3 episodes in and the show has already jumped the shark. Kinda sad, because up until that point, it was pretty good.
Bad CGI and ridiculous battle tactics. They are not credible.
I felt just a little bit of that late GOT plot armor with Daemon’s suicide run at the end, but I don’t think it was as bad as GOT was. So it rubbed me the wrong way slightly but not enough to lessen my enjoyment of the battle scenes. Seeing Daemon prove himself as a warrior and leader was great, and I loved his fighting style. I do think that the crabfeeder storyline was a bit anticlimactic, however. I’m also not sure if I loved the big time jump, but I think there’s potential to make a really interesting and dynamic story with this fast pace. I just hope that the audience is able to connect with the characters enough if we’re going to keep time jumping and missing out on years of their lives. I really enjoyed the Rhaenyra and Viserys stuff this episode and those complex family dynamics and politics continue to be very engaging and the best part of the show so far. Every actor also continues to kill it every episode.
the writing is pretty bad
What the heck was that pug doing there!
The typical nobody can aim correctly.
I'm losing interest.
The third episode.
Some leapfrogging of time to begin ep 3 but it was done quite well. In my opinion the writing of this episode and HotD is gaining its legs. It has come a way since ep1. The politics plays prominently in this episode and Rhaenyra's character is developing. Milly is playing her quite well. I hope we don't get too many time jumps that we lose her.
The politics as said earlier is predominant in this episode the two playing this game of chess yet the main pieces don't want to be played.
I did particularly like the subtlety from the outcome of the laboring of the overly obvious bandage in ep 2.
Matt Smith's Daemon sequence as he unmounted and walked into the throng of soldiers was played perfectly; written well and acted well. The subsequent deception following was a bit over the top and if it was me I would have fired that archery regiment if I had of lived. But there was the incentive for Daemon that is for certain.
The actors are clearly working out their characters and even though there are still things that can be pointed out, there is more to like as we get further into the series, so I stay optimistically cautious in my overall assessment. 8/10
The ending was later game of thrones stupid.
Daemon running out there like an idiot, and the dozens of archers firing at him miss, again, again, and again, and again, and again, and then oh now finally they hit.
All the while he's fighting against opponent, after opponent, after opponent, against multiple opponents, as the crab feeder sends out dozens of his men.
It's just stupid. And his dragon stayed back because? No reason. Could have been attacking the archers.
And it turns out Daemon didn't do this solely to try and kill the crab feeder, but to try and bait him out so he/his allies can kill him and his army?
But wait. Allies said they had around 700 men. They're in a war. So crab feeder must have hundreds or around that number. Crab feeder wouldn't be stupid enough to send out a big force just for daemon, especially because he was wounded by arrows and on the ground, and still being attacked by them. Plus, we saw him send out what two dozen of his warriors? Against Daemon. For some reason.
Then when allies show and dragon attack, Crab Feeder and his allies don't go back in the caves? Which was their usual tactic each time for literally years during the war.
Even though they're in a losing war, Daemon and his allies win at the end.
None of this makes sense.
Writing quality across the whole episode is lower than the previous two, and we have now reached later game of thrones level of stupidity.
Would Daemon have really done that stupid run? Oh and we also see more of his dishonorable nature by nearly beating a messenger to death, and then betraying the white flag of truth. Even though he at least seemed to have some honorable aspects to him in previous episodes, even though he was brutal. Was this all in the book? The stupid suicide run, the dishonorable actions. And was it in the book when Daemon charged right in the middle of battle on his dragon and got pounded by arrows and almost died? He got lucky because one went into his shoulder. This is stupid. Even on the run he could have been killed by the first volley of arrows. I'd be very surprised if any of this was in the book.
