The tides change on this week's House Of The Dragon

On your knees, everyone; we stand in the presence of Rhaenyra of House Targaryen, rightful heir to the Iron Throne, rightful Queen of the Andals, and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms, the Mother of Dragons, the Summoner of Bastards, the Unconventional in Her Approach, the Breaker of Hearts. If your complaint for the past few episodes of this season has been a whingeing, “It’s called House Of The Dragon, not House Of The Endless String Of Council Meetings,” then you’re in luck: This week is bursting at the seams with our winged and scaly pals. We kick off with Rhaenyra and Syrax staring down Addam and Seasmoke on a beach (there’s nothing I appreciate more than a beautiful, if not a tad on-the-nose, reminder about this guy’s Velaryon heritage) as she demands to know what in the gods he’s doing with one of her dragons. Addam, bless him, readily sets aside his own shock over his new pet (or is he the pet?) to bend the knee and declare his undying allegiance to Team Black. Rhaenyra knows well enough not to kick a gift horse/dragonrider in the mouth, and quickly invites him to Dragonstone as her guest. Then, after a chat with Mysaria, which sees the duo carefully stand as far away from one another as possible, presumably so as to avoid falling prey to any whispers of desire, our rightful queen decides it’s time to “raise an army of bastards.” Yes!Whispers are spread throughout King’s Landing; smallfolk with silver hair (or knowledge of their true parentage) answer the call for dragonseed. Before we know it, they’re standing outside the pits and being given an incredibly stirring speech by Rhaenyra, which undoes a lot of the damage done by the Dragonkeepers storming out in disgust at the sight of all these bastards (thank the gods they make their feelings known in High Valyrian, a language that the smallfolk don’t understand).Here’s where any viewers with lingering support for Team Green will be forced to reconsider their choices, as Rhaenyra boldly leads the bastards into the pits herself. She calls Vermithor, a.k.a. the Bronze Fury, up into the light. She orders him to serve. She reaches out and places her hand upon his enormous snout. She calms him, as only a true Targaryen queen could—and without a single Dragonkeeper on hand to help should things get dicey. Then, she leaves and allows the dragon to choose his rider himself…which, admittedly, looks a lot like mass murder: He wipes out almost everyone in the pits in a horrifying sequence of fire and burning flesh. Eventually, though, he is claimed by—or picks—that most noble of bastards, Hugh Hammer, who leaps into the fray to subdue the beast and give a young woman a chance to flee the flames to safety. Hey, we’d expect nothing less from the son of Viserys and Daemon’s unnamed bastard sister, alright?If Hugh is the most noble of bastards, then Ulf White is surely the maddest of the bunch. Let’s review, shall we? He answered the call for dragonseed solely because he didn’t want to lose face with his fellow tavern and brothel dwellers, to start with, and he only manages to claim Silverwing because he [checks notes] stumbles into his lair, breaks a few things, and falls over. His reaction, upon becoming a dragon rider? To laugh, obviously, before taking Silverwing on an ill-advised joy ride over King’s Landing. Cue Aemond giving chase via Vhagar, only to retreat when he spies all three newly-appointed riders (Addam, Hugh, and Ulf) waiting for him with Seasmoke, Vermithor, and Silverwing at Dragonstone. Everything just changed, and in a major way…and I suspect Rhaenyra is likely set to get another dragon if and when Rhaena tracks down the beast that’s been (ahem) stealing sheep in the Vale of Arryn. She’ll likely have to wade through more than a few weeds and nettles to get there, but I’m rooting for her. [caption id="attachment_1854881011" align="alignnone" width="854"] Ewan Mitchell (Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO)[/caption]It all makes for another ace episode, quite frankly. For starters, Emma D’Arcy gets to do so much brilliant acting with their face. (Honestly, just one look from this queen is enough to convey a thousand words, which is lucky, considering the size of the times George R. R. Martin churns out.) Matt Smith’s Daemon, too, is finally gifted the chance to step outside of his nightmarish visions over at Harrenhal and actually do