“They should have been single episode conflicts”: 2 Emma D’Arcy and Matt Smith Arcs in House of the Dragon Season 2 Expose the “Big flaw in modern TV”

SUMMARY

• Emma D'Arcy's Rhaenyra and Matt Smith's Daemon were the highlights of House of the Dragon Season 2.
• House of the Dragon Season 2 was criticized for its slow pacing.
• Rhaenyra and Daemon's arcs seemed to be taking most of the time this season.

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The second season of House of the Dragon completed its run quite successfully earlier this month. The prequel series deemed itself worthy of being called a spinoff of Game of Thrones, with several callbacks from the original series. However, it wasn’t devoid of criticism.

Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen in House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 8 | HBO Max

One of the main criticisms about the second season was its slow pacing, which was also seen in the earlier seasons of Game of Thrones. But the character arcs of two of its main characters, Daemon and Rhaenyra, felt too stretched than deemed necessary.

Daemon and Rhaenyra’s unnecessarily long arcs in House of the Dragon Season 2

House of the Dragon Season 2 began on a high note and reached a series best by the middle of this season, when dragons clashed in the air in the Battle of the Rook’s Rest. Both Greens and Blacks suffered significant losses, though the result was in favor of the Greens.

House of the Dragon season 2 ending felt anticlimactic to many fans | Credits: HBO

However, it went downhill from there, as the Targaryen saga dived deep into political struggles and mental issues. Rhaenyra got extremely busy trying to assert her dominance in the Black Council, as she faced more opposition after Rhaenys’ death.

On the other hand, Daemon was facing his inner demons via his trippy dreams at Harrenhal. While the two eventually sort out their issues by the season finale, their personal journeys seem to be occupying the bulk of this chapter’s storyline, ignoring some other important characters.

Daemon and Rhaenyra’s storyline could’ve been compressed

Rhaenyra with Syrax, Ulf with Silverwing and Hugh with Vermithor| HBO Max

As much as fans love Rhaenyra and Daemon, their individual struggles seemed to be quite stretched out in House of the Dragon. A lot of them felt dissatisfied with the unnecessarily long arcs, and missing several major plot points like that of Prince Daeron or Jace’s interaction with Cregan Stark.

A few of them pointed it out in a Reddit thread:

Whatever the reason be, it seems like the House of the Dragon showrunner and writers wanted Season 2 to be all about preparation, and sorting things straight before the major battles to come. And it came at the expense of other characters, who perhaps deserved more screentime, or an introduction at least.

House of the Dragon is currently streaming on HBO Max.

Written by Sayantan Choudhary

Articles Published: 86

Sayantan is an editor for FandomWire/Animated Times. He has previously worked with reputed websites like Wiki Of Thrones and Collider over the past 4 years, and is deeply passionate about TV shows, films, anime, gaming, and everything pop culture.