House Of The Dragon Episode Ten Review - 9 Ups & 1 Down

10. Down - HBO's predilection for visual shock tactics

The sequence depicting Rhaenyra's miscarriage was unerringly faithful to George RR Martin's source material and the argument is there to be made that the unflinchingly close look at the potential horrors of childbirth was the only way to do the heartbreaking scene the justice it deserved.

With that being said, House of the Dragon's rendering of the scene was just too gratuitously graphic. The harrowing image of the dead baby's lifeless toes or Rhaenyra Targaryen clutching the bloody, deformed remains of her child to her is a visual sequence that will be nigh on impossible to shake for even the most seasoned of viewers (Rhaenyra's deceased baby literally appeared to be missing a skull). The entire ghoulish scene made for some of the most legitimately traumatizing viewing material in recent memory - this writer found themselves shaking in the aftermath of the gut wrenching events.

HBO's forays into Westeros have historically brought some truly ghastly material to life, pushing the boundaries of what was previously thought to be acceptable on television. Children have been burned alive and pregnant woman viciously stabbed to death, while the number of scenes depicting some form of sexual assault is too numerous to count; hell, this episode ended with a teenage boy being gorily obliterated by a dragon.

It speaks volumes to the fact that Rhaenyra's miscarriage was truly the most horrifying visual offering they have conceived to date, a scene that was so graphically unsettling that it legitimately took away from the entertainment factor of the show.