Tag: Matt Smith

House of the Dragon Season Two, Episode Eight, The Queen Who Ever Was Review: Worst Episode of the Series?

I was excited for the Season Two finale of House of the Dragon. 
The previous episode, “The Red Sowing”, was one of my favorites of the series, so I was anticipating the season would likewise end on a great note.
Unfortunately, House of the Dragon followed up one of its best episodes with easily its worst for me.
Directed by Geeta Vasant Patel, “The Queen Who Ever Was” not only ends Season Two on an anticlimactic note but also has plenty of poorly integrated scenes, scenes that go nowhere and, worst of all, two cases of extreme character assassination.
The episode begins with Tyland Lannister negotiating with the Triarchy.
Over the course of the episode, we see him struggle, having to engage in a mud fight with Admiral Lohar to win the Triarchy’s support.
These scenes all feel very rushed, considering they are just shoved into the season finale.
If this storyline had been stretched out over previous episodes, maybe it would have been better.
A counter point to this is that Tyland and the newly introduced Lohar are just not interesting enough to carry their own storyline.
Sadly, this is not the only story with scenes spread across the episode which lacks intrigue.
Throughout “The Queen Who Ever Was”, we get brief scenes of Rhaena running through the Vale, looking for a wild dragon.
Not only is Rhaena unlikeable here because she abandoned her half-siblings, but the storyline also makes little sense because somehow no one noticed she was gone.
The episode ends with her finding the dragon, which has a cool design, but that is the last we see of Rhaena this season, making all of the buildup she got seem like a waste of time.
The Tyland and Rhaena scenes feel like they could have been removed in favor of focusing on more interesting events, like Aemond burning down a city that is loyal to the Blacks.
We only see the aftermath of this attack, removing a lot of its impact.
If we had seen Aemond actually burn the city, driven by his anger of the Blacks recruiting new dragon riders last episode, it could have been a big moment for his character.
Instead, it feels kind of hollow.
Speaking of those new dragon riders, Ulf is already letting the power get to his head, being disrespectful towards Jace.
This only furthers Jace’s fear that these Dragonseeds could prove to be more of a threat than allies.
Rhaenyra is not likely to listen to his protests, however.
She is, thankfully, finally listening to Corlys.
He was named Hand of the Queen in Episode Five, but he has bizarrely never been seen advising Rhaenyra until now.
It honestly felt like Mysaria was Hand of the Queen rather than him.
Now, we finally get to see him advising Rhaenyra to take the war to the Greens, while also unveiling his new ship, dubbing it “The Queen Who Ever Was” after Rhaenys, which is a nice touch.
Corlys is also in the best scene of the episode, when he tries to offer Alyn help, only for his illegitimate son to confront him with all of the pain he put him and Addam through by neglecting them.
Abubakar Salim gives a powerful performance here, and it makes me more excited to see him in Season Three.
Hopefully, we will see Corlys advising Rhaenyra more next season, as well.
She is certainly going to need all of the advice she can get, given that one of her plans failed so badly this episode.
The Lord she sent to access Daemon ends up betraying her, wanting to support Daemon’s claim instead.
Rhaenyra is just lucky Daemon had a vision about how terrible Season Eight was and now wants to stop it from happening.
That joke brings me to Daemon’s part of the story, as he finally makes his choice regarding his place in the world, deciding to stay loyal to Rhaenyra after his vision of the coming Whiter Walker threat.
While this was a big moment from Daemon, I do feel like House of the Dragon leans way too heavily on the events of Game of Thrones at times.
I wish it could just be its own show, especially how a lot of us do not want to be reminded of Season Eight.
Along with this, Daemon and Rhaenyra reconciling makes me wonder just what the point was of that bizarre make out scene between Rhaenyra and Mysaria in Episode Six?
That scene has never been addressed since and it probably never will now that Rhaenyra and Daemon are back on the same page.
However, Daemon’s storyline has an even worse problem, which is the complete character assassination of Helaena.
Helaena appears in Daemon’s vision, revealing herself to have powers similar to Bran’s in Game of Thrones. 
She then gives him some advice.
“This is all a story. And you’re but one part in it. You know your part. You know what you must do.”
I hated this.
Daemon is responsible for the brutal murder of Helaena’s son, and I am supposed to believe that she is willing to help him after that?
Why?
She should hate his guts.
In episode two, we saw how traumatizing the death of her son was for her and this scene lessens that impact.
This is the first character assassination of the episode but there is still one more and it is far worse.
I am getting ahead of myself, though.
While, yes, the scene with Daemon and Helaena is bad, at least there are a couple of good scenes to balance the episode out a little.
The first of these is the already mentioned Alyn scene, but there is also one of Criston, where Gwayne confronts him over his relationship with Alicent.
The scene is a bit weird since Gwayne confronts Criston out in the open, practically telling everyone who did not already know that the King’s widow is having an affair.
That being said, the scene does have the best dialogue of the episode, as Criston shows how nihilistic he has become.
“Perhaps all men are corrupt and true honor is a mist that melts in the morning.”
Criston may be a complete and utter jerk, but damn did that line feel like something George R.R Martin would write.
Criston is faithful to Alicent… it is just a shame that she is currently willing to sell him and every single person in her family besides Helaena up the river.
After learning Aemond wants to force Helaena to fight, Alicent goes to Rhaenyra in secret to negotiate, being willing to surrender King’s Landing to her once Aemond leaves.
At first, Alicent attempts to claim she can convince Aegon to bend the knee, but Rhaenyra refuses, saying Aegon has to die for her claim to the Iron Throne to succeed.
So, obviously, Alicent says no, right?
I mean, this is the woman who threw herself in front of a dragon to defend her son in Season One, Episode Nine.
She would never sacrifice her children after being so afraid for their safety previously, right?
Nope, she agrees to sacrifice Aegon and, by extension, Aemond, Otto and Daeron, the latter of whom she wanted to know about just a few episodes ago.
This completely destroys Alicent’s character.
She was the one who turned her children against Rhaenyra in the first place and now she is willing to have them executed?
Not that it will happen though, because Aegon flees the city with Larys this episode, which will probably cause yet another misunderstanding between Rhaenyra and Alicent in Season Three.
As for Aegon himself, Tom-Glynn Carney did a fantastic job this season.
I somehow both sympathize with his character and despise him.
This is what the show should have been going for with Alicent.
Instead of the ruthless, power-hungry woman who loved her children from the book, we get the complete opposite, someone who wants peace even if it means her own children have to die.
Seeing what it led to, I now really don’t like the switch in Alicent’s character in “Lord of the Tides.”
If she had crowned Aegon because she wanted to, rather than because she misheard Viserys, it would have made her a lot more interesting.
Honestly, Rhaenyra suffers a lot from these kinds of issues as well.
In the Season One finale, Rhaenyra’s face after she learned of Luke’s death promised vengeance.
In Season Two, however, apart from Episode One, this desire for revenge because of her son’s death has completely disappeared.
She has been so pro-peace this season, even when it is absolutely obvious that the other side is not going to surrender.
I wish the show had just kept at what it was initially building up between Rhaenyra and Alicent, a friendship turned bitter and hateful rivalry.
Their children have literally been killing each other and they are still somehow friends.
Alicent even wants Rhaenyra to come with her which is just bizarre.
Where exactly would you two go where you would not be noticed?
At least the cinematography and Ramin Djawadi’s score are excellent, as this final, awful scene brings the season to an end on an incredibly anticlimactic note.
Overall, “The Queen Who Ever Was” is a bad finale.
Sure, it has some great scenes, like Alyn and Criston’s, but the rest of the scenes either feel shoved in, pointless, or have blatant character assassination.
As for the season as a whole, I have mixed feelings.
There have been amazing episodes, specifically Episodes Two, Four and Seven, but a lot of the other ones have been slow.
This would have been forgivable if they had built up to a good finale but, instead, we got the worst episode of the show.
I sincerely hope the writing quality will improve for Season Three, otherwise this show could be in trouble.
That being said, the writing for “The Queen Who Ever Was” is not as bad as Season Eight of Game of Thrones.
So, at least there is that.

Book Spoilers Section:
You know, it’s funny.
I spent the past few episodes planning a rant for when Rhaena claimed Sheepstealer but the writers cut the scene before it happened.
A part of me wonders if the writers are just waiting to see fan reception for Rhaena before they commit to abandoning Nettles entirely but that is probably not it.
I mean, why would they commit to having Sheepstealer in the Vale if they were not going to have Rhaena claim it?
And if Nettles does show up next season, then her storyline will probably be considerably weaker than the book, since the show spent so much time building up to another character getting her dragon.
At least Sheepstealer’s design looks cool.
Speaking of new dragons, we also got to see Tessarion briefly at the end of the episode.
I hope the show does Daeron justice.
Another interesting thing is Otto being in prison at the end.
This is completely book original, and I wonder where the show is going with it.
Perhaps it will be a way to tie him into Daeron’s storyline, like I speculated in prior reviews.
Along with Daeron, next season we also have the fall of King’s Landing and the Battle of the Gullett to look forward to.
The latter is what was being built up to with those Tyland and Lohar scenes.
However, that really does not justify those scenes’ existence, in my opinion.
All it really would have required is a simple message from Tyland saying he had got the Triarchy’s support, not a weird scene of mud fighting.
Oh, well, hopefully the battle will be good, along with the writing.
As you can see, the poor quality of this episode’s writing has me concerned for Season Three.
I really hope we don’t get Aemond hallucinating at Harrenhal with Alys Rivers when he eventually takes the castle.
Could you imagine?
I, unfortunately, can.
As for Season Two itself, I would still say it is good overall, but the writing is a definite step down from Season One.

House of the Dragon Season Two, Episode Seven, The Red Sowing Review: Best Episode of the Season?

