Across eight slow-moving episodes—which had their share of awe-inducing sights, lacklustre character arcs, and heartfelt conversations—season 2 showed wars can be won and lost in more ways than one.
Akhil Arora, a Film Critics Guild member and a Rotten Tomatoes-certified TV critic, who saw all eight episodes of House of the Dragon season 2 in 4K Dolby Vision with Dolby Atmos. He has been reviewing movies and TV series since 2015 and has written for NDTV and SlashFilm.
Towards the end of the third episode of the second season of House of the Dragon, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) decided to act on the pacifist advice of her cousin once removed. What followed was some of the most thrilling stuff all season. Despite the massive threat posed to her life and Team Black, Rhaenyra disguised as a septa and sneaked into King’s Landing—the home of all her enemies—to meet with Queen Dowager Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke). As they dug into the murderous things that had happened on their behalf, Rhaenyra discovered Alicent’s big misunderstanding. In his hazy last moments, King Viserys wasn’t talking about his son Aegon but Aegon the Conqueror. What we knew all along was now dawning on her. Regardless, Alicent refused to budge and find a peaceful resolution because the gears of war were already turning.
That secretive meeting between Rhaenyra and Alicent in the Sept demonstrated how the truth is sometimes not enough. Even after learning that she had gravely misinterpreted her late husband’s words, Alicent was unwilling to try and rectify her error. Rhaenyra pressed her to consider the costs. The then-impending all-out war would no doubt cause massive destruction and loss of life across Westeros. It’s something we learned all too well over the rest of House of the Dragon season 2. But it wasn’t enough to move Alicent. Unfortunately, that wasn’t her only mistake—or rather, compounding of an earlier fault—this season.
Season 2 showed Alicent’s failures as a mother
In the sixth episode, as her brother Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox) prepared to leave on new military orders, Alicent questioned him about Daeron, the youngest of her sons who has been brought up away from King’s Landing, unlike the others. Gwayne assured his sister that Daeron was growing up to be a kind and intelligent young man. That made Alicent wonder why her other boys—Aegon and Aemond—have grown up so unkind. Was it her mothering or the environment of the Red Keep? It’s clear that Gwayne cares much for Alicent and so, naturally, he doesn’t blame her. But House of the Dragon season 2 provided evidence of the former elsewhere.
In the fourth episode, when Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) complained to his mother about how Aemond and Criston Cole were orchestrating the war without him, Alicent let him have it. She told her son that he wasn’t even half the king his father was and that he would be best served to listen to his advisors. What should Aegon personally do? Do nothing, Alicent spat back. Even if that may be the truth, it was delivered brutally and cold-heartedly. To be fair, being the King’s mother, Alicent was best placed to speak plainly to Aegon. But surely, she could’ve found a better way to communicate the motherly advice. After all, House of the Dragon season 2 essentially suggested it was the moment that pushed Aegon off the edge and to make the rash decision to drunkenly fly into battle.
Alicent upheld the patriarchy and paid for it
Alicent might believe that she did her best but, in season 2, she reaped what she sowed. Late into season 1, spooked by the words of her manipulative Hand of the King father, she chose to believe what she wanted to hear. That’s why she put such importance on the whispers of her dying husband who was barely in his senses towards the end. If she could convince everyone that Viserys had changed his mind and favoured her own son over the named heir, she might be able to save her neck and those of her kin. What Alicent was banking on all along was that the lords of Westeros were sexist. They would side with her because despite the oaths that had been administered, they secretly always preferred to have a man—nay, even a boy—on the Iron Throne.
This came back to bite Alicent in House of the Dragon season 2. After Aegon was gravely injured by dragonfire in that three-way fiery battle in episode 4, the usurpers needed a regent. But despite serving in that position for years when Viserys was too ill to rule, Alicent was looked over in favour of her ill-experienced teenage son Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) in episode 5. What an insult.
Those on the Green Council might have claimed they were doing it because they needed a dragonrider in a time of war. But ultimately, they did it because they preferred a man over a woman. An episode later, Alicent was entirely dismissed from the Green Council by the boy who had just been chosen. This is the company Alicent chose so this is what she deserved. With the Crown having no use for her, no wonder she briefly retreated to the comforts of the Kingswood.
