Following two of the season's finest episodes, “The Green Council” served as a deciding factor in determining the season's overall quality. Thankfully, it maintains the season's success and does a fantastic job setting up for the finale. What an exhilarating episode; the ominous tone that pervades throughout just serves to emphasize the story's overall gloomy tone. In contrast to the previous episodes, which mostly dealt with the characters' families and their intrigues, this one also showcases the people of King's Landing and the kingdom at large. Viserys' death was handled masterfully, moving rapidly enough to give you a sense of urgency without rushing things, and slowly enough to completely soak in every detail. I was delighted to see that they gave Alicent more ambiguity than before, as the previous episodes had been quite one-sided. There was never a dull moment, and the episode also gave the Greens—Aemond in particular—some much-deserved screen time. Alicent has been her father's pawn all along, but after talking to Rhaenys, she herself comes to terms with this fact. The shifting power dynamics will make it interesting to see how far Alicent and Otto succeed in driving a wedge between one other as they each strive to shepherd Aegon through his reign. Though this episode's primary function was to set the stage for future events, it nevertheless managed to deliver a satisfying payoff, especially in the episode's closing five minutes. Unlike “Game of Thrones,” “House of the Dragon” has an abundance of dragons and dragon riders and if the closing sequence is any indication, the battle for succession will be ferocious, since dragons will be on both sides. If I were to pick apart this episode, it would be that the CGI could have used a little more work. However, the showrunners have taken the wise decision, in my opinion, to save the most of the Dragon Fighting for the following season, which will presumably have a much larger budget and considerably better CGI.
Review by SuitBlockedParentSpoilers2022-10-17T03:56:05Z
1x09 - The Green Council: 8.8/10 (Great)
Following two of the season's finest episodes, “The Green Council” served as a deciding factor in determining the season's overall quality. Thankfully, it maintains the season's success and does a fantastic job setting up for the finale. What an exhilarating episode; the ominous tone that pervades throughout just serves to emphasize the story's overall gloomy tone. In contrast to the previous episodes, which mostly dealt with the characters' families and their intrigues, this one also showcases the people of King's Landing and the kingdom at large. Viserys' death was handled masterfully, moving rapidly enough to give you a sense of urgency without rushing things, and slowly enough to completely soak in every detail. I was delighted to see that they gave Alicent more ambiguity than before, as the previous episodes had been quite one-sided. There was never a dull moment, and the episode also gave the Greens—Aemond in particular—some much-deserved screen time. Alicent has been her father's pawn all along, but after talking to Rhaenys, she herself comes to terms with this fact. The shifting power dynamics will make it interesting to see how far Alicent and Otto succeed in driving a wedge between one other as they each strive to shepherd Aegon through his reign. Though this episode's primary function was to set the stage for future events, it nevertheless managed to deliver a satisfying payoff, especially in the episode's closing five minutes. Unlike “Game of Thrones,” “House of the Dragon” has an abundance of dragons and dragon riders and if the closing sequence is any indication, the battle for succession will be ferocious, since dragons will be on both sides. If I were to pick apart this episode, it would be that the CGI could have used a little more work. However, the showrunners have taken the wise decision, in my opinion, to save the most of the Dragon Fighting for the following season, which will presumably have a much larger budget and considerably better CGI.