Spoiler note: This House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 6 review discusses “Smallfolk” in full, including Rhaenyra and Mysaria, Seasmoke choosing Addam, Aemond dismissing Alicent, Daemon’s Harrenhal visions, Sir Steffon Darklyn, the King’s Landing riot, and the ending. Mary & Blake are TV-first viewers and avoid future Fire & Blood spoilers.

In our House Of The Dragon Season 2 Episode 6 review, we break down “Smallfolk,” an episode that shows what happens when the people under Targaryen rule stop being background noise and start becoming political power.

The episode does what House of the Dragon does best: intimate character scenes, sharp emotional reversals, visual mirroring, and power shifting through small choices. But it also exposes one of Season 2’s biggest problems: with only two episodes left, some storylines still feel like they are spinning wheels instead of moving with urgency.

Mary gave the episode 4.7 flames, while Blake gave it 4.4 flames. The high points are Seasmoke choosing Addam, Aemond becoming more terrifying in power, the smallfolk turning against the Greens, and Daemon being forced to confront his past. The bigger question is whether all of this setup is moving fast enough.

Below, you can listen to our full podcast breakdown, watch the video version, read the recap, and follow our related House of the Dragon Season 2 coverage.

Listen To Our House Of The Dragon Season 2 Episode 6 Recap And Reaction

Mary & Blake discuss House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 6, “Smallfolk,” including why the show is great at character but shakier with plot, whether the Rhaenyra and Mysaria kiss works, Aemond’s cold rise, Alicent’s loss of power, Daemon’s Harrenhal story, Seasmoke claiming Addam, and why Blake grew up thinking Tampax was candy.

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House Of The Dragon Season 2 Episode 6 Recap: What Happens In “Smallfolk”?

“Smallfolk” begins with the pressure inside King’s Landing getting worse. The people are hungry, the blockade is working, food is scarce, and anger is beginning to point toward the royal family instead of only toward Rhaenyra.

Aemond now rules as Prince Regent and immediately makes his authority felt. He orders Criston Cole toward Harrenhal, tells Alicent she no longer has a place on the council, and wants Otto Hightower brought back. The problem is that Aemond is not simply organized. He is cold, dangerous, and increasingly uninterested in anyone who cannot serve his purpose.

At Dragonstone, Rhaenyra continues searching for new dragonriders. Sir Steffon Darklyn attempts to claim Seasmoke because of his distant Targaryen blood, but the ceremony ends in fire. Seasmoke rejects him and later finds Addam, choosing his own rider instead of waiting for one to be presented.

Mysaria helps Rhaenyra attack the Greens from below by sending food into King’s Landing and spreading rumors among the smallfolk. The plan works. The people turn their hunger into rage, Alicent and Helaena are nearly overwhelmed in the streets, and the Green regime looks weaker than ever.

Meanwhile, Daemon remains trapped in Harrenhal’s haunted psychology. He sees Viserys again, confronts old guilt, deals with Alys Rivers, and watches the Riverlands situation become more complicated as Lord Grover Tully conveniently dies and the path to moving that plot forward finally opens.

House Of The Dragon Season 2 Episode 6 Review

“Smallfolk” is a strange episode because almost everything inside the scenes works, but the episode as a whole can still feel like it is moving too slowly for this late in the season.

The character work is strong. Aemond and Alicent’s scene is excellent. Larys and Aegon’s bedside conversation is one of the episode’s best surprises. Rhaenyra and Mysaria create a major emotional and political complication. Seasmoke chasing Addam gives the hour a needed burst of dragon personality. And the riot shows that the war is no longer only about kings, queens, councils, and dragons.

But the plot still fumbles in places. Daemon has been at Harrenhal for a long time. The show keeps circling Hugh, Addam, Alyn, Ulf, and the dragonseed setup without always making those characters feel fully alive yet. And with only two episodes left in the season, some of the slow-burn storytelling starts to feel less like patience and more like hesitation.

That is why Blake lands lower than Mary on this one. The episode is well made, well acted, and full of strong individual moments. But the larger season engine needs to start paying off the setup faster.

Why Is The Episode Called “Smallfolk”?

The title “Smallfolk” points to the ordinary people of King’s Landing, who become impossible for the ruling families to ignore in this episode.

For most of the season, the war has been framed around royal grief, succession, dragon power, and family betrayal. But “Smallfolk” reminds us that every royal choice has a cost below the council table. When the gullet is closed, the people go hungry. When the rich hoard food, the poor eat scraps. When dragons fight, ordinary people burn, starve, riot, and pay the bill.

The title also matters because Rhaenyra and Mysaria understand something the Greens keep missing: the smallfolk are not just passive victims. They are a force. Feed them, anger them, scare them, or inspire them, and they can change the political weather of the city.

Aemond, Alicent, And The Burden Of Authority

Aemond’s scene with Alicent is one of the defining scenes of the episode. Alicent tries to mother him, advise him, and remind him that power requires judgment. Aemond responds by making clear that he no longer sees her as useful.