That self-imposed exile helped Alicent to see her position with renewed clarity. It’s why she sought out Rhaenyra at Dragonstone in the finale—the second chapter of the show’s emotional centrepiece and by far the best scene in House of the Dragon season 2—in a bid to fix the damage she had wrought. She’s pushed to make a terrible choice—a son for a son—but it’s the price she must pay for the mental peace she craves. However, Alicent’s offer is ultimately hollow, as we can already tell, for she’s far from the only one whose plots are in motion.
In season 2, Team Green made costly errors
Alicent was hardly the only one on Team Green to commit costly errors in House of the Dragon season 2. In the first episode, King Aegon tried to be a nice human and give the smallfolk what they wanted. But his Hand of the King, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), urged him to be stricter and demand more from them because they needed all the resources they could secure for the war. After all, Team Black had put them under a punishing sea blockade. That had a domino effect as the Crown began hoarding everything it could to feed the dragons and the soldiers. Owing to that, smallfolk like Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) were forced to scrounge for basics.
Running out of food and ways to provide for their families, they attempted to leave King’s Landing, but newly minted Prince Regent Aemond prevented that too. That opened the door for Rhaenyra to curry favour by sending them food on Team Black-branded boats. She’s no saint, mind you. The lack of food in King’s Landing was in part due to the sanctions she had installed. This is imperialist behaviour. First, you drive up food prices for everyone. Then, you embark on a disinformation campaign, spreading rumours that the royals are regularly feasting while the smallfolk starve. And ultimately, you airdrop food to get the locals to revolt against their rulers. It’s inhumane and a smarter King might have been able to use that opportunity.
From starvation to dragonriders in House of the Dragon season 2
Mind you, earlier in the season, Otto had managed to do just that. He cleverly used the baby boy Jaehaerys’ death and orchestrated a public funeral to generate sympathy for Team Green and derision for Team Black. The plan worked—the Queen was dubbed Rhaenyra the Cruel. But Team Green destroyed all that with their disastrous moves, one after the other. That included Aegon hanging all the city’s ratcatchers to drive fear and thereby losing the public. Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) parading the head of the slain dragon Meleys which didn’t sit right with the smallfolk. All that, and the lack of basic means, contributed to the populist revolt.
That despair and restlessness helped Team Black’s cause. The smallfolk—or at least the ones with suspected Targaryen blood—were willing to travel to Dragonstone, try to claim a dragon and potentially sacrifice themselves because their lives in Flea Bottom hadn’t left much to them.
Dragonstone’s dragonkeep was the setting for some of the nerviest scenes in House of the Dragon season 2. Would someone emerge heroic, or would they be burned to death? You never quite knew how it was going to play out. In episode 6, Rhaenyra’s Lord Commander of the Queensguard, Steffon Darklyn (Anthony Flanagan), thought he had tamed Seasmoke only for the dragon to reveal it was toying with him before burning him alive. In episode 7, Vermithor—nicknamed the Bronze Fury, the second biggest dragon alive after Aemond’s mighty old Vhagar—appeared calm and obeyed Rhaenyra only to then wreak havoc amongst the smallfolk.
Surprisingly, two survived long enough to make their claims. The blacksmith Hugh tamed Vermithor while the drunkard storyteller Ulf White (Tom Bennett) stumbled across Silverwing and somehow bonded with her. Elsewhere in House of the Dragon season 2, a terrified Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty)—a shipwright for the Velaryons—was handpicked by Seasmoke as its new rider.
House of the Dragon review: where season 2 failed
Of the three who rose from their lowly positions to become dragonriders and join Team Black, Hugh was developed the most. He believed that the King would stay true to his word and deliver the money he promised. But that didn’t prove to be true. Hugh failed to provide for his wife and lost his daughter to sickness. Ulf had spent his life boasting that he was Viserys’ half-brother to anyone who would listen and believe. He had used that to get endless free drinks. But that’s really all there was to his character development in House of the Dragon season 2. Addam was never happy just being a shipwright. He pushed his brother to ask for more but was told to be content with what he had. Life then changed out of the blue for Addam. He wasn’t even an active participant in what happened.
