House of the Dragon episode 5 has everything you need to know about the show
It’s an understatement to say that weddings rarely go well in George R.R. Martin’s world, and the Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon is no exception. The first season of House of the Dragon moves much more quickly than Game of Thrones: Five episodes in, and we’ve already covered a half a decade in the lives of King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) and his backstabbing royal family. And episode 6 will see another time jump, this one taking viewers forward another 10 years.
Alliances are shifting, factions are forming, and animosities are deepening. Book readers, as usual, know where this is all heading. But “We Light the Way” gives its viewers an elegantly constructed recap anyway, to help keep everything straight as we move forward — whether they realize that’s what they’re seeing or not.
One area where House of the Dragon excels is in laying a visual groundwork that clues observant viewers into what’s coming next. Queen Alicent’s (Emily Carey) green dress in this week’s episode is a great example of this visual storytelling, as are the rats slurping up the blood on the dance floor at the end of the episode. (Look up “Blood and Cheese, Dance of the Dragons” if you’re curious.) These hints point toward where the story is going. But episode director Clare Kilner’s most elaborately constructed device reminds us where it’s been, setting up the throne room at King’s Landing, outfitted for a weeklong wedding celebration, to have multiple sight lines, each of them looking down and/or across the room toward the center aisle where the “Dance of the Dragons” is about to take place.
Kilner alternates between these perspectives, cutting between medium shots of different characters — Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve
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