House Of The Dragon Episode 9 Review: This Show Has Lost Me

Nothing about this episode made sense. House of the Dragon Episode 9-“The Green Council” blew me away…for being an utter mess in character motivations and consistency as the show has officially lost me at this point.

Has HBO hired Dan Weiss and David Benioff again? Did they write the scripts for Episode 9? That’s the only explanation I can think of to describe how utterly confusing, weird, stupid, and just nonsensical Episode 9 was.

Unlike the vast majority of my previous writing issues, which mainly boiled down to the overuses of time jumps and being too faithful to the source material, Episode 9’s script writers went in the completely opposite direction. Not only was the episode completely different to what was written in the source material, but also that it was just dumb for the sake of being ‘thrilling’.

First, let’s get to the Small Council meeting debacle. Why has not only Ser Cristion Cole been made to look like an idiot, but also Alicent is now some benevolent, kind-hearted ruler? The showrunner and writers are legitimately whitewashing Alicent’s devious, despicable character traits and completely removing all of Ser Cristion’s.

In Fire And Blood, Ser Cristion purposefully kills Lord Lyman Beesbury as he was lambasting the rest of the Small Council for being traitors and cowards for wanting to usurp Rhaenyra for Aegon. Why take away that ruthless, cruel, proactive character that Ser Criston was in the novel (he is the Kingmaker, after all) to have him look like a clumsy, ‘holier than thou’ fool we saw in this episode.

The guy literal killed Beesbury by forcing him to sit down, which accidently leads to him hitting his head off the council table. It’s just stupid.

As for Alicent, this on-again/off-again friendship with Rhaenyra is just getting dumb at this point.

Not only does her motivation of wanting to put her son on Rhaenyra’s throne but keep Rhaenyra safe conflict with itself, but it is also so out of character for this story. The very conflict between the once friends (who weren’t actually friends in the novel) is the heart of the Dance of the Dragons.

Taking away Alicent’s selfish motivations ruins her character. She is supposed to be a selfish, self-severing (in relation to herself and her House) person, just as Rhaenyra is supposed to be a proud, ruthless, uncompromising ruler.

Their very personalities reflect the difference and disagreements the Dance of the Dragons is about in the first place.

Oh, and why was Harold Westerling allowed to walk out of the Small Council room alive? He had just overheard the whole plot to crown Aegon and he rejected it, even going so far as to resign from his post in the Kingsguard in protest.

If Otto Hightower was hanging treasonous lords, why wasn’t Ser Harold also executed?

Moving on, who’s idea was it to have members OF THE SAME FACTION compete against one another to kidnap the CLAIMANT THAT FACTION WANTS TO PUT ON THE THRONE!

Is it just me, or did this plot of Otto and Alicent sending out two, separate and conflicting, search parties (Ser Erryk and Ser Arryk Cargyll on behalf of Otto, Ser Cristion Cole and Aemond Targaryen on behalf of Alicent) for the missing Aegon make no sense?

Alicent and Otto, don’t you guys realize that you’re ON THE SAME TEAM?!?!

Now, I will say that I did enjoy the ‘thrilling’, ‘mysterious’ nature of the episode as it was a good twist/divergence from the source material to have Aegon II hide from his grandfather and mother’s political scheming as he desperately wanted to stay away from the burdens of the throne.

But why did the showrunners have Alicent and Otto competing against one another in order to find their own claimant? They want the same kid, for the same exact reasons, to sit on the same exact throne. They should be in lockstep with one another, which they are in the novel.

Why couldn’t they have had Mysaria, who has connections to Daemon, work on her own to find/kidnap the young prince and hold him for ransom or some other logical reason that’s not stopping children fighting in pits.

I mean, where did that come from? When was it established that Mysaria had anything to do with child fighting pits, and why does she even care?

Also, what’s this show’s thing with showing children fighting one another. First, it was the Targaryen and Velayron’s going to town on one another when they were young kids, and now its orphan and/or poor 10–13-year-olds fighting each other to the death?

