That about sums up the episode right there. And it can be a useful refrain for those who are also dealing with the pressures of a high-stress job.
This is a very focused episode. Having claimed the Iron Throne at last, Rhaenyra I begins her reign as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. And she is immediately beset with a flood of problems that could easily boil over into major catastrophes if mishandled.
The big development, of course, is the one that bookends the episode. The deceptive scheme of Ormund Hightower; I guess I was wrong about him being more than a new evil villain. Rhaenyra spends a good portion of the episode debating whether or not she should kill her youngest half-brother Daeron… only for Alicent to give away that the boy is an imposter as soon as she sees him. Having deceived the blacks into thinking they’ve surrendered, Ormund and the Hightower host (along with the real Daeron and his dragon) seize the town of Tumbleton. A clear sign that the war is not over, even as the queen burns all of the greens' heraldry.
But I’m more interested in the far more numerous, varied and often mundane issues Rhaenyra faces as queen. She feels pressure to live up to not only her father’s memory, the legacy of her royal forebears and the expectations of her subjects, but also the ancient prophecy that she believes centers around her in some way. And this is putting aside her own burning desires and the fresh traumas still eating away at her, all threatening to overrule her reason and mercy.
Team Green moved the royal treasury out of the city, leaving Team Black broke. One of Rhaenyra’s first acts as queen is to demand tributes of wealth from the great houses. You know that’s gonna go over well. Also, there's no food to feed the people. Rhaenyra's temporary solution to this problem is to openly scold and raid King’s Landing’s greedy aristocracy, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor essentially. A progressive gesture, but, as Torrhen Manderly points out, it was Rhaenyra who created the food scarcity by cutting off trade and goods from the city with the Velaryon naval blockade.
The scattered remains of the Triarchy pirates are spreading into Westeros and wreaking havoc after the Battle of the Gullet. Last episode, some of those pirates inadvertently saved the lives of Larys Strong and Aegon II. Aegon is declared dead by Rhaenyra (Alicent’s idea), which immediately goes wrong when the High Septon refuses to anoint Rhaenyra on the grounds that she has not provided evidence that Aegon (whom he did anoint) is dead. She quickly finds herself in danger of pissing off of the Faith of the Seven.
Corlys wants to legitimize his bastard sons, Alyn and Addam, but her insecurity over her own history with raising children of questionable parentage compels her to clumsily rebuff this request. This leads to an explosive falling out with her Hand and strongest ally.
Then there’s Daemon, back on his bullshit, itching to burn all of their problems away and conquer the world now that his side holds King’s Landing and the Iron Throne. I thought he’d changed somewhat, but he seems to have simply looped his fidelity to Rhaenyra and belief in the prophecy back into his lifelong fantasies of untamed power. He's also a full-blown elitist in regard to the starving populace of King’s Landing and belligerent with any aspect of ruling that doesn’t involve war or dragons. As frazzled and naive as Rhaenyra might be, I think she's handling the demands of leadership better than he would.
A lot of the discourse around this show and the one that came before it is centered around who gets the throne in the end, which I always felt was not the point of either story in any way. So it was refreshing to have an episode that's all about Rhaenyra finally getting to rule after taking her throne, the thing she and the audience have been waiting for the whole show, and we see that it is a heavy and unfulfilling burden. Power and control are never a certainty, even if you have the throne, the city, an army and a bunch of dragons. A good reminder that there’s more at stake than just getting the big chair.
* Hats off to Emma D’Arcy, they owned every minute of this. After almost a season and a half of Rhaenyra being sequestered in an ineffectual position on Dragonstone, her heightened presence as Queen on the Iron Throne — with emphasis on the struggle and demands of being a ruler and a woman — made for an even greater performance than usual.
* A nice bit of foreshadowing in the opening scene: Daeron’s dragon shows no sign of distress or even familiarity when the imposter-Daeron is handed over to Team Black.
* Rhaenyra gets her period right before she receives petitioners as queen for the first time. In the books, one of the legends about Rhaenyra is that she could be seen bleeding after first sitting the Iron Throne, supposedly cutting herself, which many took as evidence that she was unworthy of her power. In the show's more personal look at the character, she does bleed due to menstruation, a natural function of women's bodies that is often stigmatized in society. The whole show (and this episode particularly) offers a more empathetic lens into Rhaenyra, but I thought this was a very good summation of the writers' approach to it.
* Dan Fogler plays Ser Torrhen Manderly, a nobleman from the North with ancestral ties to the Reach, who cheekily matches wits with Rhaenyra.
* I’ve seen a lot of chatter about the Velaryon naming/legitimacy debacle online. I feel both sides have fair reasons for reacting the way they do, with Rhaenyra’s skittishness and Corlys’s outrage. To paraphrase Michael Corleone from The Godfather Part II, they are both part of the same hypocrisy.
* The production quality of ‘Rhaenyra Triumphant’ was pretty masterful. Keeping it mostly confined to the Red Keep and the city allowed for a lot of detail. This episode makes the show feel like a period drama even more than usual.
Quotes:
Daemon: “There is a new queen and she sits her father's throne.”
Alicent: “I have done all I could! Will you blame me only for what men have done?”
This line works exceedingly well for the show’s version of Alicent. But it also encapsulates everything I hate about her and Rhaenyra’s characterization in the show.
Elinda Massey: “For some, it will be enough to say they have looked on a queen.”
Daemon: “You will have justice.”
Rhaenyra: “I will never have justice. But what crumbs of it I may snatch I will devour.”
Alicent: “It is odd to be here with you.”
I agree. I’m over these scenes. Sadly, the writers can't get enough. It’s going for the same vibe as Tyrion and Cersei’s friendly enemy chats in Game of Thrones, but aren’t nearly as effective. And even those scenes strained believability after awhile.
Rhaenyra: “I acknowledge the struggle, but I dispute that I must become what I am not.”
Alicent: “Time will tell.”
Rhaenyra: “My father remained himself.”
Alicent: “Your father lived in a world of his own construction. You and I have never set foot there.”
Daemon: “Aegon the Conqueror had three dragons. You now have six. It is a power beyond imagining. Why scrabble here for gold when the world lies before us? Dorne could be ours. And then Essos and the Free Cities, Yi Ti and its riches. They say there is a city at the edge of the world where men have wings.”
Never has this dude needed to settle down more than now.
Daemon: “You have an empire unassailable. And our children will rule it, forever and a day.”
Rhaenyra: “You style us commandeers and marauders, like the pirates that plague us.”
Daemon: “I style us gods, Rhaenyra. As we were always meant to be.”
Daemon: “You still have to kill Daeron.”
Said like he’s reminding her to pick up milk on the way home or something.
Rhaenyra: “I’ve buried my grief. I feel nothing. Well, no. There is rage. A rage that billows beyond my grasp.”
Mysaria: “I have known such rage.”
Rhaenyra: “I will look on those who killed my sons, Mysaria. I will.”
Corlys Velaryon: “Your son Joffrey is a bastard. Your son Lucerys, whom I named my heir, was a bastard.”
Ser Luthor Largent: “Lord Corlys—”
Corlys: “Your son Jacaerys lived and died a bastard! Say aloud to me the reason your children deserve what mine are denied.”
Rhaenyra: (in High Valyrian) “My arm is long. He cannot win.”
Very well-done. Four and a half out of five royal menstruations.
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