In the world of Game of Thrones, the penultimate episode of a season has the reputation of gutting the audience with shocking incidents, whether it is the beheading of Ned Stark in Season 1, the Red Wedding in Season 3 or the Battle of the Bastards in Season 6. If you were expecting something similar in Episode 9 of House of the Dragon, then you would have been disappointed.

But that is not to say that the penultimate episode of a season that’s steadily found its rhythm over the last few episodes was without impact. In fact, it was quite effective in impressing upon the viewers the calm before the storm, whether it is through the eerie background score or the slow build-up.

The Small Council turns Green

The dark and gloomy shots of the cold and imposing Iron Throne, the empty Small Council room and a deserted Red Keep build a sense of foreboding, as a page boy scurries to the palace’s kitchens to inform the Queen’s hand-maiden Talya about King Viserys’ death. “Tell no one,” says Alicent as she rushes to inform her father about it and Viserys’ last (and grossly misinterpreted) wish of crowning Aegon II. But Talya lighting candles at a particular window could very well be a signal to the White Worm for whom she works.

The Small Council goes into session, which later will be known as the Green Council, where Otto Hightower announces the death of Viserys and talks about his “gift”, the dying wish for Aegon to be king. Which, it seems, most members of the Small Council has been planning with Otto for a while anyway, much to the shock of Alicent (forcing us to wonder whether she is daft) and protests from Lord Beesbury who calls it treason. The Lord Commander Westerling, who is also present, looks disgusted. Ser Criston Cole, the one-woman lapdog that he is, smashes the protest, literally, by bashing Beesbury’s head in for questioning Alicent’s role in the death of her husband.

Alicent is surprised to learn that the Small Council, including her father, are planning to murder the whole Dragonstone clan (again, how daft is she really?) and protests against the killing of Rhaenyra but is unable to provide an alternative. When ordered to kill them, Westerling hands over his cloak and walks out. But the wastrel they want to put on the throne is missing and neither his sister/wife Haelena nor his personal guard Ser Erryk seems to know where he is. The Hand sends Erryk and Arryk after the royal degenerate, while the Queen sends her lapdog and her son Aemond on the same errand, both impressing upon them the need that he be brought to them first. I guess because he who controls the imbecile controls the realm.

The fissures are spreading within as well as without

It might seem odd to spend a significant amount of time on the search for Aegon, who seems to be even more loathful, apparently siring bastard children who are made to fight in pits for fun, but in doing so we see how conflict is brewing not just between families but within as well.

Aemond, who is well aware of his brother’s unsuitability to the throne, claims he should be the one to be crowned, hinting at a potential future conflict and you can see his temptation to let go when Aegon tells him a little later that he would sail away and never be found. Erryk and Arryk also argue about Aegon’s worthiness for the throne to the extent that Erryk stands down from the sword fight between Arryk and Criston over Aegon.

Two significant things happen while the hunt for Aegon is on. Otto (Rhys Ifans is glorious in this episode) gets the other Houses of Westeros to bend the knee to him, of course on behalf of Aegon, willingly or if necessary by force. Alicent meets Rhaenys, who has also been locked into her room while the coup is executed, and canvases for her support. Alicent spouts pseudo-feminist nonsense speaking of how they as women could control the Iron Throne by putting who they want on it, but Rhaenys is a girlboss and immediately points out that Alicent is just grasping at straws while doing the bidding of her husband, her father and her son. Why hasn’t Alicent wanted to sit on the Iron Throne, she asks, and Alicent has no answer.

A powerless and delusional queen

Alicent had to do her marital duty for Viserys despite her disinterest, she is busy covering up Aegon’s misdemeanours that continue despite her repeated warnings. When she goes up against her father and decides when and how Aegon will be crowned, he tells her how much she is like her mother, effectively pointing out her role. Even Alicent’s scenes with both Criston Cole and Larys Strong show how little power she actually has as Criston sets her on a moral pedestal and Larys uses her (feet) for his perverted pleasure and she has to appease both.

And while Aegon is whining to Alicent — who tells him to be merciful and not kill Rhaenyra, like he has ever listened to her — on the way to his coronation, Erryk sneaks Rhaenys out of the Red Keep. They get separated by the people of King’s Landing being herded to see the coronation but Rhaenys realises she is being pushed towards the exact place she wants to go — the Dragonpit.

The coronation ceremony is quite the spectacle with a reluctant Aegon trudging through a tunnel made by swords to the Iron Throne. But once Aegon the Conqueror’s crown is put on his head and he hears the crowd chant his name, he draws out Aegon the Conqueror’s sword Blackfyre and plays to the crowd, probably understanding the appeal of being a king for the first time. There goes Alicent’s delusional plans of pulling the strings of her son as ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.

Yass queen!

The only time that ‘The Green Council’ episode veers towards the spectacle we expect from the penultimate episode is when Rhaenys, reunited with her dragon Meleys, bursts forth through the Dragonpit to confront the entirety of the usurpers but chooses not dracarys-ise them to a crisp because she probably doesn’t want the blood or rather soot on her hand. She flies off, probably to inform Rhaenyra of the coup, because despite their differences she would never choose Aegon.

And there we are, right on the cusp of the Dance of Dragons, with Aegon on the throne and fault lines fanning out throughout the Seven Kingdoms. The next episode will probably bring us the “blacks” since Rhaenyra and her cohorts were completely out of the picture.