[0:00] You've gone full Shaun Bean, man. Sorry,
[0:02] you're not coming back.
[0:03] >> Never go full Shaun Bean. I mean,
[0:04] especially in Westeros.
[0:08] >> The new season's opener finally brings
[0:10] us the action we've been waiting for
[0:12] with a naval clash for the ages. High
[0:15] stakes, high seas, high treason. This
[0:18] season's opener has everything. This is
[0:22] the Battle of the Gullet, and it is
[0:24] every bit as spectacular as we could
[0:26] have hoped. all pirate battles and
[0:28] flaming missiles and hand-to-hand
[0:30] combat. It's surrounded by the sort of
[0:33] scheming seduction confession and
[0:35] devastation that makes for good
[0:37] character drama, too. If the rest of the
[0:39] season is anything like this, this Game
[0:42] of Thrones spin-off might finally have a
[0:44] way to outfight its predecessor.
[0:54] We'll come back to the character stuff.
[0:57] The centerpiece of this episode is a
[0:59] hugely exciting air and navy clash
[1:01] between Lord Corus Valyrian's fleet and
[1:04] the Troshi fleet led by Shurako Lohar.
[1:07] For Lahar, it's a grudge match. For
[1:09] Corus, it's only part of his blockade of
[1:12] King's Landing on behalf of Rea and her
[1:14] blacks in the civil war called the dance
[1:16] of dragons against her cousins, the
[1:19] Greens. Lowhar is determined to hit the
[1:21] sea snake where it hurts, sending half
[1:23] her fleet to burn his home. Lord Corus'
[1:26] castle.
[1:28] >> We will require the full strength of
[1:30] your fleet if we avenge.
[1:31] >> My tie is a monument to the sea snake
[1:33] himself.
[1:36] >> Do you think his focus will hold when he
[1:38] sees his treasure room of flame?
[1:40] >> She's right. It's another devastating
[1:42] blow to a man who has already lost a
[1:44] wife and two children. Happily, he's
[1:46] also a badass. He lures Lohar away from
[1:49] the fleet, sinks two of her companion
[1:51] sheets thanks to some fancy pants
[1:53] sailing through a narrow channel, and
[1:54] then fights hand-to- hand against the
[1:56] ferocious Troshi captain. Abigail Thorne
[1:59] is great as Lowhar here, absolutely
[2:02] convincing as a leader of men and a
[2:03] serious threat to Corass. She's already
[2:06] come close to taking down a dragon
[2:08] before getting to this personal
[2:09] vendetta. Given that Corass begins the
[2:11] episode having a moving heart-to-heart
[2:13] with his formidable, illegitimate son
[2:15] Allen, and that he earns Allen's respect
[2:17] as a sailor and a captain during the
[2:19] battle, you have to wonder if he'll
[2:21] survive this fight. He's missing at the
[2:23] end of the episode. If this is how he
[2:25] goes out, fair play. It's an
[2:27] exceptionally wellshot, almost entirely
[2:30] practical battle. The ship tanks and
[2:32] sets were so massive at Leaveson Studios
[2:34] that they overshadowed the new Harry
[2:35] Potter's Private Drive. The battle in
[2:37] the air, however, goes less well. Yes,
[2:40] Prince Jiharis and Bala ride into the
[2:43] fight and decimate the Troshi fleet.
[2:45] Jace's dragon Vermax is almost taken
[2:47] down by Lowhar early on, and then Raina
[2:50] joins the battle to devastating effect.
[2:53] In this episode, we see that she's
[2:54] finally wooed a dragon of her own, but
[2:56] in one of those rabbit foot scenarios,
[2:59] her half feral beast refuses to obey her
[3:01] and attacks friends and foe alike in the
[3:03] heat of the moment. Her attempts to help
[3:05] contribute to the battle's biggest loss
[3:08] as Vermax is harpooned in the chest and
[3:10] drags Jace into the drink with him. It
[3:13] is a devastating finale.
[3:21] On the bright side, at least it saves
[3:23] Rea from having to confront her son's
[3:25] high treason. The reason she's not there
[3:28] on her own dragon is because he locked
[3:29] her in her room for her own protection.
[3:32] She's been on a high this episode,
[3:34] convinced by Allison's offer to
[3:36] surrender King's Landing and confident
[3:38] in her new dragon riders who are waiting
[3:40] grumpily near Harrenhal to ambush awful
[3:42] Aemon and his massive dragon Vagar. So
[3:45] oversized. What is he compensating for?