Edit: And we don't get enough info about things regarding the status of armies, and the numbers we do get don't make sense. So Valeryon's forces have 700 men left? Eh? That low? And you're waging a war? Been in a war for years? How many forces does Daemon have? Does he have any left? He had goldcloaks right? For some reason. I guess he had so much of their loyalty is what it said in previous episodes. Yeah i guess they just followed him to Dragonstone and then into war. Where are they? Are they still a part of his army? If not, then it's just him? Why did the Valeryon guy say Daemon is helping them lose the war, he has a dragon. He's consistently helping, especially so if he's contributing his goldcloak forces, and i assume that's all Daemon would have, since we don't know if he's the lord of anywhere and able to conscript people.
So many questions like that. All through the episode about things. When an episode is a mixed bag like this, you start to see and question many other things. I still enjoyed the episode overall though.
Edit 2: Since a lot of people seem to agree with me, i thought i'd go into more detail. The show hasn't completely broken down yet like later Game of Thrones, nor has the logic been twisted too much like middle Game of Thrones. The previous 2 episodes i thought were really good, but this episode you could tell had a different writer, and that's not good, because it makes you less immersed, like sometimes you feel these characters shouldn't be saying what they're saying. Contrast that to Game of Thrones season 1, and i couldn't tell who was writing what episode, as it was good across the board. So early into this season and i'm seeing a mismatch in writing is not a good sign.
I think we have a lot of interesting characters in this show and i'm looking forward to continuing. I'd rate this episode a 6.5/10, but 6 or 7 is valid to me. Most of this episode i thought was pretty good, but there were too many things for me to choose 6. The mismatch in writing, the timeskip, the brattiness of Rhaenyra, the white deer heavy handed symbolism, the end of the episode and the anticlimactic nature of the crabfeeder. The king feeling a bit too lost in his soul, when he's supposed to be king and has been king for a long time, and has a queen and children. I understand the reasoning, i just don't buy it much. But i still like the many conversations, politics and intrigue in the show, and the characters and story.
enjoying this particular job in the end credits -
Production Manager (Blood Unit): Alison Aird
What a perfect episode. Rhaenyra and the white deer symbolism, Laenor and his dragon and Daemon being Daemon... I just love it!
I thought this episode was the best one yet until the fighting at the end - that was just dumb and bad.
No matter the series, if there's Lannister being rejected I'm happy!
I would’ve liked to see the fight between Daemon and the Crabfeeder.
You’re really not going to show the fight between daemon and the crab feeder. Wtf!! That whole last fighting scene after daemon waved the white flag was predictable and bad.
The small time jump here is a shame in my opinion. I would've loved to see Rhaenyra's reaction to her father marrying her friend.
Not great once again. Considine and Smith, along with the costumes and production design, are just about holding it up but very slim pickings elsewhere (though I do love that Ifans watched a video of Tywin and thought, that'll do for my acting).
The writing isn't great (how many times did we need to be told that the irritating princess is headstrong and uncontrollable?) and that awful "action" sequence at the end was the utter drivel the episode spun its wheels to get to.
The third episode of House of the Dragon was flawless. Maybe seeing The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and realizing how bad a spin-off can be made me appreciate it more, but it made for an hour of riveting viewing.
Viserys may be sick of all the politics, but I say keep them coming. Paddy Considine was the episode's highlight, adding so many layers to Viserys that I ended up admiring both the actor and the character more. Overall, the acting is consistently excellent, whether it's Milly Alcock's poise as Rhaenyra, Emily Carey's helplessness as Alicent, or Matt Smith's unpredictability as Daemon.
The costumes, especially Rhaenyra's, are exquisite; the colours as well as textures are just wow.
CGI and set designs continue to improve, adding personality to all of the different dragons and Westeros.
The final seasons of Game of Thrones burned me so much that I am pleasantly surprised that it only took three episodes for HOTD to re-engage me.
I like that they continue to portray the women in this show. Queen and princess are almost the center of the first three episodes. It's a strange, ambivalent franchise anyway: some women - not only noble women - are strong, powerful and intelligent. Sometimes it even feels like Got and HotD are primarily stories of female empowerment. Sometimes however women are mere victims or chess stones subjugated by a society ruled by men. I mean that's to be expected in a medieval world, but the show mirrors this fact too often by exploiting female bodies as mere props or uses them as a beautiful backdrop (not in this episode tough). It rarely does this to its male cast members.
