Tag: House of the Dragon

The board is set. Pieces from the past are in place. And they’re moving fast.

Viserys’s Desperation

The King is dying by the second. Collapsing multiple times, the Iron Throne wounds are festering all over the place on him. Even with this, he braves stormy weather to go to Driftmark and set things right with Lord Corlys Velaryon, by combining their houses through the marriage of Rhaenyra and Laenor, giving Corlys what he’s been vying for since day one: his family and blood on the Iron Throne. Viserys isn’t used to being the one to ask for things, because being the king, his word is law. He recognizes the danger that Rhaenyra will be in if he dies and she is still unwed and heirless, especially with his son Aegon in the picture. He needs to cement his daughter as the one heir, and this marriage should seal the deal. Maybe…

Another key factor is Lyonel Strong, the replacement Hand of the King, having taken over from Otto Hightower. He’s been following Otto’s example in finagling his children into the mix, with his son Larys whispering in Alicent’s ear to create more of a rift between her and Rhaenyra. Passing on the knowledge that Rhaenyra drank the moon tea seemed to cause Alicent quite a problem. And Larys really laid it on thick that he hoped Rhaenyra isn’t ill. The other Strong, Harwin, saved Rhaenyra from the brawl at the end of the episode. If you didn’t notice on first watch, take a look at how Lyonel prods Harwin to go after her. Shades of Otto telling Alicent to comfort Viserys in the early part of the season.

The Green Dress

Alicent has tried to play nice with Rhaenyra. She didn’t choose to be Viserys’s wife and has been a pawn of her father’s since the very beginning. She is doing what the Westerosi society requires of a noblewoman: to marry a lord, be faithful, follow the rules, and spit out those kids. So when she sees that Rhaenyra is throwing a fit because she has to marry, and can even choose who to marry, it’s easy to feel sympathetic towards Alicent. Last week we noted that Rhaenyra lied right to her face about her extracurricular activities and that quickly came to a head this episode. Alicent brings Ser Criston Cole in to grill him about Rhaenyra, still thinking that it was Daemon who was the partner. Criston folds like a lawn chair and confesses almost instantly, with Alicent taking it all in silence and rage that her best friend would lie so easily to her.

This combined with Otto stating that her children will never be safe if Rhaenyra takes the throne, were the final dominoes for Alicent. In his mind, the children will always be rivals and Aegon being male makes him the better claimant, and Rhaenyra will eliminate them from contention. Her arriving late to the feast dressed in traditional Hightower green was a statement in itself, and this is the scene that names Alicent’s faction The Greens. The Hightower light burns green when at war.

Laenor, Rhaenyra, and That Scene

Rhaenyra and Laenor grew up together, so they’re very familiar with each other. Laenor is gay, Rhaenyra knows this, and takes some advice from Daemon in that they will marry, make public appearances together, do all the necessary stuff, but also have some paramours on the side. Laenor’s partner is Joffrey Lonmouth, and for now, Rhaenyra’s side piece is Criston Cole. Both Laenor and Rhaenyra agree with this notion, and happily go into the feast with a plan in place.

Criston Cole will be one of the most polarizing characters in this series that isn’t named Rhaenyra or Daemon. He feels that he’s simply being used and that his vows mean nothing to his Princess (which is very true). The only way he sees he can redeem his honor is if he and Rhaenyra run away to the Free Cities in Essos and start over. For some reason, Rhaenyra doesn’t want to give up her entire kingdom and family for a guy she’s been sneaking around with. Who knew! So with them done and finished, Cole was staring daggers at Rhaenyra, something Joffrey noticed. Joffrey sauntered over, thinking that he could come in and make quick friends with his paramour buddy, and what he got in return was his entire skull caved in with everyone looking on in horror. Whoops! Maybe don’t approach a Kingsguard knight sworn to celibacy and tell him you know that he’s been porking the Princess he’s sworn to protect, since, you know, if it gets out that is a death sentence for him. Cole, destroyed by the entire ordeal, was about to seppuku in the Godswood before Alicent came to save the day.

Rhaenyra and Laenor’s wedding was a little depressing after that debacle, along with Viserys collapsing for the 17th time this episode.

Halfway Through Season 1

This episode ends the first part of the timeline for House of the Dragon, and both Rhaenyra and Alicent will have different actors (Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke) take the stage beginning in Episode 6, which also means there will be a substantial time jump. Next time you’ll see them, Rhaenyra will have 3 children to keep up with Alicent. From the promotional pictures, Rhaenyra’s children are all dark-haired. Pretty odd that two silver-haired parents gave birth to someone with dark hair.

The sides are established, the seeds have been planted, and you’ll see the growth next Sunday. It’ll only get crazier from here.