My favorite part of Fire and Blood was the sowing of the seeds.
I just loved the concept of having Targaryen and Valyrian bastards from the smallfolk claim dragons.
So, obviously, this was the part of the story I was most excited to see in House of the Dragon. 
Well, this storyline finally got adapted in Episode Seven of Season Two, “The Red Sowing”, and it did not disappoint.
In fact, I would say that in some ways the show actually did better than the book.
Directed by Loni Peristere, the episode begins with the first of many cinematic shots, as we get a brilliant extreme wide shot of Syrax and Seasmoke facing off, Rhanerya having chased Addam down.
She confronts him about claiming Seasmoke, understandably suspicious, but Addam asserts Seasmoke claimed him, voicing his wish to learn the way of dragon riders and serve her.
Noticeably, he does not admit to Corlys being his father.
Word of Addam claiming Seasmoke soon gets back to Larys through Iron Rod.
Larys, however, chooses not to bring this to Aemond, which is unusual, even if the information is currently unreliable.
That is unless you consider the fact that Aemond clearly despises Larys, who is now trying to get on Aegon’s good side.
He may have deliberately withheld the information to weaken Aemond’s position.
We see later on in the episode that he is continuing to aid Aegon, although through indelicate means, as he has Orwyle helping the king walk, despite the agonizing pain.
Meanwhile, back with the Blacks, Mysaria convinces Rhanerya to use the Smallfolk to fill her ranks of dragon riders, while Corlys meets with Addam.
The conversation between the two is understandably awkward, given that they both know their relation but refuse to acknowledge it.
Corlys ends the conversation by telling Addam “Well done,” probably the first bit or praise he has ever given his son, based on the emotional look upon Addam’s face.
Following this, we get one of the best scenes of the episode, as the Harrenhal plot finally goes somewhere.
Oscar Tully (Archie Barnes) arrives to meet with Daemon after his grandfather’s death.
He swears his allegiance to the Blacks but maintains it will be difficult to control the riverlords because of how much they hate Daemon, due to him encouraging Willem Blackwood’s war crimes.
All of the lords and ladies meet outside before the Weirwood Tree to discuss the matter, and it is here that it becomes perfectly clear just how good of a lord Oscar Tully will be.
Although young, he manages to expertly play Daemon, forcing him to execute Willem to make amends, ensuring the riverlords’ loyalty.
Archie Barnes is absolutely fantastic in this scene.
I honestly did not pay that much attention to him when we first met his character in Episode Four, but now I really want to see more of him.
Daemon’s storyline this episode ends with him having yet another vision about Viserys, who confronts Daemon over whether he really wants the crown.
Viserys is disfigured and, apparently, it was Paddy Considine who decided he should look that way for the scene.
It was a good thing he was listened to because his disfigured state perfectly shows Daemon the effect the crown can have on someone.
It took a while but Daemon’s storyline this season finally seems to be taking off.
Better late than never.
Daemon’s storyline is the second best of the episode, but my absolute favorite is, as I already stated, the sowing of the seeds.
This story continues with Jace confronting Rhaenyra over allowing Targaryen bastards to claim dragons.
I will admit, I was a bit disappointed to see that Jace did not have as big of a role in the sowing as he did in the book, where it was his entire idea.
That being said, the show did a great job of explaining why this makes Jace so scared.
He himself is a bastard, and the whole world knows it, so what is to stop another Targaryen bastard, this one with more Targaryen features, from asserting their claim to the throne over his?
In the end, though, Rhaenyra is not to be deterred and has her handmaiden spread word throughout King’s Landing that she is looking for bastards to claim dragons.
When Ulf hears of this, he acts as though he has an injured leg, not wanting to go until his friends peer pressure him into it in a humorous scene.
Hugh’s scene is much more emotional, as it is revealed that his daughter tragically died.
He reveals his past to his wife and states his intent to claim a dragon, despite her pleas.
That night, Hugh, Ulf and dozens of other Targaryen bastards are snuck out of King’s Landing for Dragonstone, where Rhaenyra is waiting.
However, it is not only Jace she is receiving resistance from.
The dragon keepers are also incensed with her decision, believing it desecrates the ways of old Valyria.
They force Rhaenyra to do her task alone, and she introduces the potential Dragonseeds to the dragon Vermithor.
Called the “Bronze Fury”, he is the largest dragon besides Vhagar, and the shot of him appearing behind Rhaenyra is especially threatening.
Just imagine how the Smallfolk felt when Rhaenyra left them all alone with him.
The potential dragon claiming quickly turns into a massacre, as Vermithor roasts Dragonseed after Dragonseed.
Although I do wonder why Rhaenyra did not just send the candidates in one at a time, it makes for quite the horrifying spectacle.
The CGI for the dragon is stunning, especially in an excellent one-take shot in which we see Hugh attempting to flee Vermithor, before standing up to him to save a woman.
I wonder if he was reminded of his daughter in this moment and this is what motivated him to make his move.
Hugh standing his ground against one of the mightiest dragons in the world and screaming “Come on!” is now one of my favorite moments in the series.
It bumped Hugh up to my top five characters of the show in a single moment.
His taming of Vermithor is also incredibly ironic because it is heavily implied that he is the son of Princess Saera Targaryen, who was disowned by her father Jaehaerys, Vermithor’s previous rider.
As for Ulf, his taming of a dragon is far easier than Hugh’s.
He just happens to stumble into Silverwing’s resting place, and she accepts him.
It is left vague why she claims him.
Ulf does step in one of her egg sacks before she sees him, so maybe she smelled him and thought he was one of her children?
Either that or she is just lonely.
Also, I have got to say that Silverwing is by far the most beautiful dragon of the series so far.
Her horns give her a really unique look, as does the color of her scales.
It is kind of funny that Rhaenyra sent the Dragonseeds to tame one of the most violent dragons first instead of the most chill one.
After the taming scenes, we get the final scene of the episode, as Aemond’s Small Council is interrupted by the arrival of Silverwing, Ulf on her back, cheering and laughing as he flies over the city.
I absolutely love the way the show has handled Hugh and Ulf.
To be honest, in the book they were fairly generic characters.
But in the show they have fleshed out personalities and motivations that make them all the more compelling and relatable.
There is something about seeing Ulf laughing with joy as he flies over the city that brings a smile to my face.
It definitely does not bring a smile to Aemond’s though, as he rides out to reach Vhagar.
They chase Ulf and Silverwing all the way back to Dragonstone, where Aemond realizes it is a trap and has just enough time to turn a reluctant Vhagar around before the two of them can be swarmed by the combined might of Syrax, Vermithor and Silverwing.
The episode then ends on yet another fantastic shot of Rhaenyra watching Aemond flee, a determined glare on her face, as the dragons roar behind her.
“The Red Sowing” is a fantastic episode.
There is not a bad scene in it.
The weakest is definitely the Alicent stuff, where she pretty much just goes on vacation, but that was not bad, and it could be building to something she will do in the finale for all I know.
Speaking of which, the next episode is the last of the season, and I hope they can end it on a banger.
As for “The Red Sowing” it is currently my favorite episode of the season.
Is that bias because of how much I loved this storyline in the book?
Maybe, but I personally do not care.

Book Spoilers Section:
I loved the show’s portrayal of the Dragonseeds this episode.
The only thing that would have made it better for me is if we also got to see Nettles claiming Sheepstealer.
However, as I have constantly mentioned, they have almost definitely given that role to Rhaena.
It is a shame we probably will not see Nettles because, as I said earlier, I loved the portrayal of Ulf and Hugh this episode.
If the writers had Nettles in the show, I know they could do her justice.
Well, at least we will see Sheepstealer next episode, so I have that to look forward to.
As for what the season will end on, I would have to guess the Blacks taking King’s Landing.
The show has not built up enough to the Battle of the Gullett yet.
So, Rhaenyra will probably take King’s Landing in the finale, and then go on a darker path next season.
The writers seem to be alluding to this based on Rhaenyra having her guards prevent the Dragonseeds from leaving the sowing, resulting in many of their deaths and the deaths of some of her guards.
She is becoming increasingly willing to sacrifice others for her aims.
Even the Dragonseeds will not be safe from this darker path, as some will most likely go power hungry.
This could cause a lot of tragedy as, before he leaves, Hugh’s wife suggests going to Tumbleton where her brother is.
Tumbleton is the sight of a massacre in the books, caused when Hugh and Ulf switch sides to the Greens.
I can see a tragic end for Hugh’s wife where she dies because of his actions, driving him over the edge.
But that is at least another season away.
For now, we will have to see how Episode Eight chooses to end the season.
Will it be the fall of King’s Landing, or something else?
We shall see.

House of the Dragon Season Two, Episode Six, Smallfolk Review: An Odd Pairing.

Episode Six of House of the Dragon may focus on the plights of the titular “Smallfolk”, but it begins with the nobility.
Directed by Andrij Parekh, the episode begins by showing Jason Lannister, who we have not seen since Season One.
He is marching to war, bringing a lion of all things with him, but delaying because he wants Aemond to protect them with Vhagar.
Naturally, this does not please Aemond, who has taken to his new job as Prince Regent with a vindictive stride.
He begins making some bold moves by attempting to set up an alliance with the Triarchy, and even dismisses his mother, Alicent.
“Have the indignities of your childhood not yet sufficiently been avenged?” Alicent asks, showing that, no matter how strong he may act, there is still a part of that scared bullied child inside Aemond.
Unfortunately, the dangerous and vindictive side of him is winning out.
Meanwhile, with the Blacks, Corlys takes his new role as Hand of the Queen, but unfortunately we do not see him really do anything with it this episode.
Maybe he will in the next one, considering what later happens to a certain bastard of his?
As for Rhaenyra, she begins enacting her and Jace’s plan to find those with Valyrian ancestry to ride dragons.
It turns out that one of her Queensguard, Ser Steffon Darklyn, is one of these people, so she asks him to attempt taming Seasmoke, Laenor’s dragon.
Steffon accepts the task but it ends poorly, to say the least.
At first, it seems as if he has succeeded, but he then gets overconfident and Seasmoke burns him and a dragon keeper alive.
The dragon keeper pulls out a knife and slits his own throat, showing just how bad of a job it is.
They have to constantly be ready to kill themselves because that is better than burning to death.
The ending to this scene was horrifying, and it leads to Rhaenyra slapping one of her lords when he questions her.
“It is my fault, I think, that you have forgotten to fear me,” she says.
To be honest, though, I do not know if the lords ever feared Rhaenyra.
She has not really done anything in the show that would make anyone scared of her, unlike in the book.
Daemon, however, has given plenty of reasons for people to be scared of him.
Simon Strong knows this better than anyone after this episode, as a paranoid Daemon accuses him of poisoning him, holding him at knifepoint the whole time.
Although, it is kind of weird that Daemon would think Simon is the one influencing him instead of, you know, Alys, the creepy witch lady.
Speaking of which, we get even more Daemon hallucinations this episode.
Yay.
Yeah, not going to lie, the constant hallucinations have become a bit tiresome, at this point.
Don’t get me wrong, it was great to see Paddy Considine back as Viserys.
His first scene is meh since he is just repeating lines from the first season, but his second one is great because it shows Daemon comforting Viserys for Aemma’s death like he should have done.
I do at least like how these hallucinations are being used to show Daemon feels guilt for some of his prior actions.
And to be fair to the writers, Daemon spent a long time doing very little at Harrenhal in the book too, so they had to find some way to make his storyline interesting, hence the constant hallucinations.
But Daemon’s story at Harrenhal is definitely about to pick up because he learns that the old Tully lord has died, most likely poisoned by Alys.
I am pretty curious about what Alys’ motives are.
She might be poisoning Daemon or setting a spell on him, and yet she helps him by convincing him to stay at Harrenhal and then likely poisoning the old Tully.
What is her end goal?
While Daemon will soon be making moves at Harrenhal, Rhaenyra and Mysaria put their plan into action this episode.
We see Mysaria’s agents spread tales of the high life those in the Red Keep experience, while the smallfolk suffer.
Rhaenyra then sends loads of supplies to these smallfolk.
It is a brilliant piece of propaganda to turn them to her side and it works wonders.
It honestly works a little too well because it almost ends with Alicent and Helaena being murdered by an angry mob.
In the end, they are saved but the same cannot be said for the frat boy friends of Aegon’s who he let into the Kingsguard.
Aegon really is lucky that he did not have those guys defending him when things went bad.
Unfortunately for him, he is stuck with a vindictive man like Aemond for a brother.
When Aegon awakens, Aemond pays him a visit.
Aegon claims to remember nothing, while Aemond pretty much tortures him by pressing into his burn wounds.
It is clear that he is lying to save himself, though, but who could blame him?
In the end, Aegon’s only friend here might be Larys, of all people.
After being hilariously shot down for Hand of the King by Aemond, Larys turns to Aegon and, in the best scene of the episode, relates to him by explaining the circumstances of his birth.
Through comparing his club foot with Aegon’s horrible wounds, it seems like Larys is able to bring himself to actually sympathize with Aegon’s situation, giving him some advice.
That being said, he is still definitely manipulating him, and his withholding of Milk of the Poppy was cruel, even if it was to keep Aegon level-headed.
As for my second favorite scene of the episode, this sees Alicent saying her goodbye to Gwayne.
They discuss Daeron and Gwayne begins a series of flatteries to describe him, before ending simply with, “He’s kind.”
I really liked the delivery of this line, and it made me even more excited for when Daeron eventually shows up.
This scene also did a great job of highlighting Alicent and Gwayne’s relationship, and the tension that exists between them due to their father’s attention.
What is way more intense than that, though, is what Seasmoke does after roasting Ser Steffon.
The dragon chases down and corners Addam in a moment that had the man understandably scared for his life.
However, while this scene was undoubtedly terrifying for Addam, it was hilarious for me.
Seasmoke really wanted Addam to be his rider and he was not taking no for an answer.
As for why he chose Addam, I wonder if it was because he reminded him of Laenor?
News of Addam riding Seasmoke eventually reaches Rhaenyra but, before that, we get the most controversial scene of the episode.
It begins with Mysaria reporting to Rhaenyra about the success of their plan, but Rhaenyra is still unsure, having doubts.
Mysaria then pays off the question about the scar on her neck, which Rhaenyra asked about a few episodes ago.
She reveals a horrifying story about the abuse she suffered from her father, and how she survived it, before relating it to meeting Rhaenyra, who is the first person to treat her like an equal.
Rhaenyra embraces her, and the two end up kissing.
I heard leaks about this scene and, when I did, I wondered if it was a troll because it sounded out of nowhere.
No prior scene in any episode seemed to hint at a Rhaenyra and Mysaria pairing.
Having seen the scene now, I still hold true to that belief.
I get the reason for it happening, but it still feels a little fast.
Not only that, but it feels pretty tone death, as well.
The scene goes from Mysaria telling the horrifying truth of the abuse she suffered to the two of them making out.
Maybe future episodes will improve my opinion of this pairing but, for now, this is one I don’t really like.
In the end, the two are interrupted with the news of someone being seen riding Seasmoke, and Rhaenyra goes to confront them, ending the episode.
Overall, “Smallfolk” is a good House of the Dragon episode.
It has plenty of great scenes, like Larys giving Aegon advice, Gwayne talking about Daeron, and Seasmoke claiming Addam.
On the other hand, there are some things which hold it back, most notably the odd pairing between Rhaenyra and Mysaria.
Only two episodes left before the season ends now.

