Action spectacle advances story in HotD Ep. 3.
Our characters feel the political earth move under their feet.
The Short Take: A nicely balanced, engrossing episode that punctuates much politicking and family drama with a splashy action sequence.
Dragon Count: 3!
(Note that this is a running total for the series to date.)
[SPOILER ALERT: No amount of zigging and zagging will help you avoid them from here on out.]
Image Credit: IndieWire
The Long Take:
Crab Feeder, we hardly knew ye.
I never addressed the time jump we experienced last week, and that was mostly because I did not find it to be all that remarkable despite critics making a big deal about it. Knowing that we would switch to older actresses for Rhaenyra and Alicent at some point partway through the series, they noted the jump as a new feature that would take some getting used to after Game of Thrones, which moved at a much more incremental pace within one season. Last week, I didn’t particularly miss the six months we skipped because the bubbling over of tensions, for me, was much more arresting than watching those tensions slowly build over several episodes. This week, we jump nearly three years into the future, as Viserys and Alicent have not only married off-screen, but have had a son who is about to celebrate his second name day.
Again, I generally don’t regret that we will never see those interim years. Sure, the whole season could have focused on the war in the Stepstones, but we know that the series is actually about a potentially much bigger conflict involving all three heads of this proverbial dragon: Viserys, Rhaenyra, and Daemon. I like that for these three characters we hone in on crucible-forged moments that shift the tectonic plates of the show. Rhaenyra, with a little pep talk from Ser Criston Cole, realizes that she doesn’t have to hang back as the heir who’s really a spare. Her return to camp, with hair and neck steeped in blood, is a visual representation of her newfound sense of strength and resolve. Daemon, enraged by his brother’s well-meaning offer of aid, gets over his past struggles in fighting the Triarchy and tries a suicidal Hail Mary that finally gets the job done. Having won his rogue war, he now has earned the worth that Corlys said they both had to make for themselves. He’s a serious contender for the throne now. And Viserys finally says out loud that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. (We, the audience, didn’t need to be told that, of course.) That his prophetic dragon dreams make him second guess his every move. That the decision-making inherent in ruling as king has been agonizing for him.
Image Credit: Vanity Fair
I do, however, regret that The Crab Feeder is off the board before we even got to know him. My expectation when the series first introduced him was that eventually we would see scenes of him and his pirate compatriots on their home turf (surf?), to learn more about what exactly they were trying to accomplish in the Stepstones and what they thought about the Targaryens and other adjacent characters. Plus, the Crab Feeder was such a fascinating villain. What kind of person nails his enemies to posts and covers them in flesh-eating crabs? I tell myself that learning about him, or, you know, hearing him speak, would probably just ruin his mystique. But I know deep down that I’m lying to myself. Am I going too far in wishing for a spin-off prequel of a younger, less-gray scaly version of him ruthlessly ascending to the crustaceous throne?
When I consider the role this decisive victory against The Crab Feeder plays in Daemon’s character arc, I accept the loss. And not only because it propels the narrative forward, but because it actually punctuates the episode so crisply. I don’t think this was a disingenuous attempt to placate more casual fans with a spectacle after a long spell of conversations in elegant tents. I see the action-heavy turn at the end as the logical thematic conclusion to a conflict threaded throughout the talkier parts of the episode.
Image Credit: NPR
Up until this battle between Corlys and Daemon’s forces and the The Crab Feeder’s, the episode dwells in the royal hunt, and a significant portion of the conversations held during this juxtaposition of lavish indulgence and ego-driven primal violence revolve around what Viserys should or should not do about Daemon’s unsanctioned, failing war. Viserys resents so many advisors telling him he cannot intervene because it will show the Crown’s weakness and acknowledge Daemon’s claim to the throne.
It doesn’t work out that way. Viserys ultimately decides that he loves his brother and cannot stand by as he suffers, sending a fleet of ships as aid. Daemon, however, does not receive this aid in the spirit it was intended. Instead of viewing Viserys’ scroll as a gesture of love and attention (for which, we know, he has craved since Episode 1), he takes it as an affront and a power play. Viserys, despite his concerns about showing weakness, actually implies that Daemon is too weak to fight this war on his own. In Daemon’s eyes, Viserys’ intervention proves the Crown’s strength rather than weakness. Silently fuming, Matt Smith makes this a brilliantly acted and highly meme-able scene.