I know the Targaryen/Velayron fight was in the books, but this pit fighting thing wasn’t.

Someone behind the scenes is having a little too much fun having kids act like they are killing each other.

Anyway, this whole mystery plot ended in the most ridiculous fashion ever. Mysaria eventually tells Otto Hightower that she hid Aegon in the Grand Sept and that the Hand needs to listen and respect her as she’s the only reason why his family will sit on the Iron Throne.

For starters, that couldn’t be further from the truth as Alicent gave birth two four children (Aegon, Helaena, Aemond, and Daeron) and Aegon himself has two children (Jaehaerys and Jaehaera). If Aegon’s dead, then Otto would either sit Aemond or Jaehaerys on the Iron Throne, and then summarily executed Mysaria.

So, that wouldn’t really work out for her.

Second, how does Mysaria even get Aegon in her clutches in the first place? Did she kidnap him? Ask him nicely to hide under an alter? Did he ask her to hide? It’s never explained, but Aegon’s confusion as to why his grandfather would pay Mysaria for his whereabouts makes me think that he really did just ask her to hide willingly.

Back to the story, the Kingsguard twins find and apprehend Aegon only to then get discovered by Ser Criston Cole and Aemond Targayren.

Ser Cristion then proceeds to ATTACK his own Kingsguard brother, even though they have both sworn to serve the same family, and is the one to bring back Aegon to Alicent.

Whether it is Alicent or Otto Hightower Aegon is brought before first, the result is going to be the same. Aegon is going to be crowned king.

Sure, Alicent wanted to advise Aegon not to kill Rhaenyra’s family before her father told him otherwise, but it’s comical to believe that she could control him once he was crowned. Once he’s king, he can do whatever he likes, regardless of if it aligns with Alicent’s advice.

Plus, the following scene with Alicent telling off her father and saying that “we’ll do things my way because I have Aegon” also makes no sense. She does realize that they all live in the same castle? What’s stopping Otto from assembling his household guard and the rest of the Kingsguard to kill Ser Cristion, arrest Alicent, and then just crown Aegon anyway?

I mean, it’s not like Alicent would kill her own son to thwart him. It was a stupid scene that tried to portray Alicent as more powerful than she really was in that moment.

Though, I will say that I really liked Aemond in this episode. After not being sold on Aemond’s new actor, Ewan Mitchell, I’m completely all in on him as the ruthless second son of King Viserys. Mitchell portrayed a quiet, stoic young man, filled by both rage and calmness, that made Aemond eerie and fascinating to watch.

Like I’ve said for nearly every character that has been switched out, I wish the showrunners would have just settled for either Ewan Mitchell’s or Leo Ashton’s Aemond. This story would have worked so much better for it.

Nevertheless, before I get to the ending, there was TWO HORRIFIC mini-plots that completely ruined this episode for me. The first one, which ties into the ending scene, is Princess Rhaenys’ escape from Kings Landing.

After a pointless scene with Alicent Hightower, where Alicent was going on about how it was the job of the women to keep the realm at peace even though she was starting a coup, Ser Erryk Cargyll rescues Rhaenys from her imprisonment and tries to get her a boat to Dragonstone.

The pair get separated in the midst of Aegon II’s coronation procession, and she then resolved to go to the Dragonpit, where the coronation was being held, to rescue her dragon Meleys and flee from Kings Landing on dragon back. I’ll get back to this plot in a moment.

The second plot is what sealed this series as a failure for me.

Essentially, it is Lord Larys Strong, a simple Riverlands lord of a burned, ruined castle, having the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, mother of three dragon riders, daughter to the Hand of the King, niece to the Lord of Oldtown, member of one of the most powerful families in in all of Westeros, and a member of the Small Council, whip out her feet so he could…well…burst his dragon (so to speak) so that she would hear what he learned.

I literally burst out laughing when this scene was playing. How was this strange power dynamic set up at all? Sure, Larys said that Alicent and his fates were intertwined after he killed his family for her, but when was this foot fetish bargain establish?

