My Kingdom for a Dragon

So now we have look over at Team Black and Red in last night's House of the Dragon. It's also the season finale, though it somehow didn't feel like it. Still, I'm puzzled as to why some people feel the episode was disappointing.

I liked the big action sequence at the end. Those two dragons fighting was pretty great. I still wish they had arms and lances (yes, I'm still holding out hope for a good Dragonlance adaptation). But that huge, elder dragon contrasted with the little whippersnapper dragon, stalking each other in the storm like Kirk and Khan, was terrific.

But the episode began with another grueling stillbirth scene and I thought maybe they should call this House of the Miscarriage. Once again, it seems like the showrunners are presenting an argument for why it's more practical for men to rule. First Rhaenyra going into premature labour prevents them from immediately fleeing Dragonstone, then she emerges from her physical trials to demonstrate she shares Princess Rhaenys' wishy-washiness. I think Ryan Condal tried his hardest to explain why Sara Heiss didn't have Rhaenys kill the Greens last week--Rhaenys says something about how it wasn't her war to start. But, as Daemon more shrewdly sees, the war has clearly already begun and that was actually Rhaenys' opportunity to put an end to it.

Rhaenyra, surprisingly, is shaping up to be more Henry VI than Henry V. Hopefully by next season Emma D'arcy will be able to work up some of that old aggressive Milly Alcock magic.

House of the Dragon is available on HBOMax.

Who's Your Dragon?

As last night's House of the Dragon began, I wondered how Alicent's faction were going to deal with Rhaenyra taking the throne. By the end, I felt foolish for even thinking this was ever a possible scenario. And it mostly came off as very credible, giving us another nice episode that made me immediately want to watch a production of Richard III afterward.

Alicent finds, to her evident shock, that most of the small council has already been plotting how to install Aegon as King in the event of Viserys' death. Ser Christon the Unaging unceremoniously murders the one dissenter (whether or not it was on purpose, I'm not sure).

Watching the gears turn throughout the keep and the city as the machine slowly turned Aegon from the Royal Fuck Up to the Sure Thing was fascinating.

Last week, when Alicent misunderstood Viserys' dying words to mean he wanted Aegon to be heir, I wasn't sure if I liked the plot twist. Now I'm sure I don't because it doesn't make sense for Alicent, despite clearly having misgivings about replacing Rhaenyra with Aegon, to so doggedly support Aegon for the role. Realistically, I think she'd be questioning at this point if she really did understand Viserys or, even more likely, if he was really of sound mind when he said it. It just doesn't add up, with how much effort Viserys clearly expended to support Rhaenyra's claim in the previous episode.

I liked the focus on the common people of King's Landing in this episode. That was always a complaint I had about Game of Thrones, that we never had a clear sense of who the common people were or what they thought. It does make sense, in a way, because the show is from the point of view of the wealthy families and even the most broad minded among them are pretty disconnected. A good example is shown at the end of the episode when Princess Rhaenys crashes her dragon through a hall crowded with civilians, apparently little concerned that she's obviously killing and injuring dozens. At first I thought, well, these are the first casualties of the civil war. But then Rhaenys marched her dragon up to the assembled Alicent, her kids, and Ser Otto . . . and didn't kill them. It's sort of absurd. It's like Sir Lancelot in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, running in and slaughtering everyone, but then stopping at the most prominent villain and saying, "Behold, I am merciful!" Clearly, Rhaenys thought the civilians to be just so many koopa troopers. It was silly. I'm not sure it was intended to be.

At any rate, the show is still mostly brilliant and I'm looking forward to next week's finale.

House of the Dragon is available on HBOMax.

The Throne Sharpens

What an incredible and heartbreaking episode of House of the Dragon. The eighth episode, "The Lord of the Tides", made us all sure this brewing civil war is more than a team sport, but a deeply personal drama with the whole civilised world at stake.

You'd have to be pretty heartless to watch unmoved Viserys walking into the throne room one last time. You can tell how amazing this show is that it makes you cheer when Daemon suddenly kills a guy who happened to be absolutely right in his claim to inheritance.

But, alas for him, his brother was quite right when he said that history remembers names and not blood. The reality of the whole system is the game of thrones, not the story of peaceful negotiations and birthright floating thinly on top of it.

