The test long-awaited return to the most dysfunctional incestual dragon-riding family this side of the Narrow Sea is finally here with the premiere of HBO’s House of the Dragon Season 2. And it brings with it more drama, turmoil, and heartbreak. The Dance of the Dragons has begun.
Goodbye Brother
Back to Winterfell, that place we haven’t seen for over half a decade now and it’s just as beautiful as the last time. When the season 2 premiere opened in The North, I wasn’t too surprised, I knew we were heading there. But as the intro and main theme ended, and we opened from black to a raven flying over the grassy snow-covered hills of The North as Goodbye Brother, the iconic track that underscored Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Robb Stark’s (Richard Madden) last meeting in Game of Throne’s first season, played, I was struck by a wave of emotions and nostalgia.
Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor), the Lord of Winterfell and ancestor of Ned (Sean Bean) and his family, voiced over the opening telling Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) of the coming threat of Winter and pledged his troops to the Black cause. And then arrived a letter. Goodbye brother. Jacaerys read the words, informing him of the death of his younger brother Lucerys (Elliot Grihault). Lucerys’s tragic, brutal, and untimely passing is still fresh in the minds of the viewers 2 years later, but in the show it’s been no more than a few days. Lucerys’s presence is felt throughout the episode and there’s a solemnity underneath it all.
Winterfell was the perfect opener to the new season. A familiar location in an unfamiliar time with an unfamiliar face, but I felt right at home. Cregan revitalized my love for the Starks (the best House by the way!) and in his minimal screen time, made me love and want to see more of him. It’s very unfortunate we won’t be seeing any more of him this season and will have to wait years for his next appearance.
Cregan and Jacaerys’s relationship is a lot more developed in the source material, with Jace spending a lot more time at Winterfell. In fact, one source in Fire and Blood says that Jace married Cregan Stark’s half-sister, Sara Snow. Many were speculating how the show would go about adapting this, and I think they chose the best course of action, which was simply disregarding that perspective as misinformation. I did wish that Jace spent more time at Winterfell and we got to see more of Cregan, but I understand why his stay at Winterfell was more hurried for seasonal pacing reasons.
The Blacks
After the declaration of war at the end of season 1 and the death of Lucerys Velaryon, the Blacks are unfocused and unsure how to proceed. Daemon (Matt Smith) is bloodthirsty and we first see him try to convince Rhaenys (Eve Best) to go with him and kill Vhagar at King’s Landing. She flat-out refuses him and to throw salt in the wound, insults his status as he is not king.
Daemon is a very interesting character, and after last season’s finale, it seems he’s ditching most of his charm and going fully villainous. He’s arrogant and vengeful, and that makes him all the more fun to watch. The rogue prince’s hotheadedness may give the Blacks an edge, but it can just as easily cost them the war. Rhaenys telling off Daemon did a lot to redeem her in my eyes after her decision to flee the Dragonpit instead of ending the war before it began.
The Sea Snake, Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), oversees the construction of more ships at Driftmark for the naval blockade of the Gullet, a strategy that cuts off all trade to and from King’s Landing. This episode also introduced us to Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim), a sailor in the Velaryon fleet, who saved Corlys’s life in the Stepstones. I don’t think Corlys has had much to do post-time-skip in season 1, I’m really hoping the rest of this season gives him a good storyline. I’m also excited to see how Alyn’s story will unfold throughout the season.
Instead of sitting idly after the events of last season, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) has been flying around on her dragon, Syrax, looking for Lucerys’s remains. Rhaenyra is so fueled by heartbreak and anger this episode and I think those will be her driving traits throughout the season. Shockingly, Rhaenyra only had 1 line of dialogue this episode but that line is so telling of her character at this point. You feel her rage as she tells Daemon, “I want Aemond Targaryen.”
Jacaerys is back to Dragonstone to report on his newly made alliances with Houses Stark and Arryn, and his reunion with Rhaenyra is easily my favorite scene of the episode. Jace trying to act tough, calling Rhaenyra “Your Grace”, instead of “Mother”, as you can hear his voice breaking. And then he finally lets it all out and breaks and runs to embrace his mother and it’s such a beautiful moment. I was so emotional watching it. The follow-up scene at Lucerys’s funeral just absolutely broke me too.
D’Arcy’s performance was phenomenal this episode. There’s a lot of criticism towards their portrayal of Rhaenyra relative to Milly Alcock’s pre-time-skip, but I think they’re just as good, if not better. 4 words of dialogue throughout the episode and yet they conveyed so much. Their performance when Rhaenyra breaks down after finding a wing from Lucerys’s dragon, Arrax, is some of their best work yet.
The Greens
In contrast to the Blacks, the Greens are not overly concerned by the opposing side as they are not on the offensive. Although that’s not to say, they have no troubles. Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), Westero’s biggest loser and worst Kingsguard ever, is distracted from his duties while breaking his vows yet again, this time with Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke).
Alicent and Criston have begun a relationship in the small time frame between the first and second season. I was very skeptical of this decision at first, but after seeing it play out, I think it’s a pretty interesting plot point. The relationship is very much not romantic and comes almost purely from carnal desire.
But it’s so much more than that. Alicent and Criston’s attraction to one another is inherently rooted in their mutual love of Rhaenyra. Alicent wants what Rhaenyra had and Criston wants what Rhaenyra isn’t. They even have sex in Rhaenyra’s old bed. In their younger days, Alicent and Rhaenyra’s relationship was clearly more than friendship but Alicent’s marriage to Viserys (Paddy Considine) and Rhaenyra having sex with Daemon caused a rift between them. It seemed like a reconnection was in order after Season 1 Episode 8, but Viserys’s death and Alicent’s misunderstanding of his last words put a damper on that idea. Now, Alicent can’t go to Rhaenyra which draws Criston to her.
