‘Game of Thrones’ Episode 5: The Winners and Losers from ‘Eastwatch’

Joey Merkel
TV Game of Thrones
TV Game of Thrones

SPOILER ALERT: Warning, this article contains spoilers from the Season 7, Episode 5 of Game of Thrones, entitled Eastwatch. Proceed at your own risk.

Sunday’s episode of Game of Thrones gave fans a much-needed chance to catch their breaths. While the episode lacked the epic battle scenes seen of late, there were major character developments, with some faring better than others.

Here are the winners and losers from Eastwatch:

Winner: Jon Snow

jon snow game of thrones

He may not end up being the prince that was promised, but with just two episodes left in Season 7, Eastwatch once and for all dictated who you should be rooting for in Game of Thrones. Jon Snow is the hero we want and the hero we deserve. He barely wants the throne yet continues to lead because it’s what his people want. Snow stops at nothing to bring peace to the realms and doubled down this week marching north of The Wall to capture a white walker. Oh, and did anyone else catch Dany’s face when Jon started petting Drogon? Crushing much?

Loser: Dickon and Randyll Tarly

The Dickon thirst was real these past few weeks. His popularity peaked during the loot train battle, when he saved Jaime from death by Dothraki. Randyll was a curmudgeon that didn’t get much face time but that didn’t stop the Mother of Dragons from bar-b-quing them in front of the Lannister army survivors. They all bent the knee, obviously.

Winner: Gilly

gilly men never listen game of thrones

Gilly! You disappear for damn near the entire season and then come back AND TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF. As many have already discovered, Gilly drops the biggest knowledge bomb of the season asking Samwell Tarly what an “annulment” is. What Sam doesn’t understand is that she has stumbled across a diary that legitimizes Jon Snow’s case for the Iron Throne since his parents — Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark — were indeed married. Which leads us to…

Loser: Sam

samwell tarly gilly game of thrones

Bruh! We know you’re through some serious crap right now. Yes, including the actual crap from the bedpans. And none of the maesters believe your story about the white walker you killed. It’s OK, we believe you. But it’s listening time! Sure, we don’t care how many steps are in the Citadel, but you missed likely the single-most important piece of information in the race for the throne. It’s great to read the manual — Gilly proved that.

Winner: Gendry

Gendry

He’s off the boat! We can now safely assume that Gendry hasn’t been rowing for four seasons. Not only did the bastard son of Robert Baratheon return, he inserted himself directly into the storyline by killing two King’s Landing guards and joining the search for White Walkers beyond the wall. Gendry’s no soldier but he’s damn sure someone we want fighting alongside Jon Snow. Let’s all pray we get some more 187’s with that sick warhammer he swings.

Loser: Sansa Stark

People who get on Arya’s bad side seldom keep their lives. While we sincerely doubt Arya would kill her own family, the sisterly love isn’t overflowing at this point. Arya watched as the Lords of the Vale took turns taking shots at the absent Jon and Sansa not sticking up for their brother. Someone needs to tell Sansa what happened the last time a coup was taken up against her brother. It ended poorly.

 Winner: Littlefinger

So far in GoT, it seems the only character that has been able to get the upper hand on Arya is her mentor Jaqen H’ghar. That appeared to change in Eastwatch as we see Littlefinger lurking in the hallway watching Arya leave his bedroom. We’re not sure what he’s going to use that scroll for, but Littlefinger having the upper hand here gives us a feeling of dread we can’t seem to shake.

Loser: Jaime Lannister

He’s not dead or captured, but make no mistake: He’s screwed. After suffering a massive defeat, Jaime returned to King’s Landing to learn Bronn had organized a secret meeting with Tyrion. To make matters worse, when he confronts Cersei regarding the meeting, she knew about it already. When Cersei thinks she is betrayed she doesn’t usually take it so lightly. Her forgiveness probably has something to do with the fact that she’s carrying her brother’s child… again. Tread lightly, Jaime.

Joey Merkel
Joey is a Director of Social Media at FANDOM with a strong affinity for South Park, Harry Potter and the MCU