While not nearly as impactful as the previous episode, this one does portray the aftermath quite well. And keeps the ball rolling, as far as the plot goes.
Well, in some ways. Since Rhaenyra's spirited call to action failed and lost her strongest dragonrider, we're back in the stalemate of the Black Council not knowing how to proceed and Team Green getting by on the ruthlessness of Aemond and the strength of his dragon.
As could be expected, Aemond quickly assumes control of the greens faction. Aegon II's a half-dead, comatose slab of charred meat after last episode's dragon battle; Grandmaester Orwyle is not sounding optimistic about the king's chances. Criston Cole, seemingly broken by the Battle of Rook's Rest, meekly submits to his former protege. Alicent naively assumes, once again, that her rational and moralizing influence will prevail when she puts her name forward as a regent. Only to be left speechless when the whole council, including her years-long allies Cole and Larys Strong, all back Aemond One-Eye to rule in his brother's stead as Protector of the Realm. One of the first things he does is forbid any of the starving, discontented city populace from leaving. And given how resentful and bloodthirsty he is, it's pretty clear he's gonna take this war as far as it can go.
The wordless performance from Olivia Cooke as the camera zeroes in on Alicent's reaction to Aemond's takeover cuts deep. Her dawning realization that she's the one who has most endangered the realm, not Rhaenyra.
Rhaenyra is once again thrown off her axis by a death in the family, Rhaenys in this case. Now her only option for a dragonrider is herself, who obviously can't afford to risk her own life. She's forced to rely on Jace and Baela, but placing most of the responsibility on Baela while trying to keep Jace out of harm's way. Jace catches on to this and decides to act on his own initiative to secure House Frey's loyalty, allowing Cregan Stark's northman to cross at the Twins. And he comes up with the plan to sift through the annals of the Targaryen family history and search for distantly related people to become new dragonriders.
It's slow progress on the blacks' end, and starting to get a little repetitive, but the difficulties Rhaenyra is facing are fleshed out well enough that I can forgive it.
Meanwhile, Daemon's still going batty at Harrenhal. Unlike the Dragonstone segments, this is a better kind of repetitive. Daemon tries to win the Blackwoods and Brackens, both powerful Riverlands houses, to his side. This being Daemon, he tries to do it in a viciously underhanded way, giving Willem Blackwood the clear to hit the belligerent Brackens where they live. His ego's out of control, stoking rivalries for his own gain and even brazenly acting as though he's the real monarch between him and Rhaenyra.
This does nothing to help his maddening experience in what I call the medieval version of the Overlook Hotel. When he's not suffering from insomnia, the dude's having twisted sexual dreams about a woman who turns out to be the mother he never knew.
It's rough, but gets even rougher when he's confronted by a collection of River lords, outraged at him allowing the Blackwoods to raid the Bracken lands and terrorize their people. Daemon's usually able to shrug off the judgement of his peers, but he seems quite affected by getting cornered and called out for his tyrannical behavior here; likely due to his vision of Laena, who regards his actions with sadness. More signs of a guilty conscience.
What this episode mainly does is tell us that things are coming to a head on all of these fronts. Daemon's finding out he's not as clever as he thinks. The vengefulness of the greens is becoming a problem for them even more than it is for their enemies. And Rhaenyra's desperation to gain an advantage is leading her to make a lot of drastic decisions.
Blacks and greens:
* Seeing Meleys's giant severed head getting carted into the capital was sad. Though I like that Cole's plan to spin the slaying of the dragon as a glorious victory backfires, because all it does is freak people out and shatter the magical image they had of dragons.
* Even having read the histories and knowing it was coming, I still wasn't prepared for how horrific Aegon's injuries would be. Seeing them pry off the armor that melted into his skin. I don't want to feel bad for Aegon, but they make it so damn hard.
* Criston Cole got "some 900 men" killed over that one small keep.
