Every episode of House of the Dragon season 1, ranked worst to best
By Daniel Roman
7. “The Green Council” (Episode 9)
Depending on who you ask, there’s a very good chance they’ll tell you that “The Green Council” either deserves to be at the absolute bottom of the list, or much closer to the top. I’m going to take the middle road here, mainly because the fact that this episode is as divisive as it is is a pretty clear indicator that something went awry. But it has its fans as well.
With the exception of Criston Cole’s wedding murder in Episode 5, “The Green Council” is the only episode of the season that really wrote itself into a corner plotwise, opening up loose ends and inconsistencies that the rest of the show largely avoids. Whether it be Otto’s half-baked plan to smuggle Aegon out of King’s Landing (where was he even taking him?) or the fact that no one seems upset that Rhaenys murdered hundreds of innocents at the Dragonpit, I think it’s fair to say that this episode is simply not as airtight as the rest of the season.
All that said, there were absolutely highlights. The aforementioned Dragonpit scene is a big one, although depending on who you ask it may either be one of the coolest scenes of the season or the one of the most reviled. Whatever your feelings about Meleys the Red Queen crashing the party, Aegon’s coronation was a fantastic moment, and both Tom Glynn-Carney (Aegon II) and Olivia Cooke (Alicent Hightower) gave some of their best performances of the season.
“The Green Council” is nothing if not bold, focusing on the faction viewers had been conditioned to perceive as the villains for an entire episode in order to more thoroughly flesh out the show’s ensemble cast. It may not have executed that flawlessly, but it was engaging enough that I don’t believe it belongs at the bottom of the list. Say what you will of it, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, from the quiet opening over the sleeping castle to Rhaenys’ draconic exit. Whether you loved it or hated it, “The Green Council” was an important moment for the season and show as a whole.
