#3485 House of the Dragon S03E07: Enter the Dragon

**Ben Mandelker** (0:36)
Hello, and welcome to Watch What Crappens, a podcast about all that crap on Bravo that we just love to talk about, or sometimes we just head over to HBO because this is also Winter is Crappening. We are here to talk House of the Dragon. I'm Ben Mandelker. Joining me here for this penultimate recap of season three of House of the Dragon, it's Ronnie Karam. Hi Ronnie, how's it going?

**Ronnie Karam** (0:59)
Hi, good. How's everything going over there?

**Ben Mandelker** (1:04)
It's great. It's great.
Loved this episode of House of the Dragon.
I'm actually really loving this whole season. I spoke to a friend last night and I was like, oh my God, did you watch this week's episode? He's like, I'm very far behind. And he's like, he's like, I really don't like the season. I was like, what? He's like, oh, I don't like this. Like, you know, Renira's like, you know, dealing with rats and what to do. I was like, that's fair. You know, they've kind of like, Ray Ray suck, you know, poor Ray Ray. She's just like descending into madness and she's like really bad at being a queen. And it sort of feels like all our hopes and dreams that we pinned on the first two seasons are falling apart. But the season overall is awesome. I say, it's like a 100%, like a totally different show or like a, I don't think I've actually ever seen a show that was so bad its first season and so like fine in its second season become to me so good in its third season. What are you thinking these days?

**Ronnie Karam** (2:04)
Well, I've always loved this show. You know, as far as the Ray Ray stuff, I love that your friend's complaint was like pest control. I think that's the best complaint that I've heard about this season so far is like the pest. It's the rats. That's what's doing it. Ray Ray, I could use less like constant tears in her eyes for every sentence, you know? But I think that's just how she rolls.
And also I noticed she does this really sharp inhale thing before she says every sentence. And now that I've noticed it, it doesn't leave me alone. She'll be like, Helena, now you're going to notice it.

**Ben Mandelker** (2:46)
I'm going to notice it.

**Ronnie Karam** (2:47)
I see it for every little thing.

**Ben Mandelker** (2:48)
She'll be like, I see it.

**Ronnie Karam** (2:50)
And where's Darren? You know? She waits. It's like she holds her breath. And then right before she speaks, does a, yeah. But I still, I still love my Ray Ray. The thing about Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon is everybody wants to be in charge. And then the second they're in charge, it's a clusterfuck. Cause nobody knows what they're even supposed to be doing.

**Ben Mandelker** (3:08)
So, yeah, that's true.

**Ronnie Karam** (3:10)
You need training of some kind. And the last king was a child. And then the king before that didn't really just, just didn't want to be in war. So it was peaceful, you know?

**Ben Mandelker** (3:20)
I mean, I think that what's hard is that Ray Ray, they built this character who has kind of like a moral compass and cares about people and intrinsically cares about those who have, you know, who might be a little bit more powerless. And she's willing to give chances to people. She's willing to be compassionate. And that's why we root for her versus the various high tower, you know, schmucks that come and go. And then this season, she sort of becomes queen and then she's just a little passive.
And, you know, I understand when you have like great power, you question what you have to do and everything, but like there's really like a sense of like, what happened to that character that, you know, what that was we had our first two seasons. It's like, to me, it's actually not quite enough to say, oh, well, the throne corrupts, power corrupts. I'm like, yeah, but like, we didn't even see her try to do the right thing. Like the only time she tried to do the right thing is like in episode two, one or two, when she went out to like a cart with Mizaria and like handed out bread to the poppers. And then ever since then, she's just like, what should I do? And then it's like Damon saying one thing, Mizaria saying one thing. I mean, I think if anything, if anyone is a corrupting force, it's actually Damon. I feel like everything that he's pushed for has been like not helpful at all.