In the final scene of Season 1 of House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra is informed that her son Lucerys is dead. In a long slow-motion shot with a somber score wailing over it, Daemon approaches her as she stands at the end of the painted table on Dragonstone. He takes her hand and whispers in her ear. She stares into the fireplace burning behind her, the camera pans in close, and then she turns, looking directly at the audience:
Cut to black.
As a book reader, I thought this would be the beginning of Rhaenyra’s breaking-bad arc. After an episode in which Rhaenyra had considered peace with the greens, what forgiveness could there possibly be now with her son dead? George R.R. Martin called his novel describing these events Fire & Blood for a reason. It seemed it was time for fire and blood.
Well, I’d jumped the gun a bit. Rhaenyra spent virtually all of Season 2 dithering on Dragonstone, wondering whether there was a way to claim the throne without starting a war. Then she spent most of Season 3 similarly trying to avoid bloodshed, just in King’s Landing now. For example, in Episode 2 this season, when she killed Otto Hightower—the single person most responsible for this war, and thus for the deaths of two of her sons—she did so only reluctantly, with tears in her eyes. Repeatedly this season, she sought the counsel of Alicent, despite Alicent’s own role in these events. For so many episodes, Rhaenyra has been the model of restraint and forgiveness, despite so many deep personal tragedies that would have others seeking only vengeance.
Well, no more! The finale of Season 3 brought us back to Rhaenyra’s book characterization. Her magnanimity is gone. Her heel turn has arrived.
It’s somewhat surprising that it is the news of Aegon’s resurrection on Sunfyre that fully sends Rhaenyra over the edge, but it was also the culmination of a season of setbacks that have threatened her short ascension. “The smallfolk name it a sign from the gods that Aegon is ordained to rule,” Rhaenyra explains to Daemon. “That he and his dragon have been resurrected to reclaim the throne.”
“You have an absolute power within your grasp,” Daemon reminds her. “You have only to wield it.”
This is the episode in which Rhaenyra stops being a bystander to the plot and begins driving it. Finally, we are done with Small Council meetings that go nowhere!
Rhaenyra’s pivot begins with her ordering Daemon to go to Tumbleton, to “root out every Hightower, and kill them to the last man.” She reminds him that the realm is watching and to “not make a monster of me,” but that feels perfunctory, as she then continues by saying that when she finds Aegon, she wants to kill him herself.
She immediately follows up this conversation with a tense interaction with Baela in which Baela pleads with the queen to be careful with Tumbleton, as Corlys is still held hostage there. In response, Rhaenyra grabs Baela’s face and calls her an insolent child. “Insolence runs in your blood,” she tells Baela. “As your sister has lately reminded us.” We later learn that she has “grounded” Baela, confining her to the Red Keep.
Next we find out that Rhaenyra has dismissed her mistress of whisperers, arranging immediate passage for Mysaria to Pentos. Their relationship deteriorated quickly, as they had a sexual liaison just last episode, although Rhaenyra had picked up on some of Mysaria’s manipulations in that final on-screen conversation.
Then we get another tense conversation, with Rhaenyra once again fishing for information from Helaena. “All the things you care about are ugly,” Helaena tells her. Minutes later, Rhaenyra is having her guards force-feed Helaena to keep her—and more importantly, the child inside her—alive and healthy.
Then she sets off to the sept, to force the High Septon’s hand and be anointed as the one true ruler of Westeros. She travels in full chain mail and plate armor, showing clearly that while she may sit the Iron Throne, she is far from comfortable in King’s Landing. But the High Septon refuses her, saying that Aegon’s resurrection proves that the gods have chosen him to rule. Rhaenyra says she has six dragons, but the septon responds that he has a seven-faced god. Rhaenyra orders Alyn to execute the High Septon, and he complies, despite the septon’s warning that “to harm me is to declare war on the Starry Sept.”
