Summary: Three years have passed. Viserys is at a hunt for his son Aegon's second name day. He is having more strife with Rhaenyra, who storms out after arguing Viserys over her marriage. Criston follows her and they go into the woods where Rhaenyra lets out her frustrations. She is attacked by a boar but Criston saves her and she kills the boar. Viserys is heckled by Jason Lannister and Otto over Rhaenyra's marriage options. Lyonel gives the most reasonable option of marrying her to Laenor. Viserys is conflicted between backing Rhaenyra or naming Aegon as his heir. In the end, Viserys and Rhaenyra have a heart to heart and he allows her to choose her groom and tells her that he intends to back her as heir. Otto tells Alicent that they need to make Aegon the heir over Rhaenyra. After speaking with Alicent, Viserys decides to send help to Daemon in the Stepstones. Daemon and Corlys are fighting a losing war. Daemon reads that Viserys is sending help and is furious. He makes a bold move to be bait to get the Crabfeeder and his men out of their caves. Corlys' men ambush them and Daemon kills the Crabfeeder.
The Good: Viserys was again the star of this episode. His plight is shown to us thoroughly and effectively, and it's easy for us to sympathize with the struggles he has to put up with in his life. He is the King, but boy does he have problems. He's lost the love of his life, his daughter is in her teenage phase, he is uncertain about who his heir should be, and he's constantly being badgered by everyone because of the power he has. Much like "Game of Thrones", this show does a splendid job of showing how hard it is to be King and that the position isn't as comfortable as you might imagine. Viserys' frustrations throughout the episode are palpable as he has to listen to everyone around him blather on while trying to arrange marriages. Jason Lannister is snobby and arrogant, and it is very satisfying to hear Viserys dress him down for his proposal and firmly establish that he will not heed any discussion of naming a new heir. And after that frustrating encounter, he has to deal with the slimy Otto Hightower subtly trying to get his grandson on the throne, which Viserys sees through despite how calmly and logically Otto tries to act with Viserys. Viserys' frustrations build and build, and we can see him drinking more and more wine to run away from all of these problems. The show did a magnificent job of showing us how endlessly frustrating it is to be King, and it's easy to sympathize with Viserys, even when he does make mistakes. Paddy Considine has been terrific, and Viserys has felt so purely human throughout his reign. Rhaenyra also has a good episode. She has been an easy character to connect to, and that remains true here as she goes through a bit of an angsty phase, angry at the whole world and everyone in it. But unlike most series which turn this into useless melodrama, "House of the Dragon" does a nice job of showcasing Rhaenyra's struggles and relationships through her conflict. We learn that she has remained cold and distant from both Viserys and Alicent over the last three years, and it's easy to understand why. The conflict from the previous episode between Viserys and Rhaenyra remains here. Viserys tries to get through to her and doesn't know how, while Rhaenyra is so disgusted with him that she refuses to open up at all. Rhaenyra is too frustrated to ever open up to him currently. Following her talk with Rhaenys, it seems that Rhaenyra has internalized that she will never hold power, and realizes that Aegon will be heir, she will be sold off to some snobby rich guy, and she can't do anything about it. But of course she is wrong. She's misjudged her father, and as Criston reminds her, she is never going to be entirely toothless. She had the power to bring Criston into the kingsguard, so she is clearly being over-dramatic with how powerless she is in this world. Rhaenyra eventually gets out of her own head and finally has that honest conversation with Viserys at the episode's end where the two of them finally seem to understand each other. Viserys allows Rhaenyra control over her own life, and Rhaenyra accepts that Viserys is backing her to be his successor. It's a sweet moment that may finally resolve the issues between them that have resonated through this season, at least for now. Some other character relationships get a nice exploration. Rhaenyra and Criston seem to have developed a friendship since Criston is her protector. He seems to be an outlet for her to let out her frustrations. Lyonel Strong continues to be one of the most reasonably sound people at court. He once again gives Viserys good advice, free some selfish motivations, and it will be interesting to see if Viserys heeds it this time. The Stepstones story had many problems (see: The Bad), but it had its fun moments. The visuals were spectacular as ever, and it was a lot of fun watching