In the greater scheme of things, this episode did well in highlighting the polarity that still exists between the two factions (as it should), despite any attempts by Rhaenyra and Alicent to find a common ground, bridge the gap, and understand each other again. Broken after the death of her son, Rhaenyra relies on Daemon during her grief and anguish and does something she immediately regrets. I would argue it's at that moment when she comes closest to understanding Alicent, because she finds herself compromising her own principles, surrendering to a force stronger than her own resolve, just as she has watched Alicent do before, when she found herself in a position where she had to betray her own ideals and succumb to a will stronger than hers.
Alicent, on her part, spends the entire episode issuing commands under borrowed authority: Helaena's, and whatever influence she can still claim as Dowager Queen. In doing so, she is forced to confront the fragility of power when it's not truly your own. I would argue that it's here when she comes closest to understanding Rhaenyra and the impossible burden of legitimizing her rule as a woman, and the necessity of gathering every ally, every ounce of support, simply to remain standing.
In that sense, Rhaenyra becomes Alicent's foil, and Alicent becomes Rhaenyra's. More than either of them would care to admit, they have gradually become reflections of one another, each finding herself in the very position she once condemned the other for occupying. Their circumstances have eroded the certainty with which they once judged one another. And perhaps that realization, the recognition that they have become the very thing they once despised, is the deepest loss of all.
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