House of the Dragon gives a bloody sixth episode that features plenty of betrayals, death, and misery, while also further pushing things along within the larger narrative.
The episode opens rather abruptly with the demise of Ser Criston Cole. Butcher’s Ball is an event known to book readers, so we’ve been eagerly awaiting to see Cole get his just deserts. Cole leads what little remains of his men into an ambush, with the Rivermen playing dead only to rise up and attack the unsuspecting soldiers. Cole believes himself to be the victor when all is over, only to find the rest of the Tully/Stark forces surrounding them. Proposing a duel, Cole is instead sniped from a distance by one of the Tully soldiers. Is it a little anti-climactic? Yes. But Cole envisioned himself going down swinging, and songs would be written about him. Instead, his passing was rather unremarkable, and he’s thus relegated to a footnote in the history of someone else’s conflict.
The rest of the episode focuses on arcs developing narrative threads already established over the last few episodes. Rhaenyra continues to descend into a state of being a rather unfit leader, to the point where she’s not been cut by the Iron Throne itself. You’ll remember that’s how her father ultimately met her end, with the Throne slicing him and thus leading to his leprosy. In Westeros, the superstition is that the throne will cut a leader deemed unfit for rule for whatever reason, and considering Rhaenyra’s handle on things now, cutting her hand is quite the symbolic gesture. For reference, the throne never cut Aegon, and he was a piece of crap; even Tyland thinks so. She’s livid at Alicent and the pregnant Helaena for trying to escape possible retribution against the unborn baby, and then pivots to asking Alicent to assassinate Aemond herself. Quite the range there. Alicent, once again, does what’s commanded of her. No real resistance.
Daemon goes undercover to learn more about Ormund’s conspiracy, and does find one of the conspirators, but learns little else apart from that they are legion and do not have a banner. The problem within the city may be bigger than anticipated. Daemon does bump into Ulf while patrolling and lambasts him for sneaking out of the castle. Ulf is getting pretty tired of being the Targaryens’ lapdog, and there’s likely to be consequences. Rhaenyra does receive a message from her failed assassination of Ormund, stating, “kick this dog and it will bite your hand,” but that message may also be foreshadowing something with Ulf down the line, considering he was called a dog this very episode. Hugh, on the other hand, sneaks into Tumbleton to find his wife Kat. I did find this scene weird and oddly manufactured. Kat rips into Hugh for chasing dragons and glory while she wandered the road from King’s Landing alone, facing untold horrors without him. They’re both not per se wrong; Kat was left alone, but Hugh was trying to improve their lot to get out of Flea Bottom. But the show very much paints Hugh as the villain, despite Kat leaving King’s Landing without telling Hugh. I found the whole scene kind of rocky, trying to manufacture drama for one character’s motivation.
Finally, we check in with the Hightowers, who continue to plot and scheme. They may end the episode by arresting (quite brutally) Corlys, but also had to contend with a failed assassination attempt by Rhaenyra, who had her blades disguised as Baratheons who came to bend the knee. Only Gwayne is able to thwart the attempt on Daeron’s life by using good old-fashioned knowledge, knowing the true identity of the personas simply by reputational description. Gwayne is a learned man, so knowing the names and identities of the knights and lords is his business. Ormund, despite being a man of influence himself, never caught the ruse, and would’ve likely perished without Gwayne’s quick intervention. Those two may be on the same side, but they’re not exactly chummy, and Gwayne won’t let his kin be assassinated by the opposing side. It was also nice (if that’s the right word) to see a heightened sense of brutality this episode. Between the botched assassination attempt and the Butcher’s Ball, this episode was bloody and brutal; something I think House of the Dragon has been shying away from since the second episode.
Much like last week, there was another veiled foreshadowing that spoils a major event to come. I won’t say who said it, and it’s not as obvious as last week, but they’re really setting this thing up, and I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t happen by the end of the season at this point. Other minor things happened this week, but none of them really had an impact, or at least not yet. Rhaena continues to risk exposure in the Vale, Aemond continues to lurk in Harrenhal, and Baela suddenly (out of nowhere) shacks up with Alyn. That last one felt really weird, as the actors had no chemistry, there’s been no romantic buildup to the moment, nothing. It was weird and probably could’ve been cut from the whole story.
With two episodes to go, I hope that House of the Dragon finds the momentum of the first three episodes as it heads towards the finish line. As I mentioned before, there’s still a lot to cover, and we only have one season and two episodes left to go, so I am a bit worried about a rushed final season, especially after the last few episodes have felt slower. But check back in next week for the review of the penultimate!