You could say this show belabours a point that a monarchical dynasty is no way to run a country, that it requires so much violence and delusion to make function. But, in a world where the truth is hard to see, people do need something to believe. How could they know this isn't their best option?

I was surprised Viserys was still alive at the beginning of this episode, which takes place six years after the previous, when he was already looking pretty bad, to put it lightly.

Now he's a horror show, which makes it even more painful watching him try to make this system work that he's never had a great knack for. Watching Alicent and Rhaenyra make a fragile little peace over the table--by the way, a beautifully laid supper--was all the more powerful because it was genuine and obviously doomed. But at least the old man got one last happy supper with the family. This show about a ruthless dragon family really does render a painfully honest portrait of the human condition.

House of the Dragon is available on HBOMax.

Dragons on the Beach

No big time jump, for once, in last night's House of the Dragon. A character died one week and the next we had her funeral. Most of the episode was low key and dreary but paid off with a fantastic confrontation.

I'm talking about the scene that devolved into Rhaenyra squaring off with Alicent, though it was really an ensemble work. It reminded me of the scene in Shakespeare's Henry VI that marked the start of the War of the Roses. You could see the battle lines of the future civil war being drawn.

Alicent was certainly the most interesting character this week and I really felt like Olivia Cooke made the role her own. Her look of horror when Rhaenyra remarks that everyone can see her for how she really is, behind the mask of righteousness, was great. Here's a woman who did everything out of a sense of moral indignation, but somehow, step by step, she's ended up being just as much a hypocrite, if not more of one. Of the two factions, Alicent's seems the less interested in the big picture.

I still wish Milly Alcock were still around but Matt Smith and Emma D'Arcy have a nice chemistry. I kind of wish their sex scene had been a little more extravagant. I'd have set it in a foundry or smithy, some place where they'd get really sweaty with molten steel all over the place. But it's nice to see these two vipers together at last.

House of the Dragon is available on HBOMax.

Twitter Sonnet #1628

Bazooka lights create a monster school.
A model home became the ancient tomb.
In slimy light, the picture wrote a rule.
The worms of ink composed an earthly doom.
The strainer stopped a bag of healthy plums.
Occasion springs a pretty pumpkin snack.
But mark, ye bairns, the speedy pagan drums.
A mammal skin completes the rusty rack.
The crusty tree has crushed the lava cake.
A thoughtless root removes the ochre vein.
The fields were ploughed in haste by rusty rake.
A stony floor betrays a fire stain.
The lizard bed was scales and claws galore.
Successful dates can rarely ask for more.

Babies of the Dragon

There's a whole lotta labour going on in the Seven Kingdoms. Last night's House of the Dragon revolved around children and giving birth. It also featured a time jump of ten years so several performers were recast, something I wish hadn't been done. It was a good episode but not quite as strong as previous episodes, an unfortunate thing since it needed to carry new stars.

Emma D'Arcy is 30 and Milly Alcock is 22. A person's face doesn't change so much in those years. I know Alcock was supposed to be playing younger than she was but if she can play 17 at 22 I don't see why she couldn't play 27. D'Arcy has a completely different energy about her, not to mention a more aquiline nose. But, oh well. She gives a good performance.

It's weird no attempt was made to make Ser Cristen Cole look older. If they weren't going to recast him they should have at least given him a big beard or something.

I don't think I'll mind Olivia Cooke as Allicent though she and Cristen Cole weren't served well by last night's teleplay. They came across more as straight forward villains, even when Allicent is shocked at the end by the murders she'd inadvertently instigated. I'd also really like to know how and why Cole was excused for beating that guy to death last week.

Meanwhile, Daemon fortunately remains Matt Smith and is dealing with his own problems across the sea. Mostly brooding though.

This was a decent enough bridge episode.

House of the Dragon is available on HBOMax.

Baking with Dragon Fire

Wow, House of the Dragon is good. I baked some fresh bread, which came out really well, and was eating it as I watched a guy's head getting bashed against the floor. And I thought, "Life just doesn't get any better than this." How sweet it is.

The episode begins and ends with murder. We finally meet Daemon's wife who, in just a few minutes, manages to come off as really cool before he first paralyses her and then murders her, all without a word.

He doesn't speak at first when he shows up to Rhaenyra's wedding feast so I thought maybe the episode was going to be an exercise in how menacing Matt Smith can be with silence. And menacing he was.

