Saddle up, dragon riders, we are in for yet another fiery episode of the second season of House of the Dragon and it is a banger!
Here’s what went down:
Recap:
It is the morning and week after the horrific beheading of Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) II’s heir Jaehaerys and there is mayhem throughout the Realm. Most especially in the Red Keep where that terrible dragon temper sees Aegon destroying his dear ol’ dead dad Viserys (Paddy Considine)’s impressive Lego set and raging at Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) about just where the f*** he was when he was meant to be protecting Aegon’s family.
RIP to yet another casualty of the Dance of the Dragons:
Ser Crispy was, of course banging the Dowager Queen and Aegon’s Lady Mother, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke),at the time of the horrendous murder but he cannot admit that to the raging “king”. With Aegon mad with grief and power, it falls to ol’faithful Hand and grandfather Otto (Rhys Ifans) to devise a rather dastardly but brilliant plan ,to even me as an award-winning publicist, to turn little Jaehaerys’s funeral into the perfect PR smear campaign against Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). If the common folk of Flea Bottom can bear witness to their young Queen Helaena (Phia Saban) and her mother’s tears and grief and resonate with them, that will do more to draw people to their fight for the Iron Throne than a thousand men in battle.
Goddammit, the man is right. Ugh.
Over on Dragonstone, Rhaenyra is incredulous that anyone would think her capable of murdering a child in his bed, much less that she would do that to her sweet, innocent sister Helaena, especially when she too has recently lost a son so violently.

When the Black council itself seems to doubt Rhaenyra’s innocence, it is Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best), Rhaenyra’s aunt, former mother-in-law and Hand in all but name, who silences the doubters with a short one liner to watch themselves and how they speak to their Queen.
Rhaenyra and Rhaenys both realise in quick succession, and with just one look each, that smirking, hot and quiet Daemon (Matt Smith) is responsible for this atrocity and we move swiftly into one of the most heated domestic disputes of the GOT-verse. Rhaeynra reads Daemon for filth, demands that he declare his acceptance of her as his rightful Queen and berates him for weakening her claim. Daemon gets mad, smashes a cup and is banished to Harrenhal with Caraxes.

Left to clean up Daemon’s mess, Rhaeynra turns to the impressive Dragonstone library for inspiration on what her ancestor Visenya did in a similar situation when her brother husband Aegon the Conqueror erred. We’ll see how that plays out in later episdoes. She also has a heart to heart with the White Worm, Myseria (Sonoya Mizuno) and finds herself liking the former common-law wife of Daemon. Bonded by the unspoken acknowledgement that Daemon has been physically and emotionally abusive to them both as well as the fact that they are two women who are being denied their rightful inheritance and power simply because they are women, Rhaenyra grants Myseria her freedom. A decision she will soon realise was a great one for it is Myseria who gives up her freedom to warn Rhaenyra of the latest Hightower plot.
Toxic besties Cole and Aegon have come up with what they think is an ingenious plan: send their loyal Kingsguard Ser Arryk Cargyll (Luke Tittensor) to impersonate his twin Ser Erryk (Elliot Tittensor), who is Rhaenyra’s sworn protector, infiltrate Dragonstone and kill her in her bedchamber.

It almost works but , in what is the most anticipated fraternal battle since Cleganebowl in Game of Thrones Season 8, the steadfast Erryk kills his twin and falls on his sword. Rhaenyra is ridden with grief and buries them together, as classy as Aegon and Alicent are not.
Alicent, the cold-hearted mother, cannot offer any of her children any comfort. She leaves Aegon to cry alone in his chambers so that she can shag Ser Crispy. She fails to quell Helaena’s panic attack when the commoners storm the funeral procession and they nearly tear the little prince’s body apart and she is the reason Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) is curled up, naked and alone, in the lap of his old whore.

It comes as no surprise, then that when she tries to confess her sin of sleeping with Criston while her grandchild was being murdered, her father Otto, recently fired by Aegon as Hand, does not wish to hear of it. The dysfunction continues for The Greens, generation after generation and it will be their downfall. With Ser Crispy now being the King’s iron First and leading a vanguard of blood hungry soldiers, there is only violence and the fall of Westeros on the cards.
Impressions:
This was an emotionally gutting episode which simultaneously moves the plot forward quite swiftly.
D’Arcy continues to carry this show on their shoulders. Balancing Rhaeynra’s overprotectiveness of Jaecerys (Harry Collett) and Baela (Bethany Antonia) when she forbids them and their dragonsfrom getting too close to the fight in the Riverlands, with the intricate politics of her marriage to Daemon and commanding the respect of the bunch of old men set in their ways on her council, D’Arcy does an impressive job. If this doesn’t earn them an Emmy, there is no justice in the world.

Smith continues to rock the Rogue Prince persona like a dragon-riding boss! Like any typical husband, Daemon has NO idea why the f** his wife is mad at him. He took care of business, didn’t he? Is it his fault that the idiots he hired didn’t stick to the plan (or did they? Hmmm)? No!
We’re getting plenty of Corlys (Steve Toussaint) and Rhaenys screen time this episode, which is necessary for how their particular story plays out eventually. Between their sex scenes and Alicent and Criston’s, the show’s creators are trying hard (pun intended π) to live up to the parent show’s penchant for erotic violence.

We got a very brief but impressive scene of Jace and Baela discussing their fathers .Jace talking lovingly about both of his fathers, Laenor Velaryon (John MacMillan) and Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr), while Baela confesses that she sometimes hates Daemon. Why the HOTD creators insist on making Daemon out to be a bad father when he is a loving one in the source novel, I will never understand. These teenagers are also proof that not all Westerosi marriages have to be painful partnerships.

I’ll say it again: Phia as Helaena is my stand-out performer for the season thus far. From the way she portrays Helaena being forced to sit through the worst funeral procession for her little son and the ensuing panic attack when the cart is stuck is a testament to anyone with sensory issues who has gone through something similar. She shines too, when she meets Aegon, her brother husband as they pass each other in the Red Keep, expecting them to come together in their shared grief, and realising there is no comfort to be found. Emotional f** boys really are the worst, even when they are your brother and husband.
I am loving the contrast of the mad “King” Aegon and the strategically reserved Rhaenyra. The phrase most often used in GOT and George RR Martin’s source novels ,”When a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin. One side greatness, the other madness“, speaks to this contrast especially. Otto himself realises this when he discovers Ser Crispy and Aegon’s hare-brained plan of switching the twins to enact revenge and the hanging of all ratcatchers on the wall of the Red Keep.
For viewers worried about the dog from last week’s episode, I am happy to report that the goodest bannerman is alive and well:

With Otto now revealing that Viserys did not, in fact, choose Aegon to be his successor, to Aegon himself, there is no telling what the young Usurper will do next. Ok, book readers know, of course, but we will leave show watchers to discover that themselves.

I don’t think we needed a scene of Alicent and Criston f***ing to end this episode. Not when there were so many more interesting plot points, like Myseria and Rhaenyra forming an alliance (and potentially a sexual relationship? Come on, two of the strongest and hottest women having that much chemistry and the desire to see peace in the Realm and there isn’t even one hint of them wanting to ride each other? Guys!). Or Alyn of Hull having a brother, Aadam (Clinton Liberty) with smoldering good looks who bears an even greater resemblance to Corlys? Wasted potential, people, wasted!
House of the Dragon season 2 airs on Max every Sunday night, on Mnet 101 every Monday night at 9pm and on Showmax.