On a quiet morning in the Red Keep, the death of King Viserys begins to travel through its halls by whisper, carried from a page to a handmaiden to Alicent and finally to her father. In the space of a single council meeting, grief and ambition harden into a coup, and a man's life is spent to secure a throne that no one in the room has yet agreed to occupy. The episode reads as a meditation on how power is seized less by force than by people choosing, one small betrayal at a time, which loyalty they can live with.
On House of the Dragon, Kings Aren't Made, They're Coerced
Lyman Beesbury is killed by Criston Cole in the fictional council meeting; the review also describes bystander violence and the exploitation of children in the fictional setting.
A window in the wall of her prison
Mark
Why does this episode land so hard for the reviewer?
Mimi
Because everyone knows Aegon will be a terrible king, Aegon included, so every character has to choose a side and the motives become the story.
Luke
Worth saying that's the reviewer's reading. The motives are mostly inferred from performances, not stated.
Mark
Alicent seems central.
Mimi
She upholds a system that imprisoned her, and Rhaenys points it out. She says she wanted whatever her father impressed on her to want.
Luke
And whether she secretly wants the throne is Rhaenys's question. The episode doesn't answer it.
Mark
What about Rhaenys sparing the stage?
Mimi
She and the dragon stare at the usurpers and leave.
Luke
The review offers theories, like avoiding turning the smallfolk against Rhaenyra, or empathy for Alicent. Those are guesses. Nothing confirms any of them.
Mark
And what's next?
Mimi
The finale, though the reviewer expects the war between Alicent and Rhaenyra to continue beyond it.
Luke
That's a prediction, not something we know.
El Pulso
- The king's death is kept whispering through the palace before the council turns it into a bloody seizure of the throne.
- Lyman Beesbury's challenge is answered with a killing, and the council keeps working with his body still on the floor.
- Alicent's sudden horror at her father's plan sends her racing against Otto to find Aegon before he can be used or killed.
- Aegon's flight and capture bring Alicent a new bargaining chip: terms that might spare Rhaenyra's family, if she will renounce her claim.
- Rhaenys's escape is undone by the crowds herded to the Dragonpit, and Meleys bursts through the floor just as the sword is raised.
- The coronation is disrupted but not undone, and the reviewer expects the rift between Alicent and Rhaenyra to harden toward the finale.
On a quiet morning in the Red Keep, the death of King Viserys begins to travel through its halls by whisper, carried from a page to a handmaiden to Alicent and finally to her father. In the space of a single council meeting, grief and ambition harden into a coup, and a man's life is spent to secure a throne that no one in the room has yet agreed to occupy. The episode reads as a meditation on how power is seized less by force than by people choosing, one small betrayal at a time, which loyalty they can live with.
The episode opens in a Red Keep still asleep, where the news of King Viserys's death travels by whisper. A page tells a handmaiden, the handmaiden tells Alicent, and Alicent tells her father, Otto Hightower, who calls the Small Council together. The reviewer at Gizmodo Australia, writing about "The Green Council," says that quiet opening is the part that will stay with them long after the series ends.
Alicent walks into that meeting still believing she and Rhaenyra have reconciled. When she realizes the council has no intention of honoring Viserys's chosen heir, she is appalled. Lyman Beesbury calls her account treason, and Criston Cole kills him on the spot. The meeting carries on around the corpse. Alicent then learns that Otto means to have Rhaenyra and her family killed, and she knows Viserys would never have wanted that, even if it puts Aegon on the throne.
The race to find Aegon takes both father and daughter through the worst corners of King's Landing. Mysaria, the White Worm, gives Otto his location in return for a promise to end the child fighting rings. Aegon has been hiding in a sept because he never wanted the crown. When he tries to run and is caught, Alicent gets her chance to speak to him, and she tells him to offer Rhaenyra terms: renounce her claim and rule from Dragonstone. Afterward Alicent confronts Otto and declares she is no longer his pawn. Earlier, she had visited Rhaenys, who is locked in her room, and their exchange lingers on what it means to be a woman who serves men rather than rules.
