House of the Dragon - Episode 1x03 - Second of His Name - Review

House of the Dragon has a pacing problem. 

In three episodes, our characters have already lived through several years, births, battles, and broken friendships. While the moments in time chosen within each episode make sense for the plot, the gaps between those moments weigh heavily on the character arcs. I've mentioned before how this show's strengths follow in the footsteps of Game of Thrones - namely, via intimate conversations between characters. But when those moments have no space to breathe because each episode blasts us ahead in time, the writers are stuck with one of two storytelling options:

1. Freeze emotions, growth, and relationships in time, so that viewers can more easily follow character development, despite how unrealistic it is to not grow as a person or with others over the course of several years off-screen; or
2. Jump ahead in every way, hoping that the scenes you've written and the actors' onscreen choices can effectively convey all of the missing off-screen moments.

(I suppose flashbacks are a third option, but then why would you jump forward in time?)*

HotD seems to be leaning into a mostly working mix of both, but it's still difficult to really care about some of the characters when limited time is given to presenting them at their baseline.** For example, how many casual viewers noticed that Laenor Valeryon (Corlys and Rhaenys' son, who rides the dragon Seasmoke) has already aged up since Episode 1's tourney, where he was a literal child. And, spoiler alert, we're not done yet - we're going to get a third, adult, Laenor! And if you don't know who that is, then you probably were not overwhelmed by the excitement of another dragon reveal.

TFW you were just 12 but now you do murders on a dragon to make dad proud

A time jump, when done right, can be wonderful. For All Mankind (Apple's alt history NASA drama) did it really well in its first two seasons (though FAM S3 is plagued by the same issues affecting HotD). Battlestar Galactica also did it exceptionally well between seasons 2 and 3. But when every episode moves forward by months or even years, and actors portraying a particular character change so often, we lose the opportunity to really get to know them.

This, in my view, is the biggest challenge facing HotD going forward - especially since I'm already feeling it strongly between just the second and third episodes. In my review of Episode 1, I criticized the ending of Game of Thrones for feeling like a bulleted list that had not been fleshed out. This is precisely the danger facing House of the Dragon in its first season if it is not careful.

With that in mind, Episode 3 was invested in the same question as Episode 2 - What Makes a Good Ruler? In this case, the question was tied explicitly to the metaphor of The Hunt: Viserys for the white stag, Rhaenyra for the love and trust of her father and the realm (and a boar!), Daemon for the Crabfeeder,*** and the men of the kingdom for Rhaenyra's hand. We also see Alicent begin to assert herself, coming into her power as Queen, as well as a new contender in the line of succession: her son, Otto's grandson, and Rhaenyra's half-brother, Aegon (named after the first Westerosi Targaryen King).

The structure of the episode was a bit odd overall. Daemon, Corlys, and his son Laenor have been fighting the Crabfeeder for years. Their war (first, their bloody continued failures and then their bold and risky victory) bookends a larger central plot about Viserys and how the realm feels about his chosen and potential new heir, Aegon. I imagine it had to happen in this order, so that Viserys could eventually be convinced by Alicent to send help (leading us into the final sequence), but it felt a bit unmoored.

What? The spear is a metaphor? Anyway, I'd like to marry your daughter & please use this as a display of masculine power when you do a good hunt!

Viserys - The muddled, the caring, the ineffective king. I find Paddy Considine's performance here mesmerizing, easily the best part of the episode (especially in scenes with either Alicent or Rhaenyra). Viserys wants so badly to be good - a good man, a good father, a good King. But the show is very clear that he is not these things, that he is weak, that his bad decisions hurt those around him. He did not see the white stag, Rhaenyra did (though this may speak more to Aegon's claim than Viserys'). He couldn't kill the not-white stag in a single blow. He isn't sure what to do about his Dream of a son on the throne (admitting while drunk that he worries about his choice), or the countless men of the realm assuming Aegon will replace Rhaenyra (despite his declarations),**** but later he insists to Rhaenyra that she will remain his heir. This last moment speaks to potential healed rifts (at least with her father, sorry Alicent), but this is Game of ThronesHouse of the Dragon, so we'll see what is to come. 

