Tag: HBO

After seeing how the Greens reacted upon learning of King Viserys’s death, acting on long-laid plans and instilling his son Aegon II as king, over Rhaenyra, Episode 10 took the story to Dragonstone.

The Black Council

The episode opened with Rhaenys serving as the bearer of bad news. Not only is Viserys dead, but Aegon had been named king in front of all of King’s Landing. Daemon point blank asked Rhaenys why she didn’t roast them alive when provided with the opportunity in the previous episode. Rhaenys said it wasn’t her war to start, which makes sense, but come on! They were right there!

The shocking news of her father’s death sent Rhaenyra into labor with her third child with Daemon. She wasn’t due for months, and sadly lost the baby. While this wasn’t the final straw for her to declare war on her childhood best friend and half-siblings, it was just another thing to blame on the Greens.

Rhaenyra was very restrained in the war council, asking if it’s her duty to hold the realm together, or to tear apart the country to get to her throne. This moved Rhaenys, and in turn garnered both her and Corlys’s support and fleet, providing one of many lords and armies she’ll need to take the Iron Throne.

Daemon

Our warmongering rogue prince got up to his usual shenanigans. He’s eager to show Westeros who is the rightful heir to the throne, and he is willing to use dragons to do so. Damon addressed the many dragons that are still unclaimed and stated that the Blacks needed to find riders for them. Even with Vhagar’s sheer size, the Blacks having 13 dragons vs the Greens having 4 would make this war short-lived. But we see later in this episode what a dragon can do to another dragon. Is it worth the cost?

A much-talked-about scene from the episode saw Daemon grab Rhaenyra by the throat and choke her. What forced this? We haven’t seen violence like this between Daemon and Rhaenyra, but he does have a history of murdering his wives. Well, turns out that even though Daemon was the heir before Rhaenyra was confirmed, he didn’t get all of the privileges that a Targaryen heir gets. He had no idea about Aegon the Conqueror’s vision, which is The Song of Ice and Fire (what the entire series is based on) when Rhaenyra brought it up. There’s a very good quote from Emma D’arcy, the actor that plays Rhaenyra, that might help explain the scene. “On the one hand, he can say that he doesn’t believe in prophecies. But he was never trusted to anyway.”

This revelation that he was never really considered as the heir sent him off to try and bring out some of the unclaimed dragons, and we see him singing to Vermithor, the dragon to King Jaehaerys, who ruled before Viserys. Expect to see a lot more of these unclaimed dragons in Season 2.

Storm’s End

Having read Fire and Blood, I knew that this scene was coming, and I knew that the show had to nail this sequence. Aegon being crowned isn’t the catalyst that drove the realm into war. A woman being named heir over a male isn’t the catalyst. It is simply a young man with a vendetta and a nuclear weapon at his disposal that he can’t control.

To set the scene, Rhaenyra was seeking to confirm who her allies are. By sending Jace north to the Vale, White Harbor, and Winterfell, as well as Luke being sent to Storm’s End, it sent a stronger message than just sending a raven. But when Luke gets to Storm’s End to treat with Borros Baratheon (who was chosen to lead, not to read), he finds Vhagar causing a ruckus outside, and Aemond the anime warrior with the sapphire eye already there. Luke was spurned by Baratheon and turned to leave to go back to Dragonstone. Aemond demanded justice, however, telling Luke to cut out his own eye and he’d let bygones be bygones. Borros stopped things and let Luke go. But he also let Aemond go.

If you’re reading this, you saw the dragon fight, if you want to call it that. Vhagar is at least 5 times the size of Arrax, and it was not much of a battle so much a light snack for the oldest dragon in Westeros. But it also proved to be a major deviation from the book, and it might have some effects on the main series, Game of Thrones. Both Arrax and Vhagar disobeyed their riders, with Arrax shooting flame at Vhagar, and Vhagar going after him and killing both Luke and Arrax. With both Aemond and Luke repeatedly screaming for their dragons to stop and obey, it recalls a warning given by Viserys throughout this season that dragons are something that the Targaryens trust in too much, being that they are still uncontrollable wild animals at their heart. That came to life here. Aemond meant to just intimidate his nephew, and instead he started a civil war that will tear apart the Seven Kingdoms.

Things to Come

With the dragons acting on their own will in the ending sequence, I hinted that this may have further effects on Game of Thrones, in particular, when Dany burns King’s Landing to the ground. Could House of the Dragon possibly be trying to retcon this action, by placing the blame on Drogon instead of Daenerys? Something to think about.

