Game of Thrones Episode 7.05: “Eastwatch”
Apr. 11th, 2019 03:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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scifi_rewatchUpon re-watch, I have to admit that I’ve probably been too hard on this episode in the past. The “capture a wight” storyline sounds reductive, but given the parameters of the show it’s really the only option of Team Breathing. Also, as I’ve stated ad nauseum, I really dislike aspects of the Winterfell story this year. But to be fair, in this instance it’s a particular segment of fandom’s response that pisses me off. :P The actual plot in this eppy seems legit. Some stumbling blocks in execution, but still legit.
Seems like every storyline is more or less asking itself the same question—when should we be ruthless and when should we work together? Other than White Walkers vs the living, that issue is still very porous. Plenty of human characters are still facing distrust and personal agendas.
I guess in that vein, it’s kind of soothing that several characters are banding together to find a black and white monster to convince others of a black and white problem. And it leads to a lot of reunions, too! Huzzah!
Summary
Post-Battle
Jaime and Bronn re-surface up river, where they ponder their drastically reduced circumstances. Daenerys gathers the surviving Lannister army and gives them a choice to bend the knee or die. When Randyl and Dickon Tarly refuse, Dany has Drogon burn them alive, despite Tyrion’s protestations.
Oldtown
When a raven arrives from Bran detailing the White Walkers just beyond Eastwatch, the maesters assume this to be false intel. Sam tries to sway them to no end; sick of his inaction (and perhaps mourning his family), he decides to leave the citadel. Meanwhile, Gilly, while practicing her reading, stumbles upon an account of Prince Rhaegar getting an annulment!
Winterfell
The northmen and the men of the Vale express new preference for Sansa over Jon as leader; Arya isn’t impressed by how her sister handles the situation. Sansa espouses unity over narrow-mindedness, but Arya accuses her of wanting more power. Later she spies on Littlefinger, unaware that the man is deliberately leading her into trap in order to further divide her from her sister.
King’s Landing
Bronn arranges a secret meeting between Tyrion and Jaime where an armistice is discussed. Cersei, at one point ready to go down fighting, seemingly changes her mind because she is pregnant! Meanwhile Davos collects Gendry, who is back working as a smith in Flea Bottom, but is more than happy to take a bigger part in the action.
Dragonstone
Jon has a surprising, tender moment with Drogon! But he turns antsy after receiving Bran’s owl; it’s time for the real war to begin. Tyrion suggests “capture the wight” in order to bring Cersei to the table, and the newly returned Jorah offers himself up for the job alongside the King in the North.
Eastwatch
Tormund and the other free folk raise their eyebrows a bit at Jon’s plan, but they go along. Also in the dungeons after trying to cross beyond the Wall—the Brotherhood Without Banners! Tensions run high between a lot of people with past baggage, but Jon reminds them that they’re all on the same side now, and they roll out. :P
Possible Spoilers
Some of the name drops by the maesters at the Citadel appear in Martin’s books. Also, several characters are concerned that Daenerys is too much of her father’s daughter, a la burning folks who won’t bend the knee. Considering what the show (and likely the novels) have to say about Jon’s parentage, it seems possible that the dragons would respond to him thus. Also can’t rule out sibling conflict, should the Stark sisters be reunited, but they’ve both been somewhat altered from their canon counterparts.
Thoughts
This episode is more packed than most. :P We go a lot of places. We perhaps miss some emotional beats as well. Sometimes it works—like we don’t need to hear Tyrion and Jaime’s conversation because we already know what it entails. And then there’s Sam—who at no point says he’s sad learning about the deaths of his father and brother—but it’s heavily implied. The maesters mention it privately, then we see Sam sniffling, and finally he quotes his father when leaving the Citadel. I’m not sure it works in Jon’s case but maybe I’m biased; you know how I love my Stark reunions. :P But basically, all he has time for is a glancing “omg, I thought Bran and Arya were dead, but they’re not! Oh, and also apparently Bran has magical visions now!” before it’s back to full throttle White Walker plot.
