You know the drill: Bend the knee if you have watched the second episode of House of the Dragon. If not, please take yourself to the Wall aka go offline for this review is dark and full of spoilers.
Recap:
Welcome back to a flourishing Westeros where King Viserys (Paddy Considine) is being wooed by a 15 year old girl, his heirs are stealing dragons and dragon eggs ,and the Myrish born villain Crabfeeder and his motley crew are feeding his subjects to crabs. Just a regular day in the life of a king really.
The action picks up six months after the untimely passing of Queen Aemma (Sian Brooke) and Prince Baleon and it’s awful business as usual at the Red Keep. Otto (Rhys Ifans),that sneaky bastard of a Hand,is pressing his teenage daughter Alicent (Emily Carey) onto the King all of the time whilst also urging for the violent removal of Prince Daemon (Matt Smith), his paramour and the City Watch from Dragonstone, which by rights belongs to the named heir and Princess of Dragonstone, Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock). The Sea Snake, Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), and his Targaryen wife Rhaenys (Eve Best) are doing their best, respectively, to make a play for the Iron Throne by suggesting the King marries their 12 year old daughter (seriously Corlys!) and stirring the dragon-breathing ire of Rhaenyra over the blatant sexism at court (well played, Rhaenys, well played).
Alicent, when she isn’t batting her eyelashes at the King, is bringing spiritual comfort to her best friend Rhaenyra in the Sept and STILL picking her bloody nails (Dear Lord of the Light, let that shit stop soon – my eyes cannot f***ing bear it!). Rhaenyra, feeling estranged from her father in their shared grief, feeling slighted by the small council and feeling challenged by Rhaenys, hops onto Syrax to confront her uncle Daemon at Dragonstone.
Rhaenyra tastes the sweet nectar of victory when she manages to talk Daemon down from committing utter carnage and into handing over her dead brother’s dragon egg without blood. Her joy doesn’t last long, though, because her dad announces his intention to marry her best friend. Man, the Gods are cruel!
Meanwhile, Corlys is playing the enemy of my enemy is my friend game by teaming up with the rejected Daemon to take the Stepstones back from the Crabfeeder.
Impressions:
As is the case with previous Game of Thrones seasons, episode 2 of House of the Dragon sets up the rest of the season with plots, subplots and a ton of visual and subtle clues for what is to follow. Let us first, though, give thanks to Ramin Djawadi for restoring the original series’ theme song and to the show creators for adding so much detail to the unfolding family tree and map in the opening credits.
In case you need to have it broken down for you:
My favourite part of this episode is watching how a new (or is that old?) game of thrones is being played out by our key players. Otto has no damn shame in practically smearing his young daughter off on an old king. In a way, Viserys and Rhaenyra, even with their estrangement, have a more loving relationship than the Hand and his daughter. Ifans is as slimy as Aiden Gillen was as Littlefinger in the original series and I am SO here for it. My favourite meme right now:
One tends to forget about the insidious nature of George R.R.Martin’s world until you are confronted with the King taking a stroll in the castle gardens with his potential 12 year old wife as Viserys did with Laena Velaryon (Nova Foueillis-MosΓ©). Tell me it didn’t make you uneasy when she talks about what an honour it would be to bring their two impressive houses together and that her mother said she won’t have to bed him until she’s 14 …
The brutality of the Crabfeeder and his crew giving the Myrish treatment to the Westerosi sailors is a compelling visual reminder of the brutality of Martin’s creation. The stillness of the scenes and the utterly creepy mask of our villain reminds us once again that there is more for the King to worry about than who sits on the very throne that is cutting him to shreds.
MVP:
Let us give it up for Princess Rhaenyra who, like her multiple times great-granddaughter Daenerys , proves that in the Targaryen line, it is the women who get shit done.
She flew on Syrax to Dragonstone, confronted her uncle, made peace and gave Otto the middle finger, all without breaking a sweat. That is my Queen! Why the f*** can’t her father see that?!
Theory:
Oh, fire will reign in the next episode! That marriage announcement hit Rhaenyra harder that the Mountain squashing Oberyn Martell’s brains. There have been subtle hints in both the Fire&Blood novel and the first two episodes of House of the Dragon that Rhaenyra is in love with Alicent so, in addition to fearing being replaced as the heir, she is now dealing with the grief of losing her love to her father. Hopefully Ser Cristan Cole, Rhaenyra’s choice of replacement for the King’s Guard, can help mend her broken heart.
Keen to hear more of our House of the Dragon theories? Listen to our CapeTalk interview with Pippa Hudson.
