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00:00It's time to ask, how does House of the Dragon stack up against the original Game of Thrones?
00:05House of the Dragon has been a huge ratings success for HBO,
00:08but it's also improved on the original series creatively.
00:12House of the Dragon has doubled down on some of the most popular things about Game of Thrones,
00:16Targaryens, dragons, and epic battles.
00:19Meanwhile, it's fixed some of the original show's most notorious issues,
00:23responding to common criticisms like the series' depiction of women, violence, and diversity.
00:27And while critics may have expected these corrections to result in a more stale or
00:32boring show, arguably they've helped to make House of the Dragon's entertainment value sharper and better.
00:38The crown cannot stand strong if the House of the Dragon remains divided.
00:42Here's how House of the Dragon has fixed parts of what went wrong on Game of Thrones,
00:46and where it still needs to catch up.
00:52Female characters in Game of Thrones were often subjected to gratuitous violence and sexual assault,
00:57depicting these attacks wasn't inherently a problem.
01:00As Game of Thrones defenders pointed out, the show was drawing on true historical treatment of women.
01:06But the series was heavily criticized because these assault scenes often didn't do enough
01:10to center the woman's experience of the events.
01:12They might be framed from the perspective of a male observer or even a perpetrator,
01:17while dealing little with how the woman felt during or afterwards.
01:21House of the Dragon responds to this criticism head-on,
01:28but not by removing any violence against women.
01:31If anything, House of the Dragon might be even more vivid in highlighting female suffering,
01:36but it's putting a lot more emphasis on the perspective of the female,
01:40and instead of focusing as much on assault,
01:42House of the Dragon underlines the harsh, brutal nature of childbirth.
01:46I'm glad I'm not a woman.
01:48In the first episode, when King Viserys's wife, Emma,
01:51experiences complications during labor,
01:53Viserys decides to order a C-section to sacrifice the mother and try to save the baby.
01:58The scene where Emma realizes he's ordered her death,
02:00but he won't quite admit it, is incredibly difficult to watch.
02:03Don't be scared. They're going to break the paper.
02:05Oh, no.
02:06It's all right. Please, I can break the paper.
02:09Oh, no, no!
02:13It's made clear that Viserys does love his wife,
02:16but that he ultimately sees her as a vehicle for producing a male heir.
02:19Viserys is framed from Emma's point of view,
02:22partially obscured, staring down at her like a monster hiding in a closet.
02:26I love you.
02:27In the series that follows,
02:29the specter of Emma's death haunts all of the show's female characters.
02:32Even this world's noblest women are trapped by expectations
02:36that they'll eventually settle down and have several children,
02:39knowing full well that giving birth is just as risky as going to war.
02:43We have royal wounds, you and I.
02:47The childbed is our battlefield.
02:49Lena Valyrian makes this connection even more explicit
02:51when, in a change from the source book,
02:53she refuses her impending death in childbirth
02:56and insists on a dragonrider's death,
02:58asking her dragon to kill her before the labor does.
03:01DRAGARIS!
03:03Perhaps the biggest way that this show treats its women better
03:06is by directly engaging with nuanced questions of gender in the writing.
03:10In fact, House of the Dragon is broadly about the nature of being a woman in power in Westeros.
03:15When Emma and her newborn son die,
03:17Viserys decides to name Rhaenyra as his heir,
03:20which creates an uproar in Westerosi society.
03:22When that boy comes of age and your father has passed,
03:25the men of the realm will expect him to be heir, not you.
03:29People won't accept a future queen, so this automatically sets up conflict,
03:33first between Rhaenyra and her uncle Daemon,
03:36and later between Rhaenyra and her younger half-brother Aegon.
03:39Most dramatically, the show explores the central split between Rhaenyra
03:43and the childhood friend who marries her father, Lady Alicent,
03:46as Rhaenyra follows her own instincts,
03:48while Alicent always places duty, appearance, and self-restraint first.
03:53What have I done? But what was expected of me?
03:56Forever upholding the kingdom, the family, the law.
04:01Will you flout it all to do as you please?
04:03Alicent!
04:04Eventually, it's as if these two approaches, or paths,
04:07a woman in this society can take are at war,
04:09through Rhaenyra's and Alicent's respective lines.
04:12Hiding beneath the cloak of your own righteousness.
04:16But now they see you as you are.
04:19And while Rhaenyra's fiery impulse to challenge the way things are is appealing,
04:24those hardened by this world, from Viserys's passed-over cousin Rhaenys,
04:28to the self-interested Hand of the King, Sir Otto Hightower,
04:31also argue convincingly for the pragmatist merits of accepting the status quo.
04:36War will follow, do you understand?
04:39The realm will not accept her, and to secure her claim,
04:43she'll have to put your children to the sword.
04:45She'll have no choice.
04:47Even if things can end poorly for the show's women,
04:49the series is more interested in exploring why people are so opposed to the idea of women
04:54holding power, rather than merely punishing them for wanting to wield it.