The big wrinkle in this story is Ser Criston, whose honour matters more to him than Rhaenyra counted on when she decided to make him her boytoy. He finds an unexpected, and unsought, ally in Queen Alicent.

The predicament she's in is so logically put together and so horrific. I loved the scene in the rain, at the entrance to the Red Keep, when her father laid it all out for her. Not only will Rhaenyra fight for her kid to be heir over Alicent's, Rhaenyra will have no choice in doing so.

So Alicent brings her cleavage to the party, wearing no chemise under her gown. It's her battle array, worn as she confronts Viserys and Rhaenyra for the first time since she came to believe they both betrayed her. And she has good reason to think that, from the moment Richard III let slip the skinny about Rhaenyra's tea.

I thought he was Ben Whishaw at first but it's an actor called Matthew Needham playing Larys Stong, son of the new king's hand who's replaced Alicent's father. He seems to be the arch-schemer type, a Tyrion or a Littlefinger. Ah, happy days are here again.

House of the Dragon is available on HBOMax.

Twitter Sonnet #1623

The missing egg has hid an Easter Day.
Again the saggy river clogs the freight.
A bouncing barrel yet surpassed the tay.
Expensive elves and dwarves have nothing ate.
A glassy beard allowed a view of chin.
When time's a watch, the drum's an ear of corn.
We gather lead below the metal bin.
The party pitched below the mark of scorn.
The B balloon could still traverse the C.
The tea lagoon could still revive the man.
A gentle chime confined the tuner key.
We beat the band to buy a muffin pan.
The twisting lizards lock in wedding chains.
The clumsy club has broke the bloody mains.

A Dragon in the House

Rhaenyra learned that freedom isn't free in last night's House of the Dragon and that the cost doesn't always come in the form of money. But Rhaenyra may console herself that she did herself come, at least, and I would guess not for the first time but probably for the first time with a partner.

She might be a little pscyho. Running around amongst the commoners in disguise didn't seem to make her even a little nervous. Witnessing sex for likely the first time, certainly witnessing an orgy for the first time, she's only fascinated and mildly amused. She may think she lacks freedom as a princess, but it's her royal position that has insulated her from developing any apprehensions that would be healthy for a commoner. If she never develops any understanding of those fears, at least, she will likely never make for a decent Queen.

Some people might compare her escapade in disguise to Disney's Aladdin but it's actually much closer to the movie Aladdin apes, The Thief of Bagdad, in which the sultan goes disguised into the town and learns via a public show that the people kind of hate him. So, as Damon tries to impress upon her, she has an uphill battle for the people's acceptance.

I was a little surprised Damon staggered back to the Red Keep through the front door the next day. I wasn't so surprised Rhaenyra lacked the discretion and her seducing her poor bodyguard was pretty tragic. I liked the way the shit hit the fan the next day and how complicated the issue became via the drama between King, Queen, and Hand. This show gets better and better.

House of the Dragon is available on HBOMax.

Twitter Sonnet #1621

Expected suits were sought beyond a death.
A second rise contorts the virgin sun.
The air reserves itself a vital breath.
A human group's reduced in ghostly sum.
Enormous larvae fill the banquet hall.
The clouds of space negate the purple air.
A lightning thought was snapped beyond recall.
Her pump has paused upon the golden stair.
The heavy scales were shed on lacquered wood.
The river ale would burst without canals.
There's something strange a candle understood.
The judges break their chalk for all the fouls.
As time exists to help a slug endure
Communal clouds will never yield a cure.

Dragons of Discontent

House of the Dragon continues to be a solid show, to put it mildly. It's probably the best thing on television.

Sunday's episode advanced the timeline to find the now Queen Alicent pregnant with her second child. I like the complicated friction between her and Princess Rhaenyra, her former best friend and superior, but now someone she has command over.

Much of the episode took place during a boar hunt, bound to recall the first season of Game of Thrones. Things go differently, of course. King Viserys is shaping up to be a nicely nuanced character. More than simply a "weak king", he's a man torn apart by obligations, trying desperately to see the right way forward between prophetic visions and the needs of those around him.

It hardly needs saying that the show is outshining Rings of Power. Handily. Even on the one thing Rings of Power is praised for, visuals, House of the Dragon outpaces it with better cinematography, locations, set design, and costumes. I love Rhaenyra's hunting outfit with the red blouse and olive jerkin.

