House of the Dragon season 2

[CharlesPhipps]

2x1 "A Son for a Son"

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 2×1 “A Son for A Son” is the season premiere of the second season of House of the Dragon. While a big supporter of this series and a believer that it has done a lot to wipe the sour taste of Game of Thrones’ season eight from viewers’ mouths, I have a lot of criticisms of season one. Simply put, the ten episodes jumped around one way too much and at least two seasons of story were crammed into one season in hopes of getting to the “good stuff” faster. Unfortunately, this severely impacted the pacing of the show as well as its characterization, which are the things that GOT fans love most.

The season begins with a new opening as we replace the dripping blood down a stone family tree of the Targaryens to, instead, be a tapestry that is woven with the stories of the Dance of the Dragon. I think this works very well as a visually distinct metaphor for the setting and better than the previous season. Still, it’s a surprising change and I wonder why they decided to make it given the stone family tree and blood one wasn’t bad.

The previous season ended with the death of Lucerys, one of Rhaenyra Targaryen’s children. Killed in an accident by Aemond Targaryen and his dragon, the result is that the Blacks and Greens are going to have a war no matter what. Kinslaying is the vilest taboo in Westeros, and no one would believe that he didn’t do it deliberately. I was waiting to see how Alicent and Otto Hightower would react to this stunning development. Well, I will have to keep waiting because it skips right past that.

We get a glimpse of the North that so far has played little role in the conflict. Still, we get some nice backstory about the past relationship between the Sarks and Targaryens. Also, a plot hole about how the dragons refuse to cross the Wall comes up because they didn’t make this a thing in Game of Thrones and the opposite being an actual plot point. Still, it’s nice to see the Wall again and a reminder of the importance of the struggle against the White Walkers.

Much of the episode deals with the aftermath of Aemond killing Lucerys despite the fact that we don’t see everyone’s immediate reaction. Rhaenyra is beside herself with grief and Daemon sees an opportunity to assert his position once more by promising vengeance. Fans of the book, Fire and Blood, will know who “Blood and Cheese” but newcomers will probably be shocked. Sadly, it lacks the power of the scene in the book because we haven’t had the characters developed enough to truly bond with them before things go horribly south.

There are some interesting developments in the characterization that I would have wanted more examination of as well. Like, for instance, Alicent Hightower has begun an affair with Ser Criston Cole despite both citing morality as a reason to oppose Queen Rhaenyra. Aegon II is an utterly inept king and his brother is much better suited, which both brothers know. We also have Mysaria drop her godawful fake accent.

Overall, I think this was a solid episode, but I foresee this season suffering again from the fact that it is going to be an abbreviated season. Perhaps even worse because there will only be eight episodes this season. Really, I think they needed twelve-episode seasons, and it still feels like we’re running ahead past more character seasons. Still, I think it’s the best fantasy currently on television right now.

[McAvoy]

I am still going to assert that the first season should have been two seasons. The development of the Targaryens with the younger cast. Then do the older cast for the second. This at least gives the viewer more information about the children that came out of the marriages that actually would be heavily featured in later seasons. They just rushed it. It's like trying to do who is who right now.

[CharlesPhipps]

I am still going to assert that the first season should have been two seasons. The development of the Targaryens with the younger cast. Then do the older cast for the second. This at least gives the viewer more information about the children that came out of the marriages that actually would be heavily featured in later seasons. They just rushed it. It's like trying to do who is who right now.

Agreed.

My opinion on House of the Dragon is that it is better than some of Game of Thrones and worse than the best of Game of Thrones. The biggest problem with the show is the absolute rush to stop and do nothing. The actual War of the Dragons is the least interesting part of the Dance and HBO blazed through season one to get to it when that was never the point. Two seasons of season one or at least a couple of more episodes would have been fantastic. Instead, they feel like they give us the cliff notes version of what Game of Thrones knew to give small ad humanizing moments. It feels like HBO lost faith in Game of Thrones after Season 8 and HOTD was given a lot of money but not a lot of slack.

As such, we'll never care about Rhaenyra's children as much as the Starks or hate the Hightowers as much as the Lannisters.