I like this episode very much. It's a slow portray of some of the main characters (in particular girls and a soft king). The amount of sex, violence (the war rages on but back in King's Landing it's almost a footnote people sometimes talk about) and CGI is scaled back in the first 45 minutes or so and the show does what this franchise does best: tell stories about family feuds, prudent government and power, social mobility, class barriers and believable romance, tragic fates, gender inequality and so forth. Best line:
King: "Who do you have in mind?
Advisor: "Prince Aegon!"
That's quite a notion. Awesome and disturbing.
Even when this show tells a story about war, it's quite spectacular. The "Achilles at Omaha Beach" scene and the subsequent battle is actually entertaining (and quite detached from realism though. Plot armor level is turned to eleven). It tells you a lot about Daemon though.
PS: I don't get it why people seem to expect British accents in all these fantasy shows. I mean, I get it, it's a fantasy show and British English seems exotic to some (and it was produced in the UK), but if that's based on the belief that all European English speakers in history sounded like contemporary speakers from the UK it seems so wrong. Shakespeare (or Chaucer for that matter) probably sounded a lot more like a rural peasant from today's Ireland or like Americans than Elizabeth II. It's of course not a big issue and won't lower the show's quality but it's interesting nonetheless.
The dragons are such a power imbalance. The stupidity of the last scene? Why would he do that? I mean I can understand him pretending to surrender, but why did he charge for all those men and THEN call the dragon. In Game of Thrones the dragons seemed to be the equivalent of a nuclear bomb... see season 8. Only the Targaryens have them so... how the fuck are you losing a war? So far I haven't seen one counter for them. There is no way an army of regular men could defeat a dragon. Daemon seems like a one trick pony. He's the bad guy... I don't understand his motivation... He wants to be the king, but he would've been heir a long time ago if he didn't have the thirst for...idk blood? Please the king, be the heir, than poison him. Hell... blame Rhaenyra (make her dragon kill him or something) contest the throne. So far Daemon seems dumb as fuck. I might say he is literally Jon Snow in season 7, but the "evil" version. He needs a hell of a lot of character development... or fuck no, just some character exploration at least. What is his limit? His pride? He should've accepted the help from the King. That shows the kingdom he has the King's blessing. Work with what you can get... This show needs a Tyrion, a Little Finger... someone who thinks three steps ahead.
I enjoyed the episode overall but this was my least favorite of the three so far. The bad part was last week I was so excited for this battle with the Crabfeeder but when it happened I had so many questions. The time jumps are starting to be confusing also, like it really took them years to do what they did last night, what? They introduced and mentioned a few new characters so the episode also served as another introduction episode. So that's something to be on the look out for. Again i enjoyed the episode, just felt there were too many plot holes at the end. But its a new show and we are still learning this version of Westeros.
Was a very solid episode up until that terrible final battle; Daemon's ridiculous plot armour, the Crabfeeder's illogical tactics and the predictable last minute save from the dragon gave me immense 'season 7/8 Game of Thrones'- vibes. No thank you.
8.5/10
My favourite episode yet and I'm sold and definitely all in for this awesome show. I'm definitely hooked if you will. This was a great episode from start to finish and it absolutely made me feel that I was truly back in the GOT universe.
Yes I would have liked to have seen Daemon and the crab feeder go at it especially with that fantastic build up because let's be fair that 3rd act was fcuking spectacular and this episode would have been a 9/10 if we would have seen that kick ass end to the crab feeder up close and personal, I hate when they hop skip and jump past the cool worthwhile parts.
Speaking of, so we have time jumps in this show, that caught me off guard,
Okay then am cool with that, this new element could make things even more interesting for story telling wise and give it something more unique from it's parent show.
This episode was so dramatic and frickin Awesome and if this is a taste of things to come we are all in for a treat and one Hella of a ride.
I think this show is gonna be better than GOT
What a joy to watch.
