So here we are – ten years further into the future with a host of new actors, new characters, and the same old grudges (just a bit more fermented and with more furor simmering under – and in some cases, over – the surface*). I must admit, while I still believe the series would have been better served by spending an entire season grounding the story with the younger versions of the key characters, I greatly enjoyed several of our newer additions to the cast.
*For a show that is, ultimately, about the clash between two women who once were best friends and are now enemies, it’s impressive that Ser Criston Cole appears to be the one character in the series who holds the deepest grudge of them all. I’m not sure if it’s because Rhaenyra turned him down years ago or if it was because he betrayed his vows for what amounted to a fling and then confessed it and is now under the Queen’s thumb as a result (although he doesn’t seem all that mad about that part), but boy, what a tool. I assume we’re supposed to dislike him, but I do wish the writers were able to give us more time to get to know him as someone other than just a pretty face before his massive heel turn.
While I enjoyed Milly Alcock and Emily Carey’s work as Rhaenyra and Alicent, respectively, it’s hard not to recognize the considerable improvement with the addition of Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke to the series in those roles. Moving the characters beyond childhood and firmly into adulthood allows them greater agency and the ability to tackle far more complex and emotional story arcs than their younger versions were allowed. Cooke, in particular, really dives deeply into the complexities inherent in Alicent – a precarious position in court, needing to find a way to supplant Rhaenyra for the sake of her own children and legacy, but unable to convince Viserys to turn on his beloved daughter. I never fully bought into her younger self’s attempts at playing the game of thrones – largely because the writing forced the character to jump from rather clueless young woman into a schemer with little to no runway in that change – but this version, a woman who is at the end of her rope in her inability to convince a tired old man to turn on his daughter (and who can’t seem to rein in her rambunctious and insolent teenage son – he’s looking like he’ll turn out to be a charming adult in the coming episodes) and is willing to literally burn her moral compass to the ground to get what she wishes, feels organic to the journey we’ve seen her travel thus far. Add in her own deal with the devil in Larys and I’m finding I’m much more invested in Alicent than I once thought I would be.
And so much of that change in opinion comes from the deal with Larys – one she definitely didn’t realize she was making, but one that she should have seen coming a mile away. The interesting thing about both Rhaenyra and Alicent – both now and in the past – is that they are so very much alike despite neither wanting to admit it. Alicent sees herself as the good one – the one who did her duty, played her part, and should get the rewards her father sought for her. She’s convinced herself that she deserves to have Aegon on the throne – a reward for being sold to Viserys and giving him a son. Similarly, Rhaenyra has convinced herself that she’s done what she had to do to secure her own birthright – played the dutiful daughter, had her children (even if they are bastards), and kept the good of the realm in the forefront of her outward actions. She deserves the throne and to hell with those who would take it from her.
Yet, both are at very dangerous points in their quests. Rhaenyra has finally allowed her hubris and sense that she was untouchable as Viserys’s named heir to set her up for potential doom now that Ser Harwin showed her hand (although, his unfortunate death through the actions of his brother certainly means those parentage rumors can remain simply rumors without him there to confirm anything). And Alicent failed to think the five steps ahead one must to keep ahead of the game of thrones. As we saw in Game of Thrones, those without real outward power are often the best at playing the game – think Tyrion, Varys, or Littlefinger – and when you have them on your side, you need to up your game lest you be left flatfooted and owing a massive favor you don’t want to owe.
I’ve been waiting for an episode like this one since the series began – one that lays out the wants, goals, and forward motion for each of our central characters in a way that allows us to get in their heads and understand their motivations. Sure, some of the dialogue was a bit on the nose (while it was nice to hear Alicent express precisely what she wants after so many confused fits and starts in the opening five episodes, directly saying she wants someone to present her side of things to the King was a bit much), but I finally feel able to see the flow of the series through its characters instead of just through the written history of Martin’s novel. When the show lets the characters lead the storytelling – instead of just jumping episode to episode, hitting key milestones that must be hit (wedding, births, deaths) – the series begins to feel like there’s a beating heart at the center of it. Good drama stems from the characters’ wants and needs driving the narrative. Finally, House of the Dragon has begun to allow that to be the case with its storytelling and the story has become all the richer for it. With two strong performances set to anchor the series from here on out with D’Arcy and Cooke (joining Matt Smith’s good work as Daemon – given very little to do this week, outside of losing yet another wife – and Paddy Considine’s continued excellent performance as the ever weakening Viserys), I think the series is getting to where it needs to be to become the complex and compelling drama it wants to be.
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Writing
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Acting
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