[3:47] Of course, this follows two seasons of
[3:49] dithering on Rea's part, so you can
[3:51] understand why her team aren't so
[3:53] convinced. It's a bit late for her to
[3:54] start quoting Elizabeth the First now.
[3:57] Rea's line,
[3:58] >> "I may appear to have the weak and
[3:59] feeble body of a woman, but I possess
[4:01] the heart and spirit of a king," is a
[4:04] historical lift from a speech that also
[4:06] preceded a major naval encounter.
[4:08] Anyway, she sends her husband, Damon,
[4:10] who's just destroyed a green aligned
[4:11] Lannister army at Redfork with the help
[4:13] of the Riverlords. And enjoying the
[4:15] blood splattered look, the late arriving
[4:18] Starks bring Damon ahead of Lord Jason
[4:20] Lannister while his fully armored twin,
[4:22] Thailand, tries to keep control of his
[4:24] Tyroi allies on the Gullet. So much for
[4:26] one green army, but the spoiled and
[4:29] rather prissy Orund High Tower has
[4:31] another on the way, including the Dragon
[4:33] Tarion. Oh, and Sir Christristen Cole is
[4:36] out there with his forces alongside Sir
[4:38] Gane High Tower, who's increasingly
[4:40] horrified by Cole's nihilism and his
[4:42] lack of control of his thuggish men.
[4:44] That is a lot of potential fighting men
[4:47] still on the board. Then there are the
[4:49] main members of the Green Royal family.
[4:51] Allison is horrified on her return to
[4:53] King's Landing to find Aegon missing and
[4:55] Amond all too present when she had
[4:58] promised Renea precisely the opposite.
[5:00] Aegon's run for it is interrupted by
[5:02] Rea's troops and Lord Laris' scheming
[5:05] unbeknownst to his mother, but it takes
[5:07] all of Allison's considerable powers of
[5:09] persuasion and a hint of something
[5:11] closer to seduction on Aean's part, ew,
[5:14] to send her son off to Harrenhal and
[5:16] clear the way for the deal she has made.
[5:18] As for that kiss he gives her, we needed
[5:21] something to really turn the stomach
[5:22] this episode, right? In summary, we've
[5:25] got dragons in action, ships burning and
[5:28] sinking and firing, armies clashing,
[5:30] Laris and Aemon and Aegon and Cole being
[5:32] awful, and Allan and Corus and Damon
[5:35] being badass. If the show were always
[5:38] like this, it wouldn't just match Game
[5:40] of Thrones. It would outshine all but a
[5:42] handful of episodes. Two years ago,
[5:44] rounding up season two, I speculated
[5:46] that showrunner Ryan Condell had held
[5:48] back on the action last season to build
[5:50] a war chest for this time. I thought I
[5:53] was joking, but this episode makes me
[5:55] wonder if this signals the path for
[5:58] season 3. It is going to be a feast.
[6:01] >> You'll all join me as I sit the
[6:02] Driftwood throne and dine on the sea
[6:05] snakes.
[6:11] Last season was talky to a fault, but
[6:14] this feels like the show we hoped to see
[6:16] all along. Thrillingly dramatic,
[6:18] action-packed, and full of Targaryians
[6:20] causing chaos in Westeros. Dragons fill
[6:23] the skies and ships fill the seas, and
[6:25] every one of them aims to cause maximum
[6:27] destruction to the other side. That's
[6:30] obviously very sad for the people
[6:31] involved. Sorry that happened or
[6:33] whatever, but it's bloody great as a
[6:35] viewer. Score 10 out of 10. Pirates,
[6:39] dragons ships fire betrayal chaos
[6:41] death, and destruction. It's honestly
[6:44] hard to imagine what more you could ask
[6:45] of a season opener.
[6:52] >> Hey everybody, that is IGN's review of
[6:54] House of the Dragons season 3 premiere.
[6:56] And joining me to talk about the 10 she
[6:59] just gave it, Helen O'Hara. How's it
[7:01] going Helen?
[7:02] >> I'm good. How are you?
[7:03] >> I'm good. I'm good. First of all, thank
[7:05] you for taking on House of the Dragon
[7:08] for us. This show is is is a real one,
[7:12] right? Like it's it's a rangy show that
[7:14] sort of requires, you know, knowing some
[7:16] of Game of Thrones, some of the books,
[7:17] but also it stands on its own pretty
[7:19] well. So, before we get too into the
[7:21] weeds with this episode and your review
[7:22] of it, um I guess to to just bluntly ask
[7:26] it, what kind of Game of Thrones fan are
[7:28] you?
