Jun 22, 2026 12:24pm IST
‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3 Episode 1 Review: An Absolute Spectacle but at Cost to its Soul
“House of the Dragon” Season 3 is here, and the first episode,"Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood," is easily one of the most anticipated yet dreaded episodes in the series. The nearly 70-minute episode that—let’s be real—should’ve been the ninth in a ten-episode Season 2, does start the new season with a bang and a spectacle. It features a tremendous battle, death and carnage by dragon and betrayal and heartbreaks galore. And yet, all the edge-of-the-seat action cannot make you forget that the show seems to have lost some of its soul.
The penultimate season of Ryan Condal’s prequel series, “House of the Dragon,” based on George R.R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood,” is supposed to be The One. We’ve arrived at the point in Westeros history when the Dance of the Dragons gets intense. As the personal cost of war grows greater, the inherent madness in House Targaryen starts manifesting itself more visibly in the key players on both sides of this civil war.
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But as was the case with later seasons of “Game of Thrones,” some of the characters’ actions are either at major odds with who they ought to be or a great waste of what they could’ve been. And several moments in the episode explain why Martin might’ve been inclined to write those long blog posts critiquing the direction in which Condal is taking the show.
For example, the episode starts with Rhaena Targaryen’s (Phoebe Campbell) pursuit of the wild dragon, Sheepstealer, in The Vale of Arryn, thus merging her arc with a book character named Nettles who won’t be in the show. Her conquest is truly thrilling until the end of the episode, when the series decides to amend her story for dramatic effect. Given that “Fire & Blood” isn’t factual Westerosi history but multiple accounts by unreliable narrators, there’s no denying the possibility of the events. But it does feel like a betrayal when a key character’s arc is altered so drastically.
A similar moment occurs for Prince Regent Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell), whose traits and arc have been matched with Prince Daemon Targaryen’s (Matt Smith). Again, book readers are aware of their endgame; yet, the series tries to double down on the parallels with similar Oedipal issues for both characters. Aemond gets a moment with Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), just like Daemon in Season 2, which feels frustratingly like overkill. There’s also the beginnings of Rhaenyra’s (Emma D'Arcy) Daenerys arc, and while D’Arcy aces the emotion, the dialogue feels a bit forced in the moment.
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The highlights of the episode then arrive in the form of Rogue Prince Daemon Targaryen’s return to the battlefield and people’s prince Jacaerys Targaryen’s (Harry Collett) show of valour at the Battle of the Gullet, one of the best battle sequences in the series. The naval blockade of the Blacks, led by Lord Corlys Velaryon’s (Steve Toussaint) fleet under Alyn of Hull’s (Abubakar Salim) command, clashes with the rogue force of the Triarchy and Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn), brought in by Ser Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall), Master of Ships to King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney). And not since “Pirates of the Caribbean” has a battle at sea been this nail-biting. Even those who know the outcome would be screaming at their screens at the heartbreaking spectacle of it.
Of the new characters, James Norton’s Ormund Hightower definitely makes an impression with his attitude, even if Benjamin Evan Ainsworth’s Daeron Targaryen and his blue dragon, Tessarion, don’t quite get a proper introduction (yet).
“House of the Dragon” Season 3 is off to a great start, but it remains to be seen just how much it compromises its soul for spectacle. It is currently streaming on JioHotstar with new episodes every Monday.
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