Rhaenyra exits the sept and faces a crowd of smallfolk, and here she’s reached a state of complete belligerence. She begins a speech about how her father named her his heir, publicly, requiring lords to swear fealty to his daughter. But she goes further—she says that her rule was prophesied before Viserys was even born. She references Aegon the Conqueror’s dream, saying that Aegon had a duty to “shield the realm from an ancient and sinister darkness that looms in the far north, beyond the Wall.” Torrhen Manderly and Grand Maester Orwyle exchange a look during this—what in the world is she talking about? “If your world is to survive, I must light the way,” she shouts into the crowd, co-opting the motto of House Hightower before dubbing herself “Rhaenyra the Chosen.”
Rhaenyra then switches to High Valyrian and declares herself the Prince That Was Promised, even though there’s surely no one in the crowd who speaks High Valyrian. The response from the citizens gathered before the sept is stunned silence.
In 2026 parlance, this is a crash-out. It took us nearly two seasons longer than expected to get here, but Rhaenyra is fully over the edge. Whether she’s experiencing a classic bout of Targaryen madness or whether this is the natural result of so many deep personal traumas she’s suffered throughout this series is up to the audience to interpret, but the result is the same: The woman who was once known as “the Realm’s Delight” is gone.
In the final moments of the episode, Rhaenyra learns that Helaena has killed herself by jumping out one of the Red Keep’s towers and onto the battlements below. She finds the tapestry Helaena was working on, depicting her own suicide, by the window. It also depicts something else: Rhaenyra, sitting the throne, with blood streaming down all around her.
This image is reminiscent of Rhaenyra’s book characterization. Earlier this season, we saw Rhaenyra cut herself on the Iron Throne, something that serves as an omen in Westeros. It’s said that Aegon the Conqueror built the throne out of the swords of his enemies so that no king (or queen) could sit easy upon it and the throne can also reject monarchs who are unworthy. When Rhaenyra cut herself earlier this season, it went unnoticed by those present, but when Rhaenyra first cuts herself on it in Fire & Blood, it is during the long ceremony after she first takes King’s Landing and is seen by those in the throne room: “Wise men looked at one another, though none dared speak the truth aloud: the Iron Throne had spurned her, and her days upon it would be few.” In the novel Rhaenyra cuts herself on the throne repeatedly: “Yet every time she sat the Iron Throne, its cruel blades drew fresh blood from her hands and arms and legs, a sign that all could read.”
That image on the tapestry, though, depicts more than just a few cuts. There are ribbons of blood running down her from head to toe. It reminded me a bit of a previous king of Westeros, Maegor the Cruel. Maegor’s terrible reign came to an end when he was found mysteriously impaled on the throne. How Maegor died was never discovered—some say he was murdered, either by one of the Kingsguard knights or by Queen Elinor, one of his many brides. Others say he killed himself. And still others say it was the throne itself that killed him.
The Maegor comparison feels intentional here by the showrunners, as in the novel the smallfolk begin to compare Rhaenyra to Maegor not long after she takes King’s Landing. The lack of gold that has plagued Rhaenyra all season also affects her in the novel, and in Fire & Blood her master of coin, Bartimos Celtigar extracts heavy taxes from the merchants and shopkeepers in the city. Bartimos also makes public executions into a source of coin—he has executions of the various “traitors, rebels, and murderers” in the city performed in the dragonpit and charges anyone who wants to watch three pennies. The remains of those executed are fed to the queen’s dragons, making it quite a spectacle.
The plan replenishes the queen’s coffers, but at the cost of her reputation. Here’s how it’s described in Fire & Blood:
Neither Aegon nor his brother, Aemond, had ever been much loved by the people of the city, and many Kingslanders had welcomed the queen’s return … but love and hate are two faces of the same coin, as fresh heads began appearing daily upon the spikes above the city gates, accompanied by ever more exacting taxes, the coin turned. The girl that they once cheered as the Realm’s Delight had grown into a grasping and vindictive woman, men said, a queen as cruel as any king before her. One wit named Rhaenyra “King Maegor with teats,” and for a hundred years thereafter “Maegor’s Teats” was a common curse amongst Kingslanders.
Perhaps we’ll still get the “King Maegor with teats” nickname in the show, but I could also see them skipping it. Helaena’s tapestry was already a creative nod toward this part of the novel. Regardless of any nicknames, the result is the same: Rhaenyra’s reign of terror has begun.
