TV Review: HOUSE OF THE DRAGON: Season 1, Episode 5: We Light The Way [HBO]

House of the Dragon We Light The Way Review

HBO‘s House of the Dragon: Season 1, Episode 5: We Light The Way TV Show Review. We Light The Way is a turning point episode for House of the Dragon with devastating moments that showcase emotional and shifting dynamics for its characters. It may be the best episode of the series-to-date.

Daemon Murders his Wife

At the beginning of We Light The Way, the viewer wonders who is the woman on horseback that hunts. The extended shots of her riding furthers this mystery.

By not prudently taking an escort à la Cersei Lannister in the Red Keep in Game of Thrones, the viewer knows this woman is: brave, head-strong, independent, and more than a little foolhardy. All this is accomplished with brevity of word and scene.

It takes a deft writer’s hand and a good actress to accomplish what this scene does, and luckily, this scene has both.

Since Lady Rhea Royce (Rachel Redford) is destined to live in House of the Dragon for only one scene, Lady Rhea and Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith)’s entire history and animosity toward each other is placed within a few lines of dialogue. It is abundantly clear that Rhea and Daemon have unyielding, domineering personalities. Unlike his brother, Rhea sees right through Daemon. She knows him, how his mind works.

Rhea is mentally more than a match for Daemon, which most-likely irks Daemon. Her perceptive qualities, however, are seconds too slow as she sees Daemon’s duplicity in We Light The Way too late.

Many have complained that The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is slow, unexciting, and action-less. That can’t be said of House of the Dragon. The viewer never sees the neck-break coming, which makes it better, or that Lady Rhea Royce, undaunted by her new-found paralysis, continues to call Daemon Targaryen what he is until the very end. It is impressive. I wish we had gotten to know her better.

When the scene closes, with Rhea Royce’s brains beaten in off-screen (a great move – it would have distracted from the neck-break and less is more in this case), the viewer can’t believe what they have just witnessed. It is truly unbelievable and stays with the viewer for days afterward. Bravo.

The King is Weak…with Daemon

Prince Daemon Targaryen is a reprehensible individual, a product of the world he lives in. Lady Royce can see exactly what he is, and Daemon, for his part, can do the same with his brother. King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) is weak when it comes to Daemon. Case and point – the king banishes Daemon in King of the Narrow Sea and Daemon comes waltzing back in at the betrothal announcement celebration in We Light The Way, and the king does nothing. The king doesn’t order his guards to escort Daemon out. The king doesn’t order the King’s Guard to stop him. The king doesn’t act on his threat and decree. He lets Daemon walk all over him. This is a distinct weakness, a weakness Daemon recognizes, and capitalizes on.

Bumping into the Queen No Accident

Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) bumping into Queen Alicent Hightower is no accident in We Light The Way, though Larys plays it off as a fortuitous but unplanned coincidence. It must be well-known by now that Queen Alicent visits the weirwood tree frequently, especially in times of stress e.g. her father being dismissed as Hand of the King. A well-placed spy and Larys would know exactly where the Queen is or is likely-headed in the castle.

My guess is that the new Hand of the King sent his son to the queen to poison her against the Princess Rhaenyra. Like Ser Otto Hightower, I don’t believe Lord Lyonel Strong wants Rhaenyra to be crowned queen, and Lyonel calculates that he needs Queen Alicent, with her power and potential influence, against Rhaenyra to make that happen. It’s a good plan.

Alicent learns the Truth

Queen Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey) clings to Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock)’s word, and the remnants of their friendship, that Rhaenyra did not fornicate on the evening she is accused of doing so. Rhaenyra’s word of innocence on this matter is all that Queen Alicent has left after Otto destroys himself in the King’s eyes trying to dispel that falsehood.

The moment of revelation for Alicent in We Light The Way shakes her to the core. The rose-colored glasses she has been seeing the world though are snatched from her eyes. Human beings are complicated. They are capable of even lying to their greatest, naive ally with a straight face.

Alicent 2.0, wearing her queen-hood and armor of green in the third act of the episode, has no innocence left in her eyes (like Sansa Stark after her wedding night with Ramsay Bolton in Game of Thrones). If a moment can be pin-pointed to where Alicent and Rhaenyra’ relationship soured, this would be it.

The Suicide Attempt

The viewer feels sorry for Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) in We Light The Way – he fell in love with a high-born woman he can never have. He is tormented by it. It is not often that secondary characters are sympathetic but Christian drags that emotion out of the viewer. The viewer roots for Christian and Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, as they did with Tommy Shelby and Grace Burgess in Peaky Blinders. Both would-be couples are star-crossed.

Christian beating Ser Joffrey Lonmouth to death has three geneses: 1.) wanting to protect the name of the princess, 2.) to protect himself from blackmail, and 3.) letting the cauldron of emotions he is feeling, that have been building up the entire evening, out. They explode. Then the shame comes. Then the resolve to unburden himself comes. Then the Queen comes.

First guess for the future: Ser Criston Cole disassociates himself with Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and serves Queen Alicent Hightower to un-sully himself and the white cloak he wears.

Second guess for the future: Ser Criston Cole continues protection of Rhaenyra but is now the Queen’s creature.

Murder of a Loved One

The fact that Ser Laenor Velaryon (John Macmillan) is gay could have been thrown into We Light the Way as window-dressing, an after-thought, a diversity check-mark. Like other small elements placed into House of the Dragon, however, Laenor Velaryon’s sexuality plays a key part in the finale of the episode. I am not talking about Ser Joffrey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod) per se. He is a man that over-plays his hand. I am talking about Velaryon’s reaction to Lonmouth’s death and what that precipitates. Witnessing and feeling Laenor’s exclamation of anguish at seeing Joffrey’s murdered body turns the betrothal announcement celebration into a funeral. Watching Laenor stand there crying as marriage vows are delivered, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen’s face contorted in sadness for Laenor and what he is going through, and the accelerated marriage of Laenor and Rhaenyra before their union is derailed, is the capstone of drama, action, and emotional turmoil in We Light the Way. It is wonderful and sad to behold.

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