The house of the dragon episode 3.
We open old-school Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. None of that AD&D 2nd edition. We are talking not gold, not red but The serpentine dragons of “YouFhakOff” ridden by Elric and braying for fire and vengeance. Bringing, at best, a faster death for those tortured and a standoff with the Chaotic Demons of the realm.
However, this is not what has turned me into being genuinely gripped by the show.
It’s slumbered to this point and has a worrying time jump, not so much for events and threats of changes to the hierarchy to succession,n as Rhaenerys spends a good deal of time cosplaying the princess diaries.
But the conflict of love between her and her father in these scenes makes me want to see what happens. While there is a threat of predictability in some stages of courtly rumor and ceremony, there is no doubt this is a story of a father and daughter totally to each other while torn by their sense of what constitutes a dut.y
A Rhenerys faces and slaughters external threats; her father endures introspection and remorse for the actions with his first wife. Leading both to a place that can’t help but change the entire future of the house and its standing.
We also see that while we are a far cry from Winter. The succession and machinations against the crab king show War have nothing to do with being victorious but looms large as the one who wins the war will have the leverage for the throne.
The status of other established Houses still leads a particular ‘Phantom menace’ to its prequels, but this is more clearly a story of one house, one blood, and cements its format as having leads, not an ensemble of the breadth of its predecessor.
At least for now, as the return to table flipping allegiances and bringing bloody war and rolling d6 head for the feet and d12 for which direction a person’s head flies comes back to the fore for the episode’s denouement.
A great ending, and the show is now nearing the halfway mark. It Bodes well for this season. I just hope it can sustain.
HOUSE OF THE DRAGON EPISODE 4
The king of the narrow sea.
We have an heir walk the town, and the heir is escorted to see how the kingdom sees her. We have the promise of unity between two brothers.
We also have a massive softcore set of moments in a brothel where our lead and guide seems to regress all her choices and experiences that take any ambiguity and authority she has. And hacks at it like one of those weird mods where lLaracraft goes from heroic athlete and archaeologist and becomes a french maid cleaning raptor willies for trophies.
Rhys Ifans spends a moment sighing over this, and I can’t help but feel it’s not acting. As he reaches this script, the actor realizes this is what he has signed up for, and then another six episodes to go.
There are some great performances in this episode. Any lousy actor can look amazing with a great script. It makes me feel confident in my conviction, known as “fords law.”
But it is an award-winning talent that can chew through some of the worst lines in thai shows history.
This is a breaking point, I feel, in the story.
While Dagon prances like a billy idol from the start, to a complete lack of interest in anything, one thinks even the crown itself. Viserys and his conflict,s internal and political, do show Paddy Considine as totally on form.
But the show hinges on Rhaenyra, and the decisions and repercussions of this episode find her hard to relate to as any more than being the tool the first half of the series has had her struggle against. Even her flirtation with her best friend knight seems to regress her more than empower her.
We have a few moments of lore to try and tug the undertow back to the song of ice and fire, and the battle of power between the hand and the king would have been better at the forefront of this episode.
But like Rhys, this one left me sighing…and not in a good brothel way.
I suspect, entirely skippable.
House of The Dragon episode 5.
The Vale. We have more of a worldview as each story intertwines across land and sea. The Dragon also reaches the Throne tradition of setting your expectations high for a certain level and dispatching great curves within minutes.
We have not so high much the dragon, but a midpoint of GoT as world building beccomes more of a push and makes me realise how insular the show has been.
Seeing other families, leads, and motivations is a growth for the show that frankly should have turned up three episodes ago.
The hand is now dispatched. Daemon returned to his ‘position’. It seems an odd episode of tension without threat.
To see the Valayrians more in a position of character and strength does embolden the show as it seems they have been under the Veil than Damon ever has. However, Visyris also shows a great sense of his vision and attempt to manipularmanipulatehecies
It’s an intense episode that allows for necharacterssrs and views and brings more interest from me after the listed world of dragon fucking.
We gain so much more. The thirst for power. Trust and betrayal. How the younger generation wants to have their liberty with the affluence that comes with duty.
It’s, in many ways, a decent course correction of the previous episodes’ egregious practices. The motives of everyone involved are clear as day, but their methods and how they will react are unpredictable. Be they her beloved knight, the queen, or an ailing king.
Then the twists continue throughout the episode as stories force themselves into almost farcical confessions while retaining the danger and drama of all that goes before it.
The wedding is sumptuous, and we have all the boats and dragons your 4k can hold
But as ever, a wedding in Westeros is never uneventful, and the end sets such upheaval that blows the lid on any expectations of where the story would go.
The best episode so far. Just such a shame it took so long to get here.
And we really could go any. here
The Irish Indian Times. 
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