* As easy as it was to feel for her, I couldn't help but be amused at Alicent's apparent shock that her faction — the one specifically championing the male right to rule over the female — wouldn't accept her as its figurehead. And it's a little rich of her to claim that she was ruling the realm when we know her father, the long-serving Hand of the King, was there the entire time.
*There's a pretty cool match cut between Rhaenyra gazing into a hearth at Dragonstone and Daemon gazing into a hearth at Harrenhal.
* Lord Amos Bracken may be a jerk, but he's brave enough to defy Daemon and Caraxes. And despite appearing to be an honorable sort, Ser Willem Blackwood agreed to massacre Bracken's subjects with very little persuasion from Daemon. Overall, I like how much attention is being given to the Riverlands in this season.
* Despite being a major character, Corlys Velaryon hasn't done much this season. He's the most impressive lord in the realm, but he's crushed by the loss of his family, first his children and now Rhaenys. His scene with Baela was one of the episode's best, in my opinion. Maybe we'll be getting a little more of him now that he's accepted Rhaenyra's offer to become Hand of the Queen.
* Lady Jeyne Arryn is introduced after Rhaena makes it to the Eyrie with the queen's youngest sons. I kind of enjoy this Lady Arryn's brand of aloofness.
* Rhaenyra angrily bemoaning the highborn glass ceiling was very Cersei Lannister. Unlike Cersei, Rhaenyra seems to have an actual interest in learning how to fight with a sword, as opposed to simply complaining that no one ever taught her. She's reading up on her ancestor Visenya Targaryen, a storied warrior queen.
* The poor blacksmith Hugh Hammer is our main window into the smallfolk's plight. He and his wife struggle in vain to feed their ill daughter, who appears to be near death by the end of the episode.
* Mysaria and Rhaenyra are trying to use the discontented smallfolk of King's Landing to their advantage. Near the end, Rhaenyra's handmaiden Elinda is sent into the capital. Probably to help stir up the masses.
Quotes:
Townsperson: “Mark my words, this is a black omen.”
Young man: “I thought the dragons was gods.”
Hugh Hammer: “… It’s just meat.”
Ser Alfred Broome: “I could never doubt your capability, or your quickness of mind. It is merely that the gentler sex, heretofore, has not been much privy to the strategies of battle or their execution.”
Queen Rhaenyra I: “There has been peace in our lifetime. You’ve seen no more battles than I have.”
Daemon Targaryen: “I came here to raise swords, not corpses.”
Mysaria: “To the discontented, rumors are feed.”
Alicent: “So you cast me aside.”
Criston: “Have I not spared you? What we must do now is… terrible. Will you preside over it? Is this who you are, Alicent?”
Alicent: “I did not ask to be spared. And I did not give you leave to speak my name.”
Daemon: “There’s news, then?”
Alys Rivers: “News? No. What I hear, I hear in the wind. Cries of anguish. Children being taken from their mothers, men coming home to find their doors unlatched… their wives carried away.”
Daemon: “War is a terrible thing.”
Daemon: “That fool, Aegon, is unlike to survive. The realm will suffer if Aemond One-Eye rules. You should pray you never meet him. He will cut you down soon as wish you good day.”
Alys: “I’d heard the same about you.”
Corlys Velaryon: “Granddaughter… I would make you my heir.”
Baela Targaryen: “I am blood and fire. Driftmark must pass to salt and sea.”
King Aegon II: “Mummy...”
Four out of five starving cities.
I just saw an announcement that HotD will end with season four -- and three hasn't started filming yet?
ReplyDeletehttps://tvline.com/news/house-of-the-dragon-ending-season-4-hbo-1235311849/
Sounds about right, but longer than this story really even needs. I want them to be singularly focused on adapting the Dunk & Egg novellas. Targ dynasty is just not that interesting when they're not allowed to timeskip around. I don't understand the long-term appeal of the Dance of the Dragons.
DeleteYeah, they have a clearer idea of when to end it than Game of Thrones did. Which is hopefully a good thing.
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