Daemon' dream sequences grind House of the Dragon to an abrupt standstill

House of the Dragon aired the fourth episode of its second season on Sunday, and it was a visual triumph featuring an incredible air battle with not two, but three dragons.

For the most part, this was the best episode of the season, and maybe of the entire series to date, yet one aspect was just brutal for me to sit through.

Daemon's Harrenhal dream sequences are unexplainable, pace-killing abominations

Some fantasy franchises use dreams as part of their world and magic. The Wheel of Time is one, though we haven't seen many such sequences on the Amazon adaptation yet. Author George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire book series has the occasional dream sequence, but HBO's adaptation of those books, Game of Thrones, barely had any. Other than arguably Arya's training in the House of Black and White, hallucinations and dreams haven't played any kind of part in the storytelling.

For some unknow reason, House of the Dragon has decided to use uneven, boring, warped, confusing dreams and illusions to work through Daemon's many, many issues. At the root of his problem is that he feels resentful that his neice and wife Rhaenyra was named heir to the Iron Throne over him. And yet he also cares deeply for Rhaenyra, so he's at war with himself.

The dreams are probably meant to unlock something deep in the mind of Daemon — jealousy, resentment, guilt, or whatever — or maybe foreshadow upcoming events. Regardless of the reason, all the sequences do is induce eye-rolling impatience for viewers at home, or at least for this one.

They are out of character for a series and franchise that is usually great at explaining everything through actions and words. The dreams, or illusions, visions, hallucinations or whatever are warped and disjointed and don't necessarily reveal anything new to the audience. Everyone already knows Daemon has issues and why. The scenes come off as lazily written and poorly produced, which is incredibly uncharacteristic of the show.

There had to have been a better way for Daemon to deal with his demons that's more in line with how the franchise has always done things: revelations through conversations and deeds. These scenes seem to be a waste of time and they are pulling down the overall pace of the episodes.

Hopefully, we are done with them now. The episode ended on an all-time high and doesn't need the baggage of Daemon's subconsciousness to pull down the pace anymore. There is plenty to unpack going forward other than Daemon's twisted mind.

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