House of the Dragon episode 5 review: Political, brutal, and very Game of Thrones

House of the Dragon showed signs of progressing into something brilliant in the previous episode after it failed to replicate the initial excitement of its predecessor. In time, fans started to view this particular spinoff as a more sophisticated and well-mannered step into the history of a house that defines a lot of Westeros.

The recent episode, however, was a testament that House of the Dragon is indeed made from the same blood as Game of Thrones. In an episode scattered with blood, tension, betrayal, and politics, it became increasingly difficult not to compare it to its older cousin, the most viewed HBO show of all time.

Weddings have always had a special place in the George R.R. Martin universe (wink, wink) and the new episode, titled We Light The Way, is yet another example of that. The episode is as good as one can have at the halfway mark of a show, and it is also a very important stepping stone in the direction the creators wish to take the show.

Read on for a detailed review of House of the Dragon episode 5.

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House of the Dragon episode 5: For the love of wedding feasts

When any episode begins with Daemon Targaryen's (played by Matt Smith) menacing smile, it never leads to any good news.

However, Daemon ends up occupying only a small segment of the hour-long journey. His presence, nevertheless, embodied everything the character stands for. The episode also introduced his wife, who has only been mentioned so far, only to whisk her away for good (in a very Daemon fashion).

The previous episode of House of the Dragon sowed the seeds for an upcoming political tryst, with Viserys I (Paddy Considine) finding out about Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) and Daemon. Since his appearance on this episode, Viserys' deteriorating health has been one of the focal points of the episode.

While he discussed with Ser Corlys (Steve Toussaint), who seemed to push his luck too far, Rhaenyra stuck up an agreement of her own with Laenor (Theo Nate), who is not interested in women at all.

Although the politics of it all seemed reasonable, it was not the case for everyone. It turned out that Ser Criston (Fabien Frankel) had real feelings for Rhaenyra, who was proposing to use him as a side-toy after her marriage to the homosexual Laenor. Meanwhile, Laenor had also planned the same with his accepting lover, Joffrey (Solly McLeod).

The most interesting part of the episode was the pre-wedding feast. Very reminiscent of the famous wedding scenes of Game of Thrones, the sequence was guided by a series of metaphors. The biggest one had to be Queen Alicent (Emilia Carey) wearing green, the symbol of war for the Hightowers.

Just before the wedding feast, Alicent found out about Rhaenyra's betrayal after Ser Criston's hurried confession. Ser Criston also embodied the rage and betrayal in a well-curated fashion, that is, until things erupted.

Driven by brilliant background music, the wedding dance emanated high tension across the room, especially after Daemon joined the heiress on the dance floor. The tension between Daemon and Rhaenyra matched that of the surroundings, with so much going on in so many minds in the room. Rhaenyra even teased Daemon to take her away and make her his wife.

The chaos that ensued was as Game of Thrones as any show could get. From the chaos rose an out-of-control Ser Criston who had murdered Joffrey. However, this was not the end of the twists.

The final scene saw the battle of succession begin in full flow as King Viserys collapsed on the ground, his crown rolling on the floor.

This episode embodied everything that House of the Dragon stands for. It was arguably the most important episode to date and set up a lot more for the ones to follow. The next episode will most likely see a time jump and the commencement of the civil war.

The fifth episode of House of the Dragon is now streaming on HBO Max and Disney+.