HBO’s Original Game of Thrones Prequel Series House of The Dragon episode eight starts with a time skip to a couple of years where the viewer sees the Targaryen children older now with some in their teens and young adulthood. Where then Emma D’Arcy’s Rhaenyra Targaryen discuses with Matt Smith’s Daemon Targaryen the issue of her first-born son possibly losing his inheritance. This is due to his uncle petitioning for the lands he stands to inherit to be turned over to him on grounds that her son is an illegitimate child. This prompts her and her family to go to kings landing to deal with the issue as a result. When they arrive, the viewer is treated to a sad moment between Rhaenyra Daemon and her father who is greatly sick in bed and can barely talk.
Furthermore, the viewer can see that his condition has gotten extremely worse by the look of the pale skin and bandages her father wears when they see him. The interesting thing is Daemon refused to enter first and see him. However, he does not do this out of anger or hate he instead did it due to him not wanting to see his brother sick. In his mind, he knows his brother is sick with no hope of getting better. He does not want to see him as a result of him not wanting to believe that his brother will die soon. Despite all of their fights Daemon does love his brother more than anything in the world. That is what makes him a complex person that the viewer can relate too in a sense that everyone has a sibling they fight with and love as well.
A couple of minutes into the episode, the viewer sees Olivia Cooke’s Alicent Hightower deal with the issue of her son assaulting a maid of his. In her mind, she feels disgusted by the actions of her son as seen by the viewer. Unfortunately, she knows that she must make the issue disappear for the good of her house as well as her son if she wants him to be king. The sad part about this is that she appears to have no love for her children. Every time the viewer sees her with them, she either ignores them or just bosses them around for her own benefit. As a result, the viewer sees that their anti-social behavior starts to get worse as time progresses in the series. Her first son has gone from public exposure to assaulting women, her second son has gone from a shy kid to a man with apparent psychotic tendencies, and her daughter is more disconnected from reality with bugs to keep her company.
At the end of the episode, Rhaenyra’s father hosts a feast to celebrate with his family as a result of his grandson being betrothed to strengthen their house. Obviously, no one has a good relationship with each other due to the grievances that Alicent and Rhaenyra have thus passing it on to their kids. This leads to a wonderful moment where Rhaenyra’s father ends up giving a speech on how before he dies, he wants to see his family having an enjoyable time at the dinner table. To which, they all grant him his wish and set aside their issues and just enjoy the feast. Unfortunately, this does not end well with Rhaenyra’s kids fighting their uncle because he makes fun of the fact that their illegitimate children. Overall, the episode ends with Rhaenyra’s father telling the prophecy of the one true king that could contribute to a peaceful resolution to all the turmoil the viewer sees.
Rating 8.5/10