The debut of AMC Studios Interview with the Vampire served not only as the first glimpse into the live-action adaptation of Anne Rice’s Vamprire Chronicles, but more boldly as the anchor to the larger Immortal Universe the studio hopes to create. An integral part of that universe will be the Mayfair witches, a group of characters based on a trio of novels written by Rice. AMC began development on Mayfair Witches in 2021 and Season 1 of the series, starring Alexandra Daddario is expected to debut in January 2023. However, it turns out fans didn’t have to wait long for some connectivity to be established between the two pillars of the Immortal Universe.
Early in Episode 1 of Interview with the Vampire, a family breakfast at the Du Lac household turns into a family bitch session as each of the members of the group take turns griping about something. As Paul adds his concerns about his sister marrying a Baptist and having to follow a tradition of jumping a broom, he quips that there are “plenty of brooms down the street at the Mayfair sisters’ home.” The remark gets a chuckle from Louis and a brief admonishment from his mother, who asks him to walk back his comment. No damage is permanently done, but with Paul’s words, the stage is set for the arrival of the Mayfair witches.
The Mayfair witches have a wonderfully rich established history in Rice’s novels. Their legacy began in Scotland in the 1600s when Suzanne Mayfair bound herself to a demon named Lasher. Over the centuries, the agreement made by Suzanne has ensured that each generation of her family would see one member born with the ability to connect with Lasher and serve as a witch. The Mayfairs moved to New Orleans in the 1700s and became a fixture there until modern times when Rowan, Daddario’s character and the thirteenth witch in the Mayfair line, inherited Lasher and the powers that came with him.
Given the timeline set in Interview with the Vampire, if any of the Mayfairs were to appear in an upcoming episode one might expect Julien, the only male heir to Lasher’s power, or Mary Beth, one of the most powerful witches ever in the Mayfair line, to be good bets. It’s unclear just how much crossover to expect between the two series, but given all the work AMC Studios has put into developing the Immortal Universe, whatever crossover they do decide on will certainly be more than fan service.
HBO’s hit series House of the Dragon returned this week to remind everyone that, in it’s heart of hearts, it’s really just a big budget soap opera. The episode begins with a funeral and ends with a wedding, both of which are lined with the messiest of family drama one could possibly imagine. Nanna Blondell‘s Lady Laena Velaryon has recently died by self-inflicted dragon immolation, a real thing, and now everyone from both sides of the Velaryon-Targaryon family tree must unite at Driftmark to say their goodbyes. Unfortunately, neither of these bloodlines can ever maintain niceties, and the gathering quickly devolves into drunken shenanigans and children beating the life out of each other in the middle of the night. Normal, typical reunion stuff.
Emma D’Arcy‘s Princess Rhaenyra Targaryan clings to what she has, ultimately wedding her Uncle Daemon (played by Matt Smith) after faking the death of her husband Ser Laenor (played by John Macmillan). The Queen Regent, Olivia Cooke‘s Alicent Hightower, can’t handle the situation and tries to cut a person’s eye out after her own son is attacked, but everything turns out alright when young Aemond (played by Ewan Mitchell) bonds with a dragon well beyond his own years. It’s quite a bit to pick through, but here at Murphy’s Multiverse, that’s never been a problem. So, without further ado, here are the best and worst moments from this week’s episode – Driftmark.
BEST – The Funeral
There’s a lot of good in Driftmark. In fact, it was actually kind of difficult to select a specific part of the episode as the very best it had to offer. However, one would be remiss if they didn’t single out the opening funeral sequence as the epitome of what the entire series has been over the last several weeks. It’s one of those rare television moments when every major player left on the board is in one place at the same time, and they all act exactly the way viewers would hope. Tom Glynn-Carney‘s Prince Aegon immediately gets drunk, Laenor stands forlorn in the water, Daemon laughs at the most inappropriate time, Rhaenyra and Alicent are at each other’s necks, Harry Collett‘s Prince Jacaerys is thinking about his illegitimate father, Paddy Considine‘s King Viserys goes to bed way too early, and Matthew Needham‘s Lord Larys Strong stares unabashedly at the Queen for far too long. It’s a chaotic masterpiece.