I also feel relatively shruggy about Gendry’s desire to join Davos, though I suppose it’s legit enough that he wouldn’t want to make weapons for the folks who tried to kill him. Seems like the whole thing was an excuse for Gendry to use Robert’s mythical war hammer (and talk about how many more peaceful options they sidestepped in order to show Gendry bashing Gold Cloak heads in.) I did like the quip about rowing, though; fandom wins out! :P And I like the role he played in the tensions at Eastwatch.
Elsewhere…Bron seems more willing than ever to abandon the Lannisters to their fiery dragon fate, but then he organizes the meeting between the brothers! To be fair it’s probably more than an altruistic move; a peaceful Daenerys is better news for him. I liked all the callbacks with the Lannisters—to Tywin’s murder, to Joffrey’s murder—which showcased where the living characters were and how they perceived the situations now. I do think Cersei’s pregnancy is little more than a plot point. It’s the only way she would accept an armistice with Dany. Motherhood always humanized her (oh the show.)
Quick return to Sam—though I hate that Westeros is so messed up that one cannot enjoy study for the sake of general knowledge, I appreciate his storyline. It’s of the sort where he needs to give up on childish dreams in order to embrace a more mature truth. Also, I think the Rhaegar annulment tidbit was cleverly dropped into dialogue with minimal effect for the moment, though…hint, hint!!!
More family drama in Winterfell—though upon reflection I think both Sansa and Arya are acting in character. For now. :P The moves they take more or less make sense. Arya has always been more inclined towards vengeance (hence, punitive punishment for people expressing displeasure towards Jon), whereas Sansa has been following in Jon’s footsteps and encouraging togetherness. I make this connection explicitly, because Sansa’s lines to Arya about the Houses working together, and Jon’s lines to his infighting companions about being on the same side, are basically the same thing. The Arya Is Always Right faction of fandom might disagree, but that’s how it is. :P But to be fair, she accurately reads Sansa’s personal angst about her position, which makes sense due to her Faceless Man training.
…at the same time (for once,) Arya isn’t the biggest badass in the room. She’s completely unaware that while she is spying on Littlefinger, Littlefinger is playing her. No matter the legitimacy of her response to the Sansa’s letter (oh I’ll get to that next episode), there’s no doubt that Littlefinger deliberately planted it. Guess it’s nice to see him playing to his strengths after Bran kinda owned him with his deus ex machina (or ex raven?) powers last episode. :P If Littlefinger is to survive here, he definitely needs the sisters to be in opposite corners.
Another question of moral rightness arises with Daenerys burning the Tarlys. Tyrion (and later Varys, recounting his time with Aerys) are not fans. In the “Behind the Episode” segment, the showrunners lay out both Dany and Tyrion’s perspectives and then say we are free to make up our own minds. Which kind of sounds like moral relativity, but then again, what else is war? :/ Still, it’s nice to see Dany try on a different hat back at Dragonstone. She’s willing to put a pause in the war she’s now winning, and trust her sorta-prisoner, Jon, to leave and persuade her of these magical beings. She’s thinking of the greater good just in case the White Walkers exist. It helps that her attraction to Jon is obviously growing given Drogon’s response to him…hint hint. :P Also, Jorah is back! :D And for the first time in awhile they are able to reconcile without past baggage. On her part, at least. It’s possible that Jorah feels newly “friendzoned” by Jon’s presence, but he won’t risk rocking the boat over that crap. His loyalty runs deeper than that.
Finally we arrive at the end of the world…where apparently a bunch of characters from episode 7.01 have been stashed. :P Herein lies one of my favorite aspects of “Game of Thrones”—where characters who haven’t seen each other in a long while, or who have cause to have strong opinions about one another, duke it out. :P A less lethal example of Dany vs Tyrion earlier: everyone has their certain point of view. I guess I like Jon’s leadership (and/or the problems afforded to him) better. He gets to look for camaraderie, not obedience. Which is why his sister Sansa is such a good proxy for him back home. Despite any personal issues, she is toeing the party line and keeping the living working together under one roof. If Arya were to start beheading the people she didn’t like, then that’s all the fewer folks to help fight the darkness. Kind of similar to something Robb went through in season three where he beheaded Lord Karstark, except that Karstark had killed young boys in custody and the war wasn’t as dire as the one now. Well, not as dire for all of humankind anyway. All of this grousing is basically me saying that Sansa should stay in politics and Arya without it. We don’t need another woman (possibly both Cersei and Daenerys do this to varying degrees) sowing discontent due to personal reasons. We need more peacemakers in Westeros.
