The episode starts very slow, with everyone gathered on the funeral of Laena (who gets buried in the sea according to Velaryon custom, with no dracarysing) and it continues to be slow-paced (maybe apart from Rhaenyra's tryst with Daemon, her confessing to him that her sons are indeed bastards, and their intimate time together) until one of the princes (later it turns out it was Alicent's younger son who couldn't get a dragon) approaches sleeping Vhagar and manages to fly her, thus claming her for himself. Later on, Laena's daughters discover that someone stole Vhagar and go to confront the prince, together with Rhaenera's boys and a fight between children begins, which soon turns deadly when one of Rhaenyra's boys takes out a dagger and attacks the prince, with the result that the kid loses his eye.
The conflict escalates further between the adults, when Rhaenrya justifies her son by saying that the prince called him a bastard so he had to defend his good name. The king keeps his daughter's side and demands to know who spreads the "lies" about the bastard origins of her sons. However, the situation escalates even further as Alicent demands "an eye for an eye" and wants that Rhaenyra's son has his eye cut off in retaliation, but even Ser Criston, who is now on her side, doesn't want to follow this command. So Alicent herself attacks Rhaenyra and manages to wound her with a Valyrian dagger. However, Alicent's dad, who is now back at court as the Hand, does not criticise her for the outburst, but in some sense praises her for having learnt how to play the game of thrones. Further on, Alicent continues to plot with Larys and offers him some advancement in the future.
Rhaenyra speaks with Daemon and offers him his hand in marriage again, this time in earnest and not in some sort of flirting as she did when she was a girl, as they would have a stronger claim to the Iron Throne together. They only need to get rid of Laenor who stands in their way. After the fight between the children and the incident with Alicent, he seems a bit penitent and promises to Rhaenyra to be a better husband and to support her boys more in the future and give up his pleasures for a time. However, Daemon hires a guy (I guess he was Laenor's lover?) to assassinate him so that he and Rhaenyra could marry, there is a fray and I think this guy kills someone else as he and Laenor are shown escaping in the boat together in the end, but it happened so fast I am not sure whom they killed, I would have to rewatch. Daemon in Rhaenyra do get married in some sort of ceremony when the blood of the bride and the bridegroom is mixed, it may be some old Valyrian custom as it definitely isn't according to the Faith of the Seven. I wonder if their marriage would be valid in Westeros? And it seemed that Alicent was cruel and aggressive but now it looks like Rhaenrya is just as bad to kill some innocent person to further her claim and realise her plans. This is the world of Game of thrones so perhaps I shouldn't complain about cruelty but some of the people here behaved themselves to a certain extend very well according to Westerosi standards.
Review by ladysherlockianBlockedParentSpoilers2022-10-03T18:21:51Z
The episode starts very slow, with everyone gathered on the funeral of Laena (who gets buried in the sea according to Velaryon custom, with no dracarysing) and it continues to be slow-paced (maybe apart from Rhaenyra's tryst with Daemon, her confessing to him that her sons are indeed bastards, and their intimate time together) until one of the princes (later it turns out it was Alicent's younger son who couldn't get a dragon) approaches sleeping Vhagar and manages to fly her, thus claming her for himself. Later on, Laena's daughters discover that someone stole Vhagar and go to confront the prince, together with Rhaenera's boys and a fight between children begins, which soon turns deadly when one of Rhaenyra's boys takes out a dagger and attacks the prince, with the result that the kid loses his eye.
The conflict escalates further between the adults, when Rhaenrya justifies her son by saying that the prince called him a bastard so he had to defend his good name. The king keeps his daughter's side and demands to know who spreads the "lies" about the bastard origins of her sons. However, the situation escalates even further as Alicent demands "an eye for an eye" and wants that Rhaenyra's son has his eye cut off in retaliation, but even Ser Criston, who is now on her side, doesn't want to follow this command. So Alicent herself attacks Rhaenyra and manages to wound her with a Valyrian dagger. However, Alicent's dad, who is now back at court as the Hand, does not criticise her for the outburst, but in some sense praises her for having learnt how to play the game of thrones. Further on, Alicent continues to plot with Larys and offers him some advancement in the future.
Rhaenyra speaks with Daemon and offers him his hand in marriage again, this time in earnest and not in some sort of flirting as she did when she was a girl, as they would have a stronger claim to the Iron Throne together. They only need to get rid of Laenor who stands in their way. After the fight between the children and the incident with Alicent, he seems a bit penitent and promises to Rhaenyra to be a better husband and to support her boys more in the future and give up his pleasures for a time. However, Daemon hires a guy (I guess he was Laenor's lover?) to assassinate him so that he and Rhaenyra could marry, there is a fray and I think this guy kills someone else as he and Laenor are shown escaping in the boat together in the end, but it happened so fast I am not sure whom they killed, I would have to rewatch. Daemon in Rhaenyra do get married in some sort of ceremony when the blood of the bride and the bridegroom is mixed, it may be some old Valyrian custom as it definitely isn't according to the Faith of the Seven. I wonder if their marriage would be valid in Westeros? And it seemed that Alicent was cruel and aggressive but now it looks like Rhaenrya is just as bad to kill some innocent person to further her claim and realise her plans. This is the world of Game of thrones so perhaps I shouldn't complain about cruelty but some of the people here behaved themselves to a certain extend very well according to Westerosi standards.