![]() ![]() I described Viserys as circling the royal drain after his nosebleeds and fainting spells at Rhaenrya’s wedding bash. (A big if, admittedly.) It’s as happy an outcome involving a bisected head as you’re likely to see.Īll that was left was for the whole family to get together for dinner with grandpa one last time. And Rhaenyra’s latest ploy to strategically marry off her sons to relatives (this time Laena’s daughters, Baela and Rhaena, the boys’ cousins and stepsisters) means that Driftmark will remain biologically Velaryon, if all goes according to plan. The upshot was that Vaemond got to keep his tongue and the Sea Snake, wherever he is, got to keep his succession plan. So credit where it’s due: I’ve never seen such an expertly halved head before on TV or anywhere else. ![]() I complained at the beginning of the season about how part of the appeal of “Game of Thrones” was that it frequently showed me things I had never seen before on television, whereas “House of the Dragon” is overly reminiscent of its predecessor and other melodramas. Whatever it was, it set up one of the more memorable executions in “Thrones” history. I’m not sure if his brazen blaspheming was intended to be a glimpse of his innate recklessness, or a product of his intense frustration with what he perceived as a profound injustice, or just a final impudent kiss-off from a fed-up second son, or what. Does Vaemond really go from power-grab to death wish in a matter of minutes? “It’s a queen.”Īs for his besmirching the king’s daughter and grandsons to his face (or the half that remained, anyway) … did you buy it? Anyone in the realm would know there’s only one way that goes, even if the king is too feeble to handle the dispatching himself. “But it’s not a king who sits the Iron Throne these days,” Vaemond replied. “My cousin, the king, would have your tongue for this,” Rhaenys said. The crown has good reason to take my side.” While I’d like your support for my usurping, he told Rhaenys: “I don’t need it. That was the beauty of Vaemond’s plan, as he saw it, to install himself as the Lord of the Tides, commander of the world’s largest sea force. It’s a sign that Otto and Alicent have no intention of leaving - House Hightower has close, longstanding ties to the faith - and plan to marshal religious forces and followers to their cause when the time comes. There’s been some redecorating, too, with the Targaryen banners in the Red Keep being replaced by Faith of the Seven iconography. There are also a couple of new heirs, courtesy of Rhaenyra and Daemon: a new Viserys to replace the one we just lost, as well as yet another Aegon to keep track of, curse the gods. The early standout is Ewan Mitchell, as Aemond, whose face looks to have been chiseled from Valyrian stone with the sole purpose of appearing in a “Game of Thrones” show. And lest the poignant, nearly wordless exchange make you wonder whether true love and fresh dragon eggs have softened Daemon, a few minutes later we see him slice a man’s head in two. Of course, none of that works if Paddy Considine and Matt Smith, as well as the writers, hadn’t spent the past seven weeks creating a relationship in which mutual affection peeked through all the antagonism and indignation that otherwise defined it. The king gratefully accepted help from a degenerate, homicidal brother who is now also his son-in-law, with Daemon retrieving the dropped crown, the object of his desire from the beginning of the show, and placing it upon Viserys’s scabrous head for what they both knew would be one of the last times. I had a similar feeling watching this week’s “House of the Dragon,” when Daemon helped Viserys up the steps to the Iron Throne. It’s a subtle reminder that whatever its other failings and prejudices, the human heart tends to be forgiving and sympathetic in the face of suffering and love. ![]() Or about the compassion I felt for the 900-year-old shadow-monster birthing sorceress Melisandre, orchestrator of some of the show’s most appalling acts, when she collapsed into dust after fighting the good fight, for once. I’m thinking about the moving scene when Cersei and Jaime, partners in twincest, come together over their horrid, poisoned son Joffrey as he dies at his own wedding. ![]() One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about “Game of Thrones” is its ability to evoke real emotion over scenarios that, on paper, are weird and grotesque. Season 1, Episode 8: ‘The Lord of the Tides’ ![]()
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