Book Spoilers Section: 
Going into this episode, I was excited to see the Dragonseeds plotline play out, but they seem to be saving that for next episode.
Addam has now claimed Seasmoke, and this will serve as motivation for Rhaenyra to call for more Dragonseeds, eventually resulting in Hugh and Ulf joining the Blacks.
Rhaenyra may also slowly become more like her book counterpart, if her telling the lord “It is my fault, I think, that you have forgotten to fear me,” is accurate.
As for Rhaenyra and Mysaria’s make out session, I was wondering why the writers decided to pair them up from a story perspective.
Their sudden make out feels like something Mushroom would write about, rather than something that actually happened.
So, what purpose will this serve in the plot?
Well, I think it could be used to drive a further wedge between Daemon and Rhaenyra.
We know Nettles has been cut, so instead of Rhaenyra being jealous of her, Daemon might be jealous of Mysaria?
Speaking of, this episode officially killed any hope I may have had of Nettles not being replaced by Rhaena.
Rhaena finds a bunch of burned sheep in the Vale and Jeyne Arryn confirms there is a wild dragon there.
I said in an earlier review that I thought it made sense for a sheep eating dragon to turn up in the Vale.
While I stand by this claim, it still kills me that one of my favorite characters from Fire and Blood is going to be replaced by a character who is so at odds with what her entire story was about.
I mean, not including Nettles felt like a major missed opportunity this episode.
The episode is literally called “Smallfolk.”
It focuses on their plight, and it would have been perfect to see Nettles begin the difficult process of claiming Sheepstealer this episode.
Instead, we get Rhaena who is a noble and thus completely ignorant to the struggles of the smallfolk.
Again, though, I am going to save the rest of my complaints for the episode where Rhaena actually claims Sheepstealer.
So, if you like rants, you have that to look forward to.
I want to end this review on a more positive note, so I will end it by talking about more positive directions for future storylines.
One such direction is that of the Shepard.
We see a man get his hand cut off by the incompetent Kingsguard this episode, and that man could be the Shepard, the one who leads the smallfolk to kill all the dragons.
Otto is also hinted to be returning.
Aemond sends for him this episode, and it would be great to see him again.
That being said, I hope he does not return to King’s Landing because, if he does, that means he will most likely meet his book fate and die in the season finale.
Rhys Ifans is one of the best actors in this show and I would like him to stick around longer than his book counterpart.
I theorized in an earlier review that he could take part in Daeron’s storyline next season, so I hope that is the case.
We will just have to wait and see what Otto’s fate will be in the final two episodes of the season.

House of the Dragon Season Two, Episode Five, Regent Review: What in the Oedipus Complex?

After one of the best episodes of House of the Dragon, the subsequent one, “Regent,” is a much calmer affair.
Despite this, it has, without question, the most cursed moment of the entire series so far.
Directed by Claire Kilner, the episode begins by showing Corlys’ reaction to the death of Rhaenys.
While his tearful moment is tragic, I will admit I was a bit disappointed we did not get the scene from the book, which I feel could have made Corlys’ grief more palpable.
Steve Toussaint’s performance still gets the job done, though.
From here, the episode transitions to King’s Landing where we see the Greens milking Rhaenys and Meleys’ defeat for all it is worth.
Meleys’ head is paraded through the streets to show the Small Folk of the victory at Rooks’ Rest.
If the Greens were hoping for a propaganda win then they definitely underestimated the element of superstition, as much of the Small Folk view the death of a dragon as a bad omen.
Also, it’s probably not a good idea to show the oppressed people that the dragons they fear can be killed.
Hugh spells this out perfectly when he states that the dragons are, “just meat.”
But the parade has another purpose besides propaganda.
It is also being used to smuggle the injured Aegon back into King’s Landing.
I was curious to see how far they would go with Aegon’s injuries.
The book’s description was pretty gnarly, and I wondered if the show would go all the way with it, or just apply a little makeup.
Well, of course House of the Dragon did not cheap out because Aegon’s wounds are gruesome.
Aemond, however, is more concerned with taking power in Aegon’s place, and Cole is willing to stay silent about what really happened, even to Alicent.
Back with the Blacks, the loss of Rhaenys and Meleys is causing Rhaenyra to have trouble with her lords again.
One of them takes the sexist approach again, telling Rhaenyra that the “gentler sex” has no place in planning battles, only for Rhaenyra to correctly point out that he has about as much battle experience as her.
It is good to see these troublesome lords get called out, although Rhaenys’ presence is missed because she was especially good at this.
Meanwhile, in the Riverlands, Daemon is attempting to threaten the Brackens into bending the knee with the help of Caraxes.
Admirably, however, the Brackens are steadfast in the face of being burned alive, and bravely turn their backs on the dragon.
Daemon’s following statement, “I did not think they would be so eager to die” makes him almost seems impressed with them.
This does not stop him from tasking Willem Blackwood (Jack Parry-Jones) with terrorizing their lands to threaten the Brackens into bending the knee.
If you will recall, Willem was the young man who vied for Rhaenyra’s hand back in Season One and killed his Bracken tormentor.
He is just as eager to take on the Brackens now, escalating it to war crimes with Daemon’s encouragement.
As for Daemon’s children, Rhaena has arrived in the Eyrie with the dragon eggs and Rhaenyra’s sons.
Jeyne Arryn is understandably none too pleased with receiving dragon eggs rather than a dragon rider to protect the Eeyrie.
As for Baela, her storyline this episode is more interesting, as we see her interact with Corlys, bringing him Rhaenyra’s offer to make him Hand of the Queen.
Corlys is initially incensed by this offer, probably seeing it as a means to placate him after Rhaenys’ death but Baela delivers an impassioned speech about Rhaenys and how she died as she would have wished.
Before Baela departs, Corlys offers to name her heir to Driftmark but she refuses in the best line of the episode, “I am blood and fire. Driftmark must pass to salt and sea.”
To be honest, I think House of the Dragon did a poor job of establishing Baela and Rhaena as characters in Season One.
With the exception of the fight with Aemond, they were pretty much just background characters, standing around while more important characters talked.
Season Two is attempting to fix this and they are succeeding, at least with Baela.
It remains to be seen if they will do so with Rhaena but I do have concerns about that, due to certain leaks which I will not get into here.
Getting back to their father, Daemon is still experiencing hallucinations at Harrenhal, with his most recent one being incredibly messed up.
Remember how I said at the beginning of this review that this episode had the most cursed moment of the whole series so far?
Well, this hallucination is that scene.
Daemon hallucinates having sex with a Targaryen woman and, for most of the scene, it is a mystery who she is.
That is, until she looks up at Daemon and says, “my favorite son.”
Just like that, all as one, the entire fandom recoiled in collective disgust.
We all know Targaryens love their incest but your own mother?
Really, Daemon?
When Viserys said that mother loved you best this was not what he meant!
Joking aside, I do struggle to see the point of this scene other than sheer shock value.
It just feels like the writers wanted to gross us out here.
Or maybe they saw it as a way to hint that Alys is possibly behind Daemon’s hallucinations, since she brings up his mother in a later scene?
Still, they could have gone about it in a less disturbing way.
To be fair to Daemon, though, this hallucination plays out more like a nightmare, so it is not like he actually wanted to have sex with his mother… at least I hope not.
Well, typing all of this is up has left me feeling pretty dirty so I am going to move on to the Greens again now.
With Aegon in a coma, the Green Council sets about naming the titular “Regent” of the episode.
Alicent nominates herself but, come on, they were never going to elect a woman when their whole justification for making Aegon king is that a woman cannot rule.
With Cole siding against Alicent, Aemond is named regent but, rather than focus on him and his council’s tactics, the shot stays firmly focused on Alicent, who is having a breakdown as she slowly realizes what she has helped unleash.
Olivia Cooke does a fantastic job in this scene.
She really brings Alicent’s horror to life.
This is a horror much of King’s Landing is experiencing, as many are attempting to flee the city because of food shortages and the fear of retribution for Meleys’ death.
Among those who attempt to flee are Hugh and his family, including his sick daughter, but Aemond orders the gates closed.
The last scenes with the Greens see Helaena confronting Aemond over what he did to Aegon without saying it, and a wounded Aegon calling out to his mother in his sleep… let’s just hope is dream of her is more innocent than Daemon’s.
Relax, I’m kidding.
Aemond is not the only prince making moves because, with Baela’s encouragement, Jace begins negotiating with the Freys, who are just as conniving as their descendants in Game of Thrones, hundreds of years later.
The Freys want Harrenhal, and Jace seems more than willing to meet this demand.
Although, since Simon Strong currently holds Harrenhal, I imagine he will have a few problems with this.
Yet, he does not command a strong force so, if he does turn traitor because of it, I do not imagine it will have that big of an impact for the Blacks.
What will have a big impact, however, is Daemon’s encouragement of war crimes.
His story this episode ends with him being confronted by a bunch of lords and ladies about the atrocities committed by the Blackwoods at his direction.
Despite Daemon building himself up as a King the whole episode, the results of his actions really prove how terrible he would be as one.
Unless the lord Rhaenyra sent to access Daemon can help somehow, I really do not see how Daemon can spin this whole mess in a positive way.
Speaking of Rhaenyra, she is enacting plans of her own, as she sends one of her handmaidens into King’s Landing to meet with Dyana for a currently unknown purpose.
The episode then ends with her and Jace deciding to find the descendants of Targaryens and Valyrians, and enlist them to their cause as dragon riders.
This storyline is my favorite part of the entire Dance so I am excited to see it finally being adapted.
I hope the show does it justice.
As for “Regent” it is another good episode.
Some of it is questionable, namely the whole Daemon sleeping with his mother hallucination but, otherwise, it does a decent job of building up to future storylines.


Book Spoilers Section:
Going into this episode, I was excited to see Corlys’ reaction to Rhaenys’ death.
In the book, he blames Rhaenyra, lashing out in his grief.
Unfortunately, we did not get this scene, as we just see him mourning alone.
As I said, Steve Toussaint does a great job portraying this grief, but it was a bit disappointing to not see this scene from the book.
That being said, the show already seems to be building to one of the most impactful moments of Fire and Blood, which is the storming of the Dragon Pit.
The Small Folk realizing that the godlike dragons are “just meat” will undoubtedly lead to this dark event in future seasons.
Another bit from the book which was built up this episode was the meeting between Alys and Aemond.
Daemon tells Alys she should pray she never meets him because he will kill her.
It is kind of funny to know, as a book reader, how wrong Daemon is because Aemond will actually take her as a lover.
In the next few episodes, we will definitely be seeing the Dragon Seed storyline play out.
Addam will claim Seasmoke, as foreshadowed by him seeing the dragon fly overhead a few episodes ago.
I wonder what will motivate to do so, and I am also curious to see if him claiming Sheepstealer will confirm Laenor has died?
As for the other two Dragon Seeds, Hugh and Ulf, I have a pretty good idea of their reasoning for becoming dragon riders.
Ulf has already revealed himself to be a Black loyalist with his boasting in Episode Three.
As for Hugh, his reason for joining is probably going to be way more tragic.
His daughter appears to be on the brink of death when he and his family try to flee King’s Landing.
She will most likely die, and Hugh will want revenge, blaming the Greens for aid not arriving as promised and for locking them in the city.
So that is three out of four Dragon Seeds but, as I have probably repeated ad nauseam in these reviews, Nettles has most likely been cut for Rhaena who will claim Sheepstealer in the next few episodes, to my displeasure.
However, Rhaena claiming Sheepstealer may not be the only issue I have with the next few episodes because there is another weird leak going around.
This leak claims that Rhaenyra and Mysaria will kiss.
If this happens, it will be absolutely bizarre because, while the scenes between the two are good, I have not felt a single hint of romantic or sexual tension.
Although, given that this leak is so bizarre, there is always the possibility that it is a troll.
Or, who knows, maybe the kiss will make sense in context, if it does happen?
In any case, I am still excited to see Addam, Hugh and Ulf claim their dragons so there is that to look forward to.

