This episode was the best of the bunch so far, even with THAT one dumb battle scene. House of the Dragon Episode 3: ‘The Second of His Name” was easily the best episode of the show to date, though one important battle scene knocked it down a few points.
So far, House of the Dragon has been a great successor to the legacy of Game of Thrones. The past two episodes have really excited and enthralled millions (me included) with the world of Westeros again, and this one was no different.
Easily, this episode was the best so far in showing us character development and cinematography (mostly, I’ll get to what I didn’t like later) as so many characters were given new, fresh, and relatable motivations this episode, while the ‘pomp and pageantry” of the pseudo-Middle Ages was again fantastic.
I said last week that Episode 2 was all about the scheming and politicking of Corlys Velaryon and Otto Hightower. This week, however, was all about the repercussions of said schemes on the lives of King Viserys and Princess Rhaenyra.
This episode picked up two years after the last episode (which was a bit jarring at first) as Viserys finally got the son he wanted with Alicent giving birth to baby Aegon (plus, she’s already pregnant with another child, who will end up being Princess Helena Targaryen).
(HBO-House of the Dragon-The Second of His Name)
Obviously, that can only mean that Otto Hightower and his brother, Lord Hobert Hightower of Oldtown, are pushing hard for Viserys to name Aegon his heir over Rhaenyra. Unfortunatley for Viserys, all of this scheming and decision making has noticeable made him look weaker, bloated (because he’s now a drunk), and he has now lost his two fingers that were infected from Iron Throne cut in Ep. 1.
As for Rhaenerya, she really isn’t too happy with her best friend going behind her back and not only marrying her father, but also providing him with a son that directly challenges her claim to the throne. So, she has decided to take her anger out by ignoring her father and the now-Queen Alicent.
Moreover, the War in the Stepstones that Daemon Targaryen and Corlys Velaryon started at the end of last episode has been going horribly as more and more Velaryon men and sailors are being either killed, captured, or fed to the crabs by the Crabfeeder.
With only a half thousand men-at-arms and less than fifty knights left, it sure seemed that the Crabfeeder and his Myrish sellswords were going to defeat Prince Daemon and the Sea Snake’s fleet.
Whew, that is one massive headache of family problems if you ask me. And Viserys apparently thought so too as he assembled a great hunt for a White Stag (partial throwback to King Robert’s boar hunt from GOT Season 1) to bring everyone together for a fun, deer-slaying bonding session. What could go wrong?
(HBO-House of the Dragon-The Second of His Name)
Alright, before I get into what went wrong, let me just say that House of the Dragon has done a really great job with the time jumping gaps. At first, it was a little jarring, but seeing how other TV shows have badly handled this story-telling technique (cough…Witcher Season 1…cough), I have to applaud Ryan Condal, Miquel Sapochnik, and the rest of the writing staff. They have made it work for HOTD.
Also, I’m really impressed by how smooth the switch between young Laenor Velayron to teenage Laenor Velayron was. It is really down to the actor, Theo Nate, as he has already made me like the character, even though he was on screen for less than ten minutes.
I just hope that the switch between the young set of characters (ex: Rhaenyra, Alicent, Aegon, Helena, Laena Velayron, etc.) to the older set will be as smoothly done as it was for Laenor.
Anyway, back to the story, the royal procession into the Kingswood to find the stag was as awkward, tense, and combative as one could imagine. Viserys’ uncontrollable drinking and his urgent desire to see Rhaenyra married off was really well acted between Milly Alcock and Paddy Considine.
The hurt and anguish felt by both characters was masterfully portrayed though Viserys coping with wine and food because his struggles with the pressure of being king, while Rhaenyra distanced herself from everyone as she felt evermore estranged from her father as the vultures (in the form of lords) descended upon his weakness. Paddy Considine and Milly Alcock really are great actors and I’ll be sad when they eventually leave the show.
And this leads me to my new favorite character: Lord Jason Lannister of Casterly Rock.
If House of the Dragon/Game of Thrones can boast of doing one thing right, it’s creating the best “villain” characters that you can’t help but root for.
Jason Lannister is as every bit as greedy, proud, avaricious, snotty, and clever as his descendants, Tywin, Jamie, Cersei, and Tyrion. Yet, he has an unintended, funny demeanor, that I can’t help but root for him.
