House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 4 Recap: The Long Night

 House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 4 Recap: The Long Night

House of the Dragon Season 1

The night is dark and full of wonders, as Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) and Daemon (Matt Smith) stroll through King’s Landing, their Targaryen titles taking the evening off. Street performers dance with fire, some walking tightropes overhead, strangers making love just barely out of sight. For Daemon, it’s old hat. For Rhaenyra, it’s glorious. For one long night only, the Princess of Westeros isn’t “the realm’s delight.” She’s not the controversial heir to the Iron Throne. She is “Boy,” over and over, undercover and unrecognizable, barely even Rhaenyra—right until daylight comes calling.

Directed by Claire Kilner, House of the Dragon’s fourth episode, “King of the Narrow Sea,” refocuses the story on two royals bound by blood, their eyes on the throne—and on each other. We’re once again vaulted further along the timeline, a year or so on from Aegon’s second name day. In this time, Rhaenyra has weathered several would-be husbands seeking her hand in marriage, finally landing at Storm’s End, the seat of House Baratheon. But none of these men are up to her High Valyrian standards, certainly not the boys fighting to the literal death for her favor.

As Rhaenyra returns to the Seven Kingdoms’ capital city, an unlikely suitor flies into the mix: Prince Daemon, back at long last after victory over the Crabfeeder, unannounced and unofficially self-appointed as the titular King of the Narrow Sea. But the crown comes off in no time at all, as the prince who breaks promises bends the knee to his brother, King Viserys (Paddy Considine), in a very public display of affection, followed by a celebration held in Daemon’s honor.

The brothers Targaryen are not the only ones casting their enmity aside, either. Four years following the collapse of their friendship, Rhaenyra and her once-closest companion, Queen Alicent (Emily Carey), manage to find their way back into each other’s hearts, even if somewhat tepidly. As Rhaenyra bemoans the proposal process, Alicent points out that not everyone in Westeros has the luxury of choosing their own spouse. For the first time since her father announced his betrothal to her best friend, Rhaenyra sees much of her own plight reflected in Alicent. It’s not enough to heal all the hurt, but perhaps it’s a sturdy enough foundation for rebuilt trust. Let’s hope nothing shakes it.

Beyond repairing relations with the queen, the princess has the prince to consider. Many moons have passed since Rhaenyra confronted Daemon on Dragonstone, and the times have changed them both, even if some bonds never broke at all: their Valyrian language, for one, not to mention the Valyrian jewelry Daemon once placed around his niece’s neck. There’s also their shared disdain for marital responsibilities, even if Daemon’s lax attitude about marriage as a political arrangement rings hollow for a woman who feels her life is on the line.

“My mother was made to produce heirs until it killed her,” she says. “I won’t subject myself to the same fate.”

Daemon acknowledges the tragedy, but couches his condolences: “This is a tragic world. You cannot live your life in fear, or you will forsake the best parts of it.” When those words fall flat, the so-called Rogue Prince does what he does best: he takes action.

That evening, when Rhaenyra returns to her chambers, she finds a satchel packed with common clothes, as well as a parchment that points her toward a secret passage within her own room. Rhaenyra follows the map out of the Red Keep and right up to a hooded Daemon’s doorstep. Together, passing drinks back and forth, they go out for a night on the town, free from “the burdens of [their] inheritance,” if only temporarily.

Alas, even now, the heir of it all hangs heavy in the air, as Rhaenyra and Daemon wind up watching a street performance that crudely conveys the King’s perceived dilemma of who will succeed him on the Iron Throne, his public and private promises regarding Rhaenyra’s ascension notwithstanding. Here, hiding in plain sight within a rowdy crowd, the heir apparent learns she’s apparently only “the realm’s delight” to a point—and that point stops just short of the throne.

But the night doesn’t stop there. It continues, as Daemon brings Rhaenyra to one final stop on his tour through King’s Landing: a pleasure house on the Street of Silk, “where people come to take what they want.” Surrounded by dozens of individuals in varying stages of undress (not to mention varying positions and permutations while undressed), Daemon and Rhaenyra take what they want: each other. It’s one thing to hear about the Targaryen tradition of coupling within the family, but another to see it in action, as uncle and niece begin by kissing, reluctantly at first, before disrobing, and then… disappearing. At least, Daemon vanishes, drunkenly wandering off into the night, with a mystified Rhaenyra left alone to find her way back to the Red Keep—a plight she manages, albeit not unseen.

