House of the Dragon 2×05 “Regent” sits more with the characters than any episode so far this season, which makes it a much better hour than any yet. While “The Red Dragon and the Gold” delivered on the spectacle, it isn’t till the show finally allows characters to have conversations with each other, as they do in “Regent,” that we start to get a better sense of who they are outside of what side they’re on.
This applies to both sides, because “Regent” also manages to be a very balanced episode, even as it doubles down on the decision it has made to portray Team Black as the good guys of this story. It was, of course, hard to go any other way considering the basic fact that the throne was Rhaenyra’s to begin with, but the more House of the Dragon does to make Daemon more “nuanced” while making Aemond and Cole more cartoonishly evil, the more the show loses.
There’s no inherent morality to watching television, just as there isn’t any to picking a “side” in this fictional conflict because you find one character more compelling. If anything, the writing fails when it removes complexity from the characters because it presumes that is the only way we can relate to them, much less love them. And though this hour goes a long way towards fleshing out most of the supporting characters outside of those two of three people House of the Dragon is so interested in putting into these boxes, it cannot really solve that problem.
WAS IT WORTH THE PRICE?
Both Helaena and Alicent see through Aemond right away, which is kind of funny considering how much power and trust he was being given a few episodes ago. No one’s opinion turns so quickly, so when Alicent says “what he has somehow become,” she doesn’t mean just now. She means she’s always known her son was this, or could be this, she just chose not to do something about it. Same as with Aemond. And now she’s left to face the consequences of her actions, or her inaction.
Ironically, it affects her personally right away, as she tries to take some control away from Aemond. She’s a woman, after all, and just as Rhaenyra cannot be a Queen because of that reason, Alicent cannot be Regent because of that. At least not when it matters. Not when there’s a war to be fought and real decisions to be made. That’s not a woman’s business.
For Aemond, the answer to the question seems simple. It is, of course, worth the price. The King is at death’s door. His mother has no power. His sister would never oppose him, not really. He’s got the largest dragon in the realm. Who could oppose him? Who could mock him? No one. Never again.
FOR TOO LONG I HAVE LOOKED TO HIM FOR STRENGTH
Rhaenyra cannot rule alone, but when she delivered such a powerful line I didn’t quite expect her to go from relying on one man to relying on a different one she wasn’t married to. Or, at least, I hoped that if she was going to, she would start relying on the one who would one day succeed her, her son and heir Jace. But of course, Rhaenyra is not just seeing the board in front of her more clearly than Alicent and she also has one thing Alicent doesn’t right now: a son she doesn’t want to lose.
That’s why she sends Baela to Corlys. And that’s why she accepts Jace’s suggestion at the end of the episode. She cannot rely on herself alone, not if she wants to win. But she also isn’t willing to risk it all, not yet.
And then there’s Daemon. What does Daemon want? No one knows. The writing has never been able to decide, and that leaves the character and the narrative in a very complicated place. The show established very clearly that Daemon didn’t want the throne, he wanted his brother’s love, then Rhaenyra’s. Except now he does want the throne. And maybe he always wanted it? And not that people can’t change their minds, but what they can’t is retcon who they always were.
Daemon Targaryen doesn’t have to be a man who regrets his bad deeds. He doesn’t have to be an older version of Aemond, either. Instead, he can just be someone willing to do anything and everything for his family — and his Queen.
Things I think I think:
- Targaryens: base their entire claim of legitimacy in the throne on the fact that they have dragons and are therefore stronger and better than everyone else. Also Targaryens: look at this dragon we killed! LOOK AT IT! HA! DRAGONS CAN BE KILLED. YOU WANT TO KILL DRAGONS? BECAUSE YOU CAN.
- Oh, did you win, Criston? DID YOU?
- “Long in the dying” … so what you’re saying is you left behind a live dragon?
- Rhaneyra’s “You’ve seen no more battles than I have” was very satisfying, I won’t lie.
- So cute that Jace is gonna go talk to Daemon, so cute. But also, Rhaenyra has let this Daemon thing go on too long in the middle of a war. Go talk to your husband.
- Also, this Baela and Jace scene is everything that is good with this show, I need more immediately.
- I am so very glad we’re seeing more of Rhaena. She’s going to play a more political game in the days to come, as is Mysaria and I’m glad they’re getting actual screen time.
- Corlys is a good choice.
- Look, I know we’ve normalized incest in this show but this episode takes it way too far. Even Daemon thinks so!
- Daemon will do whatever he has to do to avoid talking to his wife. But then again, so will she. Made for each other and all that.
- They’re trying very hard to make me like Hugh and I know too much
- DOG SIGHTING!
- Yeah, I almost slapped Cole when he was all “first name basis with the Queen.”
- I do not trust anyone named Frey.
- Though Daemon does raise a fair point, if he loses he dies so how is any of it his problem then?
- You are blood and fire, Baela Targaryen.
- Jace’s eye-roll is 100% Rhaenyra, when she finishes being mad she should be proud.
- Why haven’t we gotten more of this mother/son dynamic before? Why?
- NOW, TO RESEARCH!
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of House of the Dragon 2×05 “Regent”? Share with us in the comments below!
House of the Dragon airs on Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.
