RJ Writing Ink

House of the Dragon S1, Ep 3 Review

I know it doesn’t need to be said at this point, but I’m saying it anyway: Westeros sucks. As much as I love the world and the plot at times, it drives me nuts how self-serving so many of the Elite are. Almost every Lord or Lady we meet does something for their gain rather than the good of all, and the people who are good people get eaten alive. Or worse, they become the thing they hate the most. This is a fact that House of the Dragon cruelly reminds us of in this week’s new episode with the arrival of the new Prince, Aegon

Aegon, Second of his Name

In the next of the show’s time skips, Kong Viserys has married Alicent as he said he would. What’s more, they now have an infant son, Aegon, and another child on the way. Everyone in court showers praise upon the Prince and act like he’s the second coming of his namesake.

Anyone who’s watched Game of Thrones long enough knows that most of this is empty flattery, trying to brown nose the King for favor. It gets to the point where even Rhaenyra’s sick of it.

Despite being made the heir, something that Viserys reminds her of, she never receives such praise, not that she wants it. Moreover, her relationship with her friend/mother-in-law, Alicent, has gotten much colder. She fears, rather rightfully, that Alicent’s children will supplant her as heir to the throne. Despite Alicent dismissing that for the moment, Rhaenyra’s right. Already, Alicent’s father is scheming to make Aegon the future King. He’s trying to pull a Tywin Lannister centuries before Tywin is born.

The Lannisters are Back

As for the Lannisters, they make their formal return in Jason Lannister, ancestor to the family we see in the show. He tries to make a marriage proposal to Rhaenyra, but arrogance must run in the Lannisters because he comes off like a self-entitled jerk. Rhaenyra flatly turns him down.

This won’t be the end to her problems, though. Now that Rhaenyra’s old enough to marry, her Dad’s been getting marriage proposals from all over. Most of them are from people who want to use her for her power, something she doesn’t want, and prompts her to run off into the Kingswood with Ser Criston Cole while the court is on this big hunt for Aegon’s birthday. Not that anyone can blame her, though. At one point, Otto Hightower suggests marrying her to her infant half-brother, Prince Aegon! Political machinations aside, how disgusting is that, marrying her to a two-year-old?

Rhaenyra+Criston Cole?

I may not be as familiar with the prequel to Game of Thrones as I would like to be, but I know chemistry when I see it. And Rhaenyra and Ser Criston have a lot of chemistry. They talk to each other so casually, and they work well together. This is made more apparent when they end up saving each other from a wild boar. Then, as if to hammer home how she’s meant to be in charge, Rhaenyra finds the White Hart her father’s lord’s have been hunting, but lets it go. In her mind, this will solidify her as the rightful next ruler of the Seven Kingdoms…which only makes what will happen harder to watch.

Not that I care. I swore I wouldn’t get emotionally attached to the characters again.

Wrath of the Dragon

Meanwhile, Prince Daemon and House Velaryon have spent the time skip fighting in the Stepstones. Their opponent is the pirate prince of the Free Cities, the Crab Feeder. Despite having a dragon on their side in the form of Caraxes, though, they continue to lose the war. Then, word reaches Daemon that his brother’s sending them aid. Rather than be happy that his brother’s helping him, Daemon snaps.

What happens next is what we anime fans would call “Pulling a Vegeta.” Daemon pretends to surrender to the Crabfeeder, but it’s an obvious lie. Despite committing what would be considered a war crime (I.E. attacking while waving the white flag), Daemon’s plan works. With all their attention on him, the pirates fail to notice the Velaryon’s and Caraxes sneak up on him until it’s too late. In the second of the episode’s big battle scenes, the Westerosi forces massacre the pirates. As for Daemon, he single-handedly slays the Crabfeeder, leaving him the undisputed ruler of the Stepstones. And he intends to let all of Westeros know he’s in charge.

A Storm is Coming to Westeros

So, by the end of the episode, the cracks continue to grow in House Targaryen as Rhaenyra continues to get ignored. And now Daemon’s ruling over the islands of the Narrow Seas. As for me, I refuse to become emotionally invested in anyone in this show. That way, I won’t be upset when characters start dropping like flies. And drop they will.

Irritation at sychophant’s aside, House of the Dragon has done good so far. Whether they can keep it up for the rest of the series will be another matter entirely. They have a chance to redeem the mistakes of the final seasons of Game of Thrones. For HBO’s sake, they shouldn’t mess it up.

I Give “Second of His Name” a 4/5

Rick and Morty S6, Ep 1 Review

So last year, I did something different and reacted to Rick and Morty on YouTube. However, I didn’t expect Warner Bros to be a killjoy and make the process longer than necessary. So I’m back reviewing it here, and HOLY SHIT! Was that Season premiere amazing, or what?!? Rick and Morty may get stuck debating over its better with episodic or serialized content, but it can go all in when it does the latter.

