House Of The Dragon a show that alot of us might have forgotten about and rightfully so as it has been a few years since the end of season 2. Is now just a few short days away from it's third season premiere and well I wanted to catch myself up with the story and I therefor thought that doing a review of the shows second season would be a great way to do that and to get people excited for the new episodes and so then join me as I review the episode that despite this being an action show has no action in it with the episode in question being called simply just "The Queen Who Ever Was" enjoy.
The plot of the episode with the threat of war looming Queen Rhaenyra has to settle things with Prince Daemon before getting an offer from Queen Alicent. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. Whilst this episodes plot isn't the strongest that it could have been it's also not that bad either as there is an attempt to still craft a good story in here but due to the fact that this episode was forced into being the second season finale when HBO cut the episode order down by two episodes it is somewhat understandable that the plot of this episode is as messy as it is. With the episodes plot trying to wrap up all of the seasons plot lines whilst still very much trying to be it's own thing and set up the third season of the show and while HBO aren't fully to blame as they didn't put pen to paper and write the episode they also didn't do the episode any favors either, with the episodes plot not really feeling like a final episode as there are no stakes in the episode rather it feels like the plot that you would have before the big episode nine episode of previous seasons and if this episode had remained in it's original place in the running order then the plot might have been alot more better but due to it being forced into being the seasons finale episode the episodes plot does come across as being rather lackluster when compared to even the first seasons finale episode with the plot of this episode not really being really rather entertaining and nor is it really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen and Emma D'Arcy as Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen. Also starring in this episode is Olivia Cooke as Queen Alicent Hightower , Rhys Ifans as Ser Otto Hightower , Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon , Fabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole , Matthew Needham as Lord Larys Strong , Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria , Tom Glynn-Carney as King Aegon II Targaryen , Ewan Mitchell as Prince Aemond Targaryen , Phia Saban as Queen Helaena Targaryen , Harry Collett as Prince Jacaerys Velaryon , Bethany Antonia as Lady Baela Targaryen , Phoebe Campbell as Lady Rhaena Targaryen , Jefferson Hall as Ser Tyland Lannister / Lord Jason Lannister , Freddie Fox as Ser Gwayne Hightower , Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers , Kurt Egyiawan as Grand Maester Orwyle , Abubakar Salim as Alyn Of Hull , Clinton Liberty as Addam Of Hull , Kieran Bew as Hugh , Tom Bennett as Ulf , Simon Russell Beale as Ser Simon Strong , Paul Kennedy as Lord Jasper Wylde , Phil Daniels as Maester Gerardys , Max Wrottesley as Ser Lorent Marbrand , Jamie Kenna as Ser Alfred Broome , Vincent Regan as Ser Rickard Thorne , Antonio Magro as Lord Petyr Piper , Abigail Thorn as Admiral Sharako Lohar , Daniel Fathers as Lord Humfrey Lefford , Joshua Ben-Tovim as Brynden Rivers and Eddie Eyre as Ser Axell Bulwer.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With the acting in the episode actually being one of the few things that the episode actually got alot of praise and rightfully so as all of this episodes actors really do bring there A game in this episode with the episode having what might be be the best acting in House Of The Dragon as a whole with it being made clear as day that all of this episodes actors are not only really comfortable in their roles but also know there characters inside and out with that being something that does inform the choices that they all make as actors. With the best actor in the whole entire episode being Emma D'Arcy as Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen as she ad Olivia Cooke get alot of the best scenes in the whole entire episode and while they both act there socks off in this episode Emma is just that tiny bit better due to the fact that you do see the pain that she carries with her from the end of the last season and you see the betrayal that she might have been feeling in this episode with both of those things really shining through in her final performance. With the acting that's in this episode not really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so bad as it gives none of this episodes actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what to is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the CGI for this episode is PixStone Images , Pixomondo , Outpost VFX , RVX , Red Visual Effects , Rodeo FX , The Third Floor London and Viridian FX. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. This is something that is understandable as this show has always had some really good looking CGI in it and to be fair to the episode the episodes CGI is one of the more better things that are in the episode but having good CGI doesn't make for a good episode. To the episodes credit it does have alot of hidden CGI in it as while we all know that the dragons are going to be CGI but what we didn't know was that the water and the surrounding scenery that characters cross at the end of the episode is also fully CGI as is alot of the interiors at Castle Harrenhal and while those are thing that could be seen as going a bit over the top with the CGI with the makers of this episode clearly using the thinking that they can use CGI and so there just going to use it everywhere but again to be fair alot of those CGI elements are hidden really well with them only being revealed as being computer generated in the episodes behind the scenes featurette as they do blend into the episode really well, yet at the same time tho with the episode having as many effects as it does have it does make the episode feel alot less like a live action show and more like a very expensive cartoon show as alot of the shots in which they use CGI in in this episode are shots that you could have done using practical effects and they would have looked better due to the fact that practical effects do age alot more slowly then what CGI effects do.
