House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 5: Power Shifts and New Alliances

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#moviesupdate Welcome to Reaction of A! In this video, we explore House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 5, where power shifts and new alliances begin to take shape in the Targaryen dynasty. Join us as we break down the key moments, analyze the shifting dynamics among the main characters, and discuss what these changes mean for the future of the Seven Kingdoms. Don’t miss our in-depth review and passionate discussion. Like, comment, and subscribe for more House of the Dragon episode breakdowns and theories

Transcript

00:00Welcome back everyone.

00:08It is Amelia.

00:09I hope you are fine.

00:10House of the Dragons Season 2 Episode 5 is a quieter installment but also

00:15an important one.

00:16The Dance of the Dragons has fully started now after the events of Episode 4.

00:21But this is a chance for both sides of the civil war to assist their wounds and regroup.

00:26While they're doing that, Daemon sinks further into his Harrenhal nightmare with

00:30some very surprising narrative choices along the way.

00:33Daemon's visions at Harrenhal get weirder than ever as Episode 5's installment includes

00:39having sex with his long-dead mother, Alyssa Targaryen.

00:43Daemon's mother died when he was around 3 years old so there's perhaps a sense of

00:47Daemon wanting to feel the motherly love he missed out on while also searching for a woman

00:52who will take care of him and feed his own ego and desires.

00:56It's certainly an, ya rem, interesting scene, although even a bit much insist-wise, even

01:02for the Targaryens.

01:03That vision drives the rest of Daemon's arc, really, as he goes on to declare that he wants

01:08to be king and not king consort.

01:10Matt Smith is superb here and clearly having a great time.

01:14He gets to be utterly despicable and arrogant and rude and all of Daemon's other charming

01:19qualities and yet also manages to find the character's vulnerability, not to mention

01:24confusion which is important to making this story work.

01:27I don't think everything here works perfectly, in part because there is so much happening

01:32to Daemon within a single episode.

01:34He goes from threatening the Brackens to coming up with a plan with the Blackwoods, which

01:38is then executed, and then the Riverlords angrily come upon him, without a real sense

01:43of the passage of time.

01:44It also makes some key changes to the book in him wanting to be king rather than seeing

01:49Rhaenyra rule and, while that's not inherently a bad thing, the jury is out on how that will

01:54work for the story going forward.

01:56In terms of the fallout from the battle at Rook's Rest, I think the scenes in King's

02:01Landing are where the show really nails it.

02:03There's plenty of drama given King Aegon could still die and Daemon gets to go even more

02:08full throttle into villain mode as he gets to take control like he's always wanted.

02:13Even Mitchell and Olivia Cooke, once again, do great work in their scenes and it begins

02:18to show the cracks in Alicent.

02:19Despite the bad she's done, Cooke does make you feel for her.

02:23The scenes with the small folk were particularly good because it would be so easy to overlook

02:27them.

02:28It's always great to get a sense of the real people who are living and dying underneath

02:33the rule of the nobles, those who cannot find food while their rulers squabble over a big

02:38chair.

02:39It does a nice job showing the escalating struggles and tensions among the residents

02:43of King's Landing.

02:44And I look forward to seeing when that eventually boils over.

02:47Plus, as visuals go, a dragon's head being carted through the streets is a very striking

02:53and powerful one.

02:54Illumin, or not?

02:55Give me some ideas related to my video in comments on below if you like this video and

03:00subs for more upcoming videos.

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