House of the Dragon: 1.03 - Second of His Name

[ctg]

Daemon and the Sea Snake battle the Crabfeeder. The realm celebrates Aegon's second nameday. Rhaenyra faces the prospect of marriage.

IMDB score: 9.3 Runtime: 63 minutes

 

[therapist]

Wow 9.3, I guess people like seeing dragons in action. I thought it was a solid episode, but slightly behind episode 2 in my book. I love the way Viserys is developing, feels very conflicted between being a good king vs being a good father, and it looks like he is failing at both as a result. The actor is killing it too.
The battle scene didn't feel that important to me, I didn't feel overly invested in it.

 

[ctg]

I'm just so glad having this back and fed in as weekly episodes. The score also surprised me. Keeping the bar close to 9 per episode is not an easy thing to do. Getting above it, the episode has to be extraordinary.

As a note, they had slightly touched the intro again, making it much brighter in this run. Thank you HBO.

Crabfeeder AKA Prince Drahar. I went and read about his background, that didn't yielded much, but it at least explained the Free Cities. All three (Lys, Myr and Tyrosh) are on the coast, forming a triangle area, thus being called Triarchy in the series. All backing up his forces and thus his atrocities against the SeaSnake's fleet.

It surprised me that Daemon turned up with his dragon. The big red one appearing over the cindering ships to unleash his breath of fire has to be one of the coolest dragon scenes I've ever seen. A couple of heavy wing beats later the only sound was woosh as the fire cascaded down on to the beach. Perfect.

The Cruel Prince didn't care about the SeaDragon men, hailing for his arrival. With a splat he went away. Then again like his master, the dragon seemingly enjoyed unleashing death upon Crabfeeder forces. The spiritual alignment between the two became very apparent, when Daemon was struck with a fire bolt.

Is it really that easy to remove a dragon from the battlefield, by taking down its rider?

Two years onwards and the Old King has finally produced a male heir. The court seemed to be more happy about that to get on with the machinations of the political implications by making the Old King to name Aegon as the successor to the throne.

It's hard to believe that boy is the same one that gets killed in the GoT during the Sack of King's Landing. Hearing the stories about the Cruel Prince having a hard time with the pirates didn't face him, nor the Hand. All the Old King wanted was the family celebrations in the Kingswood as if there was nothing to worry about in the whole Kingdom.

As it was said in the previous episodes, the Old King don't seem to know how to handle the business of international politics. It doesn't make him a very good king. He could not seems to understand even his own court as Rhae pointed out, "Nobody here's for me," when her presence was required in the gathering. By no means if the Old King wants to be a daddy-o then he should be, but letting the Small Council to run the Seven Kingdom business is a bit lackluster show in my eyes.

It should be a stopcap measure, and not a permanent solution.

Rhae and Lord Jason Lannister. My mouth fell open when he introduced himself. I just couldn't believe it. A young knight and such a future for his family ahead of him. Only if he would have a gift of foresight, he would have behaved differently. To be honest, I also shouted, "No..." as Rhae allowed him to chase her tail.

What a b*stard. Thank God, Rhae moved on and went to accuse the Old King for selling her for the Lannister's as if she's his property. The Old King's defence was "You are of age, Rhae. And Jason Lannister is an excellent match."

"He's arrogant and self-serious," Rhae snapped back.

Ser Cristos didn't waste any time, when Rhae rode away after the royal rebuttal. He chased the princess down and offered to off the arrogant Lannister. Just for Rhae's favour. He was also concerned over her safety without understanding the princess completely. I suspect he's going to serve like Dany's lovers, without ever being able to influence a Targaryen princess. Other than as an advisor.

The biggest surprise was when Jason later came to ask for Rhae's hand from the King that the Old King blurted out that Rhae was still to inherit the Iron Throne. Thus making Lannister's offer for the marriage pretty meaningless. But it was cutting him, as it was evident from the way he downed red wine.

