Sunday night’s episode of House of the Dragon may not have had the epic battle that opened Season 3, but I actually enjoyed this week’s entry more than last’s. For one thing, the Season 3 premiere would have made more sense as a finale, wrapping up all the build-up and political maneuvering that comprised so much of the previous season with some actual payoff. Alas, HBO cut the season from 10 to 8 episodes, forcing changes in the writing room to alter plans accordingly.
As I noted last week, the actual Battle of the Gullet had many problems, but this week’s episode got me thinking a little more about one very big issue that I didn’t really touch on in my previous review. What drove it home for me this week was Lord Corlys Velaryon’s (Steve Toussaint) reaction to the aftermath of the battle. Spoilers ahead.
If This Be Victory
It takes Alyn (Abubakar Salim) and Baela (Bethany Antonia) and Addam (Clinton Liberty) quite some time to find their liege lord. He was cast from his broken ship, the Sea Snake (renamed The Queen Who Never Was), by the worst character in all of Game Of Thrones, Lohar (Abigail Thorn) a pirate girlboss with a flimsy backstory and the ability to easily fight off numerous heavily armored knights with nothing but knives and sheer force of will.
Lohar was annoying to me because she was basically a repeat of Euron Greyjoy, a deeply annoying character from Game of Thrones who at least had some backstory. The question becomes: Do these characters get magic fleets because they’re written so poorly, or do the magic fleets make them who they are? In any case, Lohar was introduced, given way too much importance, and then killed off an episode later (after a two-year time-gap in the real world). But I digress.
When we find Corlys et alia they are on the beach, the wreckage of ships nearby, the castle High Tide still burning in the distance. He gets his famous line from the book: “If this be victory,” he says, “I pray I never win another.” This line feels very awkward. It’s as though he’s responding to someone, but nobody says anything to respond to, at least not that we hear. Had Alyn said something like, “At least we were victorious, my lord,” in order to cheer his father, and Corlys had responded “If this be victory, I pray I never win another” the scene would have landed just fine. But I continue to digress.
What really bugs me about this moment, and about the battle and its aftermath, is the lack of feeling. We sit in its aftermath and don’t feel anything at all other than a bit of sadness over Jace’s death (though making him a fool plunging headlong into danger rather than a brave and noble prince searching for his brother was a choice) and the loss of a dragon. I’m not really invested in the outcome anymore than I was in the battle itself.
I don’t really care about the Velaryon fleet or the Velaryon castle or the men who died. We didn’t really see firsthand what happened on Driftmark or the pillaging and burning of High Tide. It all seems rather bereft of the stuff that makes big battles like this actually matter beyond their function as action set pieces. We need tangible stakes in order to care about the people involved in these battles – the political outcome of the battle isn’t enough – and so far as I can tell, other than Jace (Harry Collett) and Vermax, Team Black did just fine. Alyn and Addam and Baela and Corlys are all mostly unscathed. There were no other characters involved who we had reason to worry about, and the ones that the show’s writers should have included, Rhaenyra’s young sons, Aegon and Viserys, were inexplicably cut from the sequence.
Compare this battle to the Battle of Blackwater, which took place nearby in Blackwater Bay. In that epic Game Of Thrones Season 2 battle we had numerous characters and stories to cling to as the action played out.
We Joffrey to hate, and hate him we did as he sniveled his excuses for not leading his men. Cersei was planning a poisoning for her children and ladies in waiting. Sansa was in distress and the Hound said “#$%@ the king” and stormed off, making his way to Sansa’s chambers to offer her an escape. She refused him, for better or worse. Tyrion bravely led the defense of King’s Landing, betrayed outside the gates by the King’s Guard. He only survived thanks to the timely intervention of young Podrick Payne. Davos and Stannis led the assault, which turned from assured victory to utter devastation in the blink of an eye. They might have still won the city had Stannis not murdered his younger brother, Renly, whose forces joined Tywin’s in the 11th hour.
In this single paragraph I’ve listed countless characters we, the audience, cared deeply about at this point (whether we loved or despised them) . Each fit into this battle like little interlocking narrative puzzle pieces in an elaborate moving puzzle. But even with all these moving pieces, the stakes were also quite clear. If Stannis won the battle, Joffrey would be overthrown and Sansa would be out of one frying pan and into another, especially with Melisandre about.
Still, Sansa getting away from Joffrey would be a good thing. But Tyrion would likely lose his head and that would be bad! Stannis was no friend to Robb Stark, either, who he deemed a traitor. A Stannis victory wouldn’t be the end of the war, but better the Baratheons than the Lannisters, right? So many interesting character choices were in play during that battle, and so many different consequences hinged upon its outcome. The battle itself was the engine upon which all these stories sluiced and thrummed, and it gave us action and fire and blood, but it was mostly important because of our investment in these characters and their stories.
