Summary: 6 months have passed. Corlys again brings up the issue of the Crabfeeder but Viserys doesn't want to take action. Rhaenyra is sent to pick a new Kingsguard member and she picks Criston. Alicent continues to meet with Viserys. Viserys meets with Corlys and Rhaenys and considers their proposal for him to wed Laena. It's a good match but she is very young. Word arrives that Daemon has stolen a dragon egg and is intending to wed Mysaria on Dragonstone. Otto is dispatched to stop him, and Rhaenyra comes along anyways. Rhaenyra gets back the egg without bloodshed. Viserys is surprised when she returns, but they end up finally opening up to each other. Viserys tells her that he intends to wed. At the next small council meeting, Viserys reveals he intends to wed Alicent. Corlys storms off and returns to Driftmark where he meets with Daemon to form an alliance.
The Good: A lot of the developments here were entertaining to watch. The main plot of this episode centred around Viserys' impending decision to take on a new wife. Through this story, we got a bit of a battle between background characters as both Otto and Corlys attempted to play the game to get Viserys to pick their respective daughters. Viserys may feel like he has agency, but it's abundantly clear after this episode that Daemon was right and that he's simply being manipulated by those around him. Corlys is the more honourable and straight-forward man, openly telling Viserys what he wants and why Viserys should care. Corlys creates the strongest argument for Viserys to wed Laena, and the episode makes it clear that this is the best move politically for Viserys. But the only issue is that Laena is 12, and seeing Viserys interact with her was suitably icky. It's easy to see why Viserys would be against this idea, and Otto is cunning enough to take advantage of this. He's smart enough to not directly ask Viserys to marry Alicent instead, but he continues to force his daughter onto Viserys, so when Viserys is uncomfortable with Laena's age, he will have a much older option directly in front of him who he has developed a good connection with. Otto's plotting is clever, and he outdoes Corlys to make the Hightowers the most direct ally to the throne. Otto is extremely detestable with his subtle manipulations, and you can't help but feel for Corlys who hasn't done anything wrong but has now been spurned from the throne two successive times (first with Rhaenys and now with Laena). It's no surprise that he's had enough and decided to ally with Daemon. The king spurns him and refuses to address the pirates that are attacking his fleet, so why should Corlys remain loyal? Viserys' decision to wed Alicent is already having dangerous consequences. Speaking of Daemon, he plays a surprisingly small role in the episode, but he continues to steal the show. Matt Smith is so good at portraying this ruthless rogue and he brings a level of humanity to Daemon through his obvious love for his family. The dragon egg confrontation is an excellent scene that is dripping with suspense since we don't know what's going to happen. Otto is certainly looking for any excuse to take Daemon out of commission, while Daemon is exactly the kind of guy to escalate this situation unnecessarily. Plus, he has a dragon. Right when things look to be heating up, Rhaenyra arrives and we get to see more of how she handles problems as she comes up to Daemon with a resolve to end things without any bloodshed. She is very impressive in this scene, carrying herself with confidence and being observant enough to realize that Daemon is lying about the whole situation. We would expect Daemon to be brash enough to re-marry, but it becomes clear that this entire situation was nothing more than an attempt to get some attention. Daemon has no intention to wed Mysaria, since she has no idea about any of this, and furthermore, she's not even pregnant! This was a surprising twist, but it makes sense and humanizes Daemon a bit more. It also makes Rhaenyra look good since she's the only one who recognizes Daemon's little stunt for what it is and she takes care of it in a mature way. Rhaenyra has a really good episode overall. I had voiced my concerns about how the show didn't do a great job of connecting us with the character in the last episode, but that is rectified here. We get a much better idea of Rhaenyra's plight by getting lots of scenes with her. We can see her frustrations when she is ignored at court, we can see her pain when she breaks down in the Sept while trying to make peace with all of her troubles, and we see her determination and persistence when she talks back to Rhaenys and goes to resolve the Daemon problem. This episode does a terrific job of characterizing her further, making us understand her motives and fears, and the scenes with her are all quite good. Corlys allying with Daemon is a strong ending to the episode. This is likely a big moment of alliances shifting that will have huge repercussions on the upcoming conflict. I'm interested to see where the Crabfeeder story will go. We don't get to meet him directly, but the brief, horrifying scenes of what he has been up to are effective in making this guy feel like an interesting, exciting threat. It was nice to learn a bit more about Lyonel Strong. The previous episode saw him get cut off by Otto, but here we get to see that he has a good head on his shoulders. He's a pragmatic man who isn't afraid to offer up his opinion, and he (so far) doesn't seem to be playing the game of thrones for his own gain. The production remains a treat to experience. Caraxes and Syrax looked and sounded fantastic in this episode, and their presence elevated the Dragonstone stand-off further. I also adored that establishing shot of Dragonstone, with the fog adding so much more atmosphere and mystique to this ancient location. The Bad: I thought that the relationship between Viserys and Rhaenyra wasn't handled very well in this episode. A lot of their dialogue with each other felt clunky. At the start of the episode, it was intentional to establish how awkwardly they feel around each other, but even when they were "opening up" to each other, the dialogue still felt so stale. It didn't feel like either was being genuine, and I was very confused that the show was trying to tell me that they were genuinely connecting in these scenes. All Viserys did was say how much he misses Aemma in a flowery way, and I'm not sure why this made Rhaenyra feel like she got to connect with her father. Especially since Rhaenyra's troubles stem from her feeling like her father isn't recognizing her talents. I think that their moment of connection could have been written far better. Why on Earth would Viserys not tell Rhaenyra that he planned on marrying Alicent? If he genuinely wanted to connect more with her, surely he would have tried to explain his plans to her instead of surprising her at the small council alongside everyone else. Viserys makes some bone-headed decisions in this episode, and while most are understandable, this one is baffling to me. I also found that Viserys' decision to marry Alicent wasn't appropriately built up. It would have been more effective if we had a better idea of their relationship and what Viserys likes about her. The show tells us that Viserys has connected with her, but we don't see enough of it for this to fully work. I get the sense that the show tried too hard to make this a surprise, and some of the storytelling depth was lost as a result. The visual effects weren't quite as pristine in this episode. I especially noticed it on the establishing shot of King's Landing, which looked notably worse compared to the last episode. The Unknown: Who exactly is the Crabfeeder? How big of a threat will he be for the Seven Kingdoms? Will Daemon and Corlys try to take him down without Viserys' approval? Will this start a war? How does Alicent feel about marrying Viserys? How will this affect her relationship with Rhaenyra? Will Rhaenyra be able to accept her best friend marrying her father? What are Daemon's current goals? Does he intend to wed Mysaria? Why? What will become of his new alliance with Corlys? Will they work together and oppose the king? Or will they simply put their powers together to fight the Crabfeeder? Best Moment: Daemon's confrontation with Otto and Rhaenyra was exciting and interesting. Character of the Episode: Rhaenyra. Conclusion: A solid episode of table-setting that pushed the plot along. I had a couple of issues with the lack of emotional storytelling, but this was fine enough. Score: 60
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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