‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Review: HBO’s Biggest Drama Brings Summer Heat with Blood-Soaked Targaryen Mayhem
When a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin. The two choices as it soars through the air are madness and greatness, a fine line separating the possibilities. It’s a concept introduced to audiences in Game of Thrones that prequel series House of the Dragon feels comfortable exploring in its telling of the civil war between the Targaryens after the death of King Viserys III. The HBO drama returns with a measured second season that allows full realization of the moving parts of the war, though the series falls victim to a shortened season that drags the runtimes of select episodes past the hour mark and offers scenes that end feeling stagnant.
Last season ended with Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) being told by Daemon (Matt Smith) of her son’s death at the hands of Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), unmistakably the most sinister person in Westeros, and the largest living dragon, Vhagar – Aemond’s intent the night of Lucerys’ death is irrelevant now that the child’s mother knows. Rhaenyra remains steadfast at Dragonstone with her closest allies, including a war-ready Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best) who solidly keeps her family level-headed when emotions begin to run high and Daemon, whose path to support includes selfish indulgence and vicarious living through his queen for a crown he might have seen as once his. They prepare for battle with the Hightowers, Rhaenyra attempting to understand the opposition while Daemon readies himself for bloodshed. Spirits are high after the death of Lucerys, but no real movements have been made in retaliation yet.
Not too far in the capital, King’s Landing, Aegon Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) sits on the Iron Throne, accused by Rhaenyra and her followers of usurping her inheritance with the help of his mother, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), his grandfather Otto (Rhys Ifans) who serves him as Hand of the King, Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) of the Kingsguard, and Aemond. It’s difficult to overstate the sinister nature of even Aemond’s glare, backed up further by the one of the greatest lace fronts to ever grace the small screen. After Alicent mistook King Viserys’ final words for supporting Aegon’s claim to the throne, gender politics quickly parted supporters of either side. Men who never supported Rhaenyra’s claim to the throne have quickly rallied behind Aegon, who does nothing substantial to prove himself as someone who deserves to lead. Alicent’s frustration with her eldest son grows as he proves himself further to be an unfit ruler, slight embarrassment rearing its head from showing him so much support to no avail. Even within the Hightower clan, tensions run high amongst one another while they attempt to maneuver around one another and get ready for possible battle with Rhaenyra’s supporters.
House of the Dragon is grand-scale but feels more intimate than Game of Thrones, a smaller main cast that doesn’t drift into too much of Westeros nobility and allows each narrative room to breathe without injecting superfluous nonsense. The first season moved more swiftly, as it was telling almost two decades worth of story – which isn’t indicative of high or low quality – but the sophomore season’s inability to establish a pace makes certain scenes feel exposition-heavy and drawn out, especially ones where Rhaenyra is rehashing what Viserys told her about the Song of Ice and Fire. Even in the four episodes provided for review, two pass the 60-minute mark and have scenes that meander through pertinent information without as much flair as the rest of the series. It’s a hiccup in the grand scheme of a great show, but the strengths of the series prove that its weaknesses have the potential for enhancement. Perhaps the two additional episodes the first season had could have found places for some of these scenes that would have felt like a better fit.
The series boasts an impressive improvement on a regular family drama by adding the looming threat of civil war and the upheaval of an entire ancestry with a war that could end a dynasty. There are smaller scenes with an urgency that feels as powerful as action sequences, both with the ability to end in someone’s death. The series understands its own ability to create an atmosphere of unbreathable tension within its interpersonal conflicts and heavily leans into it, some of the most important moments of the show being the quietest. These serve as proof that the aforementioned scenes that don’t feel as well-paced have opportunities in future installments to be rectified. Watching a noble house disintegrate from the inside, fueled by what both sides feel like a just cause while also presenting petty resentments, is enthralling yet vicious. This season ups the ante in violence, squeamish people be damned, as the sounds of death permeate the frame often, blood spilling into every corner as the death count rises. There is no war as bloody as one between dragons, Rhaenys tells Rhaenyra. The series makes good on this promise twice over, showcasing haunting images of war and its brutalities as House Targaryen destroys itself from within.
There is a war coming, yet House of the Dragon is interested in telling the full story that builds into how the battles to come seem to be the last resort. The clear story is Rhaenyra’s claim being denied after Alicent thrusts Aegon into the monarchy, but with so many smaller stories weaving into the tapestry, HBO’s biggest drama finds solace in its ability to confidently provide entertainment while creating a fully-realized depiction of familial strife. Family has the ability to cut deep, to push harder than anyone else is willing, to uncover the mysteries of their loved ones instead of looking away. There’s a deep sense of hurt in this series from its two leads, Rhaenyra and Alicent, who have both lost the most important person they ever had in their lives, the one who achieved all of this for them: each other. This hurt created a situation that neither can find themselves out of now, an entire war being fought with Alicent’s inability to see Rhaenyra as the true ruler of Westeros. It’s complicated but told beautifully, a story that balances the political intrigue of the women’s positions while incorporating their emotional bond. Emma D’Arcy is magnetic in Rhaenyra’s grief and rage, a performance that solidifies D’Arcy as a star of their generation, while Olivia Cooke is a renaissance portrait of melancholy as Alicent Hightower. Both seem so misunderstood without the other.
After two years of waiting, HBO invites audiences back into Westeros with a second season of House of the Dragon that has a shaky pace while still managing to be an impressive installment into the history of the world that Game of Thrones introduced audiences to. With the world having been established already, the cast takes the reins of introducing the horrors of the Targaryen past with unmatched ferocity. Since inception, the series has faced preliminary judgment thanks to the success of the series that inspired it, and while Dragon doesn’t always live up to the juggernaut that came before it, it’s an incredible feat of storytelling that will stun audiences.
Grade: B+
The eight-episode second season of House of the Dragon premieres June 16 and will continue with one new episode weekly through August 4.
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