‘House Of The Dragon’ Season 2, Episodes 1 & 2 Review: The Calm Before The Storm

House of the Dragon is back for a second season. Civil war is seemingly inevitable. Our players: Team Black, led by Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), and a little by her husband/uncle Daemon (Matt Smith), versus Team Green, with Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney), his mother Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and the rest of the royal family. Season 1 concluded with Rhaenyra, named heir to the Iron Throne by her father, the late King Viserys (Paddy Considine), having her claim challenged by the Greens due to the misinformed actions of Alicent, Viserys’s second wife. Aegon II now sits the Iron Throne, while Rhaenyra, backed by some loyal allies, gathers strength to retaliate against the usurper.

The first two episodes of Season 2 are consumed with the aftermath of the Season 1 finale in which Aegon’s brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) inadvertently killed Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault). Consequently, this season suffers a slower start than some fans were hoping for as Rhaenyra spends the better part of Episode 1 alone, searching for proof of the murder that audiences witnessed in 2022. D’Arcy is given a small stage to portray Rhaenyra’s grief, though there is surely (hopefully?) more to come. Meanwhile, Daemon incites chaos in King’s Landing.

Considering how crowded and chaotic Westeros can get, there are advantages to a slow beginning. Although admittedly anticipating more dragons and fantastically choreographed fight scenes, I didn’t mind spending some time in the “calm” before the storm (which, of course, is still brutal; it’s Game of Thrones, afterall). Episodes 1 and 2 focus on tragedy over action, showing the little details that bring the misery of war to life through glimpses at individual human experiences. Particularly compelling performances from Glynn-Carney and Phia Saban (playing Aegon’s wife and sister Helaena) depict the consequences of youth meeting immense power and responsibility, reminding us before the real fighting breaks out that the leader of the Greens’ army is barely on the other side of childhood.

Maternal grief is a particularly potent theme thus far; alongside Rhaenyra, Helaena feels the pain of motherhood in wartime and Alicent mourns the evident suffering of her children. Rhaenyra’s cousin Rhaenys (Eve Best) reflects on the death of her own child, and we even get a glimpse of a civilian discovering her son hanged in the streets of King’s Landing. A stark contrast is drawn between grieving women and angry men, perhaps foreshadowing where further conflicts and alliances may sprout.