Now imagine Tyrion looking out wide-eyed upon the devastation he’s wrought after sinking Stannis’s fleet with wildfire. A smirking Joffrey turns to him and says, “Ah see that, my stupid little imp of an uncle, that’s what I call victory!” Tyrion, taking a long draft of wine, clicks his tongue and replies, “If this be victory, nephew, I pray I never win another.” I would have bought that line.
But here, on the beach, it’s a tough sell. Ships from one side fought ships from another. Dragons joined the fray. But were there really any compelling stories for us to pin our hopes to along the way? Beyond rooting for Alyn when he jugulared that intolerable pirate, Lohar, there wasn’t really anywhere for us to lay anchor.
Fortunately, the rest of the episode worked much better than last week’s battle and its aftermath.
Fare Thee Well, Ser Simon Strong
We’ll get the side stories out of the way before we get to the meat of the episode. And speaking of characters we care about, or at least who I care about, we must pour out a glass of the finest wine from the cellars of House Strong for Ser Simon Strong (Russell Beale), who shone a little light into the darkness of Season 2. Ser Simon, steward of Harrenhal, was a bit of comic relief in a show that seems allergic to the stuff. His interactions with Daemon (Matt Smith) last season, going so far as to shush him at one point, were a breath of fresh air. They also ill-prepared him for Aemond One-Eye (Ewan Mitchell).
When the surly Targaryen prince heads to Harrenhal, he meets only meager resistance. Ulf (Tom Bennett) and Hugh (Kieran Bew) have gone back to Dragonstone and Addam to the Gullet. A small force of Riverlands is burned by Vhagar and the few stragglers garrisoning the castle are picked off one-by-one as Aemond cuts his way through them like a scythe through the a Veldtian wheatfield. When he comes to the hall, Aemond finds Simon and his sons eating a rather tasty looking meal and demands that Simon draw his sword.
Simon tries to placate the young man, using all the tricks that worked on Daemon, but for all that Daemon and Aemond are alike, they are also very different. Daemon can be cruel, but he isn’t prone to killing knights just because his ego is bruised. Aemond is always trying to prove something, and so he kills Ser Simon and then fends off his sons, one of whom manages to slip a dagger in his side. All the Strongs dispatched, the witch, Alys Rivers *Gayle Rankin) appears just as Aemond collapses to the floor. “Help me,” he pleads. Spurned by Daemon when she asked for Harrenhal, it seems quite likely that she’ll do just that.
Elsewhere, Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) and Gwayne (Freddie Fox) continue their careful march through the Riverlands toward Harrenhal, afraid of Rhaenyra’s dragons since Vhagar has not stopped to offer them succor.
Not far off, one of my favorite storylines unfurls. Larys (Matthew Needham) has absconded from King’s Landing with the crippled King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney). They were captured in last week’s episode by knights loyal to Rhaenyra and this week, while being transported, are saved by a stroke of good lucky. Triarchy forces that escaped the Battle of the Gullet have been pillaging the mainland, and some come across Aegon’s captors, cutting short a bit of squabbling between the two. Aegon is offended that Larys betrayed him; Larys points out that the soldiers would have killed him since he “needlessly antagonized” them.
Their captors beset by these foreign brigands, Larys and Aegon manage to escape. Aegon even gets a good pouncing move on one of the soldiers, shanking him to death with a broken arrow. Against his advisor’s advice, he demands they head to Rook’s Rest, dangers be damned. This is where his dragon, Sunfyre, fell and where he hopes loyal garrisons remain. My feelings toward Aegon have shifted, I admit, and I find him more and more likable especially in his newly decrepit state. This isn’t to say I think he’s a good man or would be a good king, but there’s something very human and relatable (and a little funny) about him, and I’m enjoying his road trip with Larys a great deal. He’s just as much a pawn of fate in all of this as Rhaenyra, manipulated and dragged into events, a crown he didn’t even want plopped onto his head.
What Have You Done, Jace?
At Dragonstone, the body of the crown prince is returned and Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) raves and grieves. This is our first glimpse of Rhaenyra truly unhinged, though I suspect it will not be our last. She speaks directly to Jace (Harry Collett), clutching at him and demanding that he tell her why he disobeyed her.
It is only when Daemon arrives and asks the destitute queen if she’ll just lay about and let her sons’ deaths be in vain that she finally stirs. All of this would have worked remarkably well – Emma D’Arcy is pulling out all the stops – had they stuck to the story at hand. Rhaenyra clearly in anguish over the deaths of two of her sons who died so she could sit on “a throne of swords.” Daemon chastising Ulf and Hugh over their disobedience, sewing the seeds of their discontent. The King’s Guard who locked her in her chambers offering up his life for his failure.
But I found myself irritated by the resurgence of the prophecy, a plot device that continues to work against the story rather than in its favor. The Song of Ice and Fire, passed down from one Targaryen king to another all these years, falls flat here. It worked well exactly once in this show: When Viserys I (Paddy Considine) mumbled something about Aegon and Alicent (Olivia Cooke) took it the wrong way and supported Otto’s (Rhys Ifans) coup.
