“House of Dragons” Episode 3 Review
“House of Dragons” continues to be one of the best new shows on television.
This latest episode entitled, “Second of His Name” is the best episode of this first season so far. It is filled with amazing character development, intriguing plotting and an unbelievable action sequence at the end of the episode.
This episode takes place three years after the events of episode two, which can be confusing to some audience members since this show continues to soar through time, unlike its predecessor which spent an entire season on the course of a singular month.
This episode continues to follow Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) reign as king. He now has a male heir who he had with Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey) which adds a drift in his relationship with his daughter Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock). Rhaenyra feels betrayed that her father married her best friend, and this has caused her to be distant from both her friend and her father.
Rhaenyra also fears that with the birth of his new child, she will no longer be the heir to the throne. There is a ton of character growth in this episode from both Rhaenyra and Viserys, whose actors do an incredible job of portraying their emotion as well as believably acting as father and daughter. Their relationship is one of the most notable aspects of this episode, and their reconciliation towards the end will excite many audience members.
This episode also opens up the idea of romance in Rhaenyra’s life. Her father, and his advisors want her to marry someone soon. Some ideas people have are more shocking than others. In fact, the king's hand recommends she marry her half brother. Others want her to marry a Lannister in order to unite their families.
However, Rhaenyra is growing close to one of the king’s guards Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel). These actors have incredible chemistry and their scenes together add a much needed lightheartedness missing from the rest of this show.
Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) continues to seem like the major plotter of this show. The Littlefinger-esque character desires as much power as his family can get, which is why he hopes his daughter's new son will become the king. Otto does his best throughout the episode to convince the king to change his heir or even have his daughter marry the toddler so that Otto can have control. His antics so far prove that he can be a serious threat later on in the series.
The last 15 minutes of this episode are true TV gold. The action sequence starring Daemon (Matt Smith), brings back everything the audience grew to love with “Game of Thrones” amazing battle scenes. This battle scene is filled with dragons, awesome hand to hand combat, and truly stylistic directing from director Greg Yaitanes.
Although the dialogue has been quite engaging, it was great to be thrown into an action sequence reminiscent of the iconic battle from this show's predecessor. Smith also proves to be a great action star, believably killing all of the Crabfeeders with ease.
Daemon has continued to prove that he is the most interesting new character, and this episode only enhanced those beliefs. He is a quite dynamic character and a lot of that is thanks to Matt Smith’s sensational performance so far.
Daemon is menacing, yet really charming in a way that makes him quite likable to the audience. Although he is the antagonist, he is a very complex character that is not completely evil. His intelligence and combat ability also make him quite unpredictable and threatening.
Overall, this was an unbelievable episode. The acting and character growth was remarkable as well as the final action scene that truly encapsulated everything great about Game of Thrones. This episode is without a doubt worth watching, and has proven that House of Dragons can stand alone as a remarkable show.
Rating: 5/5
Jack Freiser is a third-year majoring in telecommunications. To contact him, email jef5614@psu.edu.
