House Of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 2: Recap & Review

House of the Dragon Season 2's second episode wasn't the most thrilling one but provided us with a lot of important details and information that will be significant later on. While some may find the episode boring, I think they might be missing its point.

What House of the Dragon has been doing so far is showing us different aspects of the same situation, allowing us to see the consequences of every small action taken by the characters. Episode 2 followed the outcome of "Blood and Cheese" and revealed major changes in power dynamics that will change everything. Check out our take on the events that took place.

Episode 2 begins with the chaos following the annihilation of the King's heir. We see the enraged Aegon and the innocent people being pushed around, unaware of what's going on. One thing that stood out to me was Alicent showing her emotions. In a grave event like an heir's death, she was the only one to show some sympathy to Helaena. After all, Helaena is the one who will be traumatized by losing a child in such a malevolent way right in front of her eyes.

Later, we see the Council gather urgently to discuss their next actions. Whether you like Aegon or not, you have to agree that he loved his child and is understandably devastated by the loss. I feel like this finally showed us a more humane and loving side of him. He is indeed acting without thinking when he declares war, but that just shows the love he had for Jaehaerys. Additionally, in the last episode, we saw Alicent being overlooked not only by the rest of the Council members but by her sons as well. However, in his most desperate moment, Aegon was now asking his mother for advice. This shows that Alicent's relevance still remains and also highlights Aegon's childish side still looking for his mother in times of crisis since she's always been there for him.

Jaehaerys's funeral was tragic on many levels. Here, I have to say that all the feelings Alicent showed earlier were in vain. Despite the sympathy she had for her daughter, she still made her participate in this funeral, which was more like a "display" of her child's body purely for political reasons.

You can see the impact this had on Helaena. She was growing more and more uncomfortable being surrounded by all these unknown people with her son's stitched-up body lying right in front of her. This moment seems to have worsened her mental state even more than the moment of Jaehaerys's murder. Not to mention how Otto manipulated the royal family into agreeing with this funeral, claiming it would "honor" Jaehaerys when in reality it was just a way to turn people against Rhaenyra.

We then move to Driftmark where Rhaenyra and her Council discuss Jaehaerys's death, and she denies having anything to do with it. She then realizes that it was Daemon who initiated this assassination without telling her. The conversation between the two of them was so intense that I felt my heart could burst at any second. Rhaenyra has every right to doubt Daemon, and the way he reacted to the news by calling it a "mistake" showed his rotten self even more.

The whole time she was explaining that she worries he might still have intentions to claim the throne, I felt like he would strike her at any minute. Even if Daemon truly supports her or not, what she said really hit his pathetic ego. All in all, I think Daemon's order for Aemond's head was purely a wish to bring Rhaenyra some kind of relief after Luke's death. However, because of how insensitive and reckless he is, he cannot even recognize that what he did was wrong.

Later on, we see Aemond snuggling with the brothel worker from Season 1. This scene shows Aemond's true identity and the trauma he has been holding onto. He is acting like a small boy, lying in this woman's arms in a fetal position without even wearing his eye patch, opening up to her about his emotions—something you would never see him do. Even though he is trying to act tough, he is a vulnerable, immature young boy at heart.

The scene with the hanged ratcatchers shows the irresponsibility of young King Aegon. I don't like Otto; he is emotionless and cares about the end goal but not the means to achieve it. However, what he was doing successfully was putting Aegon in his place and controlling him so he doesn't wreak havoc.

This will no longer be the case since Aegon chose Cristen Cole as his new Hand and will do as he pleases. Aegon is surrounding himself more and more with people who are also looking for bloodshed like Cole or Larys Strong. This will definitely influence the way he participates in the war. However, Otto didn't miss the chance to land a heavy hit on Aegon's ego by telling him that he was basically a disappointment to his father.

Last but not least was the battle of the twins. Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk's quarrel was very intense and represented so much more than a fight between brothers. Although they came from the same womb, they were devoted to the two sides of the royal conflict which separated them. However, until the end, they showed love for each other, which made it even more heartbreaking to watch them fight to the death because of their contrasting ideals. Although Ser Erryk was the one who won the fight, he killed himself because he could not bear to live after killing his flesh and blood. It was a devastating scene, but nonetheless, very well done.

HOTD Season 2 Episode 3: Release Date

Episode 3 of "House of the Dragon" Season 2 will premiere on Monday, July 1 at 9 PM ET/PT. Fans can watch the show exclusively on HBO and Max.