Tom’s Guide Verdict: “House of the Dragon” season 3, episode 4
- Rating: 4/5 Stars
- Verdict: “House of the Dragon” season 3 has been a vast improvement over season 2. Even an episode like this one, which features no battles or dragon-induced deaths, heats simmering tensions until they are ready to reach a boiling point. It sets up a fiery second half of the season in a satisfying way, rather than feeling like it’s stalling for time.
- Premiere date/time: Out now
- Channel: HBO and streaming on HBO Max
“And now we begin.” That’s the final line of tonight’s episode of “House of the Dragon,” and it’s a fitting one. This episode of season 3 feels like the show is resetting the board ahead of a climactic second half of the season.
But while there are no battles or dragon-induced deaths in this episode, it doesn’t lack for drama. In season 2, episodes that lacked violence also felt like they lacked forward momentum. That is not the case in tonight’s episode, which has tensions ready to reach a boiling point as we enter the final four episodes of season 3.
A major part of this is that, despite winning the Targaryen civil war, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) now finds herself fully embroiled in a conflict with House Hightower. Ormond Hightower (James Norton), it is revealed, has been ruling Oldtown like a kingdom under the nose of the Targaryen empire. Now, he’s putting forth Daeron Targaryen (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) as a Hightower king, hoping to cleanse the realm of dragons once and for all.
However, those aren’t the only players still on the board. Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) lives, albeit in a hellish existence. Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) is gone, according to Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), but as we haven’t seen a body, we can expect he’ll be back. And while Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Helaena (Phia Saban) are trapped in the Red Keep, they’re potentially harboring the biggest threat to the Iron Throne.
Malcolm McMillan
Malcolm has been with Tom’s Guide since 2022 and thinks that reading A Wiki of Ice and Fire might be better than reading George R.R. Martin’s books.
Spoilers ahead for “House of the Dragon” season 3, episode 4
The Dance of Dragons may have just become a three-sided conflict
As I mentioned already, for an episode that features only one death of consequence, a lot happens in this episode that’s important to note. We now know that Daemon (Matt Smith) is aware that his daughter Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) is Sheepstealer’s rider. Despite her claims to the contrary, this clearly breaks his heart, and he chooses to lie to Rhaenyra rather than betray his child.
We also seem to learn that Aegon’s dragon, Sunfyre, still lives. Despite Aegon and Larys (Matthew Needham) literally farming excrement to stay alive, that feels like it will matter down the line. Similarly, Alys lying about Aemond’s whereabouts sure seems like it’s going to be a key point before this tale’s conclusion.
Of course, then there’s Rhaenyra and Ormund, who are now our two main rivals for the Iron Throne. Ormund has some allies still and has conquered Tumbleton, giving him and his 15,000 men a foothold in Rhaenyra’s backyard. Rhaenyra has dragons, though, but lacks the will to use them on people who raised her banner just to destroy Ormund. She also lacks any money, something that will surely be a factor down the line.
But the biggest reveal of the show isn’t any of these. Instead, it’s a brief, maybe minute-long scene between Alicent and Helaena. Alicent goes to aid her daughter with her robe, but Aegon’s sister-bride recoils at the attempt.
It’s then clear in an instant: Helaena is pregnant, and there’s a countdown clock until we get a new claimant for the Iron Throne.
Verdict: ‘House of the Dragon’ no longer feels like it’s stalling for time
‘House of the Dragon’ season 3 reviews
Now, just because Helaena is seemingly pregnant doesn’t mean her new child will go on to threaten Rhaenyra. The very existence of Aegon’s child in Helaena’s womb is a threat, and if she were to start showing, Queen Rhaenyra would have her killed in an instant. So now, Alicent and Helaena have to find a way out of the Red Keep and King’s Landing before that fateful moment arrives.
Again, this was just a brief moment in the episode, but it altered the composition of the series’s conflict in an instant.
That’s probably the greatest success of this episode and season 3 in general. Brief moments like this, or Ormund’s brief yet portentous line at the end of the episode, move the story forward in momentous ways. This episode felt like it was constantly adding more and more tension, building potential energy that’s almost certainly going to be unleashed in the back half of season 3.
Conversely, in season 2, the brief moments felt like stalling for time. We’d spend entire scenes with characters and feel the story and plot were not advanced one iota. Because showrunner Ryan Condal has managed to fix this problem, it allows even a relatively tame episode such as tonight’s to still be great.
Stream “House of the Dragon” on HBO Max now
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