In Season 2, we’ll be seeing the Vale again, as well as Winterfell, where Jace will be traveling. We’ll also finally see Daeron, the third son of Viserys and Alicent, who has been in Oldtown for all of this season, along with his dragon Tessarion. He’ll have a large part to play in the coming war. Exciting things to come, and it was a great start to the show.

“Dreams didn’t make us kings. Dragons did.“

These words, uttered by Matt Smith‘s Prince/Prince Consort Daemon Targaryen in a moment of raging spousal abuse, really set the tone for an unexpectedly intense season finale. House of the Dragon returned for another hour on HBO last night, it’s last of the year, and somehow managed to up the dramatic ante on a show that’s been pretty consistently melodramatic for ten-straight episodes. Titled The Black Queen, in reference to Emma D’Arcy‘s Princess/Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, the finale stands as the series’ official boiling-over point in the conflict between members of the Targaryen family.

With Tom Glynn-Carney‘s Aegon II Targaryen crowned King of the Seven Kingdoms against the proper line of succession, Rhaenyra and her supporters – known as the “Blacks” – must devise a game plan to win back the Realm. Unfortunately, as is often the case in Westeros, nothing really plays out all that smoothly. While Rhaenyra hopes to find a peaceful transition between rulers, Daemon goes rogue and begins plotting a full-scale war. Elliot Grihault‘s Prince Lucerys Targaryen and his brother Jacaerys (played by Harry Collett) head north in search of allies among the Starks and Baratheons, but a surprise confrontation with Ewan Mitchell‘s Prince Aemond Targaryen puts a major damper on Rhaenyra’s rallying cry.

In the only bit of good news, Steve Toussaint‘s Lord Corlys Valaryon is revealed to have survived his wounds. He and his much-smarter wife, Eve Best‘s Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, pledge their dragons and their navy to the Black Queen, setting up an action-packed second season with tensions high and hearts broken. As per usual, it’s a lot to break down. Luckily for the folks at home, Murphy’s Multiverse has already determined the best and worst moments that occur in The Black Queen.

BEST – Deaths in the Family

House of the Dragon‘s first season finale begins and ends with the deaths of Rhaenyra’s children. Both moments are fairly impactful in terms of viewing experience, but it’s Emma D’Arcy‘s performance in reaction that solidifies The Black Queen as one of the series’ best installments yet. At the top of the hour, Rhaenyra is informed rather abruptly by Rhaenys that her father has finally passed and that Aegon has been chosen to succeed him – in what could be considered a coup on the part of Olivia Cooke’s Queen Alicent Hightower. This shocks the pregnant, would-be Queen into a premature stillbirth, which she delivers on her own – standing up – before walking away to initiate her rightful rule of the Seven Kingdoms. It’s exactly as impressive as it sounds, and an incredibly powerful sequence that likely made it hard for fans to keep their jaws from dropping. The grace and capability with which Rhaenyra handles the situation is eye-opening and sufficiently proves she has the temperament to lead that Aegon does not.

As if that wasn’t enough trauma for poor Rhaenyra, the hour concludes with the loss of a beloved son. Prince Lucerys travels to Storm’s End in an effort to sway Roger Evans’ Lord Borros Baratheon to his mother’s side, but when he arrives, he finds an uncooperative, and surprisingly rude, Borros has already aligned with Aegon at the behest of the latter’s brother, Aemond. The kindly Lucerys tries to leave peacefully on his dragon, Arax, but is pursued by his violently vengeful uncle in a gorgeous – *ahem* – dance of the dragons in the dark skies over Storm’s End. As beautiful and awe-inducing as the moment is, it also results in Aemond losing control over his dragon, Vhagar, with the beast killing both Lucerys and Arax in a shocking clamp of its teeth.

Stylistically, the ending is one of the best to come out of the entire Game of Thrones franchise. Storm’s End and the lightning-filled clouds above it appear to be out of a 1980’s-style Jim Henson film, a la The Dark Crystal, and the visual effects on the dragons and their duel are stunning. There’s a lot to love. However, it’s the minutes following Lucerys’ death that resonate the most. Aemond, for the first time, seems to show some sort of compassion, and the look on Rhaenyra’s face when she learns of what happened can only mean one thing – The Black Queen now has a pretty good reason to be a little less reasonable. Perfect set-up for a second season.