[McAvoy]

I am still going to assert that the first season should have been two seasons. The development of the Targaryens with the younger cast. Then do the older cast for the second. This at least gives the viewer more information about the children that came out of the marriages that actually would be heavily featured in later seasons. They just rushed it. It's like trying to do who is who right now.

Agreed.

My opinion on House of the Dragon is that it is better than some of Game of Thrones and worse than the best of Game of Thrones. The biggest problem with the show is the absolute rush to stop and do nothing. The actual War of the Dragons is the least interesting part of the Dance and HBO blazed through season one to get to it when that was never the point. Two seasons of season one or at least a couple of more episodes would have been fantastic. Instead, they feel like they give us the cliff notes version of what Game of Thrones knew to give small ad humanizing moments. It feels like HBO lost faith in Game of Thrones after Season 8 and HOTD was given a lot of money but not a lot of slack.

As such, we'll never care about Rhaenyra's children as much as the Starks or hate the Hightowers as much as the Lannisters.

You would think HBO would know by now, that you don't rush things when it comes to GoT shows. They should have learned their lesson. So either it's HBO forcing the War so quick or it's the showrunners.

You know what would have made the war interesting or tragic? If we got to know the characters and how they interacted. Especially between the two Queens.

[CharlesPhipps]

You would think HBO would know by now, that you don't rush things when it comes to GoT shows. They should have learned their lesson. So either it's HBO forcing the War so quick or it's the showrunners.

You know what would have made the war interesting or tragic? If we got to know the characters and how they interacted. Especially between the two Queens.

HBO and Warner went through a bizarre series of budget slashings that included fucking over Coyote vs. ACME and the Batgirl movie. I have the suspicion that they barely greenlit House of the Dragon and it was with probably a lot of restrictions even though it turned out to be the biggest hit of last year. You can tell they also made a lot of changes to appeal to a broader audience. Which, not to put too fine a point on it, was dial down the sex and violence.

Though I suppose the actors strike may also explain why there's only 8 episodes in Season 2.

[McAvoy]

You would think HBO would know by now, that you don't rush things when it comes to GoT shows. They should have learned their lesson. So either it's HBO forcing the War so quick or it's the showrunners.

You know what would have made the war interesting or tragic? If we got to know the characters and how they interacted. Especially between the two Queens.

HBO and Warner went through a bizarre series of budget slashings that included fucking over Coyote vs. ACME and the Batgirl movie. I have the suspicion that they barely greenlit House of the Dragon and it was with probably a lot of restrictions even though it turned out to be the biggest hit of last year. You can tell they also made a lot of changes to appeal to a broader audience. Which, not to put too fine a point on it, was dial down the sex and violence.

Though I suppose the actors strike may also explain why there's only 8 episodes in Season 2.

Well you could also say the same thing with Game of Thrones in it's last two seasons. Game of Thrones when it first came out was well know for the excess of sex. When it comes to that, House of the Dragon was more or less doing the same standard as GoT's later seasons. Perhaps it's coincidence or maybe just a carry over. I do remember the amount of tits and ass from the first few seasons was a criticism of GoT.

You might be right though, but it does seem like HBO has been trying to bring another GoT series since the original left the air. So I don't think it was barely greenlit as it just had the most promise out of the proposals. My guess is that there was some sort of upstairs interference in getting to the Dance of the Dragons because they weren't sure if viewers would stick around without the Dance of the Dragons part of it.

Or perhaps the risk of inventing what would amount to filler to fill in the air with brand new sub plots was too great.

We have the blueprint of how it starts and how it will end along with major details in the middle. But we don't have the small things in between when it comes from the Fire and Ice book. All of the small details that led to this and that, and that came around to this, and there was something that was important later on and so on.

[CharlesPhipps]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 2x2 "Rhaenyra the Cruel" is the second episode of the second season of HBO's extended apology for the final season of GAME OF THRONES. Ha-ha. Just kidding, except not. Overall, I was a big fan of the first season but I feel like the two year wait on the follow up killed a lot of forward momentum that the series had been accumulating and this is from a guy with a Targaryen wallet. Still, the first episode was gutsy enough to kill a toddler and I was invested enough to be there at 9PM Eastern on a Sunday for the next episode.

