Episode Grade: (9.5/10)
If you were expecting the family drama to subside out of respect or grief for Laena’s death, you were sorely mistaken. The children have inherited their mothers’ feud and have made it physical. The situation escalated so quickly and so violently to the point where Viserys is beyond helpless. Sensing the danger ahead, Rhaenyra finally joins forces with Daemon.
Plot (47/50)
The show is now laser-focused on the impending battle over the throne, with every subplot feeding directly into the main storyline. When it’s all said and done, this will probably go down as one of the most significant episodes in the entire series. Among the most noteworthy developments are Daemon and Rhaenyra getting married after faking Laenor’s death, Lucerys slicing Aemond’s eye, Aemond bonding with Vhagar, and Alicent literally drawing blood from Rhaenyra. Of course, the main plot centers around the animosity boiling over and the mini-feuds completely imploding as things descended into chaos. Crucially, there was no love lost between the children; if anything, the hostility between the children appears to be far more vicious than that of their parents. The dragons are slowly being built up as a crucial part in the conflict to come, and rightly so. The way the writers showcased the personal feuds was exquisite. From the staredowns to the face-to-face confrontations, to say the execution was flawless wouldn’t be an overstatement. Incredibly, it wasn’t hard to follow along even with all the moving parts. Moving on, I’m still sticking with my prediction that Laenor will not make it to season two. His fake death was a very well-executed twist even if I caught onto it. Daemon killing some random guard is what gave it off for me. However, I still feel like Laenor will actually die somehow, perhaps he’ll die a warrior’s death in the Stepstones. I say this because while people may be fooled, Laenor’s dragon certainly won’t. I don’t imagine they can just un-bond with eachother, and people might get suspicious if the dragon doesn’t bond with a certain someone who’s currently dragon-less. In any case, as far as everyone is concerned, Laenor is dead, and that’s all that matters for the time being. This was a strategic move from Rhaenyra that allowed her to marry Daemon, thus strengthening her claim to the throne. What this also accomplished is the formation of two clear sides. I was hoping Daemon lead a third side by himself to keep things really interesting, but this was a necessary move to balance the odds. Alicent’s side is still the favorite, but all of a sudden the margin got much smaller and the game got more competitive. The non-factor in all of this is Viserys, who finds himself in an impossible situation having to settle a very serious dispute between his child and his grandchild. His authority might not be respected by anyone, but at this point, the only thing keeping everything from descending into total chaos is his literal life. It will be interesting to see which side the major Houses of Westeros take after Viserys’ impending death. Will the Houses recognize Aegon as King forcing Rhaenyra and Daemon to seek allies in Essos? What will Viserys’ reaction be to Daemon and Rhaenyra’s marriage? What will Corlys and Rhaeyns reaction be? Could they stand against Daemon despite him fathering their grandchildren? How does the Dornish involvement in the Stepstones play into this? There are a lot of exciting questions to be answered in the coming episodes. The suspense and the drama were impeccable. Aemond being as nasty as he was and being the one to bond with Laena’s dragon instead of Rhaena was a solid bit of originality especially as I thought his character would go in the opposite direction and actually be “good.” I’m watching out for Viserys’ death as well as a potential Rhaenyra and Daemon child (or more) in the final episodes of the season. How funny would it be if Rhaenyra’s first legitimate child is a girl?
Character Development (14/15)
As the focus of the show has shifted from Viserys to Rhaenyra, and as Rhaenyra has grown into an adult, we’re seeing more complexity in her character. Her conversation with Daemon was so effective in building their relationship not just because of her propensity for unfiltered honesty, but also because of Daemon’s unrelenting probing. The combination their personalities makes for gripping conversations. There’s a clear and passionate desire for one another that has not subsided despite them spending nearly a decade apart, during which they’ve married other people and became parents. Rhaenyra knows what she wants and she doesn’t want to wait anymore, but she’s also not the foolish girl she was at the beginning of the season, and this is where her development is on full display. She finds a way to get what she wants while strategically strengthening her claim to the throne. Of course, that strategy involves faking Laenor’s death to clear the way for her to officially marry Daemon. I don’t know why, but I get the feeling that Daemon might betray Rhaenyra in some form later on in the show. Maybe it’s because of the capacity for “depravity” line he threw at her. Anyways, the conversation Rhaenyra had with Laenor was quite interesting as well. It was a rare moment of vulnerability between two people who were thrust into a marriage they never felt they had any control over. By the end of it, Laenor is ready to pledge his life to Rhaenyra and her kids to make up for his lack of support over the years. Of course, there had to have been a conversation between then and when they executed their plan. I imagine it involved Rhaenyra telling Laenor that if he really wanted to support her and the kids, then he would fake his own death, thus allowing her to secure a marriage to Daemon that would offer a level of protection that Laenor simply couldn’t. As an added bonus, Laenor finally