Every minute of the funeral that passes is more entertaining than the last. It’s the show at its very best, with high-stakes politics and poor familial relations clashing to create the kind of drama tornado fans and critics both live for. The rest of Driftmark is also incredibly well-done, but the first chunk sets the tone so beautifully it simply must be recognized. More of this in the future, please.
WORST – It’s Still The Incest
Truthfully, it’s insane how many times this website has had to state that incest is bad. True to its source material, it seems House of the Dragon will continue to double down on incestual romance for the long haul. While it might have been more fun if the series kept examining the false marriage between Rhaenyra and Laenor, it will instead pivot to showing a lot of an uncle making love to his niece in a super uncomfortable manner. Strap in, because it appears this whole family-that-hates-each-other-but-also-really-loves-each-other vibe is part of the show’s package deal. With any luck, the creatives will at least include less graphic visuals in the last few episodes of the season. Until then, viewers can only hope Rhaenyra one day sees the light and moves on to another Ser Harwin Strong.
Nearly 30 years after Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst brought novelist Anne Rice’s incredible world of beautiful and terrifying vampires to the screen in 1994’s Interview with the Vampire, AMC, which gained the rights to adapt Rice’s works in 2020, has chosen to retell the story to launch their Immortal Universe. Despite several starts and stops, Rice’s rich universe of characters and stories was never able to live on in serial format beyond her novels. AMC seems to think they can remedy that problem, however, having ordered both a second series, Mayfair Witches, and a second season of Interview with the Vampire ahead of the latter’s series debut. If Episode 1 of Interview with the Vampire, “In Throes of Increasing Wonder…”, is any indication of what to expect from AMC’s adaptation of Rice’s works, it would seem that they have indeed found a way to bring the characters, settings and themes of those works together and lay the foundations of a shared universe as steeped in lore as the novels.
Any effort to adapt Rice’s works has to begin with capturing the essence of the two main characters: Louis de Pointe du Lac and Lestat de Lioncourt. And to this end, AMC seems to have made preternaturally acute choices in casting Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid as Louis and Lestat, respectively. Audiences will likely find themselves as captivated by Anderson’s Louis as Lestat was himself. Whether it’s the smooth delivery of his accent in early-20th century Nawlins or the ennui of an immortal man in the present day who has seen all the world has to offer, Anderson’s performance is as effortlessly brilliant as he is beautiful. Reid’s Lestat, Rice’s chosen protagonist of the bulk of her Vampire Chronicles, shows off the petulance and power that earned the character the moniker of the Brat Prince in the novels and lures Louis deeper into his game until he bestows the Dark Gift upon him. Equal parts charming and infuriating, Lestat only gives glimpses of his true nature in the pilot episode but Reid’s performance leaves the audience both wanting more and knowing there’s more there, much as Louis knows the same about his new lover.
As much as Louis and Lestat might feel like they are ripped right from the pages of the novels, creator Rolin Jones hit the sweet spot of reinventing the characters (likely in part to keep them from being carbon copies of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise’s versions) while capturing the essentials. From cleverly making this Louis’ second go-round with journalist Daniel Malloy, played brilliantly by Eric Bogosian, to Louis’ new profession and boldly changing the location of Louis’ transformation, Jones put his stamp on this adaptation. Though the sample size is small, it looks as though those choices, as well as Jones’ willingness to embrace and explore the nuances of the nature of Louis and Lestat’s relationship, something the 1994 film avoided, have not only set it apart from the film but, so far, make it a superior effort.
While the series would never get off the ground without proper characterization of Louis and Lestat, Jones, director Alan Taylor and executive producer Christopher Rice, Anne’s son, also captured another of the elements that made the novels so powerful: Rice’s sense of the importance of history, both real and imagined. A read-through of any of Rice’s Vampire Chronicles would serve as a fascinating lesson in grounding a fictional mythology in some of history’s most interesting eras. The episode works as much as a love letter to the New Orleans of the early-20th century as it does an introduction-and a very brief introduction at that-to the incredible world of vampires and supernatural creatures that AMC is setting out to create. AMC’s burgeoning Immortal Universe won’t just be inhabited by vampires, after all, so the subtle nod to New Orleans family of witches might seem like a throwaway line, but the audience might rather think of it as equivalent to Nick Fury’s drop-in following the events of Iron Man.
