House Of The Dragon Episode Eight Review - 8 Ups & 2 Downs
7. Up - The latest iteration of the families
The final time jump between the events of Driftmark and The Lord of the Tides saw Rhaenyra and Alicent's children take the form in which they will enter the looming civil war. Suffice to say, there were several enticing character developments that have played out in the six years since Laena Velaryon's funeral.
The introduction of Rhaenyra and Daemon's children, Aegon and Viserys, firstly legitimized the widespread accusations surrounding the birth of her sons by Laenor. Said children bear instantly distinguishable Valyrian features as opposed to the brown hair and pug noses of House Strong.
While their younger brother Joffrey is briefly introduced, the episode focuses on Rhaenyra's sons Jace and Luke, teenage boys who appear to be cut from the same deeply honorable cloth as the Starks. Jace leaps to his feet in outrage in response to Aegon's perverted taunts to his betrothed, going as far as to strike Aemond at dinner, despite being vastly outsized by his adult uncle. Luke is clearly no coward either, going so far as to smirk in the direction of the ominous Targaryen prince.
On the more villainous side, Aegon has completed his transformation into House of the Dragon's answer to Joffrey. Now married to his unabashedly weird sister Helaena, audiences meet Tom Glynn-Carney's take on Alicent's debauched eldest son in the immediate aftermath of a sexual assault on an unsuspecting chambermaid, an incident Aegon deems to be "harmless fun". Meanwhile, his brooding brother Aemond has grown into a formidable swordsman, as unpredictable as Aegon is despicable in a further intriguing case of character exploration.