criston choosing death as a freedom from servitude is so bittersweet…choosing to die on his own terms is his triumph … oh my little knight i love you eternally
when you meet someone else who has also spent their whole life being used for their body and told they must live in servitude so you link up and maximize your joint bitterness
for me alicent sounded more defeated than jealous because after 20 years rhaenyra still chooses others above her. rhaenyra, who in alicent's eyes had more free will than she ever did, the reason she resented her, still chose someone else despite of alicent sacrificing everything
the concept of alicent probably falling for it bit by bit once again, and then catching herself which is why she stonewalls rhaenyra and never gives her any bit of absolution in all of their interactions so far. that ring scene carrying so much more weight now
the meria martell reference, the “unbowed, unbent, unbroken,” a dornish knight, broken and emptied in service to the targaryens, now resolving to die on his own terms “unbent” and glorious in battle on his own merit