Then it was suggested that the King would wed the Princess to Lord Corly's son Ser Leanor for the reasons that the young one was offered to the King two years past. All so that the Valyrian blood would remain as pure to the Old Houses as it could, without ever understanding the dangers of closed matched genetics. It didn't surprise me that answer to the burning question seemed to be more wine, while Rhae got charged by a boar in the forest.

I loved that the White Hart showed up, willingly to the Young Queen, while Old King got a sloppy kill on a stag. It was as if, "the gods wished it." Rhae didn't wanted to take that majestic life. She left him go in her wisdom.

The better moment was when she brought the boar back into the King's camp. All the people were buzzing about because she wasn't armed with the hunting gear. Yet, there it was, a pig on a slap for all to wonder. However, the question about the marriage to the House Lannister remained, still in King's Landing after the King decided to back Lord Corlys and the Cruel Prince.

In his eyes, he wanted Rhae to be happy, to have a family, while the Princess saw it as digging the ground under her heels. Abdication is the only way to solve it, but the Old King doesn't see it that way. He doesn't even seem to understand that it would also serve his will.

I could not understand why the Cruel Prince did beat Old King's messenger to a bloody bulb? It made no sense. And then he stopped through this sad sight to have a word with the Crabfeeder. All so that he could try to play a Hail Mary move on the Crabfeeder's people. I applaud his effort on trying to outrun the arrows, but it wasn't ever going to happen without a dragon.

It surprised me that none of the bolts ever scratched his nogging. All he got was mild wounds and a wounded ego. It also looked like he was trapped like brave men in the alley of Mogadishu. Himself against all of Crabfeeder's men. His sorry bottom was saved by another dragonrider. And Corly's men appearing among the dead.

Man, that sight brought tears to my eyes. A perfect cavalry rescue.

 

[svalbard]

Wow 9.3, I guess people like seeing dragons in action. I thought it was a solid episode, but slightly behind episode 2 in my book. I love the way Viserys is developing, feels very conflicted between being a good king vs being a good father, and it looks like he is failing at both as a result. The actor is killing it too.
The battle scene didn't feel that important to me, I didn't feel overly invested in it.

Disagree to a certain extent. I thought this episode was as good as some of the best from the GOT series. Agree on Viserys. Paddy is kicking it out of the park as the king. Overall the casting is very good.

Like that they got across the arrogance of the Lannisters. Nothing changes over the centuries.

 

[svalbard]

I'm just so glad having this back and fed in as weekly episodes. The score also surprised me. Keeping the bar close to 9 per episode is not an easy thing to do. Getting above it, the episode has to be extraordinary.

As a note, they had slightly touched the intro again, making it much brighter in this run. Thank you HBO.

Crabfeeder AKA Prince Drahar. I went and read about his background, that didn't yielded much, but it at least explained the Free Cities. All three (Lys, Myr and Tyrosh) are on the coast, forming a triangle area, thus being called Triarchy in the series. All backing up his forces and thus his atrocities against the SeaSnake's fleet.

It surprised me that Daemon turned up with his dragon. The big red one appearing over the cindering ships to unleash his breath of fire has to be one of the coolest dragon scenes I've ever seen. A couple of heavy wing beats later the only sound was woosh as the fire cascaded down on to the beach. Perfect.

The Cruel Prince didn't care about the SeaDragon men, hailing for his arrival. With a splat he went away. Then again like his master, the dragon seemingly enjoyed unleashing death upon Crabfeeder forces. The spiritual alignment between the two became very apparent, when Daemon was struck with a fire bolt.

Is it really that easy to remove a dragon from the battlefield, by taking down its rider?

Two years onwards and the Old King has finally produced a male heir. The court seemed to be more happy about that to get on with the machinations of the political implications by making the Old King to name Aegon as the successor to the throne.

It's hard to believe that boy is the same one that gets killed in the GoT during the Sack of King's Landing. Hearing the stories about the Cruel Prince having a hard time with the pirates didn't face him, nor the Hand. All the Old King wanted was the family celebrations in the Kingswood as if there was nothing to worry about in the whole Kingdom.