A New Status Quo

To recap the end of Season 5:

• Evil Morty converted the Citadel into a massive portal gun.
• Evil Morty used said Citadel to break the Central Finite Curve and escape to the greater multiverse.
• Rick and Morty escaped the Citadel’s destruction with many other Mortys.
• Portal tech no longer works.

It would’ve been so easy for the show to hit the reset button and return things to some semblance of a status quo. To its credit, though, they follow through with Rick and Morty reenacting the start to Endgame. And Space Beth pulls a Captain Marvel and saves them.

Now back home (the other Mortys killed themselves), Rick’s first act is trying to reset portal tech. Unfortunately, instead of that, he resets things so that every interdimensional traveler returns to their native dimension. Thus, Rick, Morty, and Jerry all get sent home, leaving the women to track them down.

From here on out, the episode’s a mix of one wham moment after another and showing how much the Smith family’s grown over the show. Also, more on Jerry shortly.

Rick and Morty Have Grown

So, Morty returns to the original dimension that he unwillingly abandoned in Season One. It’s there that he deals with the fallout of his actions when he’s reunited with his original Jerry. His Beth and Summer died offscreen, leaving Jerry alone and wanting nothing to do with his son, despite the latter’s attempts to reconnect. 

Meanwhile, Rick returns to his home dimension, where we learn that he stuck it in an infinite loop of the day he lost his wife and Beth. A constant reminder of his biggest failure. Now more than ever, it’s apparent Rick’s seeming apathy is a sham to cope with how he’s failed to avenge them. However, it’s also revealed there’s a reason he chose Morty’s dimension to live in. It turns out that Morty’s original Rick was Weird Rick, aka the one who killed his family. He stuck around, hoping Weird Rick would show up, but he never did!

This single moment recontextualizes much of the show’s first season. Rick’s uncaring behavior stemmed from him seeing his initial family as a means to an end. Over time, though, Rick grew to care for and love his interdimensional family. 

Nowhere is this shown more than in the series climax when in a big revelation, Rick realizes that he inadvertently returned Weird Rick to his home dimension. When he has the chance to hunt him down, it’s Morty who talks him out of it. Despite being from separate dimensions, Morty considers the Rick he’s been with his grandpa. It works, too.

Summer and the Beth’s Arc

As all this goes down, Summer, Beth, and Space Beth fight in the Citadel ruins to ensure they can reunite with their adoptive family. Summer shows how much of a badass she’s become, with Rick even stating she reminds him of his late wife. In addition, Beth and Space Beth, despite having made peace over not knowing which one’s the clone, still have issues. One of them did bail on their family to do some soul-searching. In the end, though, they make peace with each other, with Space Beth agreeing to visit more often.

Jerry Stands Up for Himself

Lastly, we have Jerry, who is now confirmed to have been mixed up with Jerry-2 back in Season Two. He got returned to his original dimension, whose Smith family never grew out of their Season Two mindset; i.e., they’re all dysfunctional jerks. In contrast to now, Jerry-3’s new family is far more stable and closer together. Jerry-3 even admits that the time he and Beth spent apart helped them both grow as people. So, Jerry-3 flips off his original family and goes back to his new one. It’s a satisfying moment for him, even if he doesn’t quite stick the landing.

Then Jerry-2 Jerry’s it up and ruins their dimension, forcing everyone to move to a new one.

An Amazing Start to Rick and Morty S6

So, to recap, no one is living in their home dimension anymore. Beth and Summer are the only members left of their dimensions original family. And to top it off, everyone has to bury their counterpart’s dead bodies. Oh, and everyone knows Rick and Morty aren’t their original Rick and Morty. 

Even though they’re all biologically related, almost no one is from the same dimension. However, they all accept that despite this, they’re still a family. A weird, interdimensional version of the family of choice trope, but a heartwarming one. Even when Rick denies it, everyone knows by this point that he cares about them. 

So this is the new status quo in the future for everyone. Portal guns don’t work now, and it may take Rick all season to rebuild them. Given that it’s Rick, it’s only a matter of time. In the meantime, the show leaves many questions up in the air. Will Evil Morty return, or is he gone for good? How many Ricks and Morty’s are still alive? For now, the show’s putting them on the back burner, and there’s a 50% chance they may return to them.

The Most Evil Rick Yet

One thing that the show doesn’t sit on, though, is Weird Rick.

So Rick did end up trapping Weird Rick in his home dimension. Moreover, despite having given up his chance for revenge for now, there’s a good chance that Rick and Weird Rick will meet again someday soon. The show would be insane not to, at this point!

As a whole, this is Rick and Morty at its absolute finest. I would easily rank this episode among the top 5 of all time. The writers may not always like doing it, but when they want to focus on serialized storytelling, they do an amazing job at it. Here’s to another season of Rick and Morty forever.

I Give “Solaricks” a 5/5

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