Welcome back, for week 2 of House of the Dragon. If you made it past the tourney and the C(itadel)-section, you’ll do just fine. Settle in and enjoy the show!
Spoiler Note: This recap and the comments section may contain mild spoilers from George R.R. Martin’s novels and Westeros histories, whether or not that material has appeared on the show yet. If you have not read the books and wish to remain completely Unsullied, we encourage you to check out our non-book-reader recap by Oz of Thrones!
Wait that’s not quite right, is it? Needs more blood! Just oceans of the stuff. That’s what the opening credits were always missing.
All kidding aside, it’s good to hear the familiar strains of Ramin Djawadi’s ultra famous opening theme for Game of Thrones, and to see a similar visual composition in play for HOTD’s opening credits, tweaked for House Targaryen. But…I can live without seeing rivers of blood every week. I understand the reference and symbolism, but it’s still gross and I suspect I’ll be skipping the opening credits a lot more than I did with GoT. Your mileage may vary on the ick factor.
Diving into the episode- we say so long to Ser Ryam (we hardly knew ya), and Harrold Westerling gets a promotion in the Kingsguard. The Kingsguard will need to replace Ser Ryam ASAP since kings die like flies in Westeros.
Corlys Velaryon is mad as hell at the Small Council meeting; Craghas Crabfeeder has been seriously on his shit and it’s hitting his business hard. We also get a not so subtle hint that half a year has passed since the last episode. The adults are talking and Rhaenyra the cupbearer gets shushed when she tries to contribute.
Sent off to shop for a new Kingsguard, she opts for a tested warrior over the political choices foisted upon her by Otto Hightower. If the more experienced knight happens to also be scorchingly hot, well Rhaenyra can’t help that. It’s not her fault that Ser Criston Cole is as handsome as he is good with his sword. But it is a bonus.
Meanhile, Viserys is playing with his dragon minifigs and Dragonstone Dreamhouse. Alicent has been spending time with him regularly, having their little chats, and sir? Please step away from that young girl and have a seat. He asks her not to tell Rhaenyra about their developing whatever-this-is because he knows. Stop trying to fuck your daughter’s girlfriend, Viserys. You know this is not correct.
Rhaenyra and Alicent meet for a tender reassuring chat and kneel around an astounding amount of candles. Between the candlelight, girltalk, handtouching, and sapphic longing? Frankly, with the scene we’re getting here, it feels like a TV show that would probably get canceled after one season on Netflix. Except knowing how these two wind up, it feels like queerbaiting. Unless they actually have it go somewhere, despite the fate written for these two in the books and showed to us so far in the trailers. Martin, Sapochnik and Condal might not completely alter a story but they could add some details and moments in.
The Velaryons approach King Viserys with a proposal- a wedding one, and now he has two underage women to contend with, as they suggest the king marry their young daughter Laena. It would strengthen their alliance and Viserys’ flagging reputation. (Plus they’re related through Rhaenys so maybe they thought he’d be into that? I dunno.)
Rhaenyra and Viserys dine together, painfully, awkward. (I’m wondering, where are the servants? They’re still royal. Anyway.) After the Small Council meeting earlier, they don’t know how to talk to one another.
In other news, the Iron Throne is literally killing Viserys. (Take a hint, V.) The cut received from his throne has festered and he’s close to losing a finger. So here comes ye old Maggot Cure! Otto takes this opportunity to bend the king’s ear about marital alliances. They think the Velaryon proposal could be good but Otto clearly has other plans in the works.
Viserys meets with the LITERAL CHILD the Velaryons have proposed he marry. She is small and trying to be very good, and it’s tragic. Viserys is not down with this, and that is reassuring.
Rhaenyra and Rhaenys cross paths at the keep, and it might be educational for the princess. Rhaenys’ cynicism is on full display, especially after helping her husband nudge her daughter at the much older king. She doesn’t have any faith in the men of their world, who will never let a woman rule. But Rhaenyra declares there will be “a new order.” Ooof, that sounds familiar.
Viserys and Alicent discuss the problematic proposal, and she brings him one of his figurines for his playset, repaired. Alicent fixed his dragon- it’s symbolic you see. Subtle. He’s deeply touched by the gesture. But Otto cockblocks his own daughter because news! Dragon news!
After parking his butt in Dragonstone for six months, Daemon Targaryen makes a move by pranking his big brother. The rogue prince snatches a dragon’s egg (the one meant for Baby Baelon no less) and announces his intention to marry and have a baby with his companion Mysaria. The Small Council sees it for the obvious provocation it is and sends Otto. He’s expendable, and kind of annoying.