WORST – Otto Hightower Being Himself

Truthfully, there wasn’t much to hate in The Black Queen. The episode sped along at an insane pace and was chock-full of buzz-worthy scenes. However, there was one moment that felt truly infuriating as a viewer, and that was the only one involving a Hightower. Rhys Ifans‘, as good as he is, continues to be one of the most obnoxiously vile characters on the show, with his Otto – Hand of the King – arriving in Dragonstone in an attempt to make Rhaenyra and Daemon swear fealty to their new King. Obviously, they do not, and Otto is forced to make several snide remarks before leaving ominously with the promise of death floating in the air. The best part of his brief appearance in the finale was when Rhaenyra removed his symbol of the Hand and tossed it off a bridge. Hopefully, he never gets it back.

All 10 episodes of House of the Dragon are now streaming on HBO Max. A second season is unlikely to stream until 2024 or later.

The penultimate episode of House of the Dragon did its best to match Game of Thrones‘ Episode 9s, let’s check into how they are preparing for the season finale.

The Green Council

After the initial discovery of Viserys’s death, the Hightowers quickly corraled anyone who would know about it, in order to keep things quiet while they did their scheming. Alicent told the council about her interpretation of Viserys’s last words, which she believed to mean that he wished that his son Aegon to succeed him as king. Stop naming your kids Aegon, please. Get creative.

This was all the justification that the rest of the council needed, as it became clear that Otto and company have been planning to usurp the throne without Alicent’s knowledge. This knowledge seemed to paint her in an innocent light and not the mastermind of these plans. The only two to oppose the seizing of the throne were the Master of Coin, Lord Beesbury, and the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Harrold Westerling. Beesbury got his head caved in by our favorite guy, Criston Cole, for speaking out, but Westerling was let go after he tossed his white cloak off.

The Search for King Aegon II

Now, you can’t exactly place a new king on the throne without the king, so where was Aegon? Two search parties were sent out. One by Otto, led by the twins Erryk and Arryk Cargyll of the Kingsguard, and one by Alicent, led by Cole and Aemond. The race for Aegon was a little cloudy, but the root cause is that Otto will try to convince Aegon that Rhaenyra and her family must die in order for him to keep the throne while Alicent would try to offer mercy.

After a romp through the bowels of Flea Bottom where Aegon spends a lot of time, we got a look at one of his bastards, as well as the child fighting pits that Aegon reportedly frequents. All this to prove that Aegon is a scumbag whereas Aemond studied the blade. Aegon was fiinally found being held captive by Mysaria, who was flexing her status as the true power of King’s Landing. She gave up Aegon’s location to Otto after negotiating the end of child fighting pits in Flea Bottom: a true hero to the smallfolk.

Mysaria was ratted out by Larys the clubfoot, who shockingly has a fetish for normal-looking feet. In exchange for getting a look at Alicent’s piggies, he promised that Mysaria will die, and the information being fed to Otto through her will also end.

After being freed from captivity, Aegon felt that he wasn’t truly worthy of the crown, being spurned by his father for Rhaenyra, as well as being a general screw-up in his family’s eyes. Only when he learned from Alicent that Viserys “wanted” him to ascend did we get the full Joffrey look in his eyes when he was toying with Aegon the Conqueror’s dagger. Alicent’s pleas to give Rhaenyra mercy fell on deaf ears as well. The smallfolk cheering for Aegon II had him puffing his chest out, until Helaena’s dragon dream from the last episode came to fruition.

The Beast Beneath the Boards

It turns out that Rhaenys and her dragon, Meleys, were the beast beneath the boards. Moments after Aegon was crowned, Meleys burst out of the floor of the dragon pit, killing and injuring a couple hundred/thousand smallfolk before giving the Greens a death stare. This fell really flat for me. Rhaenys knew that this act would lead to war, because she knew that Rhaenyra would not sit idly by while her half-brother steals her birthright. Her act of mercy to the royal family was pure plot armor, and had vibes of the later seasons of Game of Thrones. She had no problem with demolishing the smallfolk to get in a stare-down with Alicent, and then chose to fly away without royal bloodshed, to avoid being a kinslayer. Killing a couple hundred commoners, no problem, but if you choose to kill a distant third cousin, you’re DAMNED to eternity.

I’m still convinced there is another beast between the boards, but that is likely being pushed to season 2. The rats will have a part to play, I guarantee it.

Things to Come

The Black council was omitted from this episode, but they’ll be taking over for most of the season finale. Rhaenys and Erryk Cargyll will be delivering the bad news, and we’ll get to see the reactions. Surely Rhaenyra and Daemon will handle things in a mature matter, right?

This coming episode will not only see the Black Council’s planning but also the gathering of allies and dragons as well. We’ll finally see Storm’s End, where the Baratheons will have to decide which side to join, whether it be the Greens or the Blacks. No spoilers, but this meeting on Storm’s End will set the tone for the entire war in the seasons to come.