House Of The Dragon Episode Nine Review - 9 Ups & 1 Down
3. Up - The most self serving of Queens
Alicent Hightower is a truly tragic villain in many senses. While her actions and conduct have won her no love in the hearts of House of the Dragon's fanbase, one cannot help but feel sorry for a person so utterly downtrodden by the men in her life who still feels compelled to serve them.
With that being said, she still has a lot to answer for this week. The Queen wrings her hands at the thought of violence and bloodshed against Rhaenyra and her family but does nothing of significance to actually put a halt to such a prospect. Alicent's conduct does nothing but fan the flames of the conflict, beginning with her desperate twisting of Viserys' final words to install her son on the Iron Throne, a notion so contrived that even Aegon does not believe it to be true.
The supremely talented Olivia Cooke is relishing her performance as Alicent and possesses an uncanny ability to abruptly drain the Queen's face of any perceivable expression; look no further than the immediate aftermath of Lord Beesbury's callous murder. After her initial gasp of shock, her expression morphs into one of almost exasperation, highlighting that arguably the scariest thing about Alicent is her perceived lack of emotion at times.
Cooke brings a stunning aura of quietly feral desperation to her latest outing, chillingly contrasted against what is at times a deathly calm exterior. The English actress has taken to her role like a fine wine, turning in one impressive performance after the other since replacing Emily Carey, providing the perfect counterpart to Emma D'arcy's tempestuously enigmatic Rhaenyra.