Among those who see Rhaenyra: Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) of the Kingsguard, who has been guarding the princess’s quarters all night long… only to find that she’s been out, all night long. And the night isn’t over. Liberated by her evening activities, Rhaenyra again takes what she wants—and more to the point, who she wants: Criston. The princess and her knight begin by kissing, reluctantly at first, before disrobing, and then… well, not disappearing. A year earlier, King Viserys told Rhaenyra to find her own match. Here, it would seem she’s found that match in Ser Criston, though his vows as part of the Kingsguard mean he cannot take a wife, let alone share a bed with the princess of Westeros he’s sworn to protect. It’s going to be a passionate night with complicated repercussions, to say the least.

The repercussions are felt immediately, as often happens when these kinds of nights transform into day. A boy working for Daemon’s former paramour Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), now well established in King’s Landing as a master of whispers known as “the White Worm,” has passed along reports of Rhaenyra’s long night with Daemon to the worst possible person: Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), the Hand of the King, who will stop at very little to see his grandson Aegon installed on the Iron Throne over Rhaenyra. Otto tells Viserys about the reports of Daemon and Rhaenyra’s rendezvous, the news landing so harshly that Viserys questions his motives, all but shattering the king’s faith in his aide: “You think yourself a cunning man? Your designs are obvious. Do you wish to have your blood on the Iron Throne so badly that you would destroy mine own?”

Beyond the king, Otto’s report falls to another: Alicent, present in the king’s chambers when her father comes by with the news about Rhaenyra. The queen is on the other side of her own very long night, albeit an extremely lonely one, during which she’s compelled by duty to sleep with the king—an utterly joyless act, especially contrasted with Rhaenyra and Criston.

Perhaps due to the emptiness of her own situation, or perhaps due to the recent rekindling of their friendship, Alicent takes the news about Rhaenyra very poorly, and then goes to Rhaenyra herself to confront her. A fiery conversation ensues, but before more lasting damage can be done, the princess and the queen smooth things over once more. “Daemon never touched me. I swear this to you upon the memory of my mother,” Rhaenyra tells Alicent — a lie, and a bold one, at that. Should the truth ever come out, it’s hard to imagine Alicent feeling warmly toward Rhaenyra again, especially as she takes her friend’s faithful word directly to the king.

For his part, Viserys breaks away from his reputation as a toothless ruler, if only momentarily. He does this through three specific, decisive actions. First, he confronts (and kicks!) Daemon, who does not refute the rumors of his evening with Rhaenyra, and in fact doubles down by asking for her hand in marriage. In response, Viserys spares his brother’s life, but commands he leave King’s Landing at once. Next, Viserys decides Rhaenyra will no longer have a say in the matter of her marriage, and will instead be wedded to Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate), as a means of repairing relations with the Sea Snake (Steve Toussaint). The princess agrees to do her duty, but only if her father does his duty as well by removing “the vulture” known as Otto Hightower from his position as Hand of the King. Viserys obliges, convinced that Otto has Rhaenyra’s worst interests at heart, focused only on his own aspirations for the Iron Throne.

“The crown and the realm owe you a debt that can never be repaid,” Viserys tells Otto, “but I can no longer trust your judgment.”

It would appear Viserys no longer trusts Rhaenyra’s judgment, either. Hours after their conversation, the king sends moon tea to his daughter’s room, intended to “rid [her] of any unwanted consequences.” Despite Rhaenyra refuting the story about her uncle, and despite Alicent’s misplaced defense of her friend (not to mention knowing nothing of Criston’s role in things), Viserys’s own mistrust of his brother lives rent-free in his head—or perhaps, more aptly, on his head, like the rudimentary crown the so-called King of the Narrow Sea once wore. Daemon may be gone from King’s Landing, but the results of his and Rhaenyra’s long night live on as terrors in daylight.