House of the Dragon (S03E03)
“Rhaenyra Triumphant”
Rhaenyra's first day on the job isn't a great one!
The city's gold is missing, the Church won’t formally coronate her, she doesn't have a council she can trust, and - despite having so many issues on her plate - the people are already looking to her to solve all of their problems.
So she’s learning a valuable lesson here: conquering a kingdom is one thing, but ruling it is something else entirely.
And the only person who can actually help her is Alicent Hightower. Because she’s the one who has experience with ruling over the kingdom already. So, while I don’t like seeing Rhaenyra spiraling, I do like the fact that she turnesto Alicent in her hour of need. I just love their dynamic together! Especially since Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke have such great chemistry together.
And, while Alicent is still - understandably - upset about her father’s death, she still manages to give Rhaenyra some genuine advice. Advice that is actually pretty hard for Rhaenyra to hear, though. Because Rhaenyra fully intends to be a benevolent queen, but sitting on the Iron Throne could drastically change her personality. Especially with how many problems she has to deal with! So, despite her best intentions, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of queen Rhaenyra will turn out to be.
Oh, and did I mention that there are rats everywhere!? Seriously, what’s up with all of these rats?? Does King’s Landing genuinely have a rat problem or are they just in Rhaenyra’s head? Because she does start hallucinating at one point. So, I’m not sure if these rats are real or just metaphorical.
Speaking of which, Corlys gets very upset at Rhaenyra in this episode. Because, despite the fact that she is obsessed with the idea of formalized legitimacy, she refuses to legitimize Addam and Alyn of Hull. And, by not recognizing them as full-blooded Velarians, she may have unintentionally made an enemy out of Corlys. Which would be unfortunate for her!
Thankfully, she does manage to get into the good graces of the common folk by making a bold political statement. One where she takes from the rich and gives to the poor. Very Robin Hood of her! And hearing the common folk chanting her name is exactly the kind of win that she needed in this episode.
Too bad Ormund ruins that victory by lying to her about Daeron Targaryen! And his deception is actually quite clever! Because, since we aren’t familiar with Daeron’s character, Ormund’s little trick works on the audience just as effectively as it does on Rhaenyra!
And now he has made himself an enemy of the throne! Which is another thing that Rhaenyra has to deal with! Being queen must be so fun!
But, now that we’ve seen Rhaenyra’s first day in office, I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of adversary Ormund will turn out to be!