By Ben Wright (@iamzavagno | www.xgeeks.co.uk)
This review contains spoilers.
We are back with Episode 3 of House of the Dragon and the episode this week is split between two main stories, the war for the Stepstones and the fallout from King Viserys’ marriage.
Through one of the tortured sailors, we (the audience) learn that the Crabfeeder’s real name and title are Prince Drahar. Prince Daemon arrives on Caraxes and starts to burn Drahar’s troops, however, they are both forced to retreat after a barrage of arrow fire. So, not the victory Daemon imagined, and a relatively unsuccessful skirmish in the Stepstones.
As expected, we have another time jump at the Red Keep, this time close to three years have passed and Viserys now has his male potential heir, Aegon, with another on the way! The fractured relationship between Alicent and Rhaenyra is also at an all-time low. Nothing a Birthday hunting festival out in the Kingswood can’t fix, right?
At the festival, we meet a host of new characters, from Jason Lannister (gross) to Larys Strong, the youngest son of Lord Lyonel, the Master of Law, who is unable to participate in the hunt due to his disability. Larys acts as the vehicle to introduce more characters, as he joins the noble-born women instead. One of the members of the circle is Lady Redwyne, who has a beauty of a Pug on her lap (So now I have to spend the entire episode stressing about the dog). After a bust-up with her father regarding marriage, Rhaenyra rides off into the woods, luckily Ser Criston is in pursuit and manages to de-escalate the situation. We learn that despite Aegon’s arrival, Rhaenyra is still Viserys’ choice as heir to the throne, and gets angry when Otto suggests that Rhaenyra and Aegon be betrothed – as he just wants to hunt and has no time for politicking. This ties in greatly with what Daemon said in last week’s episode, that Viserys just isn’t cut out for the cut-throat world of the Iron Throne – because he’s actually a half-decent person and we know that never works out in this world. The whole marriage angle and the conflict between House Targaryen and House Velaryon will come into play in the very near future and before we swap out Rhaenyra for her older performer.
As it was a hunting episode, there was the inevitable killing of animals, Rhaenyra and Criston kill a boar and Viserys essentially tortures a stag in a long and drawn-out kill. While it isn’t dogs being hurt, my main trigger, it’s still an uncomfortable watch for me. Oddly enough, the White Stag that all the men longed to find as part of Aegon’s celebration eluded them all and ended up appearing in front of Rhaenyra which, if you believe in signs from the gods, is a good omen in regard to her right and destiny to rule.
Back at the Red Keep, Otto continues to influence his daughter in making sure that Alicent persuades the king to make Aegon heir. This would then lead Viserys and Rhaenyra to have a great scene in which she will be allowed to choose her own marriage, and this will lead down the path between her and Laenor Velaryon, even potentially Ser Cole or another third party which I don’t want to say at this stage as it is a book spoiler.
Down at the Stepstones, the alliance is on its knees and has only one end in sight, defeat. Having dragons on their side is not enough, as Crabfeeder’s men have taken refuge in the caves which are incredibly difficult to penetrate, be it via dragon or with men on the ground. The suggestion here is to bait out Crabfeeder (pun intended) and his men into open combat on the beach– something Crabfeeder would gain nothing from. When a messenger arrives from Viserys stating that he will send aid to help Daemon, he reacts in the way you’d imagine, by attacking the messenger. Daemon’s pride is so strong that the idea of help is seen to him as surrender and a personal defeat. If he cannot overcome this challenge unaided, then his right of rule and all the credibility he has left is lost. This ‘insult’, as he sees it, triggers an incredibly epic and tremendously tense scene to end the episode.
Daemon offers his surrender and Crabfeeder takes the bait (again, pun intended). As Daemon continues to push through the slow feed of men sent out to attack him, Crabfeeder eventually sends out his entire force to bring the prince to heel. With Daemon surrounded, and the intensity building, Laenor Velaryon rides in on his dragon Seasmoke, whose VFX looked a little rough at times, and manages to scorch a large number of Crabfeeder’s men, including the archers sniping from the clifftops. This allows his father, Lord Velaryon, and the rest of the alliance soldiers to charge down the rest of Crabfeeder’s men as Daemon follows Crabfeeder into the caves. We never see the two cross blades, however, and instead, we see Daemon emerge out of the cave with the upper half of Drahar’s body. I think this was a brave story choice and one I actually prefer over a short scene of the two of them having a fight. With Daemon victorious and his men galvanised to his cause, Daemon’s stock has risen once again, and all eyes now turn towards the Iron Throne.
As for Easter Eggs and other spots, we meet the twins Tyland and Jason Lannister, which acts as a precursor connection for Cersei and Jaime and the fact twins run in the Lannister bloodline – although I don’t believe that Tyland and Jason are doing the horizontal tango. Viserys wears gloves for most of the episode and with the stag scene and back at the Red Keep, you can see that he is missing some fingers, which is a throwback to last week’s episode with the infection and the maggots. It also might explain the amount of drinking he does throughout the episode, to tackle the constant pain he is in due to his constantly declining health. This episode also confirms that Crabfeeder does have Greyscale, and with Daemon dragging out his torso from the cave, was he touching his infected skin? As they didn’t do a close-up or suggest this was the case, he was probably grasping an unaffected or clothed area. So, I don’t think they will go down the route that Daemon now has Greyscale.
In terms of the episode as a whole, I think bookending it with the battle scenes down at the Stepstones was a smart choice, and the politicking in the middle of the episode progresses the story nicely, especially in terms of where everyone is in regard to positioning themselves into a potential place of power. While I greatly enjoyed the episode and really liked the battle at the Stepstones, the sword fight choreography is still a little lacking in the show. Whether this is down to what they filmed or if it is being butchered in the edit, with Prince Daemon’s charge down the beach, there was a great opportunity to do a nice long or one shot to really make itself an iconic moment. But the editing was very choppy, and I think it slightly weakened the scene. But, overall, a brilliant and exciting episode!
Oh, and the Pug was fine!
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