Game Of Thrones Season 7, Episode 5 Recap: Eastwatch

Last week's Game of Thrones episode, The Spoils of War, gave us the explosive action we've all be waiting for, but this week's episode, Eastwatch, calmed things down a bit. Don't take that to mean that Eastwatch was somehow a boring episode, though; on the contrary, there were some shocking twists for fans who were paying close attention. The things we learned in Eastwatch have some major implications not only for some of our favorite characters, but also perhaps for the fate of Westeros as a whole.

Beware! What follows this paragraph are comprehensive spoilers for this week's Game of Thrones episode, Eastwatch. If you haven't seen the episode and you don't want it spoiled, do not read on. I say this every week, but it's doubly true this week – you're going to want to see this episode for yourself.

We all knew that Jaime Lannister would not meet his end at the bottom of Blackwater Rush, didn't we? Eastwatch begins with Bronn pulling Jaime out of the river and to dry land, saving his life for a second time. It's then that the realization that the Lannisters are far outmatched begins to sink in for Jaime. If one of Daenerys's dragons is capable of doing this much damage, the damage that all three are capable of will be unquestionably immense, he reasons. He resolves to make it back to King's Landing to warn Cersei about the might of Daenerys Targaryen, the brutality of her Dothraki horde, and terror of her dragons.

Somewhere upriver, Daenerys has gathered the remaining Lannister soldiers and given them a choice: bend the knee and fight for her or die. A bone-trembling roar from Drogon, who sits atop a hill behind her, is all most of those men need to drop to one knee, with the exception of a few prideful men like Randyll Tarly and his son, Dickon. Though Tyrion tries to reason with Randyll, neither man pledges allegiance to Daenerys, and both are sentenced to die by Drogon's dragon fire. After seeing both Randyll and Dickon Tarly turn to ash before their eyes, the remaining soldiers who thought that honor was more important than continuing to live all bend the knee.

Our time in Winterfell begins with Bran sitting in the godswood. Using his powers, he sends a flock of ravens north of the wall, crossing above Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. Not long after, he comes across the army of the dead, closing in on Eastwatch. His concentration is broken when the Night King spots his flock of ravens, and he tells Maester Wolkan that they must send ravens to warn the realm.

Next we watch as Arya attends a meeting between Sansa and the minor lords of the North. Those lords are in the middle of berating Jon Snow for leaving Winterfell and attempt to convince Sansa that she should be their ruler instead of him. Sansa simply reminds them that Jon is their king and thanks them for their concern.

After the meeting, Sansa and Arya discuss the fact that the northern lords were insulting Jon who, though absent, is still their king. Arya believes that their insubordination should be met with beheadings, while Sansa plans to take a more delicate approach. Brutality, Sansa says, is not how you get people to work together, and she won't lose Jon's armies by beheading the northern lords who are pledging their men to fight the White Walkers. This is our first glimpse of strife between the two sisters, and things only get more complicated from there.

Later on in the episode, we see Arya stalking Littlefinger throughout Winterfell. She watches as Littlefinger meets with a few people, including the two lords who were insulting Jon earlier on. Another person he meets with is Maester Wolkan, who hands Littlefinger a note outside of his room in the castle. Littlefinger goes into his quarters to hide the note and then departs again, locking the door behind him. Once the coast is (presumably) clear, Arya picks the lock and finds the note, discovering that it was written by Sansa. The note urges her brother, Robb, to come to King's Landing and bend the knee to King Joffrey – something that Arya certainly won't like. After reading the note, Arya leaves Littlefinger's chambers, and we discover that he's been watching from the shadows the whole time.

In Oldtown, Sam walks in on a meeting of the Conclave, a group of Archmaesters led by Archmaester Ebrose. The Conclave has just received Bran's raven from Winterfell, warning of the White Walkers' march. Some of the Archmaesters don't believe that White Walkers are on the move and float the idea of Maester Wolkan's senses being manipulated in the North. Though Sam tries to convince them that the White Walker threat is real and must be dealt with, the best he can get out of Archmaester Ebrose is that they'll follow up with Wolkan for clarification.

