Game of Thrones S07-E05: Mellow yet extremely important

Is Daenerys becoming more like her father, the Mad King? Will she become another cold-hearted queen like Cersei?

After the fourth episode, I felt that Game of Thrones (GoT) would definitely slow its pace down for the fifth episode, which it did. This would have naturally made the episode quite dry in comparison to the nail-biting fourth episode, except it was quite the contrary. 

Even though the fifth episode, Eastwatch, may not be the best one so far, it sure is the most important one. The fifth episode had quite a few important details that could completely turn the tables around for quite a few characters.

In Winterfell, the northerners are still dismayed about their king, Jon Snow, deserting them and putting his sister, Sansa Stark, in charge instead. Sansa tells the northerners to keep their faith and trust their king, but she doesn’t exactly defend her brother which Arya Stark picks up on. Arya goes on to confront Sansa and tells her elder sister that the thought of replacing Jon had entered her mind at some point, despite her not wanting to think about it.

Tensions between the Stark sisters are apparent and Littlefinger adds fuel to the fire by digging up an old scroll which he knew Arya would be intrigued about. Within this scroll, Sansa had asked Robb Stark, her brother, to bend the knee and Littlefinger made sure Arya read it. But will this scroll be enough to turn Arya against Sansa? Will Littlefinger yet again trick the House of Stark?

The previous episode ended on a cliff-hanger where Jaime Lannister’s life hung in balance. But apparently, Jaime and Bronn swam across the river safe and sound.

Jaime returns to King’s Landing and tells Cersei Lannister that there is no way they can win against Daenerys’ army and her three dragons. But Cersei gives him some encouraging news, which will hopefully make Jaime fight till the end, regardless of the consequences.

After the Loot Train battle, Daenerys’ army lines up the captured survivors and presents them with two options – bend the knee or die. While everyone surrenders and bends the knee, Randall Tarly and his son, Dickon Tarly, refuse to bend the knee out of pride and their loyalty to the Lannisters. Daenerys, even after Tyrion advises her against it, orders Drogon to burn the Tarly duo to ashes.

By doing so, I feel Daenerys is inching closer to becoming more like her father, the Mad King Aerys. Will she become another cold-hearted queen like Cersei?

It is quite obvious that Daenerys is not willing to join forces with Jon to fight the White Walkers since she fears Cersei taking over Westeros. But when Bran informs Jon via a letter that the Night King and his army of thousands are inching closer to the Eastwatch, Tyrion, Jon and Jorah have to convince Daenerys to join forces with Cersei to fight the army of the dead on a united front. However, in order to convince Cersei, they need to capture a White Walker, as she will not believe some old myth without seeing it with her own eyes.

To put this plan in action, Jon and Jorah (who returns and reunite with Daenerys after being cured) leave Dragonstone and head to the North. Meanwhile, Davos is seen smuggling Tyrion into King’s Landing where he is to meet Jaime. But something tells me that this entire plan won’t turn out the way Daenerys wants it to.

Moreover, Davos meets Gendry, who finally makes a return and joins Davos and Tyrion. In the North, Jon, along with his six comrades, embarks on a suicidal mission beyond the wall to capture a White Walker. Sounds insane, right?

At the Citadel, Samwell Tarly finally decides to put an end to his lifelong dream of becoming a Maester. He takes this decision after his superiors decide not to act on Bran’s message of the White Walker threat.

Before Samwell leaves, he has a very interesting conversation with Gilly where Gilly reads some trivia from an old book, trivia which could possibly change everything as it reveals (not completely) the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.

The fifth episode was mellow, yet important. With things falling apart between the Stark sisters, Sam nearly discovering an important detail of the past and Jon heading into the abyss, the sixth episode promises to be a blast.