House of the Dragon episode 10 review: "Serves up heartbreak after heartbreak"

Warning: Major spoilers ahead for House of the Dragon episode 10! Turn back now if you haven't seen the latest episode! 

The Dance of the Dragons is here. After last week's episode shifted the focus onto the greens, 'The Black Queen' is all about Team Rhaenyra – and it serves up heartbreak after heartbreak for the rightful heir. First, she learns of her father's death, then Rhaenys informs her that Aegon has been crowned king, and all this horrible news triggers the early birth of her child. 

The birthing scene is uncomfortably grisly, almost too much to watch, as Rhaenyra sweats and screams alone in an impactful performance from Emma D'Arcy. Daemon plots the blacks' retaliation as his wife shouts his name in anguish. Syrax, too, is shown roaring, as if she can feel Rhaenyra's pain – an effective way of illustrating the bond between dragon and rider, which will be important later. Awfully, the scene ends with Rhaenyra forced to physically pull her baby from her body. It's horrific enough to turn your stomach, and a glimpse of a small, still hand amid so much blood is devastating. The scene veers on excessive; the show has taken a clear stance on the dangers of childbirth, but never has it been so overtly gruesome. 

It's at her child's funeral that Rhaenyra is crowned queen. Ser Erryk of the Kingsguard, who smuggled Rhaenys from the Red Keep last episode, arrives with Viserys' golden crown. Daemon places it upon his grieving, dishevelled, and stunned wife's head, and those gathered kneel to her as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. The moment is understated compared to Aegon's ostentatious coronation, but this gives it a quiet, chills-inducing power – those gathered are won over by the strength of Rhaenyra's claim, rather than the pomp of a grand ceremony. 

Despite a heavy focus on the blacks, the greens aren't entirely absent from the episode. Otto arrives with terms for Rhaenyra and is met by a bloodthirsty Daemon, echoing their earlier Dragonstone showdown. Again, Rhaenyra arrives on Syrax, but this time, she wears a crown. At first, Otto's terms do seem reasonable, if you forget he was plotting to have Rhaenyra and Daemon killed last week. But it's all belied by how utterly smug Rhys Ifans' Hand of the King looks as he declares Aegon the new monarch and insists on calling Rhaenyra 'princess.' The tense confrontation shifts into something more poignant when Otto produces the torn book page from the premiere, when young Rhaenyra and Alicent were studying together beneath the Weirwood tree. As manipulative as it is, there is truth to it – Alicent really doesn't want Rhaenyra to come to harm. Daemon, though, is set on violence: swords are drawn, Syrax roars, but like before it's Rhaenyra who deescalates. 

Rhaenyra is eminently sensible all episode, pointing out that her duty is to hold the realm together, not tear it apart in the pursuit of power. Daemon, though, is her polar opposite, intent on conflict. When Rhaenyra broaches the prophecy of the Song of Ice and Fire with him, he loses his temper and grabs her by the throat, a shocking reminder that the Rogue Prince can be violently cruel even to those he loves. As it turns out, Viserys never told Daemon of the prophecy, a clear sign that the king never considered his brother fit to rule. Even after the king's death, the relationship between these brothers continues to be fascinating. 

The Black Queen is eventually swayed into action by a recovered Corlys Velaryon pledging his ships to her cause – and coming up with a plan that would force the Hightowers into capitulating, rather than declaring all out war. Thanks to a victory in the Stepstones, the shipping lanes can be blocked by the Velaryon fleet, meaning King's Landing can be surrounded. The ambivalent Rhaenys – who did not kneel for Rhaenyra when she was crowned – ultimately pledging her allegiance to the blacks is genuinely moving, especially considering how surprised Rhaenyra is by the decision. 

But to blockade King's Landing, the blacks need a larger army. Jacaerys, Rhaenyra's oldest son, suggests he and his brother Lucerys fly to the Starks and the Baratheons themselves. Rhaenyra agrees, but before her two sons leave, she makes them promise they'll go in peace. It's impossible not to notice just how tiny Luke's dragon Arrax is as he arrives at Storm's End, which is living up to its namesake as rain lashes the castle. The sight of Vhagar, the oldest and largest of the dragons, silhouetted against the dark sky in the raging storm is nightmarish. The realization that this means Aemond is present is even worse – he still harbors a nasty grudge after Luke cut out his eye earlier in the season. 