For me, House of the Dragon operated on very thin ground here. In Game of Thrones, side characters who emerged to the fore got a lot more investment. Ulf and Addam were given very little before they were moved front and centre. Hugh’s was only comparatively better. House of the Dragon season 2 ultimately best served its top-billed leads: Alicent, Rhaenyra, and Daemon (Matt Smith) who was off on his own basically the entire season.
After that terrible decision to ask for “a son for a son” which led to the death of Aegon’s infant heir, Rhaenyra ostracised him. Daemon spent the rest of the season at Harrenhal where he was tortured by the haunted place’s past, the potions brewed by the mysterious maester Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), and the fallacy of the barbaric decisions he took to raise an army. Thanks to Alys though, Daemon got a peek at the bigger picture in the season 2 finale which convinced him that he needed to stand up for more than just himself.
Upending the social order in House of the Dragon season 2
Daemon’s isolation provided an opportunity for others to shine. The Riverlords got the most screentime outside of the Targaryens and their immediate surroundings. Early in House of the Dragon season 2, the young Oscar Tully (Archie Barnes) was mocked by Daemon for not being useful. But he showed tremendous maturity and honourably used his rise to Lord Paramount of the Riverlands. Realising that Daemon was cornered and needed their armies, Oscar shamed him in front of all the present lords in episode 7, sending a message that he wasn’t going to stand for his crimes. Oscar even got Daemon to dispense justice and behead the guy who had acted on his behalf.
In one scene, Oscar got more to do than Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) all season. As Rhaenyra’s heir, Jace was deemed too valuable to be sent into battle atop a dragon. That led to him being sidelined in season 2. He didn’t do much apart from negotiating a couple of alliances. And he was extra annoyed with his mother in episode 7 after he learnt of her plan to invite Targaryen bastards to claim dragons. After all, Jace himself is a Targaryen bastard. Wouldn’t other bastards with dragons challenge their power and threaten Jace’s succession? The only difference between Jace, Ulf, and Hugh is that Rhaenyra has recognised her son. But now that Ulf and Hugh are riding the likes of Silverwing and Vermithor, what’s to stop them from wanting more?
House of the Dragon review: season 2 verdict
The restriction to the Targaryen world—season 2 only gave us bits of the Arryns, the Lannisters, and just one scene with the Freys and the Starks—is a facet of House of the Dragon. That is baked into its very fibre of existence. But the second season did find room beyond the power players. Through the Riverlords who opposed Daemon’s desires, Corlys Velaryon’s (Steve Toussaint) bastards and their polarising philosophies, the pirates who wish to settle scores with Corlys, and the smallfolk who had a sudden rise from their meagre origins.
On a foundational level, it was very different from the first season. While that one ran through time with big time jumps between episodes, House of the Dragon season 2—developed and showrun by co-creator Ryan Condal—switched it up and became a lot more serialised. At times, episodes picked up right where the previous one had left off. There was an immediacy to the season, as if every day and week was important in how the war was unfolding.
At the same time, it showed the various facets of any war. It’s not all about battlefield action but also the quiet moments in between. And it’s the decisions you make in those moments that decide your fate. You must know when to strike and when to retreat. As the Dance of the Dragons enters a deadlier phase—we have clashes brewing both at sea and on land—the broken Aegon has made the wise choice to seclude himself. Rhaenyra will have the Iron Throne to herself at the start of House of the Dragon season 3 but her rule won’t be cemented, as she noted to Alicent, until Aegon loses his head in public. Instead, she will inherit a weakened and slightly burnt Seven Kingdoms, one where she must now answer and quell the public’s worries. That’s a job no one covets.
All eight episodes of House of the Dragon season 2 are now streaming on Max wherever available, Crave in Canada, NOW in the UK, WOW in Germany, Binge in Australia, Neon in New Zealand, JioCinema in India, and OSN+ in the Middle East.
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What do you think?