And this is only the beginning. Elsewhere in this episode, there are so many things going wrong for Rhaenyra that she doesn’t even know about.
Rhaenyra doesn’t know that Ulf the White has abandoned her side, spurned by the constant disrespect shown to him by her and Daemon. She doesn’t know that Hugh abandoned his post and that his wife is now dead, in part because of an attack that she sanctioned. She doesn’t know that Aemond is alive and Alicent’s assassination attempt failed. She doesn’t know that Aegon and Aemond have made amends and are working together again. She doesn’t know that Addam is having doubts about her. She doesn’t know that Mysaria escaped from the retinue taking her to Pentos and is staying in King’s Landing. She doesn’t know that Corlys, who is still technically her hand, has proposed an alliance with Daeron that would let her half brother be Warden of the South, noting as he did so that many great houses are hesitant to accept a female ruler.
And she doesn’t know that the battle of Tumbleton was a certified shit show, resulting in the death of Ormund, yes, but also in the loss of Roderick Dustin and of many of the Northern troops he’d brought that had proved so useful in the Riverlands. Ulf burned much of the town, killing many of its citizens, and since he was previously known to be on Rhaenyra’s side, the result of this battle may be to paint her as the monster she’d wanted to avoid being seen as. Worse yet, Daeron escaped (along with Gwayne), so she didn’t even manage to take a dragon or a rival claimant off the board. When you consider that she lost Ulf’s allegiance and likely Hugh’s as well, this is a bona fide disaster for her.
Just think about where the dragon math stands now. Daemon is as loyal to Rhaenyra as ever, and his dragon, Caraxes, is one of the most formidable in the realm. But Rhaenyra’s own Syrax appeared to get injured last week in the scuffle with Sheepstealer, Baela is “grounded” in the Red Keep, Addam’s loyalty is uncertain, Ulf has fled, and Hugh abandoned his post. Rhaenyra began this episode with six dragons; she’s now down to a single truly healthy, reliable one and a bunch of question marks.
Aegon, meanwhile, is back on Sunfyre, who looks to be in solid shape even though he’s missing half his face. Vhagar is out there, ready for Aemond to reunite with her. And if those two brothers can rope in Daeron—who, to be fair, Aegon called a “little twat” this episode—the greens will suddenly be looking far more like a match for Rhaenyra’s forces than they have since at least Season 2. In fact, if those threads come together, they may even have the upper hand. With just one more season left before House of the Dragon reaches its conclusion, the “absolute power” Daemon noted at the top of the episode has evaporated.
Season 1 ended with that shot of Rhaenyra looking directly into the camera. It felt like the beginning of the war. This season ended again with Rhaenyra, but with her facing away from the camera, silently closing the window that Helaena had just thrown herself out of. It felt like the beginning of the end.

Martha Stewart has changed her hair color from silver to pink!
The woman, who just turned 85 last week BTW, appeared in the latest video posted by celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton. She mouthed an audio clip from “The Devil Wears Prada”, telling Chris to go to work.
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The caption of the photo read, “Welcome the rose-gold era.”
CA then followed up by posting a few photos of Martha, smoldering in front of the camera. He used her catchphrase to describe it: “It’s a Good Thing”.
Martha loves her single life, and she’s happy to have a new style that will turn heads.
The outlet reported that she is constantly out with “friends”, but it was unclear whether she has a boyfriend.

Melissa Barrera said that the firing of her from “Scream”, the franchise, by the producers was not “the first” time it had happened.
In a podcast with Latino USA Barrera confirmed that the producers of the show had “blacklisted her” but said that many people, and not only in the entertainment business, have been fired for saying that Palestinians should be given human rights, and shouldn’t get bombed or attacked this way.
Barrera said: “It is sad that certain interests are of greater importance to some people than money and power… they will do anything to silence people who say that people should live, children should grow up.” I try to keep hope alive because I feel there are more people who care about one another and understand how we’re connected. It’s not enough to ignore what’s happening in another country, when it could be right on your doorstep. This year, people, particularly in the United States, have realized this.”
