‘House of the Dragon’ Season 1 Finale Recap: A Queen Rises - The New York Times

Season 1, Episode 10: ‘The Black Queen’

It’s each amusive and games until the dragons get angry.

In Sunday’s play finale of “House of the Dragon,” that regularisation applied chiefly to Arrax and Vhagar, who took the airborne bullying Aemond had initiated further than helium intended. When the overmuch smaller Arrax fought backmost against its tormentor by delivering a look afloat of occurrence — shades of his rider Lucerys’s de-eyeing of Aemond, the basal of their rivalry — Vhagar retaliated with the chomp heard ’round the world.

But it besides applies to Rhaenyra, who, present that Viserys is gone, becomes this story’s caput dragon successful charge.

She looked it this week, delivering her ain babe earlier embracing her interior queen, showing grit and restraint arsenic she stood up to Otto, Daemon and her hawkish advisers. Then, successful a stunner of a last country that saw her processing Lucerys’s decease earlier turning backmost to the camera, the representation of grief-stricken, vengeful resolve, we saw that the warfare we’ve been anticipating since the opening of this bid had yet begun. (The occurrence was a showcase for Emma D’Arcy, who was superb throughout.)

The effect of each of the supra and much was a stirring, often moving play finale that included galore of the show’s signature elements arsenic it acceptable up the conflict, known successful George R.R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood” publication arsenic the Dance of the Dragons. There was thrilling dragon action, different brutal commencement scene, different profane face-off betwixt Daemon and Otto, different mature treatment betwixt Rhaenys and the Sea Snake, this story’s astir functional mates (the Sea Snake’s adventuring aside).

It each began with a genuinely unspeakable time for Rhaenyra, who aboriginal connected learned that her begetter had died and that her erstwhile champion person had connived to bargain the throne from her. Then she gave commencement to a stillborn baby.

It was a unsmooth commencement to a reign that was astir to get adjacent rougher. But archetypal we watched the caller queen turn into her relation arsenic she acceptable speech her choler — dissimilar Daemon, who reminded everyone however temperamentally unfit for ruling helium is — and began making plans to consolidate her support.

This mostly progressive moving tokens astir Dragonstone’s Painted Table, which you mightiness callback arsenic the tract of Stannis and Melisandre’s shadow-baby conception successful “Game of Thrones.” (In the lore, Aegon the Conqueror had the array built truthful helium could program his conquest of Westeros.)

It was Rhaenyra’s chill caput arsenic others agitated for warfare that convinced Rhaenys, a conspicuous holdout successful the aboriginal scenes, to propulsion her enactment down the caller queen and, successful turn, person the healing Sea Snake to bash the same.

Lucerys carried the stink of calamity from the earliest moments of the episode. The opening country recovered him anxiously pawing astatine the array and fretting implicit Driftmark, which helium was acceptable to inherit erstwhile the Sea Snake sheds this mortal coil. “I’ll conscionable ruin everything,” helium told Rhaenyra. “I don’t privation Driftmark.” (Luc, I person bully quality and atrocious quality … )

Later we saw Jacaerys pounding him into the soil during sparring practice. By the clip Rhaenyra told Lucerys, “I expect you volition person a precise lukewarm welcome” astatine Storm’s End, things were starting to look beauteous grim. Then erstwhile the camera lingered connected his departure from Dragonstone, until the small lad connected his small dragon faded into the night, I was definite helium was a goner.

And that was earlier helium landed and saw archetypal Vhagar and past Aemond astatine Baratheon HQ. Rhaenyra wasn’t wrong: The eternally arrogant Lord Borros did look blessed to big a prince of the realm and his dragon. It’s conscionable that a antithetic 1 showed up archetypal with a amended offer, positive a sapphire shoved into his oculus socket for other dazzle.

Aemond, a walking grudge, taunted Luc archetypal by land, ordering him to springiness up the oculus Alicent agelong agone demanded at Laena’s funeral, and past by air. But erstwhile the dragons got the scent of combat successful their scaly nostrils, some riders concisely mislaid power and that was that. The unintended effect called backmost to Rhaenyra’s sage effect to Daemon’s bragging astir their superior firepower.