Alicent is living out the childhood she missed out on. Her relationship is so freeing to her while she felt confined in her marriage to Viserys. Even her sex scene with Criston highlights the dichotomy in their relationship and Alicent and Viserys’s. In that scene, Alicent is dead-eyed and lying dead fish while Viserys is heaving heavily over her. In Criston and Alicent’s scene however, Alicent is taking charge and dominating Criston.
Criston still holds a lot of animosity for Rhaenyra after she didn’t upend her life and leave everything to run away with him. And to Criston, Alicent seems like everything that Rhaenyra wasn’t. Alicent is religious, composed, chaste and perhaps Criston thinks being with a woman like that is not dishonorable. Criston’s perception of their relationship is quite funny really. In one scene in which he’s speaking to Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), Criston talks about how Rhaenyra seduced and ensnared Alicent as if Alicent isn’t still in love with Rhaenyra. This is all to say, I think the Alicent and Criston dynamic is quite interesting and I’m interested to see where it goes from here.
Speaking of Aemond, it is almost immediately after his encounter with Lucerys in which he lost control of his dragon, Vhagar and she killed Lucerys. Now, he’s back to King’s Landing. I wasn’t a huge fan of Aemond in the first season, but I’ve loved the way he’s been characterized since. The choice to have Aemond lean into what Vhagar did and not admit it was a mistake was brilliant and highlights his desire to be seen as tough. It’s a mask of his insecurities and trying to compensate for who he was as a child. Aemond’s next step will be to go take Harrenhal and establish a foothold in the Riverlands and I’m super excited to see him and Vhagar in action. I think I’ll likely leave this season as an Aemond fan.
Similarly to Aemond, his brother and the newly anointed Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney), also wears a mask, one of benevolence (or of being “magnanimous” as one put it). Interestingly, Aegon is not a terrible king as was expected of him. He seems to care for the smallfolk and tries to be generous, until interrupted by his Hand and grandsire, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans). Now this isn’t to say that Aegon actually cares about the smallfolk or their well-being but he wants to be loved by them.
I actually love this take on Aegon’s reign, making him a figure of good for the smallfolk makes his rivalry with Rhaenyra, who in her younger days was called the “Realm’s Delight”, so much more interesting. I’ve disliked Aegon’s characterization prior to this a lot, he’s a drunkard neglected by his father who’s unfit to rule posted up as a figurehead by the other Greens, namely Otto, which should give him some sympathy but for some reason the writers want to vilify him so badly.
He’s a rapist, which already cancels out any sort of nuanced discussion to be had about him but at the end of the first season he’s also gleefully watching child fighting pits in Flea Bottom. Aegon is a cartoonishly evil character and I think that goes against the “pick a side” angle the show is going for, but his writing in the first episode is pointing to him becoming much more complex and interesting. He even plays with his son this episode!
Otto Hightower, my second favorite Green (after Alicent), sadly did not have much to do this episode. After supplanting Rhaenyra with his grandson, Aegon, Otto is now the Hand of the King again and immediately comes to heads with the young king. Aegon’s desire to be overly generous so he can be loved is making him an inefficient king and Otto is left cleaning up his messes. It’s easy to see that Otto and Aegon’s disagreements will soon reach their apex, and could lead to his dismissal from office.
Larys (Matthew Needham) is not only already whispering into Aegon’s ear and filling his head with doubts of the Hand’s competence but straight up telling him that Otto was Viserys’s hand, implying Aegon should have another. If Otto were to be ousted, Aegon would himself be removing one of his most valuable pieces from the board. Otto knows how to keep Aegon in check and how the game of thrones is played.
“The Queen is an enduring mystery, is she not?”, is how Aegon describes his wife and sister, Halaena (Phia Saban) in the early moments of the episode. I love Halaena as a character so much and how disconnected she is from the larger happenings, but this is very much her episode. The fact that she has nothing to do with the Greens but she still suffers so much is so tragic.
Blood and Cheese
The major event of this episode and one that book readers had been looking forward to for quite some time was “Blood and Cheese”. Daemon hears Rhaenyra’s demand and hires Blood (Sam C. Wilson) and Cheese (Mark Stobbart), two men from Flea Bottom, to assassinate Aemond. Cheese, a ratcatcher that works in the Red Keep leads Blood inside. When the two men can’t find Aemond, they instead find themselves in Halaena’s room. A son for a son was the request and the next best thing is Aegon’s heir, Jaehaerys.
This was a very difficult scene to get right, but I think they mostly delivered. Compared to how it went down in the source material, there’s a lot lacking and it definitely isn’t as memorable or as chaotic as I would’ve liked it to be, but it’s still very well done and impactful. The whole scene and especially Halaena’s reaction, to see her go into shock and being forced to pick which of her children to die.
This season premiere was truly worth the wait and it captured everything I loved about the show and set the stage for a season that has the potential to surpass the first. While not perfect and more of a build-up episode, barring the Blood and Cheese incident, this episode was a really good return. I’m very excited to see more and eagerly awaiting this Sunday.
HBO’s House of the Dragon Season 2 stars Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Matt Smith, Tom Gylnn-Carney, Ewan Mitchell, Fabien Frankel, and Rhys Ifans. Ryan Condal serves as showrunner.
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