House Of The Dragon Episode 5 Review: The Showrunners Have Hit A Huge Plot Hole

I think the showrunners and writers forgot that when you murder someone, you’re supposed to go to jail when caught. House of the Dragon Episode 5: “We Light the Way” is definitely the worst episode of the bunch as the showrunners hit a huge plot hole in this episode with many of the main characters.

What was that huge plot hole? The time jumps.

Yes, the beloved, barley specified time jumps that get maybe one mention per episode to show that there was a jump (for the longest time I didn’t realize there was a 3-year leap between Eps. 2 and 3) have finally taken their toll on the plot.

Characters that should have been given weeks, months, even years of on-screen development have been forced to rush their arcs to be in line with the major outlines set within George R.R. Martin’s Fire And Blood fictious history novel.

Take Rhaenyra and Ser Criston Cole, for example. Their shared connection/story arc was at the forefront of this episode as King Viserys had finally grown a backbone and decided to wed Rhaenyra, without her consent, to Ser Laenor Velyaron.

Thus, the whole episode was spent making the wedding arrangements, succession arguments, planning for the celebratory tournaments, games, feasts, etc., and setting a date for the wedding ceremony itself.

Obviously, if Rhaenyra was set to get married to Laenor Velayron, that would ruin the relationship that was established at the end of the last episode, right? (Which, as far as I’m aware, was the first without a major time jump between the end of the episode to the start of the next one.)

That could be a serious hurtle this NEW (key word here), budding relationship would have to overcome. At least, it should be.

Well, no, actually it wouldn’t as Laenor and Rhaenyra came to a compromise about their marriage while King Viserys and Lord Corlys were discussing the dowry and details. Rhaenyra allowed Laenor to continue seeing Ser Joffrey Lonmouth (his romantic interest) as much as he wanted, while Laenor allowed Rhaenyra to continue seeing Ser Criston (though he didn’t know it was Ser Cristion at the time) whenever she wished.

The only stipulation was that they had to produce a least one heir to continue their, respective, families’ line before their agreement would take effect.

Sound great, right? Especially for Ser Cristion as he could not only continue seeing his romantic partner without judgement from her husband, but this agreement would also afford him more time to get to know Rhaenyra in a romantic way.

Yet, strangely, in the mere week or two since they began their relationship, Ser Cristion got the notion stuck in his head that he and Rhaenyra should run away from their duties and tour the world together as husband and wife, rather than Kingsguard protector and Targaryen Princess.

Could he be any more stupid?

First off, if they did decide to leave their pampered royal lives behind, how would they hide Rhaenyra’s dragon? The talk of a huge, yellowish-golden dragon soaring above the skies of the Free Cities of Essos would surely get back to Viserys, who would then send his guards after them. They would never be able to get away.

Second, why does Cristion Cole think that Rhaenyra likes him that much to run away with him? They’ve just started their relationship an episode ago (or, two weeks ago in Westeros time), and it would be very strange to see them run off together when they’ve only had one romantic scene together.

Sure, they talk about how much they loved and knew one another earlier on in this episode, but it’s just that. Talk.

This show has been so focused on jumping between the 30 years from the Great Council of 101 to the Dance of the Dragons War (129-131), which has caused many of the relationships in this show to be essentially ‘show-and-tells’.

The dynamic between Rhaenyra and Cristion Cole feels rushed and fabricated as they’ve not had a lot of continuous screentime to develop their bond. And it hurt their whole plotline this episode, especially during the huge wedding scene later on.

And it’s the same issue with Daemon Targaryen. Ever since his grand entrance into the show during Episode 1, he’s practically fallen off a cliff of relevancy.

He simply has nothing important to do.

The Stepstones War was a complete waste of time and his entanglement with Rhaenyra last episode hasn’t caused any significant repercussion upon him.

“What about his banishment at the end of Episode 5?” you’re wondering. Well, I guess Viserys forgot about it as he was given a seat of honor at the wedding feast when he showed up unannounced.

In fact, Daemon was able to conqueror the entire Stepstones, kill the “Big Bad” of the season, the Crabfeeder, and become King of the Stepstones in a shorter time than it has taken for Viserys to die from his leprosy that he’s had for the past 20 or so years in show time.

I mean, how is Viserys still going into Episode 6 with that disease?

Regardless, those moments should have been season-long, character defining acts that took many hours to tell and would have given Daemon a real sense of purpose on this show.

When they are condensed down to the point of practically being skipped over, it takes away all of the urgency and investment one might have in Prince Daemon and his character development.

Moreover, this show is also really doing the Rouge Prince a disservice by telling everyone of his ‘nefarious deeds’ rather than just showing us. And when they do decide to show us Daemon’s brutal nature, they either cut to black or make him stop at the very last second.

Is Daemon the Rouge Prince or is he the Cowardly Prince, Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnick? Which one is it?

