Silence in the Realm! The premiere of the second season of House of the Dragon has arrived and the world will never be the same again.
Recap:
A short sojourn to Winterfell and The Wall opens this first episode as we see young Prince Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) visit with Lord Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor) and implore him to raise his banners and send his best men to fight for Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy)’s claim to the Iron Throne.

Whilst sharing with the young Prince all of the unspoken horrors he needs The Wall and his best men to fight, a raven arrives for Lord Stark with the horrific news of Jacaerys’ little brother Lucerys’ death at the hands and jaws of their uncle Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and his fearsome dragon Vhagar.
Back on Dragonstone, we are treated to a magnificent entrance by the boys’ putative grandmother, Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best) on dragonback. She and her trusty stead Meleys have been scanning the ocean for days, in search of Luke and Arrax, as well as to defend against possible attacks from the Greens. Tired, hungry and grieving for both the loss of her grandson as well as the heir of her house, Rhaenys is in no mood when Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) pulls his King Consort shit and demands she remount and fly with him to kill Vhagar and the Usurper, “King” Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney).

As a mother who has lost two children (remember, she doesn’t know her son faked his death so he go could live his best LGBTQIA life in Pentos) and a firm believer that a woman should sit the Iron Throne even if it isn’t her, Rhaenys will not do anything without Rhaenyra’s consent. Rhaenyra and her dragon Syrax have been missing for days, looking for the remains of their children (yes, Arrax was one of Syrax’s hatchlings), and grieving, which Daemon thinks is a waste of time. Mothers can grieve buts queens must rule. The exchange between cousins is hilarious to watch and so fitting, considering the bear vs man discussion gripping the Internet right now.

In King’s Landing, Aegon is doing his best Joffrey Baratheon impersonation, except he is a total idiot. From disrupting the small council’s meeting by letting his heir Jaehaerys annoy Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) to disregarding his mother, Dowager Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Hand, grandfather Otto (Rhys Ifans) to dismissing his Queen Haelena (Phia Saban)’s warnings about rats – which will prove deadly later- Aegon is not the Prince That Was Promised.
The Red Keep, as it turns out, has more secrets that just Maegor the Cruel’s secret tunnels. Alicent is finally experiencing orgasms, all thanks to … Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel). The same man who has been calling Rhaenyra a whore for more than 20 years because she rejected him, is now in fact being a whore. Aegon is seducing virgins in brothels, Aemond is seeking comfort in the arms of an old prostitute and Lord Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) is whispering all kinds of bullshit into the King’s ears which leads to the dismal of his grandfather as Hand.

Which brings us to the truly shocking part of the episode: the kicking of a dog! Ok, fine, the actual heart-wrenching scene is the highly anticipated Blood&Cheese storyline from the source novel, Fire and Blood, slightly reimagined. After Rhaenyra returns to a highly antsy Daemon, her family and small council, she has but one request: she wants Aemond Targaryen. Daemon, being the ever loving husband with a bloody streak, pops on his infamous crime-doing hoodie and slips into the Red Keep where he convinces a hard-on-his-luck guard and a royal ratcatcher to kill Aemond. An eye for an eye, a son for a son.

Except, you really can’t get good help these days and besides kicking an innocent dog, these two idiots do the unthinkable: they storm Jaehaerys and his twin Jaehaera’s room, forcing Helaena to tell them which is the heir and … decapitate the young prince in his bed.

Fearing for her daughter’s life, Helaena runs all the way to her mother’s chambers – a path which fans will know from season 1 where Rhaeynra was dripping blood post-childbirth to show young Joffrey to her stepmother – and walks in on Alicent screwing Ser Criston.
With a son now brutually murdered on both sides, the Dance of the Dragons has truly begun!
Impressions:
This first episode is spectacular in world-building, dramatic in scenery and gut wrenching in emotionally engaging with the audience and here’s why: Game of Thrones author George RR Martin is back in the writing seat and it shows!
From the opening scene of a raven flying over the Godswood, which is so reminiscent of GOT season 1 episode 1, to the focus on the smallfolk of Flea Bottom and how they are being affected by the coming war, and the history lesson Cregan Stark gives to Jace about how his great-great grandparents’ dragons would not fly beyond The Wall because of the death that awaits there (we know it’s the Night King and the White Walkers but our sweet Summer Prince does not), the devil is in the details and George knows we are all out here, fangirling for it.

In fact, that minute detail extends to us seeing the parking bay/landing strip for the dragons back at Dragonstone as well as the entire dragon stable with accessories that the Targaryens had for centuries but which Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and Jon (Kit Harington) would never know of because it, along with the Song of Ice and Fire retelling dies with this generation. Oh, our poor incestuous babies, how you were robbed!

The performances themselves are incredible in this episode. D’Arcy speaks but one sentence in this entire episode and yet, conveys every heartbreaking emotion of a grieving mother to such perfection. The entire scene of her and Syrax finding their children’s remains had me sobbing. That look of pure goddamn grief-fueled rage proves that she is Dany’s eight times great-grandma and no one f***s with a dragon queen or her loved ones.
Prince Lucerys Velayron fought bravely like a Strong, was killed by a dragon and kin like a Targaryen and was buried at sea like a Velaryon and we shall miss him but it is his loved ones who shine in his subdued funeral scene. Phoebe Campbell as his promised bride Rhaena is a masterclass in how to portray the loss of the boy you love whilst realizing your future is f**ed.

Just as tearjerking is Luke’s brothers and mother feeding items to the funeral pyre that were dear to him in lieu of having a body to burn:

The decapitation scene is made all the worse by the fact that it happens offscreen but we hear ALL of the squelching, gruesome action, much like Sansa’s wedding night rape in GOT Season 6. I’m sure ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) practicing viewers loved it but I could not stomach it.
A special mention has to be made for Phia who so accurately portrays Helaena’s dissociative response to her child’s murder and catching her mother bedding the very man who was meant to be protecting her and her children. As the writers and showrunners tried to repeatedly reiterate in Season 1, Helaena is a prophetic dreamer and possibly on the spectrum so her reaction here, to run with her daughter and hide in a corner of her mother’s chamber whilst almost calmly telling her that her son is dead, is right on point.

Kudos too to Smith who toes the fine line between vengeance and sociopathic tendencies in the scene where Daemon instructs Blood and Cheese on the kin slaying task he has set for them. He doesn’t tell them who to kill if they don’t find Aemond but he also doesn’t not tell them … nudge nudge, wink wink.
Book readers with a keen eye and ear will have perked up at the introduction of Alyn (Abubakar Salim) who not only saved Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint)’s life but also presents him with the steel sword he had commissioned for his now deceased heir Luke. Alyn has a shaved head for a reason, fellow viewers, for his true hair colour may spell trouble for the succession of House Velaryon and the Driftmark seat. May the Lord of Light save us when Rhaenys finds out!

All in all, this was a strong (π) first episode for the season and I cannot wait for all of you to see what’s coming. Dracarys!
House of the Dragon season 2 airs on Max every Sunday night, on Mnet 101 every Monday night at 9pm and on Showmax.