It’s a Westerosi Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown.
HotD Ep. 8 balances venom and tenderness in portraying a complicated family.
The Short Take:
An exquisitely crafted installment, Episode 8 employs tragic irony to tell a moving story with a side of campy villainy. A mic drop for Paddy Considine.
Image Credit: The Hollywood Reporter
[SPOILER WARNING: Take a big swig of the milk of the poppy and black out if you haven’t seen the episode.]
Dragon Count: 8
(I’m not counting my eggs before they’ve hatched, thanks.)
The Long Take:
How will we remember King Viserys Targaryen, First of His Name, King of the Andals, and the Royhnar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm?
Up until this week’s episode, I might have said “not well.”
In Episode 5, Viserys asks Lyonel Strong, “Will I be remembered as a good king?” He agonizes over not only how the history books will remember him, but if they will even remember him at all considering his relatively uneventful time on the throne. “There is part of me that wishes I’d been tested,” he says, “I often think that in the crucible, I may have been forged a different man.” On the one hand, Viserys’ reign has been defined by its historical liminality; he will not be credited with the lasting peace and prosperity established by Jaherys before him, nor will he play an active part in the massive civil war that is to come, The Dance of the Dragons (presumably kicking off next week). In past reviews I have criticized and mocked his inaction, passivity, and people-pleasing. With a series of half-measured decisions, he has, as Rhaenyra in this episode says, “divided the realm.”
On the other hand, this week’s episode, “The Lord of the Tides,” showed us just how wrong Viserys was; that in fact he has been tested by his fractured family. Perhaps it took the crucible of imminent death to forge him into a heroic, righteous, and more decisive king, but upon death’s door, with his limbs lost and his remaining body visibly decaying, he shocks his court — and the audience — with a miraculous final walk to sit upon the Iron Throne. The epic drama of this scene was palpable because everyone had already counted Viserys out, and yet he shows up and shows everyone else up in rare form. I found that in spite of all the snide remarks and judgy thoughts I’ve had about him in past episodes, I wanted to root for Viserys in that moment. I wanted him to make it to the Throne and lay down the law like never before.
And he really was like he’s never been before. Even in Episode 7, he had threatened to cut tongues out, but no one took him that seriously. Here, despite his decrepitude, he draws the Cat’s Paw Dagger and points it at Vaemond; Paddy Considine convinced me that were Viserys in full health, he would have actually stabbed Vaemond for calling his grandsons bastards and his daughter a whore. A younger, more conciliatory Viserys never would have done that. This is still Viserys at his core, as he still wants to support Rhaenyra as heir and protect her family from rumors of illegitimacy. He still wants the ceaseless infighting and power grabbing to stop. But now, perhaps fueled by the thought that the end is near, he has a new-found ferocity. He has been forged in this crucible. Again, Paddy Considine is doing such fine work here; I felt that his struggle was real, which I imagine would be difficult for an actor who in real life seems in good health. His mixture of stubbornness and forlornness, a growl in his voice one moment and a deep sigh the next, completely sold this performance for me. I never would have expected that Viserys would have such a beautiful, bittersweet send-off.
Image Credit: The Hollywood Reporter
Rhaenyra and Daemon’s responses to his grand gesture made the sequence unexpectedly moving. Rhaenyra looks on, mouth agape, in awe of yet concerned for her father. I got the sense that she and Daemon found it very painful to see how much Viserys had deteriorated in their absence. Viserys refuses any kind of aid from those around him until he fumbles his crown in the end zone (did I do that right?) and Daemon, of all people, picks it up for him. Viserys is about to reiterate that he’s fine on his own, but then when he sees Daemon, a look of relief washes over his face as he accepts Daemon’s arm the rest of the way. The fact that Daemon is the one who picks up the crown and with so few words or much ado helps Viserys was beautiful and brought a satisfying resolution to their conflicts from past episodes (how many times did Viserys exile him again? I lost count). There’s no ego. No showboating. Not even a smirk. Just a simple “come on,” and the help that his brother needs. We get a glimpse into what life could have been like, how they could have ruled side by side if they had just managed to find their footing sooner. I was astounded to learn that this whole exchange between Viserys and Daemon was actually improvised on set, and I think this attests to the skill of both Considine and Smith.