04:58Game of Thrones presented social biases against women as matter of fact,
05:02and even natural.
05:03But House of the Dragon follows women engaging with those biases,
05:06and trying to understand them.
05:08They'll be married soon.
05:11It isn't so bad.
05:12Mostly he just ignores you.
05:16Except sometimes when he's drunk.
05:18Meanwhile, House of the Dragon is also more interested in considering women's experience of sex.
05:23When Daemon takes Rhaenyra to a brothel, the scene focuses on her awakening,
05:27which sets off the way she'll continue to pursue pleasure throughout her life.
05:30It felt good to be desired.
05:32This scene is set in sharp contrast to Alicent,
05:35who stares off into the distance while she does her duty,
05:38producing airs for King Viserys.
05:40What is this place?
05:43It's where people come to take what they want.
05:45It's easy to imagine a version of the brothel scene in the original Game of Thrones
05:49that solely depicts women being mistreated and exploited in a shock value way.
05:54But House of the Dragon is able to complicate things by portraying a spectrum of female desire,
05:59suffering, and ambivalence.
06:01Within its world of brothels, it gives three-dimensionality to the character of Mysaria,
06:05who has built a life for herself in the seedier parts of King's Landing.
06:08I have been sold this property more times than I care to count.
06:13Beginning in the homeland, I can no longer recall.
06:16Though Daemon claims that Mysaria is pregnant, she has in fact strategically ensured that there's
06:21no way she can ever suffer the fate of the noblewomen we've seen.
06:25I ensured long ago that I would never be threatened by childbirth.
06:32The brutality of Game of Thrones was often presented matter-of-factly,
06:36for its own sake, to shock and titillate the audience.
06:39In House of the Dragon, we still get the spectacle of violence,
06:42but it's also framed from the perspective of the people who are suffering.
06:46An early scene of noble people watching a joust emphasizes some of the audience's discomfort
06:50to the gruesomeness. Even the goriness in other areas is in part designed to showcase the
06:55character's reactions to pain and suffering, especially in the slow decay of Viserys,
07:00whose infections provide some of the most disturbing visuals on either series without
07:05ever showing a sword.
07:06Tonight, I wish you to see me as I am.
07:14Then there's the topic central to the Targaryen dynasty that's always been a little danced around
07:19on screen. Incest. Game of Thrones solely explored the infamous Westerosi practice through the forbidden
07:26relationship of Jaime and Cersei Lannister, which is considered a shameful secret in their time,
07:31and colored for viewers by the fact that this brother and sister are introduced as villainous.
07:36Incest also later becomes an issue when lovers Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen learn their aunt and
07:41nephew. And while Dany, raised as a Targaryen, doesn't seem that phased by the relation,
07:46besides the fact that Jon has a claim to the Iron Throne. Jon, who was raised in House Stark,
07:52quickly cools in his feelings.
07:53I want it to be the way it was between us.
07:56But House of the Dragon looks in a more matter-of-fact way at how social and political
08:00expectations might force members of the Targaryen family to marry each other. In this world,
08:05no other match could be as formidable in storing up one's power as a fellow dragon.
08:10She's our sister.
08:11You marry her then.
08:12I would perform my duty, if mother had only betrothed us.
08:16Even outside of the Targaryens, the Valerian House is frequently posited as one of their best
08:21potential marriage partners, both because of their significant power and because the houses
08:25share ancient Valerian blood.
08:27It would be a great honor to join our houses, as they were in old Valeria.
08:34I would give you many children of pure Valerian blood.
08:37So the extended family that emerges at the center of this feud is a confusing
08:41mess of intermarried uncles and nieces, cousins or cousins removed, and siblings and step-siblings.
08:47There are also emotional reasons why Targaryens intermarry during this period.
08:51They feel loneliness as they orbit around the throne,
08:54something House of the Dragon explores with more nuance than the original thrones.
08:58When Rhaenyra and Daemon decide to get married, it's both because they're drawn to each other
09:02and because the union will strengthen their claims to the Iron Throne.
09:06The
09:20House of the Dragon also attempts to fix Game of Thrones' much noted diversity problem,
09:25mainly by casting black actors as the members of House Valerian.
09:28Whereas Game of Thrones' most prominent black actors played slaves or former slaves,
09:33here the Valerian House is a powerful and a central part of the political landscape.
09:37It offers ongoing family drama through how its heirs interact
09:41with the Targaryen ones in the younger generations.
09:43The show also deals with how Laenor Valerian must keep
09:46his homosexuality a secret in this world to try to do his duty
09:50of producing noble heirs for his family.
09:52That we perform our duty to our fathers and to the realm,
09:56and when it's done, each of us dines as we see fit.
09:59But rather than this just being a depressing or brutal plot that turns him into another
10:03sidelined victim, the fallout of his unconventional marriage arrangement with
10:07Rhaenyra eventually leads to the season's most dramatic twists.
10:14The original Game of Thrones can actually be a slow show.
