East Watch

On the Road of Roses

Jaime ( Nikolai Coster-Waldau ) and Bronn ( Jerome Flynn ) are selected from the river Blackwater, having escaped with difficulty from Daenerys and the dragon Drogon. Negotiating the chances of success in the war, they agree that against all three dragons of their army can not survive.

Meanwhile, Daenerys ( Emilia Clark ) demands loyalty from the surviving soldiers of the Lannisters and Tarley, and threatens them with death if they don’t kneel. Among the remaining warriors to stand, she notices two officers. This is Randall Tarley ( James Faulkner ) and his son Deacon ( Tom Hopper ). Turning to them personally, Daenerys tries to convince them to take the oath of allegiance to the new Queen. However, father and son do not change their honor for life. Despite the calls of Tyrion ( Peter Dinklage ) to spare them and send them to the Wall, Daenerys keeps his word and Drogon, by her order, burns both Tarley. This convinces the rest of the soldiers to kneel.

In Winterfell

Bran ( Isaac Hampstead-Wright ), in a state of warg, penetrates into the consciousness of a flock of crows and sends them behind Wall to find an army of the dead and the White Walkers. The King of Night gazes at the birds, and Bran returns to his own body. Bran asks to be sent ravens to all the Seven Kingdoms, with a warning of impending disaster, as the army of the dead comes closer and closer to the Wall.

Arya ( Macy Williams ) sees how Lord Glover ( Tim McInnerney ) and Lord Royce ( Rupert Vansittart ), speaking at a meeting of the Lords of the North, make an offer to Sansé ( Sophie Turner ) to become their ruler, and is concerned about how and with what words Sans has diplomatically refused . Alone, Arya shrewly tells Sanse that her sister wants to rule the North, although she does not admit this even to herself. Little finger ( Aidan Gillen ), meanwhile, leaves no attempt to quarrel among themselves Stark's children. Noticing Arya's surveillance, he allegedly secretly and on behalf of Sansy, receives from Maester Volkan (Richard Raycroft) a certain scroll stored in the archives of Winterfell and leaves, leaving the letter in his room. Arya opens the door with a master key, finds a scroll and discovers that this letter, written by Sansa after the death of King Robert , in which she asks her family to swear allegiance to King Joffrey . Whether Arya, like Lady Catelyn in her time, will guess that the letter was written under Cersei’s pressure, is unknown. Baelish, secretly watching the younger Stark, makes sure that her letter is found and read.

In Old Town

Archimeister Abrose ( Jim Broadbent ) received a crow from Winterfell and discusses a warning about marching White Walkers with the council of the masters at the Citadel. None of them believes in the truthfulness of the visions of the "legless boy." Samwell ( John Bradley ) interferes with the conversation, stating that he knows Bran and has personally seen the White Walkers. Archimeister Abrose is not completely convinced, but Sam’s emotional speech makes him check the accuracy of the information from the letter. He says that the Citadel will ask for further clarification from Maester Volkan of Winterfell. After Sam’s departure, the archimemaster admits to those present that he could not tell Tarley about the death of his father and brother.

In the evening, Sam sits at home and rewrites another old scroll. Lilly ( Hannah Murray ), who recently learned to read, reads the insignificant facts recorded by the septon that served during the reign of the Mad King. Amidst all the rubbish, Lilly finds a passage stating that Prince Reigar Targaryen broke up his marriage with Elijah Martell and secretly married another woman. Neither she nor Sam understands the importance of this message, especially since Sam interrupts Lily’s reading and states that he’s already tired of the inaction of the Citadel’s masters. Therefore, he and Lily and baby Sam should go back to the North, where the assistance of Tarley might be useful to the Night Watch. In order to arm themselves with the necessary knowledge, Samwell picks up several books and scrolls from the library of the Citadel and under cover of night all three set off.