Image Credit: LA Times
The tragedy of Viserys, however, is that his evolution into a better king and a better brother or father is too late. I’m not prepared to compare this series to the Bard’s work in quality, but the amount of dramatic irony in this episode reminded me of a Shakespearean tragedy. When Viserys commands his entire family to gather and begs them to try to make amends for the sake of the old man who loves them, Rhaenyra makes a surprisingly gracious toast to Alicent, who then returns the favor. How much of this was real is still a little unclear to me. Most fans and critics I’ve heard from see the exchange between Rhaenyra and Alicent as genuine because they seem to want to spend time together afterwards.
Even if they’re just humoring Viserys, he still gets to enjoy one fleeting moment of harmonious feasting that deludes him into thinking he’s fixed everything. I especially appreciated the camerawork in this scene because the warmer lighting and the sparing use of slow motion allowed me to see the scene through Viserys’ rose-colored glasses (or monocle, I suppose). We even see Jace dancing with Helaena, a subtle callback to the proposal Rhaenyra previously made to try to join Team Black and Team Green and ameliorate succession-induced anxiety. As a viewer, though, I know better. I know that this can’t last.
Even more of a gut-punch is Viserys’ delayed answer to Rhaenyra’s plea for support and advice earlier in the episode. He deliriously gives a heartfelt monologue on his deathbed, trying to tell Rhaenyra that he does believe in Aegon the Conquerer’s prophecy about The Song of Ice and Fire and that he believes that she — Rhaenyra — is the only one who can unite the realm against an unknown foe. The frustrating irony here, though, is that Viserys isn’t lucid enough to realize he’s in fact talking to Alicent, and then Alicent selectively interprets what he says as a mandate to install their son Aegon as the “Prince Who Was Promised.” Again, the tragedy wrought here is so powerful because this was so close to being a beautiful end of life for Viserys; it could have been a moment in which he finally instils confidence in his own daughter, trying to make up for not being there for her and not properly preparing her as heir.
Instead, though, we must live with the knowledge that Viserys’ best intentions will actually undo the peace he thought he’d brokered earlier in the evening. He unwittingly pushes Alicent back into the game. My interpretation of this scene was that Alicent is at first confused (she says she doesn’t understand) and then filters out all of the prophecy talk to conveniently hear what she wants to hear from Viserys. She likely will cite this conversation to others as proof that Viserys’ dying wish was to replace Rhaenyra with Aegon as heir. Twice now the show dangles what could have been before us — Alicent could have backed down and she and Rhaenyra could have been friends again — only to snatch it away and put us back on a collision course between Team Green and Team Black. Many fans and critics have pointed out that it’s silly for a whole war to hinge upon one misunderstanding. If only Targaryens had more names to choose from. If only Viserys hadn’t created this confusion by naming his first born son after Aegon the Conquerer. Or if only, as I thought in the moment, he had just said Rhaenyra and called out her name. Last week he accidentally used Aemma’s name instead of Alicent’s, which made it obvious that he was confused.
My response to these complaints about this storytelling choice is that dramatic irony is often senseless by design. What if Romeo had just asked someone about Juliet or gone for help instead of assuming she was dead? The audience knows how characters could easily avoid tragedy if this person just tells the truth, if this other person just explains the situation, or if two people don’t happen to meet at a certain time and place. But the characters don’t and that, by design, tortures us as we watch events unfold. I should also mention the Viserys’ deathbed scene also technically counts as situational irony because Viserys thinks he’s shoring up his decision to stick by Rhaenyra when in fact he’s doing the opposite. Take note, Alanis Morissette.
While Viserys was clearly the star of the show this week, I do want to shoutout two other MVPs: Rhaenys and Aemond. Rhaenys right now seems to be playing the game the best out of anyone. She sees right through Rhaenyra’s strategy in offering to marry Jace to Baela and Luke to Rhaena. She even calls out the fact that Rhaenyra brought Rhaenys’ granddaughter, Rhaena, with her to soften her up. Most interestingly, she notes that the ill feelings between them over Laenor actually do not matter in Rhaenys’ decision; this tells me that Rhaenys understands that once personal feelings or grudges drive decision making all is lost. She ultimately says, though, that she thinks Team Green will prevail and therefore does not want to go down with a losing Team Black.