As it was said in the previous episodes, the Old King don't seem to know how to handle the business of international politics. It doesn't make him a very good king. He could not seems to understand even his own court as Rhae pointed out, "Nobody here's for me," when her presence was required in the gathering. By no means if the Old King wants to be a daddy-o then he should be, but letting the Small Council to run the Seven Kingdom business is a bit lackluster show in my eyes.

It should be a stopcap measure, and not a permanent solution.

Rhae and Lord Jason Lannister. My mouth fell open when he introduced himself. I just couldn't believe it. A young knight and such a future for his family ahead of him. Only if he would have a gift of foresight, he would have behaved differently. To be honest, I also shouted, "No..." as Rhae allowed him to chase her tail.

What a b*stard. Thank God, Rhae moved on and went to accuse the Old King for selling her for the Lannister's as if she's his property. The Old King's defence was "You are of age, Rhae. And Jason Lannister is an excellent match."

"He's arrogant and self-serious," Rhae snapped back.

Ser Cristos didn't waste any time, when Rhae rode away after the royal rebuttal. He chased the princess down and offered to off the arrogant Lannister. Just for Rhae's favour. He was also concerned over her safety without understanding the princess completely. I suspect he's going to serve like Dany's lovers, without ever being able to influence a Targaryen princess. Other than as an advisor.

The biggest surprise was when Jason later came to ask for Rhae's hand from the King that the Old King blurted out that Rhae was still to inherit the Iron Throne. Thus making Lannister's offer for the marriage pretty meaningless. But it was cutting him, as it was evident from the way he downed red wine.

Then it was suggested that the King would wed the Princess to Lord Corly's son Ser Leanor for the reasons that the young one was offered to the King two years past. All so that the Valyrian blood would remain as pure to the Old Houses as it could, without ever understanding the dangers of closed matched genetics. It didn't surprise me that answer to the burning question seemed to be more wine, while Rhae got charged by a boar in the forest.

I loved that the White Hart showed up, willingly to the Young Queen, while Old King got a sloppy kill on a stag. It was as if, "the gods wished it." Rhae didn't wanted to take that majestic life. She left him go in her wisdom.

The better moment was when she brought the boar back into the King's camp. All the people were buzzing about because she wasn't armed with the hunting gear. Yet, there it was, a pig on a slap for all to wonder. However, the question about the marriage to the House Lannister remained, still in King's Landing after the King decided to back Lord Corlys and the Cruel Prince.

In his eyes, he wanted Rhae to be happy, to have a family, while the Princess saw it as digging the ground under her heels. Abdication is the only way to solve it, but the Old King doesn't see it that way. He doesn't even seem to understand that it would also serve his will.

I could not understand why the Cruel Prince did beat Old King's messenger to a bloody bulb? It made no sense. And then he stopped through this sad sight to have a word with the Crabfeeder. All so that he could try to play a Hail Mary move on the Crabfeeder's people. I applaud his effort on trying to outrun the arrows, but it wasn't ever going to happen without a dragon.

It surprised me that none of the bolts ever scratched his nogging. All he got was mild wounds and a wounded ego. It also looked like he was trapped like brave men in the alley of Mogadishu. Himself against all of Crabfeeder's men. His sorry bottom was saved by another dragonrider. And Corly's men appearing among the dead.

Man, that sight brought tears to my eyes. A perfect cavalry rescue.

Great post ctg. I do enjoy reading them and have missed the insight from the original series.

A couple of points

1. This Aegon is not the same from the original series. He is so much different in many ways.

2. Sir Cristin will surprise in many ways and not in the way you think.

 

[ctg]

1. This Aegon is not the same from the original series. He is so much different in many ways.

So am I right to think that this Aegon is not the Conquer one? I wasn't so sure about it.

