House of the Dragon season three ended in the best way a penultimate season could. Our principal characters have reached what feels like the apex of their development arc, significant plot threads were dangled, while other threads (and characters) were satisfyingly burned off.
Credit to the writing team for turning me against Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) this season. At the start, she was most sympathetic character. Her throne had been stolen from her, and at the cost of the lives of some of her children. So I was willing to support her through whatever muck she needed to go through to get it back, including excusing some of the worst actions done in her name. After all, it wasn’t her ill-fated decision to send assassins into the Red Keep, resulting in the tragic death of a very young boy. That was her blood-crazed, dipshit uncle-husband Daemon (Matt Smith). But as the series progressed, the show did a really engaging job of showing how her profound grief eroded her good senses, causing her to alienate allies she couldn’t afford to lose and make terrible decisions that will take a big ole’ dragon bite out of her ass in future episodes.
On the other hand, I found myself rooting for characters I once hated, like Rhaenyra’s throne-stealing half-brother Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney). Aegon seems to be on a Theon Greyjoy-style redemption arc. His time fleeing for his life hasn’t quite humbled him, but it’s at least allowed him to gain the confidence he needs to fight for “his” throne.
Speaking of dispshit uncle-husbands, Daemon was a delight to watch this season. Last season, it felt like the show didn’t really know what to do with him, grounding him in once place where we watched him go a little crazy as he took the Westeros equivalent of an ayahuasca trip. This season, the writers found the perfect lane for him as a catty bitch who loves drama. Daemon didn’t do anything particularly profound or grow his character in any significant way. He just chewed his way through all of the scenery—showing up to shoot off some cutting one-liners and rousing speeches, before punching a guy in the face and flying off. I loved his petty spats with Rhaenyra’s ruling council, which included several bouts with his ex–side piece. I also appreciated how the show finally reminded him he has two Black-ass daughters that he all but forgot about the moment he became the Prince Consort. His moment with his daughter Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) when they’re both trying to calm their dragons, talking to them in ways that’ll be familiar to anyone with a reactive dog, was the season’s funniest.
But the season’s best moments were any time the Winter Wolves were on screen. Brought down from the north to fight Rhaenyra’s enemies in the field, the Winter Wolves were just so cool to watch. They were just a bunch of no-nonsense, take-no-shit old dudes who just want to fight and die in battle. I also have to give it up to the young Tully lord (Archie Barnes) for continuing Game of Thrones‘ tradition of finding the most badass child actors I’ve ever seen.
There’s only one more season left of House of the Dragon and I’m curious to see how HBO will end it. The show has already departed from book canon, and the season finale suggests there will be more canon divergence to come. Where I once rooted for Rhaenyra and cheered when her enemies met misfortune, my allegiances now have disappeared completely. Everybody sucks, with innocent people suffering because of it. My only real hope for the final season is that the characters I care about make it out alive.