[7:29] >> I'm uh I'm a an old school Game of
[7:32] Thrones fan, I guess. I think I read the
[7:34] first book in not quite very first
[7:36] publication. It was probably like 2003 I
[7:39] think but pretty early. Um certainly
[7:42] before the show. So I was there very
[7:44] excited when the show was being made.
[7:46] And I think like everyone else I thought
[7:47] the last two seasons were less good. But
[7:50] I I do feel like there is I this is my
[7:54] grand unified theory of Game of Thrones.
[7:56] Do you want to hear it?
[7:56] >> Yes, please.
[7:57] >> Okay. So, I think as soon as you start
[8:00] trying to bring that show to an ending,
[8:01] it stopped feeling like Game of Thrones.
[8:03] And I think even if they'd had more time
[8:05] to develop some of the stuff that they
[8:07] were trying to do, I don't know that
[8:09] they could have dealt with that because
[8:10] I think the whole show was about
[8:12] somebody making a plan and then
[8:14] something they didn't foresee would turn
[8:16] up and knock their plans for a loop. But
[8:18] you have to stop doing that if you're
[8:19] trying to get to a conclusion. And as
[8:21] soon as you stop doing that, it stops
[8:23] feeling like Game of Thrones. So, I
[8:25] think they were always going to have
[8:28] trouble. And I wonder I I have other
[8:30] issues with House of the Dragon, but I
[8:32] wonder if the fact that because this is
[8:34] a history because they can kind of
[8:35] choose their end point, maybe they can
[8:38] work around some of those issues. Maybe
[8:41] >> it puts me in mind of was it
[8:42] Littlefinger's quote from there is only
[8:44] the climb like the the idea that that
[8:47] you know it's it's just this non-stop
[8:49] thing and then to the idea of making
[8:52] that stop is sort of counter to what the
[8:54] whole show is about.
[8:55] >> There is a possibility that you know
[8:57] through several years of essentially
[8:59] low-grade civil war in the Game of
[9:01] Thrones timeline maybe everybody's
[9:03] exhausted and you do get one of those
[9:05] periods of relative peace for Bran's you
[9:07] know uh time as king. I don't know. But
[9:10] I think it's interesting seeing House of
[9:13] the Dragon because here we have had that
[9:15] peaceful period. We have had a king who
[9:17] was I mean he was a bit of a you know
[9:20] Egypt but but people liked him. He
[9:22] didn't do anything too terrible.
[9:23] Everybody kind of got on with their
[9:25] lives.
[9:25] >> Life expectancy started to creep up a
[9:27] little bit.
[9:28] >> Maybe too high for Westeros. So now
[9:30] we're bringing it down again. Yeah. One
[9:32] of the lines from your review I enjoyed
[9:34] hearing you say was, you know, if this
[9:36] was the whole series, if the whole
[9:38] series was as good as this episode, it
[9:41] would have outshined all but just a few
[9:43] episodes of Game of Thrones. So, I guess
[9:45] the first question is what do we think
[9:47] has been holding the show back from
[9:49] being this all the time?
[9:51] >> First of all, the fact that they are
[9:53] going from a history book, right? And
[9:55] it's the history of Westeros. book, if
[9:57] if anybody out there hasn't read it, uh
[9:59] the book that this one's based on or or
[10:00] it's based on part of the book is
[10:02] essentially a kind of faux historical
[10:05] chronicle of what's been happening for
[10:07] the several hundred years before Game of
[10:09] Thrones starts. Um from Aegon's conquest
[10:12] right up to it will, you know, he hasn't
[10:14] actually written the second volume yet
[10:15] because he's George RR Martin, but you
[10:18] know, um but the idea is that he's got a
[10:20] whole history of Westeros mapped out and
[10:22] that this is just part of that history.
[10:24] Um, and that does mean that they're not
[10:26] very free to completely deviate from
[10:29] cannon. There there have been things
[10:30] that they have changed for the show.
[10:32] They're not being slavish to the book.
[10:34] Um, there have been, as well as sort of
[10:37] adding things in that simply aren't
[10:38] discussed in the book, they're also, you
[10:40] know, finding ways to maybe change a
[10:42] certain things, to maybe combine
[10:45] characters to make it a little bit,
[10:46] believe it or not, the there are fewer
[10:48] characters than there could be in this
[10:50] show. It seems impossible.
