Wow.
As always, this post will spoil the episodes themselves; the companion post will contain book spoilers (i.e., spoilers for future episodes). (Yes, I know the "HotD Spoiler-Free" tag technically contains spoilers, but only up to the most recent episode. I specifically want to avoid future spoilers with that tag.) I'll also discuss the book up to this point, which I think is fair game.
Oh, I will be mentioning the upcoming significant... alteration to the cast, but unless you've been living under a rock you know it's coming. (The other significant exception to the "no future spoilers" rule is that I'm allowed to tell you that everyone dies, because this is a prequel. I'm just not allowed to tell you how they die, even though in one case the parent show already did...)
Daemon
Speaking of future spoilers, we start off with something that I've been alluding to for a while. Daemon surrendering his crown to Viserys is - I thought - one of his most important scenes (it's up there with - yeah, spoilers - the circumstances surrounding the end of his life). I thought they'd play it as identical to his fake surrender to the Crabfeeder. Make it incredibly tense - is Daemon going to pull out a dagger and gut the King in front of everyone?
Nah, that's not what they did. Daemon surrendering the crown is just part of his ploy to woo and wed Rhaenyra. Boo. That annoys me
Skipping ahead to Daemon killing his wife in episode 5 - not in the books, there's not the slightest hint that he was involved. They've now fully set Daemon up as a character who will do anything to get what he wants. Because we're not doing future spoilers, I'll leave that there.
Rhea Royce's comment about Daemon not being able to finish - interesting observation for someone who claims that they never consummated their marriage, given that we see Daemon having or attempting to have sex twice* and he didn't finish either time. Is this a thing? It's not a thing in the book, but the book is presented as an in-universe history that doesn't omnisciently tell us about Daemon's sex life.
*So we've seen both girls have sex now and still the naughtiest bit of a main cast member we've seen is Matt Smith's bum. Just throwing that observation out there. A Song of Tits and Dragons this is not.
Okay, okay, speaking of Teh Secks, Daemon and Rhaenyra.
Rhaenyra
She has a thing for her uncle, but putting Daemon near the throne would definitely inflame the realm. The nobles don't like him and the smallfolk (apparently) don't like her, so that's going to be a problem going forward. Oh, and now she's married to a gay guy and needs a new sidepiece. Viserys, your succession plan is really working out, isn't it?
So, this is it for Milly Alcock. She nailed it. She looked so young and innocent, bitching "fuck the septa" in the first episode, and so much older and world-wise and world-weary here. But there's only so far you can stretch it, and with the time-skip coming up, it's time for her to go.
House Strong
Barely in here - Lyonel is now the Hand as of Episode 5 and is an effective "anti-Otto." Larys the Clubfoot is not even hiding the fact that he's this show's version of Varys the Spider. And Harwyn is... he's there. This is not good; I'll explain why in the spoiler post.
I do like Lyonel, though. He had the opportunity to tell Viserys that Rhaenyra should marry his son Harwyn, and Viserys even expected this advice... and he didn't. He told Viserys that Rhaenyra should marry Laenor. Yes, I know, this happened in Episode 3, but I didn't really get to talk about him then. Like I said, anti-Otto. At least for now. Be interesting to see if they do any "power corrupts" thing with him now that he's Hand.
Ser Criston Cole
Really, really doesn't want to be Rhaenyra's side-piece. Which means he absolutely was thinking with his dick in Episode 4. I actually actively hate this ponce now. Like, what did you think was going to happen, my dude? You had one walk in the woods with her and now you think she's going to give up the kingdom for you? Piss off.
House Velaryon or: No, This Show Is Not Woke And It's Hilarious When People Try To Pretend Otherwise
Apparently owns "half the dragons in the realm." Oh, okay. Aside from one blurry shot of Laenor riding a dragon in Episode 3, there's been no evidence that anyone other than the Targs ride or own dragons, so this is surprising. Worldbuilding!
Corlys doesn't show up to greet Viserys when he arrives, but agrees to let the future rules style themselves "Targaryen," so he's still a pretty cool guy. Also lol at him thinking Laenor's just going through a phase. It's funny because this is the Big Fake Controversy Race Lift, right, the most prominent minority in the show is also a heteronormative crusader. Like I said, Sapochnik and some of the acting talent are wokeoids but whoever's actually writing this stuff definitely isn't. And Sapochnik et al haven't twigged it, they're just slathering their wokeoid ideology on what is inherently a non-woke text (no, really, the theme both here and in Thrones could be summed up as "trying to put women in charge is a huge fucking mistake"). It's funny.
(To clarify the wokeoid comment: I don't mean what Emma D'Arcy's pronouns are; I'm even willing to tolerate them until such time as I decide otherwise. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about recontextualizing quasi-historical events through a modern lens. If Otto Hightower starts screaming "Make Westeros Great Again," I'm out.)