Couldn’t a promotion to the Lord Confessor (which is what happened) or the Master of Whispers (which will happen) have sufficed?

And why would Alicent even subject herself to such a humiliating power disadvantage? She could have had Ser Criston Cole behead Larys on the spot for even suggesting such an arrangement, let alone actually going through with it.

It’s just way too unrealistic for Larys to even ask (not for him to have such desires as that’s totally in character) Alicent to whip her bare feet out in exchange for his secrets as there is no way any sane, rational person would have accepted that offer.

Plus, it’s not like he could do anything to Alicent at this point of time if she said no and then banished/executed him. This was a laughably bad scene.

Alright, onto the final scene: the coronation of Aegon II.

Honestly, it was masterfully done…until the very end. Everything from Aegon’s self-doubt and self-loathing in the carriage ride, his timid walk through the procession of swords, his awesome black doublet, him getting crowned and lifting Blackfyre over his head, and his confidence going through the roof as the crowds of masses cheered for him as their king was brilliant.

It was great to watch a self-loathing, depressed guy suddenly turn into a confident, assured ruler (even if he is a jerk) as the love of his subjects filled the void in his heart where his mother and father’s care should have been.

And then it was all ruined when Rhaenys burst through the floor with Meleys, killing thousands of innocent bystanders, threatening the entire Hightower-Targaryen family, and then just flying off.

First, it was supremely how stupid Rhaenys got into the underbelly of the Dragonpit in the first place. There was literally no one guarding the entrance DRAGONS!!!

I’m surprised there wasn’t another dumb, brave, or stupid commoner who wandered into the underbelly and provoked another dragon to fly through the floor as the door was left wide open and unguarded.

Second, how did Rhaenys and Meleys not get crushed to death by the falling stones?

Meleys burst through hundreds of pounds of stone to break free from the Dragonpit and that didn’t affect her or her rider at all? I don’t mean to spoil the rest of the show, but that same plot point will come back later on in a huge way.

And, let me tell you, it doesn’t work out nearly as well as it did for Meyles with the other dragons who try to break out of the pit.

Third, why didn’t she just kill the Hightower-Targaryens when she had the chance.

Every single member (apart from Daeron Targaryen) of the line, including Aegon II, Aemond, Helaena, Aegon’s children, Alicent, Otto Hightower, and Ser Criston (who isn’t a part of the family, but is a huge supporter) was standing on the dais at the mercy of Meleys flames.

This whole Dance could have been ended in a second, thus saving the realm from years of horrifying bloodshed and loss, if Rhaenys just finished the job (she already killed thousands of Aegon’s supporters).

Now, this wasn’t in the show, but the reasoning Ryan Condal gave for Rhaenys ‘mercy’ was because she didn’t want to kill Alicent and her family because she’s also a mother.

WHAT?!?! Is he actually that stupid to give that reasoning for Rhaenys’ actions? It would have made more sense if Rhaenys did kill Alicent and her family because she’s a mother, not the other way around.

Not only has she doomed her cousins (Rhaenyra and Daemon) her husband (Lord Corlys Velayron), the Velayron family, and herself to a brutal dragon battle that will split the realm asunder, but she has also condemned her beloved grandchildren to the same fate.

Finally, why did the showrunners even have this godforsakenly stupid coronation scene in the first place? Just for spectacle?

In the novel, the coronation goes off without a hitch as Aegon II is proclaimed King of the Seven Kingdoms and the Dance of the Dragons officially begins. I feel like that’s has enough drama and stakes without a stupid dragon showdown added into the mix.

Obviously, I hated this episode. It makes a mockery of the plot, the characters, and the circumstances surrounding the Dance as a whole. I don’t know how the show will come back from this travesty as now the whole start of the Dance is ruined, at least in my opinion.

It seems HBO didn’t learn from Game of Thrones Season 8 after all.

House of the Dragon Episode 9- “The Green Council” gets a 3.5/10. And that’s generous.

 

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