Daemon seek his glory. His reaction to Viserys' message was terrific, and fits his motivations for starting this war. Daemon is here for personal glory and to prove himself, so accepting help from his brother defeats the entire purpose of his war. The Bad: The timeskips are disrupting the flow of the story quite significantly. We needed to see the aftermath of Viserys' decision to marry Alicent and how it affected Rhaenyra, but the story had to jump forward three years for this episode. What results is some awkwardness because the episode has to show us Rhaenyra's distaste for this decision three years after the betrothal has happened, making us wonder why she is holding a grudge for three years. It's also awkward that Viserys and Rhaenyra seemingly never tried to work things out with each other for three whole years, which is a very long time considering that they would have always been together. It's hard to believe that these frustrations would have been boiling for so long without any conflict. Furthermore, we miss out on the development of character relationships, and that makes us feel disconnected from the characters and their stories. The timeskip problem extends to the Stepstones too. This war has been going on for years and we never know what exactly has happened. Since much of the war is glossed over, it's hard to understand what the situation is and why we should care. Apparently the Triarchy are cornered on Bloodstone, and yet we are told that they are apparently winning. How? Why? We don't get fully fleshed out answers to these questions, and it makes the War in the Stepstones feel more like a plot device rather than an actual event occurring in this world. Further, it would have been exciting to see how Daemon and Corlys evolved throughout this war, and the decisions that they made in charge. We are told that Daemon is the figurehead of this war, and I would have liked to see why he commands such respect from his armies. I feel that this war had a lot of storytelling potential which got glossed over due to the timeskip. Another issue is that this entire war feels like filler. The Crabfeeder was built up so much only to be killed unceremoniously after doing nothing of note. I was very disappointed with how ultimately useless this character was and I wish that we got to see more from him. Furthermore, this entire plot ended up feeling like an unnecessary distraction, just to give Daemon something to do. I suspect that this entire story will feel frivolous when we look back at it, a waste of time that is only there to provide an action spectacle when we could have spent more time on the fascinating political drama. The battle itself was ridiculous. Daemon not getting hit by all of those arrows is absurd, and frankly there's no way that he should have survived this scenario. It ruins any chance of making this feel like a gritty and realistic war, making it blatantly clear that this just is a silly Hollywood production. Furthermore, the plan is ridiculous. Would the Triarchy really not have any scouts to watch for the approach of Corlys? The ambush should never have worked to begin with. Additionally, why did everybody come out to meet Daemon? Surely they should have stayed inside the caves and sent only a handful of men to take care of Daemon. The logistics of this battle are questionable at best, and we're not given enough context to appreciate the strategy in place. This universe continues to be overwhelming to newcomers because of how poorly it introduces characters. We are introduced to Laenor in this episode with no inkling of who he is. We hear his name mentioned earlier, but we are not given a face to match the name. Then he seemingly inexplicably shows up in the Stepstones with a dragon that we are never told that he has. This would likely be extremely confusing to new fans, and the show should have done a better job of introducing Laenor to correct this. The Stepstones story in general needed to be given more time for it to have any impact. The Unknown: Will Viserys stand by Rhaenyra completely? He has wavered in his decision at points, and I wonder if he will ultimately change his mind. Will Alicent support Aegon over Rhaenyra? Or will choose to back her childhood friend over her self-centered, ambitious father? Is the War of the Stepstones over? Did Daemon just win the war? How will this affect his relationship with Viserys? Who will Rhaenyra choose to marry? Will Viserys try to get her to marry Laenor following Lyonel's advice? Best Moment: Viserys getting frustrated after man after man seek him out to further their own ambitions. Character of the Episode: Viserys. Conclusion: Another solid episode of story progression that was hurt by some major issues in the Stepstones storyline. I enjoyed most of this episode, but I can't help but feel disappointed with certain aspects of this show. Score: 58
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|