House of the Dragon episode 9: (Warning: Spoilers Ahead) All hail ‘mother’ Rhaenys Targaryen! The ninth episode of House of the Dragon premiered this weekend and it had us bowing down to the Queen Who Never Was. The pre-finale episode featured the calm before the stormy season finale.
The new House of the Dragon episode began with the news of Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine)’s death. The news comes as a shock for only Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) was present when Viserys mentioned that he wanted ‘Aegon’ to take over the Iron Throne. Worried, she informs her father, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) about Viserys’ dying wish. To her surprise, the council was already preparing for Aegon as the new King.
Although she wanted her son Aegon to take over the throne, Alicent was not onboard the idea of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) being imprisoned with Daemon (Matt Smith). As she tried to fight the decision, Otto has already got down to business — imprisoning the servants and nobles, keeping Rhaenyra and Daemon away, and even locking Rhaenys (Eve Best) in her chambers until Aegon is not crowned the new King. However, there is one small problem, Aegon has gone missing.
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The hunt for the soon-to-be King leads to the reemergence of the White Worm, who informed Otto that she has not only found him but also tucked him away underneath the altar in the sept. To make things more confusing, we are briefly introduced to Aegon’s illegitimate children but the episode doesn’t delve into that subplot.
Meanwhile, back in the castle, Rhaenys manages to get out of her forced house arrest and confronts Alicent. In an attempt to pacify her, Alicent tells her that she always thought Rhaenys would make for a better person on the throne. She then offers Rhaenys to form a pact with her to ensure that Aegon gets to sit on the throne. Rhaenys storms off, with no clarity on her stand on the offer.
Amid all this, the episode gets entangled further with Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) poisoning Alicent’s mind about her father. He informs her about how Otto has his eyes and ears on everyone, including Alicent. However, he wasn’t going to give her more details until she shows him her bare foot. The more she revealed, the more secrets were shared.
All this finally comes to an end with Alicent reunited with Aegon and knocks him back to his sense. While he was reluctant to be the next king, Alicent forces him to attend the coronation. During this, Rhaenys managed to escape from the castle with the help of Ser Erryk Cargyll (Elliot Tittensor). He guides her to the shore, however, she is led back to the dragon pit, where the coronation ceremony was taking place just in time to witness the crowing of the new king.
Aegon is then named the new King and welcomed with loud cheers and hoots. However, it all comes to a quick end after Rhaenys, who slid out of the dragon pit ceremony, rose from the ground on a dragon’s back. She alarms the beginning of a battle before she leaves the ceremony.
House of the Dragon ep 9 Review:
To be honest, the new episode was a little hotch-potch. While it was interesting to see that they managed to pack in numerous subplots unfolding within an hour’s time, it felt like the episode did not give enough time to process and connect the dots. It felt like a rushed pre-finale episode.
Nevertheless, the performances kept the episode going. The House of the Dragon’s decision to give Paddy Considine, Emma D’Arcy, and Matt Smith a rest for the pre-finale episode work in the favour of the other talented actors on the show, especially, Eve Best. Having played mostly on the sidelines, the episode finally gave her the spotlight to show that she deserved to be on the show. She was supported well by Olivia Cooke.
Matthew Needham does a great job of getting under your skin with his character Larys Strong. I don’t think I dislike anyone more than I dislike this character in this season.
House of the Dragon ep 9 ending explained:
The final scene of House of the Dragon episode 9 made it clear that Aegon II Targaryen is the new King, at least for now, and Rhaenys is not in the mood to accept that decision. It is obvious that Rhaenyra will not be happy that her half-brother has been crowned the new King. To top it off, it will be the Hightowers who will decide the fate of King’s Landing. It is also evident that Aegon is not fit to be the King. Despite it all, there stood Alicent, Aegon and Otto, holding the castle in King’s Landing.
Rhaenys clearly had the opportunity to kill Alicent, Aegon, and other members of the family. However, she chose to not end the civil war even before it began for Rhaenyra doesn’t know about her father’s death leave alone know about the new King in place. So it seems that she is headed to Dragonstone to inform about the changes in King’s Landing.
Catch new episodes of House of the Dragon with the rest of the world every Monday at 6:30 am IST, exclusively on Disney+ Hotstar in India.
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