House of the Dragon season three wraps things up in fiery fashion, much as it opened. Quite a lot happened, and overall, this episode, much like its season, is a noticeable improvement over its sophomore season. But the show, and the finale, are still bogged down by persistent problems that keep it from being legendary.

One of the things House of the Dragon has been doing quite well, relative to Game of Thrones, is showcasing the slow descent into tyranny and madness for Rhaenyra. She fully commits to the dark side by having the Westerosi equivalent of the pope this week after his refusal to anoint her, on top of further isolating and angering her allies. Dany flipped on a switch, and her killing spree never felt earned, despite the show hinting over the years that she’s capable of great violence. Rhaenyra, at least, struggles with court and allies, and we see her alone at the top and blissfully unaware of the resentment around her. Mysaria gets expelled from court, but escapes her escort to flee into the city and hears Rhaenyra’s confounding speech. I mentioned I think Aegon could fill the role of the Sherpard next season, but now that Myseria is loose in the city, she could very well fill that role too. Groan. I really don’t like Mysaria.

As mentioned, she confuses her subjects by revealing the prophecy of Ice and Fire, which is odd, as no one during the time of Game of Thrones even knows what that is. You think something recorded by a monarch, with a Maester present, would’ve been recorded and part of the common knowledge. But between that and the assassination of the Septon, she’s not winning any of the small folk over. With Aegon now being “resurrected” openly and the population questioning who should really be their leader, things are not looking good for her.

The tail end of the episode was largely reserved for the big battle of this season, the battle of Tumbleton, and from a technical side of things, it was pretty impressive. Unlike the Gullet, which felt very CG heavy due to the battle taking place on open sea, this one felt a lot more tangible and organic thanks to shooting on location, with the CG being used to enhance. Everything was well staged, eventful, and entertaining. A personal highlight was Tommy Flanagan as Roderick Dustin, basically a grumpy old Stark with the mentality of a Spartan soldier (we only get to die after we win!) That said, there was a line he got to say that felt more Monty Python than Westeros, when the Winter Wolves got into Tumbleton and opened the gates, which led them to the realization that they’re still alive (groans of frustration). But Ormund finally met his end, and Daemon had a pretty fantastic one-on-one duel with Roxton. But the show is a technical marvel, with huge props to the costume department in particular, but also the set and production departments.

Helaena also finally meets her end, rather unceremoniously, by suicide. I was surprised at how little I felt about this event, despite knowing it was coming, and how quickly the show dealt with it. It felt more like a footnote. As a note, this was one of the things I mentioned was heavily foreshadowed a few weeks ago, when Helaena lamented wanting to see the city, and Alicent told her that the “window will have to do” instead. I wish the show did more with Helaena, though, as she was quite popular with the small folk, and her death in the books causes great distress among the people and only throws more shade onto Rhaenyra. But we never really got to see that happen in the show.

Of course, a lot has changed compared to the book in both this episode and this season, and sometimes it’s hard to separate the two mediums. But as a quick note, there’s only one betrayer at Tumbleton (Ulf) instead of two; Aegon and Aemond never reconcile (they are never against one another in the book and are largely separated by duty rather than spite; and Alys Rivers’ backstory is just some of the deviations or modifications to this season. Some of them work, such as adding a lot of backstory and plot for Gwayne and Ormund, who are highlights this season, and some of them less so, or whose implications have yet to present themselves (such as one betrayer).

Now, season three as a whole was admittedly much better than season two. The first three episodes helped carry a lot of that claim, with episode three in particular being one of the best of the whole run so far. But the show is also bizarrely paced. Considering episodes 1 and 2 of this season were actually episodes 9 and 10 of season two, that technically makes this season 6 episodes if you look at it that way. And a lot of those episodes were focused on building up Tumbleton. So let’s put this into context. Most of this season was setting up one event, but we still have presumably eight more episodes to go in the fourth and final season, and trust me when I say, we have a lot of ground yet to cover. Click the line at the bottom of the article for a very spoilery list of events to come in season 4.

So while season three was definitely better than two, it was still a show that felt like it was rushing, but at the same time, dragging. It has a very big cast, but often doesn’t seem to know how to give everyone enough screentime to flesh out the narrative. The show is also dour and bleak, something Game of Thrones remedied with surprising humour to balance things out nicely (Bronn, Tyrion, looking at you). The show also still doesn’t seem to know what to do with Alicent really, who continues to just react to events and comply with the whim of Rhaenyra, including agreeing to assassinate her own son, something she believes she was successful at. I really thought they would’ve course-corrected Alicent after Otto was beheaded, but nope.

So, now we have two years to wait for the conclusion of this story. But thankfully, we’ll get at least one, if not two, more seasons of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms until then! So, we’re not totally in Westerosi blackout now. What did you think of season three? Let us know!

Very Spoilery List

The Second Battle of Tumbleton, The Battle over the Gods Eye, Hugh/Ult betrayer resolution, Sunfyre/Moondancer/Dragonstone, Storming of the Dragonpit, Rhaenyra’s death, Moon of the Three Kings, Battle on the Kingsroad, and finally, Aegon’s death. Oh, and maybe, but probably not, the Hour of the Wolf. Soooooo.