Taken as a single, standalone episode, “In Throes of Increasing Wonder…” tells a compelling story of a man who deserves to be more than what he’s allowed to be; taken as the first episode of streaming series that’s already been green-lit for a second season, the pilot introduces intriguing characters, plotlines and promises in both its past and present settings; taken as the first look at AMC’s shot at developing a shared universe with a staggering number of stories to be told over the known history of humanity, the first episode of Interview with the Vampire is the adaptation fans of Rice’s novels have dreamt of for decades and one that Rice, who passed away nearly a year ago, would have proudly endorsed as capturing her love of history…and of Louis and Lestat.
Amazon Prime’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power continues to deliver week to week and Episode 6, entitled “Udûn, may have been one of the series’ best to date. After Galadriel, Halbrand and the Númenóreans arrived just in time to help Bronwyn and Arondir hold off Adar and his army of orcs, things seemed to be trending up in Middle-Earth. However, just as Halbrand is hailed as King of the Southlands, the Southlands get a major remodeling.
As it turns out, when Adar was captured he was not carrying the hilt that he and the orcs had been seeking out. Unseen, Adar gave the hilt, which works as a key, to Waldreg, one of his grimey human peons. Waldreg worked back to the tower where he inserted the hilt into a stone and truly unleashed hell on Middle-Earth. Waldreg turned free a dammed up water source that eventually found its way to an underground lake of lava. Upon arrival, the mixture caused a catastrophic eruption, blowing the top off of a mountain which will now become known as Mount Doom.
The location where Sauron’s treachery finally ended as seen in Lord of the Rings: Return ofthe King when Gollum falls into the lava and destroys the One Ring is now the centerpiece of The Rings of Power. Adar’s plan to find his Uruk a home where they can be free of the sun came to fruition as the eruption of Mount Doom turned the once scenic valley into what will now become Mordor, the realm of Sauron. Showrunner Patrick McKay talked to the Hollywood Reporter about the decision to show the creation of such a major setting in the franchise.
A huge theme in Tolkien is the environmentalism and the way machines and industrializations destroys the land. We wanted that to be central and core all the time. It’s a thing that comes up again and again throughout the show. So in the writers room, we asked: What if Mordor was beautiful? All bucolic like Switzerland. And then what could happen that could transform it? We talked about the poisoning of the land — which starts in the first episode with the cow. Then you find out about the tunnels being dug and sulfur is going up into the air. It all builds toward this geologically realistic way of igniting the mountain, which now blacks out the sky for a very practical reason — Adar, our villain, sees the Orcs as his people and they deserve a home where the sun doesn’t torment them. We’re hoping it will take people by surprise.
Patrick McKay
Episode 6 moves the series that much closer to the creation of the Rings of Power and the One Ring. With Mordor and Mount Doom now on the map and the fates of many of the series’ main characters up in the air following the cliffhanger ending of Episode 6, it seems that the arrival of Sauron might not be too far off. Or perhaps, he’s been there all along…
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
Court is now in session and Jennifer Walters is here to reprsent the defendant in the matter of Superhuman law. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has finally hit Disney+ as the next installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and seems to be one of the studios most unique projects yet. With it comes a whole slew of C-listers and D-Lister heroes and villains that have found themselves in legal trouble.
The Prosecution Calls To The Stand: Man-Bull!
Before he was the monstrosity he is now, William Taurens, also known as Bull Taurus, was a goon that worked for Mr. Kline, an android known as MK-9 sent from the future to stop an impending apocalypse posing as a mob boss. Kline had tasked Taurens and his partner in crime, Itch to kidnap random people off the streets to be used as subjects in his testing trials. William and Itch were stopped by Daredevil, but due to their failure, were subject to MK-9’s test themselves in which William Taurens was transformed into the malignant mammal we know today.
This punishment didn’t stop him, however, as Taurens hit the streets yet again, intent on kidnapping more victims. Of course, Daredevil stopped him once more, and he reverted back to his human form.
