I’m not gonna lie—the finale was an odd one, and apparently deeply divisive. Upon first watching I was left feeling very unmoored by a few of their choices—particularly the choice to give their prophecy-cursed dreamer, Helaena (Phia Saban) some fairly direct predictions that reveal some major plot points down the line. Ultimately, I enjoyed the episode quite a bit and its final montage is one of the best sequences either House of the Dragon or Game of Thrones has produced. It’s a quiet, sorrowful end to a season whose greatest strengths lay in taking the time to complicate its characters. There are spoilers below, of course; let’s get started…
The Title
The title of this Season 2 finale is the intriguing, “The Queen Who Ever Was.” Obviously, it plays off of Rhaenys’ sobriquet, “the Queen Who Never Was,” which Corlys reclaimed and honored in renaming his ship after his late wife. This episode seemingly reverses the name: Rhaenyra was always the intended, perhaps even fated Queen on this show. Now that she is fighting for it, the episode asks us to remember that fact. But there’s a cruel irony underlying the title. In invoking the Queen Who Never Was, the show reminds us that Rhaenys Targaryen was likely the best potential monarch of this time period—stoic, brave, kind, prudent, and deeply aware of precisely how much she would be overlooked and underestimated. Her death halfway through the season is meant to be a gut punch—the ultimate indignity in a life filled with them, and the silencing of the last real voice of reason who might have been able to stop the war and broker a lasting peace. It is a cruel little trick, then, that she is remembered as the Queen Who Never Was. The name acknowledges what she should have been while simultaneously failing to imagine that it was truly possible. It makes her Queen and strips her of the title in the same breath. It’s a kind of tokenism.
Here at the end of season 2, the show asks us to remember that Rhaenys is not the only Queen Who Never Was—exalted only in her absence. Rhaenyra and Alicent are also queens who never were. The latter ruled ably as regent during her husband’s illness only to be stripped of all real power and responsibilities as soon as a younger man was installed as king. Rhaenyra, whatever might befall her, is also a Queen who never was; all the promise of her reign, whatever it will be, has already been maimed and stained by the fire and blood she needed to use to claim her throne.
Unraveling the Opening Titles
We get our (presumably) final look at the tapestry-themed opening credits this episode. There is one new panel now, representing the Sowing of the Seeds with all seven of Rhaenyra’s dragons—Vermithor, Silverwing, Syrax, Caraxes, Moondancer, Seasmoke, and Vermax—rising up from Dragonstone to confront Vhagar. It’s been a delight to watch this set of credits unfold each week and I’m excited to see what motif they go with for the next season.
The Triarchy
We finally get a look at the state of the Triarchy of 130 AC—or, at least, we get a look at its military. In Fire & Blood, the Triarchy is an alliance also called the Kingdom of the Three Daughters made up of three of the so-called Free Cities—the nine city states that were former colonies of (or, in the case of Braavos, a refuge from) the Freehold of Valyria. The Triarchy is made up of what The World of Ice and Fire’s in-world writer, Maester Yandel, refers to as “the Quarrelsome Daughters”—Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh.
Myr — Myr is located on the fertile headlands of the bay known as the Sea of Myrth. It is characterized as a city of artisans and inventors with many technologically advanced materials originating there—Myrish lenses, Myrish lace, and Myrish crossbows are all considered to be the finest specimens available. Myrish characters include the Red Priest, Thoros (played by Paul Kaye in GoT), and the Crabfeeder, Prince Craghas Drahar (Daniel Scott-Smith).
Lys — An island city-state off the Southern coast of Essos, Lys was considered a paradise by the Valyrians—the rough equivalent of Capri in our world. Post-Doom, Lys is one of major centers of the Essosi slave trade and specializes in sex slavery, with especially famous brothels. Characters from Lys include Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) and Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn) as well as original show alums Varys (Conleth Hill) and the pirate, Salladhor Saan (Lucien Msamati).
Tyrosh — The only one of the Quarrelsome Daughters to actually be located next to the Stepstones, Tyrosh is an old Valyrian fortress city built to guard the passage between the Narrow Sea and Summer Sea. It’s known for its flamboyant, piratical navy with most Tyroshi dyeing their hair bright, unnatural colors. The only major character from Tyrosh who has been featured in a GoT show thus far is Daario Naharis, Daenerys’ mercenary paramour (who played first by Ed Skrein and then by Michael Huisman in the original show). The show portrayed Daario as relatively bland in presentation so it’s nice to get a little bit of that Tyroshi costume design and makeup in this episode.
The Triarchy is not quite a polity on its own—Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh all remain independently ruled—but the “eternal alliance” does offer a council of thirty-three magisters, eleven from each city, who make military and foreign policy decisions. This means that the Admiral of the Fleet is a sort of de facto ruler by virtue of being a singular voice among a famously fractious and often deadlocked ruling body. The previous Admiral, the Crabfeeder, was a Myrish Prince, Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn) is Lysene so there are no obvious biases when it comes to which citizens of which cities are placed in power.