House of the Dragon Season Two, Episode Four, The Red Dragon and the Gold Review: Rook’s Rest.

In my review for the previous episode of House of the Dragon, I said that Episode Four could be one of the best episodes of the series so far.
Having seen it, I can confidently say that this prediction was absolutely correct.
A slight correction, though.
In that review, I said this episode was called “A Dance with Dragons” but it is actually called “The Red Dragon and the Gold.”
A much better name, in my opinion.
Directed again by Alan Taylor, “The Red Dragon and the Gold” begins at Harrenhal, where Daemon is experiencing more nightmares about his past.
Milly Alcock returns again as the younger Rhaenyra who does a good job calling Daemon out for his past actions.
Daemon responds in typical Daemon fashion by decapitating her, before being awakened with blood on his hands.
I kind of figured Daemon’s nightmare would be a one-time thing last episode, but the show really seems to be running with it.
While Daemon attempts to gain allies through the Tullys and Blackwoods, he loses time and experiences flashbacks to his past, including seeing his dead wife, Laena.
In one bizarre moment, he even sees himself as Aemond.
I am unsure how I feel about this storyline at the moment, but the show seems to be pretty ambiguous on the cause of all this for the time being.
It could be the curse of Harrenhal, Alys Rivers using some kind of magic on Daemon, or simply Daemon’s guilt messing with his mind.
Maybe all three.
In any case, I think it would be a missed opportunity if the show did not have Daemon experience a hallucination of Rhea Royce.
Her murder is definitely Daemon’s worst crime and, even if he does not feel about it, it would be strange if he was not confronted with it.
Overall, I am still interested to see where Daemon’s storyline goes at Harrenhal.
The highlight of the episode, though, is definitely Rhaenys, who begins the episode meeting Alyn to thank him for saving her husband.
Her interaction with him, and Corlys’ subsequent reaction, basically confirm that he is Corlys’ bastard, but Rhaenys proves her morality for not judging Alyn on the basis of his birth.
Rhaenys and Corlys then travel to Dragonstone to help Jace and Baela set their conflicting lords straight.
Corlys’ line, “is there naught to be done in the absence of the Queen but to grouse and claw for power” shows how far he has come from Season One, where he started off as extremely power hungry.
Had the old Corlys been in this room, he would have been just as combative as the other lords.
To be fair to these lords, though, Rhaenyra certainly has not helped matters by disappearing and, when she finally does come back, everyone is shocked to learn she went to King’s Landing to meet with Alicent, especially Jace.
Rhaenyra’s reasoning for meeting Alicent really bothered me in Episode Three, due to how shortsighted it was, but it was made retroactively better in this episode through the other characters calling her out on it.
She is at least ready for war now, although it may be too late because the Greens are already attacking her allies.
We see the sacking of one castle, where Criston kills the lord and assimilates his forces into his own army.
The lord does have some awesome last words though, telling Criston that his death will come in kind.
Despite the war progressing well for the Greens due to Criston’s actions, Aegon is displeased to hear of Daemon taking Harrenhal.
His insecurities only grow when Aemond embarrasses him by showing just how bad his Valyrian is, while Aemond’s is impeccable.
Aegon then does what any insecure son would do when he is feeling inadequate, seek the comfort of his mother.
Unfortunately, his mother is Alicent, who is also reeling from the revelations of her conversation with Rhaenyra.
She deals with Aegon’s insecurities with the subtleness of a brick wall, offering him no comfort, and telling him to do nothing, as if she had no hand in this situation.
She had literal years to train Aegon to be a king, and yet she clearly taught him nothing and now expects him to do nothing.
Did she really expect him to be content with that?
This is not a complaint, though, as I love how complicated Alicent is.
Rhaenyra proves herself to be both much more caring, and to also be better at preparing her son for kingship by telling him about the Song of Ice and Fire.
From here, the episode transitions to a scene I have been waiting to see adapted ever since I first read Fire and Blood: Rook’s Rest.
The battle did not disappoint.
Not only are the effects, both CGI and practical great, but so is the cinematography and the brilliant score by Ramin Djawadi playing throughout.
Cole lays siege to Rook’s Rest, resulting in Rhaenys volunteering to take her dragon Meleys and aid the Blacks.
Meanwhile, Aegon, drunk and eager to prove himself, takes his dragon Sunfyre to the battlefield.
And so, the red dragon and the gold head for conflict.
However, both are unaware of the third, old dragon.
Cole and Aemond planned an ambush and are ready to meet Rhaenys with Vhagar.
They are not ready for Aegon to interfere, however, and he nearly gets himself killed fighting Rhaenys.
Thankfully for him, help is on the way… unfortunately for him, that help is Aemond.
As I predicted, Aemond was not quick to forget Aegon’s humiliation of him in the brothel, along with the years of humiliation he was subjected to as a child.
Aemond orders Vhagar to shoot fire at the two dragons, seemingly not caring if his own brother is killed.
Aegon and Sunfyre plummet into the forest below, leaving Meleys and Vhagar as the only dragons left in the fight.
Rather than flee, Rhaenys valiantly fights against Aemond and Vhagar.
What follows shows exactly why this conflict came to be known as the Dance of the Dragons as, locked together in battle, the two dragons do almost look like they are dancing.
In the end, however, Aemond and Vhagar are able to get a sneak attack on Rhaenys and Meleys, ending the fight.
As Meleys dies, the look on Rhaenys’s face as she falls is tragic, knowing that imminent death is getting closer, until she and her dragon crash into the castle below, resulting in a fireball.
In the aftermath of the battle, Criston finds Aemond standing over Aegon, sword drawn, leaving it implied if he was really going to kill his brother or not.
In the end, Aemond takes the Valyrian Steel dagger and leaves Criston with Aegon, whose fate currently remains unknown.
This whole final scene at Rook’s Rest makes “The Red Dragon and the Gold” one of the best House of the Dragon episodes, but the rest of the episode is nothing to sleep about.
We have Daemon being confronted by his past, Rhaenyra finally accepting that war is inevitable, and the buildup to Rhaenys’ death, with her sharing her last scenes with Corlys.
Speaking of Corlys it will be tragic to see him learn of his wife’s death next episode.
As for Rhaenys herself, Eve Best did a fantastic job with the character.
While I felt like the writing for her could be a little bit iffy at times, like when she killed loads of civilians in the Dragon Pit, when the writing for her was good it was really good.
We see that this episode during her interaction with Alyn, and it is a shame we will not be getting more Rhaenys scenes like this, due to her death.
RIP the Queen Who Never Was.

Book Spoilers Section:
The episode ends keeping Aegon’s fate up in the air, but he does survive his injuries.
I am curious how far the show will go as to the extent of those injuries.
Will his scars be super prominent or more subtle?
As for Aegon himself, I don’t expect we will see much more of him this season, due to his wounds, which is a shame because Tom Glynn-Carney has been doing an excellent job this season.
Speaking of a character’s screen time being reduced, I am unsure if we will see Otto again this season, since he left to meet up with Daeron and he has not been cast yet.
I am, however, now wondering if Otto’s fate will be changed from Fire and Blood.
When Rhaenyra takes King’s Landing in the book, Otto is among those executed.
But if this season ends with the taking of King’s Landing, like I think it will, Otto will not be there to meet that fate.
Instead, Otto will most likely be mentoring Daeron next season.
If that is the case, then he could end up meeting the fate of another book character where, after Daeron’s death, he poisons himself to ensure the death of Ulf the White.
This would be a cooler way for Otto to go out and Rhys Ifans could definitely pull it off.
With Rook’s Rest now concluded, I expect the next few episodes will finally get into my favorite storyline from the Dance, which is the Dragonseeds.
I have mentioned in previous reviews that I am concerned about this storyline in the show, due to the potential cutting of Nettles, however the show has done a good job of setting up the characters of Addam, Hugh and Ulf, so I am excited to see them tame their dragons, at least.
We will see how that storyline turns out in the next few episodes.

House of the Dragon Season Two, Episode Three, The Burning Mill Review: A Tense Meeting.