Seems like every storyline is more or less asking itself the same question—when should we be ruthless and when should we work together? Other than White Walkers vs the living, that issue is still very porous. Plenty of human characters are still facing distrust and personal agendas.
I guess in that vein, it’s kind of soothing that several characters are banding together to find a black and white monster to convince others of a black and white problem. And it leads to a lot of reunions, too! Huzzah!
Summary
Post-Battle
Jaime and Bronn re-surface up river, where they ponder their drastically reduced circumstances. Daenerys gathers the surviving Lannister army and gives them a choice to bend the knee or die. When Randyl and Dickon Tarly refuse, Dany has Drogon burn them alive, despite Tyrion’s protestations.
Oldtown
When a raven arrives from Bran detailing the White Walkers just beyond Eastwatch, the maesters assume this to be false intel. Sam tries to sway them to no end; sick of his inaction (and perhaps mourning his family), he decides to leave the citadel. Meanwhile, Gilly, while practicing her reading, stumbles upon an account of Prince Rhaegar getting an annulment!
Winterfell
The northmen and the men of the Vale express new preference for Sansa over Jon as leader; Arya isn’t impressed by how her sister handles the situation. Sansa espouses unity over narrow-mindedness, but Arya accuses her of wanting more power. Later she spies on Littlefinger, unaware that the man is deliberately leading her into trap in order to further divide her from her sister.
King’s Landing
Bronn arranges a secret meeting between Tyrion and Jaime where an armistice is discussed. Cersei, at one point ready to go down fighting, seemingly changes her mind because she is pregnant! Meanwhile Davos collects Gendry, who is back working as a smith in Flea Bottom, but is more than happy to take a bigger part in the action.
Dragonstone
Jon has a surprising, tender moment with Drogon! But he turns antsy after receiving Bran’s owl; it’s time for the real war to begin. Tyrion suggests “capture the wight” in order to bring Cersei to the table, and the newly returned Jorah offers himself up for the job alongside the King in the North.
Eastwatch
Tormund and the other free folk raise their eyebrows a bit at Jon’s plan, but they go along. Also in the dungeons after trying to cross beyond the Wall—the Brotherhood Without Banners! Tensions run high between a lot of people with past baggage, but Jon reminds them that they’re all on the same side now, and they roll out. :P
Possible Spoilers
Some of the name drops by the maesters at the Citadel appear in Martin’s books. Also, several characters are concerned that Daenerys is too much of her father’s daughter, a la burning folks who won’t bend the knee. Considering what the show (and likely the novels) have to say about Jon’s parentage, it seems possible that the dragons would respond to him thus. Also can’t rule out sibling conflict, should the Stark sisters be reunited, but they’ve both been somewhat altered from their canon counterparts.
Thoughts
This episode is more packed than most. :P We go a lot of places. We perhaps miss some emotional beats as well. Sometimes it works—like we don’t need to hear Tyrion and Jaime’s conversation because we already know what it entails. And then there’s Sam—who at no point says he’s sad learning about the deaths of his father and brother—but it’s heavily implied. The maesters mention it privately, then we see Sam sniffling, and finally he quotes his father when leaving the Citadel. I’m not sure it works in Jon’s case but maybe I’m biased; you know how I love my Stark reunions. :P But basically, all he has time for is a glancing “omg, I thought Bran and Arya were dead, but they’re not! Oh, and also apparently Bran has magical visions now!” before it’s back to full throttle White Walker plot.
I also feel relatively shruggy about Gendry’s desire to join Davos, though I suppose it’s legit enough that he wouldn’t want to make weapons for the folks who tried to kill him. Seems like the whole thing was an excuse for Gendry to use Robert’s mythical war hammer (and talk about how many more peaceful options they sidestepped in order to show Gendry bashing Gold Cloak heads in.) I did like the quip about rowing, though; fandom wins out! :P And I like the role he played in the tensions at Eastwatch.