gets to live his life in “freedom” away from all the politics. It wasn’t all positive for Rhaenyra, as her once best friend Alicent slashed her with Viserys’ dagger. Rhaenyra managed to hold her ground despite Alicent’s incessant desire to bring her down. Alicent’s thirst for revenge leads her to slip up and finally lift her veil of righteousness as Rhaenyra pointed out. She’s become so incessantly bitter, and right or wrong, her toxicity is palpable. This bitterness doesn’t entirely stem from what she feels is the injustice by which Rhaenyra has continued to get away with even the most egregious of errors, rather it mostly stems from a sense of frustration, even jealously perhaps, that she has to continue putting on this facade and playing by a set of rules that puts her at a sever disadvantage. Her frustration has turned into infuriating resentment until she finally couldn’t bottle it in an any longer and just broke down. To be fair, seeing Rhaenyra’s son slice her own son’s eye off only for Viserys, her husband and father to her children, to still come to Rhaenyra’s defense must’ve been maddening. At least Otto liked what he saw. In a very crude and cynical way, he wasn’t wrong either. From his perspective, Aemond losing an eye is a cheap price to pay for the most powerful dragon alive and for pushing Alicent over the edge where she’s now much more willing to do whatever needs to be done to secure the throne. This was immediately confirmed after she calmed down, as she was able to move past the desire for immediate revenge to reel Larys in further for when she needs his propensity for cutthroat action in the future. That leaves us with poor Viserys. Seeing him crippled and unable to exert any sort of control over the situation was simultaneously pathetic and heartbreaking. He has constantly found himself in unenviable situations with his family, and the more he personally sacrificed, the more the people closest to him took advantage. He’s committed his entire life to maintaining peace often at the expense of his level of respect and here he was residing over a conflict between his son and his grandson that’s a branch of the long-standing conflict between his daughter and his wife. You can make a strong argument that he brought this onto himself, but at the end of the day, the man just wanted peace for his family. Still, the sheer defiance he faced in that scene in the hall was a damning assessment of his complete lack of authority. Oh how the mighty have fallen. I don’t want to ramble on, but the poor guy couldn’t catch a break. Just think about the hell Daemon put him through, so for him to still be the one to extend a branch of peace only to be rejected in such a vicious way is morally devastating. Just take a step back to think about this: Viserys lost his only real friend to a fire, his daughter has left his side, his brother won’t even give him a modicum of closure after nearly a DECADE of estrangement, his wife defies publicly defying him, his grief for his wife that’s been dead for 15 years is still eating him alive, AND he must know deep down that his death will trigger an unprecedented civil war among his family. In one word: depressing. And then you have some nobody like Criston Cole trying to talk back to him. Yes, he’s broken and weak, but he is still the King. At least he didn’t take that level of disrespect… Moving on, there was some development among the side characters. There seems to be a bit of a conflict brewing between Criston Cole and Harrold Westerling, who is completely unimpressed by the former’s overreaching. After Laena’s death, Corlys and Rhaenys’ relationship is hanging by a thread. Laenor’s “death” might’ve just cut that thread. Aemond is a straight menace. His interactions with his, um, nieces and nephews set him up as a villain. There’s his disgusting interest in Helaena, and there’s also his uneasy relationship with Aegon. I’m going to throw a wild prediction out there and say that Aemond will be the one to kill Aegon out of ambition for the throne.
Theme/Messages (5/5)
- “No matter how fat the leech grows, it always wants for another meal.”
- “What is this brief mortal life if not the pursuit of legacy?”
- “History does not remember blood, it remembers names.”
- “Each of us is capable of depravity, and more than you would believe.”
- “We play an ugly game” a la Cersei’s “in the Game of Thrones, you will or you die.”
- Sacrifices need to be made if true progress is to be achieved.
- Perception is dangerous weapon.
- Family feuds are always the nastiest, not despite, but because it’s between people who are so close to each other.
Acting (15/15)
Emma D’Arcy (Rhaenyra) is yet another example of GoT’s excellent casting track record. She and Olivia Cooke (Alicent) have only been on for two episodes, but all the spotlight is on them and they’re absolutely crushing it. With that said, the way Paddy Considine (King Viserys) and Matt Smith (Daemon) can do so much in so little time will never not be impressive. Eve Best (Rhaenys) and Steve Toussaint (Corlys) took full advantage of their increased screen time this episode. Even the kids put in fantastic performances!
Cinematography (14/15)
There were some fantastic dragon shots mixed in with the standard illustrative shots in this episode:
- Awesome shots of the different dragons flying over Driftmark (7:35 onwards)
- Nice shot of the castle covering the sun as dragons screech in the background (13:03)
- Symbolic shot of Aemond from behind with Vhagar’s face taking up the entire screen in front of him (30:22)
- Really impressive camera work and special effects in the scene where Aemond rides Vhagar
- Cool shot of Vhagar in the sky with the full moon above (32:51)
- Great shot from above showing everyone standing in a circle with Alicent in the middle (44:55)
- Symbolic shots of the literal sides forming (45:00 onwards)