Alicent will try to protect Helaena in the House of the Dragon season 2 finale

In the most recent episode of House of the Dragon, "The Red Sowing," Alicent Hightower leaves King's Landing to go take a walk in the woods with kingsguard knight Ser Rickard Thorne. She camps out and goes for a swim in a picturesque lake.

I'll be honest: as a viewer, I was questioning why we needed to see this. I get that Alicent is feeling adrift now that her son Aemond has essentially fired her from the Small Council, mostly on account of her being a woman, but I didn't think these scenes told us anything we didn't already know. That said, actor Olivia Cooke was pretty passionate about them when talking to TIME.

"Alicent needs to get out of King's Landing to figure out the longevity of her house, family, and herself," Cooke said. "The longevity of her life and her daughter’s [Helaena] life, and how sustainable it is at this point. She needs to be able to plot without Aemond looming, and without being used as a chess piece. She’s gone off to try and make all of these humongous decisions that will impact the regency, possibly, forever. Alicent saying, 'I’m not yet certain I do' [when asked when she intends on returning to the city] is actually her saying 'I don’t know what will be in my future after the course of what I’m about to do.'"

I mean...what is she about to do? The last image we see of her in "The Red Sowing" is her swimming placidly. She's in the trailer next Sunday's finale, so we know she returns to the city. What is she up to?

Reading this interview, it sounds like it will have something to do with her daughter Helaena, whom Cooke mentions several times. "Temperance is something she still wants, but she knows it’s a lost cause at this point," she said of Alicent's failed quest to tamp down on the Dance of the Dragons. "I think her daughter Helaena—and trying to protect her—is at the forefront of her mind. Helaena’s a dragonrider. Who’s to say they won’t try to utilize that? Helaena is a seer—which Alicent doesn’t really know—but she knows her daughter is both vulnerable and remarkable in different ways. She doesn’t operate on the same plane as everybody else, so trying to helicopter-parent over that, as much as possible, is Alicent’s motivation at this point."

I'm surprised to hear this because Helaena really hasn't gotten much screentime this season. However, the trailer could provide clues as to what's to come. Now that Rhaenyra has raised an "army of bastards" to ride dragons for her, Aemond wants his own air force. In the trailer, he asks Helaena to ride her dragon Dreamfyre into battle. My guess is that Alicent will be extremely unhappy about this, and may even go to drastic measures to protect Helaena. "You wish to rule the Seven Kingdoms, but you reign ruin and death," she tells Aemond while Helaena is in the background.

So I don't know the specifics, but that's my guess at this point. Cooke also says that she wants to "protect her daughter Helaena from the poison that does seem to be the Red Keep." Portentously, Cooke describes the finale with these three words: "A sacrifice made."

Alicent hasn't felt "pure" since starting her relationship with Criston Cole

Another running theme for Alicent this season has been her relationship with Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), a military commander and all-around douchebag. It's easy to see why she might feel she needs a cleansing swim after that.

"There’s a theme with her feeling shamed and unclean throughout the season," Cooke said. "We saw Alicent with Ser Criston Cole and what happened in the aftermath of her being romantically involved with him. She never felt pure from that moment on. There’s this compulsion to scrub her skin raw in order to purge the rot from what she did and how she feels she is to blame. This felt like a baptism. Stripping the outer layer, and that f-cking collar [laughs]. Her getting into the lake on her own is embryonic, in a way. It’s weirdly a coming-of-age moment for Alicent—the start of the rest of her life, what she’s about to do, and the woman she’s possibly about to become."

Cooke also acknowledges that Alicent is being "a massive hypocrite" for indulging in the secret affair with Criston Cole, since she spent years judging Rhaenyra for acting impulsively. "It’s often the most repressed people who are spouting about how things should be done, but they’re the ones breaking their own rules. I think Alicent feels deep shame about that, but it’s a drug at this point. And because she felt that Rhaenyra always acted on impulse, she [Alicent] had to be the one that was more measured. But you can’t push down instinct for that long without something boiling over."

Criston is currently out marching on Harrenhal, so I doubt he and Alicent will reunite in the finale. But that stink doesn't wash off easily.

Olivia Cooke is aware of the Alicent-Rhaenyra shippers

A lot of fans are fond of the idea that Rhaenyra and Alicent, childhood best friends who had a falling out, have an intimate relationship. These "Rhaenicent" shippers are legion, and both Cooke and star Emma D'Arcy are aware of them. "There’s been us trying to plot our back story and why there was so much animosity between us—as Emma and I were introduced into the fold as adults. I think it’s when you’re really close to your childhood best friend and how lines can become blurred in that sense," Cooke said. "It is this mini relationship and who knows to what effect? But we’ve spoken about that a lot. There has been shipping of our characters."

In a recent episode, Rhaenyra appeared to start up a new relationship with her spymaster Mysaria, with whom she shares a kiss. "It was so amazing to see the kiss between Rhenaeya and Mysaria," Cooke said. "I thought it was so beautiful, tender, and wanting. That need to be held was so human against the backdrop of propriety and the war."

Whatever happens in the finale, Cooke thinks it will surprise viewers. We'll see what's in store this coming Sunday, August 4 on HBO and Max.

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