The premise for this House of the Dragon episode is that everyone in Kings Landing is stunned by the assassination of Prince Jaehaerys. One of the failures of the previous season was the fact that they didn't take episodes to follow up the emotional beats to the big epic changes of episodes. Instead, it just lightning shot past these big moments and the story was the lesser for it. Here, we get to see how the death of Jaehaerys has broken his father, Aegon II, and his mother, Helaena. We see how the death has stricken Ser Criston Cole and World's Youngest Grandmother, Alicent Hightower, with guilt because they were making the beast with two backs when they should have been defending the royal family's youngest.

The Greens have been rightly called out as the "villains" of House of the Dragon and consistently made to be an utterly despicable bunch of scumbags with rare exceptions. Many of their virtues from the books have been washed away and their sins have been made worse. Still, this is an episode that humanizes them a great deal while actually doubling down on their worst traits. After the previous episode showed a softer side of Aegon II, trying to do right by the common people, we see him engage in Joffrey level sadism by hanging a hundred rat catchers in hopes of catching one.

Honestly, this moment kind of fell flat for me because one of House of the Dragon's flaws is that it someitmes has its characters acting far too modern. Alicent and Rhaenyra acted like teenage girls when they were, well, teenage girls versus adult women as they would have been treated post-sixteenth birthday in Westeros. The hanging of the rat catchers is in Fire and Blood but almost an afterthought as killing a hundred Smallfolk is just not that big of a deal in this society. Here, it's an atrocity that Otto acts like would live in infamy throughout Westeros history. Come on, people rarely remember that George Washington burned a bunch of villages during the Revolutionary War.

By contrast, I really liked how utterly devastating the charge of infanticide and kinslaying is to Rhaenyra's cause. Because Rhaenyra is a woman who recently lost her child, everyone assumes she's the one who sent assassins to kill Aegon's son. Honestly, I was surprised the show had her react with unequivocal disgust because I'm inclined to think a woman of Westeros would see some small satisfaction in "blood for blood."

Instead, Rhaenyra is disgusted by Daemon and figures out he was the party responsible very quickly. Daemon also finally confesses his jealousy and petulance regarding his disinheritance for his wife. This would have been an excellent time to introduce Nettles to soothe Daemon's wounded pride but they still haven't cast her and may even end up removing her (which would be a mistake, IMHO). We also get a good moment where Rhaenyra realizes her jealousy and distaste for Mysaria is unqueenly before pardoning the woman. It pays dividends because Mysaria then warns Rhaenyra about Aegon's ill-planned attempt to avenge his son.

The best parts of this episode are probably Prince Jaehaerys' funeral procession and the Battle of the Cargyll Twins. House of the Dragon does a fantastic job showing Queen Helaena's grief as she's forced to become a propaganda point to the common people. She's clearly agoraphobic and hates crowds yet is moved through crowds of weeping strangers who scare the living hell out of her with her son's corpse just a few feet away. Arryk and Erryk Cargyll have a fight to the death as the twins find themselves divided by their loyalties. Ser Criston Cole sends Arryk on a suicide mission to soothe his own guilt and this leads to horrible tragedy for the Kingsguard. Almost as good as these two moments is Ser Otto Hightower having the realization that Aegon is uncontrollable and a monster, which means that his efforts to prevent war via crowning him were not only doomed but counterproductive.

In conclusion, House of the Dragon 2x2 "Rhaenyra the Cruel" was an excellent follow up to a strong first episode.There's a lot of character moments and strong dramatic heft, which is what we're here for in the first place. As much as I love dragon fights, I'd rather they remain more devoted to getting to know all of these wacky incest royals.

[KuudereKun]

I'm finding season 2 dull so far, not sure I'll bother finishing it.

[CharlesPhipps]

I'm finding season 2 dull so far, not sure I'll bother finishing it.

Massive improvement over the first season, IMHO.

[CharlesPhipps]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 2x3 "THE BURNING MILL" is the third episode of the second season. As a huge fan of Game of Thrones, I've always viewed this series as something of an apology tour for the franchise after the events of season eight. That may not be fair to the actors and production status but it seems like it exists in large part to win back over the once-massive fandom that felt betrayed by the ending. Sometimes its very good at this and sometimes it's very bad.