Image Credit: HBO
During the Driftmark succession hearing, however, the camera cuts to a closeup of Rhaenys’ face. Actress Eve Best is brilliant here because the expression on her face immediately indicated that she is changing up her strategy in response to Viserys’ unexpected appearance in the Throne room. She knows that the winds will likely blow in the other direction now, and then, to the surprise of Rhaenyra, pretends like the plan was to marry the kids to one another the whole time. I could see the gears turning, and it made me respect this character even more.
Later, when we see Rhaenys watch the embalming of Vaemond, even though the maester tells her she does not have to or should not, also raised my estimation of her. This reminded me of the famous Ned Stark edict: the king who gives the sentence must swing the sword. Rhaenys appears to be forcing herself to live with the consequences of her actions. Her comments about how The Stranger (a.k.a. the God of Death) has visited her many times implied a history and wisdom that immediately piqued my interest. Rhaenys was more of a background player in the first leg of the season, especially since she was always with her husband Corlys, but after this episode, I can’t wait to see how she will try to help her own house and her two cherished granddaughters, the only reminders she has of her own lost children, Laena and Laenor.
Meanwhile, I’m a fan of Aemond for very different reasons. I know many say that it doesn’t make sense that he looks so much older as a result of recasting him while the other kids still look like kids. But I actually think that this recast works extremely well because it visually represents the “you bullied me when I was little, but now I’ve shot up a couple feet and become a total menace that you should now fear” development his character has undergone. The eyepatch makes him look like an over-the-top Bond villain, sure, but I think the series needs that to balance out all the drama. Aemond asking his nephews if they want to train right after besting Criston Cole during practice combined with Daemon saying, “he can keep his tongue” after publicly decapitating Vaemond was just the right amount of campy villainy for me.
Image Credit: Games Radar
The moment in this episode that made me laugh most was the look exchanged between these two once fighting breaks out at the family feast, almost immediately after Viserys departs. Daemon’s look says, “Just try something; see what happens” as he steps out in front of his family and Aemond looks with hatred and respect at the same time. To me, this foreshadows an epic battle between these two, and I can’t wait. In theory, Aemond is a match for Daemon because Criston Cole beat Daemon in the tournament early in the season, and we see that Aemond can beat Criston Cole (though it’s not in a real fight). I would still put my money on Daemon, who has more experience and grit.
Dragon Watch:
My one complaint about this episode — and it’s a pretty mild one — is that there were NO DRAGONS. Not one! At the top of the episode, we see Daemon collecting three dragon eggs, saying that Syrax has just laid a new clutch of them, but that’s it. It was cool to see how gooey a dragon’s nest is, but I hope we get a status check on the dragon wars next week as the Greens and the Blacks presumably prepare for war.
These eggs will likely go to the children Daemon has had or is about to have with Rhaenyra during this most recent time jump: Viserys (very touching to see his namesake meet him and say say “Ah, a name fit for a king!”), Aegon (yes, another Aegon), and the yet to be named child with which Rhaenyra is currently pregnant in this episode. This may significantly strengthen House Targaryen down the line, but I suspect that these eggs won’t hatch and grow in time to turn the tide, at least this season.
Here’s where I think each side is in terms of dragon power:
Team Black:
Syrax (Rhaenyra)
Caraxes (Daemon)
Vermax (Jace)
Moondancer (no visual confirmation yet, but we know Baela has a dragon)
Arrax (Luke, though, again, no visual confirmation yet)
Tyraxes (Joffrey, unconfirmed and he’s young enough that his dragon may not have yet hatched)
Meleys (Rhaenys)
Seasmoke? (Laenor is out of the picture for now, but it’s unclear if Seasmoke went with him)
Team Green:
Vhagar (Aemond)
Dreamfyre (Helaena)
Sunfyre (Aegon)
Team Black has the potential to win a numbers game, but the question is how much Vhagar, who is the biggest and most powerful dragon, with the ruthless Aemond as her rider, will fare against a lot of smaller dragons.
The same could be said of the humans on either side of this mounting war. Aemond seems like he will be carrying Team Green in the fighting department, as Aegon seems useless and Helaena disinterested. But this episode very clearly establishes him as a force to be reckoned with.
Has your support shifted after this episode? Place your bets for next week in the comments!