The bodysnatchers had likewise got at Matt Smith’s Prince Daemon. Having been plotting to overthrow his wife Rhaenyra from his digs at the haunted fortress of Harrenhal, he had a change of heart when local witch Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) had him slap his hand against the roots of a mystic tree so that he could experience a vision.
It was a trippy, narcotic flash forward to the events covered in Game of Thrones – a bong of ice and fire chucked in as an Easter egg to fans. Daemon saw zombie bigwig the Night King plotting mischief north of the Wall, followed by the silhouette of the Mother of Dragons, Daenerys Targaryen.
This put the frighteners up the cruel and haughty Daemon (he wasn’t to know the events wouldn’t occur for nearly 200 years). He immediately cancelled plans to usurp Rhaenyra and bent the knee when she turned up at Harrenhal with her dragon ready to fry him to a crisp. “My queen,” he said – a display of docility that betrayed Smith’s diligent work portraying Daemon as a supreme cad.
The finale’s other flaw was that it failed to deliver the much-anticipated conflict between the greens and blacks. The battle lines were drawn, and there was a dramatic closing montage of dragons, soldiers, etc, marching toward the frontline. But the decisive face-off won’t be until the next season – at least two years away, given the length of time it takes HBO to bring to life its huge dragons.
The anti-climax was deafening. House of the Dragon has had a solid second series, and a few big, splashy dragon fights have been up there with the best of Game of Thrones. But after all that build-up, this was a bloodless conclusion. Game of Thrones fans who have already watched that original Song of Ice and Fire adaptation go down in flames may wonder if they can bear to have their hearts broken a second time.
House of the Dragon episode 8 is now available to watch on NOW and Sky; it will air on Sky Atlantic on Monday August 6 at 9pm