Later that night, Sam and Gilly are combing over ancient texts – Sam presumably looking for a way to stop the Night King and Gilly looking over records left by High Septon Maynard. Maynard, Gilly discovers, recorded everything, including the annulment of a "Prince Ragger" and his subsequent remarriage in a secret ceremony in Dorne. This revelation – and it's a big one – is cut off by Sam, who has an outburst of anger at the Archmaesters' penchant for inaction. Not a moment later, Sam is off to the library, collecting books and scrolls seemingly at random. He loads Gilly and her son into a wagon and they depart the Citadel under the cover of night, with Sam leaving his dreams of becoming a Maester behind.

Shortly after her victory, Daenerys returns to Dragonstone, where Jon and Drogon share a moment that doesn't end in Jon getting turned into a pile of ash. Discussion of dragons is interrupted by the return of Jorah Mormont, cured of his stonescale just as Daenerys demanded. She is clearly moved to see him but there's little time to waste – Varys has received a raven from Winterfell, and it details the immediate threat of the White Walkers.

In the war room at Dragonstone, Daenerys meets with Tyrion, Varys, Jorah, Jon, and Davos. Jon tells Daenerys that he needs to go home to collect his army and march North and asks Daenerys to join him one last time. Daenerys tells Jon that she won't surrender the country to Cersei, but Tyrion says that she may not have to do that.

The six formulate a plan: capture a White Walker and take it to King's Landing to show Cersei that the threat is real. Jon and Jorah will sail to Eastwatch to meet with Tormund and attempt to capture a White Walker. Meanwhile, Davos will sail to King's Landing with Tyrion and sneak him into the city so he can meet with Jaime and convince him to get Cersei to agree to a cease fire while they work out the White Walker threat. Daenerys agrees to the plan after Jon notes that this is their best chance to band Westeros together and defeat the White Walkers for good.

Just a few scenes later, we see Davos and Tyrion landing on the shores of King's Landing. They go their separate ways at the beach, with Davos saying that he has business in Fleabottom.

Bronn arranges a meeting between Tyrion and Jaime. Though Jaime is seething with both rage and sorrow as he talks to his brother, he listens to Tyrion's plea for an armistice. Meanwhile, Davos walks through the Street of Steel in Fleabottom before arriving at Gendry's shop. It's been awhile since we've seen Gendry, but it turns out that Robert Baratheon's bastard has been living right under the Lannisters' noses, making armor and weapons for their men as a blacksmith.

Davos hardly needs to ask Gendry to come with him before he's out the door, warhammer in hand. The two meet Tyrion back by the boat, and after a confrontation that leaves two guards from the City Watch dead, they depart for Dragonstone once more.

Jaime later heads to Cersei's chambers to tell her about his meeting with Tyrion, interrupting a conversation between her and Maester Qyburn in the process. Cersei, of course, already knows about the meeting between the two of them, and asks Jaime if he plans to punish Bronn for betraying him. Jaime doesn't answer, but does tell Cersei that Daenerys wants to strike a temporary truce. Cersei notes that they are outmatched by Daenerys, and if they want to win to war, they'll need to be clever, just like their father, Tywin, would be.

Cersei also reveals something major to Jaime: she's pregnant with his child. With all three of their previous children now dead, this moves Jaime to tears. The two embrace, and even though it looks like the truce is on, Cersei warns Jaime to never betray her again.

The episode ends with Jon, Davos, and Gendry landing at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. It's there they meet with Tormund and tell him of their plan to capture a White Walker and take it to King's Landing. Tormund says that he'll go with them, but that they'll have some extra companions: the Brotherhood Without Banners. As it turns out, Beric Dondarrion, Thoros, and The Hound were captured by Tormund and the Free Folk at Eastwatch as they tried to go beyond the wall and face the White Walker threat themselves.

After a bit of arguing, the group agrees that they will all go beyond the wall. Beric, Jon, Jorah, The Hound, Gendry, and Tormund depart, traveling north of the wall to face the White Walker army directly.

Though this episode wasn't quite as action packed as the one that came before it, there were some major developments nonetheless. There were three in particular: Gilly's discovery at the Citadel, Littlefinger's plot, and the revelation that Cersei is pregnant.

Let's start with the smallest twist and work our way up to the biggest. Cersei's pregnancy comes to a shock to Jaime, but I'm not convinced she's telling the truth here. At the beginning of the episode, Jaime reported to her and told her that there's no way they can win the war against Daenerys, and when coupled with the fact that Jaime met with Tyrion and let him leave King's Landing, it's clear that Cersei thinks she's losing him.

