*Guest star spoilers, plus spoilers from episode 5.*
Great episode. Everything is coming to a head, and as we barrel towards the end of the season (already???), I’m excited to see where it all goes.
At the end of episode 5, Jace came to Rhaenyra with a new proposal: she has more dragons than she does dragonriders, so he suggests seeking out Valyrian blood that married into other houses generations ago. After studying Targaryen genealogies, she thinks she’s found a likely first candidate. In King’s Landing, the new prince regent refuses to be controlled, and at Harrenhal, Daemon reaches a critical point with both his kingly aspirations and his disturbing dreams.
I’m loving this dragonrider story. Ser Steffon Darklyn is one of Rhaenyra’s loyal knights. Previously, he caught my eye because he’s played by Anthony Flanagan, who I’ll always remember as Tony the police officer from Shameless. But this week, we learn that his line can be traced back to the Targaryens. The scene where he attempts to claim Seasmoke is so good, tense and exciting—it’s also neat to consider in the context of Daenerys and her dragons a couple hundred years later. And besides Ser Steffon, the episode dangles several other prospective dragonriders for us. There’s Raena, who nearly died in her first attempt to claim a dragon but is still haunted by it. There are Alyn and Addam, the lowborn illegitimate sons of Corlys Valaryon. And we can’t say for certain if he’s to be believed, but one of the smallfolk in King’s Landing purports to be Daemon’s half-brother. Bastards may not inherit titles, land, or crowns, but they could still carry the blood of the dragon. Who might emerge as an important player in the last two episodes?
Also, Rhaenyra has had it up to here with trifling men who talk over her. While she waits for the wheels to turn on a subtler plot of hers, she tells one of her more outspoken advisors, “It is my fault, I think, that you have forgotten to fear me.” Get his ass, Rhaenyra! And although she doesn’t know if Daemon is actively moving against her or just hasn’t succeeded in securing her a land army, she’s realized that she can’t rely on him. I really love her speech reflecting on their relationship, noting the qualities that both coveted in the other—qualities like Rhaenyra wanting to be a strong, reckless man like Daemon and Daemon desiring the love Viserys had for Rhaenyra. This is a great line: “He’s never been at peace. He wished to possess me but not to be possessed.”
No surprise, things are incredibly tense in King’s Landing under Aemond’s rule. Alicent’s chickens have been coming home to roost most of the season, but she really takes a hard hit in this episode. In another fantastic scene, Aemond undoes her in such a gentle yet menacing way. For all that he can be terrifying when he’s riding Vhagar, I like that he’s often so quiet in his one-on-one interactions with other characters. He rarely shouts or rages, but that doesn’t make him any less of a threat. There’s also a very interesting scene between Larys Strong and Aegon, who’s still clinging to life for now—it’s like a self-serving corollary to Tyrion empathizing with Bran after his accident.
Over on the Daemon side of things is where we get our big guest star, in the form of an old face reappearing in his dreams. This isn’t the first time it’s happened—Milly Alcock returned earlier in the season as a dream form of young Rhaenyra—but this time, it’s Paddy Considine Viserys! My beloved feckless king who wanted to do right by Rhaenyra and the realm but was too weak to offer either what they really needed. We don’t really get anything new from him here, because in Daemon’s dreams, he’s basically replaying old memories in this episode. So Viserys is sort of stuck in time, repeating scenes from the past. But it’s great to see Considine on the show again.
(Side note: I still can’t believe he wasn’t even nominated for an Emmy. I spent the fall of 2022 praying that he'd submit for Supporting Actor so he and Diego Luna would be in different categories, but then neither of them got nominated! Zero sense.)
But even though Viserys is going through the motions of past scenes, it’s still really effective for seeing Daemon’s reaction to him. Now, Daemon has obviously been unnerved by his dreams ever since he got to Harrenhal. They unsettle him at night and disorient him during the day. But to my eye, this is the first time we’ve seen him palpably upset by them. Matt Smith plays this fantastically well. As Viserys announces that he’s naming a new heir, Daemon’s reaction is merely an understated, “Don’t,” but Smith infuses that single word with so much feeling, his voice softly breaking as he says it. By the end of the scene, this dream has worked him into an actual panic, and he pounds on the door while begging to be let out.
This takes us directly into a scene with Ser Simon—like many of Daemon’s dreams, this one slides directly into waking with a sickening sort of lurch. In past episodes, Daemon has struggled to right his muddled head with as little notice as possible, trying to disguise his confusion. Now, though, he’s had it, and as he rounds on Ser Simon in his paranoia, Smith gives us absolutely All the Emotions. He’s fierce and threatening, he’s on the verge of tears with some lines, and there are moments where he breaks into laughter. So, so good! Smith gives us a wonderful portrait of a man who’s unraveling.
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