<em>House of the Dragon</em> Had One Great Idea
This story contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 4 of House of the Dragon.
Like a court musician ordered to strum a princess’s favorite tunes under a Weirwood tree, HBO’s House of the Dragon knows how to play all the hits that satisfy Game of Thrones fans. The small-council meetings crackle with passive-aggressive tension. The sets look eye-popping, the dragons only more so. The battle sequences appear to spill enough blood to fill the Narrow Sea. Little can feel truly fresh about a show that takes place in such a familiar setting, with such familiar politicking at play.
The one thing keeping this sense of, the book on which the series is based, no such intimacy exists between the characters. The pair have the cordial rapport expected of noblewomen—that is, until Alicent bears the king, Viserys, a son who threatens to supplant Rhaenyra in the line of succession. From that point on, the two become political rivals. But the TV series at first seemed to give these characters a fascinating dynamic that the franchise has rarely explored: a true female friendship.
