House of the Dragon | 1x1 'The Heirs of the Dragon'

A strong start for sure. I, too, had a big problem with the birth scene, but in a different way. King Viserys made the only choice he could as his wife would die no matter the decision. He could watch them both die, or give his son a chance to live. Unfortunately, life can be very cruel, and, even though he made the right decision, he lost both his wife and son anyway. Now the problem with the birth scene is the fact that he did not share this information with his wife. In fact, they should have made the decision together. That's what irks me the most about this scene! He could've been honest with his wife, but instead, he lied (through omission), which made his wife hysterical. This probably did not help in the delivery of the baby as she was squirming throughout the entire makeshift procedure. I assume he was trying to "protect" her in a sense, but that just made things worse! I know it's early in the show, but, from what I've seen so far, I think I like Rhaenyra better than Daenerys. She seems strong, witty, and adventurous. She reminds me of Arya more than Daenerys. The standout for me was Matt Smith as Prince Daemon. He's ambitious, entitled, and vengeful, but he's also scorned and misunderstood (although it's very understandable why he would be seen as such). I'm intrigued to see where this show goes. So far, King Viserys seems to be the antithesis of his descendant with the same name. He feels a sense of duty when it comes to the throne rather than longing for it. He loves his family, but he seems to be torn between his family and his duty. I do wonder if the Targaryan "madness" will come upon him. I hope not. It is likely that he will die in this first season (With the quality of this first episode, a second season is very likely unless they really drop the ball with the rest of the season)

Ilsuk Yang