Games Of Thrones Season 7: What 'Eastwatch' Really Means

There's a distinct chance that if you dared blink during 'Eastwatch' you might have missed a huge swathe of key narrative detail, such was the break-neck speed it hurtled along at. As Ser Davos so masterfully said " nothing f*cks you harder than time", after all, and in this case, the show-makers and director Matt Shackman were faced the almighty, potentially f*cking problem of having limited time and lots of story to tell.

The solution was to unload masses of reveals, fan-service and key plot information in the 59 run-time, throwing all concern for fidelity to geographically-defined travel times out of the window. After watching the White Army walk for seven years and Meera dragging Bran for what felt like roughly 20, it was a shock as much as a revelatory experience.

And the reward for trimming out some of the bridging material was more chances for "oh sh*t" moments, bigger character developing snapshots and exposition that all felt absolutely crucial. Inevitably, though, a lot of what happened won't necessarily pay off immediately, and some of what was revealed requires greater reflection to pick out why it's so important for the shape of things to come.

So what did it all mean?