Review: House Of The Dragon - Season 1 Episode 1 : The Heirs Of The Dragon
House Of The Dragon -Season 1 :Episode 1 : "The Heirs Of The Dragon" Recap & Review :
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" The Heirs Of The Dragon " : Review
Princess Rennes and Prince Viserys Targaryen. Prince Viserys has been made the future king by all the lords. A woman will not inherit the Iron Throne. The irony here is that the council was called to stop the war but still the irony here is that the family themselves are on the verge of declaring war.
9 Years Fast forward and King Viserys I is on the throne. We are 172 years past the death and birth of Daenerys, the Mad King, Ariz, who apparently goes mentally insane and kills everyone at the sound of the bell. but I digress.
The Dragon and Targaryen live in harmony, with thriving cities and homes at the height of their power. Princess Renera is the focal point here, and after flying on a dragon and meeting her friend Alicent Hightower. She aspires to fight the big battle and enter the battlefield but her mother is ready to clear those doubts. For now, she's stuck to stomaching for the council.
Because of Targaryen's arrogance, considering himself untouchable, there are problems. The growing alliance in the Free Cities is led by the Prince Admiral meeting at Bloodstone, colloquially known as the "Crab Feeder". Lord Corliss Valerian's concerns are met with a nostalgic shrug.
King Viserys is expecting the birth of his child soon and is confident that it will be a boy. Rainera listens silently, looking at various men of influence around the table. For now, Rainera visits Prince Damon Targaryen. She finds him sitting on an iron throne, but this is exactly how the books describe the chair, wrapped in thin tombstones, surrounded by hundreds of swords. Damon hands the young princess a necklace; Valerian Steel.
Damon is in charge of the armies and looks forward to overthrow his clothing of gold, deciding to conquer King's Landing and make them "afraid of the color gold". And part of it comes from some pretty terrible punishment. Damon himself commits several murders, chasing down criminals and removing the dismembered remains.
King has been under a lot of stress lately and unfortunately, that means little has changed in his health. The Grand Master investigates a horrific wound on the man's back, coming to the conclusion that it requires caution. As for Viserys, he is utterly adamant that he has a son, telling his wife about his vivid dreams of crowning and ruling as their son. After losing 5 children the queen immediately told that this was the last time. "I have mourned more dead children than I have. She says at the end. Maybe an ominous bit of foreboding?
The news of Damon's night-time slaughter soon reaches the king. Viserys is not pleased, and the Demons in Council question his excessive use of Gold Cloaks. Damon is convinced he's doing the right thing, framing it to promote law and order by intimidating people round the clock. The funny thing is that Corliss agrees with him. Otto Hightower does not. Viserys speaks equally to his piece, telling him to use cloaks of gold, but not to step outside his jurisdiction.
In King's Landing, Viserys hosts a major tournament. The exit is an impressive display, although George R.R. Martin would probably have spent 7 pages here describing all the banners and potential food on offer! The drama really intensifies when Damon gets on the horse.
Naturally, Damon comes out victorious, cuts his leg from under the horse and wins the duel. However, he does so by asking for favors from Alicent Hightower, the daughter of Otto Hightower, with whom Damon clashed in the living room. The duel is a bloody affair, which Tagrin is looking into.
As the queen goes into labor, the viscera is pulled. The Grand Master immediately pointed out that even poppy milk could not help him. Viserys has been given a tough choice. During a difficult birth, he can either lose his wife and child or lose his wife, but cut her open and push the baby out, potentially saving her in the process.
Given what we know about Viserys and his desire to be the heir, he lies to his wife, claiming they are carrying the child out. After telling her that he loves her, Viserys holds the queen's hand as it widens. The scene is beautifully edited against Damon's exit from the final match, where he takes his eyes off his opponent - who happens to be Dornish - and is forced to bow down.
Viserys is quoted as saying that he had seen his wife bleed during the birth of their child. And it turns out that her child is a boy. At least, to start. unfortunately,The child dies so Viserys's impossible choice ends in misery.
All the royal Targaryens gather for the funeral, seeing that the bodies are burning with the dragon's flames. From behind it, Otto brings to the Hightower Viserys' Sue Cesare and decides that the succession should be decided immediately. At the moment, Damon is the one who is determined to take the throne, but other ministers believe this to be a bad omen as he is not patient and can destabilize the area.
"Well, who else will claim? There is silence in the courtroom. Princess Renera was suggested and shot immediately. In fact, the whole court abruptly ends because Viserys is gone, the decision still uncertain. However this does not stop Otto, who sends his daughter (no less in her mother's dress) to the king to "rest" in his chambers. This, of course, is a ploy to get closer to the throne of Viserys and seize it for himself. This is something that is made easier by Damon's antics.
After the council has been misinformed about their claim, news reaches Viserys and Otto that Damon had toasted Prince Belone and "heir for a day" in town that night. Of course, this doesn't go down well with the king, who toxicly brings Damon to himself and demands the truth.
Damon accepts what he said, but also throws back that Viserys is away from his family, Damon urges Viserys to hand him over to the King. Unfortunately, Damon is exiled, forced to return to his estranged wife and is no longer in heir to the throne. Damon does what he's told, but he's not particularly happy with it.
In her absence, Viserys turns to Princess Renera and gives her advice on dragons and their history. In fact, at his most crucial moment, he decides that Damon isn't the one to hold the throne - Rainera is. He puts her forward as his successor. In doing so, Viserys also brings up a warning. He speaks of Aegon's dream about the end of the world of men. It begins with a severe winter from the north. "All Westeros must stand up against." He tells her, going on to reveal that the secret has been passed on from Aegon to each successive heir. She promises and thus, the first episode ends with Rainera due to take the throne.
Episode Review :
It's a shame that Game of Thrones ended up the way it did because Viserys' final speech could have been so impactful that the final two seasons were stuck in the landing. Alas, this prequel set 200 years before those events is actually off to a pretty good start.
The costumes and worldbuilding are both great, and the characters are intriguing and there's definitely an element of unpredictability about them. The show has also managed to maintain a level of visceral violence and nudity, which feels impressive and well made in the story — and in Martin's world.
The history of Tarragans has always been a fascinating period of Westeros and it is great to see that being discovered here. All the pieces certainly combine for an interesting season that could make for a great companion piece to Game of Thrones.
While it certainly won't make up for that disastrous ending to the fantasy series, it's certainly closer to GOT's first season than anything. Whether it can reach the glorious heights of Seasons 3 and 4 is another matter.
It's too early to judge on this yet, but so far House of the Dragon has all the right elements to be successful, equipped with decent characters, a slim slice of action and an ominous sign of things to come in the future.
House of the Dragon certainly looks like a strong fantasy series and one thing is already clear - it will put Amazon's Ring of Power in full swing when it drops in several weeks' time.
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