Every fan who has read George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood was certainly waiting for that scene in House of the Dragon Season 2 where Blood and Cheese go after Helaena Targaryen’s son, Jaehaerys.
There were major changes in this episode that disappointed viewers, but what’s more devastating was the execution. Brutality is a huge part of the world of Game of Thrones, but this particular violence against children is something that cannot be ignored.
Jaehaerys’ Death Scene In House of the Dragon Was Done In Poor Taste
In the first episode of House of the Dragon Season 2: A Son for A Son, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) mourns the death of Lucerys Velaryon and demands the head of Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell). Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) would later seek the service of Blood and Cheese.
After the two assassins found their way inside the castle pretending to be rat catchers and their target not in sight, they found the nursery room where the children of Helaena Targaryen (Phia Saban) were sleeping.
Cheese suggested to Blood that they should instead kill another son (because they couldn’t find Aemond) and made Helaena choose which of her children is a boy. She pointed at Jaehaerys, and while Blood and Cheese were hacking off the child’s head, she runs away with her other kid.
Basically, this is what happened in the final act of the episode, and as much as everyone felt disappointed it did not happen the way it was written in the books, it was still as traumatizing as the source material.
Viewers have witnessed violence on television probably a hundred times, but this one involves a child, and while they did not show the entire scene on camera, the cries of the toddler and the sawing sound effects were just too much to bear.
Jaehaerys’ death is crucial to pushing the storyline forward, but the brutal act was done in randomness with unnecessary graphic sounds. Perhaps it was done to leave an impact on the audience, but the execution was definitely of poor taste.
There are decency laws that govern scenes like this on television. There are many ways this could have been handled in a less assaulting way, especially for the audience.
FX’s Shōgun Handled Child’s Death Scene In The Most Appropriate Way
There is also a distressing death scene of a child in FX’s Shōgun, but unlike House of the Dragon, there were no disturbing sounds. In the first episode, a man pledges to end his life after he has disgraced his honor and chooses to end his lineage, which means his infant son will also come with him.
This was indeed too upsetting to watch because no baby deserves to die. But, a code is a code, and they did it entirely off-camera, which implied that the baby was gone. At least, there was dignity in that scene.
As expected, there will be more deaths in the coming episodes of House of the Dragon; meanwhile, the first episode is available to watch on HBO. FX’s Shōgun is streaming on Hulu.