Laenor is gay! Laenor is gay! Did you get it, Laenor is gay! (Can we just talk for a moment about how absolutely bonkers Viserys has to be to wed his (in defiance of tradition, female) heir to a known homosexual? My dude, you are just begging for a legitimacy crisis.) Also, I can't help but notice that, even though this is a more "progressive" show than Thrones was (again, the naughtiest bit of a main cast member we've seen is Matt's ass*), they killed off half of the gay couple faster here than there; Renly lasted an entire season and change, remember.
*A familiar sight for those of us who saw The Crown, another show about a royal family (RIP the Queen) which recasts the characters as the years pass.
Speaking of, they're aging up the Velaryon kids faster than they are the Targaryens - Laenor was recast for Episode 3, Laena for 5, and they'll both be recast again in Episode 6. Fair enough, it ain't their story, and, unlike the Targs and Alicent, the Velaryon kids each got to sit out an episode before they were recast the first time, so it's a bit less jarring. I do wonder if casuals got the fact that the young woman making doe-eyes at Daemon was in fact supposed to be the same character Viserys rejected for being too young. Yes, Daemon and Laena are making doe-eyes at each other, because I guess if he can't have his niece, he'll settle for his cousin-once-removed. Which is fair game in Ye Olde Medieval Times (again, the only thing more twisted than Richard III's spine was his family tree - speaking of dudes who (may have) tried to marry their niece).
House Lannister
Is here. (Some serious box-checking going on here. One would think that Lords Stark and Baratheon would also show up to the heir's wedding.) Tyland might briefly have shown up, not sure if the actor played both roles or just had his head compupasted on Tyland's body for the one or two shots he's in. Jason snobbering a bit at the wedding is a) fun and b) the sort of insolence other kings would have torn his tongue out for. Ah well, Viserys is getting on.
King Viserys of the Receding Hairline
Has had enough of his daughter's shenanigans and has her marry into the Velaryons, with the condition that her oldest kid takes the name "Targaryen" when he or she takes the throne. Doing the gender-equality thing (his daughter inherits the throne, and her eldest child, whether male or female, will inherit from her - and the royal line will keep their mother's name), but he's the weakest king we've seen on either show (yes, including Tommen) so it's funny that he's also the most progressive.
Also he's sick. Very, very sick. It makes me wonder how long they're going to drag this out. I know when he's supposed to die*, but... well, as I've hinted at here and will explain in detail in the spoiler post, there's another character on the show who's plainly not going to die when the book says he dies, so who knows? Logic suggests that his death would be a season-ending event, but at this point, and without drawing on any book knowledge, I'd be surprised if he makes it that far.
*No, that Viserys dies at some point is not a spoiler. This is a prequel (and a prequel whose ending is spoiled by a throwaway line of dialogue in Game of Thrones, for that matter). Everyone is going to die.
Speaking of season-ending events, they really played Episode 5 up like it was a mid-season finale, even though there's no corresponding break. The recap covered the first four episodes, for example. There is a time-skip in-universe, but the show will be back next week.
Queen Alicent
And speaking of the time skip, hail and farewell to Emily Carey, who's also done a great job as Alicent Hightower. Nice of the Strongs to explain the significance of the green dress - I feel like that's a scene that either just plain old works better in the book, or could have been done better by having more Hightowers around earlier in the season to more vividly contrast their green clothes with everybody else.
Anyway, Alicent doesn't quite twig that Larys the Clubfoot is pretty blatantly manipulating her. It's been a long time since we've had a character who's actually stupid at playing the Game. That it's Alicent, who beguiled her way into Viserys's heart/bed, is somewhat alarming.
Otto "Rasputin" Hightower
I make no bones about the fact that I'm on Team Daemon - Matt Smith is a show-stealing maniac and I love how everything he does looks unpredictable and dangerous at the time, and when you stop and think about it it's all perfectly in keeping with his character, mmm, (chef's kiss). With that in mind, I see Otto as "the bad guy," and like the best bad guys (particularly in Thrones-alikes), he kinda has a point.
I like it, particularly in political dramas, when the bad guy has a point. Cardinal Wolsey (acting as a mouthpiece for Henry VIII) in A Man for All Seasons is a prime example; Henry needs a male heir or we're having another civil war. (The Wars of the Roses ended 60 years ago, which is probably outside the scope of living memory at the time, but families would still be reeling from it.) Likewise, we know from Rhaenyra and Daemon's little sojourn among the smallfolk in Episode 4 that the commoners aren't really that sold on the idea of a female ruler. Maybe it would be better for the realm if Rhaenyra were cast aside in favor of the kid who just happens to be Otto's grandson.
Final Word
LIGHT YOUR FUCKING SCENES, SHOW!
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