Did Alicent actually imagine that Viserys was speaking about their son? Or was that merely what she wished to imagine? (As essential, ought to a drama hinge its central battle on the form of verbal mix-up higher suited to a sitcom? Answering that’s, at this superior stage, maybe past the scope of this recap.)
The daring stealth mission by which Rhaenyra sneaks again into King’s Touchdown (with Mysaria’s assist) to drive a one-on-one assembly together with her frenemy of frenemies clears all this up. Alicent actually believes Viserys wished Aegon. For her half, Rhaenyra actually believes Alicent actually believes it. However as soon as the dowager queen mentions the Conqueror’s “Tune of Ice and Fireplace,” Rhaenyra figures out what went unsuitable and provides a clarification … which Alicent refuses to heed, though she appears to know in her coronary heart that it’s true.
So there you will have it: The warfare will proceed as a result of Group Inexperienced’s captain can’t deal with the reality. Alicent’s refusal to vary course undoes not solely Rhaenyra’s peacekeeping efforts — and Princess Rhaenys’s earlier than that — but additionally her personal. The fan discourse about this must be enjoyable, in keeping with sure definitions of “enjoyable,” anyway.
Greater than clearing up the wacky mix-up on the coronary heart of all of it, although, the scene’s main worth is in reuniting the actors Olivia Cooke and Emma D’Arcy. Their chemistry is as pure and compelling as that of any two performers on tv. Their characters’ energies really feel as entangled because the dueling dragons within the present’s Season 2 emblem; watching them tear and pull at one another results in outcomes simply as flamable. Quibble if you’ll with Rhaenyra’s rashness in searching for an unprotected viewers with the Queen in King’s Touchdown. However including this scene, which isn’t within the e book, made for a greater present.
Whereas Rhaenyra and Alicent attempt to maintain the peace, although, the lads surrounding them combat for the other. Rhaenyra’s Black Council, made up primarily of minor lords scared to lose what little energy they’ve, pushes for an assault immediately. Her estranged husband, Daemon, flies straight for the moldering ruins of Harrenhal, key to the essential Riverlands area. He’s greeted by a realistic castellan, Sir Simon Sturdy (Simon Russell Beale), who palms the fort over to him with out a combat, and a mysterious servant, Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), who tells him that Harrenhal is the place the place he’ll die. You win some, you lose some, I assume.