House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 1 Recap: Rhaenyra Is Wasting Time

The much anticipated second season of House Of The Dragon (“HOTD”) is finally upon us; with the tense and dramatic trailers, which pit the Greens against the Blacks, the lead-up to Season 2 has asked us to choose a side, and now that time has come. 

After nearly two years since Season 1 first landed, the wait to return to Westeros is over. But, much like its mother series, Game of Thrones, House of The Dragon will follow the traditional weekly airing on HBO (Or Sky Atlantic or those of us in the UK), which means you’ll have to wait until 4th August to be able to binge the whole season.

If you haven’t watched the first episode, fair warning that spoilers will absolutely follow after this point! With that being said, here’s our review of the first episode of House of The Dragon Season 2.

House of the Dragon Premiere

Something that Game of Thrones did that had watchers torn is that not every episode was high-tension, action-packed or even that intriguing. Specifically, the first episodes of each season were not always explosive. In some instances, they were just plain boring. The first episode of House of The Dragon Season 1 was informative and had some big plot points fairly early on that kept fans interested. In contrast, the first episode of Season 2 feels like a gradual easing back into the Targaryen dynasty rather than the headfirst dive some of us may have wanted to see. 

Before the episode officially gets going, there is a noticeable switch up from its prior season. Game of Thrones had an iconic title sequence, a map that changed and evolved each season to incorporate the notable houses and locations as the show progressed. House of The Dragon Season 1 had a fairly obscure introduction that bordered on uninteresting. Red liquid—maybe blood—weaved through a black-stone labyrinth that, at the end of the sequence, zoomed out to reveal the Targaryen sigil.

Overall, it was very dark and abstract and definitely warranted being skipped on catch-up. Season 2 opens with a new intro, closer to what we loved from Game of Thrones. Veering in the opposite direction from Season 1, Season 2’s intro is a fairly bright, colourful tapestry woven with key aspects of the show, including characters and locations. 

HOTD: Back in Winterfell

The first episode opens with a nostalgic shot of a snow-covered landscape, the show’s first monologue being read in a familiarly northern accent; that’s right, the first scene of Season 2 takes us back to the recognisable setting of Winterfell, and it’s so good to be home. But don’t get too excited – we don’t hang around for long. In fact, we don’t actually come back.

The first major new character introduced this season is Cregan Stark, who resides at The Wall, where Jacaerys has come to find him. The final episode of Season 1 saw Jacaerys, Rhaenyra’s first-born son and heir, leave Dragonstone in a bid to rally sworn allies to Rhaenyra; meanwhile, Lucerys was sent to the South, which inevitably led to his death in the Season 1 finale.

The conversation between Jacaerys and Cregan is a bit fleeting. They discuss whether the Starks will support Rhaenyra as rightful queen (they will) and what lies beyond the Wall, which would be more dramatic if Game of Thrones hadn’t already revealed that. The only notable part of their interaction is when we see a member of the Night’s Watch present Cregan with a note, which is then passed to Jacaerys. Based on Jacaerys’ reaction and the timing, it’s pretty clear this is news of his brother’s death.

HOTD: Return to King’s Landing

When we finally return to King’s Landing, on the side of the Greens, we find Queen Alicent in quite a…precarious situation with Ser Criston Cole. And while this isn’t an entirely unexpected change to their dynamic, it’s not something that happens in the book. As of the end of Episode 1, it’s unclear how relevant this relationship is going to be later down the line. 

Now, if you thought the incestuous relationships in season 1 were a bit uncomfortable and confusing – cousins being betrothed to one another and Rhaenyra’s turbulent relationship with everyone’s favourite uncle – you’ll probably feel put off by the revelations in episode 1.

HOTD: The Green’s

As it turns out, King Aegon II (“Aegon”) has actually gotten married to his sister, Helaena. Anyone familiar with the Targaryen dynasty, through the books or Game of Thrones, shouldn’t be too shocked by this – they are notorious for interbreeding and close sibling relationships. Not only is Aegon married to his sister, but they now have two young children, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, who play big roles later in the episode.