Daemon enter slinging the egg around like a football, and we finally get some action in this rather slow-moving episode. But I don’t know if talking shit on a narrow staircase is It, Otto, and also, people forgot that Daemon has a dragon. So there’s that. The scene is tense, on the edge of fighting, when Rhaenyra busts in with that “show of force” she wanted, riding Syrax.
Defanged by his niece’s arrival, Daemon admits his bluff, and gives the egg back. Mysaria retreats. Perhaps surprisingly she is unafraid to call out the prince on his lies, and the danger he put her in, in this situation.
Viserys consults with Small Council member Lyonel Strong about the marriage business. Strong councils him to marry Laena and thereby keep Corlys secured as his ally. Gross but strategically sound.
After Rhaenyra’s stunt at Dragonstone, the king is mad as hell when she comes home. But Rhaenyra has matured quite a bit in a short amount of time. She counters with her accepting of his need to get married, because duty to the realm is the most important thing. They’re at peace. (Temporarily. It’s hard raising a teenager.)
After much dithering, Viserys has made his decision and makes the announcement he will be marrying the lady Alicent Hightower. Corlys is naturally angry, Otto is smugly satisfied and Rhaenyra is floored and teary. Most notably, Alicent does not look like a girl who just got proposed to by a king she cares about. She looks pretty miserable, actually. But the deed is done, the proposal made.
Somewhere else, Corlys explains himself: the Velaryons are an ancient house but he had to make his own fortunes. It’s a neat little villain monologue to reveal that of course Viserys has driven him directly to Daemon- because what else would he do? He needs help in stopping Craghas Crabfeeder and Viserys isn’t helping. Now the king has spurned his daughter. Corlys has made a move, and the king has made a powerful enemy.
Stray Thoughts
Opening Credits Returns! I’m actually surprised they reused original main title theme. Obviously it’s hugely associated with GoT, so they probably wanted to work with that to make the emotional connection but I would’ve thought they’d want to establish their own identity more. So I was expecting new music by Djawadi. Dare I say, I was slightly disappointed by hearing the same music! The animations are beautiful and so creative, but like I say in the recap…I don’t really want to look at rivers of blood a lot. I think these opening credits are going to be a little more divisive than the original.
Kingsguard’s Wear Daily: I don’t remember the Kingsguard helmets looking like Magneto.
Rhyming Sorceresses: Mysaria framed with the familiar Dragonstone carvings behind her gave me strong Melisandre flashbacks, and it felt a little deliberate. (In addition to positions, their back stories are also similar.) This Mysaria is a little different from the one sketched out in Fire & Blood; once again we have HOTD bringing up a reproductive choice (Mysaria eliminating her ability to have children). Mysaria in the book was actually pregnant with Daemon’s child when he stole the egg. It will be interesting to see if women’s autonomy over their bodies in this way continues to be a throughline throughout the first season. Certainly women’s power in general (and lack thereof) is a major storyline point.
Are there sides? Fan gets caught up in good/bad debates and Great House stanning, but ultimately can characters in this world ever be boiled down to a simple essence that way? I jokingly refer to Corlys’ final comments as a “villain monologue” but I don’t think of him as a villain. For him this is the reasonable strategic maneuver, even though it will put him at considerable risk. He would consider Viserys a villain (and a fool and a bad king) for choosing a bride with no Valyrian blood who did nothing to shore up alliances or save men. And we as viewers were side-eyeing the lot of them for the marriage business tonight. Whatever the answer is, I think it’s a good sign that House of the Dragon can spawn interesting questions only two episodes in.
Slower but steadier – Tonight’s episode was..maybe not a tortoise, but not a hare either. In comparison to last week’s traumatizing, nonstop action and dizzying jumps from one big scene to another, this episode took more time to build and gave us more time to breathe. I appreciate that we’re getting to know the Small Council members, and the way all the characters inhabit this world.
Steve Toussaint – He’s absolutely a star. I don’t look anywhere but at him when he’s in the room. The folks in charge knew what they were doing when they cast him. I can’t wait to see Corlys get up to shit next week.
Targaryen Family Matters – This episode did tremendous work in developing believable family dynamics between Viserys and Rhaenyra. Which is weird when we’re talking about dragons, dragonriding, kingdoms, remarriage potentially with way-too-young people, etc. But the uncomfortable dinner and Daemon’s conflicted feelings about his brother grounded the wild world of Westeros in something familiar- complicated family shit, muddied with hurt feelings.
Valar Morghulis
Ser Ryam Redwyne, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard (Played by Garry Cooper)
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