something of substance: raise an army, mete justice, finally realize that heavy is the head that wears the crown. There are dragons in abundance, of course, breathing fire and tossing Targaryen bastards into the air like so many paper dolls. And, sure, their plot armor made it wildly obvious that they were the chosen ones, but it was a lot of fun watching Hugh and Ulf get their dragonrider on. (Also, Ned Stark’s plot armor didn’t save him so, y’know, a modicum of tension was still there.) It’s all action and drama and our most beloved fantasy trope of the lowborn child of little consequence realizing they’re meant for better things, and I love it so much.While it’s an excellent week for Team Black, though, the same can’t be said of Team Green. At all. Alicent spends much of this episode like Reese Witherspoon in Wilderness on (camping, wild swimming, that sort of thing), while Aemond briefly gallops about on a horse that looks too small for him and a dragon that’s much too big. Aegon hobbles about in excruciating pain before falling back into bed, which is fair enough, and Helaena is…well, she is once more criminally underused. Wherefore art thou, Helaena?Still, a lack of Green is not enough to render this a so-so episode by any means. Fingers crossed that next week’s big finale sees more cousins in this cousins’ war (and more dragons—once again, here’s looking at you, Rhaena). Stray observations • I love that Rhaenyra’s handmaiden does all of her secret whisperings (at the behest of Mysaria) in a bright red “look at me!” cloak.  • I may dislike the character more than I can say, but I sure felt the absence of Fabien Frankel’s Ser Criston this week. Bring him back so I can scowl at him from afar again! • Lord Grover Tully is dead, but his quivering and quaking grandson is no longer quivering and quaking. In fact, he wastes zero time in telling Daemon that he hates him but will honor his House’s oath to Rhaenyra all the same. All hail that well-timed “king consort” jab. • Ah, Willem Blackwood. He only ever did as he was bid by Daemon (murder! pillage! rape! war crimes!), and yet it earned him a very public and unexpected beheading. RIP to the show’s biggest glowup, I suppose. • Maybe Mysaria and Rhaenyra are behaving as if they have never once locked lips in a passionate embrace, which surely can only mean it’s going to happen again with added sexual tension and buildup. Love that they kept a desk between them during their dragonseed planning session. Nothing like a desk to keep the flames of passion at bay.  • Corlys has never been prouder of Addam, which isn’t hard, considering he has literally never even acknowledged his existence once before. That “well done” is the crumb that poor bastard has been hungering for all his life. • Jace is seriously unhappy with Rhaenyra and for good reason: By allowing bastards to ride dragons, she’s adding fuel to the fire of the (very true) rumors that he is a bastard himself. Perhaps this means all of those fan theories about him conspiring against his own mother may turn out to be true. Please don’t let it be so, though, because I adore their relationship. • I kind of feel like they needed a better plan than shoving all of the dragonseeds into the pit with Vermithor at once and leaving them to it. What do I know, though? It worked. • So Rhaena has ditched the babies in her care to hitch a ride to Pentos without her, while she goes dragon hunting. Fingers crossed nothing happens to the little ones, or Rhaenyra will never forgive her. Ever. • Alicent is serving lady in the lake this week, and I’m here for it, but also…it feels a tad gratuitous, no? I get that her feet are scarred and she feels she’s lost her moneymakers, but there’s more to life than just that! • Daeron! Tessarion! Ready to ride! Will we see them before the season ends? And will rumors that Alicent and Viserys’ youngest son looks stunningly like Criston Cole prove to be true? Gods, I hope so. I live for the drama. • A lot of people are complaining that this season is taking things too slowly, but they’re likely the same people who moaned that the first season trotted along at far too rapid a velocity. Personally, I’m here for this gentle exploration of character and sowing of seeds yet to germinate.It means we’re building to something. • How mad would you be if Larys told you not to warn Aemond about new dragons and then a new dragon literally appeared over the citadel? I’d be fuuuuuming.