Here’s my (late) House of the Dragon S3E03 review and whilst this was a very ambitious episode I’m not sure it fully landed, for me. Folks as always this is spoiler free even though I’m a couple days late getting this up. Truth be told I didn’t have time after my work on Monday to watch it and only managed late last night. I write this, or at least start writing this, just after watching it for the first time.

So, let’s get started on what I thought?

Ambitious

I get the feeling that those running the show really aimed for the rafters with this episode. I also feel confident I can explain the ambition without spoiling any of the story.

In the previous episode, which I said felt like the true end of Season 2, we have a status quo change for Rhaenyra. In true ‘opening episode of Season 3’ fashion, this episode seeks to show us how difficult this new transition will be for the ‘true’ Queen.

Episode 3 is almost totally focused on Rhaenyra as she interacts with various other parties. The focus or ‘POV’ is always through her eyes and the episode is edited so that it cuts from one of these scenes to another fairly unevenly. Now, this is absolutley a choice and the ambition of the episode is that we the viewers are experience the anxiety and stress that Rhaenyra is as problems begun to escalate. The music of the episode really helps to drive this across, it’s uncomfortable and bitty and again this is a choice.

Episode 3 I think was designed to be a favourite of critics as opposed to the viewers. I say this because you’re supposed to get an uncomfortable feeling watching this one and some viewers won’t enjoy that. The music, the quick cuts to a different scene, the forced point of view all come together to make you feel as anxious and stressed as Rhaenyra feels by the end. 

As I said, very ambitious.

Did It Work?

Almost, I think this is 90% a proper special episode of the show. I commend them for what they went for here and almost everyone did their job, except the actual script writers.

Almost every scene is as said a Rhaenyra pov with one other actor or several. Each has it’s own little story arc that turns based on how Rhaenyra reacts. Some of them are really good, but there are one or two I was less keen on. 

I’ve had a problem with this show since they decided to make Allicent decide to betray her entire family in Season 2. The butterfly effects from this decision are still being felt and I simply don’t think it works. Ergo, the scenes between Rhaenyra and Allicent just don’t work well for me, character wise or the dialogue being used for them. Am I supposed to at this point feel sorry for Allicent, or sympathise with her plight through Rhaenyra’s eyes? It’s not happening for me, as Allicent and her brood in this interpretation deserve everything they get. 

I have some sympathy for her daughter, whom I think is a true innocent in all of this and suffers more than many. However, I think the writers really have not taken Allicent’s character in the right direction since Season 2 began. They’ve interpreted the book story in a different way than I did and I’m not sure they made the right call.

RELATED: House Of The Dragon S3E03 Review – This Should Have Been Season 2 Finale

A few others scenes didn’t work as well as they should have, I’ll point to the Corlys scenes here as an example of that. Especially the final scene which seems to be out of character for both in that setting. Others, such as the one and done scene with the Faith Leader were brilliantly written. 

As such, I have a lot of praise for this episode but it maybe could have and should have been an A+ if not for some butterfly effect story decisions (my personal opinion only) and some scenes which needed a bit more work on the scripting front. 

GRADE: A-

As aid above, almost everything is here for an A+ episode and that’s the aim here. I think Emmy’s were in a few heads a HBO when this one was in development. I just don’t think they quite stuck the landing at every point. What they did land was brilliant through and overall this remains a very interesting episode with a lot of hidden layers and an ambitious scope. 

That’s it for this week folks, as always, leave your own review of House of the Dragon S3E03 or feel free to critique mine in the usual spot below. 

FOR FANBOYS, BY FANBOYS Have you checked out LRM Online’s official podcasts and videos on The Genreverse Podcast Network? Available on YouTube and all your favorite podcast apps, This multimedia empire includes The Daily CoG, Breaking Geek Radio: The Podcast, GeekScholars Movie News, Anime-Versal Review Podcast, and our Star Wars dedicated podcast The Cantina. Check it out by listening on all your favorite podcast apps, or watching on YouTube! Subscribe on: Apple Podcasts |  Spotify |  SoundCloud | Stitcher | Google Play