Episode Three of House of the Dragon‘s Second Season, “The Burning Mill” is the weakest episode of the three so far.
But that is not to say it is bad, far from it.
Directed by Geeta Vasant Patel, the episode begins by showing the oldest rivalry in Westeros, that of the Blackwoods and the Brackens, finding yet another excuse to go at one another’s throats.
We see how a simple dispute between the rival families quickly devolves into an outright slaughter, with hundreds of dead on both sides, with the titular burning mill in the background.
This opening scene made for a striking showcase of how opposing factions will use the conflict brewing between Rhaenyra and Aegon as an excuse to go to war.
From here, the episode cuts to the aftermath of the tragic Erryk and Arryk fight.
The twins are being buried together at Rhaenyra’s behest and it is at this point that Rhaneys says, “Otto Hightower would never have allowed this.”
This seems to be a complete misunderstanding of Otto, since he planned to send Kingsguard to kill Rhaenyra and her family in Episode Nine of Season One.
Yes, Otto did object to the plan to send Arryk on an assassination mission, but this was because he was not consulted about it and, most of all, he did not think the plan was very good.
Saying he would not do it because of morals is just weird.
However, Rhaenys’ following comment that, “Soon they will not even remember what it was that began the war in the first place,” is a much more fitting one because it perfectly represents the opening unseen battle between the Blackwoods and the Brackens.
Much like the Blacks, the Greens are also considering their options after Arryk’s failed attempt on Rhaenyra’s life, along with the fallout of Cole replacing Otto.
Sadly, Cole now has Aegon’s ear, and plans to eventually take Harrenhal.
Unfortunately for him, Daemon is way ahead of him, taking Caraxes to claim one of the most important strongholds in the entire war… which is severely undermanned.
It was quite funny to see Daemon storming in, expecting a fight, only to be met simply by Lord Simon Strong (Simon Russel Beale).
There was surprisingly a lot of good humor in this scene, as Daemon tries to stake claim to some power by demanding to be called “your Grace.”
The scene also ends comedically when Simon is incredulous about taking the throne and Daemon responds, “It’s a big chair made of swords.”
Following this scene, we see Cole beginning his journey to muster forces for Aegon’s cause, unaware that Daemon has already taken Harrenhal.
Before he leaves, however, Alicent saddles him with her brother, Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox), who throws quite a bit of shade at Cole for taking his father’s position as Hand of the King.
Cole does leave with Alicent’s favor though, so that is a win for him, I suppose.
Rhaenyra gets even less respect because her lords suggest she goes into hiding while the men lead the war.
Sure, send one of your dragon riders away when every single one is critical to the war effort.
Brilliant!
Rhaenyra and Rhaenys put them in their place for it, at least.
Afterwards, Rhaenyra sends Rhaena to the Vale with her youngest sons and a clutch of dragon eggs for protection.
Rhaena is reluctant to go at first, angry about being sent away because she is pretty much the only one in her family without a dragon.
I hate to be that guy, Rhaena, but there were plenty of dragons on Dragonstone for you to claim in the years you spent there.
They don’t really provide a good reason why Rhaena never attempted to claim any of them, but the moment Rhaena realizes the trust Rhaenyra is placing in her is a moving moment.
A more sinister moment comes when Larys manipulates Aegon into naming him his Master of Whisperers.
We will probably be seeing a battle of wits between Larys and Mysaria at some point in the series, since she also took a place at Rhaneyra’s court this episode.
Not a surprising outcome for Mysaria, considering how she warned Erryk last episode.
What was a surprise for me, though, was to see the character of Ulf (Tom Bennett).
He is someone I thought had been cut from the show, and he claims to be the bastard brother of Daemon and Viserys, appearing loyal to Rhaenyra’s cause.
He is stupid enough to admit this out loud in King’s Landing but, thankfully for him, smart enough to shut his trap when Aegon himself walks in to enjoy the brothel.
Aegon gets an unexpected pleasure out of the brothel, however, as he discovers Aemond inside and teases him relentlessly over always sleeping with the same woman.
I don’t know, Aegon, maybe constantly goading the guy who flies the biggest dragon in the entire world is not the smartest move?
Just a suggestion?
I am interested to see if and how Aemond will get his payback for the years of bullying Aegon put him through.
Along with Aemond’s humiliation, there is another takeaway from this scene, and it is by far its most tragic, as we briefly see Dyana (Maddie Evans) working as a bar maid.
If you recall, Dyana was the maid Aegon assaulted in Episode Eight of the first season, who was then sent away by Alicent.
The poor girl was assaulted, humiliated, stripped of her position, and now has to work at a bar and brothel her abuser frequents.
Once again, the smallfolk really have it the worst in Westeros.
Following the brothel scene, we get our first good bit of dragon action this season, even if it is brief, when Cole and Gwayne are ambushed by Baela atop Moondancer.
It is a tense scene, which does a good job of showing the danger posed by even a small dragon, making you fear the bigger ones even more.
Gwayne, at least, seems to earn a little respect for Cole because of the encounter, so the new Hand should at least find it easier to command him.
Next, we get by far the creepiest scene of the episode, as Daemon has a nightmare of a young Rhaenyra sewing Jaehaerys’ head back on, blaming Daemon.
This nightmare did a great job of highlighting Daemon’s guilt over his role in the murder, because he did very well at hiding it last episode.
Of course, it was also great to see Milly Alcock again, even if it was just for this one brief moment.
Maybe we could get flashbacks of her and Emily Carey as the younger Alicent later in Season Two, or in future seasons?
Daemon’s nightmare ends with him standing in front of a Weirwood Tree with no idea how he got there.
A strange woman named Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) stands behind him and states, “You will die in this place.”
And so, the creepiest scene of the episode comes to an end, and we then get the final scene, which is its most controversial, when Rhaenyra sneaks into King’s Landing to talk in secret with Alicent, hoping to find a way to prevent the war.
While I feel like Daemon doing this in Episode One made sense because of his connections with the Gold Cloaks, and general arrogance, Rhaenyra doing it was really not the smartest move.
For one thing, if she gets caught then it’s all over for her cause.
She would be executed, and the Lords would mostly turn over to Aegon, likely resulting in the death of her children.
Also, Alicent’s letter pleading for peace was sent before the brutal murder of her grandchild, so it was kind of weird for that not to be taken into consideration.
Logic issues aside, the meeting between Rhaenyra and Alicent went as well as it could have.
Alicent finally learned the truth of Viserys’ last words but, tragically, it is too little too late.
Now her sons are in charge of the war, and they are out for fire and blood.
Rhaenyra seems to realize war is inevitable too by the end, as she stares grimly while Ramin Djawadi’s fantastic score plays in the background, bringing the episode to an end.
Overall, “The Burning Mill” is a good episode of House of the Dragon. 
Its highlight is definitely the creepy Daemon nightmare scene, and its weakest moment is definitely the Rhaenyra and Alicent interaction, due to logic issues in the writing.
Still, a good episode and the next episode “A Dance with Dragons” may very well be one of the best.


Book Spoilers Section:
The big spoiler implication of this episode is absolutely Daemon’s nightmare.
Seeing Alys Rivers predict his death over the God’s Eye was chilling as a book reader, especially since it raised a lot of questions about Alys’ powers.
Did she cause the nightmare Daemon was having?
Did the Weirwood Tree Daemon woke up in front of aid in her magic?
There is a lot of ambiguity here and I love it.
I’m really looking forward to seeing more of Alys because of this scene.
Other new characters I am interested to see more of are Gwayne and Ulf.
For Gwayne, his story already seems pretty different from the book, where he eventually meets his end at Kings’ Landing.
Unless he returns to the city at some point later in the story, his show fate will probably be different.
As for Ulf, he seemed steadfastly loyal to Rhaenyra’s cause this episode, so I am curious to see what will eventually cause him and Hugh Hammer to turn traitor.
I honestly thought Ulf’s character might get merged with Hugh, which is why I was surprised to see him.
Definitely not complaining, though, because now we have all but one of the Dragon Seeds in the story.
Now Nettles is the only one missing.
Again, though, I am very afraid of the leaks about her being replaced with Rhaena.
The building blocks do seem to be there, with Rhaena’s turmoil over not being able to claim a dragon, and the Vale having a lot of sheep, which would be a good excuse to have Sheepstealer show up there.
Much like I said in my Episode One review, though, Rhaena replacing Nettles would miss the entire point of her story, so fingers crossed they don’t do it.
Another strange thing about Rhaena is that it has apparently been said that the dragon eggs she takes with her are the ones Daenerys eventually gets in Game of Thrones. 
In Fire and Blood, it is heavily implied that the eggs were stolen by Elissa Farman.
So, if these are Dany’s eggs, then this is definitely a change and one I am curious to see play out.
How are the eggs going to get from the Vale to Essos?
I will be ending this book spoilers section on a much more positive note, as the next episode “A Dance with Dragons” will almost certainly center around the fight at Rook’s Rest, one of the big dragon fights of the Dance.
Rhaenys’ last stand has the potential to be one of the best moments in the show, if adapted right, and I hope they pull it off.
There is also the possibility of Aemond letting Aegon get injured as vengeance for the humiliation he has been subjected to.
It would not surprise me if Aemond attempted to let Aegon die, only to find he survived his injuries, and then back down and take him back to King’s Landing.
Episode Four airs today and I am very excited to see if my predictions are true.

House of the Dragon Season Two, Episode Two, Rhaenyra the Cruel Review: The Best Acted Episode Yet.

“A Son for a Son” was a really good start to Season Two of House of the Dragon, but Episode Two, “Rhaenyra the Cruel” is even better.
Directed by Claire Kilner, the episode has the best acting across the board out of any episode in the series so far.
Beginning immediately after the horrifying events of “A Son for a Son”, we see the impact the loss of Aegon’s heir has had on the Greens.
Aegon is, of course, distraught over the loss of his son, destroying the model of Valyria Viserys spent all of last season building.
Otto, on the other hand, is already looking for a way to play this tragedy to their advantage, proposing that they have a funeral procession to show the small folk what Rhaenyra has done.
Aegon is spared from having to go through the spectacle, but Helaena gets no such consideration.
She is paraded through the streets, her sorrow used as a political tool, while Aegon takes his revenge on Blood in the cells.
Her situation gets even worse when the cart they are riding gets stuck in the mud.
I’m pretty sure we were all scared that Jaehaerys’ body would fall off the cart in the attempt to get it moving again but thankfully the showrunners were merciful enough to keep that from happening.
Following this gruesome scene, the episode cuts to the Blacks, who are learning of the murder.
Rhaenyra is understandably shocked when she learns she is being blamed for it, and offended when some of her lords suggest it may have been her vengeance for Lucerys.
However, all it takes is one look at Daemon for her to know the truth.
The following scene between the two is expertly acted by both Emma D’Arcy and Matt Smith, as we see the complete breakdown of any trust Rhaenyra could have had in Daemon.
Matt Smith is especially threatening, as we see the Rogue Prince has to physically restrain himself from grabbing Rhaenyra’s throat, like he did in the Season One Finale.
Their argument ends with Daemon leaving on Caraxes, and Rhaenyra deciding sending Baela (Bethany Antonia) on her dragon Moondancer to keep an eye on King’s Landing.
Back with the Greens, we see the impact Jaehaerys’ murder has had on Criston Cole.
He watches the young boy’s room being cleared out and, based on his expression, he seems to feel quite a bit of guilt for what happened.
He was supposed to be on watch, but instead was sleeping with Alicent and, because of that, Jaehaerys died.
Watching this scene made me wonder if it was possible for me to feel some sympathy for Cole… then the next scene happened, and it made me hate him even more.
Rather than decide to change for the better, Cole instead doubles down and projects his guilt onto Arryk Cargyll, someone who holds no blame for the murder.
Watching Cole bully Arryk into going to assassinate Rhanerya at Dragonstone by posing as his own brother made my hatred for him increase tenfold.
One character I definitely do not hate, though, is Addam (Clinton Liberty), the brother of Alyn, who is introduced this episode.
I will not get into his role in the story, I will save that for the book spoilers section, but I will say that he is one of my favorite characters in the Dance of the Dragons, so it is good to see him.
What is also good to see is how much better Sonoya Mizuno’s performance as Mysaria is now that her accent is much more subdued.
It really allowed her acting ability to shine through in her scene with Rhanerya.
But by far the best acting in this episode is hands down done by Rhys Ifans.
The scene where Otto berates Aegon for killing all of the Rat Catchers is excellent.
Otto’s rage and exasperation is both engaging and hilarious.
It is even emotional when he brings up Viserys, and we see that he really did care deeply about the old king, even if he did manipulate him constantly.
Otto ends his beratement of Aegon by revealing to him that Viserys really did not want his son to be king.
This appears to be the final straw for Aegon, who fires Otto as his Hand and gives the job to Cole.
The guy just keeps failing upward, doesn’t he?
To be fair to Cole though, his crazy plan of sending Arryk to kill Rhaenyra would have probably worked had it not been for Mysaria spotting him.
She alerts Erryk just in time for him to intervene and what results is a tragic fight to the death between twin brothers.
Elliot and Luke Tittensor do excellent jobs as Erryk and Arryk, both in their fight choreography and in their grief at having to fight, despite still loving one another.
The brutal duel ends with one twin killing the other, only for the remaining twin to kill themselves out of grief.
As foe which twin was which, it feels kind of ambiguous.
Either Erryk apologizes to Rhanerya before committing suicide, or Arryk acknowledges her as the true queen before killing himself.
Either way, it is one of the most tragic scenes in the show thus far.
Following the duel of the brothers, the episode cuts to the Greens for the final time.
We see Otto talking with Alicent about his firing, and he brings up Daeron, Alicent and Viserys’ youngest child.
Daeron was not seen or mentioned in Season One so many of us book readers were afraid that he had been cut.
It is good to hear that he exists, even if his introduction in this scene comes out of nowhere.
The conversation between Otto and Alicent ends with Alicent trying to admit to her affair with Criston, only for Otto to say he does not wish to hear of it.
This perfectly highlights the generational family neglect going on within the Green side.
Otto neglects Alicent, who then neglects Aegon when she refuses to comfort him.
Instead of mourning with him, Alicent instead chooses to sleep with Cole again, showing that neither of them has learned their lesson.
In my review of Episode One, I said I had mixed feelings about the two of them hooking up because it felt like it went against both characters.
However, I did say that the hypocrisy of it may be the point.
After watching Episode Two, I can say with absolute certainty that it was.
Both characters are very hypocritical, and their hypocrisy will probably only grow as the season progresses.
Overall, “Rhaenyra the Cruel” is a great episode, with the best acting of the series, so far.
Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Rhys Ifans, Elliot and Luke Tittensor, Tom Glynn-Carney, Phia Saban, and Sonoya Mitsuno all give their best this episode, and I cannot wait to see how their performances continue to improve as the season progresses.