2. Sir Cristin will surprise in many ways and not in the way you think.

I am expecting him to become a lover and die for the princess at some point. Probably getting eaten by a dragon.

 

[svalbard]

So am I right to think that this Aegon is not the Conquer one? I wasn't so sure about it.


I am expecting him to become a lover and die for the princess at some point. Probably getting eaten by a dragon.

1. Aegon the Conqueror was the very first Targaryen king. This is set about 130 years after him.

2. I will give no spoilers away.

 

[REBerg]

Great dragon action in this one.
I did wonder about the Crabfeeder tactic of holing up in the caves whenever they were under dragon attack. Couldn't the dragon have simply thrown a few flame blasts into the mouths of the caves and cooked the soldiers inside.?
The most logical explanation seems to be a need to establish Daemon's prowess as a mighty warrior. He wanted to demonstrate that he was fully capable of defeating the Crabfeeders without brotherly aid.
I thought that luring the soldiers out of the caves into the open with a faux peace offer was a questionable strategy. Surely their leader realized that an unseen dragon could easily be (and was) just a few wing flaps away.

 

[svalbard]

This was the first time we see Corlis's son on a dragon. Maybe the Crabfeeder thought with Daemon on the ground he was safe from the dragon.

 

[svalbard]

Also did anyone notice that Matt Smith did not utter a word in this episode even though he was central to the conclusion.

 

[ctg]

Couldn't the dragon have simply thrown a few flame blasts into the mouths of the caves and cooked the soldiers inside.?

It's easy to deflect with a curve in the tunnel. If it works with the nukes, it most certainly will work with the flying flamethrowers.

 

[ctg]

This was the first time we see Corlis's son on a dragon.

Oh, so he was the dragonrider.

 

[svalbard]

Oh, so he was the dragonrider.

Yes it was. Although it looks like he is going to be a completely different character to how he was presented in Fire and Blood.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

It was a bit better than the last two. I found the wild boar scene a bit boring and couldn't see the point. Probably in the book (assuming it exists in a book) they might make a great show of the fact that Rhae did the David Crockett thing. You know killed a boar when she was only 3... er 18. Then everyone gets out of their skull with cheering and much whooping and a hollering. But not the case it seems.

I get the point she gets to fancy Sir Crispin or whatever he's called, but that was already taken as read so again why the big scene out in the woods. They could have had a bit of rompy-pompy in the book, but that seems unlikely. So no, I didn't see the point of it.

Now, its refreshing to see that old Matty has brought his Tardis tech with him to the plot. There's absolutely no doubt that wagon was bigger on the inside than it appeared from outside. The only thing missing was the whirley up and down lightey thing in the middle.

Didn't get why anyone with air superiority would land so the opposition could reign fire and brimstone on you. Funny that that in the end battle scene they used the dragons the way anyone with an ounce of sense would have used them in the first place.

I didn't get what the point of the crabs was either. OK not a nice way to go, but hardly worth the time and effort it would take to go round all the survivors and give them crabs. Not to mention rounding up the crabs in the first place. Surely it's easier and quicker to either let them bleed out in the sand or give them a quick stab with the sword. If you're using the bodies to fatten up the crabs for the pot, then why bother they are quite capable of finding leftovers on the beach without having to slap one on someones face.

 

[svalbard]

The boar episode is not in the book. If it is I missed it. The Crispin plotline is important though. Hopefully they will stick with the book on this.

The Stepstones campaign is diluted here. They have taken out a complex political storyline, for what I imagine is to not make it too boring for the viewing public.

 

[therapist]

One scene I remember loving was early on when we see a battle taking place in the backround, with the catapolts firing firey missiles at the ships sailing past, then a distant dragon appears to flame the catapolts. Thought that was pretty cool.
I'm currently reading Game of Thrones book 4, there was a little reference to Rhaenera, Viserys, and Ser Criston. Reffering to Criston as a

Spoiler: This could be a mild spoiler?

kingmaker

. No idea what that could mean, but i'm excited to find out.
What is wrong with the crab people? Do they have greyscale?

