6 most disliked episodes in House of the Dragon

Ever since Game of Thrones announced it was coming to an end, studios have been trying to fill the hole it left behind. The most prominent of these attempts is House of the Dragon, a prequel to Game of Thrones based on George R. R. Martin's fictional history book, Fire & Blood. The series details the complexities of the period known as the Dance of the Dragons, when the Targaryen family divided into factions known as the Greens and the Blacks destroyed itself fighting over succession.

But how successful has it been in filling that void? In theory, both shows have a similar quality, with Game of Thrones earning a 89% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes and House of the Dragon earning an 87%. However, Game of Thrones actually has an average season score of 94% if we exclude the divisive eighth season, which scored 55%. Meanwhile, the two seasons of House of the Dragon yet released have more consistent mid-positive scores of 90% and 84%.

According to HBO, Game of Thrones' average viewership was approximately 22.4 million per episode, with season averages going as low as 9.3 million (Season 1) and as high as 46 million (Season 8). House of the Dragon has gotten between 9.3 and 10.2 million viewers in Season 1 and between 7.8 and 8.9 million in Season 2. That's a significant drop, and it's never a good sign for viewership to go down in a second season.

By looking at these two sets of information, it's clear that House of the Dragon is doing well, but not as well as its predecessor. While some of the drop in viewership may still be fans who rejected the franchise after the final season of Game of Thrones, there have been consistent complaints about the series, with a lot of emphasis on pacing.

Here, we look at the most disliked episodes from House of the Dragon, which will hopefully help illuminate why it has not gained the same level of success as Game of Thrones. Although the original series had its own share of disliked episodes, the worst episodes of House of the Dragon have fairly consistent reasons, which may help the showrunners approach the final two seasons with more care.

Season 1, Episode 9: "The Green Council"

Despite earning mostly positive ratings, there are many members of the fandom who hate "The Green Council." The penultimate episode of season 1 picks up shortly after the death of King Viserys, staying in King's Landing to show the progress of the Greens in securing the throne. Alicent Hightower and her father Otto race to find Aegon, hoping to influence him on what kind of king he should be. During his coronation, Rhaenys Targaryen — who was deemed overloyal to Aegon's rival Rhaenyra and kept prisoner — escapes and breaks through the floor on her dragon Meleys.

While some fans were annoyed by the race to find Aegon, as it didn't seem to make much difference which member of the Greens got to him first, the bigger qualm with this episode came from Rhaenys' actions. She had the opportunity to end the war in one fell swoop, but instead granted mercy to Alicent and effectively doomed the rest of her house and the realm.

This scene was a major deviation from the source material, which is always bound to cause some controversy, but it was so hated because it seemed to have no consequences. Besides Rhaenys' questionable decision to let the Greens live, she killed dozens, if not hundreds, of innocents in the process of her escape. However, their deaths don't matter at all. It should be a major hit against the Blacks but is was seemingly forgotten entirely.

This was not the worst episode of House of the Dragon, but it did include yet another major incident that had few, if any, consequences. Much like fans complained that Cersei blowing up the Great Sept on Game of Thrones should have led to a revolt from the smallfolk, Raenys killing people for no reason should have been treated as an act of terrorism, rather than a slightly overdramatic exit.

Season 2, Episode 5: "Regent"

For a season with only eight episodes, the fifth episode should be diving deep into the major plot, keeping audiences hooked in the lead-up to the finale. Given how important the previous episode "The Red Dragon and the Gold" was, it seemed like the war between the Blacks and the Greens would finally get started in earnest. However, "Regent" turned out to be a bit of a slow episode instead.

Both sides of the conflict have to deal with the consequences of the Battle of Rook's Rest, with the Blacks mourning Rhaenys and her dragon while the Greens look for a regent for King Aegon, who was grievously wounded in the battle but not killed. There was a lot of potential for political scheming here, but the Greens almost unanimously choose Aemond as regent, and Jace's conflicts with Rhaenyra over how to proceed feel a bit weak.

There's nothing inherently wrong with a filler episode. It helps to give characters and audiences a break after big moments and can do a lot for character development. Unfortunately, that didn't work with "Regent" because many of the scenes that were supposed to make audiences care about the characters had been done before.

In addition to the repetitive main plots, Daemon's arc is a combination of his frustration from season 1 about not being heir and weird scenes that just don't need to exist. Almost nobody thought that his incestuous dream scene with his own mother was worthwhile, especially since the frequency of the visions make them less impactful. While it's a decent episode overall, audiences just aren't attached enough to the characters for this kind of episode to be enjoyable to watch.

Season 1, Episode 6: "The Princess and the Queen"

"The Princess and the Queen" marked the biggest time jump of House of the Dragon. Ten years after the previous episode, many things have changed for the Targaryens. Rhaenyra has three sons that Alicent believes are bastards, Daemon has two daughters with Laena Velaryon, and tensions at court are high. This is only made worse when Daemon's wife Rhea Royce and Rhaenyra's lover Harwin Strong both die.

The time jump as a whole was frustrating, because it meant fans didn't get to see how the war between the Greens and the Blacks became inevitable. In particular, the audience didn't get to see how Aegon's presence was a threat to Rhaenyra, which is a crucial part of the conflict. We never see all of Viserys' children act like a family, so it's hard to feel bad about them breaking up when things escalate. But the bigger problem for this episode was that the time jump made it difficult, if not impossible, to care about some of the characters—especially those that died!

