https://i.ibb.co/kswCBVtX/08a5882fde95.pngUnbowed and Unbent was such a good episode because how much context it gave, not only for the present time of the series but also how it connects with previous events, also because Rhaenyra and Daemon spend the episode arguing about the wrong danger while Ormund Hightower is already working them over from inside Kings Landing. Rhaenyra can feel something bigger coming for her, she even says out loud that the enemy is inside her own walls, but she is so locked onto Aemond and Vhagar she never points at Ormund as the one actually running this, they blind thinking that he is far on Tumbleton. Daemon reads the city better than she does and still treats her fear like grief and weakness instead of admitting she is onto something real, and that leaves both of them partly right and still losing. Their marriage is not helping and not working because Daemon thinks power alone should settle every challenge to her claim while she wants a partner who takes the rumors about her sons seriously, I have to agree with Daemon that every other claim to the throne must be exterminated because Rhaenyra wont take the throne so easily, there will always be some kind of danger because she is a woman taking the throne. They got this cool private argument in High Valyrian, probably the longest conversation in High Valyrian the show has given us so far, Rhaenyra is losing her grip and Daemon is tired of letting revenge call every shot, Daemon feels they got to move forward with this war and stop loosing time looking back at what has been lost and trying to make justice, also Daemon knows a secret plot can bring down a ruler. The dead Gold Cloaks, unpaid men and growing anger in the city should tell him that something is wrong, yet he dismisses Rhaenyra’s fear that one enemy is working against them, even while investigating the killings himself. Everything start making sense when the Daeron coin shows up while interrogating a man that had to do with the Gold Cloaks killing, this finally points to Ormund, it only confirms that Ormund has been one step ahead of them the entire time.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11198330/
- Platform: HOB MAX
Ormund is the best part of the episode because he does not need a dragon or a battlefield win to make Rhaenyra look weak. Paying killers with coins stamped with Daeron as king is smart, especially with her own Gold Cloaks going unpaid and it does more than name Daeron as another claim to the throne, it tells everyone Ormund has money, the Faith behind him and a prince he can put forward as the safer option, this is the first time that Ormund puts Daeron out there to the public as a legitimate claim to the throne and not just playing his part in the army for the Greens. Rhaenyra has more dragons but Ormund gets that dragons do not fix unpaid soldiers or stop people wanting a different ruler, most of the small folk. His lesson with Daeron tells you how his brain works, he praises the Dornish for surviving through tricks and patience and fights that ignored every normal idea of honor, he does not care if it was right, only that it worked, reminds me of Serisawa "there are no rules in violence", which makes it even better when Daeron beats him at the game with the dragon piece exposing how thin Ormund patience is, specially since he is a bad looser. I also like that Daeron does not seem hungry for the throne, careful around Ormund and quick to apologize for winning, which makes the coin plot feel worse because Ormund is not building Daeron up for Daeron, he is using that face to give the campaign a cleaner look while other men do the killing, Daeron would be Ormund puppet king if he ever takes the throne.
Rhaenyra gets harder to root for here because grief has narrowed her focus despite evertyhing that is happening around, even while she understands her rule is in danger for the simple fact she is a woman taking the throne by force. The bounty on Aemond has pulled killers to Harrenhal but it has also blown up in her face with Lady Frey, who was promised that castle by Jace, its hilarious on this scene how Rhaenyra throw poor dead Jace under the bus when she said "my son is dead", like his word means nothing if he is dead so Lady Frey is getting no castle. Giving her a council seat is the right quick fix, but the meeting still feels like a mess with Rhaenyra steering everything back to Vhagar when there are much more important topics. She is not wrong to want Aemond dead, and Baela and Addam finding signs of Vhagar gives her reason to keep hunting, but she is using it to dodge everything else that needs patience instead of revenge. There is also this situation where she kinda keeps dodging seeing Joffrey and thats says a lot about her mental state, she has already lost two sons and seeing him hurts, but making him wait while she handles every political fire makes it look like the war is eating the rest of her family too. Baela feels that same distance since Jace died, still trying to prove her worth to Rhaenyra after the part she played in the battle that killed him, and Rhaenyra should understand that guilt better than anyone but barely has room to notice it, she doesnt openly says it was Baela fault but the truth is that Baela couldnt safe Jace. This is why Daemon refusing to fall in line, following every Rhaenyra's order that follows vengence is both annoying and needed, someone has to tell no to this woman, he disrespects her in front of the council, but he is also the only one close enough to tell her she is going to sink this ship with her grief and vengence plans.
