Written by Eileen Shim
Directed by Geeta Vasant Patel
Viserys (to Otto): "I will sit the throne today."
The day finally came or more specifically the episode itself. Viserys Targaryen, first of his name had lived a long and not very healthy life. Throughout this first season we've seen the man's health diminish in shocking ways that him even breathing at this point was a miracle in itself. This episode did what it needed to do and the ripple effect it'll have for the remainder of the series shouldn't be underestimated either.
Viserys might have been a weak king but he was undoubtedly a good man and his love for Rhaenyra was something that was endearing to watch, even if it meant looking the other way at times. For one final time, Viserys stood up for Rhaenyra when backing Lucerys's right to Driftmark in response to Vaemond trying to take it from the boy. Of course Daemon's own skill set also took Vaemond out of the conversation as well but this episode was all about Viserys's final moments.
Viserys to his credit was not only happy to see his first born daughter, her husband/his brother along with their own children bit he was determined to try and mend fences with all warring sides of his extended family. He almost made some progress but the enmity between Jace (Harry Collett)/Luke (Elliot Grihault) and Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney)/Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) only got worse while Rhaenyra and Alicent briefly put their differences to one side, something which clearly didn't please Otto in the slightest.
However in his final moments of life, Viserys lamented about the prophecy and thanks to Alicent being with him at the time, she now believes that Aegon was destined for the Iron Throne. Aegon seems more interested in terrorising the serving girls as well as ignoring his sister wife and winding up his nephews, At this point, Alicent might as well as go for the throne herself over her incompetent son.
It's almost a shame that war will break out by next episode because there was some progress with Rhaenyra and Alicent during the dinner scene and you even got the feeling that in spite of all the bad blood spilled between them, there was a yearning to reconnect as well. Sadly, Alicent's need to get her son on the Throne will ruin all that.
As for other storylines, Rhaenys didn't seem too broken up with the prospect of Corlys being missing and possibly dead at the Stepstones but more irritated by Vaemond's attempts to claim Driftmark. Also in spite of her belief that Rhaenyra was responsible for Laenor's 'death', not only did she back Lucerys's claim for Drifmark but also accepted both him and Jace as potential husbands for Baela (Bethany Antonia) and Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell). I'm genuinely surprised that Rhaenyra just didn't tell her about Laenor though.
- The opening credits now has the long list of characters including the grown versions of Rhaenyra, Daemon, Viserys and Alicent's children. Rhaenyra and Daemon also had two sons - Viserys II and Aegon III and were expecting another child. Daemon even collected dragon eggs for them.
- Helaena (Phia Saban) made her displeasure for being married to Aegon well known during the dinner scene and seemed to enjoy dancing with Jace in order to spite Aegon.
- Mysaria reappeared again after being gone for over a decade with it being revealed that Alicent's handmaiden was one of her spies.
- We got to meet another set of twins this week, knights Ser Erryk Cargyll (Elliot Tittensor) and Ser Arryk (Luke Tittensor). Even Alicent couldn't tell them apart.
- Rhaenyra clearly knew the assignment with the black dress she wore throughout the episode, further hinting at the imminent divide while Alicent decorated the Red Keep with the Seven Pointed Star symbols.
- Chronology: Six years since the events of the previous episode.
The Lord Of The Tides was less about either Vaemond or Lucerys potentially succeeding Corlys and far more about Viserys's final moments. Needless to say that Paddy Considine delivered an exceptional performance with Emma D'Arcy not far behind him as well. I have to give a special shout to both Eileen Shim and Geeta Vasant Patel, who did an increible job with the writing and directing for this episode as well. Both of them need to be mainstays with this show going forward.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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