When in Man-Bull form, Taurens possesses some pretty basic superhuman abilities such as strength, invulnerability and endurance. When in a state of intense rage his adrenaline pushes him into an unstable mood that actually allows him to control bovines through psionic means.
Mann-Bull made his live-action debut in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, now streaming on Disney+.
Court is now in session and Jennifer Walters is here to reprsent the defendant in the matter of Superhuman law. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has finally hit Disney+ as the next installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and seems to be one of the studios most unique projects yet. With it comes a whole slew of C-listers and D-Lister heroes and villains that have found themselves in legal trouble.
The Prosecution Calls To The Stand: The Porcupine!
First appearing in Tales To Astonish #48 in July of 1963, Alexander Gentry worked for the United States military as a weapons designer. Gentry began developing a porcupine-based battle suit, working long nights to make breakthroughs on his project. As he finally completed the suit he quickly became concerned that the US government would not properly compensate him for his hard work and believed he would be much better off using the suit himself as a means for monetary gain.
Gentry made his debut as the quilled criminal during the grand opening of a supposed “burglar-proof” bank where he went toe-to-toe with Giant-Man and The Wasp. Porcupine faced off against the two heroes a few more times but would eventually be defeated when he attempted to grow to Giant-Man’s size after stealing some of Hank Pym’s growth pills, realizing too late that he’d actually swallowed shrinking pills.
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The Porcupine battlesuit allowed its wearer enhanced strength and durability as well as an array of trick quills. Some of the quills were just basic sharp projectiles that could be fired from the suit but others consisted of lasers, rockets, sleeping gas, smoke bombs, tear gas, torches, electricity blast, and concussion bombs.
The Porcupine made his live-action debut on She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, streaming every Wednesday on Disney+.
Court is now in session and Jennifer Walters is here to represent the defendant in the matter of Superhuman law. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has finally hit Disney+ as the next installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and seems to be one of the studio’s most unique projects yet. With it comes a whole slew of C-listers and D-Lister heroes and villains that have found themselves in legal trouble.
The Prosecution Calls To The Stand: El Aguila!
First appearing in Power Man and Iron Fist #58, Alejandro Montoya was a mutant born in Spain who kept his abilities a secret until he took up the identity of the vigilante El Aguila. Inspired by his childhood hero, Zorro, Montoya hit the streets of New York as a modern-day swashbuckling Robin Hood, fighting crime and taking down mob bosses to redistribute the money to the poor of the city. These late-night heroics eventually lead Aguila right to the Heroes for Hire, Power Man and Iron Fist. Ultimately, Montoya teamed up with the duo to save Jeryn Hogarth from would-be assassins.
Aguila’s mutant abilities give him the power to generate electrostatic charges and discharge up to 100,000 volts. He harnessed this power through his rapier as the vigilante was a skilled swordsman as well as an acrobat and master of hand-to-hand combat. Currently, the character remains depowered as a direct result of the M-Day event, losing his abilities due to Scarlet Witch’s altering of reality.
El Aguila made his live-action debut in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, now streaming every Wednesday on Disney+.
Finally! The time jump I’ve been promising you all has come. It’s been 10 years since we last saw Rhaenyra, Viserys, Alicent, and company, and they’ve been busy in the meantime. Let’s get into it.
Rhaenyra and Alicent’s Children
Another promise delivered! The opening scene is Rhaenyra giving birth to her third son, Joffrey, named after Laenor’s old boyfriend who got rendered to a pink mist last episode by Criston Cole. Her other two sons, Jacaerys and Lucerys, are also shown in this episode. They look vastly different from Alicent’s children, in part that they lack the Targaryen silver-platinum hair. Instead, they have darker hair, and look quite similar to someone who has only been in the background of the first 5 episodes-Harwin Strong, who is their real father. It seems like this is a pretty open secret, as Criston Cole goads Harwin into attacking him after setting the older Aegon on Jacaerys in the practice yard, and very obviously not training Rhaenyra’s boys with nearly the same enthusiasm as he is Alicent’s. If people did not have suspicions about the Crown Prince’s lineage, there are certainly questions now. This forces Rhaenyra to send Harwin away, back to his family seat of Harrenhal with his father, who resigns as Hand. Sadly we only got one episode of Harwin being a major character, as the castle was torched and both he and his father perished in the flames, all orchestrated by the other son, Larys the Clubfoot. The Curse of Harrenhal and all of that.
