[0:06] Oh man, his beach road is going to save
[0:09] his ass.
[0:12] Oh, nice. That is awesome. Get yourself
[0:15] a wife whose dragon will save your
[0:17] dragon like this.
[0:19] >> What do you weigh in that armor?
[0:24] >> Oh, she promised him she would do that.
[0:27] >> Oh, all the Lannisters are going down.
[0:31] >> The Rains of Castamere.
[0:33] >> No, no, no.
[0:34] Wrong ships, wrong ships.
[0:36] >> Oh, damn.
[0:38] >> [laughter]
[0:39] >> [ __ ]
[0:43] It's the Sheep Stealer's fault. Oh, it
[0:45] got him in the lung. Oh, no, no, no.
[0:48] >> Jace.
[0:49] >> Oh, she knows what she did.
[0:55] Oh, it's so sad.
[1:02] What a great episode. Holy [ __ ]
[1:07] Woo, I'm Eric Voss of the New Rockstars
[1:09] channel and this is a reaction to House
[1:11] of the Dragon the season 3 premiere. In
[1:13] this video, I'm just going to give my
[1:14] quick snapshot and review of this
[1:16] episode and an explanation of how the
[1:17] Battle of the Gullet plays out
[1:18] differently in this show than it did in
[1:20] George R.R. Martin's text. Tomorrow on
[1:22] this channel will be our in-depth
[1:23] scene-by-scene breakdown and analysis of
[1:25] this episode. Any spoilers in the book
[1:27] as to the future of these characters
[1:29] will be in the spoiler dungeon, so don't
[1:30] worry. And if you haven't seen the
[1:32] episode, why did you watch this?
[1:33] Spoilers for this episode to follow.
[1:35] Please stop watching if you haven't seen
[1:37] the episode yet on HBO. Okay, let's
[1:38] recap this episode. In the season 3
[1:40] premiere, Rhaena, sister to Baela and
[1:42] daughter to Daemon, ends up bonding,
[1:44] sort of, with the wild dragon Sheep
[1:46] Stealer in the Vale. And ailing King
[1:48] Aegon the Second has fled King's Landing
[1:50] with Lord Larys Strong, worried that the
[1:51] King Regent Aemond One-Eye will kill his
[1:54] sick brother. They They getting captured
[1:55] by soldiers from House Staunton from
[1:57] Rook's Rest, sworn to Rhaenyra and the
[1:59] Blacks. Rhaenyra meanwhile still
[2:00] encouraged by Alicent's promise to
[2:02] surrender King's Landing without
[2:03] bloodshed and Rhaenyra plans to move in.
[2:05] Daemon finishes off Lannister troops
[2:06] with Oscar Tully's forces in the
[2:08] Riverlands. I assume this is the Battle
[2:09] of the Red Fork because it ends with
[2:11] Jason Lannister, Tyland's twin brother,
[2:14] dead at the hands of the Winter Wolves
[2:15] from the North sent by Cregan Stark.
