'House of the Dragon' Needs To Move On From Harrenhal

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I've blogged about it before, but I've really struggled with this series. The first season was decent and I gave it the same leeway I give most inaugural seasons. You gotta set up world and trying to establish a separate identity within the world of something as beloved as Thrones isn't easy. The second season, though, did nothing to raise my opinion of the series. And a massive reason why is Harrenhal. 

Matt Smith's performance as Daemon was one of the highlights of the first season. He then spent the second season sequestered in Harrenhal, getting haunted by an INCREDIBLY uninteresting character in Alys Rivers. Removing him from the board was not only a huge drain on the rest of the storylines, which missed being able to bounce off him, but every second they spent in that castle was UNBEARABLE. And I don't feel like I was alone in that complaint. 

In season 3, we finally get Daemon back and he is awesome! But showrunner Ryan Condal then repeats the same mistake by isolating Aemond, another one of the most interesting characters in the show, in the same place. Instead of getting Ewan Mitchell's great performance, he is stuck in that boring as all fuck castle, getting haunted by that boring as fuck character in Alys Rivers while other characters suffer because in the absence of his presence. 

I know Harrenhal has an important part to play later in the series, but it is crazy to me that they have allowed this place to suck the velocity out of this series for two seasons in a row. It reminds me a lot of the worst-of-the-worst Bran storylines from the main series. People are here for the political intrigue because that is what they are good at. They are NOT good at the spooky shit and I think it's time they realize that.