‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Episode 3 Review - Meeting in Secret

The third episode of House of the Dragon Season 2 opens with the depiction of fanboys taking things to violent extremes. A fight breaks out between Rhaenyra and Aegon devotees, and the result is an image of blood-soaked dead bodies. This is the kind of scene you imagine when you see fanboys defending their favorite star or movies online. But apart from those young fools, one other thing dies during the runtime of Episode 3: Your interest in the events on the screen. I am not asking for non-stop shocks and action. The characters spend so much time planning and plotting strategies. And dialogues - if filmed with imagination and vigor - can be exhilarating. That's what's missing in Episode 3. When you hear the characters talking, you feel as if you are taking notes for revision for the future or the next week. Keeping up with the characters' tactics feels like a chore that one must complete to enjoy upcoming episodes.

Directed by Geeta Vasant Patel, the third episode converts dramatic beats into mere footnotes. There are strong moments here, but they look lifeless. Patel reduces them to their one-line description: Ser Gwayne meets Ser Criston, Daemon sees a vision, and some men run away from a dragon. These scenes should have been lively, nightmarish, and tense instead of appearing so mechanical. Aemond's vulnerability, when Aegon catches him at a bar, makes him look fragile and soft. His subsequent action carries traces of heartbreak and a forced display of strength, but the way the scene is executed, nothing registers. The moment comes and goes like a blip on the radar. Ser Gwayne's transformation from a cocky guy to a scared child occurs so quickly that you are left underwhelmed as well as disoriented. The character is simply reduced to a joke.

Another disappointing thing about the third episode is its final moments. You would think that during such circumstances, when war is looming, and everybody is alert, the security arrangements would have also been tightened up. Yet, a character easily manages to get inside the King's Landing and holds a secret meeting with someone important. Her operation comes across as a child's play - we don't feel nervous. House of the Dragon explains this easiness with laziness through a line about people not paying attention to anyone not wearing a royal dress. Episode 3 is so tantalized by the script's words that it lets them do the heavy lifting without adding vigor to them. It's feeble.

Final Score- [5/10]