Book Spoilers Section:
Once again, the main topic of discussion for the spoilers section is the Dragonseeds.
First there is Addam of Hull.
As I said, he is one of my favorite characters in the Dance of the Dragons.
We get foreshadowing for him eventually claiming the dragon Seasmoke, when he sees him flying overhead.
I am curious to see what the explanation for this will be, since Laenor is not dead in the show, at least as far as we know.
I am also curious to see how Rhaenys will react to Addam and Alyn’s existence.
Does she already know that Corlys fathered bastards, or will it be a shock?
It would be pretty tragic for it to cause a rift between the two, only for them to never reconcile because Rhaenys dies at Rook’s Rest.
Then there is the other Dragonseed, Hugh.
We see this episode that he has a family, which is struggling due to the conditions caused by the coming war.
His story is already very different from the books, where he was pretty much just a scumbag with no family, so I am interested to see how he will get to that point, if at all.
In any case, we should get our first dragon action in the next episode, as Daemon will be capturing Harrenhal, and the trailer makes it look like Baela will run into some trouble while watching Kings’ Landing.
We are getting ever closer to the actual dragon fights, and I could not be more excited for that.

House of the Dragon Episode Ten, The Black Queen Review: The Dance Commences.

The first season of House of the Dragon has come to a close with its tenth episode, “The Black Queen”, and I do not know how I am going to be able to wait until 2024 for Season Two.
Directed by Greg Yaitanes, “The Black Queen” was a fantastic way to end the season.
The episode begins, rather fittingly, with Lucerys.
He is still having doubts about his future inheritance of Driftmark, yet Rhanerya seeks to console him, only to be interrupted by the arrival of Rhaenys who has brought word of Visery’s death and the Green’s coup.
What follows is a tense scene between her, Rhanerya and Daemon, with Rhanerya being understandably distraught, while Daemon is enraged, believing the Greens have murdered Viserys.
Him coming to this conclusion is natural, given that we saw how suspicious he was of Viserys recieving milk of the poppy in Episode Eight.
There is even some suspicion around Rhaenys, due to both her unlikely escape and the fact that she did not burn the Greens with Meleys.
In the end, Rhaenys advises that Rhanerya leaves Dragonstone, before the Greens come for her and her children.
This is not possible, however, because Rhanerya’s grief and shock causes her to go into a horrific early labor.
Daemon proves himself to be quite the poor husband, as he immediately starts planning for a war, instead of being by Rhanerya’s side.
Although, he is rather smart about it, threatening the two Kingsguard on Dragonstone to swear fealty to Rhanerya or die by Caraxes’ flames.
As for Rhanerya, the stillbirth scene that follows is arguably even more graphic and disturbing that Aemma’s C-Section in Episode One.
First, there is the way that Rhanery’a screams are mixed with Syrax’s, once again showing the connection between Targaryens and their dragons.
Most of all, though, are the horrifying visuals of the stillbirth, with the amount of fake blood and prop of the baby itself being absolutley haunting.
This then leads into the funeral scene for the baby and the devestated feeling transforms into a hopeful one with the arrival of Erryk Cargyll, who stole Viserys’ crown.
And so, with Ramin Djawdi’s epic Rhanerya theme, Rhanerya is finally crowned as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.
The planning for the Blacks’ war then begins, with the painted table on Dragonstone being lit up in a fantastic shot.
We can clearly see that Rhanerya and Daemon are on opposite sides, with Rhanerya being more cautious while Daemon wants war.
When it comes to dragons, the Blacks do have the advantage, and if they can sway the other lords of Westeroes to their cause then it will also boost their chances.
Before any decision can be made, Otto arrives with a delegation from King’s Landing to offer Rhanerya peace.
This is clearly Alicent’s gambit, since she won control over Aegon in Episode Nine.
Had Otto won this would have been an assassination attempt rather than a negotiation.
The meeting on Dragonstone perfectly mirrors the one from Episode Two, as Otto arrives to confront Daemon, only to be interrupted by Rhanerya and Syrax.
Only now, she stands with Daemon, and Syrax blocks the Greens’ escape as a serious threat.
Otto offers Rhanerya and Daemon control of Dragonstone, Lucerys of Driftmark, and high places at court for Aegon the Younger and Viserys.
That last one would make them, in effect, hostages and Daemon clearly picks up on this stating, “I would rather feed my sons to the dragons than have them carry shields and cups for your drunken, usurper c**t of a king.”
A classic Daemon line.
Rhanerya is not swayed by Otto’s offer, throwing away his Hand of the King badge.
However, she is convinced to think on it through Alicent’s gesture of good will, the page Rhanerya tore from their book when they were younger and closer, recalling a happier time between them.
The choice of the writers to make Rhanerya and Alicent childhood friends was an excellent one, as it creates much more compelling drama.
Alicent’s touching gesture is enough to get Rhanerya to consider the offer, angering Daemon further.
Rhanerya does make some good points in saying that relenting her claim to the throne would create peace as her father wished for.
She even brings up how this could eventually lead to the fulfilment of Aegon’s dream, thinking Daemon would understand.
Instead, Daemon grabs Rhanerya by the throat while berating Viserys’ obsession with prophecy, stating, “Dreams didn’t make us kings. Dragons did.”
This causes Rhanerya to realise that Viserys never told Daemon.
Essentially, the grief Daemon feels for Viserys’ death makes him lash out at Rhanerya when he learns that his own brother never trusted him with such vital information.
On another note, it is kind of funny that some people were annoyed by Daemon choking Rhanerya, saying he would never do something so cruel.
They seem to be forgetting that Daemon murdered his wife.
Daemon has never been a good person.
Interesting?
Definitley.
A good person?
Absolutley not.
Following Daemon and Rhanerya’s confrontation, a recovering Corlys arrives at Dragonstone and is attended to by Rhaenys.
What follows is a tense conversation between the couple as Rhaenys condemns Corlys for leaving her alone for six years, following the deaths of their children.
Their relationship is much healthier than Rhanerya and Daemon’s, however, as, upon learning of Vaemond’s death, Corlys admits his weakness for ambition, resolving to be a changed man and retire to Driftmark with Rhaenys.
Unfortunately, this has come much too late, as Rhaenys points out that their grandchildren will still be in danger with war looming, and Rhanerya being the only one showing restraint.
And so, Corlys enters the meeting room to decide which side he will choose, if any.
It honestly feels as though Corlys was still considering, right up until he looked upon his grandchildren and saw that they had chosen to stand by Rhanerya and her family.
This makes Corlys side the Blacks, revealing his control over the Stepstones means he can block all trade with King’s Landing.
Once this is done, all that will be needed is to confirm Rhanerya’s allies among the great houses and then they can force the Greens into abdicating power without the need for bloodshed.
At Jace’s suggestion, Rhanerya decides to send her sons to confirm her allies, rather than ravens, sending Jace to the Eyrie and Winterfell, and Lucerys to Storm’s End, making them swear not to fight on their missions.
As this is happening, Daemon is attending to the unclaimed dragons on Dragonstone, among them the Bronze Fury, Vermithor, King Jaehaerys’ dragon.
Singing a High Valyrian lullaby, Daemon soothes the old dragon, as it breaths fire across the room, showing the strength the Blacks could have on their side if they could just find riders to claim these dragons.
They will certainly need it because of what happens next.
Lucerys flies to Storm’s End to treat with Lord Borros Barethon, only to find he is not the first one there.
In an intimidating the shot, the head of Vhagar rises above the castle walls, like something out of a giant monster movie.
Despite the danger, Lucerys enters the castle to treat with Borros, finding that Aemond is already there, having brokered a marriage pact between himself and one of Borros’ daughters in exchange for Borros’ support.
Lucerys gives Borros Rhanerya’s letter (leading to a humorous moment where Borros needs a Maester because he cannot read, which is true to Medieval times) but he refuses to fulfill his father’s oath, since Lucerys has nothing to offer because he is already betrothed to Rhaena.
Lucerys then attempts to leave, only to be stopped by Aemond who wants him to cut his eye out as payment for his own.
Aemond removes his eye patch, revealing that he has stuck a saphire in his eye socket, in a great adaptation from the book.
Before Aemond can attack Lucerys, Borros orders Lucerys removed, not wanting blood shed beneath his roof.
Lucerys is taken back to his dragon, Arrax but, chillingly, sees that Vhagar is gone.
It is at this point that I would like to commend Elliot Grihault for his performance as Lucerys.
He plays the character’s fear well and his High Valyrian is excellently pronounced.
Lucerys takes to the sky but the stormy weather keeps Vhagar out of sight, allowing the massive dragon to fly overhead in a terrifying shot that shows just how outmatched Arrax.
Aemond then ambushes Lucerys with Vhagar, intent on taking Lucerys’ eye.
Thanks to Arrax’s small size, Lucerys manages to manuvere him through a cliff face, allowing them to temporarily escape Aemond.
However, as Viserys said in Episode One, “The idea that we control the dragons is an illusion” and this is proven in the most disastrous way possible.
First, Lucerys loses control of Arrax, as he breaths fire at Vhagar.
This agitates Vhagar to the point that Aemond cannot control her.
In an effort to escape, Lucerys flies Arrax high above the clouds.
Unfortunately, this leads to Vhagar jump-scaring them and the audience, as she flies up out of the clouds and rips Arrax apart with a massive bite, also killing Lucerys.
Aemond clearly did not wish for this happen, as evidenced by his commands for Vhagar to stop.
This is different from the book where Aemond supposedly murders Lucerys.
Although, this version of events was just from second hand accounts, and the only one who would know what really happened is Aemond.
In any case, the horrified look on Aemond’s face shows that he clearly realizes the magnitude of what he has done as he flies back to King’s Landing, fully aware that he has started a war.
This is all but confirmed in the final scene of the episode, which sees Daemon tell Rhanerya of Lucerys’ death.
The hopeful note of Rhanerya’s theme then turns dark as Rhanerya turns towards the camera, her grief and rage obvious.
Emma D’Arcy does an excellent job of portaying Rhanerya’s feelings in this ominous moment.
They do an incredible job across the entire episode as well, from the horrifying stillbirth scene all the way up to this grim ending that has me especially excited for Season Two.
“The Black Queen” is a fantastic ending for the first season of House of the Dragon.
As for where I would rank the episode, it is definitley among the top three, including Episodes Seven and Eight.
However, at this point, I am unsure if I would rank it above or below either and will probably need a few more rewatches to decide.
Nevertheless, House of the Dragon has been a fantastic spin off to Game of Thrones, redeeming the series after the horrible Season Eight, and I cannot wait to see more.


Book Spoiler Section:
In regards to what Aemond will do when he arrives back at King’s Landing, I can definitley see him acting like he meant to kill Lucerys.
Aemond is in a no win situation.
He either claims he murdered Lucerys, which will make him known as a kinslayer, or he admits that he lost contorl of Vhagar, which will make him seem weak.
Given how we saw that Aemond being bullied as a child lead to him compensating by claiming the largest dragon in the world, I cannot see him owning up to weakness.
He would rather be known as a kinslayer than weak so he will act like killing Lucerys was intentional.
Alicent will no doubt be horrifed by her son’s actions as this has ruined any chance for peace between the Greens and Blacks.
Westeroes will be plunged into civil war in Season Two, and I am excited to see many of the events from the book unfold.
I think Season Two will end either with the Battle of the Gullet or Rhanerya taking King’s Landing.
If I am right, this means that we will also see Blood and Cheese, the death of Rhaenys, and the introduction of the Dragon Seeds in Season Two.
Of all these events, I am excited for the Sowing of the Seeds the most.
Characters like Nettles and Addam Velaryon are some of my favourite characters in the entire Dance so I am very excited to see how they will be portrayed.
Although, I have heard theories that the show will replace Addam and Nettles with Laenor and Rhaena.
To be honest, I would absolutley hate it if the writers did this because it could ruin so much of the story going forward or, at the very least, lessen the impact of numerous scenes.
I do not mind if Laenor and Rhaena have more scenes but make their characters seperate from Addam and Nettles.
However, this is just a theory at the moment and hopefully a wrong one at that.
There is no reason to be concerned until there is actually evidence of this happening.
In the meantime, there is so much to be excited for in Season Two.
It’s just a shame that we have to wait until 2024 to get it but I am sure the wait will be more than worth it.
House of the Dragon has pulled me back into the world of Westeroes and I will eagerily await its return.