 

[The Crawling Chaos]

Great episode overall. Paddy Considine finally got the opportunity to show the true depth of his low-key acting, I didn't like his character much in the previous chapters but here he outshone everyone else as far as I'm concerned. In episodes 1 and 2 Milly Alcock was the scene stealer and while she's still great in this one, I thought the writing in her scenes was a little below average, and I will echo @TheEndIsNigh 's sentiment that her little romp in the woods wasn't very interesting and didn't reveal much we didn't already know about her or the dynamic between Crispin and herself.

But everything else about that first half was beyond reproach. The writing, acting, the machinations surrounding Rhaenyra's future are all compelling, as good as the best Game of Thrones had to offer. Rhys Ifans's Otto is at the center of it all, both friend and foe to the king, and I am enjoying his little act immensely. So a great episode...

Until the final battle. I'm really getting tired of those pseudo-medieval disorganized melees filled with idiots running at each other screaming, grappling and slitting throats while surrounded on all sides by twenty enemies. Let's be honest: No, it's not "more exciting" and no, it's not "more cinematic". Hollywood is just lazy when it comes to planning battles and relying on cinematography, camera work and meticulous editing to make it truly exciting. So they just have actors run at each other and gesticulate wildly and cut, cut, cut in the editing room to disguise their lack of effort and simulate "the chaos of those barbaric medieval battles fought by barbaric maniacs".

Also, dragons. Dragons are cool when they lurk in the background and snarl while their masters negociate (episode 2). But show them in flight, dousing fire over hundreds or thousands of guys and you're basically killing all sense of menace. Those dragons need their kryptonite.

Contemporary TV series have set new standards in almost every aspect: Production design, acting, writing, cinematography... Time to have a look at the way they depict large-scale fight scenes too.

 

[ctg]

One scene I remember loving was early on when we see a battle taking place in the backround, with the catapolts firing firey missiles at the ships sailing past, then a distant dragon appears to flame the catapolts. Thought that was pretty cool.

I did capture it and was titling it, "An UAP and a SeaSnake fleet," before I settled to the other shot.

 

[svalbard]

Great episode overall. Paddy Considine finally got the opportunity to show the true depth of his low-key acting, I didn't like his character much in the previous chapters but here he outshone everyone else as far as I'm concerned. In episodes 1 and 2 Milly Alcock was the scene stealer and while she's still great in this one, I thought the writing in her scenes was a little below average, and I will echo @TheEndIsNigh 's sentiment that her little romp in the woods wasn't very interesting and didn't reveal much we didn't already know about her or the dynamic between Crispin and herself.

But everything else about that first half was beyond reproach. The writing, acting, the machinations surrounding Rhaenyra's future are all compelling, as good as the best Game of Thrones had to offer. Rhys Ifans's Otto is at the center of it all, both friend and foe to the king, and I am enjoying his little act immensely. So a great episode...

Until the final battle. I'm really getting tired of those pseudo-medieval disorganized melees filled with idiots running at each other screaming, grappling and slitting throats while surrounded on all sides by twenty enemies. Let's be honest: No, it's not "more exciting" and no, it's not "more cinematic". Hollywood is just lazy when it comes to planning battles and relying on cinematography, camera work and meticulous editing to make it truly exciting. So they just have actors run at each other and gesticulate wildly and cut, cut, cut in the editing room to disguise their lack of effort and simulate "the chaos of those barbaric medieval battles fought by barbaric maniacs".

Also, dragons. Dragons are cool when they lurk in the background and snarl while their masters negociate (episode 2). But show them in flight, dousing fire over hundreds or thousands of guys and you're basically killing all sense of menace. Those dragons need their kryptonite.

Contemporary TV series have set new standards in almost every aspect: Production design, acting, writing, cinematography... Time to have a look at the way they depict large-scale fight scenes too.

Paddy was brilliant this episode.

The dragons kryptonite is themselves