On the Dragonstone

Daenerys returns from Rose Road and lands on Drogon on the rocks of the Dragon Stone, where she meets with John Snow ( Keith Harington ). To her shock and surprise, Drogon lets John stroke him. Daenerys gets off of him, and the Dothrakians lead Jorah ( Ian Glen ), who is back after recovering from the gray ailment. Daenerys welcomes him and returns him back to service. After this, Varis ( Conlet Hill ) and Tyrion discuss the cruelty of the executions of Daenerys in private, and Varis asks Lannister to find a way to make her listen. Varys also confesses his guilt for not doing anything when the Mad King burned people alive.

In the House of Painted Tables, Daenerys meets with his advisers, as well as with John and Davos ( Liam Cunningham ). John receives a warning from Brana and declares that he is going to head for the Wall and fight the army of the dead. Daenerys doubts his ability to do this with a small number of people who have vowed to fight for him, and John again asks her for help. She refuses, noting that Queen Cersei will win if she abandons her goal to occupy the Iron Throne. Tyrion recommends that Cersei provide proof of the army of the dead, in the hope of convincing her to join the battle against the White Walkers, although Varys is skeptical about the appropriateness of this action. John decides to lead an expedition north of the Wall in order to capture one ghoul and bring him south to King’s Landing.

In Royal Harbor

Jaime returns to the Red Castle, informs Cersei ( Lena Headee ) about the battle of the battle and speaks about his conviction that the Lannisters cannot win the war. He also reveals that Olenna Tyrell , and not Tyrion, poisoned Joffrey.

Tyrion and Davos arrive on a secluded beach near Royal Harbor and secretly sneak into the city. Jaime follows Bronn in the dungeon of the Red Castle, where the skulls of dragons are kept, on false pretenses to train the sword battle. Tyrion appears, to the surprise of Jaime, and asks for an audience with Queen Cersei when John returns from the North with proof of the existence of the army of the dead. Later, Jaime transmits this message to Sersey. Cersei doubts Tyrion’s warning, but promises Jaime that they will destroy everyone who gets in their way. She also reveals Jaime that she is pregnant. Cersei holds secret meetings with Kviburn ( Anton Lesser ) on issues that she does not discuss with Jaime.

Meanwhile, Davos heads to Steel Street, where he finds Gendry ( Joe Dempsey ), who is more than ready to leave King’s Landing and return with him to Dragonstone. When they are about to sail, they encounter two guards. Davos manages to settle the matter with the help of gold, but then Golden Coats notice Tirion coming to the boat, and recall the reward assigned to the dwarf's head. Jendry has to kill the guards with his hammer. Then all three of them quickly leave the Royal Harbor.

In the Eastern Watch by the Sea

John, Davos, Jendry and Jorah arrive on the Eastern Watch by the Sea and meet with Tormund ( Christopher Hivyu ). John talks about his intentions to go beyond the Wall, but Tormund doubts the success of such an operation. Tormund assigns the group to the cells, where they find the detainees of the Dog Watch ( Rory McCann ) and the Brotherhood without Banners. After a stormy discussion of long-term offenses, they come to the conclusion that now they need to unite against a common enemy. The Brotherhood, Tormund, Jendry, Dog, Jorah and John are sent for Wall to obtain evidence of the reality of the army of the dead. Davos, rightly believing that this campaign will be only a burden, remains in the Eastern Watch.

Scenario

The script for "Eastern Watch" was written by Dave Hill , who previously wrote the screenplays for two episodes of the series, " Sons of Harpy " and " House ", while he works as an assistant scriptwriter from the second season of the show. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly , Hill commented on the intentions of making the characters and writing the plot lines that were used in the episode. Writing the opening scene with Daenerys and Rendill and Deacon Tarley, Hill noted the difference between Daenerys and other rulers, and that she offered people a choice, saying, “These lords did not obey her and insulted her during the rebellion against the legitimate queen. She then offers them a way out, and they refuse. ” ^[2] He also talked about Daenerys’ victory on Jaime, noting: “This was the first time [Daenerys] met in the open field and they were so easily defeated, and this is not what he has ever seen before. But no matter how difficult it is to cope with [Daenerys] and her dragons, it is much more difficult to cope with Cersei. ” ^[2]