“When dragons flew to war, everything burned,” she said, referring to the battles of Old Valyria. “I bash not privation to regularisation implicit a kingdom of ash and bone.”

I conjecture we’ll person to hold until adjacent play to spot whether, aft Luc’s death, she’s inactive successful the temper for omniscient council. For Rhaenyra, the play finale began and ended with the nonaccomplishment of a child. While the decease of the babe was atrocious connected its own, it also, successful a clever spot of writing, served to amusement america Rhaenyra’s heavy maternal grief successful beforehand of Luc’s killing. (The showrunner Ryan Condal wrote the episode, which was directed by Greg Yaitanes.) That allowed america to capable successful the blanks arsenic she stood by the fire, her backmost to america and her subjects arsenic she convulsed successful anguish astatine the nonaccomplishment of her son.

Earlier, successful her clear-thinking, strategical mode, Rhaenyra reminded Daemon of her responsibilities to unite the realm and of her adjacent greater work to humankind, arsenic laid retired by the Song of Ice and Fire. (He wasn’t into it.) In this she straight channeled her precocious father, who tried to unite his household to the extremity and spent his down clip symbolically assembling a exemplary of Old Valyria, a civilization fated to collapse.

Because Westeros inactive stands 2 centuries later, erstwhile “Game of Thrones” gets going, we cognize that immoderate wars transpire adjacent play and beyond, this realm volition not wholly collapse. But erstwhile Rhaenyra turned astir for the past changeable of this season, yet the angriest dragon of all, she looked acceptable to pain it each down.

The large and unspeakable ‘Dragon’

Will Rhaenyra pain it each down, successful classical Targaryen fashion? That’s a substance for aboriginal episodes. But present that the archetypal play of “House of the Dragon” is successful the books, it’s worthy pondering a antithetic question: Was it immoderate good?

There’s an annoying inclination for the sermon around, well, everything, but peculiarly popular civilization to autumn on hard binaries. Things are astonishing oregon they’re terrible, the end.

When it came to “Dragon,” each week I heard from advocates connected some sides. (Though with an mean of astir 29 cardinal viewers each episode, according to HBO, galore of the complainers look to beryllium sticking with it.) The information of the matter, arsenic usual, is determination successful the middle.

Was the archetypal play amazing? No. The constrictive absorption connected 1 household and its tense arguments successful acheronian rooms gave the bid a claustrophobic consciousness that, though tonally utile successful a communicative astir radical who consciousness bound by assorted restraints — related to gender, bid of birth, royal responsibilities and truthful connected — was progressively wearying arsenic the play went on. (For the record, I wasn’t arsenic annoyed arsenic others by the occasionally murky cinematography, but I get it.)

Another, much cardinal information became clearer each week: This amusement conscionable doesn’t incorporate the qualities that I liked astir astir “Game of Thrones,” astatine slightest not yet.

The scale; the kaleidoscopic travelogue acquisition of watching a captivating satellite beryllium revealed, week by week; the communicative assortment of a twelve antithetic communicative lines and the thrill of watching them travel together; the acheronian comedy; the cinematic acceptable pieces and spectacle — “Dragon” had astir nary of that.

Then determination were the much granular problems, circumstantial to the communicative and its structure. The predominant clip jumps and the formed changes they necessitated had a distancing effect due to the fact that viewers enslaved with performers, not characters. Gen Xers retrieve the dissonance of the 2 Darrins successful “Bewitched” reruns and 2 Beckys successful “Roseanne,” persistent TV punch lines of our youth. “Dragon” offered a akin sensation astir each week.

The clip gaps besides resulted successful seeing chunks of each occurrence fixed implicit to expository dialog and successful erratic characterizations. Alicent, successful particular, was each implicit the spot from week to week: loving Rhaenyra past trying to termination her, accepting her planned ascendancy and past usurping it. Their relationship and its convulsions are defining elements of the story, of course. But the speedy glimpses we got of their evolving relationship, implicit decades, made it hard to emotionally put successful it.

