House of the Dragon season 1 introduced us to the key players in the Dance of the Dragons, season 2 kickstarted the conflict further, and in the premiere of season 3, the war is at its most action-packed, thrilling peak. The episode, titled “Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood” has opened with an impressive 9.4/10 on IMDb, making it the joint-highest rated episode in he show's history.
Before the season 3 premiere came along, only season 4 episode 4, “The Red Dragon and the Gold,” has scored a 9.4/10. That episode has retained the 9.4 score after 66K ratings, whereas the season 3 premiere has just 10K at the time of writing.
In the premiere, the team pulled off the biggest battle House of the Dragon has ever seen—in fact, showrunner Ryan Condal called it “arguably” the "craziest episode of television ever made" that was so expensive it was "frankly irresponsible."
The battle sequence in question is the Battle of the Gullet, which sees Queen Rhaenyra's forces (including her son Jace and his dragon Vermax) battle against the Triarchy's fleet. It's devastating on both sides. SPOILER ALERT: The episode concludes with the death of Jace, who's plunged into the Gullet when Vermax is taken down. When he resurfaces and catches his breath, he's immediately shot repeatedly with arrows and crossbow bolts.
How “Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood” fares in IMDb ratings
The season 3 premiere is the only House of the Dragon opener to score above a 9/10. In fact, it's the highest-rated premiere on IMDb in the entire franchise's history. Looking specifically at House of the Dragon premieres, seasons 1 and 2 scored 8.7 and 8.2, respectively.
At 9.4/10, the premiere still falls in third place for episodes within the franchise this year. Two of the six episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms scored 9.5/10 ratings on IMDb; those episodes being “Seven” (episode 4) and “In the Name of the Mother” (episode 5).
It's unlikely that any episode will ever come close to Game of Thrones, which boasts an unprecedented three 9.9/10 episodes: “The Rains of Castamere” (season 3 episode 9), “Battle of the Bastards” (season 6 episode 9) and “The Winds of Winter” (season 6 episode 10).
On Rotten Tomatoes, House of the Dragon season 3 currently boasts 95% on critics ratings (44 reviews) and 70% from user-submitted scores (100+ ratings).
The House of the Dragon season 3 premiere is now streaming on HBO Max. New episodes are released every Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. ET.
Add us as a preferred source on Google