House of the Dragon Episode 6

House of the Dragon Episode 6 is another must-watch chapter, showing why the recasting of Rhaenyra and Alicent was an essential move.

During a meeting of the small council, after discussions of another war brewing in the Stepstones and the Triarchy’s resurgence, Rhaenyra makes an apology to Alicent for causing her any offense, given the strife between them. House of the Dragon gave us some distance before another horrific birth scene. “How sweetly the fox speaks,” she warns, while Viserys urges he wants to put childish quarrels aside and get on with things. He misses royalty, and the “blissful oblivion” of strong Westeros wine, while Laena – who’s pregnant with their third child – misses her brother and wishes to return to Driftmark. This causes Harwin to lose his temper and punch Criston, slapping his face about on the ground like the closing minutes of an MMA brawl. Harwin watches from the sidelines, and soon grows irritated by Criston’s apparent dismissal of Jacaerys and Lucerys compared to Aegon. He pulls Harwin aside and tells him that he’s “laid them open to accusations of an uglier treachery” – aka, his fathering of Rhaenyra’s children. Aemond is clearly viewed as the runt of this little posse, and they tease him by promising him a new dragon from the pit – only for a pig to be pulled out. She may view Laenor as their father, but the truth is clear to everyone, particularly Alicent and Criston: Harwin is their father, and he’s been secretly sleeping with Rhaenyra. It must be said again: after a shaky start, the presentation of the dragons and their death-defying twists and turns are downright majestic, especially with Ramin Djawadi’s unimpeachable score. Unsurprisingly, given his trauma with Aemma, he’s delighted to see a new boy in the Targaryen family (his birth name is Joffrey Velaryon, but he’d assume the Targaryen surname if he came to rule). While concerned for her wellbeing, Alicent’s efforts aren’t warm – she knew Rhaenyra would walk all the way, and asked to see Joffrey anyway.

Sam Adams: Jack! Welcome to the Worst Person in Westeros. You are a longtime George R.R. Martin fan and diehard Thronesie, as I believe they prefer to be called ...

Larys is both the son of the king’s hand and the brother of Rhaenyra’s lover, but he’s more loyal to Alicent than to either of them—or, put another way, he sees more advantage in being her fixer than he does in being House Strong’s less-favored son. (The actors in this episode seem like they’re in a contest to see who can come the closest to saying the word “bastard” without actually doing so; at one point, Alicent refers to Rhaenyra’s sons as “bbbbb-plain-featured.”) Lyonel dare not risk it, and the king won’t accept his resignation, so poor Lyonel is stuck, although he gets leave to escort Hawin, who’s now been kicked out of the city watch, back to the family seat at Harrenhal. Plus I’m inclined to cut Alicent just a little slack because I do think she’s doing what she’s doing out of a real concern for the well-being of her children, who, bratty as they are, probably should be looking over their shoulders once their half-sister (ew) Rhaenyra ascends to the Iron Throne. As awful as Alicent is, by episode’s end she does seem genuinely horrified when she realizes the atrocities Larys has committed on her supposed behalf, and Larys seems all too eager to let her know that he now considers her in his debt, with no small amount of menace. And let’s not forget Criston Cole, who seems intent on working through the feelings he caught for Rhaenyra a decade ago by subjecting her children to physical abuse at the hands of their cousin. Rhaenyra isn’t about to let her newborn out of her sight, so she pulls herself upright and winces her way up the stairs, leaving a trail of blood behind her. [faced with in the first episode](https://slate.com/culture/2022/08/house-dragon-premiere-game-thrones-hbo-max-recap.html): namely, should we [ perform a c-section](https://slate.com/culture/2022/08/house-of-the-dragon-c-section-birth-scene.html) that will definitely kill your wife but might save your child? It’s a week of firsts, in fact, since with the show’s sixth episode, “The Princess and the Queen,” the narrative jumps forward by about a decade and introduces new actors to the roles of Rhaenrya, Alicent, Leonor, and Laena (although in one case, not for very long). Unfortunately this isn’t a world where good news always bring good results: She’s still unable to deliver, and faced with the likelihood of slow and agonizing death, she chooses death by dracarys, ordering her own dragon to burn her alive. Adams: “The Princess and the Queen” has a lot of business to attend to, not just introducing the new cast but setting the table for the back half of the season, and perhaps because of that, it actually features people acting somewhat reasonably for once. I have to say, I knew that the great actor-swap was coming this week but it was still a pretty weird adjustment, particularly since I don’t think the characters are really supposed to be all that much older. Martin fan and diehard Thronesie, as I believe they prefer to be called, and yet this is the first time you’re weighing in House of the Dragon.

