House of the Dragon Episode 6

New actors, new dragons, and new drama keep House of the Dragon fresh after a 10-year time jump.

House of the Dragon now has a head of narrative steam and seemingly nothing but good, fresh ideas to come. All of this is a lot to happen in one episode of television – let alone just one part of one episode of television. The phrase “The things I do for love” cuts a lot deeper than a long, flowery villain’s monologue about how “love is a downfall.” In his devious mind it solves a lot of problems: [preserves House Strong’s honor](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/house-of-the-dragon-what-rise-of-house-strong-means/), elevates himself to Lord of Harrenhal, and ingratiates himself with the Queen. Alicent has children – three of them – and each and every one of their lives is under the constant scepter of death (at least in her mind). The scene in which Laena faces self-immolation via dragonfire rather than die in childbirth is a heartbreaking inverse to Queen Aemma’s death in the first episode of the series. Though it may not at first seem like it because the ride is so smooth, quite a lot happens in “The Princess and The Queen.” But the core of the episode remains the conflict between the titular princess and queen as they jockey for influence at court. Not to pat myself on the back or anything *pats back anyway* but that observation is looking pretty good when it comes to “The Princess and The Queen.” This is among the best-written installments of the show yet and the dialogue positively sings throughout. In the span of roughly 10 minutes, House of the Dragon has effortlessly caught its viewers up on a decade of missing time, established the bona fides of several new actors, and set up the central conflict for the rest of the episode and beyond. [House of the Dragon](https://www.denofgeek.com/house-of-the-dragon/). It also helps that the opener culminates in the delivery of one of George R.R.

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.

HBO's 'House of the Dragon' jumps forward in time, introducing new characters and new tension between Rhaenyra and Alicent.

The men set fire to Harwin’s chambers, killing him and the Hand. Rather than die through C-section, and perhaps knowing she is a female character on a series that will likely brutalize her anyway, she commands her dragon to kill her and the unborn child. After his son’s assault on Cole, Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes) attempts to resign as Hand to the King. The family is living away from the Seven Kingdoms; it is implied that Daemon has since retreated from royal life and has made no power move to claim the Throne as his brother still lives. Laena, however, wants to return home and further the strength of the Velaryon and Targaryen houses. Cole then insinuates that Harwin is doing so because he is the boy’s father, leading Harwin to beat the crap out of Cole, a dishonor given Cole’s status as a member of the Kingsguard. (In the books, she also gives birth to Daeron (m), though we haven’t met him yet in the series.) That lie brought Alicent closer to Larys Strong (Matthew Needham), the other son of the King’s Hand, who first whispered the rumor to Alicent in the courtyard. (Because she rejected his marriage proposal and because Cole is now a total jerk.) Watching from the side is Ser Harwin, the father of Rhaenyra’s children. Still, King Viserys seems oblivious to all this infighting and to the rumor circulating the royal court: that Rhaenyra’s three children are bastards belonging to Ser Harwin, and not offsprings of Prince Laenor. As for the rioter, Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), Alicent’s disrupting of his courtyard suicide appears to have brought him onto team Hightower; he is now her Kingsguard. The time jump means a group of new actors and a cast of new characters; it also means having to learn a bunch of weirdly spelled names all over again.