Unlike with the latter seasons of Game Of Thrones where you got the sense that the characters are now all moving into there final positions. Here in this episode you don't really get that feeling and while this very well could be because of the fact that this episode was never intended to be the final episode of season two and therefor the makers of this episode really didn't have to set the characters moving into there final positions but given the fact that this change in the episode order happened early enough in the seasons production for them to rewrite the season as a whole then the makers of this episode very well could have made some effort to help to get the characters into what might be there final positions as that would show that they are thinking ahead. Granted they might not have planned for the final two seasons at the time that this episode was being made either which is something that would have been fair enough but with the added benefit of hindsight it does make you wonder why the characters aren't being positioned to be in there final places like they were in the latter seasons of Game Of Thrones, just to make it more clear what I mean by that when you look back at the final episode of Game Of Thrones season 6 they do set up Sansa as someone who could possibly be queen if she wanted something which we do see her get just not in the way that we expected and we do see the characters start to reach the end of there journeys as characters and yet in this episode you don't get the feeling that this show is wrapping up rather you get the feeling that this is just the next episode of the show and that's not something that you want to get when your show is now officially halfway done. Whilst this isn't something that effects the episode in either a negative or a positive way it is something that does make you wonder just how far ahead that the makers of this episode are thinking as they clearly thought as far ahead as season 3 as they do start to tease that next season towards the end of this episode but that's really as far as they've thought of.
One of the many things that this episode did rightfully get alot of hate for when it first came was the fact that for an action show there no action in this episode and this is meant to be the final episode of the season which is where you expect there to be alot of really good action in it. Yet the makers of the episode don't give us any action outside of one comedy fight scene and that's it and even then that fight scene doesn't play a part in the plot but there is a good chance that given who it introduces that it could play a part in the third season of the show, this is something that you don't want to be the case in an action show as for the final episode of the show the audience is expecting alot of really cool action scenes to happen and when you do give us any and instead give us an episode that does feel really weak then there is something fundamentally wrong with the episode. This could be due to the fact that the episode very much does feel like a calm before the storm episode which is something that would have been fine if that was always the plan for this episode back when the season had ten episodes as then episodes nine and ten could have been filled to the brim with the action that we've come to expect from this show and this episode would have been just a bad episode lost in a sea of good ones but the second that it was decided that this episode was going to be the final episode of the season then there should have been some action put into the episode as now this episode doesn't have the luxury of being the calm before the storm episode now it has to be the storm and that does mean having these really jaw dropping action scenes that will leave us the audience really wanting to see more but for one reason or another the makers of this show deciding to ditch the action aspect of the show all together and instead give alot more focus to it's drama aspect to the point where you might as well as call this show a drama show.