Laena Velaryon was introduced as a possible queen for Viserys and then an object of flirtation for Daemon, but that isn't enough to make audiences care about her. While the book had Rhaenyra be incredibly close with Daemon and Laena, the show kept them apart. While the book made it clear that Daemon loved his wife, the show just used her as a womb to create Baela and Rhaena before killing her off in a parallel to Aemma's death.

Similarly, Harwin Strong is supposedly the love of Rhaenyra's life, father to three of her children, and an important member of the court. His father was Hand of the King. And yet they are killed off with little fanfare. It's not necessarily a problem that they died, as that was orchestrated by Alicent and Larys, but the time jump meant that audiences had no real connection to either Strong, making it yet another death for the purposes of moving the plot forward, rather than having any impact on the audience.

Season 2, Episode 3: "The Burning Mill"

While the first two episodes of season 2 had fairly tight focuses on familial deaths that escalate the war, "The Burning Mill" introduces a bunch of other plotlines and characters that don't have enough screen time to feel like they matter. Daemon claims Harrenhal, Rhaenyra sends her youngest children away, one of the dragonseeds is introduced, Mysaria rises in Rhaenyra's court, and Rhaenyra sneaks into the Great Sept in King's Landing to talk to Alicent.

While there were many positive reactions to this episode, others found it boring because none of the plotlines felt significant. While the dragonseeds — characters who will mount riderless dragons later in the story — will be important later, their introduction is muted. Similarly, the youngest Green and Black children will be most significant in later plots, so they were sent away to make more time for the current main characters.

The moves being made don't seem to matter much, because they're pretty much the exact same plot points these characters will be following in the season finale. How do we get more dragons? Can Alicent and Rhaenyra stop the war from coming? Where do Daemon and Jacaerys fit into the war effort? The plot doesn't actually progress much on any of these points until later.

One of the biggest specific complaints is that Rhaenyra is able to easily sneak into King's Landing; there's a constant problem this season of people easily moving in and out of enemy camps. Rhaenyra and Alicent keep going back and forth, and it leaves fans who's guarding these places. After the Blood and Cheese incident, it's hard to believe it would be so easy for an enemy to get access to the dowager queen.

Season 2, Episode 6: "Smallfolk"

For an episode titled "Smallfolk," the biggest complaint about the episode is that we don't see enough from them. The main plot point is supposed to be the riot from the people of King's Landing, but it doesn't receive as much screentime as Aemond marshaling his troops and changing the composition of his Small Council.

On the other side of the war, Daemon is continuing to have visions, which is one of his only contributions this season. Rhaenyra makes some big moves, but fans have argued that her morality in doing so should have been more ambiguous. She and Mysaria plan the riots in King's Landing, and she lets one of her supporters get killed by a dragon, but these are played in a sympathetic light, instead of marking her as a shrewd strategist.

While many of the critiques are about the kiss between Rhaenyra and Mysaria in this episode, the more important factor in why this episode is disliked is because it continues to feel like the plot is driving the characters, instead of the other way around. Daemon is hardly doing anything, and other people are inspiring all of Rhaenyra's actions. Nobody can say Aemond isn't in control of his choices, but since the show's perspective is focused on Alicent losing control (or realizing that she never had it), it is hard to stay invested.

Overall, it felt like events were just happening because they were supposed to. Game of Thrones was successful because audiences connected with the characters, even those they hated, and the plot felt real. In this episode, we don't get to properly connect with the smallfolk or the royals, which makes it hard to care what happens to them.

Season 2, Episode 8: "The Queen Who Ever Was"

The most disliked episode of House of the Dragon so far is the season 2 finale, "The Queen Who Ever Was." The armies are finally ready for war, with Tyland Lannister securing the Triarchy for Aemond and Daemon swearing his Riverlands army to Rhaenyra. But instead of a conflict finally striking, Alicent breaks into Dragonstone and offers to give up King's Landing to Rhaenyra, and agreeing to let her kill both her sons.

Fans were frustrated by this episode primarily because it was proof that season 2 wasn't really building up to much. Although it was teased as the beginning of the war, the season as a whole was full of stops and starts. Besides the Battle of Rook's Rest, there was little action in the earlier episodes, and "The Queen Who Ever Was" didn't give us another spike.

The most upsetting element of the episode was the deviation from the book of having Alicent give King's Landing to Rhaenyra. Not only was it wildly out of character for her, but it also eliminated the significance of the conquest of King's Landing. There is no longer a battle, no longer a struggle for power. Merely a woman who gave her enemy her sons' lives and the throne because she felt bad.

As one Reddit user pointed out, the whole season only covered 30 pages of book action, and a few weeks in-world. It was stretched beyond its breaking point, and "The Queen Who Ever Was" lacked a sense that things had reached a turning point. Perhaps it would be better regarded if it weren't a season finale, but as the final episode we'll see for years, it was a massive let-down.

Helaena Targaryen, who is suddenly all-knowing, seems to give Daemon foreknowledge of not only the war, but of the coming of Daenerys. This is another element that doesn't land. Helaena stops feeling like a real character, and Daemon is now (like Rhaenyra) just acting out of loyalty to a prophecy, rather than for his own reasons. Rather than being its own, intriguing story, House of the Dragon now feels more like a prologue for Game of Thrones, which makes it feel less worth watching as its own individual entity.

The third season of House of the Dragon is currently set to begin pre-production this year, with filming happening in 2025. This means that it likely won't be coming to screens until 2026. While that long of a wait can be frustrating, fans can only hope that the writers will listen to feedback and work on the pacing and characterization issues moving forward.