Just me listening to my favourite emo tunes on repeat.

Rhaenyra - The sullen, the brash, the decisive, the effective heir. In the years since we last saw her, Rhaenyra has been understandably frustrated about her father marrying her best friend (now step mother) and for not being included in discussions in ways that one would expect of the heir. So, when she discovers her father's plans to marry her off to some random lords, she runs away (with Ser Criston Cole right behind) and eventually finds herself much more capable than her father - she kills a boar with her own hands (yes, she has Cole's help, but Viserys literally had people hold the stag down and show him where the pointy end goes). She even sees the auspicious royal portent of the white stag. Again, the show is telling us that Rhaenyra is the right choice to lead the realm  

Daemon - The chaotic would-be heir. It is not at all surprising that Daemon's reaction to receiving aid from the King, after three years of fighting an unsanctioned war, was to lose his mind, beat the messenger, and follow the riskiest plan. Of course, his plot armourgreat arrow dodging skills ultimately helped him save the day (save is a relative term here since, after all, we saw him casually crush soliders on his own side, speaking to the horrific brutality of dragon and guerilla warfare). Daemon's chaotic decisions have, this time, led him to victory (unlike the time he stole a dragon's egg). In this way, he feels like the literal embodiment of the idea that 'when a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin. One side greatness, the other madness.' He's both at once, but his political star is rising!

TFW your best friend/same-aged stepdaughter in sulking so you pull rank

Alicent - The conciliatory Queen who grows in confidence. Alicent is in a tough position. She was married off to an older man (and, again, her best friend's father) because of the machinations of her own father. And while she may think Viserys sweet, she was also still a child when they married. So there is way that her story could play out where she is ultimately portrayed as a naive, innocent, victim (which she was, at least at 15). But now that she is older, and in this world of men has provided a male heir, we see her asserting her power - unhelpfully with Rhaenyra (turning off her loud music - though she does often try to mend the rift and demonstrate her support for her former friend), and perhaps more interestingly with her husband, single-handedly getting through to him when he was burying his head in the sand and ignoring all other advice on the topic of war. In this way, she finds an area of governance in which to employ her influence, while not (at least not yet) following her father's specific demand to insist upon Aegon as heir. It will be interesting to see how Alicent's motivations and interests shift over time, as she gains more agency, at least within the confines of this deeply patriarchal world.

I'm still cautiously optimistic, but the pacing challenges do have me concerned. See you all soon!

*Funnily enough, this was exactly GRRM's problem when writing his original version of Book 4 - he famously wanted to jump the story forward in time by five years, but, in many cases, found himself relying far too much on flashbacks, leading to him almost entirely scrapping a year's worth of work. The consequences included that some character choices were more difficult to make (as they were too young without a time skip), and that the series has never really been as good as it was in Book 3.

**Frustratingly, there were at least two deleted scenes between Rhaenyra and Alicent in Episode 2. Their evolving relationship could have used more scenes between 'Rhaenyra runs out of the Small Council chambers' and 'Alicent confronts Rhaenyra 3 years later in the Godswood.' These are exactly the kinds of scenes that get cut when focused more on momentum and time jumps than relationships.

***The opening scene of this episode is exactly what I expected would close out Episode 2. I still don't understand why they made these choices, since it seems to have just served to build up the Crabfeeder as a possible fearsome foe. Instead, he was nothing more than cool set design. Maybe the Crabfeeder was actually a casualty of the challenges of time jump storytelling; perhaps we were supposed to have felt that three years of off-screen guerilla warfare (stymying Daemon and Corlys' success) meant that the Crabfeeder truly was a worthy and tough enemy... but it didn't feel like that based on the pacing.

****I need a better footnote system. I just wanted to take a moment here to flag and appreciate the Strong family. Lyonel Strong, the only man giving Viserys advice that doesn't appear selfish, and his sons - Harwin 'Breakbones' Strong (the man who smiled at Rhaenyra when she returned to camp covered in blood) and Larys Strong (the man who joined the women's discussions, as his leg made it difficult for him to join the hunt; what gossip might he collect!?).