‘That was an awkward episode to watch with parents,’ one fan said (Picture: HBO/YouTube)
Warning: spoilers ahead for House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3.
TV fans were left astonished when an extremely graphic sex scene popped up on a hit series complete with a fully erect – presumably prosthetic – penis.
In the world of Westeros, nudity and sex is pretty commonplace, from passionate love scenes to characters’ frequent visits to brothels.
However, after fans complained about the lack of male nudity in Game of Thrones, it appears that House of the Dragon is trying to make up for it, especially in season 2 episode 3.
In the latest instalment on HBO in the US and Sky in the UK, Aegon Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) heads to a brothel with his squires to initiate one of them, who’s a virgin.
The King whips back one curtain to reveal a woman performing fellatio on a man, giving viewers an eyeful of the intimate encounter.
Aemond is also shown fully nude in the episode (Picture: HBO)
Aegon has no qualms about humiliating his younger brother in the brothel (Picture: HBO)
While this scene proved a huge shock to plenty of viewers, it was especially excruciating for people who happened to be catching the latest episode with their parents.
‘Imagine watching the latest episode of House of the Dragon with your parents, and THAT brothel scene comes out of nowhere lol,’ Georges wrote on X.
‘Now that was an awkward episode to watch with parents,’ Simon added.
Anelisa also shared: ‘My mother walked into the room, now she thinks I’m a pervert.😭😭.’
Other fans reacted with shock at the moment, with one remarking that in their view, the scene was completely unnecessary.
‘There was absolutely zero reason for #HouseOfTheDragon to include an explicit act of fellatio. Like, at all,’ an X user called @PhiladelphiaVTIM said.
‘Yes we know it’s a brothel. Sex can and should be an important part of storytelling; this was just stupid.’
Another person called @rusty619 questioned: ‘That scene, in the brothel, I was a little taken by surprise. NGL shooketh if you will. Is this HBO or SkinaMax? 😲🫢Was that a prosthetic or real deal?’
The unexpected display of fellatio wasn’t the only instance of full-frontal male nudity in the episode, as moments later, Prince Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) was shown standing up naked facing the camera after being humiliated by his brother, Aegon.
Ewan felt very strongly that standing full nude was fitting for Aemond’s character (Picture: HBO)
‘Nothing could have prepared me for the scene at the brothel with Vaghar on full display 😂😅,’ a fan called @yoholla_bala87 wrote on X, referencing Aemond’s actual dragon Vhagar.
‘I sure did not expect that Aemond brothel scene 👀😅,’ Kaitlyn admitted.
Geeta Vasant Patel, who directed the episode, explained why Aemond actor Ewan decided to be fully nude in that moment, because he felt that it was fitting for his character.
‘What we came to is that Aemond was hurt. He was bullied when he was little. Since he was hurt, he had created this persona that was the exact opposite of how he was feeling. He created the persona of someone who is callous and has no regard for what others think of him,’ the director told Variety.
‘That shift, from someone who’s vulnerable to literally watching him put on his armour, was what we were going for in that scene. It’s one of the few times you see the young child in him and you see the pain in him.
‘Slowly he starts putting on his armour and when he stands up, the fact that he doesn’t care that you see his penis is such a strong visceral shift. And so, of course, Ewan was like, “I want to be fully nude in that moment. It’s important to me because that’s who my character is. That’s what he would do.” And that’s what we did.’
House of the Dragon is available to watch on Sky Atlantic and NOW, with new episodes released on Mondays.
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