TV Review: HOUSE OF THE DRAGON: Season 1, Episode 1: The Heirs of the Dragon [HBO]

House of the Dragon The Heirs of the Dragon Review

HBO‘s House of the Dragon: Season 1, Episode 1: The Heirs of the Dragon TV Show Review. The Heirs of the Dragon is the competent episode that the television-version of the A Song of Fire and Ice universe sorely needed after the last two seasons of Game of Thrones. House of the Dragon is a different animal than Game of Thrones. The viewer can feel that right away, which in this case, works to its benefit. House of the Dragon is familiar yet unfamiliar, with subtle nods to its fore-bearer here and there e.g. the catspaw’s dagger but with just enough Listerine to wash out the bad taste in the viewer’s mouth from what they witnessed in its predecessor’s finale.

The Killing of the Queen

In a way, Queen Aemma Arryn (Sian Brooke) seals her fate when she mentions to King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) that this will be her last pregnancy. That she can not bear to bury another child. With the potential death of his unborn son, King Viserys I’s legacy, and his line at risk, the unthinkable becomes rational to King Viserys during The Heirs of the Dragon. In the critical moment, Queen Aemma ceases to be his wife, companion, and friend and instead becomes collateral damage on the road to a male heir.

The terrible moment in question is horrific yet shows the male and royal mentality toward women during that time period  – namely, women are second-class citizens i.e. less than. A means to an end. Disposal. Not as useful or sought after as men.

When Grand Maester Mellos (David Horovitch) is poised to cut into Aemma and the king realizes that she, the woman that loves him and that needs him, that looks to him for protection, who is his first cousin, is about to be in the worst agony of her life, a move that will kill her, and that he is the cause of it out of familial-interest, King Viserys becomes Tywin Lannister – “The house that puts family first will always defeat the house that puts the whims and wishes of its’ sons and daughters first. A good man does everything in his power to better his family’s position, regardless of his own selfish desires.”

The Tournament

The tournament in The Heirs of the Dragon, at first a show of skill, becomes a stage for revenge, then a make-shift battlefield paralleling the birth of the would-be heir to the Iron Throne.

The tournament is minimally entertaining because of a lack of connection to any on-screen character (its the first episode) – if the viewer knew the characters, the viewer would have something at stake, the viewer would have something or someone to root for during the tournament.

A positive highlight of the tournament does include Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) almost getting knocked off his horse and skidding along a railing.

The other machinations during the tournament do raise certain questions: a.) why is Prince Daemon not disqualified from the tournament when he attacks the horse of Otto Hightower’s son during the joust, and b.) if horse-crippling is an allowed move at a joust, why is that maneuver not employed by others at the joust?

It’s moments like this that rip the viewer out of the episode, forcing them to scratch their head. Another conundrum, why do the jousters start to kill each other? A tournament is supposed to be a friendly competition, a chance to display and sharpen a combatant’s martial skills. How is killing in this circumstance feasible, not prohibited, or allowed? Why are the people in the stands happy, even cheering, as their sons are being killed right in front of them?

In a society built around male heirs, it is inexplicable – let’s kill our male heirs for no reason while evidently, if one looks at the King’s situation, male heirs are in short supply in some families.

Because of this occurrence (and the society it happens in), this is the strangest, most-confusing joust / tournament that the viewer may have ever seen in a television series. It is bizarre and nonsensical.

Seed of Enticement

Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) sending young Lady Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey) to comfort and console the king in his grief seems casual but when he asks her to wear one of her deceased mother’s dresses, the visit takes on a subtle undertone – one of enticement (or the planting of a path toward enticement). It doesn’t have the seductive edge that the Margaery Tyrell visit to Tommen Baratheon’s bed chamber had in Season 4 of Game of Thrones but it does have the beginnings of a kinship through grief between the King and Alicent.

That, manipulated by a tactician that knows the minds, wants, and desires of those involved, could have implications in the future.

Daemon wants to be Hand

Daemon Targaryen’s desire to be Hand of the King is comical when one merely looks at his conduct during The Heirs of the Dragon. For all of his prowess with a sword, horse, lance, shield, armor, and dragon, Daemon’s psychological short-comings completely overshadow his limited positive aspects.

If King Viserys is weak, as Daemon announces, in taking deliberate actions that showcase his strength to others, Daemon is weak in thinking before taking deliberate action.

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