10:18A journey from Winterfell to King's Landing can take an entire season.
10:22This worked, because Game of Thrones also had a broader scope,
10:25combining many side stories and characters who could show up unexpectedly
10:29and disappear for seasons.
10:30But House of the Dragon has identified what people liked most about the original show,
10:35and boiled it down to a highly concentrated form.
10:38It has more of everything, which is possible precisely because
10:41the episodes tend to skip forward in time.
10:44The matter of the Stepstones is regrettably urgent.
10:47It's been three years.
10:49It can wait another three days.
10:51House of the Dragon is unafraid to clip along.
10:53Sometimes three years will pass between episodes,
10:55sometimes six, sometimes even ten.
10:58Things feel chaotic and precarious, because House of the Dragon can
11:01effortlessly move focus from one generation to the next,
11:04and then to the one after that.
11:06There is a debt to be paid.
11:08I shall have one of her son's eyes in return.
11:09But in part thanks to this fast movement through time,
11:12the show, like Game of Thrones in its best seasons,
11:14isn't precious about killing off characters.
11:17There's a brutality to the treatment of the characters
11:19that reflects the brutality of the world.
11:21Game of Thrones was telling a bigger story about the squabbling of Westeros,
11:25leading it to ignore the dual threats of Daenerys and the White Walkers.
11:28So it was by design not about any of the individual characters or houses.
11:33House of the Dragon is a family drama,
11:35one that is ultimately about Rhaenyra, Daemon, and Alicent.
11:39We are a family!
11:40Now make your apologies and show goodwill to one another.
11:43And the series uses those characters to explore types of relationship dynamics
11:47that didn't quite land in the original series.
11:50At first, Rhaenyra's relationship with Ser Criston
11:52seems like a remix of Jon's relationship with Dany.
11:55All that I have I owe to you.
11:57Now I'd hardly call that toothless princess.
11:59But whereas Jon's and Dany's relationship crumbles in poorly conveyed subtext,
12:04before he murders her in an ending where he's positioned as right and she as wrong,
12:09House of the Dragon more intelligently explores the inherent mismatch
12:13in Rhaenyra's and Criston's relationship,
12:15both because of their clashing outlooks
12:17and because of Rhaenyra's power over her Kingsguard.
12:20Rhaenyra dominates the naive, duty-bound Ser Criston,
12:23coercing him to break his vow of chastity
12:25while he develops a mistaken impression of their potential future.
12:28I-I-I saw my-my-my white cloak.
12:31It is the only thing I have to f***ing name.
12:33So the show demonstrates how that kind of treatment
12:35and mismatching values might realistically push someone toward bitterness.
12:40The Princess Rhaenyra is brazen and relentless,
12:44a spider who stings and sucks her prey dry.
12:46But it doesn't necessarily side with either character
12:49as fully right or admirable.
12:51As House of the Dragon follows Rhaenyra, Alicent, Daemon,
12:54and others try to secure stronger positions,
12:57it's soapy, witty, and fun.
12:59It's also tragic,
13:00and moments like the dinner party just before Viserys' death,
13:04we see that love and the will to reconcile are there under the surface,
13:08but are so incredibly fragile that a few explosive words,
13:11I dare you to say that again,
13:12or a genuine misunderstanding,
13:14can destroy that opportunity for peace.
13:24But set aside your grievances,
13:27if not for the sake of the crown,
13:29and for the sake of this old man.
13:34Still, it's too early to say that House of the Dragon is a total improvement over Game of Thrones,
13:38which before the notoriety of its final seasons had a lot going for it during its peak.
13:43House of the Dragon's more focused nature works better for now,
13:46but that also means it lacks the epic interconnected sweep that helped make Game of Thrones so successful,
13:52and it can't keep relying on skipping forward in time indefinitely.
13:56There have been fun, engaging battle sequences in House of the Dragon,
13:59but nothing so far that rivals the sweep and power of the Battle of the Bastards,
14:04Hardhome, or the Battle of Winterfell.
14:06We'll have to see if it can summon the drastic surprises of events like the Red Wedding,
14:11Ned Stark's beheading, or the Mountain and the Viper.
14:13And if the world of men is to survive, a Targaryen must be seated on the Iron Throne.
14:18It's still early in House of the Dragon,
14:20and it might be impossible to say whether it's better than Game of Thrones,
14:23but House of the Dragon follows the similarly successful Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul
14:28in being more focused, learning from past mistakes,
14:31and showing more confidence in depicting exactly what it wants to.
14:35At the very least, the series has managed to prove that it is possible to respond
14:39to criticism about representation and story focus while retaining everything fans liked in the first
14:45place, and even improving on the entertainment value. It's proof that evolving and listening to
14:50smart critiques can result in a story that's more insightful and fun for everyone.
14:55A simple transaction. We have dragons, they have gold.
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15:25All right.
15:33We have to thank you.
15:34coming back.
15:35We have to thank you.
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