In F&B, it’s Otto Hightower rather than Tyland Lannister who courts the Triarchy to lend naval assistance to the Greens, and there is no mud-wrestling, singing at swordpoint, or offers to father children in the book. In the show’s version of events, the whole sequence is pretty fun and Jefferson Hall as Tyland is a consistently great source of humor on a series that can be pretty grim. We will definitely see more of the Triarchy next season.
Daemon the Dreamer
We obviously have to spend some time delving into the finale’s absolutely insane sequence of prophetic visions. No such moment exists in the book and I feel like I should reiterate that Daemon’s entire plot this season is almost entirely cut from whole cloth, not based in the source material. That said, the end result of it might be in the service of squaring Daemon’s portrayal in Fire & Blood—that of a fundamentally selfish man who has a couple of bewildering changes of heart—with Archmaester Gyldayn’s assertion that he was “light and dark in equal measure.”
So let’s get to the vision. The images come pretty fast and a few are potentially more symbolic than factual but we see:
- The image of a man (Joshua Ben-Tovim) with a port-wine stain birthmark, entombed in the branches of a Weirwood tree. A three-eyed raven flies past the birthmark. This is clearly Brynden Rivers, aka Bloodraven, the Targaryen bastard, spymaster, and eventual Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch about a hundred years after Daemon’s era who eventually becomes a greenseer and makes himself known to Bran Stark as the “three-eyed raven,” played by Struan Rodger and Max von Sydow in the original show.
- A white walker (what the books call “the Others”) leading a horde of wights through the forests beyond the wall.
- Daemon marching through a field of the dead, including the corpse of a dead dragon. Try as I might I couldn’t be completely sure of the dragon’s identity or even if it was a specific dragon but the form, coloration, and general context of the dream imply that it might be Viserion—Daenerys’ dragon who is killed and raised by the Night King.
- A shot of Daemon sinking into dark water.
- The red comet from the end of A Game of Thrones and present in most of A Clash of Kings which is said to be an omen about the return of fire magic to the world. The original show placed the comet in the premiere of season 2 but the books stick with it for much longer. Martin has always been cagey about confirming magical portents in his book but the comet likely heralded the birth of Dany’s dragons.
- Clearly that is what it’s intended to do here, with a shot of Daenerys’ fossilized eggs in the flames. The behind-the-scenes featurettes for this episode heavily implied that these eggs are the ones that Daemon harvested from the Dragonmont in the season 1 finale and which have been sent along with Aegon the Younger and Viserys the Younger towards Pentos.
- We get a shot of Daenerys herself, on the edge of the Great Dothraki Sea, cradling her hatchling dragons—Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion
- Daemon approaches the Iron Throne to find Rhaenyra (now an adult) crowned and seated on it. Because it’s her as an adult, we can assume this is a vision of the future, or at least a possible future, and Daemon is facing the fact that she is actually the one destined to rule.
- Finally, Helaena appears to tell Daemon that it’s all a story and that he knows his part in it.
I’m of two minds about the visions. Obviously, I love that HotD is delving deeper into Martin’s creepy magical mythology. When Benioff and Weiss made a rule for themselves (later broken) that they would have no visions or flashbacks in the original series, they cut themselves off from a lot of what makes ASoIaF a fantasy series rather than historical fiction set in a fictional world. Condal and his writers’ room are not only setting that omission right, they are doing so in a way that captures the uncanny horror of how Martin views magic.
On the other hand, as a friend pointed out, the original series, in ignoring all of that prophecy and treating Martin’s ultimate conflict between ice and fire as secondary to its political struggle, makes for an unsatisfying end to what HotD is proposing. Daemon’s vision implies that Daenerys is the Prince That Was Promised and while ASoIaF certainly makes that out to be a strong possibility, GoT completely dropped the importance of this aspect of the books, in the end: Dany and Jon are the show’s two best candidates but the one who fulfills the prophecy of ending the long night is Arya…who has nothing to do with Daemon, Valyria, or the Targaryens in general.
Where I am more hopeful and interested in HotD’s focus on prophecy is the way in which it is using it to provide an emotional infrastructure for its characters. Daemon’s vision is an existential horror—proof positive that he only matters insofar as his line will give birth to a real savior, centuries from now. It’s not just the confirmation that he will never be king, it’s the confirmation that, king or no, he fundamentally will not have mattered. He’s not Caraxes’ only rider. He’s not Dark Sister’s only wielder. He’s just one more body on the road to greatness and madness.
That vision is placed back to back with a similar prophecy in which Helaena tells Aemond that he will not outlive his brother and will similarly be gone before Aegon sees any rise to power. A humbled Daemon, resigned to his fate, is one thing but an Aemond raging against the death that has been foretold for him is quite another. I think it’s a great decision to have the show open up a little window on Aemond’s endpoint in order to give its audience a front row seat to his doomed fury.
