Warning: the following article contains spoilers from House of the Dragon episode, “The Green Council.”
While episode nine of House of the Dragon had a bit of a lull in comparison to last week’s action, it was still very much calm before a sure-to-be storm in next week’s finale.
It was also a very Hightower family-heavy episode, with Rhaenyra not appearing on screen for the first time in the series thus far. But that still didn’t stop a tried and true Targaryen from stealing the show in the episode’s closing minutes.
Rhaenys got herself into a bit of a pickle, getting herself swept up in the crowd on its way to Aegon’s coronation while trying to escape King’s Landing, but she did manage to creep away at an opportune moment.
While the newly-crowned Aegon II clearly got caught up in the moment and began to power-trip ahead of his inevitable ‘Screw you mom, I do what I want’ arc, Rhaenys decided to re-enter the chat.
After a few unfortunate civilian casualties after crashing the party astride Meleys aside, Rhaenys had the Hightower usurpers at her mercy. We were begging for her to give her dragon that one little command…
Seriously? Please? A cheeky ‘Dracarys’, for the audience?
Of course, this didn’t come to pass, as The Queen That Never Was decided to turn tail and leave King’s Landing behind, but boy did she make a statement in doing so.
Nevertheless, Rhaenys was the true MVP of this week’s episode – giving Alicent a verbal smackdown despite being at her mercy, locked away inside her chambers.
So in summary, the House of the Dragon-loving side of the internet collectively lost it over Rhaenys’ brutal gatecrash, completely upstaging what should have been a very triumphant moment for Aegon and his family.
Now, we can patiently wait for next week and see how Rhaenyra responds. All we can say is, we’re in your corner, Queen. So was Viserys, for that matter. The poor old fella was just a little loopy and bad with his words right at the end there, rest his soul.
Season one of House of the Dragon will wrap up next week with its tenth episode on HBO, and it’s looking like it’s going to go out with a bang.