[10:51] >> I believe it. But they, you know, they
[10:54] are changing a few things, but generally
[10:55] speaking, the sort of broad outline of
[10:57] the book they are kind of tied to
[10:58] because that is the story of Westeros.
[11:00] And because of things like A Night of
[11:02] the Seven Kingdoms and other spin-offs
[11:04] that they're discussing, they can't
[11:05] hugely deviate from what's supposed to
[11:08] kind of happen. So, um, so that's kind
[11:11] of an interesting thing here, but I
[11:14] think that the the sort of slowdown of
[11:16] season two, and it was slower. I think
[11:19] season one was a bit faster. It had some
[11:21] time jumps that that people struggled
[11:23] with, including myself. But uh but
[11:25] season two had stopped with the time
[11:27] jumps and still struggled with just
[11:29] telling this much story and and moving
[11:32] all of these pieces into the right
[11:33] place. And I'm hoping now that we can
[11:36] just get to the good stuff. I hope
[11:38] >> it's an interesting dilemma for for the
[11:40] show because so much of like you say the
[11:43] broadstrokes of this history are so
[11:45] dialed in in in the canon and and in the
[11:48] text but like within that you know you
[11:51] can you know who's who dies on which day
[11:54] and in which way and how emotionally
[11:56] resonant is that for the show like
[11:58] there's there's actually oddly a lot of
[11:59] freedom there um in some ways because I
[12:02] mean the history a history is so dry
[12:04] sort of by its nature that that you can
[12:06] kind of get away with a lot of that
[12:08] stuff.
[12:08] >> Exactly. And we're seeing that they're
[12:10] making some characters more sympathetic
[12:11] or less sympathetic as they go. And
[12:14] that's I hope that will pay off
[12:16] dramatically. I'm I'm slightly worried
[12:18] and I wrote a piece that people if
[12:19] they're not worried about spoilers,
[12:20] people can go back and read the piece I
[12:21] wrote at the end of season 2. But I do
[12:23] worry that some of that some of making
[12:26] certain people more sympathetic or less
[12:28] sympathetic will mitigate at the end.
[12:30] Again, that will be a problem for the
[12:32] history that they are kind of tied into.
[12:35] And I hope they have a way through that.
[12:36] I I they seem smart, you know. I'm
[12:38] hoping that they've got something
[12:39] figured out.
[12:40] >> Is there some degree of excitement
[12:42] around this particular episode uh that
[12:45] is sort of more typically reserved for a
[12:47] finale rather than a premiere?
[12:49] >> I'd love to know why this is the
[12:50] premiere and not the finale of last
[12:52] season, you know. Um I think last season
[12:54] was eight episodes, not the 10 episodes
[12:56] of season 1. So, you know, maybe we
[12:59] could have had nine and done this last
[13:01] time. I think that would have sent
[13:02] everybody away on a very very high kind
[13:04] of a a feeling. It's also just like I
[13:08] think physically the the amount of time
[13:10] and preparation physical set building
[13:12] that they put into this was I think off
[13:14] the chart. This this one episode took
[13:17] months and months of planning. So I
[13:20] guess that might have been a reason for
[13:21] it.
[13:21] >> And obviously you know talking about
[13:23] things that have to be immediately dealt
[13:25] with. Uh, this episode obviously
[13:27] features a pretty major death. Um, which
[13:29] is almost a requirement for a Game of
[13:32] Thrones show.
[13:34] >> Yeah.
[13:34] >> How does this one fair in terms of its
[13:36] placement right here in the premiere
[13:37] episode? Because sometimes these big
[13:38] deaths can can feel a little gratuitous,
[13:41] you know, and I think I think part of
[13:42] that is like the the sputtering out of
[13:45] the last two seasons of of Game of
[13:47] Thrones, you know, like it got to be a
[13:50] little bit like come on guys. Um, and so
[13:53] there is a certain amount, this is maybe
[13:55] just me, there's a certain amount of eye
[13:56] rolling that comes with with these big
[13:58] deaths in in Game of Thrones, but but
[14:00] how did this one land for you?
[14:02] >> I was really struck the second time I
[14:03] watched it by just the timing of the
[14:05] death. So, you know, yes, his dragon is
[14:08] taken down and you're sitting there
[14:09] thinking, "Oh my goodness, that's awful.