Moreover, in having Helaena’s prophecy be so stark and legible—this is not a cryptic, “beast beneath the boards” situation—it does open up the possibility that HotD will change things. After all, Martin uses prophecies like Athenian tragedians used them, as puzzle-boxes to torment and surprise both characters and the audience. If Helaena tells Aemond that he’ll be swallowed up in the God’s Eye and never seen again, is the show signaling its intent to both make good on those words while fundamentally altering the events of Fire & Blood? It’s both a worrying and thrilling possibility.
DragonWatch
Two new dragons were shown this episode, though we were only given a brief glimpse of each.
Tessarion — Prince Daeron’s dragon, Tessarion, makes the briefest of appearances in the show’s final montage. Called the “Blue Queen” for her color and potentially in reference to Meleys, the Red Queen, Tessarion is described in the books as beautiful with dark cobalt scales and membranes, and horns the color of beaten copper. The show has lightened the membranes to a sort of peach, but otherwise kept the coloration. She has a blockier, more obviously muscular body than either Moondancer or Vermax, with tiny legs that make her look a little like she hasn’t fully grown into her adult body. She is younger than Vermax, potentially between ten and sixteen years old, making her the youngest dragon currently being fielded in the war. She is, of course, not battle-tested and has only been ridden for a few weeks (the show mentioned that Daeron first rode Tessarion in episode 6 of this season). I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of her along with her rider, Daeron Targaryen, in season 3.
Sheepstealer — The final montage also shows us the wild dragon known as Sheepstealer for the first time. Described in the books as large but skinny and an ugly mud-brown color, Sheepstealer is characterized as a sort of lovable (but dangerous) stray. The show has kept the mud-brown coloring but also given the dragon what appears to be vitiligo with patches of paler skin where melanin is being insufficiently produced. In addition to the coloration, the show has given him massively untrimmed wingtips that look like hoary, overgrown cat’s claws, and a short, porcine muzzle. It’s a charmingly off-kilter design. We may not have gotten any more CheeseDog this season, but if it’s possible for a dragon to have CheeseDog vibes, it’s this guy. Being a feral resident of Dragonstone in the book, Sheepstealer’s age is unrecorded, but Gyldayn has a source that estimates it to be about fifty by the time of the Dance. Again, we only have two shots of him, but it’s going to be a delight to see him in action next season.
Rhaenyra the Cruel
Fire & Blood’s characterization of Rhaenyra, especially during the Dance, is of an increasingly paranoid and spiteful person—one whose grief has curdled into a drive for vengeance. The second episode of this season went out of its way to say that her nickname (“Rhaenyra the Cruel” in the show, “Maegor with teats” in the book) is undeserved, part of a campaign of calculated character assassination on the part of Otto Hightower. But we are circling back to a Rhaenyra that might have the same capacity for monstrousness. Her season arc has taken her, not from grief to paranoia like the book, but from a pacifist desire to make the realm better to a kind of dragoncentric fanaticism where smallfolk can be sacrificed and the gods seemingly ordain her actions.
Rhaenyra is not the Queen Who Ever Was. She’s not on the Iron Throne and her kingdom is in the midst of civil war. But she believes she must be Queen and that she never had a choice to relinquish her claim. The issue is not that she should do so, but that she sees her claim as unavoidable destiny and not a conscious choice. It’s the seed of something unpleasant and far more interesting than Gyldayn’s vision of a queen made monstrous by hysterical grief over her children.
The final scene before the ending montage lays that journey bare. She knows she has to kill Aegon but she still makes Alicent choose it. She becomes, in that moment, the monster Alicent has been terrified of for twenty years, who was at the start only a fiction created by Otto Hightower as a means of controlling his daughter. That scene is incredible for so many reasons, but perhaps it’s made most poignant by hiding the birth of Rhaenyra the Cruel, ushering this fictional horror into reality.
Odds & Ends
- Sharako Lohar asks if Tyland is a philosopher early on in the episode. It might be a reference to Lohar’s actor, Abigail Thorn, who is the founder of Philosophy Tube, a YouTube channel that offers free lessons in philosophy, sociology, and gender studies.
- Condal clarified on the post-show podcast that the show’s version of Lohar is a queer cisgender woman who uses male pronouns in a professional capacity as a way of co-opting masculine power. Martin himself only ever gestures vaguely to trans and non-binary people in his books and the show’s version of Lohar is borrowing a lot of his personality from Racallio Ryndoon, an eccentric, bisexual Tyroshi captain who wears dresses, has a dozen wives, and speaks numerous dialects of Valyrian.
- Aemond and Vhagar burn the town of Sharp Point, the seat of Black loyalist House Bar Emmon. It’s located on a peninsula that forms the Southern boundary of the Gullet in which both Dragonstone and Driftmark sit. Sharp Point doesn’t really matter throughout ASoIaF so having it destroyed doesn’t really change the strategy or overall arc of the war. That’s said, it’s a bit odd to have the event occur entirely offscreen. It’s decent characterization for Aemond, maybe not the best storytelling practice. Still, the show’s design includes the large stone lighthouse which is the only notable feature Martin gives it—so good on the art team for continuing to bring even the most minor parts of Westeros to life.