Great storytelling, perfect cinematography, gorgeousness locations and great acting.
Perfect ending after the battle with the crab king
Not gonna lie, even with plot armour and whatnot, this episode was entertaining AF
God, I hate battles in GoT for a reason. I guess Daemon has a plot armor... I guess there was enough food and more importantly water in the caves for them to withstand any sort of long siege? As a middle ground solution, no? And Velaryon prince... oh, boy I think we found our first bad actor. Overall, not my cup of tea.
The main story is thankfully intakt, I loved everything about this part ok, maybe it had unreasonably long shots of cgi animals... badly animated one to be precise Unlike the rest usage of cgi in the series that either wasn't as noticeable because it was of a decent quality or it low quality didn't bothered me, because it wasn't the main focus of the shot. Animals this episode with real horses close by or composition shots with dragon riders looked particularly rough. But set design and little nuances of the "hunt" allowed the whole event to feel real, lived-in even and don't feel like medieval reenactment on a strict budget.
Still has the Game of Thrones quality, though this was a step back (even though it was literally a jump forward). That scene with Daemon being a one man army was ridiculous and not in a good way.
Good episode but I didn't like that cheap time jump.. didn't feel smooth
S01E03 - Second of His Name: 85/100 (Great, Yet Doesn't Quite Hit The Mark In Every Respect)
Another solid episode. Though I had my doubts at first, the time jumps ultimately added to the story's momentum, thus the show has earned my trust, at least for the time being. Then again, I'm not looking forward to the inevitable recasting that will take place as the show goes on. I'm most worried about Rhaenyra, played by Milly Alcock, because she's doing a great job, hopefully Emma D'Arcy can do her justice. This episode did a better job than previous ones in presenting the characters' personalities, which made it easier to connect with them, rather than focusing on establishing their backgrounds and motivations.
Despite the episode's heavy focus on council politics, it seemed different from the previous two in terms of tone. Not to imply that council politics are undesirable, but there were other matters at play in this episode outside council politics that gave it a broader scope.
Viserys looks to be undergoing a complete meltdown, both mentally and physically; and who can blame him? In spite of all of his challenges, he seems to be making a sincere effort to do the responsible thing. Otto Hightower's nefarious schemes seem to falling into place, leaving an intriguing new future on the horizon.
There's a scene where a Targaryen soldier sees that Prince Daemon is on his way to save them, and right after he exclaims, “Here, my Prince, Save Me.” Shortly after, Daemon's dragon tramples all over him like he's an insect. I knew what was coming a mile away, yet it still hit me as hard as the writers intended. It also demonstrates that Daemon's motivations are not altruistic, even if the cause itself is noble. If my memory serves me right, Daemon doesn't utter a single word in this episode, but yet he commands complete attention from the audience throughout. Kudos to the writers and Matt Smith for creating such a compelling character.
Despite a little decline in quality, the episode's last half was still entertaining. Daemon's determination to finish a struggle that had been waging for more than 3 years in less than a day, even if it cost him his life. Precipitated by his shock upon learning that his Brother Viserys would be aiding him in the conflict. In reality, Daemon's worst enemy is his pride. But Daemon's actions in this episode, including him beating up the King's messenger, were certainly out of place and ultimately undesirable. It will be intriguing to see how the writers decide to handle his character moving forward.
A great battle sequence ensued as a result. Sure, some artistic liberties were employed, but nothing about it looked implausible or impossible to me. In a fantastical setting, fate and luck are par for the course. Despite the fact that Daemon will never be the man that Jon Snow is, he possesses the same fearlessness and determination Jon did. Daemon may have come across as a madman, but he came prepared with a strategy that caught the Crabfeeder off guard. This episode was reminiscent of “The Battle of the Bastards” another episode that takes place in the same universe, however it doesn't quite manage to live up to its legacy.
Lord of the rings, they wish!
This episode was a slow burn with a lot of politics for almost 50 minutes and I don't mind that. To finish it of with a heroic scene made me enjoy the episode even more.
