It might be bringing in the fans, but the Game of Thrones prequel isn’t hitting in quite the same way as its predecessor

In the latest installment of HBO’s House of the Dragon, Lord Otto Hightower confronts the king with a bit of discomforting news. Princess Rhaenyra and Prince Daemon were spotted in the bowels of a pleasure den, engaging in some unbecoming behavior – coupling, to be exact. What his report doesn’t mention, however, is that the pleasure den is no source of pleasure at all. It’s a dismal tomb of anonymous, naked bodies, where Daemon, struck by a recurring bout of erectile dysfunction, abruptly abandons his niece.

Alicent Hightower, meanwhile, shows us what it means to “serve the realm”, as a late Aemma Targaryen would say: It’s a duty that entails staring listlessly at the ceiling, waiting for one’s elderly husband to climax. Here in the most sexually charged episode of HOTD to date, sex among the Westerosi elite is a remarkably depressing affair, where even Rhaenyra’s seduction of a reluctant Ser Criston Cole is terribly unsexy. She lures him into her room with a protracted game of keepaway the helmet, the courtship of paramours with absolutely zero chemistry.

Continue reading…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Don’t obsess about football selling its soul to Saudi Arabia. It sold itself to big money long ago | Elliot Ross

The eye-watering sums on offer for players like Ronaldo are only the…

UK weather: some areas to get 5cm of snow and temperatures to fall to -10C

Yellow weather warning for snow and ice across eastern coast and amber…

Johnny Depp to release album with Jeff Beck

Joint-project will be released in July, says guitarist who has toured with…

Rishi Sunak is Britain’s first Asian prime minister – but it’s no progressive victory | Hashi Mohamed

The new PM’s rise is a great achievement, but his hardline views…