And there are just basic things this show does that Rings of Power doesn't. There's a solid sense of place, of characters inhabiting the same space. Of the events in one area affecting events in another. The character motives are clear and the drama is engrossing. House of the Dragon is a light in our gloomy existence.

House of the Dragon is available on HBO Max.

Drakes Get It Done

If the first episode of House of the Dragon centred on Daemon, the second, "The Rogue Prince", sets out to establish Rhaenyra as the other lead. She doesn't quite hit the ground running as well as Daemon did but she's not bad.

I'm enjoying Milly Alcock's performance and it's a shame she's set to be replaced by another actress when events jump forward in time later in the season. Alcock is 22 years old, it seems silly to replace her with a 30 year old actress. Also, I see Alcock was born on April 11, which also happens to be my birthday. So clearly the stars are on her side.

A lot of her drama so far revolves around the unprecedented circumstance of a female heir to the Iron Throne. I wish the show did a better job of establishing how this sexism manifests in the minds of the people of Westeros and what are some of the root causes of it. It makes it difficult to drum up meaningful drama about glass ceilings, so far it's being treated merely as a matter of Rhaenyra needing to prove herself. If women can't sit on the Iron Throne, it seems obvious for a woman who wants to do so to ask, "Why not?"

If we were to look at the real Middle Ages, say in the 1400s, which seems roughly the analogous time period to House of the Dragon, there was a history of a few reigning queens to point to as examples. Eleanor of Aquitaine, Blanche of Castile, Margaret of Anjou. These were all regents who served as rulers while their husbands were indisposed or absent for extended periods. Maybe the ruler of Westeros would be more comparable to a Caesar but even then you could talk about Cleopatra. Does Rhaenyra really have no frame of reference? Are there no widow countesses or duchesses she could look to as prototypes?

Last week's episode incidentally illustrated one of the prime arguments against a woman ruler--women had a high chance of dying in childbirth. A king could continue marrying long after one unsuccessful childbirth. A queen, like Daemon's prospective bride or like Elizabeth I, could abstain from bearing a child but then that raises the obvious problem of succession. And it was a problem when Elizabeth I died, resulting in her cousin, James, already King of Scotland, becoming England's monarch. It seems like these are all matters the king's council on House of the Dragon should be bringing up.

At least the show continues to be lovely. It's so nice to have this weekly eye candy again.

House of the Dragon is available on HBOMax.

Twitter Sonnet #1616

The standing cat awaits attending serfs.
Important leeks were soon digested whole.
The boat's a bowl of lentil soup at berth.
The angry calf denounced the phony foal.
A waving tie salutes the action scene.
Constructing masks results in taking deals.
Remember now the fated Coffee Bean.
Exchange the buzz and scrap the dicey meals.
A rubber cross was sprinkled thick with glass.
A spider day accosts the smelly brute.
Elusive cakes bedevilled Fabienne's ass.
No burger breakfast stained the shepherd's suit.
The changing coat enabled lords to dive.
Beneath the sea do scaly devils thrive.

Targaryens in the House

Game of Thrones is back and it doesn't suck. House of the Dragon's first episode is pretty damned good, in fact. Showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik seem to understand what people liked about Game of Thrones--complex characters with understandable motives; storytelling that takes its time; beautiful costumes and locations; good performances and brutal action; borderline hardcore sex scenes. So far it's nailing everything.

It's still hard for me to see Matt Smith as anything but the Eleventh Doctor but now he's a really buff, draconian enforcer Eleventh Doctor. Seriously, the skinny poindexter somehow turned himself into Mr. Muscles.

He's definitely the standout on the show. His character, Prince Daemon, really is a dangerously smart strongman in the making. This show isn't going to treat its viewers like idiots and that alone makes me excited. But I'm a lifelong fan of mediaeval fantasy so there's quite a lot on this show that excites me by default.

Oh, I loved that joust tournament. We need more jousting in film. I loved the contrast between the ruthless brawling and the little princesses putting their pretty wreaths on the lances.

I also liked the slight redesign for the Iron Throne, which, from what I understand, is closer to the books. I'm eager to see more of this show.

House of the Dragon is available on HBOMax.