*Spoilers for episode 7.*
Just like “The Red Sowing” was a bit lowkey for a penultimate episode, “The Queen Who Ever Was” is a bit lowkey for a season finale. There are certainly big moments, but for the most part, they’re more about the characters than about violence or spectacle. We end the season poised on everything that’s about to begin.
In the last episode, Rhaenyra brought a crowd of King’s Landing bastards to approach her unclaimed dragons. A wave of devastation followed, and at the end, only two were left standing. With new dragonriders in her ranks, she plans her next move. Time is of the essence, because Aemond is on the warpath. Elsewhere, Raena searches for a wild dragon, Lord Larys warns Aegon that it isn’t safe in King’s Landing, and Daemon has to decide what to do with his new army.
There aren’t a lot of huge “oh shit!!!” moments in the finale, the sort of watercooler moments that set the internet ablaze. But that’s not to sell the episode short. It’s actually really good—quieter than usual, but it explores some excellent character stuff.
(Side note: I wonder if the switch from ten to eight episodes this season caused the show to recalibrate their plans somewhat. If they’d had two extra episodes to work with, would they have ended the season the same way?)
A lot of my notes on this episode are just names of characters put in scenes together, a la “Rhaenyra & Corlys,” “Jace & Baela,” because there are so many good dialogue scenes. The more plot-driven ones are good, like Lord Corlys advising Rhaenyra on strategy and Lord Larys telling Aegon that his brother means to have him killed. Some of the best ones for me, though, are the scenes that are less about advancing the story and more just about the characters and their interactions with each other.
There’s a brilliant scene between Alyn of Hull and Lord Corlys. His brother Addam has claimed a dragon, and now Corlys wants to help advance Alyn’s career. Earlier in the season, Addam was resentful of Corlys, the father who refused to claim them, while Alyn was more accepting of their lot. However, it takes a more overt gesture on Corlys’s side to make Alyn confront his true feelings about the whole situation, and he confronts his father about it as well.
I also love the interplay between Jace and the new dragonriders. He’s already understandably sensitive about his own place as a bastard, and he knows his dark hair makes him stand out. Being forced to rub elbows with lowborn Targaryen bastards—who look more Targaryen than he does—is hard for him. One of them, Ullf, does everything he can to make that harder, crowing about his new position and getting overly familiar with the prince. Baela offers a sounding board for Jace’s frustrations and helps him work through these feelings. It’s a role she’s played multiple times throughout the season, and I love that they’re able to be there for each other, but I hope we get to see more of Jace supporting her in the future too.
Then there’s Daemon. Rhaenyra has sent one of her advisors to check up on him: to see if he’s had any success raising an army in the Riverlands after all this time, and if so, whether he intends for that army to fight for her or himself. The moment has finally come for him to reckon with who he’s going to be. Is he going to serve Rhaenyra or press his own claim?
I like Daemon’s scenes with Ser Alfred, Rhaenyra’s advisor. Matt Smith gives us that mix of playful and menacing that Daemon does so well, carrying himself with a buoyant air that’s permeated with a slight whiff of “test me at your peril.” It’s also noteworthy to me that, even at a time when he’s been away from Rhaenyra and working at cross purposes with her, Daemon still knows her very well. He demonstrates this as Ser Alfred tells him about her latest plans, worrying that she’s going against her Small Council—“Rhaenyra will chart her own course, for good or ill,” Daemon replies.
And best of all, we get a scene between Rhaenyra and Daemon. I won’t spoil the particulars of it, but Smith and Emma D’Arcy play magnificently off each other. Daemon has always been at his best opposite Rhaenyra (both the younger and older versions of the character) or Viserys, and even though Smith’s acting has been strong throughout the season, this scene hammers home how much he’s been wasted in his Harrenhal arc. Again, his performance has been good throughout, but as soon as Daemon and Rhaenyra are put in a room together, the scene becomes electric. Hopefully we’ll see them playing off each other much more next season!
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