Game of Thrones season 7 episode 5 writer discusses the major taking points from 'Eastwatch'

From reunions to returning characters

Another week, another episode of Game of Thrones for us to decipher, this week featuring a surprise [redacted], and a mysterious [redacted], and the return of [redacted].

**Spoilers for ‘Eastwatch' ahead**

What an episode! As our reviewer said, that felt like four episodes of television in one, with so many plot points unfolding at an incredible rate.

To help us understand everything that happened, writer Dave Hill, who penned the episode (not showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss who are the primary writers) sat down with EW to discuss the thinking behind some of those huge moments.

Talking about Dany executing the Tarlys, the writer explains how the Queen of Dragons didn’t say she would take away their home, only that they kneel: “In one way, it’s a horrible death. On the other hand, they kind of asked for it. It’s a win-win situation and they somehow managed to find the ‘lose’ in that.”

On Jaime, Hill makes a rather funny point about the Lannister not being prepared for losing, but even less prepared to face his sister: “But as hard as it is to deal with Dany and her dragons, it’s much harder to deal with Cersei.”

Moving onto Dany letting Jon go after the White Walkers, there are more hints at an attraction between the two, along with discussion about how Jon would want to ‘break the wheel’ with the Queen of Many Names.

Then, on the most interesting reunion of all, Jaime and Tyrion: “To start a scene from total antagonism and hatred get it to a point of being vaguely the same side… the key is that Jaime knows what Tyrion is saying is true. He may not believe in the Army of the Dead — and, in fact, doesn’t believe it — but Tyrion believes it and is going to dangle the possibility of a truce. That’s worth exploring because the other possibility is death.”

Finally, Hill also spoke about Gendry’s return: “It made sense that Davos would want to save this boy who’s like a surrogate son. And Joe is great which is a big positive.” We’ve gone a little further with the explanation here, detailing exactly why Davos wants Gendry back in the fold.

Meanwhile, there was a huge revelation midway through the episode regarding Jon Snow’s parents, although you may have missed it.