'House of the Dragon' Season 2, Episode 5: “Regent” Review
With the death of Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best) and the defeat of most of their allies in the Crownlands, the Blacks are dealt another cruel blow in the early stages of the war. Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) and Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) set the stage griving for Rhaenys, even as they drift further into despair over the war into which they’ve been dragged.
Not all is well for the Greens, however. They parade the head of Rhaenys’ dragon through the streets in an attempt to celebrate their victory, only to sow ill feeling amongst the people. Worse than that, Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) has been badly injured from the vicious confrontation at Rook’s Rest. This leads to a power vacancy until he can resume command. Alicent (Olivia Cooke) insists that she be named regent in her son’s name, only for her second son, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) to be chosen instead.
For all that this episode serves as filler, it is boosted by some of the best acting which Cooke has done so far in the series. There’s her dismay and horror at the sight of her mutilated son, her suspicion of Aemond and the role he played in what happened, and her deep sense of outrage at how everyone, even Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) dismiss her out of hand. Such is the quality of her scenes that fans of her character can sympathise with her, while her critics can enjoy some intense schadenfreude. On the one hand, it is certainly frustrating to see Alicent passed over yet again because of her sex, especially by her own son. But on the other hand, Alicent still lacks the self-awareness to own up to the part she played in all this. For example, one can’t help but see the irony in how she is shocked that her allies, who are trying to usurp Rhaenyra, would avoid having a woman take a position of power. Episodes like these help give Alicent some of the show’s best development.
The episode also continues the development of other characters, including Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno). A minor character in the book, she has been given a much larger presence in the show; while she seemed to be a chaotic neutral character in the first season, it’s clear that she’s picked a side in the Dance of the Dragons. She’s been portrayed as someone with strong ties to the smallfolk of King’s Landing, and also as a champion for them when it comes to the elites’ power grabs. In Rhaenyra, however, she has found someone whom she genuinely seems to respect. Meanwhile, there is also Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) to provide further insight from the commoners’ perspective. He and his family are caught up in the growing agitation which is gripping the people of King’s Landing. While it feels like filler for now, anyone can see that there are plenty more dominoes to fall with both these characters’ storylines.
Sadly, there seems to be some strange choices being made in regards to Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith). He has spent most of the season thus far within the castle of Harrenhal, allegedly to rally the Riverlands for Rhaenyra. At this point, though, he’s been trying to accrue power for himself instead, styling himself as a king rather than just a king consort. Harrenhal has also been taking a toll on him, given the increasingly bizarre visions he’s dealing with in this episode. It’s probably safe to say that Daemon’s best scenes continue to be with Simon Strong (Simon Russell Beale) or Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin). Both these actors easily hold their own with Smith, and they also serve to challenge his character in different yet equally realistic ways. By contrast, the increasingly Freudian hallucinations seem to be turning into shock fodder rather than saying anything meaningful about Daemon. Moreover, the conflict with the Riverlanders is beginning to feel a bit forced; sure, he’s sanctioning ugly battle tactics against those who don’t bend the knee, but he’s done nothing thus far which isn’t being done by other characters in the story. So why should the Riverlanders all denounce Daemon as a tyrant to his face? Especially when he has a dragon at his beck and call?
Speaking of the Riverlands, we’ve been introduced to two new characters from that region; Lord Forrest Frey (Kenneth Collard) and Lady Sabitha Frey (Sarah Woodward). We’ve also gotten a short introduction to Lady Jeyne Arryn (Amanda Collin). All three of these characters have recognisable names to any book fans, and we can only imagine how their characters will come to life in this series. There is one change which will cause some to raise an eyebrow, but it isn’t beyond the bounds of reason. This is House Frey, after all; Game of Thrones already made it clear how determined they are to climb the social ladder. One gripe which arises from this storyline is how some characters are beginning to move incredibly fast over a very short matter of time. This actually first started occurring earlier in the show, partly because of how ambiguously time seems to be moving. Now we have Jace (Harry Collett) casually flying to the Freys and then making it back to Dragonstone in such a short span of time that he seems surprised that Rhaenyra noticed his absence.
Still, despite any flaws, this was another worthy episode; like the other four preceding it, it’s clear that this show’s creative team is playing the long game. In between allotting time to the various characters, main and minor alike, the writers are carefully setting up future plot points as they take their time with letting characters react to events as they play out. It provides a grounding measure against the more fantastical elements of the story. Whether this will pay off remains to be seen, but given how there’s only three episodes to go, we can only hope that this is the last mostly-filler episode of the season.