With the death of Prince Lucreys and Prince Jahaerys, it was assumed by most fans that war was now on. It turns out this may have been both true as well as misleading. While the first strokes of the war's blades may have been the above two events, it is actually the feuding houses of House Bracken and House Blackwood that decide to go to war first. Mostly because of their already preexisting hatred from literal millennia of rivalry in Westeros' history. The battle is meaningless in the grand scheme of things since this is not a war that won't be resolved by the conflicts of men at arms but foreshadows what might be soon happening across the Seven Kingdoms.

Some fans may have difficulty with the slow burn of the war but I actually feel like the desire to get to the big battles as well as dragon fights is missing the point of the Dance. The actual battles are the least interesting part of the story. The characterization, plots, counterplots, and more are the real heart of the story as well as made Game of Thrones great. Season One rushed through events that should have probably been two seasons. Indeed, last episode was one of the best in the series because it bothered to allow the characters to mourn their losses.

Daemon Targaryen, meanwhile, heads to the haunted ruin of Harrenhal to try to make amends by raising his own army to destroy the Hightowers. What he finds instead of a hostile keep is a handful of servants as well as an aging castellan, Simon Strong. Larys Strong may be the Lord of Harrenhal but he is loathed by the people under his command that believe he murdered both his father as well as brother (which he absolutely did). Frustrated by a lack of enemies to kill, he soon finds himself haunted by what may be the literal ghosts inhabiting the keep.

I've always been a big fan of Harrenhal but it's not been until now that we get a sense of what a dreary, dark, and terrifying place it is. The showrunners have constructed something straight out of Dark Souls. We also get a hint of Alys Rivers, who is a character that I hope has her role expanded from Fire and Blood. The magical element from Game of Thrones has mostly been lacking from House of the Dragon, dragons aside, and it's nice to see it make a return in a big way. Even if it doesn't make up for the absence of Sarah Snow.

Ser Criston Cole is surprisingly competent as a military commander as well as the Hand of the King. Maybe it is because as a veteran of the Dornish campaigns in the Stormlands, he actually isn't smashing into the Peter Principle. Also, it may be that the bar has been set so low by Aegon II's court that anything approaching the bare minimum of competence is an incredible accomplishment. Maybe that's also why they introduced Queen Alicent's brother, just so they can have him look good by comparison.

Aegon II appoints his favorites as his Kingsguard despite their lack of qualifications and actually tracks down his brother Aemond to the brothel he's frequenting to publicly humiliate him. Note: There's a surprising amount of male nudity this episode and it is interesting to note the prevalence of it in this season. Either way, it makes me wonder if Aemond is going to start plotting some Cain and Abel nonsense.

The most controversial scene, though, is related to the one bit of characterization that I don't like. Basically, the treatment of Rhaenyra Targaryen as the wise, almost angelic ruler who wishes to avoid war at all costs. Normally, this is a laudible goal but her refusal to deal with the fact that Aegon III is actually invading the Riverlands is something that instead paints her as a weak ruler instead.

We also have Rhaenyra sneaking into King's Landing to meet with Alicent Tower, which is a thoroughly ridiculous scene since she doesn't bother to contact her earlier in order to arrange a meeting. On the plus side, their meeting resolves the ridiculous, "Viserys was talking about Aegon the Conqueror and Alicent thought he meant his son" but the fact that plot is brought up at all again is a poor decision. Still, it was nice to see both actresses acting against one another again.

I think my biggest complaint about the scene is not its impracticality. The Smallfolk are not going to recognize any Targaryen save by their white hair and violet eyes. It's not like she's on television or even the coinage. Plus, Rhaenyra can get on a dragon to get past most logistical issues of travel. No, the issue is the scene ruins itself by not having any tension. It is an extreme risk for Rhaenyra that there's never any sense of actual danger. Alicent could have ended the war there and we should have wondered if she would or if Rhaenyra had agents among the church to protect her. Things that would have made them both look competent as well as raised the stakes.

Overall, this was an okay episode but one that isn't nearly as strong as the previous two. I feel like both Alicent and Rhaenyra should have been both supporting the war option themselves by the end of Episode 2. The bridges were thoroughly burned by then. I'm excited about upcoming events but I feel they've lost some of the momentum from the first two episodes.