Here’s my review finally for House of the Dragon S3E05 and honestly, there’s not a great deal to get too excited about in this one. As always I will be keeping Spoiler Free here, though I do tend to find that tricker when I have more notes. Let’s get started then shall we?
Episode 5
Episode 5 is part II of Episode 4 thematically if that makes sense. We are following the same pattern and path’s as we did last week and each story we follow evolves a little more. My argument is that with so much left to cover, and with only one more Season to finish the story, this episode felt like filler. There’s probably an edit of the last two episodes which could cut a third off the running time and still work. That would of course mean lessening the threads of certain subplots and in this case I’m all for that.
I’m still not a fan of anything to do with Allicent and Helaena and haven’t been for a while. A very convenient discovery this week was perhaps even straying into silly territory. The truth being, this device could instead have been known and used to cut a ton of pointless scenes with these two. I’m just not a fan of the way Allicent is written, despite good acting from Cooke, her part has not been well put together since early Season 2.
Helaena her self could be a much more interesting character if she was given anything to actually do, or any decent dialogue like she used to have.
Barely an Inconvenience
There are some concerns of, how shall I put it, movie coincidence creeping into this show. The kind of details that producers and directors wave away as being barely an inconvenience. Yeah, you know what I mean, all TV shows and movies have them, and we notice them more and forgive them less when the rest of the story isn’t firing. Thus the core plot of this episode, revolving around the Gold Cloaks suffered a bit for me at the end. Leading up to that point it was the best subplot of the episode and had all the best scenes with Daemon.
I think it was perhaps pushed a little too far at the close and my initial thought was, ‘yeah, that’s not happening with no one noticing it and a fight breaking out’. Yet I have the feeling I would have been sold more easily had the other plot lines been to the same level this week.
There’s a sense in this show of every season building towards one major event from the books. Though, like many fans I’m concerned how many events we have left to cover in Season 4 when Tumbleton is clearly going to be the Season 3 finale. Are we going to get a rush job with everything in it like Game of Thrones Season 8?
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Finally, I had enough of that Harrenhal witch and Daemon in Season 2, do we really have to have role reversal with Aemond in Season 3? Don’t get me wrong, I see where they are going with this. However, it’s about using the time you have to best effect and less is more with this pair. It’s beginning to feel like he’s being hidden away from the actual plot, just because he’s not needed right now.
The best characters in the series are Aemond, Daemon, Rhaenyra, Aegon and the Sea Snake. At least of those still with us I’ll add as a caveat. I worry when any one of these is just removed off screen for a bit and it’s happened to all of them bar Rhaenyra so far.
Still, I am enjoying the series enough that I watch it as soon as I am able to do each week, so I’m still being entertained. It’s not like I can’t wait to see how some plots will resolve themselves, it’s just not at the level that this show can be and has been in the past.
GRADE: C+
Not a lot to shout about this week and soe of the subplots felt like filler. Some convenience is also slipping into the plot like you slip an anvil into a glass of water. Probably my least favourite episode of Season 3 and in some ways saved by Daemon Targaryen, again.
Good, but not close to great, as has happened too often with House of the Dragon since Season 2 began. Take two steps forward and then two back and we never seem to get anywhere.
I’m really not sure, outside of Rhaenyra a little, that I am seeing much of any character development from the leads this season.
That’s my House of the Dragon S3E05 review, as always let us know what you thought of the episode, or my review in the usual spot below.
