The king gets confused as ‘House of the Dragon’ dances on the edge of war
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[Contains spoilers for the “Game of Thrones” series through season 1,episode 8 of HBO’s “House of the Dragon.”]
King Viserys Targaryen has made a lot of bad moves during the first season of “House of the Dragon.” His latest bad move wasn’t exactly his fault, but it certainly fit right in with his other poor choices as the royal succession crisis continued to deepen.
Viserys’ story is a tragic one, and it made for a truly emotional episode of the show. The king is skin and bones, in constant pain, missing an eye and, well, most of the right side of his face. And yet he still keeps trying to mend the broken fences in his family. Paddy Considine put in some serious work in this episode, making you feel every labored breath and tortured step that the king took.
“Lord of the Tides” turns out to be a sad swan song for King Viserys. We’ll get to my thoughts on his final act in a minute.
First we need to discuss how much I really can’t stand Queen Alicent Hightower and her weaselly dad. They’re looking to shore up their position, taking advantage of Corlys Velaryon’s war injury and scheming to install his brother Vaemond as the heir to Driftmark.
More ‘House of the Dragon stories:
• Episode 7 review: If looks could kill, they wouldn’t need daggers on ‘House of the Dragon’
• Episode 6 review: Tough to find someone to root for on ‘House of the Dragon’
• Episode 5 review: The kettle boils over and all the tea gets spilled on ‘House of the Dragon’
• Episode 4 review: Targaryens gonna Targaryen on this week’s ‘House of the Dragon’
• Episode 3 review: Everyone’s on the hunt in this week’s ‘House of the Dragon’
• Episode 2 review: A good man makes a real bad decision on ‘House of the Dragon’
• Episode 1 review: ‘House of the Dragon’ gets back to the backstabbing we loved in ‘Thrones’
• TV Talk: HBO recaptures ‘Game of Thrones’ political dynamics in ‘House of the Dragon’
Rhaenyra knows exactly what they’re doing. Vaemond’s claim is a back-door way of questioning the parentage of Rhaenyra’s children, and her own claim to the throne.
In what might be King Viserys’ most honorable act, he gets himself to the Iron Throne one last time, eschewing milk-of-the-poppy and rightly calling out the vultures circling Driftmark. But Vaemond’s not going out like a chump. He names Jacaerys and Lucerys as bastards before Daemon takes off most of his head.
It was pretty enjoyable seeing the Hightowers’ faces as their plan fell apart. Rhaenyra’s visit with her father gives him the strength for one last hurrah, and his speech at the big family dinner was really touching. His plea for peace seems to at least partly acknowledge his own role in letting this situation fester for so long. And stupid me, for a second I actually thought he might’ve changed Queen Alicent’s mind. The first couple rounds of toasts at the dinner seemed to mostly smooth things over.
But kids will be kids, and Alicent’s kids are a real chip off their mother’s block. Aemond in particular has turned out to be a real piece of garbage, and also a real good fighter — never a great combination in Westeros. His older brother Aegon has apparently turned into a sexual predator, assaulting maids who then have to beg for their life before the queen.
When Jacaerys has a roasted suckling pig served to Aemond — a snarky callback to the “Pink Dread” pig prank from when they were little — the feud is back on. Aemond sarcastically toasts the boys as “brave and (S)trong” after the king leaves, tempers flare, and Team Rhaenyra heads back to Dragonstone just a few hours before the king takes his final breath.
At death’s door, he confuses Alicent for Rhaenyra, and haphazardly mumbles just enough of “the Song of Ice and Fire” prophecy for Alicent to make out a handful of phrases (“Aegon,” “the prince who was promised”) — enough to convince her that perhaps Viserys has changed his mind about who should succeed him.
I’m not sure how I feel about this decision on the writers’ part. We were already well on the road to war, and even though she said all the right things at dinner, I doubt Alicent was swayed by her husband’s pleas. Perhaps the writers needed to give us some sort of reason to feel a little sympathy for Alicent. Between the way she’s redecorated King’s Landing as a staunchly conservative tribute to the Faith of the Seven and her eagerness to go along with her father’s schemes, she’s come off as the true villain of the show so far.
Misunderstanding Viserys’ dying words at least gives Alicent a little cover to keep pursuing her son’s claim to the throne. It’s not enough for me to switch to Team Green, but it does complete the tragedy of King Viserys’ reign in Westeros.
Now there’s no one in King’s Landing to stop Team Green from staging a coup. We’ll see if the Hightowers have the political guile to convince the great houses of Westeros that they should get on board with Team Treason.
“House of the Dragon” episodes air Sunday nights on HBO Max.