House of the Dragon Season 1 Finale: "The Black Queen"

The best part of the Dragon chase was when the bigger Dragon flew over the smaller one, dramatically showing the vast difference in size.

 

Good ep but something about that last scene just didn’t quite give me the chill I needed so kind of a let down for that being the last shot of the season. Over all I liked this season, not as much as most but it definitely got better once the time jumps to Rhaenyra an adult.

 

Emma was spectacular. This is definitely their episode.

I understand that collectively it doesn’t feel right that the major turning points were all due to accidents and misunderstandings but for this particular case, I liked that the trigger for the dance of the dragons came down to them not being able to control their dragons. Viserys (“The Idea that we control the dragons is an illusion, they’re a power men should have never have trifled with”) and Rhaenrya in the beginning were right all along in that they were never meant to control and use the dragons. The events that will happen after this, I think, will drive Aemond to insanity/a murderbot because it all started from a mistake he made.

Anyway, the most entertaining part of this ep was the social media breakdown that happened because *gasps* Daemon wasn’t acting like the romanticized malewife people have fantasized him to be.

I don’t know if this show only or true to the books, but I liked the parallel of how close the second sons are with their mothers. Or at least it seems to me? Like how tender Rhaenrya is with Luke and Aemond clearly reveres his mother (can’t blame him as she’s the only one who stood up for him during the eye incident) and he’s most likely favored over Aegon.

 

Not hard to do since RoP apparently don't have that much to work with apparently.

 

Great finale. I was critical of the season early on, but I feel it's finally found it's footing the back half. Emma D'Arcy and Matt Smith are great. That Vhagar reveal was awesome. I hope Greg Yaitanes directs more episodes. Can't wait for next season.

 

Daemon woke up Vermithor, the dragon of Jaehaerys I (The Old King, Viserys' grandpa).

Eventually

Spoiler

Vermithor is claimed by Hugh Hammer, a peasant of uncertain origin, who has dragon-dreams like Viserys and becomes convinced he will overthrow the Targs and become king. This obviously doesn't pan out for him but his vision - "The hammer crushing the dragon" - ultimately does come true 150 years later courtesy of Bobby B.

I absolutely love this change. It makes Aemond much more complex and highlights dragons as dangerous magical WOMD's that the Targs dramatically overestimate their control of.

And the amount of misunderstandings and accidents leading to the war is perfect for the overall theme of the Dance being a foolish, unnecessary nightmare in which the Targs' own pride doomed the dynasty.

 

I personally really love that they couldn't control the dragons. It fits very well with the themes of the rest of the season. We've seen many times where the Dance of the Dragons could've been avoided, but it has also seemed inevitable from episode 1. They've created a really solid foundation here. I can't wait to see how they build on it.

 

Good finale. That shot of Aemond's dragon briefly lit up in the clouds behind Luke's is one of my top 5 favorite shots in all of GoT.

Emma D'Arcy was fantastic here.

As mentioned before, haven't read the book so I didn't know this was a change from the book until this thread, but this war being started by what was essentially an accident....sounds about right.

 

HBO has added two season 2 characters on the family tree.

Spoiler

Daeron Targaryen and Gwayne Hightower.

The Aegons are now listed as Aegon II and Aegon "The Younger". Rhaenyra was also going to call her child Visenya.

 

I think I’ve sort of wrestled with how I feel about this show for a while. My view of the Dance of the Dragons has sort of been weirdly formed because I read ASOIAF so long ago and I can recall when a lot of this material was less tangible than what we have now. When you read scenes where Tyrion, Dany or Stannis talk about Rhaenyra and her war with her brother you get a certain picture of things, and then Martin would seep out little tidbits here and there on his blog or ‘Thus Spake Martin’ about certain character descriptions before we finally got the novellas, the World Book and then eventually Fire and Blood giving us a bit more of a thorough account. So I’d be hypocritical if I condemned them too much for changing stuff, though this thing with Aemond was a choice that didn’t work for me. The guy’s literally an anime villain, wish they’d lean more into that and have fun.

