In King's Landing, Alicent and her allies rush to shore up Aegon's claim to the Iron Throne... but without Aegon himself, who has gone missing in the night, and is now the object of two competing manhunts. Alicent tries to appeal to Rhaenys, but is rebuffed with thorny advice. It's all building toward a memorable coronation for the new king.
After a season that routinely skipped weeks and years between episodes, it's telling that House of the Dragon picks up this time literally the next morning after the previous episode. We really are done with the preamble now. Also different: Rhaenyra (and Daemon, and their children) are nowhere to be seen this week. This episode is set entirely in King's Landing, focusing on the scramble to install Aegon as king before word of Viserys' death can reach the world beyond.
It is almost an episode from Alicent's point of view, in as much as Game of Thrones or its spin-off would ever truly do such a thing. Much of this first season has shown us Alicent through Rhaenyra's eyes, a dear friend turned cold rival who seemed sympathetic only in the occasional moments when Rhaenyra wasn't actually around. And so, without her around at all this week, we get Alicent in her most sympathetic light yet.
No, we see for certain, Alicent is not Cersei. And of course, the characters of House of the Dragon should not map one-to-one to characters from Game of Thrones. But where you might have imagined both characters as "queens playing the game, not as well as they themselves would say they are," this episode highlights the important difference between the two. Alicent really has no ambition for herself -- and consequently, she has no ruthlessness in her.
Cersei would have heard Viserys' dying words, deliberately misconstrued them, and made big political moves accordingly. Alicent seems to have truly misunderstood Viserys, assisted by wishful thinking, and is only willing to make small moves (as of now). Yes, she's playing a game -- as illustrated most viscerally in the scene where she exploits (and is exploted by) Larys and his foot fetish. But she's no grandmaster.
This fact was pointed out best by Rhaenys in one of a few scenes this week that seemed to style her as another Game of Thrones character, Lady Olenna. Again, of course, not every character in this maps to one from the original show, but Rhaenys displayed the same sharp insight backed by sharp words. She really put Alicent in her place, exposing that she works in service of men. Sure, Olenna would have had even more withering words in this situation, but then... Olenna didn't have an actual dragon to ride.
Rhaenys' big moment at the end of the episode has been the talk of the internet -- most of it centered on "why didn't she say 'Dracarys!'?" And yes, that was certainly my gut reaction in the moment as well. But I think here's a payoff for the slow burn the show was in getting to this point; we get context to help understand moments like this. In another departure from Olenna, Rhaenys is not a vengeful woman. She's certainly not a stone cold killer. Remember, she believes in earnest that her own son was murdered by his wife... and she has still chosen to ally with that wife. Forgiveness is in her nature. If anything, she pities Alicent more than she harbors any malice there... and I think that explains why, on this occasion that she (and the realm) may later come to regret, she lets Alicent and her family live.
No comments:
Post a Comment