Regarding the departure of John Snow from Dragonstone, Hill also noted that Daenerys believes that John is honest and that she "cannot continue the war and still rule the Seven Kingdoms after the war ends," while the threat of the White Walkers remains. ^[2] With the secret meeting of Tirion and Jaime, Hill’s intention in writing the scene was to open an interaction with "total hostility and hatred" and eventually change it so that the two "were remotely on one side." He notes that although Jaime may not believe Tirion, the possibility of a truce is worth considering. ^[2]

Regarding Gendry’s return to history, Hill stated that the writers were not sure when he should return. ^[2] Hill noted that the screenwriters had always intended to return Gendry, and that they had originally planned to return it in the previous season. They ultimately decided to bring him back to Eastern Watch to put him on a storyline, which he called a “big mission,” along with John Snow behind the Wall. ^[2] He continued, saying: "It made sense that Davos would like to save this boy, who for him is like a surrogate son." ^[2]

Casting

In East Watch, Joe Dempsey returned as Gendry , whom he played in the first , second and third seasons . In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter , Dempsey spoke about returning to the cast, saying: “Over the past three years, I have always welcomed the opportunity to return to the show with open arms. I have so many friends on the show and I had a great time creating it. I learn a lot when I'm on set. ” ^[3] Dempsey also revealed that the creators of the series David Benioff and D. B. Weiss were not sure when he returned to the show, noting that they said to him:“ Listen, your the character will disappear for a while. We don't want you panicking. We are not trying to fire you. We like your performance and your character, but we have plans for it a little later. ” ^[3] Dempsey first learned to return to the show shortly before Christmas 2015, during a meeting with his agent. ^[3]

Shooting

The director of "Eastern Watch" was Matt Shekman . This is the second episode of Shekman as a director of "Game of Thrones", and the first was the previous episode, " Trophies of War ." Before joining the show, Shekman also directed other television series, including Fargo , Good Wife , Mad Men , and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia . ^[4] In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter after East Watch went on the air, Shekman spoke about the difference between filming two episodes of the season, saying, “This is not the same set, so the main thing was to establish what was going on for the next season. This is something like reinstalling. Here are a few revelations of the main characters and further development of relationships, especially people who have reunited and now see what is happening and look at relationships with people whom they have not seen for a very long time. ” ^[5] At the beginning of the episode, they show Tirion Lannister walking through a burned field after The train-to-booty battles, which Shekman noted, were intended to show the inner conflict between Tirion and the service of Daenerys and the examination of the dead soldiers of his own family. He also said about the scene: “We created things that he had to look at, and they had to induce the feeling of Pompeii, the consequences of the dragon fire and what he does with the people around him, as well as the destruction of these carts. We walked Peter through it all and let him react to what he saw. The effect was quite powerful. " ^[5]

For Daenerys Targaryen to return to the Dragonstone and for the interaction between Drogon and John Snow, Shekman spoke about the process of creating the scene, saying that half the time Keith Harington , who plays John Snow, played with a partial dragon head, and the rest of the time with emptiness or tennis ball to set the correct direction of the actor's eyes. ^[5] A preliminary visualization was also created so that Harington could see what the scene would look like after the completion of post-production, and understand the enormity of Drogon. ^[5] He continued: “This is a great acting skill, being able to come up with your partner on the stage, and being able to control the stage like here. Bravo to Keith Harington. ” ^[5] Shekman also talked about the filming of Harington and Emilia Clark , who plays Daenerys, saying,“ Even if they didn’t see each other so often on the show, except for this season, [Harington and Clark] are very good know each other. So there are friendships that help them as actors. They both respect each other very much and both are very talented, so the scenes are relatively easy to create because of the relationship between them that works. ” ^[5]