[2:17] 2,000 old men who do not plan to return
[2:19] because they want to leave the resources
[2:21] for their sons, wives, and grandkids for
[2:23] the winter to come. They're led by
[2:25] Rodrik Dustin. Now, while Jason
[2:26] Lannister dies in the Battle of the Red
[2:28] Fork in the text, Daemon Targaryen was
[2:29] not present for that nor were the Winter
[2:31] Wolves. That happens elsewhere. Another
[2:33] difference from the text, the three
[2:34] Dragonseed recruits, Hugh Hammer on
[2:36] Vermithor, Ulf the White on Silverwing,
[2:38] and Adam of Hull on Seasmoke are not on
[2:40] Dragonstone like they are in the book
[2:41] and ready to join the Battle of the
[2:42] Gullet like they do in the text. They
[2:44] have been sidelined here in this episode
[2:46] by the Gods' Eye lake and Harrenhal
[2:48] waiting for Aemond and Vhagar. But, the
[2:49] Harrenhal woods which Alice Rivers
[2:51] returns this season taking her goat form
[2:53] and spooking the three of them. While
[2:55] Ser Criston Cole and Larys Hightower are
[2:57] left exposed in their march toward
[2:58] Harrenhal, Alicent sends a letter that
[3:00] Aemond and Vhagar will come support her
[3:02] other relative, Ormund Hightower, in the
[3:04] host that he leads from Oldtown with
[3:06] Alicent's youngest son, Daeron, and his
[3:07] blue dragon, Tessarion. James Norton's a
[3:10] pretty big name and he chews the scenery
[3:12] as this germaphobe snob, but out of
[3:14] focus for most of the scene is his
[3:15] green-dressed squire with bright red
[3:17] hair. And in the text, Ormund's squire
[3:19] is Daeron. So, I think this kid is meant
[3:21] to be Daeron, son of Alicent, but he
[3:23] really doesn't get any speaking lines in
[3:24] this instead tells Aemond to fly Vhagar
[3:28] to Harrenhal to draw Daemon out, warning
[3:29] her son that Rhaenyra will come to
[3:31] King's Landing with her dragon sooner or
[3:32] later. This is a significant change from
[3:34] the book where it's implied that Aemond
[3:35] just decides to fly to Harrenhal without
[3:37] any mention of his mother's counsel.
[3:39] But, also probably the biggest change
[3:41] that's going to be controversial with
[3:42] viewers. He leans in for a kiss from his
[3:44] mom and she lets it happen. This [ __ ]
[3:47] family. Baela on Moondancer returns to
[3:49] Dragonstone to report the arrival of the
[3:51] Triarchy fleet in the Gullet. Rhaenyra
[3:53] plans to fly out Syrax to aid Corlys's
[3:55] fleet, but her son Jace orders Ser
[3:57] Lorent of the Queen's Guard to barricade
[3:59] Rhaenyra in her chambers. In the book,
[4:01] this does not happen. Rhaenyra decides
[4:03] just not to go to the Gullet and sends
[4:04] five others in her place, including all
[4:06] the other dragon riders who are at
[4:08] Dragonstone at that time, including Jace
[4:09] on Vermax, Hugh, Ulf, and Adam on their
[4:11] dragons, and Nettles on Sheepstealer.
[4:14] This is after Nettles has actually spent
[4:15] a lot of time working with Sheepstealer.
[4:17] Sheepstealer's not the chaos monster
[4:19] that it is in this episode. Meanwhile,
[4:20] Baela on Moondancer is elsewhere. But,
[4:22] the show rearranges things to sideline
[4:24] the three dragonseed recruits and
[4:25] instead pair Jace on Vermax with his
[4:27] betrothed Baela on her dragon
[4:29] Moondancer. And since Nettles was just
[4:31] removed from the show, they give
[4:32] Sheepstealer to Rhaena and have this
[4:33] untamed dragon act unpredictably in the
[4:35] Battle of the Gullet. The Battle of the
[4:37] Gullet is a remarkable achievement of
[4:39] filmmaking. I think the most impressive
[4:41] naval battle I've ever seen on
[4:42] television and the best looking battle
[4:44] we've seen in any Game of Thrones title
[4:46] since Hardhome. Yeah, I'm putting this
[4:47] one above the Battle of the Bastards,
[4:49] maybe just cuz I'm a navy brat. The
[4:50] basic setup and results of the battle go
[4:52] down mostly as they do in the text. 90
[4:54] warships from the Triarchy, the combined
[4:56] forces of Lys, Tyrosh, and Myr,
[4:57] represented by the banner of the Three
[4:59] Daughters, led by Sharako Lohar, played
[5:01] by the unhinged and very entertaining
[5:03] Abigail Thorn in this episode, facing
[5:05] off against the naval wits of the Sea
[5:07] Snake, Corlys Velaryon. But, this
[5:08] 25-minute battle in this episode gives
[5:10] us way more context to the personalities
[5:12] of the two commanders. How Sharako
[5:14] rejects the more sensible strategy
[5:16] suggested by Tyland Lannister to avoid
[5:18] direct conflict with the Sea Snake and
[5:19] the Velaryon fleet, and she chooses to
[5:21] engage the Sea Snake head-on out of
[5:22] bloodlust and vengeance for what Corlys,
[5:24] with Daemon, has done to the Triarchy
[5:26] fleet in the past. And she chooses to
[5:28] raid High Tide on Driftmark to cut to
[5:30] Corlys's heart. But, Corlys, knowing
[5:32] that the smaller Triarchy ships are much
[5:33] faster, wisely leads Sharako's flagship,
[5:36] the [ __ ] Fist, amazing name, on a chase
[5:38] through the Dragonstone pass, a narrow
[5:41] channel that only he knows the exact
[5:43] course through, including the exact
[5:44] arrangement of the rocks, the exact
[5:46] depth and tidal rhythm, and precise
[5:49] weight of his ship and crew and cargo.