House of the Dragon Episode Eight, Lord of the Tides Review: Give Paddy Considine His Emmy.

Going into Episode Eight of House of the Dragon, “Lord of the Tides”, I was expecting the Geeta Vasant Patel directed episode to be a pretty standard one but nothing special.
This is why I was surprised when “Lord of the Tides” more than exceeded my expectations, becoming my favourite episode of of the show thus far.
The episode picks up six years after the events of “Driftmark.”
In that time, Corlys has returned to fighting in the Stepstones, only to suffer a potentially lethal wound, from which his life now hangs in the balance.
And so the succession to the Driftwood Throne is now in question.
Ordinarily, it would pass to Lucerys, like Corlys wanted because, even though he is a bastard, “history does not remember blood, it remembers names,” as Corlys said last episode.
However, Corlys’ brother Vaemond wants the throne to stay in the Velaryon bloodline, so he petitions the Iron Throne to hear his claim.
This would not have ended well for Vaemond had Viserys been sitting the throne but, as Vaemond points out to Rhaenys, it is Alicent who is in charge while Viserys is bedridden with his sickness.
Meanwhile, on Dragonstone, we see Daemon retrieving a clutch of eggs from Syrax for his children with Rhanerya.
These are Aegon, Viserys, and the baby soon to be born.
His subsequent meeting with the dragon keepers is quite funny, as Daemon seems like a giddy child, having retrieved the dragon eggs for his own kids.
This giddiness is dulled, however, when he recieves a letter from Baela (Bethany Antonia), whom has become a ward of Rhaenys, warning him of Vaemond’s incoming attempt to have Lucerys illegitimized so he can take the Driftwood Throne.
Upon Daemon going to inform Rhanerya of this, he finds her tutoring Jace (Harry Collett) in High Valyrian.
Rhanerya is understandably distressed by the news of Vaemond’s actions, even more so by the uncertainty of which side Rhaneys will take, due to her believing Rhanerya and Daemon had Laenor killed so they could marry.
In the end, Rhanerya and Daemon travel to King’s Landing, only to recieve a frosty reception, as only one loyal lord greets them, despite Rhanerya being the heir.
Not only this but the Targaryen iconography seen in previous episodes has been entirely replaced by ones representing the Faith of the Seven, which the Hightowers worship, showing just how far their influence has spread.
While Daemon and Rhanerya wish to continue Targaryen traditions, as seen with Rhanerya teaching Jace High Valyrian, the Hightowers seek to replace this.
Even worse is the state of Viserys, whom Rhanerya and Daemon find bedridden, with his leprocy having consumed half of his face.
Daemon’s reaction to seeing his brother like this is a particular gut punch.
The scene turns more heart warming when Rhanerya introduces her father to Aegon and Viserys.
As for why Rhanerya would also name one of her children Aegon, in the book it is most likely a slight against Alicent.
King Viserys is overjoyed to see a grandchild named after him, saying he has a name “fit for a king,” only for pain to overwhelm him, needing milk of the poppy to sooth him.
Meanwhile, Alicent has problems of her own, as Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) has raped a servant named Dyana.
Maddie Evans’ performance as the abused Dyana is gut wrenching and you cannot help but feel sorry for her and disgusted at Alicent’s actions, as she pays her off with gold to keep silent, gives her a tea to prevent pregnancy (which is kind of hypocritical since she judged Rhanerya for this in Episode Five) and then sends her away.
Alicent then goes to berate Aegon over what he did to Dyana, with Aegon grossly saying, “It was just harmless fun.”
When Alicent slaps Aegon and calls him “no son of mine”, Aegon throws a pity party, saying nothing he does is good enough for Alicent or Viserys.
Well, if you want your parents’ love and affection, Aegon, maybe you could start by not sexually assaulting women and be an actual decent human being for a change?
Just an idea.
The argument between Aegon and Alicent is then interrupted by Helaena (Phia Saban), who wonders where Dyana is because she was supposed to dress her children with Aegon.
Alicent then embraces Helaena, clearly regretting marrying her to Aegon.
Helaena seems like the only completley innocent character on the Green’s side, so you have to feel sorry for her being married to such a piece of work.
Afterwards, Alicent meets with Rhanerya and Daemon who both accuse her of keeping Viserys drugged up on milk of the poppy.
Alicent does make a good point, however, as she states that Viserys is in a great deal of pain without it, something we see to certainly be true.
Meanwhile, Jace and Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) are looking around the training yard when they see an older Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) training with Ser Criston Cole.
I have to say, of all the aged up actors, Mitchell is particularly great as Aemond.
He gives off the perfect feeling of menace as, after defeating Criston, he calls out to his nephews without even looking at them.
Despite only having one eye, Aemond’s senses are keen, making him quite dangerous.
Any potential confrontation between Aemond and Jace and Luke is interrupted with the arrival of Vaemond, who meets with Alicent and Otto in an attempt to convince them to support his claim, promising his loyalty in the coming Targaryen succession crisis.
Meanwhile, Rhanerya meets with Rhaneys in an attempt to persuade her to her side.
Interestingly, Rhanerya does not reveal that Laenor is alive to win Rhaenys’ support.
This shows just how deep her loyalty to Laenor goes.
As for Rhaenys, Rhanerya suggests marrying Jace to Baela and Luke to Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell), which would make Baela the future Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.
Rhanerya says this is a generous yet desperate offer, and Rhanerya hits back that desperation does not matter because it would still benefit Rhaenys and her grandchildren.
However, Rhaenys is correct in her next comeback that such an alliance would be worthless if the Hightowers succeed in declaring Rhanerya’s children illegitimate.
That night, Rhanerya visits her ailing father, begging him to help her, bringing up Aegon the Conqueror’s dream about the Prince that was Promised.
This is something that will have both positive and disastrous consequences.
The next morning, Vaemond makes his petition to Otto, who sits the Iron Throne in Viserys’ absence.
Things look dire for Rhanerya until, in what is the best moment of the show so far, Viserys enters the throne room and stumbles to the Iron Throne with his cane.
Much like Alicent’s entrance in the green dress during Episode Five, this epic entrance is accompanied by Ramin Djawadi’s excellent score, hyping up the bravery of this moment.
Viserys is in incredible pain, yet he still struggles to the throne to protect his daughter.
He stumbles twice, the first time refusing help and the second time accepting help from Daemon of all people.
The brothers went from at odds during the beginning of the show to reconciled near the end, and it is beautiful to watch Daemon help Viserys to the throne with gentle encouragement and then place his fallen crown upon his head.
Now upon the throne, Viserys asks to hear Rhaenys thoughts on who should inherit the Driftwood Throne, since she is the only one who would understand her husband’s wishes.
Rhaenys makes her decision, supporting Lucerys’ claim, backing Rhanerya.
However, she also plays the situation in her own favour, by announcing the betrothal between Jace and Baela, and Luke and Rhaena.
Viserys accepts this and reaffirms Lucerys claim, only for Vaemond to angrily denounce this.
Spurred on by Daemon, Vaemond goes on to call Jace and Lucerys bastards but goes a step even further, calling Rhanerya a whore.
And the Darwin Award goes to… Vaemond Velaryon for stupidly calling the heir to the Iron Throne a whore, somehow thinking this would not get him executed!
To Vaemond’s credit, he may have known this would get him killed but he decided to die getting the truth of Rhanerya’s children’s parentage out into the open once and for all.
In the end, his death is pretty quick and brutal, with Daemon cutting half his head off right after Viserys demands his tongue, stating, “he can keep his tongue.”
The reaction to this from the Hightowers are priceless, with all of them being horrified, except for Aemond who appears to be quite impressed with his uncle/brother-in law… man, Targaryen family trees are weird.
That night, after recovering somewhat, Viserys orders a dinner to take place with his family in the hopes of reconciling the two factions.
His speech is heart breaking and it seems to get through to Rhanerya and Alicent in particular who both raise their cups to one another.
Alicent even says that Rhanerya would make a good queen, seemingly accepting her rise to the throne following her own son’s terrible actions.
Aegon attempts to provoke Jace by making a sexual advance on Baela but Jace plays this off, being the better person.
This all prompts Helaena to make her own toast, encouraging Baela and Rhaena in their marriages.
“It’s not so bad,” she says. “Mostly he just ignores you, except when he’s drunk.”
Helaena is just too pure for the terrible world of Westeros.
Her toast leads to Jace dancing with her afterwards, in what is both a noble attempt to cheer her up and also to get back at Aegon for his pot stirring.
Much celebration follows, with the two sides seemingly getting along and Viserys heart is clearly warmed at the sight, as he clearly thinks his family has reconciled.
So, of course, as soon as Viserys departs, due to the pain he feels, fighting breaks out.
A pig is placed in front of Aemond and this clearly reminds both him and Lucerys of “the pink dread” prank he, Jace and Aegon played on Aemond when they were younger.
Lucerys tries not to laugh at the memory.
It was really not a good plan to provoke the guy whose eye you cut out and now definitley has a grudge against you, Lucerys.
This is proven when Aemond makes his own toast to his nephew’s health, calling them “Strong” in a clear reference to their true father.
Jace punches Aemond in retalitation but Daemon steps in before a brawl can break out and someone else loses an eye.
As Jace and Luke go to their rooms, Aemond and Daemon face off silently, before Aemond relents and leaves.
Alicent and Rhanerya then reconcile further, with Rhanerya saying she will return to visit “on dragon back.”
After Rhanerya and her family leave, Alicent puts Viserys to bed, giving him milk of the poppy again for the pain.
Unfortunately, this has the worst of consequences, as it causes Viserys to hallucinate, thinking that Alicent is Rhanerya from the night before, asking about the Prince that was Promised.
Viserys response causes Alicent to think that he is saying Aegon should be king over Rhanerya, when he is actually saying Rhanerya is the heir who will continue Aegon the Conqueror’s line.
I have made it clear that I have disliked the inclusion of the whole Prince that was Promised plotline, given that it never amounted to anything in Game of Thrones.
However, I think this was the perfect usage of it, with this natural misunderstanding between Alicent and Viserys leading to the Dance of the Dragons.
If this misunderstanding never happened then Alicent very may well have supported Rhanerya’s claim over Aegon’s, following Viserys’ death.
And because Viserys dies he can never clear up the misunderstanding that just happened.
Viserys passes alone, in his bed, seeing his dear Aemma in his final moments.
“My love,” he whispers, as he breaths his last breath.
So dies King Viserys Targaryen, the First of his Name, King of the Andals, and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm.
With Viserys’ time on the show now at an end, I am now going to say what many people have been saying since this episode aired… Give Paddy Considine his Emmy!
Seriously, the guy gives an incredible performance as Viserys, turning the bland character from the book into one of the most tragic characters in the show.
If he is not at least nominated for this role then I do not what the world is coming to.
Viserys’ storyline alone makes “Lord of the Tides” my favourite episode of House of the Dragon thus far.
It is a fantastic episode, which serves as a great goodbye to Viserys and is the final calm before the storm.
And now the dragons dance.

Book Spoiler Section:
Once again for the book spoiler section, I will begin by attempting to guess what Helaena’s prophecy means.
“Beware the beast beneath the boards,” is what Helaena murmers at the dinner party.
I think this is a reference to Blood and Cheese, the tragic event in the Dance of the Dragons, where assassins are sent to kill one of Helaena’s children in retaliation for Luke’s death.
It will certainly be a horrifying moment in the show when this happens in Season Two, considering how sweet Helaena is.
“Lord of the Tides” also has a lot of great foreshadowing for the future of the show.
There is Rhanerya saying she will return “on dragon back”, which she does when she takes King’s Landing during the Dance.
There is Aemond and Daemon’s brief stand off, hinting at their final fight above the God’s Eye.
We see Mysaria has a servant of Alicent as an informer, foreshadowing her future role as a Mistress of Whisperers.
Then, there is Viserys comment about his grandson having a name “fit for a king,” which Viserys the younger will eventually become.
Although, this is decades down the line, so we likely will not see it in the show.
The next book spoiler I wish to discuss is actually not related to the episode itself.
This spoiler concerns the character of Daeron.
In the book, he is Alicent and Visery’s fourth child who has a key role to play in the Dance. However, he has been completley absent in the show.
Many have speculated that he is squiring in Old Town and George R.R Martin has seemingly confirmed Daeron’s existence in the show.
However, him not even being mentioned previously will make it quite strange for show only viewers to meet him in the following seasons.
I just hope he is introduced right and in a way that feels natural, despite him not being mentioned.

