A shaken trying maid is carrying a bloodied fabric from a baby’s room; fortress employees are rounded up and menaced by males in armour and snarling guard canines. Later, in case you missed it, employees will dismantle a baby’s mattress and the lifeless boy’s physique shall be exhibited to the world, severed head clumsily sewn again on. A horrific crime has taken place, and one aspect within the brewing Targaryen civil conflict is decided that everybody ought to learn about it – although maybe not fairly as eager because the House of the Dragon showrunners are to emphasize it as a result of that is yet one more episode about aftermath moderately than motion, grief moderately than get-go.
King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), together with his standard restraint, smashes up his father’s cherished mannequin of King’s Landing in his rage. His grief is actual, however there’s additionally the fear that he too may have been assassinated. He beats one of many captured assassins to demise and orders the execution of all of the fortress’s pest management staff. Cue weeping and wailing exterior the partitions; Ser Otto (Rhys Ifans) calls him feckless, self-indulgent, an fool and an “insolent pup”. Not fully surprisingly, he’s dismissed as Hand of the King. “Fuck dignity; I need revenge,” is Aegon’s place. “My subsequent Hand shall be a metal fist.” He tosses the workplace to Ser Criston (Fabian Frankel). There’s no means that something may go mistaken with that moody oathbreaker in cost. One of his first acts is to ship Ser Arryk (Luke Tittensor) to Dragonstone to faux to be his twin, Ser Erryk (Elliott Tittensor) and assassinate Rhaenyra. The honourable Ser Arryk is appalled however has his orders.
Cole’s common booty name, Dowager Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke), can be going by way of it. She is fearful that her daughter, Queen Helaena (Phia Saban) will reveal that Ser Criston was in her mattress after the assassination; she’s grieving her personal loss and her daughter’s insufferable ache (“The little one is lifeless, his ache is ended. But what they’ve achieved to my woman,” weeps Alicent, her composure damaged for as soon as). She reluctantly sees the knowledge in her father’s plan to stage an open casket funeral and present the world the kid’s defiled corpse, although Helaena is visibly appalled by the commoners. And she assures Otto that they will get their energy again, although he gained’t hear his daughter’s makes an attempt to admit a sin (presumably her relationship with Ser Criston). Alicent sees Aegon weeping and leaves him to it, calling her lover to her aspect once more regardless of each their ethical misgivings. There goes the mom of the yr award.
It’s powerful to get terribly invested within the King’s Landing crowd: the conventionally nicest character is Helaena, however she’s off in one other world. Alicent appears to have some good impulses however can be conniving in opposition to her former bestie on behalf of youngsters who even she is aware of are terrible. She’s additionally allied with Ser Larys (Matthew Needham) however petrified of him on the identical time. It’s not scene.
Meanwhile on Dragonstone, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) is appalled that anybody may consider her answerable for Jaehaerys’ homicide. But as Daemon (Matt Smith) watches her dialogue, she sees the reality in his barely amused face. Cue their largest argument ever – which isn’t unreasonable, provided that he killed a literal little one. He says he despatched “the Queen’s vengeance” however “can’t be accountable” for his killers hitting the mistaken goal: my dude, legally you completely may be. What’s extra, he completely has broken Rhaenyra’s trigger, maybe irreparably. She asks, “Do you settle for me as your Qqueen and ruler, or do you cling even now to what you suppose you misplaced?” We all know that the reply to that’s “no” and “sure” respectively, and he stalks off together with his dragon, Caraxes.
Rhaenyra honours Daemon’s promise to provide Mysaria her freedom – which is an enormous swing given the confirmed flexibility of her loyalties. At least the present disaster has pressured Rhaenyra to take the reins once more, which is nice; she additionally appears to have a agency alliance now with Rhaenys (Eve Best), who will get somewhat bit extra to do on the Black council. Rhaenys and Corlys (Steve Toussaint) additionally get a enjoyable scene in mattress collectively, utilizing politics as pillow discuss. It’s good to see them given extra to take action far this season. That mentioned, whereas House of the Dragon shows a marked desire for the Blacks in a means that George R.R. Martin’s supply materials didn’t, there’s nonetheless not an enormous quantity of character right here relative to Game of Thrones. Rhaenyra is so reserved, and her youngsters largely nonetheless simply sketches. Her council are a mass of barely delineated figures shouting at her, and there’s little sense of the broader stakes for Westeros, past King’s Landing and Dragonstone – regardless of the journey to the Wall final week.
On her approach to the boat, Mysaria spots what seems to be Ser Erryk arising from the shore – which is unusual, since she simply left him within the fortress. She pauses, and it’s not fully clear if she’s going to return and warn the fortress {that a} doppelgänger is amongst them. This felt like barely unfastened storytelling: perhaps a scene was edited out? Anyway, Ser Arryk infiltrates Dragonstone, although Erryk finds him simply in time, and the pair have a brutal duel as one tries to guard and one to assault Rhaenyra. Erryk lastly offers his brother a deadly blow, and cradles him as he dies, earlier than falling on his personal sword. It needs to be a devastating finale – and it’s, somewhat, however we haven’t spent sufficient time with both character for it to essentially damage as a lot because it did when, say, Brienne fought the Hound.
Outside these predominant story strands, this was episode for individuals not born with a dragon egg of their cradle and a very sophisticated household tree. We get one other have a look at Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) and meet his brother Addam (Clinton Liberty), who’s somewhat simpler going than his older sibling. Addam additionally will get an odd scene the place he’s interrupted whereas digging for cockles or mussels or one thing on the shore by a pale dragon (Laenor’s Seasmoke?) circling overhead. We additionally get one other glimpse of the smith, Hugh (Kieran Bew), who petitioned the King final episode. Here we see his household are struggling to place meals on the desk and his daughter is sick: – the stakes for him are larger than for any of the Targaryens, not that they’re prone to recognize that. There’s additionally one ultimate newcomer, as but unnamed however performed by Love & Friendship’s Tom Bennett, who arrives in King’s Landing and pauses to stare on the our bodies of the murdered ratcatchers. It’s a good guess that there have to be extra for him to do than that.
This episode is directed by Claire Kilner, who did three episodes on season one. She manages the chaos of these opening moments effectively, with a handheld digicam following working figures by way of the Red Keep. But it’s a heavy-hearted episode, weighed down by the grief of virtually all the principle solid: even Jac (Harry Collett) and Baela (Bethany Antonia) speak about loss. Still, it’s efficient in displaying the completely different ways in which loss can spur individuals into ill-advised motion or maintain them paralysed, and there’s drama in that.