[5:50] It is awesome to see how good he is at
[5:52] this. In fact, he eventually takes the
[5:54] helm and it's one of the coolest
[5:55] displays of nautical wisdom and
[5:57] experience I've ever seen. It's kind of
[5:59] like Maverick in Top Gun: Maverick
[6:01] showing the young bucks that the mission
[6:03] can be done. And watching it, I felt
[6:05] like Warlock doing that fist pump meme.
[6:06] But as the tide goes out on the [ __ ]
[6:08] fist, we see how Shirako has some skills
[6:10] of her own doing what Corlys is not
[6:12] willing to do, sacrifice her own men to
[6:14] lighten the load. She warned Tyland
[6:16] Lannister that his heavy armor would end
[6:18] up sinking him in the drink, and she
[6:19] personally delivers on that promise. So,
[6:21] doing this, she's able to escape the
[6:22] channel with even fewer forces in order
[6:25] to engage Corlys and Allen of Hull. June
[6:27] is Men's Mental Health Awareness Month.
[6:29] Father's Day is coming up, and that can
[6:30] invite a lot of overwhelming feelings.
[6:32] Positive ones like pride, love, and
[6:34] gratitude, but also negative ones like
[6:36] guilt or feeling like you're not doing
[6:38] enough. That can be a lot to deal with
[6:40] on your own, but today's sponsor,
[6:42] BetterHelp, makes it easy to have
[6:43] somebody with you who's trained to
[6:45] listen and help. My therapist has told
[6:47] me that the highs of parenting are so
[6:49] high, but the lows can be really low,
[6:51] too. The important thing to remember is
[6:52] that all fathers make mistakes, and
[6:54] while it's definitely good to try to
[6:56] avoid mistakes, when one happens, your
[6:58] energy is better spent on fixing
[7:00] whatever went wrong than beating
[7:01] yourself up for letting it happen in the
[7:03] first place. Having somebody who's with
[7:05] you while you're navigating periods like
[7:07] that is really helpful. BetterHelp can
[7:08] help connect you with a therapist who's
[7:10] always with you by making therapy
[7:12] accessible wherever you are, whether
[7:13] online or through the app. You take a
[7:15] short quiz, then get matched with a
[7:17] licensed therapist quickly. You can
[7:19] communicate however you feel
[7:20] comfortable, phone, video, or text. If
[7:22] your therapist isn't a good fit for you,
[7:23] you can switch at any time with no
[7:25] additional cost. That said, 82% of
[7:27] BetterHelp clients recommend their
[7:28] therapist. Click the link in the
[7:30] description or go to
[7:31] betterhelp.com/newrockstars
[7:33] to get 10% off your first month of
[7:34] therapy, because no one should have to
[7:36] go through anything alone. BetterHelp is
[7:38] here with you. We intercut with this
[7:40] with an amazing aerial feeder of this
[7:42] battle. And here I really love the
[7:44] adaptation change to limit the Dragon
[7:45] Riders to Jace Vermithor and Jace's
[7:47] betrayer Baela on Moondancer and Baela's
[7:50] sister Rhaena on a weapon of mass
[7:51] destruction that she cannot control. We
[7:53] go from seeing future Targaryen spouses
[7:55] in this healthy non-incestuous coupling.