That said, a lot of the episode did solidify that broadly the show has been a good experience for me. So many of these characters haven’t existed as proper characters for me, but I think the show managed to flesh them out in ways that’ve made them more tangible for me. They’ve gone on this weird journey of being vague descriptions on GRRM’s blog to (at least in the case of Paddy Considine and Emma D’Arcy) being some of my favourite performances I’ve seen on tv. Crazy stuff.

 

Decent finale. The show is just way more dramatically interesting when the Blacks and Greens are interacting, though. Episode 8 definitely the highlight of the season for me.

Fun adult live-action How to Train Your Dragon climax, lol. Wish the death had more impact for me. He felt very much another GoT/HotD pawn of the plot.

 

Wow, what an ending! The size difference between the two dragons was huge. Next up, all out war!

 

The slapping that awaits Aemond once Alicent finds out what happened:

 

Spoiler

I know George had confirmed it, but it is nice to have official proof that Daeron is coming next season. And good to see Gwayne returning - Otto puts him in charge of the Goldcloaks to try and root out Daemon's loyalists. Knew they never showed his face in the Pilot for a reason. I'd love to see them cast Nikita Bogolyubov:

Imagine Old Lady Vhagar's confusion if Visenya had been born earlier -

"Wait, if Visenya is that tiny baby, who's riding on my back?"

 

Yes, amazing shot that. Really love the ending. Vhagar probably still needs a full meal after that tiny snack though.

 

She didn't even eat the other dragon, that's the scary part. That was purely her wanting to kill Lucerys's dragon for getting in her face. A rider can only do so much if a dragon is angered or scared, much like any animal. King Vizzy T was right:



Side note though: Once you get past the absolute horror of that whole moment, the roar that Vhagar lets out after it happens is kind of funny. She sounds like a cranky old cat that is beyond tired of putting up with the b.s. of young hooligans.

 

A rider can only do so much when riding say a small pony, but when it's a dragon that size you're riding not much stopping it!

Haha, the dragon couldn't give a monkey's about all these wars and backstabbing political intrigue.

 

Typical Thrones, lol.,

 

Pretty much. I'd like to believe a more experienced rider like Daemon or Rhaenyra would've been able to reel Vhagar in. What we saw last night was basically the equivalent of giving teenagers the keys to an F-16 and a B-52 bomber.

 

Great finale to a great season. This entertains me as much as GoT did at its best.

It struck me while watching that it's so exciting not knowing exactly where things are going, compared to Game of Thrones where I knew the books very well. It's going to be a tough time deciding whether to read Fire and Blood as planned, or to delay it even further to enhance the show.

Rhaenyra and Daemon were great here. It was also great to see Corlys again as I always enjoy the presence he brings to his scenes. Overall they just succeed so well with the character portrayals that I enjoy even the very small roles, and that just makes the drama and tension fire on all cylinders.

Regarding the change that people are talking about, I like it based on what I've seen. It adds some nuance to Aemond who many felt was set up to just be the ultimate villain, and, as people have said, it does play into Viserys' words about that controlling the dragons is an illusion and that it was a force they should never have meddled with. I wouldn't have had any issues with Aemond just committing intentional murder either, it just worked for me with what they did.

 

This was exactly what I was thinking, too. Who knows how much practice riding either one had as well.

 

It takes years to tame the dragon or a special kind of person. Vhagar last owner she seemed like she could control her after the way the death scene went. Vhagar may not respect Aemond after he seemed to take the dragon moments after they just killed their last rider. Doubt Aemond bonds with it, just views as weapon.

 

Not only that but Aemond was also a late bloomer when it comes to dragon riding since the other kids had dragons at a much younger age than he did. He didn't have as much time to learn the ropes, so to speak.

 

Just finished the finale and wow that ending. Let the dance begin.