Wow amazing episode. This show has been nothing but quality storytelling from the beginning and this episode took it up a notch.
Another time jump of 3 years this time but it seems to be handling these time skips well. Vaserys is growing tired of the politics he has to be involved with as King of the Iron Throne and he's less patient with Rhaynera. Her and Alicent have grown apart as friends yet despite this it's obvious Alicent has been trying to connect with her despite the fact that she's now Rhaynera's mother in-law.
I interpreted Daemon's actions involving beating the King's messenger and pushing for the victory as his pride taking charge cause he wanted to defeat the Crabfeeder without his brother's help.
on this episode you'll see the mirage of the white walker's night king
Idk why i had better expectations in this episode, i mean Posts and all talks made me feel i would give it 100 of 10 but then realized it's just few minutes which got my high attention, tho it's still good episode and like how this show is going
the end was kinda expected ngl
well, that was definitely better than episode one
Like Rhaenyra so far (and I wouldn't marry a Lannister, either), the ending was a bit... well... of course, Daemon's hit twice but he's still going to kill the Crabfeeder whom no one could defeat... okay...
The timejump from last episode's ending to this episode was a bit jarring though. No confrontation between the seemingly best friends, no angsting about Alicent's first pregnancy, why no discussions about the line of successions before Aegon's 2nd birthday? And I thought Otto would suggest that Rhaenyra should marry him, after all he's also a widower, so why didn't he remarry? (At least Alicent seems reasonably happy but Otto's machinations to get her in that position were quite despicable.)
His valyrian steel gave them crabs
Not showing fight between Daemon and crab feeder, lol, but the rest was good!
I’m enjoying the series, but I’m not too keen on all the time jumping. They jump forward in time at the start of each episode, and there is no build up of travelling between islands. One minute they’re on Dragonstone, the next they’re not. It’s getting very much like the final 2 seasons of Game of Thrones, in wanting to progress the story as quickly as possible, making everything seem rushed. I can’t say I’ve come across a character I actually like yet either.
Pros
+Dragons doing dragon things
+The silent emotions of Rhaenyra (regarding her fear of Aegon replacing her and her marital status), Viserys (regarding his declining health and politicians trying to force his hand), and Daemon (with his failing campaign against the Triarchy) bled through every scene with them
+Clever groundwork for the next stage with Laenor/Seasmoke's intro, the reconfirmation of Rhaenyra's status as heir to the Iron throne, and Criston Cole's presence
+The action was a bit cheesy but it was entertaining
+Couple of standout scenes: Caraxes landing, Boar killing, Viserys talking about his dreams, and Daemon being angry
Neutral
*Stag scene is kinda exposing that this show is going to be extremely bias in Rhaenyra's favor which considering the Dance of Dragons is not really a good guy vs bad guy kind of conflict is a little unfortunate
*Alicent- I like the actress and she hasn't done anything unreasonable of stupid or anything but she hasn't really been enabled yet either. I know they are building up for later though so I'm not too worried.
*Crabfeeder was kinda wasted, I don't really care about him as a character but they kinda made him sound super cool and gave him a cool design and I thought it would've been fun if he had a few more feats before being disposed of
Negative
-Otto Hightower comes off even more like a creep rather than one of the keenest men in the 7 Kingdoms. I don't disagree that with him saying what he did but we have really only seen him trying to hook up kids with older people so far outside of the meeting with Daemon last episode which Rhaenyra salvaged so he feels kinda one dimensional
-Feels like many of the ancillary figures are also just boilerplate, generic GOT characters. I just know the Arbor lady likes to plot while walking through her gardens and the cocky Lannister likes to drink wine, say "fuck" a lot, and make suggestive slander more than any real human being would. Definitely one of the parts of the original show I wished they'd left behind.
One piece of advice for those who complain about "Why did the war lasted for 3 years?! They had freaking dragons!!"
Read the book!!
The War indeed lasted three years in the book as well because the opposing army (even though few in number) really gave Daemon a headache with their tactics.
