feels like a pilot episode, six weeks in
We’re six weeks into House of the Dragon, but The Princess and the Queen feels like a pilot episode. I don’t know how else to put it. So many new characters, actors, and motivations make it feel like the first five weeks meant nothing. The Princess and the Queen is all tell and no show. The show explains little, leaving more questions that will not be answered.
As simply as I can say, the time skip hurt this episode. I have to start fresh with a whole new set of characters. I know I only have four episodes left for the show to come together. I feel like we get only a snapshot of what’s been going on for the past ten years, and it’s not enough. Show me Ser Harwin Strong and Rhaenyra meeting. I want to see what it is about this man that would make her want to have his children.
So many characters, so little time
I am starting to dislike Alicent. The actress, Olivia Cooke, has done a fantastic job of making me dislike the character. Alicent is just plain annoying in the best ways possible. The opposite feelings are created with Rhaenyra. I am much more sympathetic to her cause the further the show goes. The Princess and the Queen does an excellent job of showing viewers both sides.
I have little to no reason to care for the new characters introduced. I also have zero emotions about the deaths of the characters we see this week. The only new characters introduced were the children of Rhaenyra and Alicent; out of them, Aegon stood out, primarily due to his balcony activities. It is King’s Landing, after all.
Is there any doubt which side of the Targaryen coin Aegon fell? When Alicent was accusing Rhanyrea’s son for playing a trick on her youngest son, Viserys wanted to make sure it wasn’t their Aegon. This casting choice was spot on, and I am going to again hurt that he’s only going to be in two episodes before they age him up.
Seriously, too many characters
This was the second time we saw a wife of Daemon that looked interesting and intriguing but was killed off almost as soon as she was shown. Again, I want to see this relationship. From a brief glance, it looks like they love and care for each other. Daemon’s story goes nowhere this week, once again feeling like a background character for the second week in a row.
Larys is another character we finally see more of. Right now, he feels like he’s there to stir the pot and not much else. I’ve seen no motivation for his actions; another issue with time jumping this season. I also wonder if I’m the only one that sees him as a poor man’s Littlefinger/Tyrion/Varys. Larys would be the original, as this is a prequel to Game of Thrones, but I can’t help but feel I’ve seen this done before and better. All three of the Strongs were never in a scene together, a missed opportunity.
How is this man still alive?
Viserys is once again a fool. The man is blind to everyone around him. He’s been blessed to have had a hand that has gone out of his way to do the right thing, let alone for the last ten years. If anything, Lyonel Strong has single handily (pun intended) kept the king alive.
How Viserys manages to be still alive is a miracle. I’m upset that the show has done a poor job of showing his physical deterioration. They failed to make a big enough deal when he had some fingers removed. This week they make no mention of his missing arm. My wife watched the entire episode with me; afterward, I asked her what she thought of the missing arm, and she had no idea. I had to go back and show her I wasn’t joking. It makes me curious to know if others noticed he was missing an arm. I bet my wife wasn’t the only one not to see the missing appendage.
I enjoyed the not-so-subtle contrast between Viserys’ wife and Daemon’s wife and the birth/death scenes. It shows me that Viserys is a villain, and Daemon has a heart, regardless of what others see. Daemon would not sacrifice his wife for the dream of having a male heir.
Closing thoughts on The Princess and the Queen
So many interesting characters that get killed off almost immediately. That is the actual downside to House of the Dragon. I know they will age up the children before the end of the season, which will upset me all over again. The Princess and the Queen was my least enjoyed episode so far. I’m not abandoning ship; the thought hasn’t even crossed my mind.
I’m still enjoying the show; I wish it would have trusted itself enough to take its time. The first season of House of the Dragon could have easily focused on the younger versions of Rhaenyra and Alicent. Give me more about their relationship, and show how close they started in life. Once we love both of them, show us the experience of the fallout between the two. Instead, we’re speedrunning the story by aging up everyone and introducing characters with significant impacts on the story who are killed off in a single episode.