House of the Dragon Episode Seven, Driftmark Review: Eye for an Eye.

I was quite excited going into Episode Seven of House of the Dragon, “Driftmark.”
This was because the Miguel Sapochnik directed episode would adapt an event I had been looking forward to seeing ever since the show was announced, this being Aemond claiming Vhagar and then losing his eye.
The end result did not disappoint, with “Driftmark” being my favourite episode, until it was unexpectedly overtaken by Episode Eight, “Lord of the Tides.”
As for Episode Seven, it entirely resolves around the titular “Driftmark”, beginning with Laena’s funeral, after she died by Vhagar last episode, choosing to die as a dragon rider, rather than being ripped open in a medieval c-section.
However, this being Westeros, even a funeral is not safe from political manuvering, as Corlys’ brother, Vaemond Velaryon is clearly unhappy about Lucerys being set to inherit Driftmark, due to him being a bastard.
This leads to him insulting Lucerys, Jacaerys and Rhanerya by subtly calling them out in his funeral speech.
The insults do not go unnoticed, causing Daemon to laugh, potentially because of his incredulity at this happening at his own wife’s funeral; also potentially to draw attention away from Rhanerya and her sons to protect them.
Again, I love the ambiguity the show is painting Daemon’s actions with.
There are multiple different ways you could interpret his decisions over the course of the show so far.
Following the funeral comes a pretty awkward wake for Laena, as the green and black factions all interact, with various disdainful looks being thrown about.
Jacaerys clearly does not understand the severity of the situation, as he complains to Rhanerya about wanting to be at Harrenhal, mourning Lyonel and Harwin, whom he now knows was his true father.
Rhanerya’s concerned look to make sure no one heard Jace talking is well played by Emma D’Arcy.
While the tension is clearly growing at the wake, Helaena remains oblivious to it all; content to play with her bugs and spin prophecies.
“Spools of green, spools of black,” she murmmers. “Dragons of flesh weaving dragons of thread. Hand turns loom, spools of green.”
It is pretty obvious after this episode and Episode Eight that Helaena is a dreamer and I will get into what this specific prophecy may mean in the book spoiler section below.
As Helaena is murmmering her prophecy, she is looked over by Aegon and Aemond.
Aegon has been bethrothed to his sister but is clearly not happy about this,
Aemond, on the other hand, says he would gladly marry his sister.
Targaryens gonna Targaryen I guess.
Aemond does have quite an intriguing moment later on, however; when he walks over to Jace and looks like he might be about to console him over his own loss, only to walk away without saying a word.
This is yet another moment where we can only speculate about whether things could have turned out for the better, if only a different decision had been made by these characters.
While Jace is interacting with Aemond, and also comforting Baela and Rhaena, Lucerys is lectured about inheriting Driftmark by Corlys, only for him to say, “I don’t want it.”
This, I am sure, triggered many PTSD flashbacks for Game of Thrones fans, as they remembered Jon Snow’s most overplayed sentence from Season Eight.
Thankfully, the line that follows this is much more impactful, with Lucerys stating, “If I’m the Lord of Driftmark, that means everyone’s dead.”
More tragic shots follow, including Laenor sitting in the tide, mourning the loss of his sister, prompting Corlys to demand Qarl retrieve him.
Probably the most interesting interactions of the wake, however, are those of Viserys.
First, he tries to convince Daemon to come back to Kings Landing and reconcile, only for Daemon to outright refuse.
In another subtle moment, Daemon appears to almost say he needs Rhanerya before catching himself.
Viserys then goes to bed for the night, informing Alicent but accidentally calling her Aemma, showing just how much he is slipping.
The final shots of the wake see Aemond looking up at the sky as Vhagar flies overhead, foreshadowing what is to come.
That night, Rhanerya meets with Daemon and the two walk on the beach, discussing the loss of their loves, Laena and Harwin.
Daemon is also shown to heavily suspect Otto (whom has since returned as Hand of the King), along with Alicent, of orchestrating the murder of Lyonel and Harwin.
Rhanerya, however, speaks up for Alicent because she does not beleive her to be capable of murder.
In a sense, both are kind of right.
Daemon is right to suspect Otto of benefitting from Lyonel’s death and Rhanerya is right in so far as that Alicent did not actually order Lyonel’s death, rather it was orchestrated by Larys, with Alicent unwittingly playing a part.
Regardless of their disagreements of the Hightower’s involvement in Lyonel and Harwin’s deaths, Rhanerya and Daemon reconcile and sleep togethor.
Targaryens gonna Targaryen, right?
Well, for those of you especially creeped out by the incest in the show, no need to worry because it is so dark you probably will not see anything.
Seriously, the colour grading for these night scenes is quite bad at times.
I had to to turn off every light in the house and squint at times just to see what was happening.
It is a shame too because the night scene where Aemond claims Vhagar as his dragon is excellent.
This episode really showed just how massive Vhagar is, making Aemond’s taming of her even more epic, as he calms her with the valyrian language, climbs into her saddle and then orders her to fly, nearly dying on multiple occasions.
The massive dragon nearly shakes him off and Aemond nearly falls to his death on the ascent, yet he still succeeds in claming Vhagar, or stealing if you ask Baela and Rhaena.
I have seen a lot of debate online about whether Aemond taming Vhagar counts as stealing or not.
Rhaena was supposed to claim her, yet because she was mourning her mother she did not.
This lead to Aemond taking his opportunity and claiming Vhagar before Rhaena could.
Is this in poor taste?
Definitley.
But I would draw the line at saying it’s stealing, since Vhagar did choose Aemond as her new rider.
Rhaena and Baela’s anger is certainly understandable, though, and it is a much better reason for the fight happening, rather than Aemond throwing Joffrey into dragon poop, which is what happened in the book.
What is less understandable is Aemond insulting them all after claiming Vhagar, stating maybe Jace and Luke can find Rhaena a pig to ride.
This insult definitley stems from the bullying Aemond suffered from in the previous episode, directing his anger at Jace and Lucerys.
Unfortunately, this leads to the conflict escalating into a full on brawl, resulting in the best fight in House of the Dragon so far, and it is a fight between literal children.
Again, we have to think of that moment when Aemond almost comforted Jace back a the wake.
If either of them had spoken up, would they have ended up in such a violent showdown?
We will never know.
Instead, the resenment grows into bloodshed as, after threatening Jace with a rock, Aemond gets his eye cut out by Lucerys, before the Kingsguard finally show up to intervene.
Upon hearing of the fight, Viserys is understandably outraged, berating Ser Harold Westerling and Ser Criston.
It is here that we see the difference in standards among the Kingsguard.
While Ser Harold accepts responsibiltiy and apologises, Ser Criston attempts to redirect blame onto Rhanerya’s sons.
Tensions rise when Rhanerya enters the room, with Daemon just observing.
Viserys is focused on learning what happened, until Rhanerya reveals Aemond called her sons bastards.
Viserys then focuses on this, rather than his own son losing an eye.
This is most likely because of his love for Rhanerya but also because he knows that if Jace, Luke and Joffrey are considered bastards by the realm then it could plunge Westeros into war.
So, Viserys focuses on this instead of Aemond, likely increasing his own son’s hatred for his nephews.
In the end, Aemond blames Aegon instead of his mother for spreading the bastard rumor.
Aegon’s following response to Viserys when he questions where he heard this, “everyone knows, just look at them,” is a great line adapted from the book.
Viserys’ following frustration about the infighting in his family is palpable, with Paddy Considine giving another fantastic performance.
Alicent is understandably unmoved by Viserys order that everyone should make ammends.
She is angered by Aemond losing an eye, leading her to demand an eye for an eye from Lucerys.
When Viserys refuses, she steals the catspaw dagger from him and lunges at Rhanerya and her children, a moment that had been especially hyped up in the trailers and does not disappoint, with both calling the other out, leading to Alicent slashing Rhanerya’s arm.
Afterwards, the tension is finally calmed when Aemond reassures Alicent with another excellent line from the book, “I may have lost an eye but I gained a dragon.”
It really would have been better if you said that before Alicent tried to stab the heir to the throne, Aemond.
On another note, I would like to praise Leo Ashton for his role as Aemond this episode.
He was the best of the child actors this episode and perfomed the claiming of Vhagar scene especially well.
As for Alicent, she is confronted by Otto in her chambers and, for the first time, he seems to be proud of her, saying he now sees that she has “the determination to win” the “ugly game” they play.
Alicent takes her father’s support to heart by also embracing Larys’ support on the ship back to Kings’ Landing, further cementing an alliance with a powerful and dangerous ally.
Rhanerya is also cementing more allies, with Laenor committing to helping as her husband in a touching scene between the two.
This is despite the fact that we can see how conflicted Laenor is about the direction in his life.
The second ally Rhanerya gains is Daemon, offering marriage to him, to which Daemon says Laenor would have to die.
I will admit, I was completley fooled when it looked like Daemon hired Qarl to kill Laenor.
I thought Rhanerya had turned down a dark path and helped orchestrate the death of Laenor, and I was quite unsure about it, considering how much Rhanerya had seemed to care greatly for Laenor beforehand.
This is why it was a relief to see that Laenor’s death had been staged, allowing him and Qarl to row off into the sunset togethor.
Laenor did the smart thing getting out of the Game of Thrones.
He will live much longer that way.
Shame about the random guard whose body was used as a stand in for him, though.
Laenor living is an interesting change from the book and I wonder how if it will play into the future of the story?
There is a theory about Laenor’s future role going around but it is one I do not particularly like.
I will have to mention book spoilers, though, so I will explain what the theory is in in the section below.
As for Daemon and Rhanerya, they are finally able to marry, in a scene that is actually kind of funny when you see the disgusted faces of their children, Rhaena and Baela in particular.
I also wish we could have seen Viserys reaction, since he was so against any union between Rhanerya and Daemon in Episodes Four and Five.
All in all, “Driftmark” is one of the best episode of House of the Dragon so far.
It more than delivered on the Vhagar and Aemond storyline I have been waiting to see play out ever since I read “Fire and Blood.”


Book Spoilers Section:
Regarding Helaena’s prophecy this episode, I think it is a clear reference to the beginning of the Dance of the Dragons.
“Spools of green, spools of black; dragons of flesh weaving dragons of threads,” references the division between the blacks and the greens, leading to the Dance.
“Hand turns loom, spools of green,” references Otto’s work in the coup to put Aegon on the throne, and the greens in power, following Viserys’ death.
With my speculation for Helaena’s prophecy out of the way, I can now talk about the theory concerning Laenor’s survival.
This theory states that in Season Two of House of the Dragon, he will take on the role of Addam of Hull, the dragon seed who joins Rhanerya’s cause.
The theory is that Laenor will pose as his own bastard to come back and help Rhanerya, taking on the name Addam.
Personally, I am very much against this theory.
If Laenor is Addam, it would ruin Addam’s entire arc about proving the worth of bastards.
Rhanerya suspects him after Hugh Hammer and Ulf the White’s betrayal, something Rhanerya would never consider of Laenor.
Addam then flees to avoid arrest, only to rally Rhanerya’s supporters in an attempt to take back Tumbleton, dying in the fighting.
Having proven his worth, his brother Alyn then has the words “loyal” carved into Addam’s tombstone.
Laenor just does not fit into this storyline because he is not a bastard and he does not even have a brother to pose as Alyn.
Just keep Laenor and Addam as seperate characters please.