Why is the latest episode of House of the Dragon the lowest rated ever?

The most recent episode of House of the Dragon, "Smallfolk," aired this past Sunday, July 21. After being disappointed by the episode prior, "Regent," I thoroughly enjoyed "Smallfolk." I liked how it made full use of the show's deep bench of characters, I liked how events set up earlier in the season started to pay off (the riot scene in particular was edge-of-your-seat stuff), I liked the plotline where Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen tried and failed to find a new dragonrider, and I liked how characters were finally opening up to each other in well-written conversations. Alicent talking to her brother Gwayne about her absent son Daeron? Powerful. Larys Strong, of all people, opening up to King Aegon? Who saw that coming?

So I was surprised to see that "Smallfolk" has easily the lowest user rating of any House of the Dragon episode on IMDb: 6.3/10. That's quite a drop from the 9.6 brought in by "The Red Dragon and the Gold," which featured a huge dragon battle in the sky.

Why the dropoff, and does it bode ill for the rest of the season and the series? Let's dig into it. Beware SPOILERS below.

Rhaenyra kissed a girl and some fans didn't like it

First, we need to talk about the gay elephant in the room. Towards the end of the episode, Rhaenyra shares a tender, passionate kiss with her mistress of whisperers Mysaria, with whom she's had an increasingly close personal relationship. I was surprised by the kiss, but I liked this turn a lot. All season, I'd found myself enjoying the Rhaenyra-Mysaria scenes, and this after not thinking much of Mysaria in season 1. These two worked well together, they shared things, they were growing closer. So while I didn't see the kiss coming — it's worth noting that it's not mentioned in the source material, George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood — it made a lot of sense when I stopped to think about it, which is pretty much the definition of a good twist. I'm intrigued to see where they take it next.

When I saw that "Smallfolk" was getting bad reviews, my first thought was that it had something to do with the kiss. And indeed, you can definitely find reviews where people vent about the indignity of having to watch a character they thought was straight explore her sexuality. "I have never seen someone ruining his own great work with just 30 sec of unnecessary scene that will drag the storyline to its doom," a one-star review laments of the scene. Another decries all the previous Rhaenyra-Mysaria scenes as "sneaky bait & switch," I guess because they were lured into watching a same-sex kiss under false pretenses. A review from Comic Book News drips with contempt over Hollywood "injecting its own agenda into the characters and the show." They thought the scene was "unnecessary."

This all sounds like standard-issue crypto-homophobia to me. The only reason a character would be queer on TV is if it's part of an "agenda." There can only be a gay kiss if it's "necessary." With responses like this, I think it's fair to assume that the low episode ratings are due in part to some fans being uncomfortable with the gay.

However, I don't think that's the whole story.

Is House of the Dragon's slackened pacing catching up to it?

Most of the bad reviews are most upset not about the Rhaenyra-Mysaria kiss, but about how slow House of the Dragon has been moving this season. "Waiting for the whole week and not getting any story movement forward is kind of frustrating. After episode 4, the story is not moved an inch," writes one fan. "This season has moved torturously slow," writes another. "I miss last seasons pace and the momentum of the plot. I feel like I keep waiting for war to start and that the seasons going to end before it does."

On these points, I'm much more sympathetic. I think the show has definitely slackened its pace this season, starting right from the jump. Remember how season 1 ended with Rhaenyra learning about the death of her son Lucerys and turning to the camera in a murderous rage? Surely, we all thought, war was afoot.

But it wasn't. Rhaenyra opened the season being the voice of temperance and caution in the room. And in the past three episodes, she's spent at least one scene complaining of how frustrating it is to have to stay on Dragonstone rather than fly out and fight for the Iron Throne in person. Daemon Targaryen has been at the crumbling castle of Harrenhal since the third episode of the season. He's tried to raise an army of Rivermen but failed at every turn. In between, we're treated to a parade of guest stars who march through his unquiet dreams.

Alicent Hightower is struggling with being put out to pasture by her son Aemond, who does not want her counsel in his new role as Regent. In last week's episode, there's a scene where she puts herself forward for the regent job and gets shot down by the men on the Small Council. She is wounded by the indignity of it all. In "Smallfolk," there's a scene where Aemond effectively fires her. She is again wounded by the indignity of it all. I liked both of these scenes, but they did retread some of the same ground, which contributes to the sense that the season is repeating itself.

And let's not even get started on Daemon's dreams, one of which literally featured returning cast member Paddy Considine (King Viserys) repeating a monologue he gave in the very first episode of the series, word for word. If we're trying to figure out what's making this season feel sluggish, Daemon's plotline is easily the number one offender.

All that said, I think "Smallfolk" moved things along much better than "Regent." Rhaenyra is actively recruiting dragonriders, her plans with Mysaria bore fruit in the form of the riot in King's Landing, and minor characters like Addam of Hull and Hugh Hammer are coming to the fore. But I wonder if fans are piling on "Smallfolk" because the season's slow pace is finally catching up with it. With two episodes left, it's hard to picture the show really picking up the pace now, and even if it did, it may be too late.

Why is House of the Dragon moving so slowly this season?

And I do think a brisk pace is important when you're telling a story about war. Fans want character, they want theme, but they also want action and movement. And oftentimes character and theme are best expressed through action and movement, so let's bring on the twists and turns.

I think part of the problem is that House of the Dragon seems unwilling to spend too much time away from Rhaenyra, Alicent and Daemon, even if they're not the characters driving the plot at that particular moment. On Game of Thrones, sometimes important characters like Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannsiter and Daenerys Targaryen would sit out whole episodes if they weren't needed. I encourage House of the Dragon to adopt that strategy.

It's also possible that HBO is encouraging the House of the Dragon team to stretch out the story so the series lasts longer. Season 2 is only eight episodes long while season 1 had 10 episodes. We've heard reports that part of the story originally intended for the end of season 2, including a major battle scene, was moved to season 3. When asked about the reduction in episode count, producer Sara Hess hinted, "It wasn't really our choice."

So armies are marshalling on the borders of the show. Will they attack or be repelled? Much may depend on the final two episodes of the season, which air Sunday nights on HBO and Max.

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