Barrera played the leading role in “Scream”, the revival of 2022 and the follow-up 2023 film “Scream VI”. As the seventh installment was developed, Spyglass Media said that Barrera wouldn’t be involved with future sequels, calling the actor’s comments about the recent Israeli military strikes on Gaza “antisemitism,” which “flagrantly crossed the line into hatred speech.” Barrera responded by releasing a statement that condemned antisemitism and Islamophobia, as well
Barrera stated in her Latino USA Interview that “we just have to call things what they are even if it has consequences.” “I’m one of many people who faced consequences. But I am on Broadway today. I am still here. “It helped me to take more control of my own life, and stop letting others control my life.”
Barrera then went on to talk about her upcoming production company and her role in the documentary, “Traces of Home”, which is a story of a Mexican/Palestinian Family. Watermelon Pictures will distribute the film.
There are Palestinian flags all over Mexico City. Graffiti everywhere says “Palestina libera”. It is deeply ingrained into our culture. Barrera stated that the indigenous Mexican people are at the forefront of this movement. Even though they are very different struggles, we can see ourselves there.
Barrera was on Latino USA, promoting her part in “Titanique,” a Broadway show that is currently running at St. James Theatre. It’s about half way through the run. Four Tony Awards nominations were given to the production, including for best musical.

Netflix’s sci-fi thriller The Last House was expected to be a big hit this summer. It hasn’t disappointed. The Last House premiered on August 7th and shot straight to the top 10 of all lists.
According to FlixPatrol, the movie is currently the number one film on Netflix not just in the United States but also worldwide. It debuted at 84 No. The film debuted at No.
The Last House, which combines the horrors of A Quiet Place and 10 Cloverfield Lane in a claustrophobic setting, has been a big hit among audiences. The sheer horror of the film’s premise is enough to keep the audience engaged until the end.
The Last House Challenges the Audience to Perform The Impossible
The premise may seem simple, but it is actually much more complex in practice. A family of four is unable to escape their home when a storm threatens a peaceful neighborhood. Jason, the father and an engineer, tries to smash through every possible window or door, but the impossible happens: the tears he makes are being repaired by the rain. Ann (Greta) and Jason (Wagner Moura) try to calm down their two children Graham (Noah Alexander Sosnowski), and Ruth (Riley Chung). But this seems to be beyond logic.
The family and the neighbors try to get out of this situation by making the most of it. The more days pass, however, the less resources the family has. Both the family members and viewers are asked in The Last House how far they will go to protect those they care about. It’s a question with no easy answer.
Even mixed reviews can’t stop The Last House from rising on streaming
The Last House has received mixed to negative reviews despite the positive streaming figures and word-of-mouth. Rotten Tomatoes currently rates the film at 30%, which is “rotten”. Many critics believe that this movie never really realized its potential. The film runs for 112 minutes, which could be considered an egregious sin. The film is still worth watching for those looking to see a different take on the sci-fi genre and who don’t mind leaving things to their imagination.
Tudum is yet to reveal how many hours it’s been watched, due to its newness. However, one can assume it would be a large number. The Last House could stay at the top for a very long time due to its increasing popularity.
Netflix has The Last House streaming.

Aubrey Plaza has become a mother… she welcomed her first child together with Christopher Abbott.
Aubrey held her bundle of joy in New York City on Sunday after watching “Death of a Salesman”, Chris’ final performance.
TMZ reports that sources with first-hand knowledge confirm Aubrey and her husband welcomed a daughter during the final week of July.
Aubrey looks effortless with a chic high ponytail, black shades and a stylish hairstyle. The baby, wrapped in blankets and beanie’s, was snuggled in mommy’s arms.
Aubrey was pregnant in April. The baby is expected to be born in the autumn.
In the months following, the ‘White Lotus” star did not hide her expanding belly. She stepped out in public with her baby bump as she was preparing to be a new mom.
Aubrey’s and Christopher’s new child is their first together. Aubrey was married before to Jeff Baena but the couple did not have any children.
Aubrey and Christopher have previously collaborated on the 2020 film “Black Bear”, and the Off-Broadway production “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea”.