Anyway, it was an amazing episode with good acting and good dialogue. You can really see each character struggling with their own problems (especially Rhaenyra and Viserys) and the story is obviously heading to a future Targaryen war.
I like battle scenes as much as I like really long reviews on tv shows
3 for 3 so far... we fucking BACK fo real!!!
The episode starts slow like the previous ones, and there is a lot of time dedicated to character development and relationships between characters. Rhaenyra is unhappy and rebellious as due to her father's marriage to her once best friend, she feels estranged from her father and does not the support of her friend anymore, who is now the queen and her better in the royal hierarchy, as it is shown in the scene with the court minstrel (Jaskier, what are you doing here?) Really a lot happens in the episode and I may not be able to sum everything up, but the issue of Rhaenyra's marriage come to the fore, which is the source of further conflicts between father and daughter, as Rhaenyra believes that now that her father has a male heir, he would like to replace her in the succession and so wants to "sell her off" in marriage to the highest bidder. She acts impulsively and follows her emotions, which is a bit irresponsible as in her escape from the camp, but at the same time it makes her more human and realistic as a character since she is quite headstrong. In the end, the king has a rather warm-hearted (in Westerosi standards) talk with her and allows her to choose her own husband. Alicent's father tells her to talk the king into making her son the heir to the throne, and it seems she is sort of loyal to her ex-friend as what she talks Viserys into is actually sending help to the Stepstones and not changing the succession. However, earlier Viserys confesses to her his doubts about proclaming Rhaenyra his heir (though he was drunken then so maybe he really does support his daughter? He swears to her that he won't change the succession but in the light of the conversation with Alicent it does not sound genuine and honest). Then there is the metaphor of the hunt, when the king finally kills the hart (though rather unwillingly), whereas Rhaenrya orders the knight to let the white hart go free (though she kills the boar earlier on rather fiercely and violently, however in this case the boar attacked her) - does it portend her father's and hers different attitude to power? The episode continues to be visually pleasing, the sets and costumes look impressive and the plot is quite dense with events. The final battle was impressive but I don't quite get what Daemon was intending to do, were they just following the plot to use someone as a bait to get the Crabfeeder's people from the caves? It is surprising they have succeeded as it was very risky and they were badly outnumbered. Daemon seems to be too proud to accept help from the king as he attacked the messenger quite violently and then undertook the suicidal mission. It looks a bit unrealistic that he isn't killed after being pierced with arrows, but maybe he got a real good armour ;) plot armour ;)
One, take control of me?
You're messing with the enemy
Said it's two, it's another trick
Messin' with my mind, I wake up
Chase down an empty street
Blindly snap the broken beats
Said it's gone with the dirty trick
It's taken all these days to find ya
I'll tell you I want you
I'll tell you I need you
Friends, take control of me
Stalking 'cross the gallery
All these pills got to operate
The color quits and all invade us
There it goes again
Take me to the edge again
All I got is a dirty trick
I'm chasin' down all walls to save ya
I'll tell you I want you
I'll tell you I need you
The blood ain't on my face
Just wanted you near me
I'll tell you I want you
I'll tell you I need you
The blood ain't on my hands
Just wanted you near me
Perfection! Daemon is my husband.
Matt came alive in this one. He can even go farther … let’s go :house:x:dragon:
Another Very good episode. Really liking this series so far.
I'm definitely starting to develop a bonding with the show... Daemon's pride sure served him well.
Shout by DeletedBlockedParent2022-09-05T10:12:23Z
That was a perfect episode! Nothing boring or poorly written at all! Emmy award winning performances by the entire cast!!! Unicorns were flying out of people's butts and no one's poop smelled bad anymore. Thrones is back baby!
Did I do that right?
In reality, after three episodes I find no one interesting at all and there's no standout performances whatsoever. The CGI makes me feel like I'm watching some penny-pinching Netflix production. Everything is so predictable in this episode just like last week. What a dumb-downed poorly written screenplay this is turning out to be...can't wait until the big time jump...