Tell me you blew your budget before getting to your season finale without telling me you blew your budget. Woof. After a season of managing to right the ship and get House of the Dragon onto a pretty darn solid storytelling path, we were gifted a season finale that – for the most part – allowed our characters to reach the starting point of the next phase of their journeys but didn’t actually do anything at all to move those stories forward in any meaningful manner. Sure, if you’ve read “Fire and Blood” (or read through a Wikipedia synopsis of the Dance of Dragons), there were a number of buzz words and future plot points to grasp and get excited about for season three. But, what you want in a season finale isn’t the promise that something cool and compelling might happen in a year or two when the series returns. No, what you want – what your audience craves – is something tangible to leave them wanting more. If a viewer isn’t sure what the Gullet means, well, then hearing that name dropped isn’t going to matter to them. And yes, I know I’ve mentioned how glad I was to see Rhaenyra and Alicent meet once again earlier this season, but did we need yet another meeting wherein the same points were rehashed?* We did not.
*How the hell are people still able to get into enemy strongholds so easily at this stage of things? Like, come on. Also, how long does it take to get from King’s Landing to Dragonstone via boat in the middle of a blockade – where all ships in and out are being checked closely? This was far too easy.
In fact, let’s tackle that tete-a-tete right out of the gate here, because while I suspect it was meant to be the emotional heart of the episode – at least it was written to be – this particular meeting fell flat. And that is because the writing failed Alicent this season. For so long she has held herself to a particular standard – something Rhaenyra called her out on during their conversation. And this season we saw how she was absolutely not living up to that pious image she made her reputation on. But here’s the problem: We got no lead up to that revelation. When did she and Ser Criston get together? Why did they? Why would she make that decision, knowing that if it were to be discovered (and, of course, it has been, even if there were no clear repercussions as of yet) she would be the one to suffer the most? We never really get those answers – just a bit of hand waving in her conversation with Rhaenyra as to why she took a lover in the first place. And why does she want to be free after a single trip out to the country? Sure, she lost her power in Court with Aemond in charge, but did she really crave power that much? We never really got that vibe from her – she wanted to matter, sure, but she’s not power hungry like some of her family. Again, no real explanation for this massive change of heart outside of that she lost power and she knows Aemond is a terror.
An episode looking at Alicent’s new life rather than just her hanging out in the woods would have been nice. Granted, she has zero confidantes in the world with which to discuss her state in life, but my god, we needed something more than what we got for this particular turn of hers to hit the way the writing wanted it to. Alicent agreeing to serve King’s Landing – and Aegon – up on a silver platter is a hell of a change from the woman we saw even a couple of episodes ago, who was so dug into her belief that things were already set in motion and there was nothing she could or should do to stop them. And, for those keeping score at home, a massive departure from the source material as well. An attack on King’s Landing was going to come at some point – and it will make one particular future event have a more shocking impact as a result, should they keep certain story points as they are in the source material – but in order for Alicent’s decision here to really work the way it needs to, there was a heck of a lot more character work that needed to happen leading up to it. All that being said, boy do Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke light up the screen together.
Outside of that confrontation, most every other sequence in the episode was in service of setting characters up on the precipice of their next storyline. We have Ulf, Hugh, and Allan offering varying degrees of commitment to their dragon riding tasks. Ulf is going to be the wild card here, and man, I can’t see either Rhaenyra or Jace accepting his particular brand of “humor” for very long without some repercussions. Of course, it’s hard to really mete out repercussions with the other guy also has a powerful dragon and you ostensibly need him to win a war. But that’s one conflict brewing to keep an eye on. Then there’s Daemon, finally ending his temper tantrum in Harrenhal with a vision of, well, Game of Thrones. Again, tell me you ran out of budget without telling me – that set of clips was gratuitous for anyone who watched Thrones and had me rolling my eyes and groaning in annoyance. Yes, we needed Daemon to get back onto Rhaenyra’s side of things, but man, seeing the Song of Ice and Fire play out in clips from Thrones felt so ridiculous. Especially when remembering how that particular story ended, with a whimper and angry fans. At least Helaena finally got some important screen time this week? Next to the mess of Alicent’s storyline this season, the utter lack of Helaena has been the show’s other great disappointment. We need more development with her in season three.
At least we got a new character – Sharako Lohar (who was gender-swapped into a female character for the series), a pirate admiral from Essos who looks like a hell of a lot of fun. For a series that has set itself up as, essentially, a war between two women (Alicent and Rhaenyra’s shattered friendship is the through line of the story), it’s fun to see another woman thrown into a key role, this time as someone who is wholly out for herself (and her men) and who won’t be impressed by the money and grandeur of Westeros in the process. I’m eager to see if she’s as deadly as they made her out to be in her introduction (I assume she will be – Corlys needs a true challenge in the story at this stage of the game). But anyone who can get a Lannister on his back foot and pretty darn lost and confused as to just what he’s gotten himself into is someone worth watching in my book.
Out in the Vale, Rhaena found Sheepstealer, the wild dragon who has been eating all the sheep of the land (another switch from the source material, but one that works in my estimation by allowing an established character additional growth rather than throwing another new character into things). Aegon and Larys are out and running away – and Helaena has Seen that Aegon will outlive Aemond, so that’s another thing to watch out for. And then there’s Otto, who is imprisoned somewhere. Is it Hightower? Is it with a Black ally? He’s still got a key role to play in the immediate future of the story – one that I cannot see the writers changing, especially in light of events in this finale. So, who has Otto and how will he get out – or will he?
Not every House of the Dragon episode needs to be dragons fighting and key characters dying. However, a season finale needs more heft than the one we just received. Setting up future arcs is fine, but we need real narrative motion driven by our central characters’ actions. What we got here was stagnant storytelling and revelations that easily could have happened in any episode this season. Stunted characters were asked to carry pieces of the narrative arc inspired by their actions that didn’t make complete sense in light of the holes in their character development throughout the season. Yes, we’re primed for some fun and deadly stories in the near future, but what we needed here as something to spark our excitement for season three. What we got was anything but.
-
Writing
-
Direction
-
Acting
