'House of the Dragon' episode 5: The perfect match ... to burn it all down
This recap of House of the Dragon's fifth episode contains spoilers for ... well, for House of the Dragon's fifth episode. That's pretty much what a recap is. Proceed accordingly.
If you're just joining us, here are recaps of episode one, two, three and four.
For an episode that includes two murders, a royal wedding, queer canoodling, some B+ shade-throwing and what I'm pretty sure is one brand-new-to-us dragon, this episode sure felt like we were back in shuffle-the-chess-pieces mode. Maybe that's because it's one of those episodes where characters discover things that we, the audience, already know (Criston and Rhaenyra, bendin' at the knee, C-O-U-P-L-I-N-G). Watching characters play catch-up is always a recipe for audience impatience; this is a lesson that Game of Throne never quite grasped, either.
Open on: The Vale. The castle Runestone, seat of House Royce. We meet poor, doomed badass Lady Rhea Royce, who's married to Daemon Targaryen, though neither of them seems particularly jazzed about it. She's out riding to hunt her up some deer, and rebuffs her cousin Gerald's offer to accompany her.
Mistake. Her final.
She comes upon Daemon, looking for all the world, in his pointy hood, like a tall, sickly Jawa. She throws some of the unkind words he's been saying about her back in his blank, impassive face, and lets us know that they've never had sex. Daemon's keeping it on-brand, in that sense. She realizes
