House Of The Dragon Episode 8 Review: There’s No Soul To This Show

Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t bring myself to care about these characters after so many plot and actor changes. House of the Dragon Episode 8: “The Lord of the Tides” was a good episode by all normal metrics…but it lacks real emotional attachment and heart as the show recast its actors once again.

Like I said in the intro, maybe I’m just being too critical of the show and the vast majority of people watching are fine with the recasting and constant plot shifting. That’s absolutely a real possibility.

Though, at least for me, I’ve had it with the constant its actor/plot “recasting”. Like I said a few weeks ago, it feels like I’m watching a history book being portrayed on my screen. And, no, I don’t mean the fun, interesting, chaotic aspects that a good history book can offer, but rather the boring, methodical, ‘checklist’-esque nature of a history book one might have to read for an AP history class.

In other words, I can’t get attached or invested in any of these characters or plots anymore. After establishing the young adult versions of Alicent and Rhaenyra’s children, as well as introducing us to their actors and the plots and conflicts of the time era, for the past two episodes, the show immediately throws that development out the window as new older actors replaced their characters younger counterparts. Again.

How many times has Aegon II been recast now? 3? He was a baby at first, then he was David Tennant’s son for two episodes, and now he’s Tom Glynn-Carney. I actually really enjoyed Glynn-Carney as Aegon II, especially during that dinner scene as he’s hilariously nonchalant, but he’s a unique circumstance as I found these new cast of actors…okay, I guess.

There are a few exceptions to that generalization, like Glynn-Carney and Lucerys Velayron’s actor, Elliot Grihault, but the rest just didn’t match up to the previous iteration of the character. Helaena Targaryen’s actress just looked extremely different to the younger version, while also being a bit more spacious (if that’s the right word?).

I don’t really know how to describe it, but the way the older actress (Phia Saban) portrayed Helana as someone whose more socially inept/unaware, which contrasts the very reserved and isolated portrayal by the younger actress, really threw me off. The new Aemond Targaryen actor was fine but lacked the unique personality Leo Ashton brought to younger Aemond.

Meanwhile, Baela and Rhaena were once again shoved to the sidelines which makes it hard to judge their actresses, respective, performances. Sadly.

Now, the one actor portrayal I really didn’t like was Jacaerys Velayron.

This is more down to the direction of how the director/writers wrote the character, rather than the actor (Harry Collett), but he was almost like a Jim Carrey character. From his first scene where he constantly refered to himself in the third person as he tried to learn High Valyrian, to the scenes of him bouncing and darting around the training ground like a five-year-old, everything about the performance drew me immediately out of the episode.

To be honest, he’s probably the only casting choice/character portrayal that I have really disliked out of the 50+ characters we’ve seen in this show. That’s a testament to how good HBO’s casting department is, while also an indictment on how ‘stakeless’ this plot has become for me.

Anyway, this episode revolves around an offscreen injury that has happened to Corlys Velayron. Somehow, he was gravely injured while battling in the Stepstones and now the succession to the Drfitmark throne has been cast into doubt as Corlys brother, Vaemond Velayron, and Coryls’ grandson (through Laenor and Rhaenyra’s line), Lucerys Velayron, debate over who should inherit should Corlys die.

First off, let me just ask why are we talking about the Stepstones AGAIN?

Yes, I know that in the books the wars in the Steptones took place over a 30-year time span, but why has Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochink adapted that? It’s way too convoluted for a fan of the novels/lore for me to follow, let alone a casual fan. Right when you think the Stepstones plot is over, the show brings it back up again with new players and stakes involved.

This whole Stepstones plot would have gone over so much smoother if they had just treated this show as an actual SHOW, and not a live-action, word-for-word retelling of Fire And Blood, by combining all of the wars into one.

In that scenario, the writers could have given Daemon an actual goal and motivation, rather than just wandering about aimlessly, while also making Corlys Velayron a little more ambitious and proactive.

Be honest, what has he done in this show besides try to marry off his 12-year-old daughter to a 40-year-old and ‘fight’ (fight is in quotes because we only saw him kill two pirates in a stupid land assault; that’s it) a war that took place primarily offscreen?

Plus, they could have used the Steptones War to showcase the power of the Velayron fleet, the Triarchy, the importance of the Stepstones, and give us some more characterization of the people and places related to the Triarchy and the Velayron host (ex: the Crabfeeder, the Archons of Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh, the reason why the Triarchy is fighting in the Dance of the Dragons, Princess Rhaenys, Vaemond Velayron etc.).

My second complaint is why did they have this injury take place offscreen? How do we know he’s even injured? We never saw Corlys in the episode? To be honest, how do we even know he was fighting in the Stepstones? We never saw a battle either.