Shekman also talked about filming the scene between Samwell Tarley and Lilly in the Citadel, noting that despite the importance of the information that Lilly revealed about Reagar Targaryen, his intention was to focus mainly on John Bradley as Sam, saying, "I knew that the information was very important, but there was no need to underline it at all. I left all this information behind the scenes and headed in the direction of John Bradley, because now he was dealing with a crisis, which was his disappointment in the maisters, and ultimately concludes that he no longer wants to be a part of it. Regarding the fact of discarding information about the origin of John and his right to the throne, I felt that it would be better if this happened without any underlining. " ^[5] He also said that the effect of this revelation would be felt in future episodes how John and Daenerys relations change. ^[five]

In addition, Shekman revealed that the meeting of the characters in the ice cells of the Eastern Watch was shot in one day, and that he hoped that he would have more time to shoot the scene. However, he praised the actors for their performances, saying: “There is just so much tension going on with everyone, and we are creating this idea that this is a group of unlikely comrades who are going to perform an impossible task. All these actors are fantastic. Creating tension between them was not so difficult, considering that they are all smart actors. ” ^[5] For the final episode, Shekman tried to pay homage to director Sam Peckinp , in particular referring to the 1969 film Wild Gang , where Pekingpa was a screenwriter and director. He noted that the scene was “intended to evoke the image of the Wild Gang, walking the city before the start of the big shootout.” ^[five]

Ratings

“East Watch” was watched by 10.72 million viewers during the original show on HBO, which is significantly higher than the rating of 10.17 million viewers for the episode “ Trophies of War ”. ^{[6] [7]} He set a record for "Game of Thrones" as the highest-rated episode of the series to date, ahead of "Trophies of War", which previously held the record of the series. ^[6] Rating in the age category 18-49 was 5.0, which makes it the highest-rated cable TV show on the night of the show. ^[6]

Critical Reaction

Vostochny Dozor received praise from critics who considered John Snow’s interaction with Drogon, Lena Hidi’s performance as Cersei Lannister, Jendri’s return and the tension between Arya and Mizin’s best moments. ^{[8] [9]} He received a 98% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 8 out of 10. ^[10] The consensus of the site reads: “East Watch“ traded the fiery performance of the previous episode of Thrones for a gradual approach but nevertheless delivered several spectacular revelations and reunions. ” ^[10]

Matt Fowler of IGN wrote in his episode review: “The Eastern Watch, perhaps, presented a respite in action, so to speak, but it certainly did not lag behind. It was a masterfully animated episode, with great moments reaching you in every scene. Each person’s previous connections to each other are gathered together, marked and used for further plot in a meaningful and natural way. ” ^[9] He continued, mentioning several reunions and callbacks that occurred throughout the episode, saying:“ From Sam who met Bran at the end of the third season, before Gendry’s long-awaited return and his meetings with Sir Davos and Berik Dondarrion (in the same episode), before Jorah, who found his way to Daenerys, before the tense but fruitful reunion of Tirion and with Jaime, “Eastern Watch” was overflowing with the past, which became present, and was used to fill a sharp, dramatic military machine. " ^[9] He gave the episode a rating of 9.2 out of 10. ^[9] Miles Mcnatt from The AV Club also felt that the episode lacked the action that the previous episode had, “ Trophies of War, ” calling it “moving pieces” episode, but noted: “If you had previously seen pieces moving in the direction to install a series of four or five different culminations of the season , here all the moving pieces are on the same continental those with the effect on the same central arc of the story. ” ^[11] He gave the episode a B + rating. ^[11] Eric Cain of Forbes wrote in his review that he felt that “Eastern Watch” was “the most important, exposing and just outstanding episode at the moment”, ^[12] and Kelly Lawler from USA Today expressed similar thoughts, stating that this was the best episode of the season so far, and noting: “The series needed to rethink itself after it had gathered many characters of the main characters together and narrowed down.” ^[13]

• "East Watch" on HBO.com
• " Eastern Watch » (English) on the Internet Movie Database
• "East Watch" (English) on TV.com