- When Aegon reverently whispers “Aegon the Realm’s Delight” as his desired sobriquet, it’s a callback to Rhaenyra’s childhood appellation. The show never much used it but it’s an important name in the book as it serves as a distinction between Rhaenyra’s promise as a child and her disappointment as an adult. So when Aegon imagines himself having the same name, it’s an expression of his desire to have what he’s always wanted: the love of his father and the adoration of a kingdom that thinks of him as a beloved child.
- Speaking of tragic turns from increasingly pitiable villains, the season’s final beat for the the man the internet loves to hate, Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), is one of despondent misery. The show does a good job of reminding us that, for all the incel misogyny that corrupts the chivalric code (and Cole himself), it’s still based in motivations that are potentially valuable and honorable. Cole loves Alicent because she saved his life, plucking him from the depths of despair where he was ready to end it, but he also is facing down a world where knights are irrelevant. He’s Westeros’ own Robert Oppenheimer, having unleashed a nuclear option and now despondent that the genie cannot be put back in the bottle
- We see a Green Man out by Harrenhal’s heart tree. The Green Men were the order of Druidic humans who learned greenseeing magic from the Children of the Forest. They supposedly have antlers and green skin though this is often thought to be a misinterpretation of their wearing green clothes and wearing antlered headdresses. The show makes it clear that, though this Green Man is likely a weirwood hallucination, they do indeed have bestial features.
- Brynden Rivers famously has only one eye in the books—leading to the riddle referring to his spy network, “how many eyes does Bloodraven have? A thousand eyes and one.” He definitely has a single eye by the time he’s entombed in the tree beyond the wall and his GoT actors both reflected that aspect of the characters’ appearance. I assume they did not add this detail, here, just to make absolutely sure that he did not read as Aemond for the brief moment he was on screen.
- Simon Strong’s bewildered clapping at Daemon choosing to serve Rhaenyra, is one last delightful little affectation from the show’s most delightful character.
- Where is Otto Hightower? In the book he is never taken prisoner before his return to King’s Landing. My guess is that he is a prisoner of the Beesburys who are now in open Rebellion against the Hightowers and Tyrells. But the show may also have something more devious and interesting to show us, perhaps something wildly off-book. At this point, I trust Condal to deviate far more from the source material than I ever trusted Benioff and Weiss.
Season 2 in Review
Every prequel is, in some ways, a tragedy. If you’re watching or reading something written with Melpomene as its muse, you engage with the understanding that you will not get what you want. Any connection made with a character, any desire for a happy ending is done with anticipated sorrow right around the corner. And when you know the ending, as you must in a prequel, every interesting moment is predicated on the dramatic irony of knowing that it cannot turn out any differently. House of the Dragon is not just a prequel to Game of Thrones, the end of the story is literally spoiled by Joffrey in Season 3, episode 4 of the original series. Even non-book readers with sufficiently good memories know one of the most important and potentially spoilable things about the show. So all you really have is how you get to the end, and whether or not you can find enough catharsis in the difference between what was and what could have been.
I think HotD is a spectacular success in that regard. I’ve seen complaints that this season was slow. And, certainly, it did not get to either of the two events that seemed like shoo-ins for a big season finale (though both have been clearly set up to take place early next season—I won’t spoil them here but you can probably guess even if you haven’t read the book). But I would characterize the pace of the show as deliberate. It is taking its time to say what it needs to say and make sure that we fully buy in to the humanity of its major players…all the better to twist the knife when it delivers their inevitable fates.
And, speaking of those fates, HotD manages to be eminently watchable and affecting without somehow being fatiguing. Let’s not forget that Martin’s world has always been a cruel one. It’s a place where people only get what they want if they pay unreasonable prices. Daemon can be a great leader of men, but only if he gives up his lifelong ambition for the throne and accepts that he will only ever be a pawn in a larger game. Aemond can make himself into the perfect vessel to dispense revenge for his childhood slights but he can’t change the fate that Helaena dreamed. Alicent can be freed of the humiliation of the patriarchy but only if she agrees to let her son die. Rhaena can finally have her dragon but only if she wanders, filthy, half-mad, and dying of thirst, across the Vale. Perhaps Rhaenyra can even be the Queen Who Ever Was, but only if she gives up her last chance to walk away and be happy and unremarkable with the woman a part of her still clearly still loves.
This season is better than the first. I think it might be better than any season of Game of Thrones. Condal and his team have proven that they both care deeply about the tone and intricacies of Martin’s source material while taking every opportunity to elevate it, sanding away the rough edges and imbuing the story with a power and significance that makes it feel like so much more than the cynical prequel to a bankable hit show (which it easily could have been).
