It wouldn’t be totally accurate to say that the action ratcheted up in the latest episode ofHouse of the Dragon, but it sure felt like the stakes were raised and done so in a way that seems to hint that the action will indeed ramp up quite a bit as the first season of the HBO Max starts on its downhill plunge. Chief among the reasons that the tension did indeed increase by a decent amount is that theHouse of the Dragonreally showed for the first time that while Daemon might be less someone who is deeply misunderstood and more someone who is actually a bad person.
Matt Smith has done an admirable job of spending most of the season practicing a bit of a balancing act in that regard. Every time he’s looked like he might actually be evil, he’s done something to show that he’s really just wrestling with his place in life. Or that he just feels as if he’s earned a bad rap. Of course, thelast episode ofHouse of the Dragonseemed to show he was starting to careen towards a very dark place. This episode made sure to make it clear he had arrived there.
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There is more than one scene that shows that Daemon’s descent into darkness is something that’s not sitting well with the people who know what he is capable of. It’s yet another testament to theactors in the HBO Max seriesthat things are allowed to play out subtly at times. When Daemon is continuing to be a terrible person, a glance from Viserys is all it takes for the audience to know that he’s deeply, deeply concerned about what his brother is doing.
There is, of course, a bit of action that does indeed ratchet things up. It looks like it’s going to have some far-reaching implications on the rest of this season and it will likely stretch into theseasons ofHouse of the Dragoncoming after it. It’s a real testament to the show that when the tension and the action does indeed get a bit of a boost towards the end of the episode, it’s not hard to imagine the audience at home is sitting forward and watching a bit closer.
There’s some question as to whether or not this might also be the last time that the HBO Max series audience sees some of these characters. There was a big wedding - and what this franchise has with weddings is interesting - and it certainly seems to be a hint that things are about tojump forward in Westeros.
There were certainly more than a few irons thrown in the fire that are going to have a pretty massive impact on just how the rest of this season plays out. That’s another reason why this could have been a sort of “turning point” episode in the season. Thisepisode ofHouse of the Dragonalso managed to rachet things up when it came to more than a few relationships.
There’s also a guarantee that there’s going to be some real palace intrigue when it comes to the girl who would be queen and her protector. The show also does a very good job of showing that secrets in theworld ofHouse of the Dragondon’t stay secret all that long. That of course was demonstrated quite well in Game of Thrones but it hadn’t really been covered all that well in this particular series until now.
In fact, the world ofHouse of the Dragonhad been rather insularright up until the fifth episode. Almost all of the action had taken place either at the Steppes, Dragonstone or Westeros' capital city. And for the most part, when there was anything outside of the castle, it felt quite fleeting. This episode did a very good job of making it feel like the world of Westeros was bigger than just a few different places. The show did a good job of doing that while still really just showing fleeting shots of the larger world.
It was all the different locations all put together that allowed the audience to feel as thoughHouse of the Dragonwas fleshed out. That doesn’t mean that everything was done perfectly. The show clearly has a very big CGI budget. It also has a very big costume budget, but every now and then there’s an indication that things are a bit wanting when it comes to spending that budget. One of the issues with having to show that the world of Westeros is bigger than the show has done before is that it’s got to do that while most of the series is still being shot on a stage.
There have been issues withHouse of the DragonsCGIbefore but the number of times it was just a bit too obvious that actors were standing in front of a green screen during the latest installment was a little too much to ignore. It’s not a massive problem. There were some of these situations inGame of Thronesas well, but it did feel like this time around, they were a bit more obvious. And while that can be ignored for the most part when it comes to what’s going to happen to the rest of the season, the obvious CGI can become a bit burdensome when it comes to pulling the audience out of the world of Westeros.
However, those sorts of things can be overlooked because the show also did a very good job of putting people right in the middle of what seems like it’s going to be the first big upheaval in Westeros. A good episode in the middle of the season is going to tell a fantastic story while also making people want to come back for more.House of the Dragondoes that with a couple of different cliffhangers that would have been fit for a season finale. But there’s plenty of episodes left.
House of the Dragonis now streaming on HBO Max.
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