This episode, in particular, definitely feels like it’s attempting to produce a balanced argument in terms of who the good side is, but there are very few redeeming qualities for either party.

We see Aegon acting as King, with the aid of the Hand, Otto Hightower, and the input of Larys Strong, but he isn’t exactly coming across as benevolent or tactical, like his father. We see Alicent being quite pathetic, while her father, children and council make most of the decisions, and no one is really holding Aemond accountable for Lucerys’ murder.

Meanwhile, Daemon wants bloodshed, Rhaenyra is crying and wandering aimlessly, and we don’t see Jacaerys again for the rest of the episode, so the brief interlude in the North at the beginning of the episode is fairly redundant.

HOTD: The Black’s Revenge Plot

Season 2’s main focus is obviously the feud between the Blacks and the Greens, which boils down to Rhaenyra vs Alicent. With that being said, Rhaenyra’s part in this episode is fairly null and void. We see her wandering the landscape of Dragonstone, grieving her dead son. That’s pretty much it for the majority of the episode. Meanwhile, the allies of the Blacks are seen strategising in their attempts to reclaim the Iron Throne, and Daemon is brimming with eagerness to take revenge on his wife’s behalf and incite further fighting between the two halves of the Targaryen house. Daemon wants to kill Aemond, Alicent’s second son and the one responsible for Lucerys’ death.

Towards the latter part of the episode, Rhaenyra finally relents, and Daemon undertakes a plot to kill the King’s brother. In doing this, he enlists the help of mercenaries Blood and Cheese, who are supposed to sneak into the castle and retrieve the head of Aemond Targaryen, a son for a son, as the episode’s title suggests. But, this doesn’t really go to plan and instead forces the show to take a drastic and much darker turn than I expected from episode 1.

House of the Dragon: Blood and Cheese

The climax of the episode is definitely the end. Blood and Cheese fumble their way through Daemon’s mission as they try to find Aemond. But, in their haste and lack of planning, they end up in Queen Helaena’s room, where her kids lie sleeping in their cribs beside her. This sequence of events doesn’t happen exactly like it does in the books, but Blood and Cheese decide that killing the King’s son is probably worth the same as killing the King’s brother, if not a better idea altogether.

They make Helaena tell them which of the sleeping children is the boy (they look identical), and after some deliberating, Helaena points to one of the beds. The way they mutilate the very young child is brutal, and while you don’t see anything, the sound effects are pretty nauseating. This has definitely propelled the show straight into horrific rather than just a tad brutal, but then this is pretty on-brand for George R.R. Martin.

While the mercenaries attempt to remove the boy’s head, Helaena grabs Jaehaera and runs out of the room. Helaena actually runs the same distance as Rhaenyra did in Season 1 when she was summoned to Alicent’s chambers moments after giving birth. Helaena bursts into her mother’s room and proceeds to sit on the floor with her daughter; regardless of that fact, she just walked in on her mother and Ser Criston’s “alone time”. When asked what has happened, Helaena simply says: “they killed the boy”. The last thing we see before the credits is Alicent’s expression of pure horror.

House of the Dragon: Season 2 Episode 1

Did this episode keep me on the edge of my seat in its entirety? Not even remotely. The second half definitely picks up in terms of intrigue and drama that will no doubt perpetuate the war. The brutal killing of Aegon’s son, Jaehaerys, definitely stunned me. Do I know which side is better or worse than the other? No. If anything, this episode has just perpetuated my and other fans’ beliefs that they are as bad as each other. I would have sympathised more with Rhaenyra, especially after losing two children in a very short space of time. After this episode, it’s pretty hard to see where the line is drawn between the two sides’ immorality.

But with that being said, this brutal attack should incite the warfare we’re all here to see, and which we were promised in the nail-biting trailers. Hopefully, the second episode will be a tad more exciting and action-packed than this one, but we’ll have to wait and see.