This Astonishingly Good 12-Minute House Of The Dragon Scene Shows What Season 2 Was Really Missing, But Season 3 Can Get Back On Track

House of the Dragon season 2 was divisive for a myriad of reasons. After season 1 launched the Game of Thrones prequel to great acclaim, there had been an expectation for things to go up a gear, with the Dance of the Dragons ready to truly begin. While there was some spectacular dragon-on-dragon action, the show’s sophomore outing didn’t entirely deliver what everyone had hoped for.

There was some slow pacing, book changes that led to George R.R. Martin writing a (now deleted) blog post discussing the problems with those, and House of the Dragon season 2’s ending was mostly setup for the third season, which is due in 2026. Not all the complaints seemed fair and, in the grand scheme of TV shows in 2024, it was still on the better end of the scale, but it undoubtedly had issues. One of those, though, was unavoidable after season 1, but hopefully House of the Dragon season 3 can somewhat fix it.

King Viserys' Absence Hurt House Of The Dragon Season 2 Even More Than Expected

Paddy Considine’s Ruler Was A Sorely Missed Presence For Multiple Reasons

Although Paddy Considine did return as King Viserys I Targaryen in House of the Dragon season 2, it was only for brief visions from Daemon Targaryen, who was suffering through his own never-ending Harren-hell. That’s not to say Viserys should’ve been featured more, but his presence was undeniably missed, as he was one of the very best parts of the first season. That’s not just in his powerful performance, in which he carried the weight of the world and was at turns tragic and comic, but for how he brought characters and storylines together.

There’s no better example of this than the dinner table scene at the end of season 2, episode 8, a sequence that, for me, still stands as the show’s greatest moment.

There’s no better example of this than the dinner table scene at the end of season 1, episode 8, a sequence that, for me, still stands as the show’s greatest moment. It’s funny, heartfelt, moving, sad, intense, and perfectly, beautifully rooted in the characters’ various relationships, histories, and rivalries, all of which stem from and center around Viserys himself. Game of Thrones itself was often best when it was focused on characters and conversations, and this is no different.

Season 1 soared on the back of its character dynamics, not its dragons, and that was often best when several of them were brought together - the funeral scene on Driftmark, and later the confrontation over Aemond Targaryen losing his eye, are other stellar examples. But because war broke out and subsequently broke its characters apart, season 2 could not come close to replicating that.

If anything, the story only doubled down on it as alliances were fractured: Alicent and Rhaenyra were already parted, and then Daemon was sent away too. The characters were increasingly isolated, and that drove their arcs forward, but at the expense of the richest drama the show had offered before then. It’s no surprise that, spectacle aside, some of season 2’s best scenes were when Alicent and Rhaenyra reunited, or when Rhaenyra and Daemon came face to face (be it Emma D’Arcy or Milly Alcock’s version).

House of the Dragon season 1, episode 8, "The Lord of the Tides," is the show's second-highest rated episode on IMDb, with 9.3/10. Top is season 2, episode 4, "The Red Dragon and the Gold," with 9.4/10.

This is, of course, a feature of the show’s story design, not a bug. A big part of the civil war is the warring Targaryen factions’ inability to communicate with one another, and the plot determined it would have to separate its characters. There’s thematic weight in how it deals with its miscommunications, but the show hasn’t topped its best character moments because of everything being so scattered, and that is a real shame and not something it was fully able to overcome.

House Of The Dragon Season 3 Can Get Closer To Fixing This Problem

The Ending Of Season 2 Is Promising

House of the Dragon season 3 should be an improvement in many ways. Yes, there was a lot of “the real war starts now,” prognosticating ahead of season 2 that wasn’t entirely delivered on, but there can’t really be any excuses on that front in its third season - if anything, there are too many battles from the source material to cram in. But while it looks set to deliver on the action front, it should also, more importantly, deliver on its character dynamics too. At least somewhat.

House of the Dragon season 3 is expected on HBO and Max sometime in 2026, with filming slated to begin around Spring 2025. Season 4, meanwhile, is confirmed as the show's last.

This is certainly taking a glass-half-full perspective, but the setup for Rhaenyra taking King’s Landing is promising. This will not only put her and Daemon, for a time, in the same location, but also place them in the most important hive of activity and politicking, where they can interact with more characters. Because Alicent will also be there, then there’s more room to get closer to the kinds of conversations and character moments that were so brilliantly done in season 1, and that season 2 didn’t have enough of.

It’s the political machinations, the family rivalries, and the conversations in dark rooms that not only decide the fate of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, but where the greatest drama and character work can be found.

It obviously can’t bring everyone together: Aegon has escaped King’s Landing with Larys Strong, and Aemond will be off waging war - with Daemon later set to go after him. The problem can’t entirely be fixed, and I don’t think we’ll see anything that brings multiple characters together in so poignant and well-executed a way as the dinner table scene. Nonetheless, there’s the potential for more frequent, stronger groupings, which should benefit the show as a whole.

A strong King’s Landing story was often key to Game of Thrones, and the same is proving true of House of the Dragon. It’s the political machinations, the family rivalries, and the conversations in dark rooms that not only decide the fate of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, but where the greatest drama and character work can be found. The more that HOTD can have its best characters and actors working together, the better it will be. Which seems pretty simple, really, but is something the show has to find a way of doing more of.

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