We've seen this too – Jaime was always at Cersei's side in previous seasons, and he's generally gone along with her plots. This season, however, he's beginning to question her decisions more and more. He sees that she's going down a dark path, and he's not sure he likes what she's becoming. Jaime almost certainly sees shades of the Mad King Aerys II in Cersei, and that worries him.

Remember, too, that we saw Cersei discussing an unknown matter with Maester Qyburn when Jaime first went to tell her about his meeting with Tyrion. By this point, Cersei has already heard Jaime's report from The Rose Road, along with his belief that they can't win the war against Daenerys on the battlefield. It seems reasonable, then, that Cersei was discussing the unthinkable with Qyburn.

There are still stores of Wildfire under the city, and Cersei has already used some of those stores to blow up the Great Sept of Baelor. Cersei has shown us that she is more than okay with destroying King's Landing as a last ditch effort to defeat her enemies, and memories of her brother killing Aerys II for attempting to do the same exact thing will be at the forefront for her.

By telling Jaime that she's pregnant with her child, she's hoping that will prevent him from stopping her if she enacts a plan he doesn't agree with. I've long theorized that Jaime may ultimately be the one to kill Cersei and stop her vicious rule, but thinking that she's pregnant could very well stay his hand.

Next up, let's tackle Littlefinger's plot. It's clear that Littlefinger senses some tension between Sansa and Arya, and he plans to use that to his advantage by further driving a wedge between the two of them. It was always his intention for Arya to find that note, and it shows Arya that her sister at one point tried to get Robb to bend the knee to the Lannisters – the very people who tore her family apart. Littlefinger is counting on the fact that Arya will have no patience for someone who is in league with the Lannisters, and he's hoping to make Arya believe that Sansa is still on the Lannisters' side to this day.

We, of course, know that Sansa was forced to write that letter in an attempt to save her father. Sansa's loyalty to the Lannisters ended the second Illyn Payne beheaded her father, and even since then, she's wanted to see the entire Lannister crew pay just as much as Arya does.

The question now is whether or not Littlefinger's plan will work. It may at first – Arya is an aggressive person, and she will absolutely confront Sansa about this note. Will he be successful in permanently driving a wedge between the two, though? Probably not – the Starks know that they need to stick together, and if Littlefinger's plot is discovered, it may very well be the end of him. Personally, I'm not expecting Littlefinger to survive the season. He is dealing with two people who don't particularly like him and both are running low on patience for him as well. He's playing with fire, in other words, and for the first time in the show's history, he may finally get burned.

Finally, we come to what Gilly was describing before Sam cut her off. She was reading an entry from High Septon Maynard, in which Maynard writes that he annulled the marriage of "Prince Ragger" and remarried him in a secret ceremony in Dorne. That entry was referring to Rhaegar Targaryen, and the secret ceremony discussed was his marriage to Lyanna Stark.

That's the most obvious scenario, of course. Though we don't have solid proof, that certainly seems to be what that entry implied. If that was indeed what happened, the implication for Westeros is absolutely massive. If Rhaegar was actually married to Lyanna Stark in a secret ceremony, it means that Jon Snow is their trueborn – not bastard – son. Jon Snow is the true heir to the Iron Throne, not Daenerys.

Here's the thing, though: Sam wasn't listening to her, and Gilly knows nothing about the history of Westeros. She has no reason to believe that this "Prince Ragger" was an important person in Westerosi history, and unless they brought that book with them when they left the Citadel, there's no way for Sam to stumble upon this fact later.

As it is now, there is only one person who can figure out Jon Snow's true lineage: Bran Stark. He already knows that Jon is the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna, but as far as we're aware, he only thinks that Jon is their bastard son. He may figure out that Jon actually their trueborn son at some point later (or he may already know it, depending on how much he's looked into the past), but without a reunion with Bran, there's no way Jon will figure this out.

Even if Jon is the true King of Westeros, there's no guarantee he'll want the spot. At the very least, it will certainly make his relationship with Daenerys a lot more interesting. We'll just have to watch and find out what happens next.

In any case, we're heading toward a tipping point on multiple fronts. The White Walker threat is now immediate, and though Daenerys is noble in trying to strike a truce with Cersei, she's almost certainly walking into a Lannister trap.

What did you think of this episode? What are your predictions for the rest of the season? Head down to the comments section and let us know!