The way “House of the Dragon” deals with death ruins the show

(Warning: Spoilers for this season of House of the Dragon.)

With the death of Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) in “The Red Dragon and the Gold”, the black faction in House of the Dragon has suffered its first major blow, but you wouldn’t know it by the way the characters passively stare into the distance when they hear the news of her death, as if they were reflecting on her existence rather than mourning the life she lost.

In addition to being a main character in the series, she was also the wife, former mother-in-law, and grandmother of the characters of Team Black. In season 2, she was one of the few people on Rhaenyra Targaryen’s (Emma D’Arcy) council who defended and supported the queen’s actions. Alongside Rhaenyra is Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), Rhaenys’ husband. Although their relationship became strained after they officially named Rhaenyra to the throne instead of her brother Aegon Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney), the two previously had one of the most loving relationships in the series.

You’d think that Rhaenyra and Corlys’ reactions to Rhaenys’ death would be meaningful, but unfortunately that’s not the case. The two stare into each other in silence in separate scenes, almost as if they’re thinking about the weather – and not their greatest ally, who is brutally killed by the opposing team. Later, they both share a scene (albeit separately) with Rhaenys’ granddaughter Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia), having a tender, if brief, discussion about her. The problem is that Baela and Rhaenys didn’t speak to each other in Season 2, and were only briefly seen onscreen together in Season 1.

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The series is in contrast to its predecessor game of Thrones great in some ways, but mostly because the emotional climaxes never hit as hard as in the previous series. Thrones allowed us to spend time with the characters and build their relationships, so even the deaths were palpable. While Baela’s conversations with Corlys and Rhaenyra are two highlights in “Regent,” I was left confused, wondering if these conversations about Rhaenys’ bond with her granddaughter would be more poignant if we actually seen they spend time together.

The authors of House of the Dragon seem to stubbornly insist on not letting these characters grieve, and even though they are at war, grief is a defining factor of Fire & Bloodthe George RR Martin novel on which this series is based. The accumulation of death and grief on both Team Black and Team Green weighs heavily on the shoulders of those left behind, making for an overwhelmingly tragic story. It’s a tone and narrative that doesn’t translate to the screen, however, as the breakneck pace of this adaptation haunts the show and its emotional high points.

Rhaenys’ death is not the first to have little weight in this season. While the memory of the murder of Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault) resonates in the first episode of the second season, his name hardly appears in the following episodes. In Martin’s Fire & BloodLuke’s death is the trigger for the war. But in the series, everyone just sits around. “And with his death, the war of ravens and emissaries and marriage contracts ended, and the war of fire and blood began in earnest,” Martin wrote in the original novel. But more than half of an already short 8-episode season is over, and there is still a lot of war to experience and wish for.

Perhaps the writers fear that their characters will seem weak if they are emotional, but they are completely wrong. Grief can make these characters all the more human, as can be seen in Thrones with the villain Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey). In her grief for the loss of her many children, the lonely woman of House Lannister became more real and tangible, finally able to connect with fans who had previously hated her. Without giving these characters a chance to grieve, they instead come across as stilted caricatures not only of their book counterparts, but of television characters in general.

It’s a shame because season 1 of House of the Dragon was so strong in its tense and emotional moments. The monologue between Rhaenyra and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) in “Driftmark” is undeniably one of the strongest lines in the series, and showcases the talent of Cooke and D’Arcy. This highlight also includes Rhaenyra’s final look into the camera in the season 1 finale – one that promised a few emotions, including sadness. However, none of those emotions were repeated in season 2.

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The missions in House of the Dragon decrease, and the show’s unwillingness to let the characters show strong emotions is a direct reason for this. One of the best things about game of Throneseven up until the unsatisfying final episode, were the emotional high points. Even when characters died in ways that could have been avoided or left fans gasping in amazement, those deaths were felt not only by the audience, but by the characters on screen as well.

When central characters like Ned Stark (Sean Bean) and even supporting characters like Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal) died, Thrones asked us to explore these deaths and ask ourselves how they would change the show and the people in it. All it takes is a simple conversation for the characters to bury their feelings and quickly move on, hindering their development and the emotional attachment of fans in the process. House of the Dragon is unfortunately keeping its audience at a distance, and if this continues, the series will not be able to outdo the show it so desperately wants to differentiate itself from.