One of the things that Game Of Thrones loved to do was give us a speech where someone declared who they were helping. With this episode being no different as after getting a vision about things that will happen which does include a cameo from Imogen Ruby Little as Daenerys Targaryen Prince Daemon Targaryen does decide that he wants to remain at Queen Rhaenyra's side with him giving her a speech about how he will always fight for her and how it is her destiny to reclaim the throne but its what she says towards the end of the speech that is interesting as she says that if he goes off with his army without her knowing about it again then it will be the last thing that he does this is something that does make you wonder if she's truly sane or if she doesn't fully trust Daemon. As its not something that would have been said if she did fully trust him and she was perfectly sane and given the fact that she started a war due to the fact that her son was killed off by the King it does make sense that she would go a little mad and heck that is also something that happens to alot of Targaryens therefor it would make sense for it also happen to Rhaenyra on the ither hand it could be that she doesn't fully trust Daemon which given that he left her at the start of this season without telling her and took his army with him is something that she would be fully justified in doing but here's hoping that the show actually doesn't resolve this until the final season as it is something that could make for a great twist with it being something that will make you wonder what's actually going on with these two characters, the speech it self was fairly well done its not the best speech that this franchise has ever done as that honor goes to the court speech in season 4 of Game Of Thrones but it is one that does get the blood pumping with it mainly being Daemon telling these dragon riders and soldiers that yeah alot of you will die but will be for what they believe to be a noble cause.
Now then this episode has / had an exactly grand total running time of exactly one hour and nine minuets and six seconds. Which to be fair to this episode is a perfectly solid running time for the episode to have and it is one that you do expect a series finale for this show to have as well and yet the episode still doesn't feel like it's a series finale this is despite the fact that the episode has the running time of a series finale as it does just feel like an average episode of the show due to the fact that the episode really didn't need to be as long as it is as the episode doesn't wrap up alot of the seasons plot lines and it could tell it's plot in the show typical fifty to one hour time frame and still not loose anything that's actually important to te plot of this episode with the episode having more then enough plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. The episode itself doesn't really use its running time all that wisely either as the episode doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot which in all fairness is something that it didn't really need to do as this episode is meant to be wrapping up plot lines and therefor it didn't need to add anything to them but it still would have helped the episode if the makers of this episode did take the time to fully develop this episodes plot as that would made it look like that there was more thought and effort put into this episodes that what there clearly was with the episode being more focused on teasing season3 then it is in giving us a well thought out plot. The episode also doesn't take the time to fully develop its characters either which is something that again it didn't really need to do as you cold make the case that all of the characters have several other episodes to get there character development but it still would have been nice to see them get some form of character development in this episode as this episode is meant to be ending the seasons plot lines there it would have made sense for the makers of this episode to give some of the characters some form of character development but the makers of this episode were more focused on giving us cameos from Game Of Thrones characters which does mean that none of this episodes character get any form of character development but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a drama that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual drama that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual drama that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Whilst the episode does have some really good drama in it that's also the issue as this isn't and never was a drama franchise it was always an action franchise and while yes there was bits of drama added in they never the main focus of a series finale the action and therefor it makes no sense for this episode to focus more on the drama as good as it is and ditch action all for no good reason. With the best bit of drama in the whole episode being the entire final scene between Alicent and Rhaenyra as Alicent does outright say that she will give the Rhaenyra the throne if she stops the war as she doesn't want to loose anyone the way that Rhaenyra has done with this being something that does make Rhaenyra quite angry at first as of course she wants Alicent to feel the pain that she's felt all season long and yet she's asking her to stop the war for pretty much no reason, with the thing that makes this scene work is not only is it the best written and acted scene in the whole episode but when you break it down it's a scene about two former best friends trying to get back on the same page and while time will indeed tell if it works or not the fact that they are making an attempt to be as close as they were back in season one of this show does show us the audience that there is still some amount of kindness left in both of them towards each other with the rest of the episodes drama being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while it is hard to say on if this is the weakest finale of the franchises history as that would mean counting the show finale for Game Of Thrones if we are talking just House Of The Dragon only then yeah this finale is the weakest one thus far as the plot isn't that good and there's alot more of a focus on drama then this on action but with that being said the ending drama scene is really good and it does do a good job of getting you ready for season 3 of this show as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that re in this very episode in this very revie and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very revie well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Tenor , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