[7:57] Their dragons gracefully saving each
[7:59] other to snap the scorpion-fired
[8:01] grappnel chain to free the other to the
[8:03] voice-breaking screams of Rhaena begging
[8:05] Sheepstealer to obey as this confused
[8:07] wild dragon torches both Triarchy ships
[8:10] and her grandfather Corlys's beloved
[8:12] fleet and then just starts clawing at
[8:14] her own sister. The whole episode
[8:16] smartly sets up Rhaena's shaky bonding
[8:18] with Sheepstealer so that when she
[8:19] eventually flies the dragon across the
[8:21] Blackwater, it's kind of like watching
[8:22] Lois in Mad Men get on that lawnmower.
[8:24] If you know, you know. But with Rhaena
[8:26] on Sheepstealer and Aemond shouting
[8:28] Vhagar, no when Luke and Arrax were
[8:30] killed over Storm's End, this show
[8:31] definitely wants to convey how these
[8:33] Valyrian blooded humans are not
[8:35] magically in control of their dragons.
[8:37] The [ __ ] fist rams the Sea Snake Corlys
[8:40] and Sharako engage in some intense messy
[8:42] swashbuckling, but as Corlys's mind is
[8:44] distracted on all of its goofy pirate
[8:46] treasures and high tide burning up,
[8:48] Addam of Hull has to step up to command
[8:49] the defense and ultimately defeat
[8:51] Sharako in the blood-soaked, shattered,
[8:53] flooded hull of his father's ship. This
[8:55] episode leaves Corlys's fate a mystery,
[8:57] but no ambiguity for Jace. Thanks to
[8:59] some distractions from Sheepstealer,
[9:01] another scorpion-fired grappnel hooks
[9:04] Vermithor and brings the dragon down.
[9:06] Jace frees himself and seems okay for a
[9:08] second when he grabs some driftwood, but
[9:10] nope. Myroshi archers bring him down
[9:12] with arrows. This is exactly Jace's fate
[9:15] in the book. Though there is some debate
[9:16] over how exactly Vermithor went down,
[9:18] whether it was a grappnel hook or
[9:19] whether he crashed into the rigging of a
[9:21] ship and just got tangled before it
[9:22] died. But seeing Jace get plugged with
[9:25] arrows is especially reminiscent of the
[9:26] way Catelyn Stark had watch her son Robb
[9:28] die in the Red Wedding. This hits
[9:30] arguably just as hard. This episode
[9:32] gives a conclusive ending to Sharako
[9:34] Lohar and the text the Triarchy fleet
[9:35] breaks rank when five of the Blacks'
[9:37] dragons show up and open a fireworks
[9:39] display over the Gullet. In the retreat,
[9:40] only 28 of the 90 Triarchy ships return,
[9:43] and 25 of those were from Leas, leading
[9:46] the widows of Tyrosh and Myr to accuse
[9:48] Ser Addam Velaryon of sparing his own
[9:49] men and ships and letting the others
[9:51] die, leading to the War of the Daughters
[9:53] among the Free Cities. Another big
[9:54] change in the text is the involvement of
[9:56] Rhaenyra's youngest two sons, her sons
[9:58] with Daemon, Aegon the Younger and
[10:00] Viserys. Remember in season 2, we saw
[10:02] them and Aegon's little dragon
[10:03] Stormcloud and four dragon eggs leaving
[10:06] the Vale for Pentos? They were headed
[10:07] toward a ship called the Gay Abandon.