I don’t blasted Olivia Cooke. She adroitly juggled Alicent’s mercurial emotions and was convincing adjacent erstwhile the amusement had her doing silly things, similar attacking Rhaenyra with a dagger oregon misunderstanding Viserys’s dying words. The full formed was terrific throughout.

Which leads america to the different fractional of the binary: Is “House of the Dragon” terrible? Far from it, and determination are plentifulness of reasons to deliberation it volition get amended arsenic it goes on.

Whatever the flaws of the clip jumps, the casting directors consistently recovered fantabulous actors to capable each iteration of the characters. Paddy Considine volition beryllium missed, but the different leads, peculiarly D’Arcy, Matt Smith and, much recently, Ewan Mitchell arsenic big Aemond, are captivating performers.

Battles and campaigns volition instrumentality the amusement retired of the castles that confined it for astir of the archetypal play — each those shots of the Painted Table possibly doubled arsenic a preview of the places we’ll spell successful Season 2. The struggle volition besides presumably boost the spectacle origin and destruct the request for jarring clip jumps.

So I’m bullish connected adjacent season. The astir important thing, from a big-picture perspective, is that astatine its best, “Dragon” nailed the astir appealing happening astir Martin’s storytelling: the consciousness of history’s being driven by radical and their recognizable, occasionally petty hopes, fears and flaws. Consider that the Dance of the Dragons has seemingly conscionable started acknowledgment to the bequest of a combat betwixt children galore years ago.

Whatever the communicative threads and connections, the important happening “Dragon” shares with “Thrones” is its consciousness of mucky, earthy humanity, peculiarly erstwhile compared to thing similar “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” (I’m not present to commencement fights — I’m thrilled if you loved it, but it was conscionable excessively oratorical and grandiose for me.)

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• One of the Cargyll twins showed up astatine the baby’s ceremonial to pledge his fealty to Rhaenyra and contiguous her with her father’s crown. If it was truly Erryk, who helped Rhaenys flight past week, past bully for the Blacks. (The subtitles said it was him, for what it’s worth.) If it was Arryk, who remained faithful to the Greens, past it is astir apt an infiltration ploy.

• Note: I could person that backward.

• Additional note: I’m not definite I attraction either way.

• Rhaenys responded to Daemon and everyone other who wondered wherefore she didn’t fry Aegon, Alicent and everyone other past week. There is astir apt a warfare coming, she said. “But that warfare is not excavation to begin.”

• Daemon reacted violently to Rhaenyra’s notation of Aegon’s prophecy, grabbing her throat, and it was a small shocking fixed their bond. But it encapsulated his choler and resentment astatine her for being successful the spot, arsenic Viserys’s chosen heir, wherever portion of him inactive thinks helium should be, adjacent arsenic his volatility successful that infinitesimal exemplified wherefore the king was close to region him. “He ne'er told you, did he?” Rhaenyra said. As in: Your ain member ever knew helium couldn’t fto you rule.

• “It is said that arsenic Targaryens we are person to deity than to men,” Rhaenyra told her sons earlier their fateful flights. The information that successful 200 years, that motto volition person been replaced by “When a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin” tells america that the seasons to travel should beryllium eventful.

• We don’t take our destinies, Rhaenyra told Lucerys, our destinies take us. Bummer of a choice, Luc. And R.I.P. Arrax. So I conjecture the dragon people is present 12-4?

• Alicent showed a spot of her father’s manipulative streak, sending a leafage from the past publication she and Rhaenyra utilized to survey unneurotic arsenic a prop to beryllium utilized during the negotiations.

• All things considered, the Hightower connection was beauteous good. And if Rhaenyra had taken it, Lucerys would inactive beryllium alive. I wonderment whether she volition grapple with this oregon thing other earlier she goes atomic adjacent season.

• What did you think? Is Rhaenyra acceptable to spell off? Will she and Daemon beryllium capable to support it together? Would you instrumentality Driftmark? Are you coming backmost for Season 2? Please stock your thoughts successful the comments, and galore acknowledgment for speechmaking and weighing successful this season.