Written by David Hancock And Shyam Popat
Directed by Loni Peristere
Oscar: "I made a promise to the dead, Cole. I promised I'd build a sept out of traitors bones. I don't have near enough bones yet."
Much as I do think Fabian Frankel has done a great job with Criston Cole as a character, I've been looking forward to the character's demise. Instead of a heroic blaze of glory, Criston went out in a rather anticlimactic way.
It even happened at the start of the episode. He was surrounded, had Oscar Tully talk about making his bones into a sept while Alysanne Blackwood (Annie Shapero) was the one to kill Criston from afar with arrows. Not exactly the glorious deaths that Criston was hoping for.
Of course with Criston out of the way, there was more screen time for the rest of the Greens. First of all, I am loving the dynamic that's with Ormund, Daeron and Gwayne. I love that Daeron wants to be a decent person and his conversation with Gwayne reinforced that. Daeron seriously needs to stand up to Ormund.
Then there's Ormund himself. He's certainly threatened by Gwayne's influence on Daeron but had it not been for Gwayne's smart, Ormund would've been a dead man in this episode. Ormund might not like Gwayne but right now, he can't afford to lose him either.
As for the other brothers - I'm also really loving the bond that Aemond has developed with Alys. It's pretty clear that it's going to turn romantic within the last two episodes. Alys absolutely feeds into Aemond's ego and he's letting her do so.
Aegon II on the other hand decided that Essos would be his best bet. It's not something that Tyland agreed with but both him and Larys ended up going along with the idea. This story felt like a means to put Aegon II on pause until next season. Right now, he's the least of Rhaenyra's problems.
The problems kept piling up for Rhaenyra this episode. She had to get stricter with both Alicent and Helaena before sending the former to Harrenhal. On top of that, she was showing herself to be unsympathetic to the small folk. In fact, a certain moment also happened that was expected a few episodes ago.
As for Daemon, he's certainly dealing with the Gold Cloaks problem in the way he best could. I was impressed with the undercover job he did and it was nearly successful until Ulf had to open his big mouth. That's both Rhaenyra and Daemon that Ulf has pissed off these last two episodes.
- Lady Jeyne went that step too far by slapping Rhaena. Why is the latter getting the Meg Griffin treatment this season?
- Baela seemed to be getting close to Addam last episode but closer to Alyn this episode. Alyn gets points for calling out Corlys's hypocrisy.
- Mysaria lied about not knowing of Helaena's pregnancy. I think Rhaenyra picked up on that when she wasn't getting cut by the Iron Throne.
- Alys showed Aemond a batch of dragon eggs while talking of their future prospects.
- The episode ended with Corlys being captured by Jon Roxton. Ormund puked over the sight of blood and practically revealed that Gwayne might be gay.
- Chronology: Not long from where the previous episode left off.
Faceless Men started off a little sluggish but got better as it went along. Criston's death was anticlimactic but made thematic sense and the downfall of Rhaenyra's rule kicked off with this episode.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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