"House of the Dragon" Season 2 Review

Audio By Carbonatix

The first season of House of the Dragon covered decades of Targaryen rule. From the fateful pilot episode (during which Viserys is chosen as successor, becomes King and then selects his own heir to the throne) to the season finale when a war between King Aegon II and Rhaenyra became seemingly inevitable, a lot of story was covered in that ten-episode season. Looking back on it, it now seems like that whole season – which featured several surprising time jumps and a few cast changes (as the characters aged) — was meant as simply an appetizer to season 2.

The second season began with most of the major players already on the board and the only question was how they would use their power (or lack thereof) to achieve the results they wanted.

The first four episodes of the season reveal the machinations from some of the key players as the true fight for power gets underway. As the season begins, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) mourns the loss of her son while King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) reigns with his mother Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) holding sway over his decisions. 

The show thrives when it focuses on the power dynamics at the center of the story and how the two sides make their decisions. Rhys Ifans (Otto Hightower) and Eve Best (Princess Rhaenys Targaryen) truly stand out as supporting actors who bring a lot to their roles as advisors who understand the political ramifications of making rash decisions. Ewan Mitchell also stands out as the unstable Prince Aemond, a character who proves he is as unpredictable as he is conniving. 

There are parts of the first four episodes (of the eight-episode season) that seem to slow down the story’s pace. The storyline for Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) isn’t as compelling as the others as his character seems cast aside into a separate story. Additionally, the program has a huge cast of characters to follow so it’s sometimes difficult to remember who is related to whom. For instance, Queen Helaena Targaryen (Phia Saban) has always felt a forgettable background player until she’s thrust to center stage during the early part of the season.

To its credit, however, the program takes some time to highlight fractions growing in the realm on both sides of the succession debate (akin to how families were divided during the American Civil War). An early sequence in episode 3 shows how a minor argument leads to great bloodshed as families take sides between Rhaenyra and King Aegon II.

This season also highlights the relationship that the public has to those in charge and how political figures overplaying their hands can lead to rebellion amongst the people. One prime example is how Aegon reacts against a whole community during the early part of the second episode.  

The first season of House of the Dragon was a bit jagged with the time jumps, cast changes and a number of divergent plots but this second season feels sharper and more intriguing. It hasn’t reached the level of Game of Thrones yet but this show remains a compelling drama about family dynamics, privilege and the politics of power  with dragons standing in the background ready to come to battle when their riders demand it.