Six years have passed since Rhaenyra and Daemon married, and they are now returning to King's Landing to fight for the succession of their son to the throne of Driftmark. They arrive to find King Viserys all but insensate, lost to pain, painkillers, disease, and old age. Queen Alicent rules in his stead, and is sure to rule against Rhaenyra. But the king has one more burst of life in him, and he uses it to try to reunite his fractured family.
There is probably a way you could have told the story of House of the Dragon by starting with this episode. This episode brings the inciting incident, the moment beyond which the coming events are inevitable: the death of Viserys. That said, this is not a tight, one-act stage play; this is epic fantasy. Climbing to the top of the roller coaster's first hill, before the big drop, is not only expected here, but it does make sense. Spending some time with these people before they go to war is vital in making us care what happens to them next.
Perhaps there could have been a bit less table-setting, spread over fewer episodes, than what we got? Perhaps that sort of pacing would have kept tuned in some of the people I know who have bailed on this show? But even as things stand now, it does feel like most of the setup really did inform specific grievances that will matter now -- not just between Alicent and Rhaenyra, but between all their children, between them and members of the court, and between them and other players in this incarnation of the "game of thrones."
But whether or not the seven episodes before this might have been abbreviated in some ways, this episode felt essential to me from start to finish. There were highlights, of course, most surrounding the depiction of the dying Viserys. It ranged from the realistic (the way his mind slipped in and out of reality is surely something that many in the show's audience have experienced themselves) to the ghastly (the erosion of half his face felt like the most grisly thing in the episode -- even when that episode featured someone's head being cut in half).
The dinner scene was perhaps the best scene of the series so far. Viserys was essentially granted his dying wish for his family to reconcile, and that perhaps gave him "permission" to finally give up the struggle and pass on. Except... the very instant he left the room, the squabbles all began anew. If a peace can't last when he leaves the room, what is sure to happen when he leaves this world? The sniping between cousins, the ludicrous interjections from Aegon's wife, the heartfelt (but brief) words of forgiveness exchanged between Alicent and Rhaenyra -- all of it felt wonderfully, perfectly calibrated to me.
And I feel compelled to mention one other element that fell well-calibrated -- or, at least, handled better than Game of Thrones has historically handled similar material: the scene in which Alicent must deal with the aftermath of a rape committed by her son. It was a chilling scene, with Alicent herself spouting terrible rhetoric of denial and blaming. And showing that was enough. I can't help but feel like the Game of Thrones of old would have actually shown us the rape (and, likely, not this aftermath). This is just as effective at making the point without being needlessly lurid: we understand clearly that in the coming struggle for the Iron Throne, the conventional, patrilineal heir is a horrible person.
I give this episode a B+. The "prologue" now complete, it will be interesting to see just how much more story House of the Dragon aims to tell in two remaining episodes, and what sort of cliffhanger it opts to leave between seasons.
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