The season ends with Alicent, the saddest woman in Westeros, having let go of almost everything she holds dear and having agreed to sacrifice her son in the name of peace, staring out at the impossibly vast horizon. It may be an image that evokes freedom but, for a woman who has spent her life following the narrow path set out for her, it is a vision of overwhelming sublimity, unwieldy in its terrible multitude of possibilities. Alicent is dwarfed by what life might hold in store for her. In some ways, it’s the same moment that Daemon has—realizing just how insignificant you are up against the vastness of a story in which you are not the protagonist.
The Black Queen has never been more powerful. She has the literal firepower to take on Vhagar, and has the armies of the North and Riverlands at her disposal. She has a backdoor to King’s Landing and the hard-won blessing of the Queen Dowager to kill her rival for the throne. Alicent tells Rhaenyra that she has always envied her ability to know what she wants and flaunt convention in taking it. But in her final shot of the season, Rhaenyra is framed by the scroll cases of Targaryen history, staring at the shattered skull of Meraxes. She’s now bound to that history, to the prophecy of the Prince That Was Promised, to the responsibilities and compromises of winning and keeping the throne. The Queen Who Ever Was has never been more trapped.
The show has always been Alicent and Rhaenyra’s story, first and foremost—Martin got it right when he titled his first pass at writing about the Dance of the Dragons “The Princess and The Queen.” At the end of last season, I characterized the show as a tragedy about the dissolution of their friendship. But I think I was wrong. It’s a show about how their love for one another endures. It endures without the possibility of fulfillment. It endures to the detriment of their children. But it is the inescapable heart of the Dance and this second season has made it clearer than ever that, even if you know the end, that tragic friendship is more than worth watching.
What did you think of the finale—and of Daemon’s visions, Helaena’s prophecies, and that final conversation? What are you looking forward to seeing in the next two seasons (given the news that the series will end with Season 4)? Please share your thoughts, and thanks for reading and chiming in!
Slight correction to my article. It’s actually Otto Hightower who reaches out to the Triarchy in Fire & Blood, not Tyland Lannister
We’ve updated that line–thank you!
I agree that this has, on the whole, been an excellent season (Even an improvement upon the first in many respects) and I remain convinced that this is a version of the Dance of the Dragons well worth the following for years to come.
I do, however, agree with a friend of mine who remarked that this makes an excellent episode 8, but a poor Season Finale: while it’s resolution of Prince Daemon’s Harrenhal arc and the Green King’s* character arc for this season are invaluable and very welcome, quite a bit of the rest felt as though they’d run out of scenes from Season 2 and had to smuggle in a few from Season 3 to pad the running time.
These scenes are often very good, but taken together they still constitute a deeply underwhelming finish (and in the case of Rhaenyra Targaryen’s scenes with the Dowager Queen garnish my least favourite plot arc of this season with rotten fish: Queen Alicent, despite the most excellent efforts of Ms. Olivia Cooke, has completely failed to hold onto my respect this season due to her complete failure to show the courage of her convictions and this final scene reads less as a tragic might-have-been and more as the writers trying to compensate for Rhaenyra Targaryen’s outright villainy in the last episode by showing almost every single named female character in this season very humbly acknowledge her as the Rightful Queen, no matter how little sense it makes for Queen Alicent to do so.
*For the record I’d argue that Aegon the Usurper has consistently been this season’s MVP, the true heir to Mr Paddy Considine’s King Viserys (and his depiction might even excel Mysaria of Lys in terms of constituting a magnificent improvement on what we saw from the actor in Season 1).
Ach! I’m grumpy and perhaps unfair – so it’s only right that I provide my shortlist of what one liked and disliked in this season (Having been quite impressed by how few items one wishes to place in the ‘Cons’ despite my stated reservations):
– RHAENYRA TARGARYEN: I’ve generally felt that the Black Queen (or perhaps her writing staff) has jumped from characterisation to characterisation this season, never quite resolving the tension between a character clearly set up as our protagonist, yet consistently acting as though it’s someone else’s job to win her the Iron Throne (It doesn’t help that when she does act, it’s usually as a Rogue Element and not as the head of her faction).
Coupled with the unfavourable impression I formed of the character last season, it’s left me less than enthusiastic about following the Adventures and Misadventures of the Queen on Dragonstone (Though at least the last two episodes have given me some hope they’ll finally reconcile the character’s contradictions into a Targaryen more Mad-Angry than Great, even if I also feel that getting absolutely NOTHING r.e. The Kiss when the episode sees fit to waste valuable time on Lady Rhaena wandering the Vale and – albeit more delightfully – misuses it following the Misadventures of Tyland Lannister is one of the more significant failures of the Finale.
– Speaking of THE VALE, I think that failing to use Lady Jeyne Arryn as a lens through which to show us what an actual Ruling Lady looks like in Westeros (with all the twists and turns, crabbing and plotting that involves) is a major weakness in this season: if nothing else it would have helped complete our picture of women in Westerosi politics by actually showing us what a woman who rules in her own name, no ifs or buts, can do and what she must struggle to do and what she simply cannot do.
