After two strong episodes in a row, HOUSE OF THE DRAGON slowed way down again and dropped us in the middle of endless council discussions across Westeros. Everyone on every side has an opinion on the crown, and unfortunately, this week, HOTD forced us to listen to everyone.
After last week’s episode ended on a cliffhanger, REGENT serves us with the repercussions of who lived, who died, and who really holds the power. Unfortunately, an episode of mostly political discussions wasn’t nearly as interesting as it could have been. For example, GAME OF THRONES featured many scenes of high-council discussions in Kings Landing, along with the other noble families of Westeros and beyond strategizing their journey to the crown. It was full of drama! Backstabbing, butt-kissing, lies, rumors, and sometimes an errant comment would get someone killed or injured.
REGENT is not this. It’s just a bunch of mostly older men (plus Rhaenyra, Alicent, and a few others under 60) having frank conversations about their chances of winning castles and lands and getting this army or that to bend the knee to their respective sides. Meanwhile, Daemon is still off doing his own thing, much to the detriment of the show as a whole. Was Matt Smith unavailable when the rest of the actors who play his family were? Was he double-booked on a project elsewhere? The longer he stays away, the stranger it feels, but I want to trust that this leads to some huge revelation or twist. Perhaps he’ll get so used to his freedom that he’ll challenge his wife and nephew (?) for the throne himself. With all the incest, it’s hard to keep track. Daemon was Viserys’ younger brother. Viserys had Aegon with Alicent, which made Daemon his uncle. Honestly, if you told me they were cousins, I would believe you. Rhaenyra is his niece and his wife, which further complicates their offspring.Â
I’m not the type who dislikes when shows or movies have a lot of talking. If it’s engaging, let it simmer, but it needs to draw us in and this week’s HOUSE OF THE DRAGON left me wanting more action instead. Outside of one very interesting conversation on Team Black, the story doesn’t move forward enough. It reminded me of all the boring political talks in the STAR WARS prequels or when the TV show LOST was just the survivors wandering around doing nothing. We’ve got 3 more episodes to go this season, and a lot could still happen. I worry that HBO is determined to stretch out what could have been an incredible limited series to too many seasons at this pace.
HOUSE OF THE DRAGON airs every Sunday night on HBO at 9pm EDT/6pm PDT and streams on MAX concurrently.
