House Of The Dragon Episode 1 Review - 8 Ups & 2 Downs
8. Up - Emotional damage
Well, that got dark incredibly quickly. Even Game of Thrones, which kicked off proceedings by shoving a young boy out of a tower, didn't produce such morbid results in the first hour.
King Viserys' wife Aemma is shown to be in labour with the baby in breech; the King is informed that maesters may be able to save the child but only at the cost of his wife's life. So desperate is the King (portrayed as a warm, genial man up until this point) for a male heir, that he agrees to the appalling sacrifice.
The trauma doesn't end there though; the queen’s desperate screams of terror as she realizes what is about to happen to her at the behest of the man she loves are absolutely harrowing. The scene highlights the return of another key strength of HBO’s Westerosi universe, one that House of the Dragon appears to be relishing taking forward; a willingness to bring absolutely horrific scenes (this writer can still recall Shireen Baratheon's blood curdling screams from all the way back in 2015) to traumatically graphic life in the interest of adding fresh new layers to the already rich story.
The emotional gut punch of Viserys' agonizing choice only gets worse as the Queen's horrible death is ultimately fruitless; her infant son follows her into death soon after, leaving the King utterly adrift. Welcome back to HBO's unique brand of emotional damage.