It also bears noting that showing Lady Jeyne managing her more restive vassals as brewing tensions across the Seven Kingdoms begin to boil over would have helped explain why her forces seem to be sitting on their hands (Neither assisting with the blockade, being deployed to support Black lords in the Crownlands or helping to bring Green elements in the Riverlands to heel), as well as put Rhaenyra Targaryen’s odd passivity for much of the Season in some proper context (Since her conventional forces are not ready to hand).
Instead we get Lady Mean Girl being unkind to Lady Rhaena, showing her the door and doing nothing of any real relevance (Not to mention making Rhaenyra Targaryen look like a frivolous adolescent for failing to honour her promises to her own kinswoman, in a way that suggests a juvenile prank).
– ALICENT HIGHTOWER: If you had asked me at the end of Season One, I would have very firmly expressed my opinion tbag Alicent Hightower was by far the more admirable of the two parties at the heart of this family feud – perhaps overly fierce in defence of her children and family interests, but a loyal wife, mother and daughter who was generally a responsible actor in the service of the Seven Kingdoms.
Boy howdy did Season Two go out of its way to kill that impression: quite simply Alicent Hightower has been less loyal to her children and her faction than Lord Larys Strong (Her complete failure to block the Black Queen’s escape from King’s Landing was almost certainly treason, her last reel attempt to sell out King’s Landing strikes me as a betrayal not only of her faction and her sons but of her own convictions (In a way that serves the character far, far less well than the tragedy of Alicent Hightower, in the face of her second son’s ingratitude, deciding to double down and make herself the beating heart of her faction once more, whether in the Small Council or from the shadows).
This whole season is NOT a good look for her (Tyland Lannister is RIGHT THERE waiting to be made her ***** and she picks Sir Criston Cole as her unfriend with benefits? For shame!).
+ On the other hand, DRAGONS: has there ever been a show more richly enlivened and blessed by distinctive, engaging and memorable firedrakes?
The only possible quibble I can offer r.e. this show’s handling of the creatures is that it seems deeply odd that (After two whole seasons) we haven’t really had a clear look at Dreamfyre: given that the crucial importance of her participation (or lack of same) in the war effort is a key plot element in episode eight, her non-appearance in that episode strikes me as quite bizarre (Since actually getting a clear idea of her size and disposition would have offered invaluable context to the core dilemma of whether or not drag the Green Queen Consort into battle).
Honourable mention to ‘Hoary Old Vermithor’ for being quite possibly my platonic idea of a dragon made manifest.
+ HELAENA TARGARYEN: Speaking of which, much love for the Green Queen Consort, who continues to be a treasure far better than her brothers (and possibly her mother) deserve.
Somebody online suggested that the tapestry which opens each episode could be Helaena’s handiwork and I heartily endorse this theory.
+ TITLES: speaking of which, the opening credits for this season are a clear upgrade from Season One and I love them to pieces.
+ HARRENHAL: Is there anything more delightful than Daemon Targaryen getting a season-long comeuppance that culminates with his apparently imbibing a valuable Life Lesson, complete with two of the strongest candidates for this seasons MVP-prize winners?
Oh yes, all of this taking place in a setting that achieves Peak Gothic and then proceeds to levitate into the Grim Darkness between tbe Stars.
Honourable mention to Lord Larys for managing to make a strong showing for his House despite being safely distant from all of them, much love for Oscar ‘Kingfish’ Tully for reminding us that Westeros is a Feudal and not an Absolutist monarchy, but Alys Rivers clearly takes the prize for Best Thing to come out of Harrenhal (The Witch Queen of Mind Games we never knew we always wanted).
+ DRAGONSEEDS: The only serious challengers to House Strong for best new characters this season – allowing us a fascinating glimpse of the Men of Work’s perspective on all this aristocratic war and preparation for war, as well as the single strongest episode of this season, the Red Sowing (Not to mention diversifying the somewhat one-note Dragonstone ensemble).
I dearly, dearly hope that Season Three will confirm that Daemon Targaryen (‘Lord Flea Bottom’) knows Ulf White of old and that the latter owes him either his money or his life (Bonus points if there’s the strong suggestion that he and Hugh Hammer hate each other on first sight: Super bonus points if there’s also the suggestion that Ulf White met a much younger Viserys Targaryen and ticked him off with the tale of how Baelon the Bold put a ‘spring in the step’ of Ulf’s mother).
+ HOISE VELARYON AND COLLATERALS: For being a much needed voice of sense on the Black Council and elsewhere, as well as being Dramatic without being horrifically dysfunctional (Even if Alyn of Hull deserves to be slapped for ignoring his own brother as he claims to have started ‘alone’).
+ SIR TYLAND LANNISTER, MASTER OF SHIPS: For giving the strong impression he auditioned for YES, MINISTER and is slightly alarmed to have wound up a Lord of the Council in the Red Keep, rather than a mandarin in Whitehall.
Honourable mention to his Lord Brother for making a hilariously Extra impression despite barely being in this series.
+ MYSARIA OF LYS: Never my favourite character, but unquestionably the clearest improvement in writing and performance between the two series, which deserves to be recognised.
