House of the Dragon: Rhaenyra the Cruel/The Burning Mill

I finally am caught back up on my television shows after a week at the beach. I am going to be kind of brief on these two episodes. The Blacks and the Greens continue to do things to each other that are leading to war (killing kids is probably a bad thing). However, both sides have contained this to a battle inside the family, the rest of Westeros was staying out of it…until now.

The beginning of episode three saw the Blackwoods and Brackens kicking off a small battle. These two families have hated each other since before the conquest, and they are always looking for an excuse to fight. Alicent and Rhaenyra want to avert war, but their advisors know they need to press their advantage (the Greens have numbers and families, the Blacks have more dragons). 

So here are a few things I loved from the two episodes…

-Erryk vs. Arryk. Cole is a jerk for sending Arryk to Dragonstone to kill the Queen, BUT Erryk and the rest of her guards are morons for not having a plan for this. Why not have a daily safeword that guards know that Erryk has to tell them to enter and exit? Why not shave his beard? Or give himself a mark on his arm. There are so many ways they could have prevented this from happening. Imagine if Arryk shows up and has his nice beard, and the guards look at him and start laughing. Then his brother comes out and says “ohh brother, you didn’t get the memo, I shaved my beard!” They arrest Arryk, and eventually turn him to their side. Or torture him to death. Either way. 

Anyways, the fight between them was fantastic. I loved at the end that it was tough to know which one died (I believe Erryk was the victor, I think you could see the leg wound), but the victor takes his own life by falling on his sword. There are two reasons for this: 1) the horror of killing his own brother, being a kinslayer and 2) will Queen Rhaenyra ever be able to truly trust that he is Erryk, and not Arryk–he could never be left alone with her. I think his suicide was a combination of the two. Probably more heavily option one. If it were Arryk, it would most certainly be all option one. I like to think Erryk sacrificed himself at the end to protect his queen, even if it was from himself. 

-Aegon has become an interesting character. It would have been easy to make him a monster like Joffrey, or just a vapid idiot, but instead Tom Glynn-Carney has turned in a great performance. We see so many different emotions from him, and at times we see that he wants to do what is right for the realm. He wants to lead his armies against the Blacks. But he has councilors near him who want to manipulate him to their interests. 

-I loved seeing Otto’s reaction to Aegon and Criston’s plan. Then seeing Aegon strip him of his office. Fans keep comparing Otto to Tywin, and I have to say it again, they are not the same. Tywin would not be cowled by a weak boy. Otto is a manipulator (I think I said it in my last post), Tywin is direct. Also, someone like Criston Cole would not feel the need to go behind Tywin’s back, he would respect his strategic mind. 

-Rhaenyra meeting with Alicent was a risky move, and it did not pay off the way she had hoped. But it did sow some doubt in Alicent’s mind (although she is now going to hold steadfast to her belief that Aegon should be king). Rhaenyra hears what her father said before he died and realizes that he was talking about Aegon the Conqueror, the look on Alicent’s face is priceless. 

War is coming to Westeros, everything will come to a head in the Riverlands. Grover Tully (I really hope we learn about his family, the Sesame Street nod from GRRM is fantastic–Grover, Elmo, and Oscar Tully) is old and powerless, whoever can take control of this area will be able to win the crown. Also, there are a few families absent (particularly the Tyrells). The Hightowers are their bannermen, but in this era they are the more powerful family…we know that does not end up being the case, could this come into play?