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Very cool episode for dragon lovers, to get such a good look at Syrax, Seasmoke, Vermithor and Silverwing, as well as seeing Vhagar again. Of course, then Vermithor ate and burned a bunch of people :/ I don't know that Rhaenyra had good alternate options and she didn't lie to them, but there was still some "Some of you may die, but that's a risk I'm willing to take" energy, lol.

It was kind of fun to see the differing dragon personalities in how Silverwing and Vermithor claimed their riders, though. Vermithor, such a brutal dragon, chose the man who stood in his face and yelled at him. Silverwing, a she-dragon with a milder personality, took the hapless man on the ground under her wing.

Overall, probably because there are so many of them, this show definitely does a better job highlighting that each dragon is distinct with its own personality. In the OG show, Drogon is the dragon Dany rides and Rhaegal and Viserion are just in the background for the most part, until Viserion is killed and Jon rides Rhaegal. In the books, there is the notion that Rhaegal is more wild and dangerous than Viserion (with there being the ever-popular fan theory, of course, that Rhaegal already knows the rider he will claim - Jon - is out there, while it's not clear who will ride Viserion).

Also, Rhaenyra with Vermithor behind her was an awesome shot.

I wondered in the book how Addam was able to claim a dragon, when the Velaryons pretty famously are not dragonriders and have not been successful at claiming dragons on their own (hence it was believed in the book that Addam was LAENOR'S son, which was heavily insinuated to be untrue, since Laenor did not have affairs with women, heh). Corlys probably has some Targaryen blood, their families have intermingled enough, but how much? Hugh and Ulf appear to be children of royal Targaryens. In the book, Addam's mother is described as having silver hair and purple eyes. She was believed to be a Velaryon bastard, but perhaps she was a Targaryen bastard.

I know Jace has a point in saying this could weaken his claim - a bastard claiming the throne from another bastard - but #1, he was a **** about it, and #2, what else is Rhaenyra supposed to do? Allow herself to be crushed so Jace can not face some uncomfortable truths about his heritage/not be challenged for his claim (which he would be anyway?)? They can't face Vhagar without more dragons.

Aemond was so sure he'd be so much better at ruling than Aegon - he's currently failing pretty hard. He's so alienated everyone that he ended up missing crucial intel about Rhaenyra finding riders for dragons until it was too late. I think Alicent more or less nailed last episode - he's still so angry and aggrieved about how insulted he's felt, it rules over everything else. He and Daemon sometimes have writing parallels, so it's not entirely surprising that Daemon is essentially being told he wanted the crown too much, he was too ambitious, and he didn't see the burden that leading was. Although I thought it was somewhat of a sign he's coming out of his acid trip that he (reluctantly) acknowledged little Lord Tully was right to slam him in order to gain more support. Daemon is not incapable of being pragmatic, and this was a moment that it was needed.

It would probably serve both Rhaenyra and Daemon to come back together (politically/military wise, that is), since she has the dragons and he has the army, but I think it's part of the inevitable disaster of their relationship. You know, on top of being related. LOL. They CAN'T entirely see each other as a political match - they're too enmeshed. Not in a good way.