‘Home of the Dragon’ simply performed one of many oldest cleaning soap opera tips within the e book

It is one of many oldest tips in storytelling, and Home of the Dragon simply peaked an episode with it.

In Season 2, episode 2 of the Recreation of Thrones prequel, the HBO sequence seized on basic tropes that concurrently flip any scene into slapstick and customarily irk this twin author: the Evil Twin and the Pretend Twin Gambit. Nobody loves the Evil Twin trope greater than leisure writers, who’ve been throwing that doppelgänger spanner into the works for many years by way of silent cinema, cleaning soap operas, horror films, and comedian books. Now it is appeared in HBO primetime fantasy, by way of the merciless destiny of the Cargyll twins, Arryk and Erryk (Luke and Elliott Tittensor), a sequence of pretend twinnery with a tragic finish.

However did this gambit really repay for Home of the Dragon? Or was it yet one more TV present clinging to low hanging plot gadgets that declare twins two polarised sides of the identical coin and little else?

What occurs in Home of the Dragon Season 2, episode 2?

In a knee-jerk order, disgruntled commander Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) throws a few of that unstable Westerosi male ego round and orders Kingsguard white cloak Arryk on a secret mission to Dragonstone to assassinate Crew Inexperienced’s enemy, Rhaenyra. Arryk is a twin, whose brother Erryk stands opposed inside Rhaenyra’s Queensguard, so it is an order of impersonation, and primarily, a tragic idiot’s errand.

Even though everybody at councils giant and small in Westeros know the an identical pair sit inside every camp, Arryk stalks into Dragonstone just about undetected in a sequence Vulture’s Amanda Whiting referred to as, “a scheme that seems more like a Punk’d episode than an act of cunning.” It is a slapstick recreation of one-twin-out, one-twin-in, a Pretend Twin Gambit scene with Erryk wandering by way of the halls unaware his brother is changing him as he goes. It is Home of the Dragon cloak-and-dagger however make it The Status as a daytime cleaning soap starring Chaplin.

“What [the filmmakers] were trying to do narratively was confuse the audience,” Luke Tittensor advised the New York Occasions. “When Arryk stands at the door, there’s a moment of you thinking, ‘Is that actually Arryk, or is it Erryk?’ You’ve seen us do a bit of a Scooby-Doo moment. That’s a little bit of a trick with twins.”

Having access to Rhaenyra’s chambers, Arryk strikes to assault the queen. Fortunately, Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) saves the day, having noticed Arryk arriving on the Dragonstone docks and elevating the alarm. Arryk and Erryk battle in a whirl of an identical confusion, regardless of Erryk’s pleas for his brother to yield, and Arryk is slain. Beset with quick grief and despair, Erryk falls on his personal sword. The present performs the duel out barely otherwise to the way it’s written in George R. R. Martin’s Fireplace and Blood. And whereas the result’s undeniably devastating, in some senses it additionally looks like one other sequence leaning on an Evil Twin trope for dramatic impact.

TV bloody loves an Evil Twin trope. This twin doesn’t.

Why’d they edit Arryk like that?
Credit score: Ollie Upton / HBO

I am an an identical twin who has been requested “which one’s the evil one?” so many instances it is made me need to embody such a dumb query and rain that hellfire down on the spot. However I do know the place it comes from.

Traditionally, divine twins are a goldmine all through mythology for inspecting dualism; Egyptian deities Nut and Geb, Zoroastrianism’s Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu, Olympian twins Apollo and Artemis, Hinduism’s horsemen The Ashvins, West African complicated twin goddess Mawu-Lisa. Darkish/mild, solar/moon, earth/sky — twins are the right framework for this type of both/or storytelling.

Fashionable popular culture actually, actually insists that one twin should be simply…dangerous.

However trendy popular culture actually, actually insists that one twin should be simply…dangerous. It is a low hanging plot system for writers to unpack these opposing forces of excellent and evil, nevertheless it usually reduces the characters to simplistic sides of the identical coin. If my twin sister and I had been on a TV present, certainly one of us could be need to be an absolute piece of labor.

Sure, the present does give Erryk and Arryk the correct to decide on their allegiances, however Home of the Dragon can not help itself, making it clear there is a Good/Evil cut up by way of darkish cinematography, sinister blocking, and a Huge Unhealthy Rating as Arryk stalks by way of Dragonstone. Arryk is mainly compelled by way of his sense of responsibility to simply accept Cole’s order, however the sequence frames him as a villain, a slithery murderer, with Erryk as a substitute the heroic shining mild in Rhaenyra’s camp. Then, the ultimate sequence turns into a Pointing Rick Dalton recreation of “spot the imposter”, a disturbing watch that performs each as Home of the Dragon and cleaning soap climax.

Why Erryk and Arryk’s duel is definitely vital

One of many principal causes Erryk and Arryk’s duel is vital is just not solely due to their twindom, however their conflicting familial polarity. Basically, this kinslaying tragedy embodies the broader implications of the Dance of the Dragons, the civil struggle between the Targaryen household, and the mindless violence that can accompany the bloody path to the Iron Throne. There is no good, no evil, solely blood and demise.

As oath-sworn members of the Kingsguard and Queensguard, Arryk and Erryk are fairly actually torn aside by their sense of honor — and the truth that Home of the Dragon permits the characters to make their very own selections negates the considerably irritating tropes of the Dragonstone sequence.

“We always love that moment of these two brothers who love each other more than anything also being set to kill each other, and there’s a very American Civil War brother-on-brother aspect to it,” Home of the Dragon author and govt producer Sarah Hess stated in a behind-the-scenes video. “Why are they doing this? It’s because these nobles have decided they they’re mad at each other, and now these guys have to battle it to the death.”

One of many saddest fates of Season 2, Erryk and Arryk are buried collectively, “one soul in two bodies,” on both aspect of the struggle for Westeros. Whereas Home of the Dragon likes to play into the drama, the influence of this scene ought to relaxation on the tragedy of them selecting honor over one another, not with one being Evil and the opposite Good.

And as for me? I might inform Cole to shove his honor and defect. That is your twin proper there.

Home of the Dragon Season 2 airs Sundays on HBO and Max at 9 p.m. ET.