+ AEGON THE SECOND: Having left me with no particular impression last season, Mr Tom Glynn-Carney is my pick for MVP at the close of Season 2 – having been consistently touching and frequently entertaining, he and the writers have left me completely confident of their take on Aegon the Usurper and eager to see more from him.
One cannot say the same of their version of Rhaenyra Targaryen (Though Emma Darcy has been consistently charismatic, I’ve been left with the suspicion that they have had difficulty bridging the twists and turns of the character’s course this season, as imposed by the Writer’s Room).
+ Last, but never least, can we agree that the DOG is this series’ greatest gift to the Seven Kingdoms? Truly the hero we need, but not the hero we deserve (For how can we possibly be worthy of such a picaresque paragon of loyalty wrapped up in canine loveability? May his arc of Hugely Symbolic Pathos never conclude in a ‘bowl of brown’).
Loved the final shots of both of our queens, Alicent gazing out at the vastness and emptiness of Fate, Rhaenyra literally “pigeon-holed” like one of the archive scrolls. And the final shot of Ser Tyland Lannister, Master of Ships, standing in the prow, racing along to a huge fight with the Sea Snake, and not looking too tuckered out from all that procreating, either! (“How many wives do you have?”) Bring on Season 3!
I really liked the vision given to Daemon. I haven’t really cared for most of the show’s attempts to tie itself with its more famous predecessor, but this one was both visually compelling and served a better purpose than simply reminding viewers that they were watching a prequel (as if they hadn’t noticed the theme song).
I agree – Tyland Lannister’s section was some much-needed lightheartedness, and the actor hit just the right notes through his scenes, particularly in his fearful ‘How many wives do you have?’. I really felt for the poor guy!
Poor Tyland is going to suffer death by Snu Snu.
I would dearly, dearly love to see what Sir Tyland’s letter to King’s Landing describing his embassy would look like – the Green Council needs to know what’s been going on in the Triarchy. who the key players are and exactly how the mission played out but Sir Tyland is going to be so darned embarrassed by so, so much of it.
@tmdean, serious question time: may I please ask how you would rank the dragons in this show, from most to least favourite?
Oh man… in terms of general design and energy it probably goes
1. Vhagar (I’m a sucker for badass old ladies)
2. Sheepstealer
3. Moondancer
4. Vermithor
5. Silverwing
6. Caraxes
7. Meleys
8. Sunfyre
9. Seasmoke
10. Dreamfyre
11. Arrax
12. Syrax
13. Tessarion
14. Vermax
15. Stormcloud
@tmdean, thank you for sharing your ratings!
Based on visual design, showing over the two seasons and personal whimsy, my own
current rankings are:-
1) Vermithor – BIG SMAUG ENERGY (Or put another way, he’s my platonic ideal of a Fairy Tale dragon brought to life)
2) Seasmoke – Does drama, does comedy, does action, does poetic melancholy with a side order of Symbolism, does all that and SO HANDSOME too
3) Caraxes – does not deserve to rank this high based on his showing this season, but since the Flying Noodle steals scenes every time he shows up. why shouldn’t he steal Vhagar’s rightful place on this countdown? (The heart wants what it wants!)
4) Vhagar – the most pivotal dragon in the whole series and sells those scenes like a Grand Dame of Stage & Screen with her very own personal flamethrower: loses points for being a bit too ‘kaiju’ for my taste in dragons
5) Meleys – one of the two Platonic Dragon designs in this series, a most excellent tragic hero done in by chivalric loyalty to her lady liege, loses points for being more an extension of her mistress than a character in her own right
6) Sunfyre – beautiful golden innocent cursed to be the only being in the Seven Kingdoms who loves Aegon the Second with his whole heart: he and ‘Cheese dog’ should probably form a support group for Animal Sidekicks who deserved so much better (Meleys could have made three, if only her mistress hadn’t insisted she make that second run at Vhagar)
7) Moondancer – doesn’t do much, but does it with STYLE
8) Syrax – sound design, excellent symbolism, only the very slightest hint of a personality beyond ‘Rhaenyra’s Echo’
9) Balerion the Black Dread – proof that sheer size, spot on atmosphere and an Awesome name will take you far indeed, even as a skull in a shrine (At least when your name is BALERION THE BLACK DREAD).
Or perhaps I’m jstill Catholic enough to just love a good shrine
10) Vermax – doing neither great good nor great evil, can absolutely believe that House Frey weren’t especially worried by a dragon who hasn’t shown a spark of personality since the days of the Pink Dread
11) Tessarion – living proof that Prince Daeron Targaryen is an actual person who actually exists and is not a hoax perpetrated by House Hightower for reasons of Strategic Deception (Also, I do love a blue dragon)
12) Stormcloud – BABY DRAGON! How could I possibly rank such an adorable nonentity lower than Schroedinger’s dragon and those dragons who actually offended my sensibilities?
