Tough to find someone to root for on 'House of the Dragon'

[Contains spoilers for HBO’s “Game of Thrones” series through season 1, episode 6 of “House of the Dragon”]

My father and I sat down once when I was younger and watched Quentin Tarantino’s classic 1994 film “Pulp Fiction.”

When it was over, he said that he wanted to enjoy it, but his main issue was a lack of likable characters: “There’s no one I want to root for,” he said.

Similarly, there is no lack of unlikable people in this week’s “House of the Dragon.”

Queen Alicent starts the episode by pulling a power move on her daughter-in-law/former best friend, summoning the brand-new baby and her mother to climb the many stairs to her chambers for a faux-celebratory visit.

King Viserys’ weakness in both his physical being and the way he’s handled the succession question has got most everyone in the King’s Landing court becoming their worst selves.

It’s hard to blame the guy. His main goal is a struggle to say upright, and he’s down a full arm at this point, just a sleeve flapping in the breeze.

And try as I might, it’s hard to feel a lot of sympathy for the queen. She didn’t ask for this, and her father scared the heck out of her when he left King’s Landing last episode/a decade ago. But where the younger Alicent would never have dreamed of constantly needling the king about his daughter’s indiscretions, this new Alicent won’t stop talking about it, even when Viserys makes it clear he doesn’t want to hear it.

Their son Aegon — let’s not forget, the king’s first-born son — is doing gross teenage-boy things and indeed seems perfectly content to be a kid. He certainly doesn’t seem ready for the “your-mere-existence-puts-us-all-in-danger” trip his mom lays on him.

It was nice to see the royal sons getting along and just doing kid stuff. Despite the conspicuous absence of silver hair in Rhaenyra’s sons — the episode makes it very clear, these are Ser Harwin Strong’s kids — they’re goofing around with Alicent’s sons and having fun, at least for a little while.

More 'House of the Dragon' stories:

• Episode 5 review: The kettle boils over and all the tea gets spilled on ‘House of the Dragon’
• Episode 4 review: Targaryens gonna Targaryen on this week's 'House of the Dragon'
• Episode 3 review: Everyone's on the hunt in this week's 'House of the Dragon'
• Episode 2 review: A good man makes a real bad decision on 'House of the Dragon'
• Episode 1 review: 'House of the Dragon' gets back to the backstabbing we loved in 'Thrones'
• TV Talk: HBO recaptures ‘Game of Thrones’ political dynamics in ‘House of the Dragon’

Criston Cole continues his heel turn, encouraging Aegon to put a training-session beat-down on his… hang on a second, I’ll figure out the relationship … on his … step-nephew. Actor Fabian Frankel has described Cole as a bit of a thug, and that’s on full display here. His only goal is to goad Harwin Strong into losing his temper.

And while I am firmly Team Rhaenyra, she’s not without fault here, either. When Alicent says that one brown-haired child is a mistake, and two or three are an affront, she’s not wrong. But just like when she confronted Rhaenyra over her dalliance with Daemon, Alicent comes off as jealous that her rival is still out here seemingly living her best life. Rhaenyra is enjoying the company of her hunky Kingsguard beau while Alicent is stuck with a husband who’s literally coming apart at the seams. I want to believe she’s acting from a desire to keep her children safe, but at the same time she’s being extremely petty at every possible turn.

But in the realm of unlikable characters, the award for Biggest Piece of Trash goes to the man in the room when Alicent’s frustration boils over.

Larys Strong took his place in the pantheon of evil Westerosi schemers for sure this week. You could tell he wanted to get in good with the queen, but who knew this quiet plotter would have the gumption to murder his brother and father to do her a favor?

It’s got echoes of Littlefinger, but good ol’ Petyr Baelish would probably have artfully brought Alicent in as a co-conspirator. Larys just offed his family and essentially blackmailed the queen. He’s basically saying, “You see what I can do. You wanted your dad back, and I committed patricide and fratricide to make it happen. So you can either put me on the payroll, or I can perform this invaluable service for someone else.”

I wonder if that is his only angle. After all, he’s now the Lord of Harrenhal, a position that’s been a death sentence for everyone to inherit it. Larys himself said that Harrenhal judges those who pass its doors, and he did plenty of dirt in this episode. For now, though, I fully expect him to become Alicent’s personal Master of Whispers.

There is also a whole subplot involving Daemon and his family with Laena Velaryon, but it honestly didn’t add much to the episode and it kind of just seemed like a way to finally introduce us to Vhagar, the largest living dragon in the world.

This is one instance where the sped-up timeline — which was mostly handled well — falls short. We should be emotionally invested in Laena’s death-by-dragonfire and her desire to have some agency in this world, even if it’s over her own demise. But in the span of six episodes — only three that included Laena in any meaningful way — she’s gone from 12 years old to a Targaryen wife with a teen daughter.

Now Rhaenyra is taking her rightful seat on Dragonstone as the heir to the crown, basically daring Alicent to make a move. You’d think that would put Rhaenyra in a position of power, but she doesn’t yet know that her side-piece and the Hand of the King are both dead. If the queen gets her way, Otto Hightower will be back in King’s Landing, and he’ll be shoring up allies while across the water at Dragonstone, Rhaenyra will do the same.

The dragons are lacing up their dancing shoes.

“House of the Dragon” airs Sunday nights on HBO.