HBO’s House of the Dragon Season 3 continues to be a mess, and Episode 3 is easily the worst of the season so far.
Absolutely nothing happens. This episode did not need to air, let alone exist. At this point, all three episodes of the season could have been tightened, better edited, and probably merged into two stronger episodes.
Instead, Episode 3 keeps wasting its characters, especially Rhaenyra, who still has no clue what she is doing as Queen and keeps getting disrespected by nearly everyone around her.
I found myself saying out loud multiple times in reaction to how others treated her: “Dracarys!”
Rhaenyra Still Looks Weak
Instead of showing why Rhaenyra should be feared, respected, or even followed, it’s an episode that has her announce out loud that she is having her period. Why do we need to know that? I echoed her own reaction: F-ck! Fans are debating the period scene and erupting with reactions.
Then she sits on the throne, looking like she is having hot flashes. Is that why she cannot govern properly? Is that supposed to explain why she keeps letting everyone walk all over her?
Because apparently Rhaenyra does not know how to handle anything, she goes to Alicent, her former best friend, the woman who married her father, the woman whose own father Rhaenyra just had killed, and the woman whose son Rhaenyra is supposed to kill, looking for advice and sympathy.
It is ridiculous.
No Action, No Great Dialogue, No Character Development
There is absolutely no action in this episode. The budget cuts are obvious, and the show feels smaller and cheaper because of it. I cannot wait for David Ellison and Paramount to take over.
Now, not having action is not automatically a problem. Game of Thrones was built on great dialogue, sharp political maneuvering, and strong character development. Some of its best episodes were people sitting in rooms talking.
But House of the Dragon does not have that here.
Instead, Episode 3 gives us a bunch of batshit insane women who have no business being anywhere near anything.
They fail badly compared to Lena Headey’s Cersei, Gwendoline Christie’s Brienne, Dame Diana Rigg’s Lady Olenna Tyrell, and even Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen, who suffered from the same kind of crappy writing now dragging down Emma D’Arcy.
The Episode Takes Forever To Get Anywhere
The episode really should have skipped over most of the peasantry and gone straight to the meat of things.
The rat dinner was decent, but we did not need all that build-up to get there. The talk between Rhaenyra and Daemon was good, but once again Matt Smith is stuck doing a whole lot of nothing. The Lord Corlys drama was questionable, and once again, Rhaenyra is made to look less than worthy.
The best part of the episode was the Hightower scene at the start, but of course, since the show clearly does not have the budget to deliver anything major, nothing really happened there either.
However, I was mind-blown by Rhaenyra’s reaction when she learned she had been bamboozled.
They should set the entire show on fire: “Dracarys!”
Verdict
House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 3 is filler dressed up as prestige television. It has no action, no real momentum, weak character work, and more scenes of Rhaenyra looking lost when the show should be making her look dangerous.
The episode is slow, cheap-looking, and mostly pointless. For a series built around dragons, war, revenge, and a collapsing dynasty, this was shockingly dull.
Episode rating: 2/10.