Every scene he was in was the best ones from the episode. Especially his one with Rhaenyra (which is my scene of the episode).
(HBO-House of the Dragon-The Second of His Name)
Essentially, the scene plays out with Jason trying to court Rhaenyra (after already asking Viserys for her hand in marriage) during the pre-hunt festivities. He tries to woe her with his gold, prestige, great Lannisport wine (which, of course, he had Rhaenyra taste), and the grandeur of the Rock.
Obviously, Rhaenyra sees through the Lion Lord and coldly rejects him, leaving him to contemplate what he said wrong with two cups of wine in his hand…that he promptly dumps to the ground (even though he was just boasting how great the Lannisport/Lannister wine is). I’m not sure if the showrunner were trying to make him funny, but his actor, Jefferson Hall, did it anyway. And I’m glad he did.
Nevertheless, the rest of the show pretty much revolves around the hunt for the deer, Viserys’ ever-growing despair and drunkenness, and the behind-the-scenes scheming of the Hightowers.
Rhaenyra and Ser Criston Cole have a small side plot where the Rhaenyra runs away from the festivities (with Cole following closely behind her), they camp out in the woods and Rhaenyra expresses her doubts about the realm accepting her as queen, a laughably bad CGI boar attacks them but they manage to kill it, they find the white stag but leave it alone, and Rhaenyra returns to the shock and disbelief of the royal procession as she’s covered in the blood of the boar.
If the episode ended right here, it would have gotten an easy 10/10 from me. It was that good.
The politicking, scheming, and backstabbing that is so beloved in the GOT universe was on full display in this episode, along with the complex characters that made the GOT actors famous and adored. Every actor and actress have been brilliant so far, and it was a joy to watch them do their craft and portray these complex, intriguing, and sympathetic characters on screen.
But it didn’t. It ended on one of the dumbest battle sequences that the GOT/HOTD universe has produced.
Okay, for a quick rundown (as this article is getting rather long), Corlys Velaryon, his son Laenor, his brother Vaemon Velayron, and Daemon Targaryen are all trapped on the Stepstones as the Crabfeeder and his men continue to evade the dragons’ fire by hiding in caves.
As the three Velayron’s gather around a map of the Stepstones, Vaemond heavily questions Daemon’s leadership and begins provoking the sparks of mutiny against Daemon, though is cutoff by his brother and the return of the Rogue Prince.
Just as tensions are about to boil over between Vaemond and Daemon, a messenger arrives from King’s Landing to inform Daemon that Viserys, who was extremely hesitant to send help all episode long before being convinced by Alicent to do so, was finally going to send men and supplies to the ragged army.
For some reason, Daemon beats the messenger to death with his helmet and then sails, alone, to the island where the Crabfeeder and his army was station in order to fight them in a Rambo-esque suicide mission.
(HBO-House of the Dragon-The Second of His Name)
Yes, Daemon Targaryen became Rambo for the final ten minutes.
This must have been the dumbest thing I’ve seen from a GOT project since the Golden Company being massacre in five seconds by Dany’s dragon. Why did Daemon think it was a good idea to travel alone to fight the Crabfeeder and his 400 or so soldiers? The Sea Snake his men ended up assaulting the island anyway. Why didn’t he just sail with them?
And why did they not show the Crabfeeder and Daemon’s duel on screen? Who thought that it was a good idea to not show the death of the biggest villain of the show (as of yet) to the audience? All we get to see is Daemon dragging the half-sliced torso of the Crabfeeder out of the cave and onto the beeches.
Oh, and seeing as the Crabfeeder looked to have Greyscale, Daemon all but assured he will now have the disease since he not only touched the Crabfeeder’s arm, but was also covered in his blood (though, I know the show won’t go down that direction).
Finally, what is it with GOT/HOTD making their battle scenes tough to see and extremely jarring? I could barely see anything with all of that smoke fogging the camera. And what I did see was a shaking mess of indistinguishable men hacking and slashing at one another (at least Laenor Velaryon riding the dragon Seasmoke looked cool).
Come on, HBO, how did you not learn your lesson from The Battle of Winterfell fallout?
Anyway, I’m giving Episode 3: “The Second of His Name” a 9.2/10 as the characters, dialogue, cinemograph (mostly), and set designs were all fantastic once again. Just, for the sake of all that is good in this world, HBO, give us a battle scene that we can actually see when the Dance kicks off!
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