I’ve got to be honest, if this version of Daemon was cut from the show entirely, it really wouldn’t change the story all that much. Sure, it would be a little more boring as Daemon’s scenes tended to involve action heavily, but would any of the characters change in a drastic way?

Rhaenyra would still fight with Viserys over an arranged marriage and her inheritance, Viserys would still struggle with the burdens of being king, his sickness, and the pressures of producing a male heir, and Otto would still push for Alicent’s children to sit the Iron Throne over Rhaenyra.

Unfortunately for us viewers, all of my criticisms for this episode would have been avoided if the showrunners just chose ONE moment from the 30+ year backstory of the Dance to start with, rather than covering everything sparsely.

If I was in charge, I would have started right were this next episode is beginning: the high point of the conflict between the older Rhaenyra and Alicent.

Rhaenyra would still have the pressures and uncertainty of being the heir over her half-brothers, Otto Hightower’s political maneuvering would still hold true even with his grandchildren starting the series out a little older, Alicent’s dislike for Rhaenyra could be hinted at and built up as the season went on, and all of the unnecessary confusion over Baby Prince Baelon, Daemon and Rhaenyra’s claims to the throne early on in the show would be completely eliminated.

Yes, Rhaenyra and Alicent’s childhood friendship would have been skipped over, but I think that’s for the best anyway. In my opinion, Alicent’s friendship with Rhaenyra has been good (mainly because of Milly Alcock and Emily Carey’s acting), but not great.

They needed more time to bond over their mutual likes and interests before their split in this latest episode with Alicent conveniently getting Ser Cristion to admit to his affair and revealing Rhaenyra’s lie, even though she was talking about Rhaenyra and Daemon’s relationship.

I’ve got to be honest, to break up a friendship and start a fierce rivalry over a miscommunication as plot contrived as that one was is rather weak.

Nevertheless, if the showrunners really wanted to express their friendship, then they could have added a few flashbacks with Milly Alcock and Emily Carey being friendly with one another sprinkled around the season.

Still, my final criticism for this episode didn’t have to do with the time jumps, but with the lack of consequences for the main characters.

Game of Thrones was so beloved because the main characters would face consequences for their choices. HOTD doesn’t really have that jeopardy, and this episode proved it.

Daemon Targaryen and Ser Cristion Cole blatantly and obviously murdered someone in this episode, but nothing came of it. Ser Criston’s brutal, unprovoked slaying of Ser Joffrey Lonmouth (a nobleman’s son and Ser Laenor’s lover, no less) at the wedding feast didn’t get him a one-way ticket to the Black Cells, or a trip to the executioner’s block.

Nope, he was able to freely walk about the Red Keep, still fully armed, and was just about to kill himself out of shame (I guess) before Alicent stopped him.

This was such a dumb scene that on so many levels. Why was Ser Cristion allowed to walk freely after brutally bashing a nobleman’s skull in? Why was the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms allowed to talk alone to a known, still armed murderer? And why did he try to kill himself? He just murdered the only guy that knew about his secret affair with Rhaenyra and could have told others.

The second murder, that Daemon committed on his wife Lady Rhea Royce, was a little more believable in the sense that Daemon could have gotten away with it without suspicion. He did murder Lady Royce in the middle of nowhere while dressed in a dark, hooded cloak.

Plus, he also staged it so that it looked like her horse gave out on her, rather than him spooking the horse and causing her to fall and break her neck.

Yet, with him being banished back to the Vale and his deep hatred for Lady Rhea well known, it’s rather obvious that he was the one who killed her. Lady Rhea’s cousin, Ser Gerald Royce, tried to confront him about it during the wedding scene latter, but Daemon just brushes it off and, seemingly, Royce does as well.

It was a strange scene that needed to be taken much more seriously. I know murder happens so often in this universe, but that doesn’t make it any less controversial when it happens to prestigous lady of the realm.

And with Daemon seemingly now married to Laena Velayron (as the Episode 6 trailer suggested), I’m guessing we won’t get a resolution on this obvious plot hole.

Nonetheless, I’ve rambled on enough about the shortcomings of this episode. Before giving my score, I would like to say that I’m really sad to see Milly Alcock and Emily Carey go as they have been fantastic in their roles. If it wasn’t for them and a few other, this show wouldn’t be nearly as good as I’ve rated it so far.

Furthermore, the additions of Harwin Strong and Larys Strong have been great. I’ve really enjoyed the brotherly love and mischief these two have gotten into with the little screen time given to them thus far. It’s a good thing these two have prominent roles to come.

But not even their greatness could save this episode from my all-powerful grading metric as Episode 5: “We Light The Way” gets a 7.8/10 from me, easily making it the worst episode to date.

With Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke set to take on the mantels of older Rhaenyra and Alicent, respectively, I’m counting on them to restore order to the House of the Dragon as this week’s episode definitely lost it.

 

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