‘House Of The Dragon’ Takes A Jarring Jump In Third Episode
by Frank Martin
It’s strange sometimes how stories take on a life of their own beyond what the writers tell them to do. Certain things have to happen, otherwise a story can lose steam or hit a dead end. That is essentially what happened with the third episode of House of the Dragon. Over the first two episodes, a lot of tension was built up over the rogue Targaryen prince’s play to become heir to the throne. But instead of allowing this tension to play out, the story jumps forward two years into the future, which caused a lot of the tension to fizzle out. Unfortunately, given the nature how the story was structured, it was a necessary development that the story needed to move forward.
The two-year time jump was to allow the birth of King Viserys’s (Paddy Considine) son, Aegon. The king’s daughter, Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), is established as heir, but her status is thrown into question by her baby brother. If Aegon had not been born and the story continued on the timeline from last week, there would have been a lot less for the plot to work with. Also, Daemon (Matt Smith) continued on his own path as he dealt with the conflict in the Step Stones. But again, this war started two years earlier and although the fighting seemed just as intense as it had in the beginning, the two-year time gap seemed strange from a tension perspective.
Besides the jarring effect from the time jump, the episode still moved nicely. Fans finally got to see the dragon action they’ve been waiting for in spectacular fashion. Also, Rhaenyra’s story arc continues to move along and it’ll be interesting to see how her journey plays out in the end. The pacing should definitely pick up, however. The political side of Game of Thrones has been nailed by the spin-off. The action side, however, has been suffering even with this episode’s addition. Hopefully, the king’s court will see some violence in the near future.
House of the Dragon airs Sundays on HBO.