Elsewhere…Bron seems more willing than ever to abandon the Lannisters to their fiery dragon fate, but then he organizes the meeting between the brothers! To be fair it’s probably more than an altruistic move; a peaceful Daenerys is better news for him. I liked all the callbacks with the Lannisters—to Tywin’s murder, to Joffrey’s murder—which showcased where the living characters were and how they perceived the situations now. I do think Cersei’s pregnancy is little more than a plot point. It’s the only way she would accept an armistice with Dany. Motherhood always humanized her (oh the show.)
Quick return to Sam—though I hate that Westeros is so messed up that one cannot enjoy study for the sake of general knowledge, I appreciate his storyline. It’s of the sort where he needs to give up on childish dreams in order to embrace a more mature truth. Also, I think the Rhaegar annulment tidbit was cleverly dropped into dialogue with minimal effect for the moment, though…hint, hint!!!
More family drama in Winterfell—though upon reflection I think both Sansa and Arya are acting in character. For now. :P The moves they take more or less make sense. Arya has always been more inclined towards vengeance (hence, punitive punishment for people expressing displeasure towards Jon), whereas Sansa has been following in Jon’s footsteps and encouraging togetherness. I make this connection explicitly, because Sansa’s lines to Arya about the Houses working together, and Jon’s lines to his infighting companions about being on the same side, are basically the same thing. The Arya Is Always Right faction of fandom might disagree, but that’s how it is. :P But to be fair, she accurately reads Sansa’s personal angst about her position, which makes sense due to her Faceless Man training.
…at the same time (for once,) Arya isn’t the biggest badass in the room. She’s completely unaware that while she is spying on Littlefinger, Littlefinger is playing her. No matter the legitimacy of her response to the Sansa’s letter (oh I’ll get to that next episode), there’s no doubt that Littlefinger deliberately planted it. Guess it’s nice to see him playing to his strengths after Bran kinda owned him with his deus ex machina (or ex raven?) powers last episode. :P If Littlefinger is to survive here, he definitely needs the sisters to be in opposite corners.
Another question of moral rightness arises with Daenerys burning the Tarlys. Tyrion (and later Varys, recounting his time with Aerys) are not fans. In the “Behind the Episode” segment, the showrunners lay out both Dany and Tyrion’s perspectives and then say we are free to make up our own minds. Which kind of sounds like moral relativity, but then again, what else is war? :/ Still, it’s nice to see Dany try on a different hat back at Dragonstone. She’s willing to put a pause in the war she’s now winning, and trust her sorta-prisoner, Jon, to leave and persuade her of these magical beings. She’s thinking of the greater good just in case the White Walkers exist. It helps that her attraction to Jon is obviously growing given Drogon’s response to him…hint hint. :P Also, Jorah is back! :D And for the first time in awhile they are able to reconcile without past baggage. On her part, at least. It’s possible that Jorah feels newly “friendzoned” by Jon’s presence, but he won’t risk rocking the boat over that crap. His loyalty runs deeper than that.
Finally we arrive at the end of the world…where apparently a bunch of characters from episode 7.01 have been stashed. :P Herein lies one of my favorite aspects of “Game of Thrones”—where characters who haven’t seen each other in a long while, or who have cause to have strong opinions about one another, duke it out. :P A less lethal example of Dany vs Tyrion earlier: everyone has their certain point of view. I guess I like Jon’s leadership (and/or the problems afforded to him) better. He gets to look for camaraderie, not obedience. Which is why his sister Sansa is such a good proxy for him back home. Despite any personal issues, she is toeing the party line and keeping the living working together under one roof. If Arya were to start beheading the people she didn’t like, then that’s all the fewer folks to help fight the darkness. Kind of similar to something Robb went through in season three where he beheaded Lord Karstark, except that Karstark had killed young boys in custody and the war wasn’t as dire as the one now. Well, not as dire for all of humankind anyway. All of this grousing is basically me saying that Sansa should stay in politics and Arya without it. We don’t need another woman (possibly both Cersei and Daenerys do this to varying degrees) sowing discontent due to personal reasons. We need more peacemakers in Westeros.
