Quiet in the Realm! I’ve had Lord Larys Clubfoot Strong, the Master of Whispers and Varys’s predecessor, telling me the salacious story of House of the Dragon episode 3 ,so, if you haven’t seen it yet, please seek solace in an offline Sept.
Here we are, a third of the way into the first season of House of the Dragon and it may be the most divisive episode of the series to date.
Recap:
Nearly three years have passed since the paedo King Viserys (Paddy Considine) made his choice between child brides and alienated his daughter and heir Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) in the process. Alicent (Emily Carey) has borne the King his much longed for son Aegon, the Second of His Name, and is currently heavily pregnant with their second child. The Realm, incorrectly assuming that Viserys will now name Aegon his heir as he is the firstborn son, are celebrating the young Prince’s second Name Day and the court is off to a special fete hosted by the proud House Lannister.
Rhaenyra, who has felt alone these past few years, is in typical teenage mode: sulking in woods and gardens; demanding the royal singer plays the same song over and over again like he is the medieval equivalent of Spotify and pointedly defying her new Lady Stepmother, ex-best friend/unrequited crush and Queen Alicent.
Rhaenyra reluctantly agrees to accompany her father and his new family to the Name Day celebrations but her ire is once again stoked and she is dragon fire breathing mad when she discovers the other purpose of this ill-fated camping trip is to parade her in front of the eligible bachelors of the Realm. The forerunner for her hand in marriage is the insufferable Lord of Casterly Rock, Jason Lannister (yes, Jaime, Cersei and Tyrion’s six times granddaddy). After a heated exchange with her father about her duty to marry, Rhaenyra rides off on her horse and is chased by Ser Cristian Cole who tries to calm her down.
The duo end up in a bloody battle with a wild boar to the death. Remind me to send an apology raven to the late Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) – I totally understand how he met his end now, those things are HUGE! Rhaenyra returns to the camp the next day, covered in blood and triumphant in victory since she managed to kill a wild animal when her father could not. His white stag hunt did NOT go to plan and he was too drunk to even kill the other stag his men had cornered and tied up for him. Who runs Westeros? GIRLS!
Meanwhile, back at the Stepstones, Prince Daemon (Matt Smith), Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), his son Laenor ( the now teenager Theo Nate ) and brother Vaemond (Wil Johnson), the Lord of Complaints as Laenor so cleverly dubbed him, are losing their war against the Crabfeeder (Daniel Scott-Smith). It isn’t great PR for the King or the Realm, as Alicent so wisely points out to her royal sugardaddy, and so Viserys reluctantly sends aid to Daemon. It pisses our Rogue Prince off more than it does to placate him and the best battle since the original series’s Battle of the Bastards in Season 6, ends off this episode with a fantastic bang.
Impressions:
Episode 3 is an offering that Game of Thrones viewers may recognize as one that shifts the entire tone of the show. The beautifully crafted battle at the end is built up over the episode and reaches a strong, breathtaking climax that makes you ache for more… so much more.
You would think that by now, I have had my fill of dragons making big entrances but there is something so entrancing about how Seasmoke, the pale silver grey mount of Laenor Velaryon (who is a dragon rider because he has Targaryen blood thanks to his mother Princess Rhaenys), sweeps to the rescue after Daemon fakes a surrender to the Crabfeeder.
Equally visually and emotionally resonant is how Daemon faces the hordes of Crabfeeder soldiers, releasing his sword Dark Sister in a motion and scene that brings to mind Jon Snow (Kit Harington) facing off against the Bolton army in Battle of the Bastards. I adore these subtle homages to the original series.It feels like I am coming home to something new but comfortingly familiar too.
Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) is a horrible hybrid of Littlefinger and Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) and I seriously wish I could feed him to Caraxes. The way he is pushing for Prince Aegon, his grandson, to replace Rhaenyra as the heir is pissing me off. It is expected, of course, but for the love of the Gods, quit it, Otto!
In case you missed it, King Viserys has now lost two fingers to the Iron Throne. In the source novel Fire&Blood, the Iron Throne often cut the kings and queens it didn’t deem fit to rule. Will it cut Rhaenyra or Aegon next? Would it have cut Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) or Jon? Thanks to Drogon, we will never know.
Viserys’s heavy drinking is coming to the fore much earlier in House of the Dragon than it did in the novel, which is understandable because of the pace and time jumps of the show. However, it is still way too creepy to hear the 17 year old Alicent calling the old man “my love” or imagine her bedding his saggy bones. I am going to need some milk of the poppy to forget about that!
Leonie and I snorted at Jason Lannister (Jefferson Hall)’s futile attempts to flirt with Rhaenyra. It is totally possible to see where Jaime and Joffrey got their arrogance from. As Leonie said, Jason, like his descendant Jaime, reminds her of Shrek’s Prince Charming:
MVP:
My man, Prince Daemon Targaryen, the Rogue Prince, is of course, my MVP! Matt Smith is every inch the sadistic warrior who really doesn’t give a f*** about what his brother, the King, commands,or about the concerns of his teammates, as long as he wins. He steals the spotlight in this entire episode without uttering more than one line.
Theory:
We’ll have another time jump to when Uncle Daemon is playing “hide my dagger” under his niece Rhaenyra’s skirts and King Viserys will once again banish him. Alicent is going to push out some more royal babies while her father Otto continues to manipulate the King. A trip to Winterfell cannot be ruled out and I, for one, am desperate to see what the Nightwatch looks like in this time period too. Will we see Rhaenyra’s wedding or not? It’s been years since we’ve had a good Red Wedding scene, don’t you think?
House of the Dragon airs internationally on HBO Max on Sundays and on DStv Express at 3am and on M-Net 101 at 9h30pm on Mondays.
