#HTE

Game of Thrones Recap: “Eastwatch”

[Spoilers.]

In last night’s episode of GoT we were treated to this rather epic shot of Daenarys and Drogon presiding over a defeated army.

Since dragons are not large and intimidating enough, Daenarys has placed Drogon up on a hill, to give him that couple of extra feet that make all the difference.

We also see that the Dothraki are a bunch of slobs.

You guys can’t wipe the blood off of your weapons? Do you realize how much harder it will be to clean off after the blood has congealed? I guarantee you these guys leave their spaghetti bowls in the sink without rinsing them. These Dothraki scum remind me of roommates I’ve had. I bet you they don’t buy toilet paper after it runs out either.

Someone who isn’t a slob? Bronn. During a time when dental hygiene is presumably not a big concern, the man has surprisingly good dentition.

Drogon’s teeth, however, are a freaking train wreck. I’m no dentist but at a minimum he’s got gingivitis.

We see this in the scene where Jon reaches out to touch him.

“Gross…gross….”

The texture of Drogon’s skin is pretty gnarly. He could totally have greyscale and you’d never know it.

In one of the sky shots we also get to see Drogon’s P-90X dragon body.

Up at Winterfell, the mystery of Bran’s wheelchair design from last week is solved! We can now clearly see that the two angled elements at the rear of the chassis do indeed meet at a centralized rear stabilizing wheel. (Still can’t see what’s going on up front though.)

I still don’t like the ergonomics of the towel-bar-style push handle. If was there, I’m not sure what would make me want to push him less: The strain the handle would place on my wrists, or the fact that Bran is now kind of a moody dick.

Speaking of chairs, let’s talk the conventional kind. The Red Keep has got fee-yancy chairs:

So does Dragonstone:

The ones at Winterfell are more subdued:

And the Maesters at the Citadel have basic, dorm-room-style chairs.

The Maester’s chambers are interesting, because after lightening the shot we can see how much stuff he’s got in there. There’s even, at far left, an architectural model of a building spire with a spiral staircase inside it.

Also check out this interesting contraption at the back right. I guess this is how you support and swipe through huge scrolls.

I still can’t figure out what this thing in the background is, but at least here we can see it’s got a handle and is meant to be rotated. My guess is it’s some kind of book rack.

Another thing with a handle that’s meant to be rotated is the sharpening wheel in Gendry’s workplace.

Because yes, this episode we finally get to see inside of a workshop!

I like the basic, minimalist design of the sword racks.

Also, check out this shot:

At far right you can see a workbench. If you look closely, it seems we’re looking at an end vise, and it appears to have had its handle and screw removed from the chop, presumably by set dressers seeking to eliminate anachronisms. So I’m guessing that was an actual workbench IRL.

Over at Winterfell there’s a bit of palace intrigue, with Arya discovering a scroll. I screen-shotted it to read it but still can’t make heads nor tails of what’s going on here.

Arya also spies Littlefinger having what looks to be a shady conversation with two Northern lords. What can they be talking about?

“No no no, that’s not how you barbecue. You have to sear the outsides first to seal the juices in. As for the marinade I use, it's….”

We also see where Sansa’s been crashing at Winterfell. This being the North, the bed linens are pretty Spartan.

Cersei’s accommodations, meanwhile, clearly have a freaking pillow menu.

Sam’s bed at the Citadel, barely visible here, offers no pillow menu. But we do see him using an interesting object: A candle reflector, to help increase the amount of reading light.

This episode Sam makes a hard decision and decides to steal a bunch of library books and scrolls.

He then flees the Citadel, in a series of shots so dark we were surprised at what we found when we lightened them. For instance, this shot…

…of Sam taking his last, sad look at the magnificent library, is meant to mirror the shot from last season when he first sees the library.

And the shot of him fleeing with Gilly and the child was so dark that the wagon is practically invisible. Someone had to build that prop, so it’d be nice if we could see the damn thing. Particularly since it’s pretty detailed.

Another cool thing we finally get to see is Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. The design of The Wall is different here, being tiered. And unlike Castle Black, it looks like there’s no elevator.

Lastly, that shot of them walking toward the gate—did it not remind you of football players walking through the tunnel at the Rose Bowl?