Phew. There is much to unpack in the fourth episode of HBO’s latest hit, House of the Dragon. Luckily for readers, the purpose of this article is only to address the best and worst of all the chaos. It’s almost comical that the episode is titled King of the Narrow Sea, after the fancy new moniker given to Matt Smith‘s Daemon Targaryen, because really, this week was all about Milly Alcock‘s Princess Rhaenyra. With Paddy Considine‘s King Viserys hellbent on finding her a groom, Rhaenyra is forced to confront what it is she truly wants out of a relationship, and the answer isn’t so simple. As with any breathing human being, her Grace does not want to feel like a prisoner in her own marriage. Unfortunately, the rules of the time are the rules of the time and this type of arrangement may be a fate she’s not ever able to outmaneuver. Her restlessness ultimately leads to a, well, uncomfortable night out with her uncle, and a few realizations that make her slightly more comfortable in her own skin.

Quite a few other major developments occur, like the dramatic demotion of Rhys Ifans‘ Otto Hightower and the ongoing depressive state of his daughter, Alicent, played by Emily Carey. Yet, none of those things ever really live up to the shock value of the episode’s main plotline, which holds the honor of producing both talking points in this week’s breakdown. So, without further ado, it’s time to talk even more about superstar Milly Alcock.

Best – Milly Alcock

Milly Alcock will not be around House of the Dragon forever. In fact, she won’t even be around for the entirety of this season. But boy, oh boy, is she making the most of the time she has as Princess Rhaenyra. Alcock has been the standout of this show from the very beginning, and King of the Narrow Sea proves exactly why that is. Rhaenyra is not a simple type of character to portray, having to come off as both stubborn and charming at the same time while also maintaining a sense of regality in every action. It’s much easier to be unlikable than not in this kind of role, but Alcock manages to pull off every scene with grace, poise, and appeal. She makes the audience want to follow her down whatever path she travels, and that is a skill that simply can’t be taught.

King of the Narrow Sea deals with a lot of subject matter that won’t sit well with everyone. There are some very dark rabbit holes that Rheanyra finds herself exploring. Yet, in spite of that, Alcock remains a steadfast champion of everything that’s good in House of the Dragon. She takes the dark path, however terrible it may seem, and flips it into one that the audience is curious in exploring themselves. She sells the story, and her character, as something worthwhile, even when a person’s brain might be telling them otherwise. This show could not have found a better successor to Emilia Clarke‘s Daenerys, and fans should remain hopeful the series finds a way to keep her around even after Rheanyra hits her growth spurt.

Worst – Incest, Duh

This almost doesn’t even feel worth typing. By far the worst part of King of the Narrow Sea, and perhaps the show at large, is Daemon manipulating his teenage niece into trying to have sex with him. Inside of a brothel, no less. It’s a power move and a disgusting one at that. Yes, Daemon is, thus far, the villain of this show and at no point does the project want us to be on his side. However, that does not negate the fact that every second of that sequence was terrible enough to make a viewer’s skin crawl ten times over. The word one might be looking for is probably “icky”. This type of sexual deviancy, a phrase that feels strange to use, is becoming something of a theme for House of the Dragon. Hopefully, it’s just a phase and one that the show grows out of sooner than later.

A Historically Accurate Royal Hunt

One of the biggest plot points in this episode was Viserys’ royal hunt, where he and about half of the Red Keep went into the Kingswood to hunt down a rare white hart in celebration of his son Aegon’s second nameday. This is actually pretty accurate to what medieval royal hunts looked like, where the monarch would wait for his huntsmen to find their prey and the king would deliver the killing blow. So while this may be more in line with how it actually may have happened, we’ve already seen a king in Game of Thrones go hunting through the Kingswood, with nobody but a Kingsguard, his brother, and a cupbearer. Robert Baratheon has no time to sit in a tent when a boar the size of an elephant is waiting to gut him to pieces!

Viserys chose to spend his time waiting for his prize drinking and getting into whisper shouting matches with his daughter, Otto Hightower, and a Lannister about the war in the Stepstones. Paddy Considine is really nailing the role of Viserys, trying to please everyone while drinking himself into a stupor, and in doing so, making things so much worse. And did anyone catch those missing fingers from the Iron Throne cut? Bad omen. Another note is that the hunters couldn’t track the white hart, they only found a brown one, and Viserys could not even cleanly kill the poor replacement. The rare white hart did appear for Rhaenyra, but she chose to let it go. Something to remember moving forward.

A lot of time was spent this episode with Viserys combating different people (Hightower and Lannister) for questioning his line of succession. Viserys finally made a stand and cemented his daughter as heir, even confirming it to her. He did have a moment of weakness with Alicent in wondering if he had the made wrong choice in Rhaenyra, but then doubled down on his choice afterwards. This confirmation of Rhaenyra as heir should make her more interactive in court and around her family, but the lingering question remains: what happens between Rhaenyra and Aegon when Viserys is gone?

Rhaenyra and Company

The episode provided some quality one-on-one time with Criston and Rhaenyra, after Rhaenyra ran off and Cole had to go after her. A callback to King Robert showed up when a (much smaller) boar attacked Rhaenyra and Criston, but the Kingsguard knight made short work of it. It did make quite a striking visual with them arriving back at camp dragging the carcass and Rhaenyra being soaked in blood.