That is what makes the moment so cold. He does not explode. He does not need to. He simply removes her from the council and tells her to return to domestic life, as if all her years of political maneuvering were only ever temporary permission granted by men.

Alicent helped build the argument that women should not rule. Now that argument has come back for her. She wanted Aegon over Rhaenyra because the realm would not accept a woman. But when Aegon falls and Aemond rises, the men around her do not suddenly make an exception for Alicent.

The line about the indignities of Aemond’s childhood not yet being sufficiently avenged cuts to the core of him. Aemond has power now, but he is still moving from old wounds. That makes him effective, frightening, and emotionally unreachable.

Larys And Aegon Become A Dangerous Pair

The Larys and Aegon bedside scene is one of the episode’s most interesting surprises. Aegon is broken, burned, vulnerable, and trapped in a body that no longer lets him perform the role of king the way he imagined.

Larys knows what that kind of humiliation can do to a person. He speaks to Aegon not only as a manipulator, but as someone who understands what it means to be looked at as damaged, cursed, or less than whole.

That does not make Larys good. It makes him more dangerous. He sees the part of Aegon that Aemond underestimates. He knows that a wounded king with a working mind can still be useful. Maybe even more useful, because everyone else may stop looking at him as a threat.

Aemond may have taken the regency, but this scene suggests he has made a serious mistake by leaving Aegon alive, underestimated, and emotionally available to Larys Strong.

Rhaenyra And Mysaria: Does The Kiss Work?

The Rhaenyra and Mysaria kiss is the most debated moment of “Smallfolk,” and Mary and Blake land on the same basic concern from different angles: the emotional need makes sense, but the timing and politics are messy.

Rhaenyra is isolated. Daemon is gone. Her council doubts her. Her son challenges her. Her claim is under pressure. Mysaria offers something Rhaenyra has not received enough of lately: belief, attention, and a sense that someone sees her as the queen she wants to be.

That emotional intimacy matters. A lingering hug would have made perfect sense. A charged moment where both women realize something is shifting would have made sense too. The kiss, however, creates complications the episode does not fully process yet.

Rhaenyra is married. Mysaria is politically useful but not necessarily trustworthy. Rhaenyra’s council already questions her judgment. If this relationship becomes known or if Mysaria feels rejected later, the consequences could be serious.

That is why the kiss matters beyond shock value. It is not simply about romance. It may be a new vulnerability. Rhaenyra needs connection, but needing connection inside a war can become dangerous fast.

Mysaria’s Food Plan Turns Hunger Into A Weapon

Mysaria’s strongest move in the episode is not the kiss. It is the food.

She understands the smallfolk because she understands need. She knows that hungry people do not think in abstract claims and royal bloodlines. They think about bread, meat, fish, safety, and whether the people in charge seem to care if they live.

Sending food into King’s Landing under Rhaenyra’s banner is a brilliant political move because it turns the Greens’ weakness into Rhaenyra’s opportunity. The Greens have the city, but they cannot feed it. Rhaenyra is outside the city, but she can make herself feel present inside it.

The riot shows how fragile royal power becomes when the people are hungry. Alicent and Helaena are not attacked because of one clean political idea. They are swallowed by fear, resentment, rumor, and desperation. That is the burden of authority Aemond does not yet understand.

Seasmoke Chooses Addam

The dragon material in “Smallfolk” works because it gives Seasmoke personality and agency.

Rhaenyra tries to solve the dragonrider problem with genealogy. Sir Steffon Darklyn has distant Targaryen blood, courage, and loyalty. He wants the bond to work. The ritual feels sacred and serious. But Seasmoke says no, and the result is brutal.

Then Seasmoke finds Addam.

That reversal is important because Addam does not claim Seasmoke in the traditional heroic way. Seasmoke claims Addam. The dragon chases him, corners him, studies him, and chooses him. It is funny, terrifying, and much more interesting than a clean ceremony.

The likely reason is blood. Addam is connected to Corlys, Laenor, and old Valyria in a way Sir Steffon is not. But the episode does not reduce the moment to math. It lets the dragon make the choice.

Addam, Alyn, And The Dragonseed Problem

Addam becoming Seasmoke’s rider finally gives the Alyn and Addam material a clearer reason to exist. Until now, their scenes have often felt like setup without enough personality. “Smallfolk” changes that because one of them is now tied directly to the dragon war.

That does not mean the show has fully solved the problem. Alyn is still mostly defined by silence, shaving his white hair, and carrying resentment around Corlys. Addam has the bigger moment because Seasmoke chooses him, but we still need the show to make him more than “the guy the dragon picked.”

Still, the dragonseed lane is now alive. Rhaenyra needs riders. Seasmoke has chosen one. Hugh’s hair, Ulf’s talk, and the growing focus on smallfolk with possible Targaryen blood are no longer random. The season is pointing toward a much bigger shift in who gets access to dragon power.

