A lot happened in this week’s episode of “House of the Dragon.” Prince Daemon is revealed to have wed Laena Valeryion, and then she dies by the end of the episode. It’s revealed that Rhaenyra (now played by Emma D’Arcy) has been having an affair with Ser Harwin Strong and has given birth to three children with him, and then Harwin also dies at the end of the episode. Neither of the deaths have much impact, of course, because we don’t really know either of these characters. They played an important part of Rhaenyra and Daemon’s lives for 10 years, but for us they’re just a footnote.
The status quo of the show has changed a lot since the previous episode, and it changes a lot in this one, but we never truly get to feel the impact of these shifts. Say what you will of the more low-key “Lost” episodes where the characters just sort of hang about on the island, but those episodes created a sense of normalcy, even comfort. Later, when the characters are separated in different places and times, you might find yourself looking back fondly to the simpler era of the early seasons, when you and the characters didn’t realize just how stable things were compared to what would come.
When the status quo changed in “Lost,” it was a huge deal. But on “House of the Dragon,” it barely seems to mean anything. That’s not to say that this season should’ve stretched out to 20-plus episodes or anything — for the most part, I think the time jumps work — it’s just that it feels like we’ve skipped an episode between this one and “We Light the Way.“
