In last week’s episode of House of the Dragon, ‘Smallfolk’, Rhaenyra gambles that her faithful servant Ser Steffon Darkling could become a highborn rider for Seasmoke and boy is she ever wrong!

The temperamental Seasmoke barbecues Ser Steffon like an overdone steak left on the backyard grill too long over the Super Bowl weekend. Maybe Ser Steffon was a jacket and no one knew. Whoops, no Valyrian blood here!

What made Ser Steffon such a great prospect was that he was loyal as the day was long and Rhaenyra wouldn’t have to fear a dragon rider turning against her. Later, it becomes clear that there are several more dragon seeds in play such as the bastard sons of Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), Addam of Hull and his brother Alyn.

By the time the episode ends, it appears that Addam has claimed the lonely Seasmoke, the dragon previously ridden by his half-brother, Laenor and ‘who misses his bond’.

Who will ride Vermithor who was first introduced at the end of Season 1 when Daemon Targaryen found him underneath the halls of Dragonstone? That will definitely tip the scales of power in Westeros. Maybe we will find out next week.

In ‘Smallfolk’, the natives are restless in King’s Landing. An angry mob descends on the High Sept, while the Queen Dowager and her daughter, Queen Haelena, are lighting candles. They attack the knights who barely manage to shuttle them away to safety. The destabilisation campaign by Rhaenyra and Mysaria appears to be working as their donations of food to the starving people of King’s Landing is swaying public opinion in Rhaenyra’s favour.

In the meantime, Larys Strong the Clubfoot is lobbying for a job, that of the King’s Hand, which presumably has more emoluments than a mere Master of Whisperers.

“The enemy without may be fought with swords, the enemy within is more insidious,” he waxes philosophical about the restive town people. Then he hints to Prince Regent Aemond that he has noticed that he has yet to choose a Hand (wink wink, what about me?).

However, Prince Aemond has other plans and pulls a fast one and opts to summon his grandsire, Otto Hightower, back to the city instead, showing that he may yet lean towards wisdom and temperance.

Later, not one to give up easily, Larsy Clubfoot, still angling for a better job, visits the Aegon the Charred and instructs the nurse to withhold his Milk of the Poppy. He then drops some hard truths on the ailing king.

“The drink takes the pain away but it dulls your mind. You will never be whole. Orwyle has exhausted his capabilities. Your mind is all that remains to you,” the scheming Master of Whisperers suggests.

Larys is right. Aegon II will need his wits if he is to survive his brother’s impetuous and deadly nature. When Aemond visits later in the episode, he presses his brother’s big Small Council marble into Aegon’s chest and asks slyly: “What do you remember?”

Knowing how to read a room, Aegon croaks: “Nothing.”

“You challenged Melys. It was foolish,” Aemond chides.

“I remember nothing,” the King stresses. How the mighty have fallen.

Then Aemond bends forward and plants a Judas’ kiss on the King’s forehead: good boy. Who said that Aegon II was stupid? He had better wean himself off that Milk of the Poppy quickly because Aemond just gave him back his big marble to lull him into a false sense of security. You can bet your last gold dollar that there will be blood.

In the meantime, we see that Prince Aemond is settling into his new role nicely and making power moves. The Prince Regent devises a great plan, he orders Ser Criston Cole to march from King’s Landing and the Lord of Casterly Rock to march from the west to Harrenhal and from there, he plans to then pop in on his dragon “when the time is ripe.”

Aemond then makes another boss move by ordering the younger Lannister twin to make an alliance with the Triarchy in a bid to shatter the Sea Snake’s blockade of Blackwater Bay. This boy is no slouch in the war department.

In the meantime, Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) is being visited by ghosts of Regrets Past with Paddy Considine donning the crown of King Viserys Targaryen once again. The two brothers hash out old problems such as Daemon joking about the death of his wife Aemma (Sian Brooke), and devlishly referring to Viserys’ dead newborn son Baelon the “heir for a day.”

The thing with real life is that no one gets a do over, but this time, Daemon does get a bit of closure on his relationship with Viserys as he experiences a bit of an alternate reality where Daemon foregoes a night of debauchery at the tavern to stand by Viserys’s side as he grieves his dead queen. They hug it out.

During this episode, we notice a few subtle changes in some of the characters. For one, Ser Criston seems more subdued, probaby he is suffering from a little bit of dragon P.T.S.D. We also sense another change in his compatriot-in-arms Gwayne since he’s returned from war and experienced a little dragon-on-dragon bloodshed.

Standing in the courtyard, Gwayne and his siser Alicent chat about dear old dad, Otto Hightower and she asks about her youngest son, Daeron, who was sent to Old Town as Gwayne’s ward when he was young. Gwayne shares some great details about Alicent’s son and they have a nice moment.

What does this revelation mean? Does this mean that Daeron may make an appearance on his dragon soon?

This ‘Smallfolk’ episode just principally moves the chess pieces around and leaves a lot of questions hanging: When will Daemon and Alys Rivers knock boots? And who is really surprised that Rhaenyra and Mysaria are swapping spit at the end of this episode? When do the Ulf the White (that snivelling thief), Hugh Hammer and Addam of Hull, the Dragon Seeds from Fire & Blood, get to mount their magical WMDs? Will Rhaena mount Sheepstealer who is terrorizing the residents of the Vale? And will the Queen of Dragons finally enter the fray for some dragon-on-dragon action on Syrax?

It was a gripping episode of House of the Dragon which still managed to be largely compelling even without large-scale dragon battles, or energetic sex scenes in the brothels. We can’t wait for the next one.