In the Flesh: House of the Dragon S1E01: The Heirs of the Dragon

And just like that, we’re back. Miguel Sapochnick and Ryan Condal‘s House of the Dragon comes out of the gate swinging, as tight and thrilling as its storied predecessor at its very best. In fact in terms of lighting, costuming, and action choreography it takes a considerable step past Game of Thrones, emerging with a much more fully formed and accomplished aesthetic feel. Its spectacles, too, feel confident and fully realized, whether it’s the dragon Syrax bearing a young Princess Rhaenrya Targaryen (Milly Alcock) over the rooftops of King’s Landing or the sight of her father King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) awaiting his rebellious and reckless brother Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) on the gruesome edifice of the Iron Throne, reimagined here from Thrones’ tamer version into a twisted sprawl of razor-edged metal. Even the intricate webs of rivalry, affection, and resentment — all the courtly fucking and backstabbing, in short — comes off with a cool aplomb Thrones didn’t find until the middle of its run.

The episode’s centerpiece is a ghoulish sequence intercutting Prince Daemon’s duel with skilled newcomer Ser Criston Cole and the forced surgical removal of Queen Aemma’s (Sian Brooke) unborn son from her womb. “What’s happening?” she asks her husband King Viserys blearily as her attendants pin her down. “It’s alright,” he replies, tearing up. “I love you.” The rest is blood and screaming, a grisly and pointless sacrifice on the altar of male primogeniture — and even had the child lived, what then? He might well have grown into one of the feckless young men who butcher and batter one another in the tourney as the Queen succumbs, wasting the same lives their mothers bought for them so dearly on the battlefield of childbed, as Aemma lectures her daughter Rhaenyra near the episode’s start. The episode’s commentary on the relationship between women and violence ranges from broad statements like Aemma’s to small, insightful directorial touches like the grisly cuticle picking of princess Rhaenyra’s companion Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey) as she watches the blood sport of the king’s tourney after giving her favor to Prince Daemon.

Sapochnik, who directed many of the original series’ finest episodes, from ‘Battle of the Bastards’ to ‘The Bells’, does luxurious work as with ‘The Heirs of the Dragon’, balancing wonder, horror, and banality with aplomb. The episode is an embarrassment of riches, from the ghastly special effects of the ax murder scene to the overhead shot of Queen Aemma’s bloody bed and the carefully framed regnal spectacle of the episode’s closing moments in which courtiers swear fealty to Princess Rhaenrya. The costuming is richly detailed, incorporating headpieces, torcs, and other facets of medieval Spanish and Italian court dress atop the principally English-inspired fashions more typical in the North and the Vale where much of the original series took place. With a dynamite cast, seasoned and talented crew, and much less adaptationally challenging source material than Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon looks primed to be a ride to remember.