House of the Dragon Episode 3 Review: Second of His Name

It’s been around three years since the events of “The Rogue Prince” and King Viserys’s fortunes have changed immensely. The King and his child bride Alicent have a son now – the absolute unit known as Aegon, second of his name after the Conqueror himself. But what should be a joyous occasion is marred by a promise that Viserys has already made to Rhaenyra.

Though the Stepstones will get all of the attention, the increased scope of a royal hunting party here is where House of the Dragon’s inflated budget is really put to the best use. In Game of Thrones, King Robert’s hunting party consisted of the drunken king himself, his brother Renly, and a handful of other dudes roaming around the woods until a boar goared the Usurper King to death (offscreen of course, in keeping with Thrones’ early monetary modesty). Here, however, the scale of the occasion is truly immense and impressive.

Perhaps even the viewer can’t help but get swept up in all the baby Aegon excitement. A white hart? On the Aegon II’s name day??? Hell yeah, make the little guy king already! So many of these regal traditions and pretty colors mask what, at the end of the day, is basic high school-level posturing and gossip. The Hightowers want one heir, the Velaryons want another. And the Lannisters (now represented by Viserys’s new Master of Ships Tyland and his twin brother Jason), well they just want a bigger piece of the pie. When all of these competing desires come together under the guise of a “civilized” event like a hunt, then satisfying drama and backbiting can’t help but ensue. 

Befitting of the great hunt’s scale, “Second of His Name” provides House of the Dragon with another influx of new characters. Some fresh Lannisters (Jefferson Hall) are always welcome, particularly when they continue the House’s odd penchant for turning out twins. Meanwhile Larys Strong a.k.a. “The Clubfoot” (Matthew Needham) and Aemond Velaryon (Will Johnson) are intriguing additions as well. The core of this episode, however, belongs to the two Targaryens at its center: Viserys and Rhaenyra.

I must say, I’m a little surprised at the extent to which Viserys has operated as a lead character in House of the Dragon thus far. Martin’s writings tend to shy away from kings as true POV characters but Viserys here operates in a similar capacity as Ned Stark in the early episodes of Game of Thrones. Thankfully Paddy Considine is more than up to the task.

In the series first episode, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) assured his king that the gods had yet to make a man who lacked the patience for absolute power. But Viserys’s patience here is starting to look pretty thin. The Iron-Throne-wounded Targaryen looks like a caged animal at a circus than rather a king as more and more well-wishers approach him, trying to sway him to one way or another. 

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