13) Tyraxes – The Daeron Targaryen of dragons, except that for this one it’s still Season 1 (Also known as ‘Sir Not Appearing of Erehwon’)
14) Sheepstealer – condemned to the bottom of this list by eating up time that could have more usefully been given to the next dragon on this list (Escapes a lower ranking because I had no hopes of this particular dragon for them to disappoint)
15) Dreamfyre – having made a memorable first appearance indicating that Prince Aemond had better make himself scarce or be made into barbecue, becomes a key element of the plot in Season 2’s finale and yet completely fails to make an appearance, cheating us of our chance to find out whether or not she still gives zero ***** for our beloved Prince Regent (and also a valuable opportunity to finally get a proper look at the reigning Queen of the Dragonpit)
16) Arrax – You had ONE job and you took a shot at VHAGAR?!? If Great granny Monster hadn’t chomped you, Rhaenyra Targaryen would have strangled you with her own fair hands!
NOTE: I am, of course, referring to literal dragons, not metaphorical ones.
In today’s TV landscape shows have to be great right away in s01 and shows are also shorter. In dealing with these restrictions, I feel like the thing that usually gets left behind on the cutting room floor is the proper setup for narrative and character development to actually land, to feel earned and resonate with the viewer. Having these feelings, I, obviously, loved this episode, loved this season, love in general what HotD is doing.
Also, Tyler, your pieces of each episodes are incredible! They beautifully enrich the experience of watching HotD. Thank you!
I have been watching Babylon 5 for the first time at the same time as I’m doing a rewatch of Person of Interest and it really stands out how much room there is for proper narrative when you have 22 42-45 minute long episodes. The writers have room for side stories that develop the characters and room to carefully lay the ground for later plot.
I also think that a common problem with current TV writers is that they remember certain moments from past shows that had incredible emotional weight (a betrayal, a character’s death, a heroic moment) and want to replicate that but don’t remember the amount of effort the show’s writers did to build to these moments. This is why we get shows that start doing something like a mole/betrayal plot in their 3rd episode when we barely know the characters and it will hardly matter if one is a traitor. That’s a season 3 plot, not an episode 3 plot.
Fortunately, HotD’s writers seem to have a really good sense of what they want to present to the user. I joked that they looked at the last 2 seasons of GoT and basically said, “That is a lesson in what not to do.” Although, I did question how quickly Rhaenyra seemed to get to Harrenhal. If it was that easy, why didn’t she send Jacaerys or Baela there to check on what Daemon was doing?
It seemed that lesson was also learned by the cinematographers, because I’ve been in awe at how beautifully shot this season has been. And everything is clear! I remember the Battle of Rook’s Rest and how easy it was to understand what was happening, even in the chaos of dragon fighting. Contrast that with the Night King’s attack on Winterfell and what a mess that was.
Completely agree on this, The shorter seasons don’t let you have a fun episode that doesn’t directly advance the plot. One of my favorite B5 episodes if the Day of the Dead, and in an 8 episode season I doubt that would get made.
One of the things that I really love about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is how they’ve mainly ditched having a season long arc in favor of standalone episodes. This allows for so many more fun adventures with body swapping, fairy tales, and time travel without having to worry about where it fits in with a larger narrative.
Really appreciate your in-depth write-ups. They really enhance the show and point out details I didn’t pick up. Part of that is because I have yet to read Fire & Blood. With GoT, I had already read all four of the books that GRRM had put out before the show, so I knew what was coming. It made following that show fun in a lot of ways (I really enjoyed the reactions to Ned Stark’s fate and the Red Wedding–perhaps while cackling with evil glee) but it also occasionally led to frustration as the writers deviated from the source material and/or cut characters or storylines I was looking forward to seeing on screen.
Since I never got around to reading F&B when it first came out, I made the decision–when HotD was announced–to wait until the show finished before doing so, which has led to the opposite experience that I had while watching GoT. While I know some of what happens in this story, it’s mostly just the broad strokes while knowing little about the fine details. I had little to no expectations going into this and so I have hardly anything to be disappointed by, so I’ve been able to just watch and enjoy the story that the show is trying to tell while being more relaxed about it than I was with GoT. It’s honestly been refreshing.
That being said, while I did enjoy this episode overall, it really felt to me like Condal and his team got word rather late in the writing process that they would only have eight episodes to work with, rather than ten, and so had to trim things down and perhaps delay things they might have planned to tell this season until season 3 instead.
For that reason, I’m a little disappointed that we’re going to have to wait two years essentially in a holding pattern to see how everything unfolds from here. But at least we’ll have season 1 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms next year to tide us over until then. (And I certainly hope that you’ll continue these wonderful write-ups for that show, too!)
Episode 8 was good, but not as a finale where we will not see the next season for another 2 years. They should have combined episodes 6 and 7 and used episode 8 as the penultimate episode. Then we could have had the finale have the battle (or battles) the show is leading up to.
I think this entire season was a miss due to the pacing and lack of a big season ending. For me, am unsatisfying season.
This is an incredible analysis of the episode and the season. Thank you.