[Source](https://www.hulu.com/series/house-of-the-dragon-%28with-asl%29-c9fb36d4-8b5f-4fd5-a892-9e14cff4dc48)
[Source](https://www.hulu.com/series/house-of-the-dragon-%28with-asl%29-c9fb36d4-8b5f-4fd5-a892-9e14cff4dc48)Aegon as a character is starting to grow a lot and it really gives me the impression that the show is going to turn him around drastically to the point that we might root for him at certain point, because Larys finally stops feeding his excuses and tells him the truth. Aegon keeps blaming Aemond for everything, and some of that anger is fair, but his childhood complaints are just another way to dodge responsibility since he had the crown, a powerful dragon and people around him the whole time. Larys calling him a terrible king and a terrible man is exactly what he needed instead of sympathy that would keep him stuck, it does look like both Aegon and Larys are starting to touch the bottom. Aegon accepting the escape plan shows the words of Larys have landed, but for some reason didnt steer him to become a better man as he decides to kill the man who found his crown who on top is the one runnig the camp they in, honestly he just seem more active and with less pain, it is progress but only changes him from the outside and not the inside as Larys suggested. Aemond has the opposite problem at Harrenhal, without Vhagar he falls apart and admits how much of his personality is nothing without Vhagar, as a kid he always felt like that and was threated like that, even as a grown man he was humilated by Aegon back on Season 2 when he was a that brothel, and his dreams about Aegon and need for comfort from Alys make him look weaker without erasing what he has done, if only Rhaenyra knew all this about Aemond. I like the parallel scenes here, both brothers think Alicent loved the other more, both desperate for someone to tell them who they are. Helaena refusing the moon tea is another version of that fight over control, Alicent wants to end the pregnancy to save her, but Helaena will not give up the one thing that still belongs to her, at that scene I was like "dont do it" because then it would change drastically things in the future.
The end of the episode was so so crispy spicy when Criston Cole gave us his saddest moments because his clever plan turns into a march he already knows his men cannot survive, they even mention how they only have half of the man they started with, some have deserted and others dead. His attacks slow the Rivermen at first but once the traps cripple the horses so badly his own men have to put them down, and the Rivermen cross first and burn the bridge behind them, the mission is over, they got no food, no coin, way less men, the only thing that Criston is holding to is his "honor" and that someone will remember his doing during this war, as he describe himself as the greatest warrior this army has, referring to the Green's army. Gwayne offers the smart way out, joining Ormund at Tumbleton, but Criston says no, winning is not really the goal anymore, he wants to die in battle and be remembered as a great warrior, maybe get a song written about him. I get why he does not want to serve another house after a life spent depending on powerful people who could toss him aside, but marching his soldiers toward certain death for that reason is still selfish, he is picking his own ending and making them pay for it. That is basically the whole episode, everyone from Rhaenyra to Criston is trying to grab back control by making someone else carry the cost, Ormund is just better at hiding it, the Gold Cloak murders prove how far ahead he already is, and Alicent and Helaena trapped in that secret passage is one more problem waiting to blow up. Even though this episode spends more time setting up the next round of fights than delivering one, still create so many small scenarios that add so much intensity to the bigger problems, its the political moves that are strong enough to carry that, it makes Ormund the real threat, gives Aegon a reason to move again, and leaves Rhaenyra and Daemon in a weaker spot than ever because they still cannot agree on what they are even fighting.
#houseofthedragon, #rhaenyra, #daemon, #ormund, #daeron, #aegon, #aemond, #alicent, #helaena, #larys, #criston, #gwayne, #baela, #addam, #mysaria, #targaryen, #hightower, #westeros, #dragons, #kingslanding, #harrenhal, #tumbleton, #recap, #review, #television
Rating: 75/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.