Plus, I am happy to report that there are finally many scenes involving dragons!

When we open on House Of The Dragon this Sunday, ten years have passed. Rhaenyra—now played by the excellent Emma D'Arcy—is in labor, about to give birth to ...

The death of her lover and the father of her children finally spurs Rhaenyra to action. Rhaenyra’s departure to Dragonstone will change a lot of the dynamics at play, leaving Alicent alone with the king and very much the most powerful woman in the land despite her lack of dragons. Aemond is the only one of the children (of Alicent and Rhaenyra’s broods) that doesn’t have a dragon. They have a fine offer of an estate, endless cash and a life of largesse from the Pentos powers that be, who only want in return the dragons as protection from the renewed threat of the Triarchy. It’s a harrowing moment, and one of the darkest in an already very dark show. She’s itching to return home to Driftmark and Westeros, tired of long years spent living in the country away from everything. They agree and he has their tongues chopped out of their mouths, making them mutes to hide the deeds they’re about to commit (surely none of these men can write). Alicent turns to her other shady ally, Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) the crippled and scheming brother of Harwin, for advice. She won’t have her daughter marry a bastard and thinks that Rhaenyra is only proposing the idea because she’s all but been caught red-handed. He confronts Criston (Fabien Frankel) and asks why he doesn’t give the younger boys the same amount of attention. He asks, instead, to take Harwin back to Harrenhal and out of the public eye. Rhaenyra declines to have it sent, determined to make the long trek herself and not give Alicent—now played in much more ruthless fashion by Olivia Cooke—the satisfaction.

On HBO's Game of Thrones spin-off, questions around several characters' lineage turn the show into one long episode of medieval Maury.

(This conviction of hers is entirely undercut by the fact that a couple episode back, she overheard Otto trying to convince the king about Rhaenyra and Daemon, and utterly failed to get through to him then.) As the episode progresses, however, and she's continuously set upon by the willful, thoughtless actions of the men around her, we watch her struggling to return to the status she knows she should hold as heir to the Iron Throne. This Alicent is a lot less placid and soft-hearted than the one we met over the first five eps — so much so as to seem an entirely different character. The show didn't do an adequate job of setting up Cole's assault on Joffrey, which is one reason it came of as gratuitous as it did; this episode's treating the whole incident with a shrug only compounds that feeling. We also get a glimpse of Daemon and Laena's relationship, which isn't great — as Daemon has taken to getting drunk and surly and holing himself up in the mansion's library, reading about ancient dragonlords. Alicent, cannily, pleads him with him to come out and say it, but he refuses, so the king insists he stay on. When Cole not-so-subtly hints at Jacye and Luke's true parentage, Harwin proceeds to give Cole a small taste of the face-punchy medicine Cole gave to Ser Joffrey, years before. He fancies himself a man of action, not words, but he's sorely tempted by the prospect of becoming a man of inaction. Vhagar was one of the three dragons that the original Targaryen king Aegon I conquered Westeros with, over 100 years prior to the events on this show. "I have to believe that in the end honor and decency will prevail," says Alicent, because she hasn't read these books. A couple other things to note in this scene: Ser Criston Cole isn't rotting in jail for the very public murder of Joffrey last episode; in fact, he's been promoted to the queen's personal guard. But I can't help feeling we've been denied the chance to see them grow into adults in their own right, instead of solely in relation to the men in their lives.

