Spoilers for episode 3 of season 2 of House of the Dragon on HBO.
The first two episodes of the second season of House of the Dragon caused deaths that made us think that war within the Targaryen kin tree was inevitable, and the Greens and Blacks were advancing towards the riverlands in episode 3. Daemon arrived first in Harrenhal, but his arrival wasn’t so much triumphant as it was terrifying, and the experience reunited Matt Smith with none other than Milly Alcock for a series that director Geeta Vasant Patel shared was very emotional.
Geeta Vasant Patel directed the groundbreaking eighth episode of Season 1 before returning for Season 2, and spoke to CinemaBlend about episode 3’s Daemon-centric twists and the surreal reunion of Matt Smith and Supergirl Milly Alcock as Daemon and young Rhaenyra. .
First things first: how House of the Dragon dealt with Daemon’s story to bring Milly Alcock. Daemon Targaryen was as paranoid as ever in Episode 3 when he was given a room in the distinctly creepy ruins of Harrenhal. Not only did he wake up completely behind in the night, however, he had blocked the door handles with swords to ensure that no one on the other side could pass through without breaking down the door.
At least that’s what it seemed! The door began to close so tightly that Daemon looked as if he had used Caraxes in addition to Dark Sister for good measure. Soon after, however, it became apparent that Daemon was not awake, as he followed the sound of a woman making a song to locate a creation of Rhaenyra sewing the head of young Jaehaerys, who he murdered through Blood and Cheese in the Season 2 premiere. look back.
But this is not the old edition of Rhaenyra played by Emma D’Arcy. Milly Alcock, who played the teenage version of Rhaenyra for the first five episodes of the series, reprized her role (more or less) for Daemon’s dream interpretation of her niece/wife. , and. . . well, if there’s any doubt Daemon felt at least a trace of guilt and confrontation after Jaehaerys’ death, I think the dream is evidence to the contrary.
Milly Alcock’s appearance came as a surprise, as House of the Dragon announced that the original actress Rhaenyra would be part of the episode. When I spoke about episode 3 with director Geeta Vasant Patel, she broke down the scene:
It was a glorious thing to have him there. I think narratively it was correct. I think the writing of this scene is brilliant because there’s only one user who can put himself in Daemon’s shoes, and that’s Rhaenyra. And the fact that she told him that it doesn’t matter means that she hasn’t. nothing with the adult Rhaenyra, but what she does not forget is that the user who enjoyed it to the fullest was the young Rhaenyra. When he enters this dream, she turns to him, judges him, and essentially tells him, “You killed a young man. How can you do that? Look at yourself. She is his mirror, because in a different way he walks and does not care what others think. But along with Rhaenyra, she is the only user who touches his heart. And this is the first time we’ve noticed Damon processing his actions.
Considering that Daemon’s adventure to take Harrenhal in Rhaenyra’s name came shortly after she left scathing comments against him, Daemon discovers that his dream would be from an easier time: when she was younger, and none of They could just be “Your Grace” for now. Patel continued:
When we filmed that scene, Milly, Matt and I talked about how this scene is a product of all the previous scenes, that if you take away all the words, she can just look at it and she’ll break. And then we walked around the level several times, just to locate our way. And at one point, Milly looked at Matt, and his face broke and she started crying. Then I cried and the guys on the team cried too. It’s such a beautiful moment that it’s not Game of Thrones, it’s not House of the Dragon. He’s just a guy who made a mistake and just learned it.
While it’s tempting to say that the dream was nothing more than the product of a culprit and sleeping in a clearly creepy castle, the appearance of a barral later in Daemon’s dream and the appearance of Alys Rivers certainly mean a lot to readers of George R. R. ‘s book. Martin. Fire and blood.
House of the Dragon has featured many terrifying scenes in both seasons so far, and Daemon has been guilty of several of them, adding (but not limited to) the execution of Vaemond in King’s Landing and the murder of his first wife, unlike Fire & Blood. However, no position was as strange as Harrenhal, as Daemon explored what amounted to ruins in the dark, with rain falling on him before despite everything he encountered with the other people defending the castle for Larys Strong.