Another interesting dynamic in this episode is that Aegon is relatively friendly with Jace and Luke, and even pulls a prank on Aemond (who everyone hates) with the two boys, promising Aemond that they have a dragon for him and bringing out a pig. Aemond is desperate to have a dragon, whining to Alicent that the boys are picking on him. That’s when we see Alicent’s third child, a daughter by the name of Helaena. Helaena appears to have what Targaryens call “Dragon Dreams,” which are prophetic visions. Pay attention to her words during Aemond and Alicent’s conversation. Later, Aegon was confronted by Alicent about the prank, and he’s pretty quick to throw Jace and Luke under the bus, knowing that Alicent will believe him without hesitation. Alicent warns Aegon that if Rhaenyra comes into power, Aegon would not live. He must be ready to take the crown, by force if necessary, which leads us to the surrounding drama in the King’s Court.
Drama in King’s Landing
From the opening sequence, we can see that the rivalry between Rhaenyra and Alicent has grown exponentially. Alicent demanding that Joffrey immediately be taken to her after the birth is a pure power move, and Rhaenyra deciding to take Joffrey herself is an answer back that she won’t be bullied. Alicent can’t help but make a remark to Laenor to keep trying, maybe one of these children will look like him. She’s both alerting Rhaenyra that she knows her secret, as well as she is hoping to get a reaction for the King to see. Speaking of which…
King Viserys Targaryen I, also known as the Westerosi Rickety Cricket, is in rough shape these days. His left arm is gone, hair is falling out, teeth look grotesque, and he’s getting wheeled around everywhere. Iron Throne wounds are not to be taken lightly it seems, and this decade has been hard on him. This does not stop him from being elated for a new grandchild, as well as watching his sons and grandsons practicing in the courtyard. He’s hoping that if they all grow up and play together, this will make them closer. I wish you were right, Viserys.
The most important scene in this episode was the small council meeting. There are various concerns, notably a Bracken and Blackwood conflict (remember the boy proposing to Rhaenyra and got laughed out? The boy was a Blackwood, the man he killed was a Bracken. LORE), and the Stepstones are being taken over again. Alicent brushes these off, and in turn the king does as well, but Rhaenyra raises objections, again highlighting their rift and different leadership styles. After this, Rhaenyra proposes to Alicent that Jace and Helaena be betrothed, combining the two houses. While it does seem like a very good match, it would all but eliminate Aegon’s claim. It seems like everyone but Viserys sees this, who is blissfully ignorant in his grandsons’ parentage. Even if he knows, he does not care. They are his daughter’s children, and she is a Targaryen. What’s the problem?
After the refusal, Rhaenyra decides to wash herself of King’s Landing and go back to Dragonstone, leaving her father in Alicent’s clutches.
Daemon and Laena
Everyone in this episode seems to have aged up except Daemon, who will live at this age forever it seems. Daemon and Laena Velaryon have wed, had two daughters, and another is on the way! They’re chilling in Pentos across the Narrow Sea, and Daemon is happy to play bodyguard for the host they’re staying with. It seems like Daemon has turned a page, going from a warrior to a dutiful husband and father. Sure does spend a lot of time in the library, though. Wonder what he’s trying to find about the old dragon riders of Valyria.
Unfortunately, this all came to a full stop. Laena talked about her wanting to go back to Westeros, to not die old and fat but as a dragon rider. She received her wish maybe a little earlier than expected. While in labor with her child, she was unable to push the baby out, and as both the maester and Daemon start speaking of a c-section, the same operation that killed Viserys’s first wife in the opening episode of the season, Laena escapes out and to her dragon, Vhagar, demanding that it burn her alive to end her suffering. Metal as hell.
Thoughts Moving Forward – Spoilers
I wouldn’t expect any more time jumps this season, though I would expect that Viserys will die in the next couple of episodes, acting as the catalyst for the Dance of Dragons. Helaena having dragon dreams is an awesome addition, specifically muttering that “He’ll have to close an eye”, and “The last ring has no legs at all. He has eyes, but cannot see.” The first quote can apply to multiple characters in the full Westeros timeline, but the second is a little more specific. Who is the last king in Westeros? He wouldn’t happen to not be able to use his legs, right?
