What is your review of "Regent", episode 5 of Season 2 House of the Dragon?
09.06.2025 13:57
Aegon’s gasped “Mummy” that Alicent couldn’t even hear as she left broke me. Good lord.
This exchange between Alicent and Cole even better illustrates how scared Cole is of Aemond. It’s a tense illustration of someone who knows now he’s bitten off more than he can chew and is willing to toss moral accountability away even more than he already has. Alicent telling him not to call her Alicent is a nice ending touch.
The armor-peeling scene is effectively awful. Egads.
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This was always going to be a “cool-down” episode, so I’m not going to be as hard on it as some people (not so much on here, but elsewhere) have, for that reason. All the same, some stuff worked nicely, some was meh and some really, really did not. Like, holy shit did it not.
Alys disappearing behind Simon Strong when he approaches is a neat trick, and will probably make viewers wonder if she is indeed totally a hallucination. (Me, I think it’s just more proof that she is indeed witchy.)
Now here’s the part of the episode — the last part — that has me gnashing my teeth a bit. “… Those who married into other noble houses.” Yes, folks, the “dragonseed” hunt on the show looks like it will kick off on the basis of dredging through genealogy books to find other legitimate bloodlines. The problem: Apart from the branches we already know about — Velaryons, Hightowers, Arryns, Baratheons, all of whom are accounted for and already playing roles in the war — and one unspecified “petty lord” an unnamed Targaryen daughter married eons ago, there are no “other noble houses.” This is it. It’s what happens when you marry siblings and cousins to each other. So, with all due respect, who in the Cinnamon Toast Crunch fuck are meant to be these other houses? Rhaenyra mentions Tarlys and Mallisters, but are they just random names she throws out or is the show retconning the family tree?
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Alicent clearly knows Aemond had something to do with this. I like the shot of Helaena as the crate is brought in. It’s wild to think that she is actually the queen and is treated as a background character by pretty much everyone. A lot of this is just her personality but it’s hard to imagine Alicent herself or Cersei or pretty much any other consort being so passive and overlooked.
This is clearly the first time Rhaena is hearing about Rhaenys’ death. Brutal.
They’re doing a nice job of setting up the conditions for the capital to riot down the line. At the same time, Aemond’s instincts to lock everyone in clearly show he’s out of his depth with no one to tell him no.
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The Brackens have been beaten and violated into submission. Was it worth it? Probably not!!
Rhaenyra and Baela’s talk is a highlight of the episode and really highlights Emma D’Arcy’s empathy and humanity they bring to the role. I loved the story of Rhaenys claiming Meleys along with the info-dump that Daemon attempted to ride her and failed (which isn’t in the book but it makes sense). And here’s Baela being sent to offer Corlys the Handship.
I have no idea why they’ve turned Jeyne Arryn — who’s probably a lesbian in the book but that isn’t exactly a crime — into a bit of an offputting weirdo here. I’m sensing a theme where the people the Blacks need to get help from are portrayed as unwilling, greedy, unreasonably demanding, etc. and sister, this is a big reason why the Blacks had difficulty getting support. If you make demands of people or expect them to eat shit with big risk and no obvious gain, you’re not going to be popular. Put yourself in these lords’ shoes — where backing Rhaenyra means maybe getting a visit from Vhagar in a few weeks — and then wonder how unreasonable they seem.
Aemond eye-balling the Iron Throne is a good reminder that while the throne is really a MacGuffin, it does seem to warp or influence people around it, given the symbolism of its power. I wouldn’t say it’s inherently evil (unlike, say, the One Ring), but it seems to lay bare the darkest corners of people’s hearts and minds.
The riverlords wake Daemon up and he’s cranky and, frankly, coming off like a complete douche. They’re sufficiently pissed off here about what happened to the Brackens — and they also clearly know that Daemon’s the one who ordered it — that I’m wondering how the show will explain Rhaenyra keeping most of the Riverlands during the war. (Note that the Bracken atrocity isn’t mentioned in the book.) Either Daemon gets some humility, someone who isn’t him steps in to do damage control, or Aemond makes their minds up for them by burning shit with Vhagar down the line.
Men will do anything — try to repair the world’s worst castle — rather than just write to their wives. SMDH.
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Yeah, I’m totally sure Alfred fucking Broome is going to make inroads getting Daemon back on track.
