We Light the Way

The first season of House of the Dragon is now half over with last night's "We Light the Way." And it reached that halfway point with much stronger moves toward the larger conflict I think we've all been sensing ahead.

A marriage is arranged between Princess Rhaenyra and Laenor Velaryon... though both have separate romantic interests of their own apart from their duty to the realm. Queen Alicent continues to investigate the rumors that led to her father's dismissal from the King's service. And King Viserys' health continues to decline, even as he works to secure his royal legacy.

This week's episode of House of the Dragon was arguably the most "action-packed" yet, with some of the biggest plot developments that felt like a narrative dam breaking. But at the same time, it was another mostly talk-heavy episode of the show. There were hardly any action "action scenes," and certainly nothing to the scale of the battle depicted two weeks ago.

So depending on your perspective, you could say that not a lot "happened" in this episode until its final 15-20 minutes. That was certainly the tense focus of the episode, a scene absolutely constructed to trade on audience knowledge of the Red Wedding from Game of Thrones. You could sense that nothing that bad was going to happen, but it certainly felt like something bad was going to happen, and there was almost a slow-motion quality to it all as events unfolded.

On the other hand, so many plot developments actually did happen throughout the episode that you could easily forget, for example, that it opened with Daemon murdering his own wife -- an almost afterthought (forethought?) on the episode's full agenda. Not only were there big narrative moves on the docket, we're still getting substantial new sets. The trip to Driftmarch gave us a lot of beautiful new scenery, from the spacious throne room to the beach perfect for plotting.

While the showiest moments were indeed near the end (Ser Criston's brutal murder of Joffrey Lonmouth, and subsequent move toward suicide), I was perhaps more entertained by the more subtle maneuvering in the middle of the episode. This new "game of thrones" seems to have its own Littlefinger now, in the form of weaselly Larys Strong. His manipulation of Queen Alicent was brutally effective, yet seemingly leaves no evidence that will reflect badly on him. Ser Criston's misunderstanding of Alicent's accusation would be a contrivance fit for a sitcom, were it not instead the dramatic, tragic flaw of guilt that would soon prove the knight's undoing.

Yes, it's still a far more sedate show than Game of Thrones (at least, once the original really got going). A few friends have told me things ranging from "I'm still watching even though I'm not loving it yet" to "I quit after two episodes; should I start again?" (Respectively: I understand, and probably not?) But I feel like my own personal realignment of expectations for the show has helped me enjoy recent episodes more.

I will say, if things don't pick up substantially by the end of the season, then the long break between seasons one and two might actually be the thing to make me give it up. My enthusiasm level right now doesn't feel like it could withstand a 12-18 month hiatus. On the other hand, we are just halfway through the season, and surely the narrative pace will accelerate along the back half. But for now? I give "We Light the Way" a B.