.

We have to admit that after last week’s incredibly dramatic episode of Game Of Thrones, we did wonder if episode five would fall a bit flat – after all, how could it live up to those epic dragon scenes?

Why, with the return of major characters, huge plot revelations, and a fairly big dose of sibling rivalry of course.

Yes, it has been another dramatic week in Westeros, with Jaime and Bronn being alive and well following last week’s major cliffhanger, Gendry returning, and Littlefinger and Arya playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse… but let’s start at the beginning.

First of all, Jaime and Bronn managed to survive last week’s battle relatively unscathed, with the duo somehow avoiding both death and being taken as Daenerys’ prisoners by simply returning home to King’s Landing, where Jaime had to tell his sister/ lover Cersei that Tyrion did not kill their beloved son Joffrey, and that they have no chance in hell of winning the war against three dragons.

In return, she told him that she is pregnant and willing to go public with their incestuous relationship, how’s that for a bombshell, eh?

Meanwhile, Dany killed off Samwell Tarly’s brother and father as they refused to bend the knee to their new Queen – meaning that Sam is the new head of the Tarly household, although we doubt that he will find this out for a while as he abandoned the Citadel before the information could reach him.

Although Dany is winning the war, with her army growing by the moment following her huge Tyrell loss, more worrying comparisons to her father – the Mad King – are being made by all around her, including her hand, Tyrion.

The wise character is showing growing concern for her ruthless and reckless antics, with Varys admitting that he used to justify carrying out the Mad King’s disturbing orders because they weren’t his decision to make – is Dany set for a huge downfall just like her father?

In spite of striking fear in the hearts of her aides, Daenerys is having a pretty good time of it following her Lannister victory – with Jorah returning to his Queen after his stint at the Citadel and, showing Jon Snow how it is done, bending his knee immediately.

As well as making his way out of the Citadel, Jorah also looks like he might just be edging his way out of the friendzone, with Daenerys certainly showing more love, warmth and affection for her friend this time around – although there also appears to be growing sexual chemistry between the Mother of Dragons and Jon, which is worrying considering we all know that they are not-so-secretly related.

More incest? Exactly what this show needs.

In fact, Jon’s parentage played a subtle role in this week’s episode, with Drogon the dragon’s acceptance of the King of the North appearing to hint at his Targaryen heritage.

Furthermore, Gilly was seemingly on the brink of dropping a huge bombshell about Jon when reading through the records at the Citadel, revealing to an uninterested Sam that Rhaegar Targaryen’s marriage to Elia Martell was annulled so that he could secretly marry another (Lyanna Stark, Jon’s mother?), however, as a mere character in the show and not a theory-obsessed Game Of Thrones’ fan, Sam didn’t realise the importance of this revelation – meaning that we didn’t get to hear the end of it.

If it was in fact Lyanna who Rhaegar secretly married, this would mean that Jon is not a bastard child after all, instead, he’d be their legitimate heir and could actually surpass Daenerys as the true successor to the Iron Throne, which we’re willing to bet she wouldn’t be too happy to know about.

Elsewhere, tension is bubbling between Arya and Sansa Stark, with Arya assuming that her big sister is en route to betraying Jon in a bid to become Queen of the North as her popularity continues to grow.

To add fuel to the fire is, of course, Littlefinger, who is craftily leading Arya in a game of cat and mouse, whilst Arya is assuming that she is the one who has the upper hand.

If there is one person in Westeros who is sneakier than the youngest Stark girl it is Littlefinger, with the meddling character being shown to purposefully lead Arya to a note that Sansa wrote to her brother Robb under the pressure of the Lannisters way back in season one.

Casting our minds back, Sansa was forced to declare her love for Joffrey, call her father a traitor and invite her brother to come and bend his knee so that the Starks and Lannisters could work together, with Robb more than aware that his sister was only writing the note in order to gain the good favour of Cersei and the rest of the Lannister clan.

Littlefinger was there at the time that the note was written and signed, so he also knows that Sansa did not mean a word that she said, however, it’s safe to assume that Arya will believe what Sansa wrote all those years ago, and with things already incredibly frosty between the pair we reckon this will not end well – driving the sisters even further apart and playing directly into controlling Littlefinger’s hands.

Over at King’s Landing, fans of the show were in for a massive treat as Gendry finally returned to the scene, with the much-loved bastard son of Robert Baratheon last being seen at the end of season three.

Ser Davos sent the blacksmith to King’s Landing in a row boat after Melisandre revealed her plans to kill him in a sacrifice, with Gendry being ordered to keep a low profile once he arrived in King’s Landing as Robert’s bastard children aren’t exactly welcome considering they could attempt to claim the throne.

Gendry’s absence since season three has been a running joke among Game Of Thrones’ fans, with many joking that he has been rowing for four seasons considering we never actually saw him arrive at a destination, and Davos’ quip that he thought Gendry “might still be rowing” upon their reunion was a nice yet subtle nod to viewers.

Gendry was more than willing to pack in his job of making weapons for the Lannisters who killed his father, and tried to kill him, and leave King’s Landing with Davos and Tyrion, immediately proving his worth by killing off the guards as they cornered Tyrion following his daring dash to meet with Jaime in the castle’s dungeons – courtsey of matchmaker Bronn.

Later in the episode, Gendry’s first meeting with Jon went well, with Gendry foregoing Davos’ advice to keep his heritage a secret and instead blurting out his entire life history – much to Jon’s delight.

The two men appeared to bond over the fact that they are both royal bastards, and Gendry’s willingness to join Jon, Jorah and co. in their fight against the White Walkers was obviously always going to be appreciated.

Which brings us to the final big plot point of this week’s episode; the White Walkers are getting closer and all breathing characters are being forced to band together in a bid to take them down – and that includes the Lannisters.

Tyrion seemingly managed to get Jaime on board with his suggestion that Cersei meets Daenerys, with them all planning to present the bloodthirsty Queen with a White Walker upon their meeting.

Jon’s desperation to defeat the zombies also saw him invite the brotherhood to join him as they went beyond the wall, with the episode coming to a dramatic end as the mismatched band of misfits prepared to set off and catch a White Walker.

Other notable events from tonight’s episode:

• Daenerys proved that she doesn’t miss a trick, asking Jon about Davos’ earlier claim that he took a “knife in the heart for his people”, although Jon didn’t quite get round to telling the Mother of Dragons about the small matter of his, erm, death.

• Bran has stopped freaking out his sisters and is finally proving his worth by warging again, setting the wheels into motion for Jon and co. to approach the White Walkers.

• The Hound is now working alongside Jon as they go beyond the wall, will he eventually be reunited with Jon’s sister Arya? For his sake, we hope not.

• Isn’t it kind of funny that Daenarys just killed off the family of the man who saved her beloved Jorah from a horrifying death?

• It’s never been a secret but this week’s episode proved more than ever that Tyrion knows and has links to bloomin’ everybody, it really is quite remarkable.

With all of the huge plot points coming to a head, we can’t wait to see what next week has in store for us.

Read more:

[ This is why Littlefinger panicked when Bran said ‘Chaos is a ladder’ ]

[ Game of Thrones originally had a Jon/ Arya/ Tyrion love triangle ]

[ Game Of Thrones’ Hot Pie opens a bakery in real life ]