And what a Daemon-centric battle sequence we got. It was thrilling just seeing him go for it. Some folks on the Interwebs have been complaining about Daemon dodging too many arrows — especially after Rickon Stark didn’t fare so well in Game of Thrones’ famed “Battle of the Bastards” episode. All I will do in response to this critique is gently remind everyone about how bad a stormtrooper’s aim must be to keep the Star Wars franchise churning. Sometimes characters need to defy the odds and logic for the sake of story, and I’m okay with that. I thoroughly enjoyed Daemon single-handedly drawing the crabs out of their caves so that their dragon warfare could actually start cooking.
Daemon’s rise to genuine throne contender, of course, is not the only battle in the episode, as questions of birth, marriage, and succession plague Viserys and Rhaenyra all throughout the hunt. At the top of this review, I mentioned Viserys and Alicent have a toddler, their son named Aegon. This is arguably the biggest development since the events of last week’s episode because it throws Rhaenyra’s status as heir into question. There’s that pesky primogeniture again, and I don’t think we’re going to shake it anytime soon.
Image Credit: NYT
There are many Aegons throughout Targaryen history, as George R. R. Martin wanted to reflect the British monarchy’s habit of using the same names over and over again. Game of Thrones famously revealed that one character was a secret Aegon, who was the Sixth of His Name. But the namesake of Aegon here carries weight for this season of House of the Dragon because it creates a through-line from Viserys passing the secret of Aegon the Conquerer’s dream called “A Song of Ice and Fire” to Rhaenyra in Episode 1 to the celebration of young Aegon, Second of His Name, in Episode 3.
I usually try not to read too much into episode titles, but since this one is “Second of His Name,” it’s kind of hard not to. The title made me realize that Viserys’ choice in the name Aegon may to everyone around him seem like a normal homage to the accomplished historical figure who created the Iron Throne in the first place, but as a viewer of the show I know that this choice is much more personal for Viserys because he carries the burden of this secret knowledge of an oncoming apocalyptic threat, which originated from the first Aegon. As we see with his conversation with Alicent, Targaryen dreams in general haunt him; the one he himself has had about a baby boy on the Iron Throne tortures him because he can’t figure out how to interpret it; which of his children should actually be on the throne?
I like how the series keeps trying to tell us that dreams Targaryens have are important to this show. Dragons — which I love, clearly — are obviously the cornerstone fantasy element of the series, but the idea of dragon dreams rounds out this world as one of fantasy quite nicely. To a lesser extent, the good omen associated with the White Heart stag in the forest does as well. The scene in which Rhaenyra crosses path with the stag was one of my favorites of the entire episode, because her response to it sets her apart from all the other characters and affirms my allegiance to her. Since Criston Cole is the only other one to see the stag with her, and I assume they do not tell anyone else about the sighting, there will likely be many moments of dramatic irony throughout the rest of the season because we (and Criston) know that Rhaenyra is actually supposed to be the ruler of Westeros. Does a royal portent still make a prediction if no one is around to hear it?
The mystical stag anointing her seems right, too, as she is the only one who doesn’t want to kill the stag for sport. She respects it as a wonder of nature. My wandering mind started to think that this might foreshadow something with the dragons later on. Viserys said in Episode 1 that humans shouldn’t mess with dragons, but perhaps Rhaenyra will break new ground and find a way for dragon and dragon rider to have a healthier relationship. Maybe she will face a choice about the dragons later on and ultimately try to do right by them. Am I just angling to get more dragons in the show? Possibly.
I’d like to do right by them too…in this week’s Dragon Watch. Breaking news! We got a new dragon! He was awesome! Seasmoke is a pretty clutch name for a dragon, and it was nice that we broke out of the “rax”-based dragon names. But I’m mostly impressed with his ability to breath fire in a perfect circle. Is this a barista foam art situation in which some dragons can create shapes and patterns with their flames? Inquiring minds want to know. I also personally like the look of Seasmoke the best out of all the dragons we’ve seen so far. He’s got a beautiful pale silver color with a hint of red on his wings. And it looked like he had a bit of a spiky paunch, which is very cute.
I did miss Syrax’s sweeter, more dinosaur-like face this week, though. Her absence in this episode makes me worry that we may be looking at a “there can only be 2” rule, likely for budgetary reasons. If we don’t at some point get at least five dragons all hanging out in the same scene, why are we even calling his show House of the Dragon? It’s not tandem bike of the dragon. It’s not table for two of the dragon. It’s house of the dragon.