House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 5 - "Regent"

[Drizzle]

House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 5 - "Regent"

Directed by Clare Kilner

Written by Ti Mikkel



​

I'll never forgive the Greens for what they've done to Meleys!

 

[CB Fan]

Well they answered my why isn’t Rhaena riding Seasmoke question. Im guessing this is where Corlys other kids we’ve been introduced to come into play?

 

[squeekness]

Do all the kids have dragons already that they really need to go outside the family? Seems odd to me.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

A slower episode but I expected that after the epicness of last week's. This episode had a lot of great set up though and I really liked some of the performances in particular Olivia Cooke, Steve Toussaint and Bethany Antonia.

I also really like the actor that plays Simon Strong and seeing his interactions with Daemon lol.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I've rather liked the last three episodes, but this kind of sucked. Nothing happened. Just a lot of spouting of the themes, whining, and wheel spinning.

 

[emielaen]

It certainly didn't suck, at all. It was just slower and filling in gaps, setting things up. Some great world and character work imo. Direction, dialogue, design and performances all still on point as well.

 

[Drizzle]

Yeah, I wouldn't say it sucked but it was definitely a slow filler episode after the big battle last week. It's fine to take a breather but it might have been better if the episode had ended on a bigger moment like what was in the preview for the next episode (Rhaenyra approaching Vermithor) rather than just a conversation about it with her and Jace. What I also would have liked was an actual conversation between Aemond and Helaena. She barely gets to interact with anyone and when she finally has a scene with someone other than Alicent they give her one line?

The Daemon in Harrenhal plotline also needs to start moving, although the part with his mom was disturbing as hell.

The two things I felt were the strongest in this episode were the performances of Steve Toussaint showing Corlys in full grief mode and Olivia Cooke in the council scene where Alicent hilariously thought they'd put her in power when the whole reason for the war in the first place was because they didn't want to put a woman in power.

Do all the kids have dragons already that they really need to go outside the family? Seems odd to me.

Besides Rhaenyra and Daemon, Jace and Baela have their dragons but they're much smaller than Vhagar so they need all the help they can get.

 

[Kane52630]

No one:

Dameon banging his mom:

 

[Kane52630]

Also I think Elinda Massey might be my favorite character on the show in a show full of terrible people.

 

[Mjolnir Reborn]

The episode was letting things reset after last week's climax and I actually think this a place where the quality of the show stands out as I was still really engaged despite that the events were much smaller than before. The building blocks are just so good. I always enjoy them expanding the locations and it was very nice seeing the Eyrie and the Twins. While they still haven't gone with a design just like it is in the books I certainly did prefer the look of The Eyrie in this show over how it looked in GoT. The cinematography is overall consistently at a clearly higher level than the last season, with both more beautiful shots and more storytelling being done with pure camerawork.

 

[OrbOfConfusion]

Last I checked, locking people inside of King's Landing with no way to escape never ends well.

 

[Drizzle]

No one:

Dameon banging his mom:

At first I thought it was Viserys's wife but then the reveal happened.

 

[CaptainWagner]

This episode was definitely a step down for me after the first half of the season. You can tell that the writers are struggling with the fact that a lot of the major players in the story spend large blocks of the war doing nothing, which works fine for a "historical text" like Fire and Blood but not so well for a TV show. They could have easily filled in the gaps by focusing more on the cool side characters - some of which I'm increasingly worried if we're actually going to see. But instead they seem very reluctant to reduce screen time on the main players, so we just get wheel-spinning instead.

For positives, though, the scenes with Alicent realizing her own actions have ensured she'll never hold a position of real power were great, as was everything with Corlys and the development for Baela.

 

[Drizzle]

This episode was definitely a step down for me after the first half of the season. You can tell that the writers are struggling with the fact that a lot of the major players in the story spend large blocks of the war doing nothing, which works fine for a "historical text" like Fire and Blood but not so well for a TV show. They could have easily filled in the gaps by focusing more on the cool side characters - some of which I'm increasingly worried if we're actually going to see. But instead they seem very reluctant to reduce screen time on the main players, so we just get wheel-spinning instead.

For positives, though, the scenes with Alicent realizing her own actions have ensured she'll never hold a position of real power were great, as was everything with Corlys and the development for Baela.

I think that's even apparent in episode 4, which even though it's only been a week is regarded by many to be the best episode of the show. Alicent had three scenes in episode 4 but her scene with Aegon was the only one of any real importance. There's a lot of shoehorning major characters in there because they have to but there's a handful of characters both new and pre-existing that could use some more development. I'm at least glad they've started giving Baela and Rhaena some more screentime.

Another reason why this episode felt a little slower IMO was because it focused on Team Black more. They pretty much had to after Team Green has been kind of dominating the season as far as screentime goes so far. Team Green is just way more compelling to watch because they're such a dysfunctional mess between Aegon being the MVP character of the season thus far, Alicent realizing the consequences of her actions, Aemond being his psychotic self, and Criston Cole being an a-hole with his yee-yee ass haircut. By comparison, Team Black is made up of a bunch of normies aside from Daemon so it's less exciting to watch them. At least for now.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Drizzle]

Can someone please love this ****ing dog already? Can he tag along with Hugh Hammer's family or something? I'm legitimately concerned for his safety now that no one can leave the city because when the food shortage really kicks in he's gonna be in serious danger.

 

[Kane52630]

The last episode of the season will end with that dog sleeping next to wherever they buried those bodies.

 

[Drizzle]

The last episode of the season will end with that dog sleeping next to wherever they buried those bodies.

Or he makes it to the end of the series and this is the last shot of the finale:

Because who has a better story than Cheese's dog?

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Drizzle]

I'm liking Jace more than I thought I would, it's just too bad those scenes in the North were cut so short. I would've wanted to see him properly befriend Cregan Stark.

I do wish that it was a 10-episode season because I think that we definitely would have gotten more of Jace up North if that were the case.

 

[Weather Witch]

That was a slower episode, but I enjoyed every second of it. Episodes like last week hit so hard because of episodes like this one.

A lot of really good details and story threads. They've certainly made Aegon's survival believable. The smallfolk reacting to the death of Meleys was great. The whole propaganda war has been a highlight too. It was fun to see glimpses of The Twins and The Eyrie. The world feels so much larger this season. Mysaria and Alys also continue to shine. I do feel like Daemon's story has moved too slowly. Even if all the haunting scenes have been great.

Oh and even at Harrenhal some men like duck and others goose.

 

[Kane52630]

Jace always looks like he's about to command the Freman to attack House Harkonnen.

 

[Weather Witch]

Jace always looks like he's about to command the Freman to attack House Harkonnen.

His Zoolander glares have been pretty amusing. His acting feels very different from the first season, but it's been fun to watch.

 

[Drizzle]

Before:



After:




The Twins really went to **** under Walder Frey's watch.

 

[CaptainWagner]

Before:

View attachment 97253

After:

View attachment 97254


The Twins really went to **** under Walder Frey's watch.

Can't help but admire that they're willing to play fast and loose with some of the more underwhelming designs from GOT. I know we probably won't see Castlery Rock in the show, but I need them to correct the bungled glimpse we got before so bad.