To the chagrin of children and beleaguered adults (it’s me, I am the beleaguered adult) everywhere, summer’s coming to an end, and with it, HBO’s House of the Dragon season 3 has come to an end as well.
The season had its good points, and the finale more than delivered. As is customary for the George R.R. Martin franchise, there was no glory to be had at the Battle of Tumbleton. If anything, glory belonged to one member of the lower classes who said “fuck you” to both sides with devastating effect.
Here’s the thing though: As previously stated in this column, I am tired of the freaks populating Westeros. Prince Daemon aside, they’ve all gotten a bit too much to care about. While HBO has perhaps learned its lesson from staying away from useless shock value and cleaving more to understatement, it also keeps repeating itself.
For example, this franchise is far too fond of taking a blond Targaryen princess and having her go nuclear on those around her, losing friends and alienating people. I’m sorry, but we’ve been here before.
And the suicide of another tragic blonde royal who has been bent to the will of those around them to the point of desperation? Also – been here before.
And the notion that war is hell and that a pale horse drags it in on its tail? Yep, we’ve been here before.
It’s not that I mind how certain themes echo in this franchise. It’s that there are fresh and interesting ways of executing them, and with this season, that hasn’t exactly happened.
So with that in mind, I’d like to lay out my hopes for season 4, which is going to be the last:
We already know that the dragons that make the Targaryens all-powerful are going to die out. We’ve seen Game of Thrones (and the superior A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms).
We also know that the Targaryens are NOT going to die out, certainly not in this iteration of the franchise.
Based on some of the innuendo in season 3, it is likely that Prince Daeron, who’s a good kid, very different from his psycho brothers Aegon and Aemond, will make some sort of legitimate case for the crown to which Queen Rhaenyra is currently holding on to for dear life.
It would be nice if a sane, decent Targaryen ascended the throne (this doesn’t happen in Martin’s books, but the show takes liberties already, and as Martin has essentially stopped writing, his complaints about what HBO does are pointless and annoying, tbh).
HOWEVER, this is prestige television we are talking about. I don’t see Daeron succeeding; I think it’s a fake-out, and I am preemptively mad about this fake-out, to be honest!
It would be nice if Daemon doesn’t die, or at least dies as spectacularly as possible (yes, I know we have the books to lean on here, but again, liberties can be taken for ill or for good). Not just because I’m fond of the character played by Matt Smith with an excellent crooked smile – and I am very fond of him – but because Daemon is the only fun person on this entire show. He’s like a tall Tyrion Lannister, aside from all of the incest and bloodlust.
In the finale, we see Daemon being on the other side of dragonfire for a change, and being shocked by its wanton destruction. He is likely going to do some soul-searching in the last season. But would it be OK if the soul-searching doesn’t last too long? There are plenty of other characters already moping around.
I would ideally like to see some justice for Lord Corlys too. He’s sacrificed entirely too much for Rhaenyra’s campaign to be queen, and now that she’s revealed herself to be as good at ruling as gold cloaks are at needlepoint (which is to say – not good at all), Corlys has been double- and triple-shafted.
The books give us hope for justice, but again, the show is a different beast. I just want it to be a decent beast, for now.
Finally, and this is a big one: if Aegon is to succeed at his quest for revenge, I really need this quest to have some meaning. The show has been very Rhaenyra focused, from the start. We emphasize more with Rhaenyra, because we spend so much time with her.
The forces that have shaped Aegon are not nearly as prominent in the television narrative. I mean, the dude married his sister, and slept with everything that moved and possibly didn’t move, but that’s just the Targaryens for you.
HBO has a fine line to thread with the upcoming season, and the chances to succumb to Game of Thrones season 8-style ludicrousness are plenty. Let’s hope something interesting rises from the ashes after the dragonfire dies down.