[10:09] Rhaena was supposed to accompany them,
[10:11] but she took off like a horse girl after
[10:12] Sheepstealer. In the book, the Gay
[10:14] Abandon's running with the Triarchy
[10:15] fleet is actually the prelude to the
[10:17] Battle of the Gullet with major
[10:18] consequences to what's to follow. But
[10:20] this episode makes no mention of the Gay
[10:22] Abandon and the two younger princes.
[10:23] Maybe future episodes will, I don't
[10:25] know, I haven't seen them yet. So let's
[10:26] end here in spoiler dungeon. If you
[10:28] don't really want to know what happens
[10:29] after this in the text, you can stop
[10:31] watching now. So in the text, we know
[10:33] that the Gay Abandon gets stopped by a
[10:35] Tyroshi ship that's part of the Triarchy
[10:37] fleet. Nine-year-old Aegon the Younger
[10:38] barely escapes clinging to a small
[10:40] dragon Stormcloud and barely makes it
[10:42] back to Dragonstone. And according to
[10:43] Mushroom, the poor kid has wet himself,
[10:45] and this Targaryen kid will never fly a
[10:47] dragon again in his life. Meanwhile, his
[10:49] younger brother, young Viserys, only has
[10:51] a dragon egg and becomes a captive,
[10:52] though will eventually reunite with his
[10:54] family after several interesting years
[10:56] in the Free Cities. Still, Rhaenyra
[10:57] thinks she lost two sons in this battle,
[11:00] but it seems like in the show she's
[11:01] going to think she just lost one, a son
[11:03] she did not listen to, a son who locked
[11:05] her in a room to take her place in this
[11:06] battle. So we'll see how the HBO series
[11:08] explains the fates of Aegon the Younger
[11:10] and Viserys and why the show gave them
[11:12] four eggs in that season 2 episode. I'm
[11:14] thinking maybe it's one for Viserys and
[11:16] then three others sold off in Pentos
[11:18] that could later be given as a wedding
[11:19] gift to Daenerys. So if you've read the
[11:21] text, you know that Corlys does survive
[11:23] the battle, but losing Driftmark, his
[11:25] home, and Spicetown, Spicetown that will
[11:28] never be rebuilt after it's raided and
[11:30] pillaged, it's going to lead him to not
[11:32] celebrate this survival and lament,
[11:33] "Quote, if this be victory, I pray I
[11:36] never win another." But while the three
[11:38] Dragonseed recruits were sidelined from
[11:39] the Gullet, this premiere episode does
[11:41] have them complaining about them being
[11:43] knighted instead of being given the lord
[11:45] status, something that will matter a lot
[11:47] when it comes to their shifting
[11:48] loyalties. Though I think the show may
[11:49] limit that motivation to just Ulf the
[11:51] White and rather give Hugh Hammer other
[11:53] reasons for flipping sides to the Greens
[11:55] related to his wife who has family in
[11:57] Tumbleton and will be there when that
[11:59] battle goes down. House of the Dragon is
[12:01] so [ __ ] back. This was the best
[12:03] episode of the series thus far. Now
[12:04] again, this is just my initial review
[12:06] and reaction and book comparison. My
[12:07] in-depth scene-by-scene breakdown is
[12:09] coming to the channel tomorrow. A
[12:10] special thanks to one of our In Our
[12:12] Underground subscribers, Tam, for
[12:14] supporting us at the executive producer
[12:15] level. You can get all of our exclusive
[12:17] bonus content by clicking the link in
[12:18] the description below or going to
[12:19] inourunderground.supercast.com.
[12:21] Big thanks to studio tech Brian Kim, New
[12:23] Rockstars editors Joshua Stephen Hurd
[12:24] and Abby Friel, and all of our
[12:25] supporting editors for their work on
[12:26] this video. It's especially hard to
[12:28] upload these videos the same night on
[12:29] Saturday night. So big thanks to Joshua
[12:31] for putting in the extra effort on this.
[12:32] [music] Follow me at @eaboss. Hit that
[12:34] subscribe button. Thanks for watching
[12:35] and I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.
[12:39] >> [music]
[12:49] [music]