Alicent presentation as an outright villain is problematic. She has very real concerns about Rhaenyra, and about her ability to be a monarch, and she’s been fed lies from her father to fear for her children’s safety. One of the best parts of this story is that there are no good sides, and each will do horrific things to the other. I really, really hope that they don’t try to influence the audience to choose Rhaenyra OR Alicent’s side.
One last fun fact. Every single Targaryen that has been named king or queen and sat the Iron Throne (Until Robert Baratheon. LORE) had silver-platinum hair. Something to ponder.
While it’s already been screened by select members of the media, fans around the world are just more than a week away from being able to stream Marvel Studios’ first Halloween Special, Werewolf By Night. Starring Gael García Bernal as lycanthrope Jack Russell and Laura Donnelly as monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone, the nearly hour-long live-action special has been described as a love letter to monsters by director Michael Giacchino. Filmed in black and white and intended as an homage to the Universal monster movies of the 1930s and 40s, Werewolf By Night has been racking up monster reviews from those who have seen it. According to Giacchino, this special is just “peeling back the corner of monsters in the MCU” and fans can expect them to “pop up again.” And though Giacchino stopped short of revealing when and where they might pop up again, there’s one interesting potentiality with connections to several of the project’s characters: The Legion of Monsters.
One of Giacchino’s goals with the project was to establish that “for centuries there have been monsters within the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and they’ve been being tracked or hunted or kept at bay by these hunters.” Those monster hunters, including Bloodstone, are heavily featured in the trailer for the project and, from what can be gleaned from the footage, end up hunting and capturing Russell, who seems to be attempting to hide in plain sight amongst them. Giacchino also noted that there are “different species and types” of monsters, some of whom are also featured in the project either as trophies or in the artwork found on walls within the monster hunter mansion. As pointed out by Maximillian Marvel, one such creature may have made the briefest appearance in the trailer, though the identity of the monster may not be the one many have come to believe.
Seen in the briefest of glimpses, the creature in the screenshot above has yet to be properly identified but a popular theory making its way around is that the unidentified creature is Marvel’s Nosferatu, a powerful and ancient vampire who would potentially link Werewolf ByNight to Blade, Marvel Studios next “monster” project. And while that may indeed by Nosferatu, it’s worth adding another name into the mix of possibilities: Manphibian.
Co-created in 1975 by Marvel horror master Marv Wolfman, X-Men legend Dave Cockrum and Tony Isabella and first introduced in Legion of Monsters #1, Manphibian is essentially Marvel Comics take on the classic Universal monster the Creature from the Black Lagoon. In that sense, Manphibian would make a nice trophy in a tank in a project inspired by Universal Classic Monsters (Creature from the Black Lagoon was produced and released by Universal in 1954), whereas Nosferatu is not associated with Universal. Given it’s just the briefest of glimpses, it’s hard to discern exactly who the character might be, but the creature does seem to have Manphibian’s trademark big, round eyes and a mouthful of teeth other than the two sharp teeth of Nosferatu. This is far less about “who is right and who is wrong”, however, and much more about what is possible.
Interestingly enough, if it is Manphibian rather than Nosferatu, the character would join Werewolf By Night, Elsa Bloodstone and Man-Thing, who is said to play a key role in the project, as members of comic book Legion of Monsters who appear in the project. In a recent interview with One Take News, Giacchino name dropped another member of the team: Frankenstein’s monster. With Giacchino also insisting that Werewolf By Night is just the tip of the iceberg for Marvel monsters joining the MCU, perhaps it’s possible that rather than building up to a Midnight Sons project, as so many assume, Giacchino and Kevin Feige are planting the seed for a Legion of Monsters adaptation.
