Sunday’s Property of the Dragon was a standout episode for HBO’s new Thrones clearly show, turning the dial of court intrigue all the way to 11. There was the usual succession drama, outdated rivals experiencing off for the 1st time in many years, and an unexpectedly amusing decapitation.
You know, the common.
[Ed. note: Major spoilers follow for episode 8 of House of the Dragon.]
In the episode a petition has been named for who will inherit Driftmark from Corlys Velaryon, who seemingly experienced a nasty wound in the Stepstones. This petition was arranged by Queen Alicent and her father, Hand of the King Ser Otto Hightower, and rather a couple of potential heirs were all set to have their scenario made.
1 of those people heirs was Corlys’ youthful brother, Vaemond. Vaemond, played with scene-stealing depth by Wil Johnson, has a especially inflammatory case, due to the fact it relies upon the illegitimacy of Princess Rhaenyra’s children, a very hot-button topic for the display and the court.
Vaemond, like other individuals, was expecting to make his scenario in advance of Queen Alicent and Ser Otto. He did, but shortly soon after, King Viserys, sporting a unwell gold face mask, helps make a shock visual appearance on the Iron Throne. When he instantly shuts down the proceedings, pointing out that this is a decided situation and he has now decreed Rhaenyra his heir (and her small children the heir to Driftmark), this enrages Vaemond.
Vaemond not only difficulties the king’s suitable to make these types of selections, he out-and-out phone calls Rhaenyra’s small children bastards and the princess herself a “whore.” Viserys responds, “I will have his tongue for that!” and, sure ample, his brother Daemon (now Rhaenyra’s consort, who experienced basically begged Vaemond for the prospect to eliminate him) lops off Vaemond’s head from behind.
Vaemond’s system collapses on the ground, and the camera is angled in these kinds of a way that we see the open up top rated of his now uncovered neck hole — exhibiting his continue to-wagging tongue and not much else. Daemon, in normal wisecracking fashion, retorts, “He can retain his tongue.”
It is a brutally hilarious motion beat that effectively breaks the edge-of-your-seat rigidity of the scene with a visible punchline sandwiched by jokes in the dialogue. And the reality that the show was daring enough to pair the decapitation with a punchline shot from the camera took it from vicious to transcendently amusing. The male is wagging his tongue at the king and is lessened to simply just a wagging tongue. Which is gold, folks.
The humor of the second is also drastically aided by Daemon’s entire deal. Matt Smith is at his very best as an imp. We have witnessed it in Dwelling of the Dragon, and we even noticed it in Morbius when he dances in his condominium. In this article, he’s in a position to bring that energy to the darker world of Thrones, goading a possible enemy into expressing just the suitable matter to permit him to commit murder with no any blowback, all with a wicked smile on his experience as he practically begs Vaemond to Go There. Thank the gods he did, since it sent a single of the most unforgettable times of the show’s run hence much.
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