Hugh Hammer And The Cost Of Hunger

Hugh remains one of the most interesting smallfolk pieces because the episode complicates him. Last week, Mary was more in on Hugh because he seemed like a hardworking father trying to care for his sick child. This week, he punches someone and steals food.

That does not make him simple. It makes him desperate. Hunger changes people. A sick child changes people. A city under blockade changes people. Hugh is not sitting at a council table talking about sacrifice. He is living inside it.

The dog helps his case, though. He pets the ratcatcher’s dog, and that matters. In a show full of people who ignore suffering, anyone who is still kind to an animal gets at least one mark in the good column.

But Hugh is not just a nice man. He may be someone with enough Targaryen blood to matter, enough anger to be dangerous, and enough experience with the machinery of war to become more than background.

Daemon At Harrenhal Needs To Move Forward

Daemon’s Harrenhal story gives us great moments, but “Smallfolk” is where the patience starts to thin.

Seeing Viserys again matters. Daemon being forced back into the throne room, back into the wounds with his brother, and back into the choices that shaped him is emotionally useful. The show is making him confront his original sin: his relationship with Viserys, his hunger for recognition, and his habit of running away from responsibility.

Alys Rivers also keeps working as a strange, witchy pressure point. She knows too much, appears when she wants, and seems to understand Harrenhal as more than a castle. Whether she is guiding Daemon, poisoning him, helping him, or simply watching him break, she remains fascinating.

But the story needs to connect more strongly to the main season engine now. Daemon’s visions cannot stay weird for the sake of weird. They need to change what he does. The good news is that Lord Grover Tully’s death may finally move the Riverlands plot into its next phase.

Alicent And Helaena In The Riot

The riot scene is where the title “Smallfolk” becomes physical. Alicent and Helaena are no longer protected by status, symbols, or the idea that the people will simply endure whatever the crown gives them.

The scene has zombie-movie energy because the crowd is not one clean villain. It is hunger, fear, panic, and anger all moving at once. The guards make things worse. A hand gets cut off. Alicent is wounded. Helaena is overwhelmed. The royal family suddenly feels very small inside its own city.

Alicent’s arm wound also mirrors Rhaenyra’s wound from Season 1, when Alicent cut her during the Driftmark confrontation. Then, Rhaenyra was protecting Luke. Now, Alicent is protecting Helaena. The show keeps placing these women in mirrored positions, even as their choices keep them apart.

That is the tragedy of Alicent and Rhaenyra. They understand each other more than almost anyone else does. But the war they helped create keeps turning that understanding into pain instead of peace.

House Of The Dragon Season 2 Episode 6 Ending Explained

The ending of “Smallfolk” matters because Seasmoke choosing Addam changes Rhaenyra’s entire problem.

At the start of the episode, Rhaenyra thinks she needs to find a person worthy of a dragon. By the end, the dragon has found someone himself. That means the dragonseed question is no longer theoretical. There are people outside the official royal line who may be able to ride dragons, and the dragons may have a say in who those people are.

Politically, the ending is also dangerous. If Addam can ride Seasmoke, then Rhaenyra may have access to new power. But that power comes from outside the clean family structure she has been relying on. More riders could help her defeat Vhagar. They could also create new problems of loyalty, legitimacy, and control.

For the Greens, the ending is bad news. Aemond has Vhagar and the regency, but Rhaenyra may finally have a path toward balancing the dragon math.

What “Smallfolk” Sets Up Next

Episode 6 sets up the final stretch of Season 2 by pushing the war below the royal family and into the people, the dragons, and the forgotten bloodlines around them.

• Rhaenyra gains political momentum with the smallfolk but creates a personal complication with Mysaria.
• Mysaria proves she may be Rhaenyra’s most effective advisor and possibly one of her biggest risks.
• Addam becomes Seasmoke’s new rider, changing Team Black’s dragon problem.
• Alyn remains tied to Corlys and the Driftmark question, but still needs stronger characterization.
• Hugh becomes more complicated as hunger, family, and possible Targaryen blood keep circling him.
• Aemond rules with frightening calm and pushes Alicent further out of power.
• Aegon is wounded but not politically useless, especially with Larys now close to him.
• Alicent sees how quickly the people can turn when authority fails to feed them.
• Daemon may finally be forced to move forward after another round of Harrenhal visions.

Related House Of The Dragon Coverage

Continue through Mary & Blake’s House of the Dragon Season 2 coverage:

• House Of The Dragon Season 2 Recap And Episode Guide
• House Of The Dragon With Mary & Blake Podcast Hub
• Previous Episode: House Of The Dragon Season 2 Episode 5 — “Regent”
• Next Episode: House Of The Dragon Season 2 Episode 7 — “The Red Sowing”
• Season 3: House Of The Dragon Season 3 Teaser Reaction

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