Paddy Considine’s appearance in House of the Dragon, Episode 8

THE ACTOR | Paddy Considine

THE SHOW | house of the dragon

THE RESULT | “The Lord of the Tides” (9 Oct 2022)

THE PERFORMANCE | King Viserys may be dead, but Considine’s superb role as a decrepit king in his last days will live on forever. The Dying Viserys was an unnerving, decaying spectacle whose proximity to the grave was made all the more believable by the show’s top-notch makeup and prosthetics efforts, as well as the use of a body double in various scenes. An inferior actor could have been swallowed whole by the combined, ghastly effect. But Considine’s genius lay in the way he allowed Visery’s physical decline to be the catalyst for the king’s emotionally reduced plea to his fractured family.

In the dinner scene on the monarch’s last evening, despite Viserys’ stooped physicality and raspy voice, Considine ignited the character’s essential spark to one final fire. The King’s desire for a united family grew brilliant in its intensity, with Considine excelling even as he flopped back in his chair, groaning slightly, showing us how much the effort was taking from the dying leader.

Though time and illness ravaged the body of Viserys, he was never more himself than at this request during the Last Supper. So many props to Considine for turning the contradictory, complicated man into someone whose words we hung on to the end.

AWARD | The Good Fight This week, Ri’Chard voted Lane’s rush from an eight to a three as the firm’s flamboyant new partner struggled to get his ailing 11-year-old nephew a life-saving bone marrow transplant, and Andre Braugher took the opportunity to show us the person behind the showman. During the uncharacteristically short 40-minute episode, the Emmy-winning TV vet infused his oversized character with a rare vulnerability, with Braugher punctuating Ri’Chard’s steely resolve with subtle hints of panic and concern. And when the enraged Egoist thanked his colleagues for helping out on the seemingly impossible (but ultimately successful) mission, Braugher imbued the gesture with such authentic, genuine emotion that for the first time we considered Ri’Chard a full human – full Family member.

AWARD | So far The patient, we only saw Alan’s son Ezra, played by Andrew Leeds, embroiled in a bitter estrangement from his father through flashbacks. It almost broke our hearts this week as we watched Ezra dutifully put up flyers in hopes of finding his missing father, and Leeds revealed that despite all the grudges, Ezra still cares deeply for his father. Leeds also shone when Ezra shared his conflicted feelings about Alan with his wife, and he even picked up a guitar and sang a sweetly wistful rendition of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” — the same song his father sang with the doomed Elias sang back a few weeks. The patient can be daunting at times, but Ezra’s devotion to his father – and Leeds’ smooth, powerful performance – offered us a small and much appreciated glimmer of hope.

AWARD | In episode 7 of The Midnight Club, we have seen a world where Anya has overcome her terminal illness. In what ultimately turned out to be some kind of dream state, Ruth Codd shone as her character grappled with a bad bout of survivor guilt that left her almost beyond repair. During an emotional phone conversation with an estranged friend, the actress’ lips trembled and her voice rose in pitch as we both saw and felt her pain increase. Codd never let up as Anya recounted the deaths of her former club members to her therapy group, later tearfully listening as those same members (who were actually still alive) told her a story about a happy future that would never be. The performance unleashed a kaleidoscope of emotions — sadness, hope, despair, love and more — as Codd undoubtedly cemented himself as the show’s scene-stealing standout.

Which performance(s) knocked your Socks out this week? Tell us in the comments!