Unlike some more passionate fans of all things Targaryen, I tend to get more than a little bored by HOUSE OF THE DRAGONS. There’s no better proof than the fact that the last time this shoe aired on HBO two summers ago, I actually authored two separate musings with the exact same clickbait title–HOUSE OF THE DRAGGIN’. The first was in anticpation of the second season launch, which happened at a tumultuous point in the Yosemite Zas era of Warner Brothers Discovery as they were about to learn they were losing their NBA game rights. The second was my underreaction to the season finale when I at least tried to pay closer attention since my roommate is a huge fan of the GAME OF THRONES franchise. I wasn’t even attempting to connect those dots with some sort of referential snark. My bad.
Fast forward to last night. My roommate now spends almost his entire time across the hall in what he claims is his “office” (a smaller apartment which he’s now simultaneouslu leasing) which he’s outfitted with a state-of-the-art video setup that for him makes for a superior entertainment experiece. So I didn’t even have him to bounce off my questions as to what in the name of George R.R. Martin was going on with the third season opener. But I will concede the confusion at least held my attention to a greater degree than it had the last time–an opinion echoed by VULTURE’s Roxana Hadadi:
Sound the horns: House of the Dragon has fixed its momentum problem. In season three, vows are made and broken, citizens are violated and slaughtered, and heroes we’ve known from the beginning are unceremoniously offed. It’s bleak as hell, and it’s also the best House of the Dragon has ever been, clear-eyed about the story it’s telling and no longer so enamored with the people grasping for power or the dragons they use for their bidding.
The spectacle has indeed been amped up a bit from the last go-round, as INDIA TODAY’s
(T)he dragons have finally arrived in full glory! For two seasons, Westeros held meetings about meetings as councils debated strategy. Ravens flew and threats were issued. Dragons teased something but by the end of Season 2, even the most loyal fans were beginning to wonder whether the Dance of the Dragons had been misplaced somewhere between Dragonstone and King’s Landing. T he first two episodes of Season 3 make it abundantly clear that the wait is over. F.I.N.A.L.L.Y!
Hadadi sheds further light as to what else has contributed to her optimism:
The premiere, which…picks up immediately where season-two finale “The Queen Who Ever Was” left off in August 2024, when Alicent came to Rhaenyra with a secret proposition. If she were to sacrifice her two shitty sons, Aegon and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), to Team Black and surrender King’s Landing to Rhaenyra, could Rhaenyra rule justly and save Alicent and her daughter Helaena (Phia Saban)? Rhaenyra is seriously considering the proposition when HOTD starts up again, to the surprise of the men in her Small Council. Can she really trust Alicent, a woman who has conspired against Rhaenyra for so long? But all this bloodshed in her name is getting to the Black Queen, who has already lost one son to the war and sent away her three youngest children to keep them safe. In a season where practically all the Targaryens feel the destabilizing consequences of their actions, Rhaenyra struggles to gain the respect she’s convinced she deserves, especially from men who sneer that she’s never been to battle, the only way Westeros knows to solve its problems. The action sequences are as exorbitant as ever, especially when the dragon Sheepstealer and his underbite show up. But what you’ll remember long after the Battle of the Gullet or the Battles of Tumbleton are over, instead of the sick tricks the dragonriders get up to, are the oceans and fields of dead, the blood in the water and the mud, the bodies picked clean by animal scavengers and human looters alike.
For those as clearly invested as she, you’re probably relieved that the extended S3E1 offered so much density, diversity and drama. Me? I noticed the increased number of dragons, and I noticed a distinct increase in the amount of action–the qualities that drew me to the screen when my roommate was binge-watching the OG GOT several times in anticipation of the new season. And at least per Hadadi, my observations were both intentional and inevitable:
To be fair, stretching a few chapters from Fire & Blood, George R.R. Martin’s in-universe history of the Targaryens, into a multi-season bonanza of familial infighting for the Iron Throne was always going to come with pacing issues…HOTD spent much of its run time so far assuring viewers that this will all connect back to Game of Thrones, really, and there are people you’ll want to root for in this whole mêlée, promise. In its third season, the prequel series holds onto the former tactic but abandons the latter — to its betterment. This is an ignoble war making monsters and fools out of its participants, and against the uncontrollable weapons that are dragons, everyone’s resolve is crumbling.
HOW-TO GEEK’s Dan Girolamo advises that there’s likely to be even more de facto fire and blood ahead as the season unfolds:
There is no turning back after the Battle of the Gullet. The war is only going to get worse. “The Battle of the Gullet feels like this major crossing of the Rubicon. Certainly in terms of the amount of bloodshed,” showrunner Ryan Condal told Empire.
But from a thirty-foot view, it does seem like the excitement and hoopla is that much more muted. For one thing, the series has already been given an end date of summer 2028 with another two-year hiatus awaiting after this, so there is a looming finality that hovers over this. As Agarwal astutely pointed out: The Dance of the Dragons has finally begun. The tragedy is that everyone already seems to know how it ends.
And without my roommate to fill in the details and back story in real time, like a lot of “epic” television does for me it necessitates working harder than usual to fully savor and appreciate what else is going on that warrants further attention. If you’re someone who has the capacity to multitask and cross-reference, you’ll probably have more in common with the effusive critical reviews that have already surfaced. For me, I can’t help but notice that the overall zeitgeist and hype has scaled down dramatically even from the more modest level that HOTD S2 elicited–and clearly echelons below what GOT fostered. I’m intrigued, but not blown away.
But at least my intention is to stick around a tad longer and see how these battles, both physical and psychological, play out. That’s more than can be said for David Zaslav. A lot more has changed over time than merely the loss of basketball, hasn’t it?
Until next time…