Daemon Needs To Get His Act Together in Next Week’s ‘House of the Dragon’ Episode

Oh, House of the Dragon. There’s never been a shortage of pathetic men in this franchise, but so far, in season 2, no one is quite as much of a sore loser than Daemon Targaryen. So, will episode 6 finally solve our little Daemon problem once and for all when it’s released on HBO/Max?

Let’s be real: Things are a proper mess for House Targaryen at the moment, but I think I speak for most House of the Dragon fans when I say Daemon (Matt Smith) seriously needs to shape up if he’s to ever bring Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) to victory—if that’s what he ever wanted in the first place. As Team Black and Team Green continue to hash it out for the Iron Throne, the stakes are higher than ever, especially now that dragons are involved. And clearly, Daemon is feeling a teensy bit insecure about his role in the whole thing, choosing to play IRL Luigi’s Mansion at Harrenhal instead of actually, well, helping.

Spoilers ahead for season 2, episode 5 of House of the Dragon.

Picking up immediately after The Battle at Rook’s Rest, House of the Dragon season 2, episode 5, “Regent,” sees the commonfolk of King’s Landing growing weary of their monarchs after Meleys’ severed head is paraded through the streets—a bad omen for what’s next to come. We watch with sweaty palms as Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) becomes Prince Regent after his brother, Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), is injured, much to Alicent’s (Olivia Cooke) chagrin. Girl, you were the one who started this!

Meanwhile, Rhaenyra grapples with what it means to be a leader back at Dragonstone, while Daemon has some lusty thoughts about his own mother (sweet home Westeros …) as he continues to stake it out at Harrenhal with hopes of raising the Targaryen banner in the Riverlands. In the episode, we see Daemon stoop to something of an all-time low, sharing his intentions to become King to Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) in secrecy, as he believes his wife’s supporters will never bend the knee to woman—it’s all an orchestrated scheme. This begs the question: Will Daemon ultimately be successful?

When does House of the Dragon season 2, episode 6 come out?

Considering we’re just mere weeks away from the season 2 finale, House of the Dragon sure has a lot of loose ends to tie up. Thankfully, fans won’t have to wait long to see the next chapter in the “Dance of the Dragons,” as episode 6 is slated to arrive on both HBO and Max on Sunday, July 21, at its usual time of 6PM PT/9PM ET.

Based on the end-of-episode teaser, episode 6 will see Rhaenyra and her son, Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett), doing a deep dive into their Targaryen ancestry to see if they have any distant relatives capable of becoming dragonriders. It’s a long shot, and a desperate one at that, but with Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) having secured the Crownlands for the Greens and Rhaenys (Eve Best) having fallen at Rook’s Rest, the Blacks can’t afford to be picky.

Either way, Daemon needs to put his whole brooding jealousy thing aside and focus on what actually brought him to Harrenhal in the first place—recruiting swords for Rhaenyra’s cause. Daemon has been a wild card all season, so it’ll be interesting to see if his internalized misogyny gets the best of him, or if his disturbing visions might actually encourage him to get his s*** together. For now, the war rages on.