“House of the Dragon: Episode 9 Recap: Who Killed King?”
“House of the Dragon: Episode 9 Recap: Who Killed King?”
The king is dead, lengthy dwell the king. We simply want to search out him first. The penultimate entry into Home of the Dragon’s first season, ‘The Inexperienced Council’, picks up proper the place the final week’s episode left off. Viserys has certainly died, leaving a Paddy Considine-sized gap in Home of the Dragon; his kindness and misplaced belief will probably be missed. However, will or not it be an easy transition of energy? If it had been, this is able to be a lot shorter franchise.
Alicent (Olivia Cooke) tells her father concerning the late king’s deathbed mutterings – that he needed Aegon on the Iron Throne – inevitably misinterpreting it alongside the best way (flawed Aegon, alas!). Not that it issues: Otto (Rhys Ifans) and the remainder of the small council have already been planning on doing away with Rhaenyra and putting Aegon, presently lacking in motion, on the throne. Alicent, after the final episode’s détente together with her former BFF, is understandably torn, resulting in the query of the week: is Alicent Hightower a particular person?
Nonetheless irritating the dream misinterpretation, it’s clear the showrunners wish to construct sympathy for Alicent, who veers always into cartoon villain territory. Certainly, we are able to blame her for crowning Aegon if that’s what Viserys needed. It will be an extra convincing narrative method if it additionally didn’t make Alicent look so silly. Even a mom’s love can’t blind her from the truth that Aegon is a simpering idiot, who’s populating Flea Backside with blonde bastards. A lot of this episode is spent traversing brothels looking for the younger king, a lot to the chagrin of his youthful brother, Aemond.
Alicent’s confrontation with Princess Rhaenys (Eve Greatest), simply the stand-out scene in this episode, actually brings the Queen’s actions into focus. The 2 ladies, in their very own unhappy methods, are the victims of different individuals’ plans. Alice hopes to win the allegiance of the princess, who has been locked up unceremoniously in a single day, promoting her to an imaginative and prescient peaceable Hightower-led rule. Rhaenys is as impressed with the queen’s manipulation as she is appalled by her shamelessness; it’s a reckoning for each character. Lastly, Rhaenys helps Alicent see what she really is: a prisoner. “You want to not be free, however, to make a window within the wall of your jail,” Rhaenys tells her. It’s like – delivering the type of melodrama fantasy followers lap up – and the penny drops for Alicent.
So follows a collection of revelations for the Alicent, which Cooke actually sells, if this present has achieved something, it’s shining a light-weight on younger British expertise. First a showdown with Otto, by which she accuses her father of manipulation since she was a baby. It’s a very long time coming, and well worth the watch for the added complexity. As Otto factors out, Alicent is now a grasp manipulator and Queen of the Seven Kingdoms besides. Otto, lastly crushed, pulls a tried-and-tested cliché of frosty parental relations, telling Alicent that she’s by no means resembled her mom so carefully.
And Alicent will not be the one processing some parental hang-ups. On the best way to the coronation, she advises Aegon to rule pretty however the prince is caught up in his personal drama. Viserys by no means appreciated him, he whines. It’s a really plausible declaration, although one we’ve seen little proof of all through this collection. There’s a second of uncertainty that provides a strategy to disbelief for Alicent: how may a soon-to-be king be so hung up about his father? Our mother and father, it appears, actually do fuck us up. It’s not essentially the most profound theme, but it surely’s the one Home of the Dragon has chosen to deal with. And with the present’s signature mix of campy drama and fantasy set items, it nearly works.
Elsewhere, this episode spotlights some recurring issues. These small council conferences, one of many highlights of Recreation of Thrones, merely don’t work. The sooner, tenser affairs with Daemon (Matt Smith) and Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) had some spark, however, this episode’s assembly, which takes up far an excessive amount of airtime, is a dreary, oxygen-less affair. There’s merely nobody to care about; none of those characters are developed. When Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) smashes Lord Lyman (Invoice Patterson) towards the desk, it’s laborious to really feel something past, ‘Oh, that was Fleabag’s dad’. And whereas it makes thematic sense to have Daemon and Rhaenyra out of the image, unaware of what’s going on – although, actually, wouldn’t they’ve sensed that Viserys wasn’t long for this world? – the shortage of Smith and D’Arcy zaps this episode of power.
The most important drawback in dealing with Home of the Dragon, nonetheless, is continuity. Its time jumps have been easy as regards the solid a few of the little one actors have been a contact baffling, however, the present’s tendency to boost and drop plot factors is more and more troublesome. This week, in the course of an ascension debacle, the present introduces a whole subplot about little one violence. The White Worm, Daemon’s former mistress, is aware of the place Aegon is and he or she’s prepared to inform Otto. The worth? Ban little one fights (a previous time Aegon enjoys watching) in Flea Backside. It’s good for the White Worm to be on the precise aspect of the historical past, but it surely’s laborious to search out it compelling, particularly as nobody was conscious it was an issue till this episode.
Nonetheless, that ending is pretty plain. The sight of Rhaenys atop her dragon, Meleys, interrupting the coronation is strictly the kind of memorable second this present loves. Greatest portrays the Rhaenys as a hurt, resigned royal who, like a slumbering dragon, has simply awoken in a thunderous temper. Her showdown with Cooke, who stands in the entrance of her quivering son, is a satisfying conclusion for this pair (no blood is shed): moms and manipulators squaring off. Typically it’s laborious to take a present that depends on dragons for drama too severely, however when the second is earned, it’s dependable dopamine hit. Subsequent week: the finale, and hopefully Daemon’s tackle little one welfare.