We already know that Ulf and Hugh, at least one of whom is already presented as a bastard, are included, as are the Hulls. So if we already know the successful seeds will be bastards anyway, why not just start from that point — let’s go hunt up some bastards! — rather than make up some bullshit about Targaryens in other houses that never actually happened and would as such require a retcon? My suspicion: It’s some big fat whitewashing. “Other noble houses” sounds much better than, “Hey remember those times our ancestors raped peasant women on Dragonstone? Let’s go conscript their kids.” Then the bastards (or alleged bastards, whatever) come in anyway, without having to acknowledge where the “dragonseeds” actually originate. (Also funny that Rhaenyra leans on “only dragonlords can ride dragons” thing when talking to her bastard dragonriding son; at least Jace has the grace to mention that the “magic blood” stuff could just be, ya know, self-serving propaganda.)
The problem with Daemon’s Harrenhal arc is that it’s one-half batshit (no pun intended, where my Whent wenches at?) nuts visions and one-half talking about future stuff that will be fun to see when it actually happens in a year or more in S3.
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Alys is ever the weirdo here but she isn’t wrong about women and innocents bearing the brunt of conflicts like this.
As usual, part review, part recap. I include stuff in here that happens later in the story, so if you’re not up on that, beware.
Here’s Corlys, implicitly deciding to be Hand of the King (the firm grim on the pin is what tells you this!!).
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I do not care about Hugh. Sorry. I’ll care when he’s on Vermithor and not before.
I like Jace and Baela both in this episode. It makes sense for Jace to want to go out and do something because hey, he’s been at the same pointless Council meetings we all have. We’re all getting restless too, Jace!
The visual beat of the Bracken — who, not unlike the Tarlys with Daenerys, is an asshole but not necessarily wrong — walking away on horseback with Caraxes behind him is tremendous, though.
Here’s one thing that didn’t ring true to me: the Blackwood/Bracken mess. Basically, the Brackens won’t bend and Daemon gives the Blackwoods free rein to commit war crimes to get the Brackens to kneel. First off, as is pointed out later, you do not want people on your side who are only there because they’re scared shitless. Second, I’m pretty sure this is meant to be a Big Thematic Thing showcasing how a feud can get out of hand and turn the people involved — even people you might usually back, like the generally decent-ish Blackwoods — into monsters. But it’s just so heavy-handed and clunky. It also doesn’t help that the show is clearly trying to make a point about the evils committed in wartime but then wimps out by not actually showing any of this (because it’s being done for the Blacks and they can’t look that bad yet, I guess?).
It’s interesting to note that Daemon is flailing to get the riverlords under control while Rhaenyra’s actual diplomatic successes so far have been done by the younger generation: Jace in the North and at the Twins and Rhaena in the Vale.
I loved the understated opening scenes with Corlys and Rhaenyra clearly reacting to Rhaenys’ death. You can tell they’re obviously affected, without a bunch of over-the-top garment-rending. It sets the mood of grief and sadness that permeates the episode.
Both Rhaenyra and Alicent’s ambition finally gets critiqued and contextualized this week, and of the two, Rhaenyra’s rings the most off. On the one hand, she — fairly — resents being talked over and not taken seriously during her Council meetings. On the other hand, after multiple episodes of dithering and hesitancy and being unwilling to make major commitments, she hasn’t really given these guys a reason to think she’s either willing to act or knows what she’s doing. If she’d been assertive from the start, then this chafing at not being taken seriously would make sense. But you can’t expect people to take you seriously when you don’t take yourself seriously.
I’ve also seen rumblings that Nettles may be left out entirely. While she may turn up next season, I guess, it’s odd she hasn’t already been seen when the others all have. A lot of people I’ve seen are mad about the show cutting an actual POC from the story after changing the Velaryons’ race. I think the simplest explanation is that the show is clearly going all-in on the “magic dragon blood” fuckery, especially by giving Ulf (and probably Hugh eventually) a bastard backstory that F&B doesn’t. As such, there’s no room for anyone who could plausibly have tamed and ridden a dragon in an analog way that wouldn’t require said magic blood — there’s no room in the magic blood propaganda for a chick who feeds sheep to a dragon until he submits. But let’s see if she does turn up down the line.
I’m sure something interesting will eventually happen with this lady-spy sneaking back into the capital. For now, don’t really care.
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Here’s Rhaenyra’s Council uselessly bitching again for the nthe time. I’m honestly over it. One thing, though — Rhaenyra wanting to go out to fight but being held back getting turned into “the queen was unwilling to fight herself” in F&B due to a maester’s propaganda is actually a contextualization that makes sense to me, unlike a lot of other arguable deviations the show has done. I can totally buy that Rhaenyra being prevented from going out was later turned into her being unwilling to fight.
