House of the Dragon’s Season 2 ending didn’t deliver what most fans hoped for. While the season started very strong with the first two episodes and peaked with its gut-wrenching Episode 4, the finale felt like a mid-season setup episode lacking any major events. Instead of a compelling story arc, Episode 8 featured choppy intercut scenes, with some of them unnecessary or even repetitive. In Episode 7, the audience witnessed a ruthless and much crueler Rhaenyra, willing to sacrifice the smallfolk to gain dragon riders. However, in Episode 8, she seemed to revert to her old self, questioning her next moves.
The finale set up lots of future events, but it lacked a key element Game of Thrones fans were accustomed to — a spectacular ending. In today’s TV landscape, where the production of most shows takes much longer until they return to the screen, it is risky to end a season in such a way. Many blame Ryan Condal for this lackluster ending, but they shouldn’t. There was a last-minute development that most fans were not aware of.
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The episode starts with a new location and introduces a few new characters. Tyland Lannister has arrived in Essos to secure the support of the Triarchy for King Aegon and his Prince Regent Aemond. After a short negotiation, he meets fleet commander Admiral Lohar. Sharako Lohar is an interesting, slightly flamboyant character, adding much-needed humor to the show. But introducing new characters in a finale takes away from the established storyline. It slowed down the pace, and the storyline seemed misplaced. The Triarchy will take center stage in Season 3 and needs a setup, but instead of adding it to the finale, it should have taken place either in Episode 7 or at the beginning of the next season.
The pace in the final episode was notably off. Many scenes felt quite clumsy and were utilized to create an artificial speed-up of events. Rhaena’s endless quest to find a wild dragon was painfully dragged out and intercut with other scenes not just once, but several times. Finally, she comes face to face with Sheepstealer, yet the camera cuts away before she can claim him. Jace and Baela have another scene addressing his fear of being diminished by the Dragonseeds, which was already addressed in Episode 7. The scene between Rhaenyra and Mysaria was just as redundant, as the audience learned nothing new.
The episode ends with Alicent and Rhaenya facing off again, this time in Dragonstone. Alicent wants her childhood friend to take over King’s Landing without bloodshed, but Rhaenyra reminds her she must take Aegon’s head to eliminate the opposition. After a long, awkward moment, Alicent agrees reluctantly. This new twist seems a bit contrived and pointless.
Alicent does not know that Aegon has left King’s Landing after Larys convinces him that it’s in his best interest to leave. If Rhaenyra acts on Alicent’s suggestion, it will get messy because the Dowager Queen cannot deliver on her promise, and Rhaenyra will feel betrayed. Since Season 1, most mistakes characters made were based on misunderstandings, depriving them of any agency. This scene served as another attempt to get these two characters in the same room, just like in Episode 3. It felt forced and is foreshadowing yet another misunderstanding.
A final montage scene wraps up the season. The new dragon riders are preparing for battle, several armies are marching, Corlys and his fleet are at sea, and Tyland Lannister is setting sail with the pirates of Essos. The finale ends with a shot of Rhaenyra in the Dragonstone library, resembling confinement to duty, and Alicent faces the open water all by herself. Then the screen fades to black. Overall, the episode had some great moments and featured beautiful cinematography. The conclusion of Daemon’s character arc was interesting. Rhaenyra’s scene in Harrenhal cemented her role as rightful queen, and Alyn’s speech to Corlys was perfection, yet as a season finale, it didn’t deliver on its premise.
Since the finale aired on Sunday, Aug 4, countless fans have expressed confusion and dislike on social media and YouTube. Ryan Condal and his writing team seemingly dropped the ball of a once-promising franchise that mastered the difficult task of telling a prologue in Season 1 with many time skips. How could it be that the writers had such difficulties writing a compelling finale for Season 2?
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Evidence suggests that Condal was not solely responsible. HBO became part of Warner Bros. Discovery about two years ago. Apparently, the executives asked Condal to truncate Season 2 by two episodes on very short notice. According to Elio Garcia, Co-Founder of Westeros.org, and Co-Writer of Fire & Blood and The World of Ice & Fire, this request came barely a month before production was scheduled to start filming. Here is an excerpt from Garcia’s post on Westeros.org:
“It was supposed to be a 10 episode season. A month before filming, after 8 months of writing, HBO told them to cut episodes. Then the writer’s strike started three months later, so the writers couldn’t work during filming to reorganize things. So, yeah, HBO shot themselves in a foot with people who are bothered by this aspect of the season.“
But Garcia wasn’t the only one commenting on this issue. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Condal’s writing partner Sara Hess replied with, “It wasn’t really our choice,” when asked why the season was cut short. While she declined to elaborate, it was clear what she was referring to. It would have been impossible to adjust the whole storyline for Season 2 within a month without postponing the entire production for perhaps another year, which explains why this season’s finale was a bit underwhelming.
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The original 10-episode version was supposed to feature the highly anticipated Battle of the Gullet, which has been pushed back to Season 3 — provided there won’t be any further interference by David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery. According to Ryan Condal, Season 3 might not feature more than 8 episodes either. It seems that the network doesn’t understand how that impacts the flow of the story and the audience’s patience. The Game of Thrones franchise has been the most profitable show HBO ever had. It is mind-boggling that they will risk another upset. Apparently, the network hasn’t learned anything from the previous blunder.
The last two seasons of Game of Thrones were also significantly shorter, with seven episodes in Season 7 and six in Season 8. Back then, fans were outraged by the ending and complained about rushed storylines and the questionable ending. Condal might have chosen to do the opposite when he faced this last-minute change. Instead of rushing to include the Battle of the Gullet, he decided to expand the war preparations to make up for this shortened season. However, given the setup with Alicent offering to open the gates of King’s Landing, it would have made more sense to end the season with Rhaenyra flying to the capital to claim the throne.
Warner Bros. Discovery has struggled since the merger took place. As per recent reports, the network lost over $9 billion in the second quarter, indicating ineffective leadership. Yet, HBO still added 3.6 million global subscribers during the same quarter, proving the worth of this franchise. The production costs for HotD are high, yet cutting down on the storytelling by shortening the seasons is not a smart move. There are two additional GRRM shows in the pipelines. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight and Aegon the Conqueror. If the fan base feels angered by compromised storytelling in HotD, these two new shows might not attract the same massive following. The Hedge Knight is already in production and expected to air in 2025 with only six episodes. The Aegon the Conqueror show is still in its early stages.