Another significant dynamic to keep an eye on is the rivalry between Alicent and Rhaenyra. So far, Alicent has seemed very sympathetic towards Rhaenyra who is giving her the cold shoulder. How long will Alicent continue to play nice, especially with her father in her ear whispering that her own son Aegon should be heir and not her stepdaughter?

War in the Stepstones

A big difference between the show and the book is that Viserys was not supporting the Stepstones throughout the war. In Fire and Blood, Viserys was happy to pay for Corlys and Daemon’s war in order to keep him out of trouble. In the show, Corlys and Daemon are struggling, and were on their last legs before Viserys chose to send a small force. This minimal help drove Daemon into a rage and one last assault, basically soloing the Crab’s forces before Corlys’s army along with his son, Laenor, and his Dragon Seasmoke came to save the day. Laenor isn’t a warrior in Fire and Blood, he doesn’t even get knighted until he’s required to for marriage, so it’s quite a change from the books and something that probably should have been set up a little better to have a bigger impact.

One major complaint about this episode is that Daemon’s duel with the Crabfeeder took place entirely offscreen. I was really looking forward to that, especially with the Crab looking like Jason Voorhees incarnate. Oh well. We’ll see how Viserys handles Daemon being the self-proclaimed King in the Narrow Sea next week.

House of the Dragon is back for it’s third week with one hummdinger of an episode, and Murphy’s Multiverse is back to tackle the best and worst moments it had to offer. Second of His Name continues to play with the series’ standing theme of succession and the royal bloodline, pitting Milly Alcock‘s Princess Rhaenyra against her infant half-brother Aegon and causing Paddy Considine‘s King Viserys to question every decision he’s ever made. Meanwhile, Matt Smith‘s ever-enigmatic Prince Daemon wages war against the vile Crabfeeder and his army in an ownership conflict over the Stepstones. Both plotlines get rather intense surprisingly fast, and together make for a memorable few days in the history of Westeros. Let’s get to dissecting.

Best – The Decline of King Viserys & Daemon’s Last Stand

Second of His Name was perhaps the most action-packed installment of House of the Dragon yet, and somehow, none of the violence managed to rank as the definitive best part of the episode. That honor belongs instead to King Viserys and his slow descent into madness, or at the very least, severe depression. Between all the steamy love scenes and insane bloodshed, viewers tend to forget that the true heart of George R.R. Martin‘s universe is mental gymnastics. Whether it be political rivalries or personal vendettas, House of the Dragon and its kin are typically at their most entertaining when the show is focused on big decision making. Second of His Name is no different, and shines the brightest when it opens the curtain on Viserys’ inner-mind.

The King is being forced to choose between duty and family, which wouldn’t normally be so hard if it wasn’t for the fact that this time his duty is his family. After everything, he has finally welcomed a son into his life, a development that directly harms his relationship with his beloved daughter. On top of that, the mother of his son is his daughter’s former best friend, and the child of his own Hand, further complicating things in both his home and his court. Now, everyone wants to know who his true successor will be, and everyone thinks the lineage should somehow involve their own offspring. All Viserys wants to do is drink wine and go on a hunt, and the sudden pressures of his job all coming down upon him at once cause the mental break that’s seemed inevitable since the beginning.

Considine‘s acting is superb as he portrays a ruler with so many emotions, he can’t decipher which is anger and which is sadness. His fireside soliloquy to Emily Carey‘s Alicent Hightower is a highlight of the season thus far, and the moment he begins to lose it in the tent – with everything fading to black around him – is peak television storytelling. Even his cathartic, disturbing kill on the hunt was able to speak a thousand words without Viserys even opening his mouth. This is exactly the kind of thing fans cling to this world for, and it was great to see it back at the forefront of the franchise.

That being said, it would be remiss not to mention all the very cool action that does take place during this episode. Desperate to win his war on his own, without the help of the Crown, Daemon plays dirty and uses a white flag as a ploy to gain the upper hand on his opponent – the Crabfeeder. His last stand, which is pretty much mostly just Daemon cleaning house all by his lonesome, is exhilarating to watch, and the visuals as the battle comes to an end are stunning. It’s also a great example of using action as a device to comment on the nature of a character. Daemon will not be outdone, and he will not be tricked, but he is fine pulling some tricks of his own.

Worst – Otto Hightower

Rhys Ifans is doing a wonderful job as Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, and maybe that’s why he’s so convincingly unlikable week in and week out. As per usual, the worst part of Second of His Name comes in the form of Hightower manipulating both his boss and his family into giving him more power. The schemer is already glib about his daughter’s betrothal to the King, yet still finds a way to suggest the horrific idea that his grandson – also the King’s son – be wed to Rheanyra. That’s right, he would like a sister to marry her much-younger brother so that his blood is tied even closer to the Crown. Very Game of Thrones, but also pretty disgusting.