Editor’s note: I am about to unleash all of the fire in the Dragon Pit so if you haven’t watched the latest episode of House of the Dragon, please turn around now!
We’ve gone back to the future in House of the Dragon episode 6 and it is all kinds of f***d up!
Recap:
It’s been a decade since The Red Wedding the Prequel and all of our problematic faves are mostly happily married with kids.
We meet adult Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) as she is deep in the painful throes of giving birth to her third son. Far from the young teen princess who shuddered at doing nothing but pushing out babes, the grown heir to the Iron Throne is eager to meet her littlest prince.She is just about enjoying those first precious moments with her newborn when she is summoned by Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) who wants to meet the new babe. As in right now.
With blood dripping from between her legs, the afterbirth barely being delivered and walking painfully on the arm of her lord husband Laenor (John Macmillan), Rhaenyra gathers her waning strength to present her child to her god-awful stepmother and father King Viserys (Paddy Considine). Viserys, pointedly ignoring the fact that the child, like his brothers, looks like Ser Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr). the Lord Commander of the City Watch, makes a cute quip about the babe having his “father’s” nose which drives Alicent even crazier with outrage and jealousy.
Laenor names the child he didn’t father after his fallen lover Joffrey and Alicent mocks him about trying again until he finally sires a child on Rhaenyra that looks like him. Someone needs to take that bitch out.
Elsewhere, across the Narrow Seas, my bad boy Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) and his lovely wife Laena (Nanna Blondell) are engaging in some fiery foreplay as they race their dragons Caraxes and Vhagar (yes, the last fearsome she-beast still alive from the time of Aegon the Conqueror’s reign) above Pentos. The royal couple have been vagabonds these past ten years, raising their daughters Baela (Shani Smethurst) and Rhaena (Eva Ossei-Gerning) on their travels and are now expecting a third child.
Our Rogue Prince is a family man now and looking to settle in Pentosh but Laena wants to go home. If only he had listened to her because by the time the episode ends, Laena has given herself over to dragonfire when her labour does not progress.
Back in King’s Landing, Alicent is losing her shit. Not only is her eldest son Aegon (Ty Tennant) a gigantic asshole who bullies his brother and mastubates naked in the windowframe of the Red Keep (eeeeuuuuuwwww) but her daughter Helaena (Evie Allen) appears to be autistic and her younger son Aemond (Leo Ashton) is a delicate lad. Alicent is convinced that the minute Rhaenyra ascends to the Iron Throne, she will put her half siblings to death. Alicent has enlisted Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) to her nefarious cause and the two plot to bring Rhaenyra, her royal bastards, her lover and her husband down.
Rhaenyra, who has matured in the past decade and is just trying to keep her blended family together, is trying her best to broker peace with her stepmother and former friend, even offering to marry her heir Jacerys (Leo Hart) to Alicent’s daughter Helaena and given Aemond the pick of Syrax’s next clutch of dragon eggs but Alicent is having none of it. She finds Viserys and the Realm’s disregard for the paternity of Rhaenyra’s children incredulous and she wants justice, goddammit!
If the Gods won’t help her, men will have to do. Criston pushes Strong one step too far when he taunts him about being Rhaenyra’s babydaddy and it ends in a bloody fight which gets Strong sent back to Harrenhal. Harwin’s slimy brother Larys (Matthew Needham) sees to it that his brother and father will never be a problem for him or Alicent again by setting Harrenhal on fire yet again.
With Rhaenyra fearing for her and her children’s lives, she moves them, her husband,his lover and their dragons back to Dragonstone. The Dance of the Dragons has advanced to the next step and it is dangerous for all involved.
Impressions:
There is a lot to unpack and mill over in this episode. I am still shaken and it’s taking me a while to process. Some of what happened here, happens differently or not at all in the source novel Fire&Blood so I need to wrap my mind around it.
Firstly, though, that opening scene of Rhaenyra giving birth and then immediately getting up to present Joffrey to Alicent … wow. If you didn’t catch it, it was all filmed in one continuous shot. It is one hell of a way to introduce the non-binary actor Emma D’Arcy as adult Rhaenyra and they rock every beat of their performance.
I am loving how utterly realistic and intentional House of the Dragon is being about what a war of flesh and blood childbirth is. This is likely to there being more female writers and directors on this show, as opposed to its predecessor. That trail of blood that is dripping behind Rhaenyra after meeting with Alicent … it gave me goosebumps. Remembering that this is set in the time before maxi pads – I appreciate the honesty. While I have yet to give birth to my own baby dragons, my godchildren’s mothers delight in telling me their horror stories of childbirth and the bloody aftermath. It is not enough to put me off from having babies, though.I am tired of seeing on screen moms push for a few seconds and deliver a perfectly clean baby. So, thank you, House of the Dragon crew for your service!
Laena Velaryon is a f***ing Queen! Not only did she resurrect Daemon’s royal member and provide him with gorgeous mixed race daughters (the Realm and I thank you!) but she has been gracefully dealing with his melancholy and his obvious longing for Rhaenyra. Laena is also a brave dragon rider who fights for her rights. To the very end, she is all about that “my body my choice” life and chooses to die like a dragon rider, by dragon fire rather than let her husband or any man choose for her.
We haven’t seen much of it lately but the bond between a dragon rider and their dragon is a sacred one. You can actually see Vhagar’s heart break when she first refuses to but then gives in to Laena’s Dracarys command and sets her on fire. Vhagar would have done anything to protect her rider but she knows and can feel her pain so she gives her her dying wish. Ugh, that hit me hard, man.
Another life taken too soon was that of Ser Harwin Strong. The man was happily Rhaenyra’s boytoy, fathered her sons and secretly co-parented them with her gay husband, loved his sons and only wanted what was best for his Princess. Tell me you didn’t fall in love with him as he held baby Joffrey or stood up for Jace and Luke in the courtyard?
Laenor, too, deserves a shout out for the way he supports his wife, loves her children as his own and knows when to give the actual father his due. We could have done without the unnecessary drunken pouting and him daring to name Joffrey when he wasn’t the one who just pushed the babe out of his vagina, though.
While it doesn’t come across as well onscreen as it does in the book, Daemon does love his little family fiercely. His love for Laena is a deep and different one to the one he bears for Rhaenyra. I am beyond pissed that the director cut this scene of him comforting his children after their mother’s death:
Alicent, Criston and Larys make me want to do this:
Cooke is as good at making Alicent a hateful cow as Lena Headey was at making Cersei the Queen Bitch. I want her to be roasted alive in the Dragon Pit. Speaking of, how cool is it to see this site in its full pre-Game of Thrones glory? Seeing Aemond venture further into the Pit and nearly be attacked by one of the fearsome beasts was impressive!
Lastly, and because I refuse to be the only one traumatized by this scene:
That poor window will continue to be used for horrible purposes for the next 173 years:
One last thing, to everyone who lives below the Red Keep and Aegon’s window, my deepest sympathies:
Theory:
Rhaenyra is going to use her time on Dragonstone to remember that she is the Blood of the Dragon and will soon begin plotting her comeback. Alicent will be made to pay for the death of Harwin Strong and there will be bloodshed. I foresee Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) making an unwelcome return. What will be left of King Viserys by the next episode, though? If you were watching closely, you’ll know he has now lost an entire arm. He is like a living White Walker without all of the badassery! Now that Daemon is a hot widower, can we expect our Rogue Prince to return too?I cannot wait to see what comes next!
House of the Dragon airs on HBO Max on Sundays and on DStv Express at 3am and M-Net Channel 101 at 9h30pm on Mondays.