As is the case with most of Marvel Comics “teams”, the roster of the Legion of Monsters rotated over the years as did their purpose. One potential pathway from the comics to a Legion of Monsters MCU project, however, could be the team’s pact to protect monsters from hunters out to kill them. Obviously this would have direct ties to Werewolf By Night and could even go so far as to explain why Jack Russell is posing as a hunter in the first place. WIld speculation, to be sure, but with Giacchino keen on brining more monsters into the fold and Marvel Studios loving its team ups, this one can’t necessarily be counted out. If, as Giacchino stated, monsters have inhabited the MCU for centuries there’s no reason that other Marvel monsters such as Frankenstein’s monster, N’Kantu the Living Mummy and even Simon Garth/Zombie couldn’t “pop up” and everyone is already expecting Dracula. Let’s just hope it’s not too late for poor Manphibian!
House of the Dragon is back, and this time, people are older. The show traversed a full ten years in only one week’s time, replacing the incomparable Milly Alcock and Emily Carey with the equally-as-impressive Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke. Despite a full decade’s worth of potential character development, it would seem not much has changed when the series’ sixth episode, The Princess and the Queen, starts ticking. Princess Rhaenyra is now the mother of three children, fathered by someone who is definitely not her husband, and nobody seems to think their lack of white hair is suspicious. Nobody, that is, except for Queen Alicent Hightower and her entourage of sketchy male cohorts. Tensions start to rise as Alicent and Rhaenyra challenge each other in King’s Landing, and secrets about the latter’s romantic history begin to resurface.
Meanwhile, Matt Smith‘s Prince Daemon Targaryan learns that married life might not be all that he’d hoped it would be, and Paddy Considine‘s King Viserys Targaryan learns that living ten years past ones expiration date might not be as comfortable as he’d imagined. From there, in classic Game of Thrones tradition, everything starts going downhill – or, more accurately, up in flames. After all, this is the House of the Dragon. Join Murphy’s Multiverse as we dig into both the best and the worst The Princess and the Queen had to offer.
BEST – The Birth of Joffrey Velaryon
The Princess and the Queen opened with the first of two birthing scenes present in the episode. Viewers are introduced to an adult Rhaenyra while she’s in the midst of delivering her third child, whom her husband eventually names Joffrey Velaryon after his deceased lover. It’s a messy scenario, but it’s an incredibly effective way to demonstrate just how headstrong the Princess has become in the years since fans last saw her. Immediately after giving birth, Rhaenyra receives word that the Queen would like to see her old friend’s newest son. Knowing this is likely some sort of power move, the King’s heir decides to walk Joffrey to the Queen herself, in spite of the fact she had only just pushed out the afterbirth.
The move is perhaps one of the single coolest things any Westerosi character has ever done. This goes without saying, but as one learns in biology class, birthing a human is not an easy task. Standing up from said task, coated in sweat and bleeding, and trucking it directly to face a personal rival is the epitome of a power move, one-upping Alicent tenfold. Not only was the sequence great for the story, but the camera work was excellent as well. The first several minutes of the episode was some of the best shot footage the franchise has seen, and one can only hope it’s a sign of what’s to come in the final few entries of the season.
WORST – Prince Aegon II Targaryan
Folks, there’s a new Joffrey Baratheon in town. Previously only seen as a newborn baby, Tom Glynn-Carney‘s Prince Aegon II Targaryan is shown as a full-blown young adult in The Princess and the Queen. As it turns out, he’s simply the worst. From the moment he makes his onscreen debut, he’s actively working to make the lives of much more likable characters miserable. He starts with a pig-themed dragon prank on his younger cousin, moves on to – *ahem* – revealing himself to the entire kingdom, and eventually plays fairly dirty in a sparring session with the same aforementioned family member. If the history of this franchise has taught viewers anything, it’s that this behavior will get worse before it gets better. In fact, it probably won’t get better. It will just keep getting worse and then Aegon will die or he won’t. Hopefully, and this feels weird to say about a minor, the show lands on the first option. (It won’t.)
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Session
comment_author_url
Used to track the user across multiple sessions.
Session
comment_author
Used to track the user across multiple sessions.
Session
Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us understand how visitors use our website.
Google Analytics is a powerful tool that tracks and analyzes website traffic for informed marketing decisions.
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years after last activity
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
Marketing cookies are used to follow visitors to websites. The intention is to show ads that are relevant and engaging to the individual user.
Pinterest Tag is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic.
