House of the Dragon takes one last heartbreaking breath before the plunge

Let’s pour one out for King Viserys Targaryen, First of his Name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Avoider of Conflict, Ride-or-Die Daughter Guy, and All-Around Mensch, even if he kinda-sorta murdered his wife. He was the best of kings, he was the worst of kings, and I’m gonna miss him.

That’s assuming he dies, which I do, although “The Lord of the Tides” isn’t 100% clear on his fate. The whole episode feels like a last hurrah for him. King Viserys has been slipping pretty much since the premiere, finding himself less and less in control of his family and kingdom as disease erodes his body. But he exerts what control he can here, and it’s impossible not to applaud him for the effort.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I haven’t talked about the actual conflict yet, but that’s the kind of episode “The Lord of the Tides” is. This one isn’t really about the big shocking moments people rush to Twitter to break down right after. It’s more of a mood, a chance to sit with characters we didn’t know we liked this much until the show afforded us time to realize it. It’s one last deep relaxing breath, in and out, before the scream of war.

Family Matters

“The Lord of the Tides” refers to Corlys Velaryon, who has taken a wound fighting in the Stepstones. Corlys doesn’t actually appear in the episode, and his absence is causing all sorts of problems as people worry over who should replace him as the Lord of Driftmark should he die. As we remember from last week, Corlys wants Rhaenrya’s son Lucerys to inherit the Driftwood Throne. But rumors persist that Luke doesn’t have Velaryon blood, which leaves an opening for Vaemond Velaryon to make a claim on his brother’s seat.

Meanwhile in King’s Landing, Viserys spends most of his time in bed whacked out of his brain on milk of the poppy while his wife Alicent Hightower and Hand Otto Hightower rule in his name. Vaemond intends to take his case right to the Iron Throne, which means Rhaenyra and Daemon have to visit King’s Landing to contest it. If the throne rules for Vaemond, it will cast an even longer shadow over Rhaenyra’s children.

That’s the simple setup for a slow, character-heavy episode. To start, we need to get to know the new actors playing the kids we met in Episode 6: Tom Glynn-Carney is now playing Aegon, Ewan Mitchell his one-eyed brother Aemond, and Phia Saban his sister Helaena. On Team Rhaenyra, Jaecerys is now played by Harry Collett and Lucerys by Elliot Grihault. And baby Joffrey is a six or seven-year-old here.

There are new faces behind the names, but none of the characters seem much changed. Jace and Luke still seem like good, earnest kids; Aegon is still a drunken mess; Aemond is growing into his psychopathy; and Helaena still seems a bit off. I liked her awkward toast at the family dinner late in the episode. She didn’t seem to be favoring one side or the other; she was just over-sharing and it was sorta charming and funny.

Baela and Rhaena Targaryen are also played by new actors — Bethany Antonia and Phoebe Campbell respectively — but they don’t have a ton to do in this episode. As for the characters who haven’t switched over, the one who seems most changed is Alicent. Now that Viserys is close to death, she may be rethinking the plan to put her son Aegon on the throne over Rhaenyra, particularly since Aegon is such an irrepressible dipshit. There’s a scene early on when Alicent mollifies a serving girl Aegon has just assaulted, knowing that her son is in the wrong but that to admit it publicly would imperil his claim to the throne. You get the idea that she’s had to deal with a lot of this sort of crap over the years.

At the same time, the show doesn’t paint Aegon as a monster. He feels more lost, a listless young man who’s been pushed into a leadership role despite an obvious lack of ability or interest. Aemond is the real monster of the bunch. At that family dinner, he raises a cup to his nephews, whom he calls “strong boys,” a deliberate attempt to provoke them. They take the bait, whereupon Aemond and Aegon are all too happy to get violent, and this after Rhaenyra and Alicent were making nice.

But that’s one of the themes of the episode. This trauma has been passed from generation to generation, from Otto to Alicent to her children, and it may be too late to mend fences now, however much Alicent and Rhaenyra might want to. The slow build-up from the first half of the season pays off here. When Alicent took Rhaenyra’s hand in hers like she used to when they were kids at court, I remembered their history, I remembered the ruin their friendship had become, and I wanted things to work out. But stones rolling downhill have their own momentum, and other characters now carry on the enmity these two are trying to forget. There isn’t a ton of action in this episode, but there is a persistent sense of dread, a fear of blood, of war, of death, of the inevitable.

The last stand of King Viserys Targaryen

King Viserys does his best to stave it off. Rhaenyra hasn’t seen him in years and finds him much reduced. There’s a lot of tenderness between the two of them, as well as between Viserys and Daemon; we’re reminded that, deep down, the gruff, violent Rogue Prince really does love his older brother. Once again, the fact that we’ve seen this relationship go through ups and downs pays off. I misted up when Daemon helped Viserys ascend the steps to the Iron Throne and put the crown on his head, remembering how Viserys twice banished him in this very room, remembering how he deserved it, and loving that the brothers are trying to let it go.

Rhaenyra also makes peace with her father, or as much as she can when he’s like this. Emma D’Arcy does some wonderful acting as she contemplates whether she even wants the throne, reckons with her father’s questionable decisions, and asks for his help to secure her claim. And Viserys comes through. The scene where he surprises everyone by hobbling into the Iron Throne room is very moving.

Viserys just wants his family to get along and avoid war and I cheer him for it, even if his choices — of Hand, of heir, of bride — are partially responsible for putting the realm in danger. None of these characters are perfect, but a lot of them are doing the best they can, which is way more compelling anyway.

Oh, and Daemon chops off Vaemond’s head just above the mouth after he calls Rhaenyra’s kids bastards in open court. I didn’t know where else to mention that. It’s pretty much the only moment of action we get in the episode, and it’s fun, but it almost feels thrown in as an afterthought. “The Lord of the Tides” isn’t about action. It’s about wrestling with the ghosts of your past, trying to stop them from haunting the future, and salvaging what peace you can from the present. It’s a great episode of House of the Dragon.

House of the Bullet Points

• SPOILER incoming: Unless the producers are planning to make a HUGE change from George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, Corlys Velaryon survives his fever and goes on to play an important role in the story.
• Rhaenyra and Daemon have had two children since we last left them: Aegon III and Viserys II. I loved the moment where a weak King Viserys says his grandson has “a name fit for a king.” He was genuinely happy, enough to crack a dad joke. I like these people, even if they suck sometimes.
• Daeron Targaryen, the youngest child of King Viserys and Alicent Hightower, still hasn’t been mentioned. It’s looking more and more like he’s been cut, which surprises me given how faithful a lot of the show has been to Fire & Blood. For example…
• We got briefly introduced to Arryk Cargyll (or Erryk Cargyll, it’s impossible to tell), one of two twin brothers who serve on the Kingsguard. I cannot believe they kept their names as Erryk and Arryk, which are distinguishable on the page but indistinguishable when spoken aloud. But they cut the green dress vs black dress moment from Episode 5 even though it’s hugely important. These priorities…I don’t know whether to be angry or impressed.
• There may not have been much blood spilled in this episode, but the gore team got their kicks by crafting King Viserys’ gnarly facial prosthetics. That disease has done a number on him.
• Mysaria shows up for three seconds near the end of the episode to remind us that she exists. The information trade has clearly been good to her; she has a manse in the city and spies inside the Red Keep.

Episode Grade: A

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