However, they wasted no time in handing over the castle to Daemon and were so accommodating that it’s hard to blame Daemon for thinking they were too nice not to secretly try to poison him. The location also seemed to have compatibility with Daemon’s temperament after the fight with Rhaenyra and his insistence that she could not accept it as true. According to the director, Harrenhal’s strategy was to shed light on Daemon’s location and mental state, as shared by Geeta Vasant Patel:
There are two things. One of them is, obviously, the structure of Harrenhal. But the other thing is that every time Matt and I saw that scene, it felt like it could have happened anytime, anywhere. A boy walks in, it’s a scary place, it’s scary. He turns the corner, a guard sees him. He says, ‘Oh my God, it’s Daemon!’ and he starts running. And then Daemon walks into the room and says, “Hi, I’m Daemon, I’ll take over. ” I just felt like maybe we didn’t understand “why now. ” Regardless, I came back and had an idea about it. I thought, ‘You know what? Wait a minute’. This is not a guy who walks into Harrenhal. He’s about a guy who was rejected by the only woman he ever let into his life, and where he is at that moment, and Harrenhal reflects that.
Rhaenyra would have possibly been miles away from Dragonstone while Daemon was investigating Harrenhal, but her decisions were obviously informed through their last interaction. And would it actually be the rebel prince or the king consort, depending on who you ask in the House as a whole?of the Dragon – Daemon Targaryen if he was doing well?The director went on to tell how she approached what she needed to replace with showrunner Ryan Condal:
So I went back on stage and sat with Ryan. I was like, ‘Wait a minute. ‘ The dragon that enters Harrenhal is like a guy who comes out of a fight with his wife, drinks and is reckless. He can simply commit suicide, jump off a bridge or kill someone. We don’t know, but it’s the precipice of a position he’s never been in before. And that’s where he crosses paths with Harrenhal. So with the visual effects, we created movement for the dragon, we created a tone for that scene that was different than what we had before. Before there was a dragon flying, and now we have created what I call the drunken dragon, flying through this weather. Then when Daemon arrives at Harrenhal, he didn’t need it to feel like Marvel. He is not a superhero. He’s a damaged guy, so we repositioned the shots of him too.
Daemon is never more fatal than when he’s on Caraxes’ back, however, his mental state in Episode 3 is a far cry from when he roasted enemies en masse on the Stone Steps in Season 1. As the director noted, in fact No Superhero Mode. Geeta Vasant Patel also thanked other departments for their contributions, particularly for naming director of photography Catherine Goldschmidt, who spoke to CinemaBlend about episode 3. Patel continued:
We arrived and Daemon goes via Harrenhal, and the only reference I used was The Silence of the Lambs. Someone who is in a position they don’t know, and for the first time, we see another aspect of Daemon. Someone who is possibly vulnerable and doesn’t know where to go. He was evicted from his home. What is written is that he approaches, sees the guard, the guard runs and we, the guard, run. Instead, he’s very excited. He’s so full of pain, but he’s a demon that speaks violently. So, Matt and I. . . We made the decision that it was better for Daemon to beat this guy, because that’s what he would do. Even if the guy was going to run away. It’s Daemon, because he’s having a bad day and if you get in his way, we wish you luck. So we turned it in any direction, and that’s what was chosen regardless.
The guard who met Daemon during a particularly painful moment at Harrenhal was incredibly unlucky, as season 1 established that when Daemon is in the mood, someone is most likely going to take a hit. . . at the very least. Of course, Daemon was not content to reflect on his wife or have strange dreams during his stay in Harrenhal. His insistence on being called “His Grace of Him” is a stand-in for Fire.
Overall, it’s safe to say that Daemon is no less confusing in the rivers than he is in Dragonstone, King’s Landing, or the Stepstones, and that the war between Targaryens is still in its infancy. The black forces will most likely be prepared for him as soon as imaginable to take an opposing stance to the Greens. As Daemon pointed out, Black has the advantage when it comes to dragons, but it remains to be seen if Vhagar will run amok on the rivers now that Criston Cole is Aegon’s hand.
Continue singing on HBO on Sundays at nine p. m. h. ET to watch new episodes of House of the Dragon, or stream each and every episode so far now with a Max subscription.
Laura has turned her lifelong love of television into a valid explanation for why writing and reflecting on television on a daily basis. She is not a doctor, nor a lawyer nor a detective, but she sees many of them in prime time. CinemaBlend interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television shows. He doesn’t travel back in time and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. However, you need to believe that you can feature references to The X-Files in everyday verbal exchange (and in author biographies).
As Carrie Preston celebrates the start of Elsbeth’s second season, I look back and see what she told us about the dream guest stars.
After Shark Week broke his own records with John Cena, I love what one said about running with him
I’m excited about Robert Downey Jr. in Avengers: Secret Wars, but let’s not pretend there are any major issues.
Cinemablend is from Future US Inc. , a leading overseas virtual publisher and media organization. Visit our corporate website.