I love the Strong castellan telling Daemon he’s not actually in charge. I do wonder how much of how HotD is portraying Daemon — basically planning even now to overthrow Rhaenyra in the end — is meant to be subtext from the book and how much of it is their own deviating interpretation. Because, while the book obviously wouldn’t record any of Daemon’s nutty visions, nothing in it implies he bucked Rhaenyra’s claim or authority until she went off the rails. I guess it depends on whom you think the book is more interested in villainizing or whitewashing — would it make Daemon look better or worse than he really was, and the same for Rhaenyra?
Overall, a really wheel-spinny episode with some clunky thematic stuff going on and creative choices both bizarre (Daemon and Alyssa) and annoying (altering the dragonseed hunt’s origins). I think Baela and Jace, both together and apart, were the highlights of an otherwise trudging episode. I also liked Aemond taking charge immediately at the Council, with Alicent’s growing dread.
I know a lot of people just see, “Ew, Freys,” but the DotD-era Freys are generally portrayed as, if not decent, then loyal enough and middle of the road. Forrest Frey acquits himself well. This scene shows Jace growing nicely into authority, but it’s also clearly setting up some conflict with Daemon over Harrenhal down the line. For now, I appreciate the nod to Starks marching down and a promise to be made after the war. Also, what on earth was with that table? Again, the context is that the Blacks need to make concessions to get these ungrateful and shitty bannermen onside. My retort: If the Targaryens had given more of a shit about their bannermen, maybe they’d still be in power.
I did not need to see Daemon hallucinating going down on his own mother. I did not need to see Daemon hallucinating going down on his own mother. I did not need to see Daemon hallucinating going down on his own mother. I did not need to see Daemon hallucinating going down on his own mother. I did not need to see Daemon …
Alicent realizing that showing Larys her feet and sleeping with Cole means fuck all to either of them and having her Serena Joy moment hits much better than Rhaenyra’s problems with her Council. Having said that, what I think a lot of people are interpreting as Alicent’s facial expressions being a realization that she’s played herself, I think — in context — it’s more about her understanding how unhinged Aemond is and being terrified of what a psychopath on Vhagar could do.
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I’m sorry but Aegon being carted into the city in a crate like he’s a cat on the way to get groomed is almost absurdly funny. You know why they’re doing it — they don’t want the public to know how badly hurt Aegon is — but it’s still morbidly funny.
Meleys’ head being paraded through the capital and this backfiring on the Greens is a touch from the book that I really appreciate. What Cole obviously thinks is evidence of the Greens’ strength and victory has the actual opposite effect, for multiple reasons. It dents the idea of dragons (and as such, the people who ride them) as being untouchable, invincible gods. And it puts the idea of retribution into people’s minds — this has to be answered, and who will be in the line of fire when it is? It’s a straight line from this to the storming of the dragon pit toward the end of the war.
Baela really was an MVP of this episode. I like seeing Corlys interacting with the women in his family, because you can tell it’s not something he’s used to. Baela turning down Driftmark because she’s “blood and fire” and it should pass to someone who’s “salt and sea” is an excellent line.
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And here it is, Daemon saying the quiet part out loud, that he fully intends to be king regnant over his wife. Alys’ line about Daemon’s mother is maybe the strongest indication yet that she’s either sending him these visions or knows what it is he’s been seeing. (Also, Alyssa died when Daemon was young, but “never knew” is a strong way to put it.)
Helaena asks Aemond if it was worth the price. He doesn’t answer her, at least not on screen, but the answer’s clear: Yes.
This is a nice interplay between Rhaenyra and Jace and gets back to the ambiguity of F&B’s account: Did Rhaenyra really refuse to fight herself, or was she held back and this was later retconned for the written record? Again, one deviation or ambiguity relative to the book that I think works.
I’m guessing Cole’s reticence to talk about what happened is rooted in a fear of Aemond and what he might do in reprisal, or else a very deep-seated denial. It’ll be interesting to see how this growing unease toward Aemond evolves. Also interesting is that everyone seems to think Sunfyre is dead or would be imminently after everyone else left. I’m guessing this is to make it more a shock when he turns up again later.
They’re clearly teeing up some sort of inside job with Rhaenyra’s maid getting smuggled into the capital. The payoff for this will probably be delayed but perhaps could come when the Blacks take the city.