House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 8 takes us way past the point of no return, this time for real. The show has made it feel a couple of times like this tale has reached a point where no reconciliation is possible, but when Gwayne Hightower (in Daeron’s name) offers to divide the kingdom and let everyone rule in peace, we understand what Daemon’s “no” means. There’s no chance this ends well.
Of course, with Aegon not just alive but reunited with Sunfyre and with an Aemond eager to prove his loyalty on his side, there was never any going back. Still, for a while there, everyone liked to pretend that a peaceful solution was still on the table. We’re way past that now. Now, after one betrayal, the setup for another, and a lot of people on both sides still aligned out of convenience more than loyalty, it’s looking pretty bad for Rhaenyra. And honestly, for Aegon too.
So, as we say goodbye to Season 3, let’s break down where the key players stand and what comes next.
MORE: Here’s the review for House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 7, House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 6 and House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 5
TEAM BLACK
After a triumphant start to the season, Team Black is at its worst right now. Rhaenyra has spent the entire season trying to be the ruler her father would have wanted, and yet in this episode we see her finally come to understand that Viserys might have been a good ruler only because the realm was at peace. That doesn’t mean he was a good king, and he certainly wasn’t a good father. Instead, he set up Rhaenyra to fail.
He could have wed her to Daemon when she was younger and solidified her claim, but refused to do so because he trusted Otto Hightower more than his own brother. Then, after having four more children who could threaten Rhaenyra, he did absolutely nothing to help make sure that she would indeed succeed him after he was gone, even though he surely meant for her to, as she was the only one he trusted with the prophecy.
The Rhaenyra of this episode, however, has anointed herself the Prince Who Was Promised, and as such, she has finally chosen chaos. It might just be a little too late to really make a difference. Ulf has turned (and then betrayed the Greens as well, so he’s basically Team Ulf), and Hugh is anything but reliable at this point. Addam and Baela remain loyal, but they’re not all that pleased with Rhaenyra. In fact, only Daemon is fully on Rhaenyra’s side at this point, as he has always been.
At the end of the episode, we see Rhaenyra come face to face with Helaena’s prophetic dreams that promise sitting in the Iron Throne won’t end up well for her. But Rhaenyra has come too far to turn back now, so as she closes the door on Helaena’s body, she’s also closing the door on any possibility of turning back. Now, it’s all about getting to the end we heard about in stories during the Game of Thrones days. And that ending is anything but happy.
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TEAM GREEN
After a season where it looked like Team Green was out, the Season 3 finale establishes that they’re firmly back in. Aegon has Sunfyre now, and instead of killing Aemond for trying to murder him, as promised, he has told his brother he’ll forgive him if they retake King’s Landing. So, with Aegon and Aemond on the same side for good, Team Green is now looking better than expected.
Particularly considering they suffered the heaviest losses this episode. Helaena was never going to ride her dragon into battle, but her loss, and that of Aegon’s unborn son, definitely hurts. Then there’s Daeron, who we aren’t sure survived Tumbleton, though my money is on yes. Ormund Hightower, however, very much didn’t. Can’t say anyone’s going to miss him, including people in his own family. Gwayne is also alive, though he’s very much powerless right now.
What’s Aegon’s next move? Where’s Vhagar? And can Alys use her magic to help? Will she? A lot of questions and a lot of things that still need to happen before the end of this story.
MORE: Here are the House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 4 and Episode 3 reviews
WHAT WORKED
This is a pretty good season finale, and one of the strongest episodes of the show so far if you can completely separate yourself from the source material. At this point, the show has gone so far off Fire & Blood that it’s hard to call it an adaptation. Loosely inspired might fit better. As a spectacle, and a show, however, this is a pretty solid outing with some pretty great acting, particularly by a superb Emma D’Arcy, who is making a very compelling case for that Emmy.
Other standouts of the hour are Matt Smith, who gives Daemon so much more depth than the character would have in the hands of a lesser actor, and Tom Glynn-Carney, who for a moment makes Aegon the most relatable character on the show. That’s without going into how much good work Phia Saban has put in this season, making Helaena’s ending feel like the kind of tragedy we didn’t think this show could still pull off.
Great acting and some superb battle choreography cannot make up for the weird pacing of the season, or the fact that the show has asked us to take some great leaps to justify where the characters are and what they’re doing. But there are worse ways to end a season than this one, and we will still be looking forward to seeing if the show can stick its landing in Season 4.
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WHAT DIDN’T WORK
I could probably write an entire dissertation on the plot holes of the season, including but not limited to Rhaenyra sending Alicent to kill a Vhagar-less Aemond instead of Daemon, the love triangle between Alyn, Addam and Baela and the entire Rhaena storyline, but even just focusing on the last episode is enough to have us scratching our heads. And it’s not even because the show has seemingly changed Ulf, High, and Addam’s storylines at this point, on top of Rhaena’s, but that some of the changes seem done on a whim.
What was the point of that Rhaenyra and Mysaria scene last episode, if Rhaenyra was just going to send her away after realizing that Daemon was actually who she truly needed by her side? Was it just to check off a representation box? Because it increasingly seems this way. It certainly wasn’t to drive a wedge between Rhaenyra and Daemon, because there they are, the same chaotic pairing as before. And Mysaria ending up the scorned lover twice over is just repetitive and kinda silly. We wasted too much screentime on her for the character to end up right where she was after her affair with Daemon.
The whole storyline with Alys’ magic is another baffling decision by the show, particularly because it seems like it was only thrown in to make her relationship with Aemond much more palatable than it was in the book, but will end up having absolutely no bearing on the plot. And sure, it’s not like the show has that much time to pick up all those hanging plot threads, but perhaps if they didn’t spend so much time on things that mean nothing, they could make us care about more than just a couple of characters and a couple of storylines.
It doesn’t matter now. The season is over. But there’s still an entire other season before this story ends. So, we’ll be back here worrying in about two years.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 8? Share with us in the comments below!
House of the Dragon aired Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.