[14:11] He's lost his dragon." But, you know, he
[14:13] he manages to get the the clasp of his
[14:16] harness loose and he swims for the
[14:18] surface and you're like, "Okay, things
[14:19] are still bad, but he's got to the
[14:21] surface. He's not drowning. He must be
[14:22] very upset. Poor boy." And then boom,
[14:25] hit by an arrow. And then, just in case
[14:27] you were wondering, boom, boom, hit by
[14:29] two more arrows. Full Boramir style. I
[14:31] mean, they're not leaving anything to
[14:32] chance.
[14:33] >> You've gone full Shaun Bean, man. Sorry.
[14:35] You're not coming back.
[14:36] >> Never go full Shaun Bean. I mean,
[14:38] especially in Westeros. So, uh, so yeah,
[14:41] I I thought it was I thought it was
[14:43] really well well laid out, well played
[14:45] as a piece of drama. Um, per Jace
[14:48] though, I mean, he kind of never really
[14:50] got going.
[14:50] >> As impactful deaths go, this was maybe
[14:54] maybe a mid-tier.
[14:55] >> It wasn't the Red Wedding. Um, but but
[14:58] it did hit, I think, like it needed to.
[15:00] I think the the problem is that there
[15:01] are not that many characters yet in this
[15:04] show who would have that impact. I don't
[15:06] know if we've glombmed on to some of
[15:09] them in the same way because I think you
[15:10] do have a there is a difference
[15:12] fundamentally between the Targaryenss
[15:14] and the Starks. The Starks were
[15:16] immediately a likable loving semi-normal
[15:20] family. I mean, okay, yes, the first
[15:23] episode has their dad teaching them how
[15:24] to execute a guy, but he but he's
[15:27] talking about recognizable and moral
[15:30] code that we we somewhat respect. We may
[15:32] not understand it completely, but we
[15:33] kind of were with it. this royal family
[15:36] come from a completely different world
[15:39] and they are far more bizarre to us than
[15:43] I think the Starks were in episode one.
[15:45] >> Do you think this is the season where we
[15:46] finally start to care about some of
[15:48] these characters in in a sense that
[15:50] their deaths would would move us more
[15:52] than poor Jesus?
[15:53] >> There are certainly some characters here
[15:55] who I really care about in this episode.
[15:57] I'm really worried for Corass. Like he's
[16:00] just had a heartto-heart with his son.
[16:02] he might as well have shown him a
[16:04] picture of his sweetheart back home. Do
[16:05] you know what I mean?
[16:06] >> Yeah, it's the it's the dangerous thing
[16:08] to do.
[16:09] >> Yeah, it's a very dangerous thing to do
[16:10] right before a battle. So, that seemed
[16:12] like a really worrying thing to set up.
[16:14] And I do care about Corass and not just
[16:16] because I keep wanging on about how
[16:18] great his wig is. I just think he's he's
[16:20] an awesome character. Um I think there
[16:22] are people here who have, you know, who
[16:25] are clearly acting from a good place. I
[16:27] think Allison, for all her ambition and
[16:30] all of her manipulation, loves her kids
[16:33] and is trying to do her best to, you
[16:36] know, rescue at least some of her
[16:38] family. And she's quite cleareyed about
[16:40] the fact that some of her family are
[16:42] psychos. Um, and she is willing to
[16:44] sacrifice those ones if it will mean
[16:45] that she can, you know, hold on to the
[16:47] rest. I I think that's a really a really
[16:50] interesting place to be coming from and
[16:52] that's a character that you can sort of
[16:53] get behind a little bit more at this
[16:55] point. Maybe not in earlier seasons, but
[16:58] this Allison, I think, is someone who we
[17:00] can maybe recognize a little bit more.
[17:03] And then I think Rene almost to a fault
[17:05] is is acting from often quite a good
[17:08] place, but she also has her moments of
[17:11] arrogance and temper and intrigence and
[17:15] everything else. So, it's an she's an
[17:18] interesting one. I'm not sure how how
[17:20] things are going to go for her.
[17:21] >> Helen, again, thank you so much for
[17:23] tackling House of the Dragons season 3
[17:25] for us. Uh really enjoyed this review.
[17:27] Looking forward to to reading the rest
[17:28] of the reviews this season.
[17:29] >> I think it's shaping up to be a good
[17:30] one.
[17:31] >> And thank you for watching this review.
[17:32] Let us know what you think of it in the
[17:34] comments. And for more TV reviews,
[17:36] Dragon related and otherwise, you're
[17:37] already here. Be sure to subscribe to
[17:39] IGN wherever you like to watch.