Regardless, the episode had the usual bickering that has accompanied Alicent and Rhaenyra and those associated with them all throughout the series, though with added twist that now the Lordship of Driftmark is on the line. Yet, much of it just didn’t have that any tension as these actors and the version of the characters they are portraying are not only new to the audience, but are also new to each other.

How can you build the character chemistry that made Game of Thrones so great if you keep chopping and changing the actors aside?

Moving on, a huge change from the last episode, aside from most of the cast and the plot, of course, was that Viserys was bedridden and SUPER skinny. He really looked like a man that was facing death in the eye, while characters like Rhaenyra, Alicent, and Daemon treated him like it.

It was both sad and interesting to see the different reactions of the members of a same family regarding the dying of a loved one.

In other words, the actors and actresses did a great job.

Though, I wish we could have gotten one emotional/heart-to-heart scene between just Daemon and Viserys. Yes, I know there was that throne scene, which was very well done, but we never saw a scene between the two brother alone.

This whole series started out with these two as the main characters and I think it was a real shame that we never saw Daemon lamenting the fate of his brother, or at least a better acknowledgment of it than to laugh when his condition is brought up by Alicent.

Daemon is supposed to love Viserys after all, despite their conflicts and disagreements. It doesn’t seem realistic that he wouldn’t try to comfort/console his brother at all before his eventual death.

Anywho, as I alluded to, the scene of this episode was Viserys’ final climb up the Iron Throne. Despite being ravaged by a horrific, painful skin disease, Viserys made his way to the throne room to presided over the Driftmark petition after Rhaenyra begged him to do it a day earlier. It was really emotional to see him struggle to walk down the hall, and then need Daemon’s help to climb up the throne.

Out of all of the great actors and actresses on this show, Paddy Considine is the one that more than deserves an Emmy nomination for his work. He’s just been fantastic as Viserys and has portrayed a sympathetic, regretful dying man better than most could even dream of.

Yet, the ensuing decapitation of Vaemond Velayron (Wil Johnson) kind of took me out of the moment. After getting his petition rejected, Vaemond, who was alone, unarmed, and unarmored, preceded to insult Rhaenyra to the king’s face and called her children bastards for all of the court to hear.

Obviously, Daemon struck him down immediately, but my question is: why? Why did Vaemond have an outburst like that and in that position?

Surely, he knew he was going to die if he openly insulted the king and his family’s honor to the man’s face. Was there really no other way of getting the Driftmark Throne at a later date? And even if the petition did go his way, what would happen if Corlys recovered? Why wouldn’t he just overrule the petition and name his grandson as his heir…which is his legal right.

There would have been nothing the king or his council could have done about it without being seen as tyrannical, which was something they desperately wanted to avoid.

To conclude the episode, Viserys called one last family dinner to finally mend the ever-growing rift between the two sides of the family. Obviously, it didn’t really go anywhere as, even though Alicent and Rhaenyra strangely made up, the children just started a huge brawl after Viserys left to undo all of his hard work.

After all that happened last episode, with Alicent nearly killing Rhaenyra for Aemond getting his eye cut out, this reconciliation came out of left field. Yes, I know there was YET ANOTHER PAINFUL TIMEJUMP, but that’s my whole point. This show feels so forced with established character dynamics and plot points being rewritten and changed in between each episode due to a deluded sense of being ‘faithful to the book’.

It takes a good director/show runner/writer to be faithful, but a great one to know when to diverge from the book for the health of the T.V. show. For all of the hate David Benioff and Dan Weiss get nowadays, then knew this fact in the early season of GOT. It was when they decided to make their own show using George R.R. Martin’s works their downfall begun.

As for the kids fight, it’s the same situation. We needed a whole season’s worth of conflict and tension between these actors and actresses to make this fight believable. Oh, and what was the point of having Aemond and Daemon have a staring contest between one another? Why didn’t Daemon defend the honor of his great-nephews/step-sons (yeah, it’s one complicated family) after Aemond essentially called them ‘Strongs’?

Having these two, you know, ARGUE would have been better foreshadowing for what’s to come than the pleasant smile Daemon gave before strolling away. This show has badly wasted Matt Smith.

And that’s why I can only give this episode an 8.0/10. Everything about this episode, such as the cinema trophy, lighting, set design, costume design, soundtrack, directing, etc. was great. It’s just the constant turnover of actors and frankly poor writing choices that has really disappointed men these last five episodes.

I really wanted this series to live up to its great predecessor, Game of Thrones, but I see that was an unattainable wish. Unfortunately, you can only catch lighting in a bottle once, and HBO dropped and cracked open that bottle long ago with Season 8 of GOT.

Maybe next season will be better, but I think it’s a wrap for Season 1, even though there’s still two episodes left.

 

 

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