Exploring "House of the Dragon"--"The Green Council" (S1, Ep. 9)

The penultimate episode of the first season is a bit of a narrative mess, but if features some strong performances and memorable visuals.

Well, kids, we’ve made it to the penultimate episode of the first season of House of the Dragon. I’ll admit that I’ve had my doubts along the way, but now the Dance of the Dragons is about to begin in earnest. This episode, “The Green Council” focuses exclusively on events in King’s Landing, as Alicent, her allies, and her frenemies start to close ranks in an effort to secure Aegon’s succession to the Iron Throne? Unfortunately for them, the path to power is not always easy, and the Greens have to overcome a number of difficulties, not the least of which is the young king’s own hostility to taking power. To make matters even more complicated, there is also another powerful Targaryen in the palace, in the person of Rhaenys, and she is not going to be an easy nut to crack.

In some ways, this was a very strong episode, with both Olivia Cooke and Eve Best turning in truly dynamic performances as Alicent and Rhaenys. In others, however, it was a bit of a mess, particularly when it comes to the narrative. The showrunners have described it as a bit of a Hitchcock suspense film, and that is true, but only insofar as it is an at-times very confusing episode, leaving some critics (including, I’ll admit myself), scratching their heads. And, unlike in Hitchcock at his finest, there’s not nearly as much payoff as there should be for so much misdirection. 

Let’s begin with the disappearance of Aegon. Narratively, this is the pretext for the widening breach between Alicent and her father, who have radically different ideas about what should happen to Rhaenyra. Otto, with his usual brutal (and, admittedly, clear-eyed) appreciation for the ugliness of politics in Westeros, wants to have her assassinated as quickly and cleanly as possible, so as to avoid the outbreak of civil war. Alicent, motivated both by residual feelings for her childhood companion (as Otto sneeringly refers to her) and by a belief that Viserys wouldn’t want his beloved daughter killed in order to pave the way for his son to accede, dispatches Ser Criston Cole and second son Aemond to try to find Aegon. Otto, meanwhile, does the same with the twins Sers Arryk and Erryk. Both of them hope that seizing control of the king-to-be will give them the power to control him and, through him, the realm as a whole. 

Unfortunately for the viewer, this only becomes clear after the fact. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one confused by just what we were doing spending so much time with these characters trying to find Aegon, when there were so many other important things going on in the corridors of the Red Keep. In fact, this entire sequence is a bit of a muddle, because we are introduced to several plot points that feel as if they come out of nowhere, most notably the revelation that Prince Aegon has been patronizing a fighting ring which employs children, some of which may even be his own (based on their ice-blonde hair). Obviously, the episodes intends for this to show us just what a sadistic little monster he is but, since we’ve seen no indication of this before now, it doesn’t land with quite the power it is clearly intended to. 

A similar dynamic is at work with Mysaria, the White Worm. Like other characters, she has hovered at the edges of the story throughout the season, and even though she is the one who has secreted Aegon away, we’re not really given a lot of explanation as to why she does this. Yes, she says she wants to protect the interests of the smallfolk, but since she has had essentially no real character development, this moment once again lacks much dramatic punch. 

But then, this entire season has had some issues with pacing and with thrusting abrupt changes on us, and a lot of this can be laid at the door of the far-too-numerous time jumps. While I can see why the showrunners would want to use this particular storytelling–after all, the show is about the Dance of the Dragons, and there’s only so much setup one can do–but one of the casualties has been a strong sense of narrative and character coherence. It’s hard to get a strong sense of why things are happening the way that they are when so much pivotal action and character development occurs off-screen.  

Whatever its storytelling shortcomings, this episode is saved by Olivia Cooke and Eve Best. Though I’m still on the fence about how well the idea of Alicent being genuinely deluded about Viserys’ final intentions  is going to play out in the end–did we really need another Cersei figure in this universe?--there’s no doubt that Cooke manages to convince us as viewers that she is a woman doing the best she can in a world in which her power will always be inevitably circumscribed by the men in her life. Now, to be sure, there is some reason to be skeptical of the idea that, despite nearly two decades of political wrangling and nonstop palace intrigue, Alicent could truly be shocked that her father fully intended to place her own son on the Iron Throne. I mean, has she met him? Fortunately, Cooke knows how to sell a scene, and the first meeting of the Green Council shows off her considerable skill. 

It’s in her rebellion against her father, though, that Alicent shows her true mettle. Otto thinks that he is going to get everything his own way, but Alicent is not so easily swayed, and she is certainly not going to just stand by while he orders the assassination of Rhaenyra, her husband, and her whole family. As she has since she took over the role, Cooke brings out many layers to this divisive woman, and her eye-roll at Otto’s transparent attempt to flatter and diminish her by saying she looks like her mother is one of her absolute finest moments. Unfortunately, what little agency she manages to assert is significantly undermined by the fact that she has some sort of strange foot fetish arrangement with Larys Strong (yet another bizarre plot development that has, it seems, taken place during one of the season’s many caesuras). 

Though this episode is filled with many great confrontations and conversations, arguably the best is the one which happens between Alicent and Rhaenys, the latter of whom is one of those trapped in the castle by the Greens as they solidify their hold on power. Their verbal sparring is House of the Dragon at its best, and Rhaenys isn’t afraid to call Alicent out on her hypocrisy, particularly her unwillingness to really challenge the institutions of patriarchy. Eve Best truly shines in this moment, as she brings out Rhaenys’ decades of anger and hurt at the way her own ambitions have been thwarted by misogyny and patriarchy. It must be especially galling for her to see Alicent, who now has all of the cards in her hand, once again putting aside her own ambitions for her son and her father, the former of whom is an utter wastrel and the latter of whom is as power-hungry as they come. 

All of which makes Rhaenys’ ultimate decision to spare Alicent all the more baffling and yet also utterly understandable. Having arrived at the Dragonpit along with the gathered masses of King’s Landing, Rhaenys executes a daring escape, bringing her dragon, Meleys, crashing up through the floor (crushing several dozens of civilians in the process). Though she has the usurpers at her mercy, she chooses not to incinerate them and instead takes Meleys off, presumably to warn Rhaenyra of what has transpired. It’s a beautifully wrought moment, and it’s quite haunting to see both the resigned look on Rhaenys’ face as well as the willingness of Alicent to stand in front of her children, even knowing she is powerless to save them. It is a perfect distillation of the essential power-lines in Westeros at the moment. Whoever has the most powerful dragons has the greater advantage. How fortunate for Alicent that Rhaenys takes the path of peace–perhaps seeing in the other woman a devoted mother, a kindred spirit of sorts–even if it also means condemning the realm as a whole to years of bloody civil war. In the end, Rhaenys simply can’t bring herself to destroy another woman in power, no matter how wise it might be to do so. 

Visually and performance-wise, this was a very strong episode. The opening sequence showing a sepulcral Red Keep was exquisitely well-done, and I continue to relish the chance to see Rhys Ifans in all of his gritted-teeth majesty (he is this series’ Tywin Lannister, it seems). Likewise, Ewan Mitchell is knocking it out of the park as Aemond, who is just as sociopathic as his elder brother but far more competent. The entire coronation in the Dragonpit was also well-executed, capturing just the right mixture of stultifying ceremony and brooding menace. If, storywise, the episode showed some of the same flaws as Game of Thrones–inexplicable events, plot contrivances, and the like–it also showed that other show’s great strengths. All in all, it was a fine set-up to the climax to come next week.

Stay tuned for my next review!