Here, Daemon whispering in Old Valyrian about Daenerys and her dragons only reminds us of the really unsatisfying way Game of Thrones ended, with Dany going full 180 Mad Queen and the White Walkers basically getting cub-stomped at Winterfell, not to mention a dragon of all things bringing down the Wall. Had this moment been left to the matters of the present, with Daemon convincing Rhaenyra win this war for her dead sons, to take her rightful place as queen and so forth, it would have been perfect. No prophecy needed. Regardless, it has the intended effect and soon enough Team Black is headed to King’s Landing.
Alicent the Betrayer
I enjoyed watching Alicent hatch her plan, though I still find much of this storyline a bit messy. At least the Rhaenyra/Alicent friends-to-enemies-to-friends story pays off a bit at the end of this episode.
Alicent manages to come through on her promises, wrangling the Gold Cloaks into her schemes and standing down the archers and trebuchet men on the walls. She’s very nearly raped in the process when Master of Laws, Lord Jasper Wylde (Paul Kennedy), confronts her and assumes (correctly) that she’s up to no good. Wylde could have had her arrested and sounded the alarm, but he decided this was a good time to sexually assault the queen dowager, which is no surprise as his hatred toward women was made clear in his remarks about Rhaenyra previously.
This being a castle filled with people, it’s no surprise that Alicent’s cries are heard and Maester Orwyle (Kurt Egywiawan) appears, ignoring Wylde’s protestations and arresting him. Orwyle is worried about what Alicent is up to as well, but makes no move to stop her. Ser Rickard (Vincent Regan), the King’s Guard assigned to protect her, is also concerned. And Helaena (Phia Saban) gets a few great lines throughout this sequence as well.
Then Rhaenyra and Daemon show up. The guards outside the Red Keep surrender, but inside – where the dragons cannot go – is another matter, and the two fight their way to the throne room, where a large contingent of men-at-arms and knights awaits, gloating. The Gold Cloaks show up and it appears that Daemon and Rhaenyra are surrounded, but we know that’s not the case, since Alicent met with their leader earlier and secured his help. The Red Keep falls.
When Daemon goes to kill Orwyle – heads must roll, after all, and Aegon is nowhere to be found – Orwyle sends him to the dungeons for Lord Wylde. But another, greater treasure awaits. “A gift from Larys Strong,” the jailer tells Daemon, and leads him to another cell. We know who it is thanks to that final scene from Season 2: Otto Hightower, apparently long imprisoned beneath the Red Keep, where his own daughter and his grandson the king lived in total ignorance of his captivity.
Daemon brings Otto to Rhaenyra in the throne room, where she’s accepting allegiance from various lords and ladies. With no Aegon to behead, she’ll have to make do with Lord Wylde and Otto, though she has plenty of reasons to want the latter dead. Clearly distraught over the idea of lopping off his head – for all their conflict over the years, she has known him her entire life and he is the father of her once best friend – Otto asks that Daemon does the deed. Daemon insists that the people need to see Rhaenyra do it, however, and hands her his sword, the Valyrian steel blade called Dark Sister. Sobbing, she takes a wild swing, hacking into the old man’s back. He groans and she slashes down again, a clean cut. Ser Otto’s head falls to the floor. Daemon takes back his sword and, with a flourish, removes Ser Wylde’s head a moment later.
Rhaenyra’s clumsy execution reminds me of the historical botched beheading of Lady Margaret Pole. The 70-year-old Countess of Salisbury was one of the last of the Plantagenets and thus a threat to King Henry VIII, a Tudor, though not much of one given her age. Margaret fell from grace after Henry’s marriage to Katherine of Aragon was annulled and he married Anne Boleyn, and soon she was in the Tower of London, all her power and influence gone. She was executed on May 27, 1541 by an executioner’s assistant, the executioner having been called away that day. According to one account, the old woman tried to flee and the young headsman chased her, hacking at her nearly a dozen times until she died. A witness attested that she was killed by “a wretched and blundering youth . . . who literally hacked her head and shoulders to pieces in the most pitiful manner.”
While not so gruesome as that, Rhaenyra clearly botches Otto’s execution and then climbs shakily to the top of the Iron Throne where she sits just in time for Alicent and Haelena to enter and find Otto’s beheaded corpse sprawled on the floor. Alicent looks shocked. Rhaenyra at first appears aghast, mortified, sorrowful, and then she hardens. It’s all written on her face. The turmoil and then the stony calm. Again, d’Arcy does a fantastic job this episode, showing us new sides of this Targaryen queen. More vulnerable and dangerous. Her reasons for taking the throne have become more personal, more vindictive. Will she be able to balance her desire to be good and regal and just against her need for revenge? And what sort of throne has she inherited? What sort of queen will she really be?
As the Bard once said, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
You can read my review of Season 3, Episode 1 right here.
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