The adult stars of House Of The Dragon have arrived at last – and their rivalry is growing ever more intense.

Almost certainly, but Rhaenyra’s desire to get away from the endless attacks on herself and her children is understandable. And Alicent is left terrified of her own ally, having seen what the quiet, mild Larys is capable of. We finish with Daemon once again widowed – it’s becoming a habit – and Rhaenyra leaving King’s Landing for her ancestral fortress on Dragonstone, abandoning the court and its machinations to her rival. Daemon makes no choice, and it’s not clear whether he holds back out of respect for his wife – he does appear to have some – or from horror at the decision itself, a weakness in the face of unimaginable crisis. If her own death is certain and she accepts that, wouldn’t she let them try to save the child? Lord Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes) has offered to resign as Hand of the king following Harwin’s brawl, but Viserys won’t hear it – so Lyonel has begged leave to at least escort his son home to their (famously unlucky) stronghold of Harrenhal. In the novel, the baby is born deformed, and Laena simply dies in childbirth. Alicent obviously knows about it, but no one will make the accusation publicly for fear of treason – and Viserys (Paddy Considine) is willfully blind to the whole thing. Aegon and Rhaenyra’s eldest, Jacaerys aka Jace (Leo Hart), team up to play a trick on Aegon’s dragonless younger brother, Aemond (Leo Ashton), in the shadowy depths of the Dragonpit, which prompts Alicent’s fury at her eldest because she needs her sons to stick together against their nephews. With the women confined to bickering by court protocol and a shared deference to Viserys, their rivalry plays out by proxy. The umbilical cord is barely cut before there’s a demand from the queen to see the baby: Rhaenyra, stubborn to the bone, insists on carrying the baby herself as a sort of passive resistance. But perhaps the most illuminating exchange is the scene where Alicent interrupts her son Aegon (Ty Tennant) during his, er, private time (a boy prince wanking over an entire city is quite the metaphor) to explain to him the existential threat that his nephews pose.

Like it was for the Starks in early Game of Thrones episodes, the stakes for child's play are high for these little Targaryens. A recap of “The Princess and ...

It’s the last remaining dragon from the time of Aegon I’s conquest of Westeros, and — funnily enough — the dragon Laena once questioned Viserys about when she was a child, walking with him in the gardens while he contemplated marrying her. They creep and live in the dirt, but is there more to it? This is the kind of writing we need to see more of. (Those tongues are snipped out to keep the arsonists from talking.) If only we had ever seen the two interact together, to understand their relationship better, to get a sense of how one brother can grow up honorable and strong and the other huddle in the shadows and whisper in the ears of the noble. The last we see of him is driving his shoulder into a wooden door in the castle, trying to break his father free from a massive fire. Viserys can’t let go of the notion that his family will someday experience their own after-school special conversion and turn towards each other with love and acceptance, a blindness that is wreaking havoc. Of course, the elephant in this episode’s room was the clear fact that Harwin Strong is the real father of Jace, Luke, and newborn Joffrey. They have lived as guests of the Pentoshi prince Reggio Haratis for many years, raising their daughters Baela (Shani Smethurst) and Rhaena (a doleful Eva Ossei-Gerning) there. Even if Viserys claims this succession is solidified and Rhaenyra and her children will take the throne, their suspicious paternity has opened up a new avenue for Alicent to put Aegon on the throne. (The whole affair weirdly called to mind Kate Middleton, made to march out of the hospital and stand for a photo call hours after giving birth to the future king of England, though Middleton had the advantage of a glam team and modern medicine.) Game of Thrones also established early on that the stakes for child’s play were high; in the second episode, Mycah the butcher’s boy is slaughtered off the King’s Road after Arya hits Joffrey and events spiral out of control. “The Princess and the Queen” is bookended with birth scenes.