HBO’s original Game of Thrones prequel series House of The Dragon episode six “The Princess and The Queen” starts with a time jump ten years into the future. The viewer sees Emma D’Arcy’s Rhaenyra Targaryen now a full-grown adult give birth to her third son. The interesting thing is the father turns out to be her new royal guard instead of the man she married. Surprisingly, her husband after ten years still kept up his deal with her with her being with who she wants and him being with who he wants as well. However, Olivia’s Cooke’s adult Alicent Hightower knows full well that Rhaenyra’s marriage is only for looks while she slightly whispers into her husband’s hear how the child almost looks like him. It can be seen by the viewer that Alicent has grown bitter towards her as the years have gone by due to Rhaenyra lying to her about her virginity breaking her heart and trust. In her mind, she is sick and tired of having Rhaenyra lie to everyone about her marriage while also having her father constantly giving her the benefit of the doubt.
A few minutes into the episode, the viewer sees Matt Smith’s Daemon Targaryen with his new wife whom he actually seems to have some feelings for. The surprising thing is that he has a couple of kids with her as well. Unfortunately, he still seems to not be content with what he has given as how he ignores his kids along with his wife. This is probably a result of him not getting to marry Rhaenyra when he had the chance and not being able to take the throne that he believes to be his birthright. The fascinating thing is there comes a time when his wife goes into labor and he his forced to make the same decision that Paddy Considine’ Viserys Targaryen made regarding his late wife. In his mind, he now knows the decision his brother had to make at the time. This has him think that now he should not have been so critical of his brother when he had to go through this ordeal as a result. Also, the viewer can see that he hates his brother a little less now that he got a little taste of the type of decisions his brother has to make as king. This is due to him never having to make a serious decision that hits close to home. All he has ever done is make small choices and then let someone else clean up his mess. He has never had to make a choice and deal with the consequences himself. Luckily, for him his wife did not want him to have to choose between his child or her. Instead, she chooses to end her life her way to spare him the guilt of choosing.
At the end of the episode, the viewer sees Alicent deal with the consequences of Matthew Needham’s Larys Strong actions. Obviously, she is horrified at the deaths of his father and older brother especially when he himself is the one who orchestrated it. Unfortunately, she knows that she must be an accomplice to him due to them talking about how to they should get rid of them so Rhaenyra will have no support in court. As a result of Larys unstable mental health he took their conversation as her telling him to kill them while stating that he wants a reward from her for doing it. The viewer can see that there is an implication of blackmail mixed in with that request of reward. Ultimately, this will come to haunt Alicent in the future as Larys seems to the type to hold on to dirt on someone especially if they are useful.
Rating 8.5/10