Luke doesn't get very far with Lord Borros Baratheon (Roger Evans), who has been offered a marriage pact by the greens. That should be the end of it, but when Luke turns to leave, he's stopped by Aemond. The Targaryen prince reveals a sapphire in place of his missing eye, and his determination to have his revenge by taking one of Luke's eyes in return is chilling. Borros refuses to allow bloodshed under his roof, though, so Luke escapes – but when he looks for Vhagar, she's missing, which is enough to make your blood run cold. As Luke and his tiny dragon try to fly through the battering storm, the hulking, giant form of Vhagar appears above them like a horror movie monster. Vhagar and Aemond's pursuit of Luke and Arrax is hold-your-breath intense with stunning cinematography, and both Elliot Grihault and Ewan Mitchell put in fantastic performances – Grihault's Luke visibly terrified and desperate while Mitchell's Aemond alternates between a manic laugh and seething rage. 

Things go sickeningly wrong very quickly. Both Aemond and Luke lose control of their dragons; Arrax blasts Vhagar with fire, and the humongous dragon ignores Aemond's command to give chase. Luke breaks through the clouds into the clear, bright sky above, one last moment of peace before a horrifying end: Vhagar breaks from the clouds, mouth wide open, and shreds Arrax and Luke to pieces. 

Aemond looks completely stunned – and horrified – by what he's done. Dragon and rider might have a strong bond, but Daenerys Targaryen said it best in Game of Thrones: a dragon is not a slave. Vhagar, under attack by a much smaller foe, is hardly going to listen to Aemond's instructions, especially not when she can probably sense Aemond's anger, the same way Syrax could feel Rhaenyra's pain. A dragon is not a toy, either, and messing with a power this primal and fierce will only end in disaster, as Viserys himself feared in the premiere and Aemond has now discovered to his peril. What did he expect when he hopped on the mightiest power in Westeros to exact his petty revenge? 

It's clear from Rhaenyra's distraught, furious face – another hair-raisingly powerful moment from D'Arcy – that Rhaenyra is fully prepared to bring the fire and blood next season, and that this destruction all comes down to an accident makes the ensuing war all the more tragic. There have been countless opportunities for bloodshed to be avoided in House of the Dragon, so this accidental death is a brilliant thematic culmination for the entire season. 

As that final shot of Rhaenyra promises, House of the Dragon season 2 will undoubtedly be bloodier than the first. Thanks to how carefully the groundwork has been laid across these ten episodes, Rhaenrya's inevitable turn to violence won't share the same shortcomings as Daenerys' jarringly-sudden descent into Mad Queen territory, either. It's not just the pain the finale serves her but the amount of time dedicated to her relationship with Alicent, her father, and Daemon that leaves Rhaenyra where she is by the time the credits roll – and the kingdom poised on the edge of disaster. Long live the Black Queen.  

House of the Dragon reflections

• Olivia Cooke, Emily Carey, and the writing team deserve a major shoutout for turning Alicent Hightower into a compelling, intriguing, and sympathetic character when it would have been easy to make her a much less nuanced figure. There have been some major inconsistencies, though – Alicent went from declaring war in her green dress and drawing blood from Rhaenyra to putting aside their enmity to tell her she'd make a good queen after one meal, then making Aegon king anyway because she misunderstood Viserys' dying wish. Here's hoping season 2 irons out her character arc. 
• Ramin Djawadi's soundtrack has been consistently brilliant, just as it was across Game of Thrones, with a perfectly balanced mix of old and new themes. 
• Paddy Considine received the highest of praise from George R.R. Martin for his performance as King Viserys, and it was absolutely deserved. As the season went on, Viserys became more and more of a tragic figure, and that labored walk to the Iron Throne in episode 8 will hopefully catapult Considine into the Emmy conversation. 
• That said, Matt Smith's Daemon has been the MVP of the season, at turns hilarious and vicious, but always entertaining. 
• The show juggles multiple dragons, but each looks distinctly different, with some truly stunning work from the VFX team to make these great creatures feel so real and integrated into the world around them. 
• House of the Dragon made some inspired changes from Fire & Blood, like giving Alicent and Rhaenyra their bittersweet friendship, but some didn't quite land, like Alicent misunderstanding Viserys on his deathbed. 
• We seem to have reached the end of the time-skips, which will hopefully make future seasons stronger and more streamlined. As necessary as it was to fly through a lot of backstory in season 1, the pacing was at times misjudged, especially in episode 6, which introduced and killed off major characters fast enough to make your head-spin.  
• House of the Dragon overall has well and truly proved that Westeros is back, with an incredibly strong first season. Now we just have to hope it can stick the landing (and everything in between). 

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