Summary
Beautifully shot and powerfully acted, House of the Dragon continues to do the broad strokes well here, but the sheer volume of competing characters and perspectives can be a bit wearying.
Giant battles full of dragons and destruction are all well and good, but the heart of a story like House of the Dragon lives in the aftermath. It beats to the rhythm of bodies washing up against the rocks of a shoreline and hides in the wreckage of naval fleets razed to matchsticks. Events like the Battle of the Gullet are the payoffs; they only work because HBO hired really good actors like Emma D’Arcy and Matt Smith to play what are, in large part, deplorable characters. Season 3 started by showing its full hand, but it’s Episode 2 that really proves it’s not bluffing.
Blimey, though, there are a lot of characters in this, aren’t there? A lot of them look pretty similar as well. But the biggest problem isn’t telling them apart so much as keeping track of them, especially since even the hour-long runtimes don’t really have room to devote meaningful time to all of them. There’s a scattershot quality to big chunks of this episode that was also present in the premiere before it really got going. It’s not uncommon for key figures to show up for a single tokenistic scene, just so we don’t forget about them. Since the vast majority of this hour revolves around Rhaenyra and Daemon retaking King’s Landing, we might as well start with the small stuff.
Housekeeping
So, for your enjoyment, he’s a brief roundup of things you ought to be keeping in the back of your mind, since they’ll be relevant down the line:
- Larys the Clubfoot and Aegon are still on the run. After being captured, they were ostensibly on their way to Dragonstone, but their transport wandered into a battle, giving them a chance to escape into the woods. Aegon wants to head for Rook’s Rest to meet up with Ser Criston Cole’s garrison, but the road there isn’t going to be easy.
- Corlys survived the Battle of the Gullet and is willing to give Alyn his name for his efforts.
- Rhaena, a bit shaken up from the battle, takes Sheepstealer back to Lady Jeyne Arryn at the Vale. Despite having wanted a dragon pretty intently in the past, though, she’s now not particularly keen on the idea given the political implications of Jace’s death.
Aemond, Meet Alys
There’s still plenty of dragon action in this episode, and a lot of it comes courtesy of Aemond Targaryen and Vhagar, who finally make their way to Harrenhal after being manipulated into doing so by Alicent in the previous episode. Criston’s garrison, upon seeing the dragon flying overhead, begins marching on the castle, but Aemond gets there first, torching the place to soften it up and then continuing inside on foot while slaughtering all the men-at-arms he can find.
Of course, Aemond’s looking for Daemon, who’s no longer there. Instead, he finds Simon Strong and the rest of his clan, all of whom he kills, and takes a dagger in the side for his trouble. He also runs into Alys Rivers. The last we see of Aemond, he’s crawling towards her, begging her to help him. And I’m sure she will.
Earlier, Alys had petitioned Daemon for control of Harrenhal, and he’d laughed off the request, since that isn’t exactly how such things tend to work. But Aemond owing a debt to her is a fine way of securing the loyalty of a powerful prince, kickstarting their Fire & Blood power couple arc. Something to look forward to.
Grief Is A Motivator
Rhaenyra is devastated to learn about the death of Jace, and Emma D’Arcy sells her grief to the nines in House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 2. But grief is also a powerful motivator. Once Daemon has received word of the tragedy and returned to Dragonstone, he needs only whisper sweet nothings about the Song of Ice and Fire into his niece-wife’s ear to rally her. Together, they set out for King’s Landing to reclaim the Iron Throne, now in an even worse mood.
Flanked by Ulf White and Hugh Hammer — who have returned to Dragonstone after catching a glimpse of the Green Men, and with whom Daemon’s interactions are brilliantly funny; I totally forgot how good Matt Smith was in this — Daemon and Rhaenyra travel to King’s Landing and find the place relatively amenable to their visit. However, they have no idea what it took to bring that about.
Things Are Still Not Going Well For Alicent
After being sold out by Ser Rickard, Alicent is on borrowed time in King’s Landing and has to try to prepare the place for Rhaenyra’s arrival and spirit Helaena out of there before all Hell breaks loose. For this, she goes to see Luthor Largent, the Commander of the City Watch, in the hopes of getting him onside, which seems to work. But not everyone is similarly inclined.
Lord Jasper, who is the Master of Laws, ironically, decides that this is the right time to confront Alicent and try to rape her. She fights him off noisily enough that Grand Maester Orwyle catches him in the act and has him arrested, even though it’s obvious she has been plotting. This gives Alicent just enough time to grab a blissfully clueless Helaena and try to stand down as many guards as possible so they don’t all get themselves killed when Rhaenyra approaches. That, at least, she manages to pull off, but getting out of the city is another matter entirely.
The Queen Takes the Throne
Despite being welcomed with open arms outside, Rhaenyra and Daemon nonetheless have some guards to deal with inside the Red Keep. None of them is a match for Daemon, though. Things do get a little tense when they reach the throne room and are confronted by Ser Rickard and the Kingsguard, but luckily Ser Largent leads the Goldcloaks in, and they all put in with Daemon and Rhaenyra. The throne is won. But there’s still the problem of Aegon being missing.
The consolation prizes aren’t half-bad, though. Grand Maester Orwyle pledges fealty and offers up Lord Jasper’s head as a conciliatory deal, but it’s Larys the Clubfoot who left behind the true prize in the Black Cells — Otto Hightower. He’s dragged before the Iron Throne for a public execution. This is where Rhaenyra becomes queen. With Daemon whispering encouragement in her ear, she takes Otto’s head, though admittedly makes a pig’s ear of it and requires a couple of messy strokes. Daemon cleanly beheads Jasper to show her how it’s done.
At this point, Alicent and Helaena are brought in, having been captured during their escape. I’m not sure what’s worse for Alicent — seeing her father’s head on the floor, or seeing a tearful Rhaenyra on the throne.
