Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Episode 6 of House of the Dragon.The debut season ofHouse of the Dragonhas seen more than its fair share of jumps through time. However, what had previously been more moderate increments now extended to an entire decade that shook up the story in a rather drastic fashion. WhereasGame of Throneshad its characters grow up and change gradually before our eyes, this prequel has now thrown us forward in time with almost everything we’ve come to know forever changed.
Some changes are physical, with a new cast playing older versions of characters and an ailing King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) even losing an arm, though it extends far beyond just that to something more psychological. Most significant is the growing conflict between Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), whose childhood bond has now all but evaporated. While often jarring to witness, it gave everything an added level of tension as we see how they are now at each other’s throats. Alicent, in particular, has steeled, and is resistant to any of Rhaenyra’s attempts at bridging the perilous chasm that now divides them. It serves as a fitting reflection of how the latter rejected the former’s attempts at reconciliation many years ago. Now, both have birthed multiple children who are all in line for the throne and potential enemies in a future struggle for power. Alongside all of this, Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) has built a life with Lady Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell) away from all the goings-on in King’s Landing. He is content with this existence, but that is a state of being that is also precarious.
All of these new scenarios take place in an enthralling episode that is equal parts mysterious and menacing in a manner that make it one of the best since the show’s premiere. As an audience, we are left trying to piece together the new dynamics of the playing field and what could be setting all the once-familiar characters against each other. It’s as if we’re watching an entirely new, and in many ways better, show as this audacious narrative shift pays off the longer we sit with it. It continues to be a slow burn of a story, defined by political plays for power and the grim march towards conflict, though with a sharper edge to all the interactions. Quite literally, it feels as though the show has itself grown up along with many of the characters. While there is a new younger generation we’re getting introduced to, the existing characters we have come to understand have all been altered by age. They have become new people with only glimmers of who they once were shining through. It’s a bold move that ensures none of the characters are stagnant, pushing them and us as an audience to reckon with how their lives have turned out far differently than any could have predicted.
RELATED:Emma D’Arcy & Olivia Cooke on Rhaenyra and Alicent’s Evolving Dynamic in ‘House of the Dragon’
Of course, a show is not merely good because it is unpredictable. With that being said, the wayHouse of the Dragonhas reshaped itself midway through the season provides a welcome change of pace when what preceded it had been at risk of dragging. The last episode gave us a wedding thatdescended into violencein classicGame of Thronesfashion, though it bordered on feeling a bit played out to see the show rely on a sudden yet almost insignificant death to create drama. This week’s episode, thankfully, leaves that far behind. Everyone is navigating uncharted territory now, and we are right there along with them. While the show could have certainly spent several seasons taking us through the evolving lives of all the major characters, there is something to be said for the story trusting us to observe them after much of that has already taken place.
It makes everything more tragic, as the proximity between the episodes makes it easy to look back and more deeply feel the loss of innocence from the younger versions of the characters we had just seen. Central to this is how the aforementioned Alicent and Rhaenyra have each grown increasingly distant from each other. The love they felt for each other when they were younger has hardened to hate. Both believe, in order to survive, they must stand in opposition to each other. Getting to see how Alicent has become obsessed with her status and cruel to the person she was closest to is quietly devastating. Whilethe younger performers were each memorable in introducing us to their characters, credit must be given to the new cast for carrying on with such complete and utter confidence. They have made show theirs now, working in tandem with the fraught new narrative timeline that we have now entered into.
This is especially true with Cooke, who thoroughly and convincingly embodies the coldness that has taken hold of her character. In order to survive and cling to the power she has gained, she shows how Alicent now believes she must take aim at any who stand against her. Where her character had been more passive ten years prior, she is now a commanding force that has used her position to consolidate power wherever she can. It is all part of how the story and all the characters have gone through a necessary transformation. The time jump served as a fundamental reinventing of the series with the benefit of it being built upon all the prior character work up until now. This extends beyond Alicent and Rhaenyra to one character in particular: Laena. Echoing Aemma’spainful death in the first episode, she encounters problems during childbirth and is about to be fatally cut open before she takes her end into her own hands. This culminates in a brutal yet poetic end for her, as the young child we had seen has now grown into a woman who goes out in a dragonrider’s death. It was a fitting conclusion, as the show continues hurtling into chaos and leaving any hope at peace far in the past.
House of the Dragonpremieres new episodes weekly every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.
