Game of Thrones season 7 is nearly over, but there are still two episodes to go, and both promise to be ones to remember.
At the end of “Eastwatch,” HBO was kind enough to serve up a supersized trailer for Episode 706 (official episode title yet to be announced). It’s just a hair over a full minute long, and contains 28 separate shots. Watch it below:
We haven’t spent a lot of time in the far north lately, but the trailer is drenched in it — it’s snowing in almost every shot! Let’s break the trailer down shot by shot and see what bubbles up.
We open on icy northern crags, everything colored an icy winter blue.
The camera swings down and to the left to reveal Jon Snow looking worried. Cue Beric Dondarrion’s ominous voiceover: “Death is the enemy.”
The camera swoops over Jon’s expedition trekking across the frozen waste.
You can’t blame the Hound and Tormund Giantsbane for looking a bit anxious. How do you separate one wight from the herd, anyway? Tormund does have a big rope.
A POV shot from behind the Hound and Thoros of Myr as they look at an icy peak. Dondarrion’s voiceover continues: “The first enemy and the last.”
We briefly visit Dragonstone, although the images still have that blue-silver tone. The wind is howling. Here, Daenerys and Tyrion wait for something. Is a snowstorm approaching?
Tyrion turns to camera, looking concerned.
Daenerys remains stoic, but something major is obviously happening. Are they waiting to see if Jon can deliver a wight to Cersei, or are they facing another kind of peril?
Fade to black. “And the enemy always wins,” says Dondarrion.
Out in the northern waste, Jon Snow spins around …
… to discover an undead horde charging right him. Instead of finding one wight, he’s found hundreds.
Jon steps forward through falling snow. We hear him take an echoing breath.
Cut to Dondarrion, with his grim smile, finishing his monologue: “And we still need to fight him.”
The falling snow has become a blizzard. Jon Snow, Jorah Mormont and the members of the expedition, backed into a defensive knot, raise their weapons. A terrible, inhuman shriek rises on the score.
Cut to a slightly wider shot that includes Tormund, wielding a battle axe.
The trailer relocates us to the far more placid Winterfell, which is nonetheless getting buried in snow. We hear Arya in voiceover: “You’re scared, aren’t you?”
Arya appears to be speaking to Sansa, who fearfully closes a door.
We move back to the far north. The Hound and Thoros of Myr (partially offcscreen above) hold their ground. The music stops, replaced by a low, echoing growl.
Jorah also holds the line. “What are you scared of?” Arya asks in the voiceover.
That. They’re scared of that. A wight charges, sword raised.
The Hound obliterates a wight (perhaps the one in the previous shot) with a what looks like a hammer — it’s smaller than Gendry’s hammer, though. Where is Gendry?
The music surges. Graphic card: “Winter.”
Begin fast edit montage: Jon battles a White Walker, Valyrian steel versus magical ice blade.
Gendry is in the mix now, war hammering a wight. Ser Davos was right: the boy can handle himself.
Graphic card: “Is.” What will the last card read? WHAT WILL IT READ?
Armed figures carrying torches charge out what looks like the gate under Castle Black. Is The Wall under assault?
Arya, looking inscrutable, faces off with Sansa.
Sansa is realizing what Arya has become. She may have reason to worry.
Graphic card: “Here.” Never would have guessed.
Beric Dondarrion lights up his sword. Yeah, they showed this shot a lot in the preseason trailers. Not hard to figure out why — it ranks high up there on the dramatic coolness scale.
The undead horde chases Jon’s expedition towards a rock outcropping, the probable location of their last stand.
Jon runs like the dickens.
Ahead of Tormund on their headlong dash, Jon glances back. We’ve seen this shot before, too. The music accelerates into a thunder; drums pounding, Jon gasping for air. Cut to black. Music stops. Jon gasps.
The music snaps back in. Fade up on the Night King with White Walkers and his undead army behind him.
Wowza. HBO gave us plenty to chew on this week, and it was all blue-toned and covered in snow. Sharpen your blade, my friends. We’re heading north of The Wall.
Next: Knee-Jerk Reactions to 'Eastwatch'
Or we could scratch it all and put Gilly on the Iron Throne. I like that better.
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