The first three episodes of the third season did a lot to finish up the plots of season two before setting up a new status quo for the series. Queen Rhaenyra has managed to finally set herself on the Iron Throne but the consequences of doing so are ones she was not prepared to deal with. Rhaenyra hates charming nobles, loathes bribing individuals, and prefers to exalt in the worship of the common folk but is the primary instigator of their woes due to the siege she placed around King's Landing. Even her so-called alliance with Alicent has fallen apart because she executed Otto Hightower herself.
Rhaenyra continues to cause no end of alienation to her followers by insisting on doing things that seem specifically designed to annoy them. In one case, she has Ulf the Dragonrider forbidden from taverns and associating with his former friends. This despite the fact she has only elevated him to knighthood rather than true nobility. She is also more focused on finding out who "killed" Jace and the dragon rider of Sheepstealer despite that person only distracting him rather than being the one who did him in. Rhaenyra, you know who killed Jace, they were the archers who were sunk at the bottom of the bay.
This plot gets a surprising bit of attention as the only time Daemon is probably going to be punished for his failures is when he tries to do the right thing. Daemon discovers Rhaena is responsible for the disaster at the Gullet and deeply traumatized. Daemon being a disaster of a person at the best of times, proceeds to fake another dragon rider that he's killed. This is something that Rhaenyra believes, reluctantly, but Mysaria doubts.
We also get a new villain to replace Otto Hightower and Aemond when the former is killed while the latter is injured thanks to his stupid attempt to takeover Harrenhal. Ormund Hightower is shown to be a vain, effete, tyrannical, and psychotic individual who seems to take a lot from Waukeen Phoenix's Commodus. He is attempting to teach his nephew Daeron how to wield power and it is as twisted as it sounds with him first punishing a soldier for attempting to rape a peasant then punishes her brother with execution for striking said soldier.
I like the character of Daeron as while it's pretty late to be introducing another child of Alicent Hightower (who looks fantastic for a mother of four), he is definitely the white sheep of the family. He doesn't want to hurt anyone but Ormund only holds violence as a way to display oneself. It's very similar to Samwell Tarly and his father but, unlike Samwell, Daeron is willing to do what his evil father-figure wants. Even if it's reluctantly.
In conclusion, this is a solid episode but not quite as impressive as the previous three. Rhaenyra's degeneration as a ruler makes her harder to root for, though. Daemon is getting some decent character development as a father, though. Ormund is a guy that can theoretically fill the role of providing some antagonist motivation to get everyone to work together.
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