Driftmark

I felt like the latest episode of House of the Dragon was the best so far -- a solid blend of fulfilling some expectations while thwarting others. But it still probably wasn't quite at the level where I'd start suggesting that people who have given up on the show come back to give it another chance.

A funeral reunites the royal family that just recently went their separate ways, and sparks fly. The children of the princess and the queen are increasingly at each other's throats. Rhaenyra is increasingly drawn to her uncle Daemon. King Viserys is increasingly made to look a weakening fool. And the tension can't increase much more before something snaps.

I suppose I should either go read the Fire and Blood history book on which all this is based, or get out of the House of the Dragon prediction business. Last week, I was disappointed that so much time was spent on the squabbling children only to separate them at the end of the hour. This week, all that squabbling paid off, having setup the major confrontation this week that sees Aemond lose an eye. If anything, perhaps more time could have been spent on souring relationships last week, as the one moment I couldn't quite get on board with this week was Alicent's sudden demand for a literal eye for an eye. (It felt like an escalation that, given her reaction to Larys' butchery last week, she isn't quite ready to spearhead.)

Another shocking development was the marriage of Rhaenyra and Daemon at the end of the episode. Shocking, in it being one of the most direct depictions of incest in the GRRM-iverse since season 1, episode 1 of Game of Thrones... but certainly not surprising, when you remember (though you easily could forget) that Daenerys was ultimately revealed to be Jon Snow's aunt. This is just how Targaryens roll.

Perhaps the long game of so many episodes of seemingly aimless Daemon scenes now begins to reveal itself? Daemon has a history of dead wives; is Rhaenyra now in danger? (Ah, but I said I needed to get out of the prediction business.) In any case, it is satisfying to begin to see disconnected tendrils finally start to entwine with one another as the last few episodes of the season come.

But one huge distraction in the episode is the one the internet has widely seized upon. Just as in the final season of Game of Thrones, the creatives behind the show deliberately served up an episode "you can't see." Things were definitely too dark throughout the middle act of the episode, with many important scenes taking place at night on the beach. For the record, no television show will ever be as "too dark" as episode 6 of Apple TV+'s Invasion. Still, the purportedly intentional creative decision made here was the wrong one. The encounters between Daemon and Rhaenyra, and Aemond and Vhagar, were the emotional highlights of the episode, and they were so mired in darkness that you couldn't tell what was going on. (Which kid with white hair is that? What is he looking at down on the beach? And people, I've calibrated my television well. I'm not one of those people who can't tell the difference when Motion Smoothing is on.)

Absent that issue that forcibly kicks the audience out of the most critical parts of the episode, I'd have said House of the Dragon had probably served up its first A/A- episode. As it stands, I'll call "Driftmark" a B+. Some television directors and editors need to consider more how this stuff will play outside of their pitch black editing rooms.