Judging an entire show due for an episodic release over the next two months based on its first episode alone sounds blasphemous. But what happens when the opening itself is so pretentious, that the show seems more like a Saturday Night Live sketch? Think a voiceover that begins with a cheesy line “Duty is honour” and goes on describing what it is like to serve at the Night’s Watch. The voiceover concludes with “Winter is Coming”. Not only does it come across as a parody but also brings back horrifying memories of how “winter” came and went in just one dark, underwhelming episode of Weiss-Benioff’s Game of Thrones.
House of the Dragons Season 2 Plot
Putting the ‘small’ in the Small Council is young Jahaerys, the future King of the throne who Sir Tyland has a hard time managing. Alicent (Olivia Cooke), for some strange reason, expects Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) to respond to her letters after Aemond killed her son—one might call it wishful thinking. The war is inevitable. In the first episode though, it seems like the stage is still being set for it.
One would expect the second season to open with a bang and for us to head straight to battle scenes or at the very least, see its initial stages play out but we are only sending ravens and calculating who might strike when. Rhaenyra found out about her son’s death via a raven. She doesn’t believe he is dead till she finds his mortal remains.
House of the Dragons Season 2 Overview
Meanwhile, Aemond is still being a jerk. Alicent is being pursued by Lord Larys (played by Matthew Needham, speaking of whom, remember last season’s iconic foot fetish scene)? Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) breaks into a tiff with Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) over a flock of sheep. “He came all this way. Perhaps we should return his sheep”, says Aegon in a hilarious scene.
Larys poisons Aegon’s ear against Otto, urging him to change the Hand of the King. This, as White Worm (Sonoya Mizuno), the common folk who played a key role in helping Otto and
Alicent take over the Iron Throne, conspires with Daemon (Matt Smith). He hatches an evil plot to kill Alicent’s son with the help of a network of spies.
House of the Dragons Season 2 Writing And Direction
Emma D’Arcy brilliantly portrays Rhaenyra's grief of having lost her son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault). With teary, bloodshot eyes, the Targaryen Queen declares at the council meeting—“I want Aemond”. It comes across less like a battle cry, more like a wounded mother’s declaration to avenge her son’s death. In a gut-wrenching scene, Rhaenyra’s son Jacaerys tears up while announcing the preparations for war to her mother. His voice cracks, tears roll out as the mother-son embrace. Somewhere far away, Alicent lights a candle for the late Lucerys. Like Aemond observes in one scene, Alicent still harbours love for Rhaenyra. What really sets apart "House of the Dragon" from "GoT" is that the women at war (Rhaenyra and Alicent) feel each other’s pain even in the midst of war.
Once close friends, the two women were pitted against each other in an unfortunate turn of events. Their sons gauged out each other’s eyes, blood was spilt but somehow, love exists between the two. While Alicent is more expressive, Rhaenyra often puts up a strong front, allowing this love to show to show only on rare occasions.
House of the Dragons Season 2 What Works, What Doesn’t
Alicent's daughter Halaena predicts that Team Green must be careful of the rats—not the rodents but the spies who are no longer loyal to them and will happily rat them out to Targaryen in exchange for some gold. With her eccentricity and prophetic dreams, Halaena is arguably the most intriguing character in this saga, second to only White Worm, who is cognizant that she is a mere pawn in a larger game. Mysaria observes that her life (or death) is of no consequence to Daemon for she is common folk. All her relationships with the royalty are strictly transactional.
What worries me though, despite the premiere episode’s many wins, is the long build up to the war which might just continue till the 7th or 8th episode. I will be pleasantly surprised if I am proven wrong but if preview screenings are anything to go by, this season will take a while to finally get to the point. The dragons will dance, breathe fire but how long before we get there? Hopefully not more than five episodes.
The first episode of House of the Dragons Season 2 is streaming on JioCinema.
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