Rhaenys eventually escapes with Erryk's help, but the crowds herded to the Dragonpit sweep them up. Aegon is crowned as tens of thousands watch, and he weeps at a fate he never sought, yet feels the cheers of the smallfolk for the first time. As he raises his sword, Meleys breaks through the stone floor, and the dragon and its rider stare down the usurpers before flying away without attacking. The reviewer expects Rhaenyra to feel deeply betrayed and the conflict to harden. HBO has not sent screeners for the season finale, so the next review will be written the night it airs.
The episode opens in a dark, empty Red Keep, with its residents still asleep and unaware that Viserys died during the night. The news travels by a chain of whispers: a young page who checked on the king tells a handmaiden, the handmaiden tells Alicent, and Alicent tells her father, Otto Hightower, who summons the Small Council. According to Gizmodo Australia's review of "The Green Council," directed by Clare Kilner, that quiet opening is the part the reviewer expects to remember long after the series ends.
Alicent walks into that meeting believing she and Rhaenyra reconciled at dinner the night before. She has said many times that Rhaenyra should not be queen, but she takes the reconciliation seriously enough to be appalled when she realizes the council never planned to honor Viserys's stated heir. Lyman Beesbury, who does not believe Alicent's account, angrily calls it treason. Criston Cole slams his head onto the table and kills him, and the rest of the meeting takes place with the corpse still there.
Alicent is further dismayed to learn that Otto, despite what he says, intends to have Rhaenyra and her family killed. His reasoning is that removing the obvious challenger to Aegon would stop other Houses from rallying to her and spare the realm a war. Alicent wants to honor her late husband's wishes. She believes that means Aegon on the throne, but she also knows Viserys would not want his beloved eldest daughter murdered to get him there.
Whoever reaches Aegon first will likely shape what he does, so father and daughter race to find him, only to discover he has vanished from the palace. Otto sends the twin Kingsguard brothers Arryk and Erryk Cargyll, whom the reviewer jokingly renders as "Ærryk" for both. Alicent sends Criston Cole, and Aemond goes along. The search leads through the seediest parts of King's Landing, including the brothel where Aegon once took his 13-year-old brother and a venue that stages fights between children. There the Cargylls discover that Aegon abandoned at least one bastard child. A minion of the White Worm, who previously tipped off Otto about Daemon and Rhaenyra's tryst in episode four, arranges a meeting. The Worm is Mysaria, Daemon's former lover, and she gives Otto Aegon's location in exchange for a promise to shut down the kid-fighting rings.
Aegon is hiding in a sept because he has no wish to be king. He tries to flee the Cargylls, and when Criston and Aemond intercept them he runs again, until Aemond tackles him and drags him back to their mother. That gives Alicent his ear. She tells him to send terms asking Rhaenyra to renounce her claim and rule from Dragonstone, rather than have Otto's men kill her family. Alicent then confronts her father and tells him she is in charge now, in a sense, and no longer his pawn. When Otto asks whether she surely wanted to be queen, she answers that she wanted whatever he impressed upon her to want. He tries to move her by saying she looks like her mother, and she leaves in disgust. The reviewer calls it the moment that stays with him most.
Earlier, Alicent visits Rhaenys, locked in her room so she cannot fly her dragon to warn Rhaenyra. Alicent says women do not rule but guide the men who do. Rhaenys replies that she still toils in service to men, wanting not freedom but a window in her prison wall, and asks whether Alicent has never imagined herself on the Iron Throne. The reviewer praises Olivia Cooke's face as Alicent registers the thought and pushes it away.
Unwilling to serve Aegon, Erryk frees Rhaenys and smuggles her out, but both are swept up as crowds are herded to the Dragonpit to witness the coronation. The reviewer describes a crowd of tens of thousands and dozens of knights walking before Aegon, their swords lowered behind him. Criston places the crown on Aegon, who weeps at his fate but feels, as the smallfolk cheer, an approval he never had from anyone, his mother included. As he raises his sword, Rhaenys's dragon Meleys bursts up through the stone floor. The dragon and its rider stare at the usurpers, then fly off without attacking, leaving the reason open to interpretation.
The reviewer expects Rhaenyra to feel deeply betrayed and the conflict between her and Alicent to harden. HBO will not send screeners for the first-season finale, so the next review will be written the night it airs.
Citas Notables
Women do not rule, but we guide the men who do.— Alicent Hightower, to Rhaenys
She wanted whatever her father impressed upon her to want.— Alicent, answering Otto (paraphrased)
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