How to “fix” the back half of House of the Dragon season 1

Rhaenyra and Daemon should have killed Laenor Velaryon for real

By now, I’ve broken down all the big problems I have with the back half of House of the Dragon season 1. Basically, if you fix Episode 9, everything more or less works.

That said, I do have one other point I want to hit on: Laenor Velaryon’s “death” in Episode 7, “Driftmark.” This is one of the better episodes of the season, but I didn’t like this fakeout at the end. We’re led to believe that Rhaenyra and Daemon conspire to kill Rhaenyra’s husband Laenor Velaryon, who is a good man but who cannot provide Rhaenyra with trueborn children, something that has caused her a lot of grief at court these past 10 years. Also, Rhaenyra and Daemon really really want to be together and Rhaenyra’s marriage is making it difficult, so Laenor has to go.

It’s a cruel, selfish choice, but also a thrilling one that suggests that these characters, while passionate about being together, are wrong for each other, something that will be borne out over the rest of the story; we get a preview of it in Episode 10 when Daemon strangles Rhaenyra in cold anger before releasing his grip. No marriage should start with a murder, but that feels about right for Rhaenyra and Daemon.

Instead, the show reveals that Rhaenyra and Daemon didn’t really kill Laenor, but rather helped him fake his own death. This raises questions that get harder to answer the more you think about them. (So Daemon had to kill some rando? Laenor’s parents can’t tell that’s not their son’s body? How long does it take a head to crisp beyond recognition like that? What happens to Laenor’s dragon Seasmoke now? etc.) But the main problem is that it sets up a daring, exciting turn for Rhaenyra and Daemon and then chickens out.

I imagine the writers didn’t want us to see Rhaenyra and Daemon as overly cruel and heartless, but I think that misreads what kind of show this is. There are no heroes in this story, only deeply flawed people who occasionally do the right thing if you catch them on a good day. I think the show should lean into that. If they do, I suspect the audience will be more fascinated, not less.

And I think that’s about all the notes I have for right now. Anything else you think should be tweaked? Or did I go way too far? Feel free to discuss.

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