‘House Of The Dragon’ Season 2 Premiere Review – A Thrilling, Tragic Generational Clash

It ain’t easy being green, or that’s what Dowager Queen Alicent would like people to believe.

Two years after it revived the fortunes of Game of Thrones after that series’ poorly reviewed end, House of the Dragon is back on our collective big and small screens. This time, the battle lines are clearly and perhaps irrevocably drawn following the horrifying death of Queen Rhaenyra’s son, Lucerys, at the hands of her half-brother Aemond. Rhaenyra’s faction plots revenge against their family seated on the Iron Throne while she seeks a path forward through her mourning period. Meanwhile, in King’s Landing, Aegon II Targaryen, a cruel and vicious narcissist, rules the Seven Kingdoms, even though his reign is largely guided by his grandfather, the conniving Otto Hightower. 

After a season finale as explosive as the one House of the Dragon delivered, one might expect the sophomore season premiere to spend time repositioning the chess pieces and familiarizing the audience with its sprawling cast. However, the series plunges headfirst into the immediate sociopolitical and interpersonal consequences of Aemond’s murder of Lucerys, setting the stage for a season of high-stakes power plays and, as the episode closes, catastrophic errors in judgment. 

In King’s Landing, Alicent is emotionally and politically stagnant. With Aegon II on the Iron Throne, she finds her influence over her son and, ultimately, the Seven Kingdoms receding. During a meeting of the Small Council, Alicent is disturbed by Aegon’s haphazard cruelty, how he callously seeks to wage destructive battles, and his attempt to humiliate Tyland Lannister after he tries disciplining Aegon’s son Jaeherys. She quells Aegon’s cruelty but knows that her power is weakening. 

It doesn’t help that Otto exerts his influence as the Hand of the King. Unlike Alicent, Otto is a seasoned political mastermind who knows when to indulge a mad king’s worst impulses and when to build guardrails. One of the most telling scenes of the premiere finds Aegon listening to the pleas of the small folk in the throne room, who are struggling from the Targaryens’ blockade of crucial trade routes to King’s Landing. To what may surprise many viewers, Aegon appears to empathize with the plight of his constituents, initially offering to pay farmers and weaponsmiths what the crown owes them. Unfortunately, Otto is by Aegon’s side, explaining why the small folk’s requests are unreasonable, leading the king to rescind his support.

It’s a compelling complication in the story of the Greens, who could easily be read as outright villains at this point in the story. Despite his manic, sexually abusive tendencies, Aegon seems to understand the importance of constituent loyalty. He also understands that he is a pawn amongst the broader machinations of King’s Landing, as his conversation with Larys Strong suggests. With a new generation at the seats of power, Viserys’s and Alicent’s generations jockey for whatever influence they can manage. The premiere raises critical questions about the inter-generational tussling for control of the Iron Throne. How far will the previous generations go to retain power, do they have the conviction to wrangle the younger’s less-controlled impulses, and how much damage will be done to both?

The damage to Alicent is deeply internalized. Olivia Cooke masterfully conveys the strain that Alicent has been under since the season finale. Even in her most forceful moments – such as in the Small Council meeting – Cooke is weary and weathered, trying to demonstrate strength but lacking the stamina to deal with machinations surrounding her. Besides her father’s efforts to undermine her and her increasingly mercurial children, she is visibly riddled with guilt over Lucerys. She frets over her Rhaenrya’s loss, sending ravens of condolence, but they go unanswered. The Small Council believes that war with Rhaenrya is imminent. Alicent, however, seeks a cooler resolution. When Otto insists to her that their victory over the Targaryens requires violence, she agrees but believes it doesn’t have to be wanton. Her growing isolation leads her into an ill-advised fling she barely tolerates with Ser Criston Cole, who’s grown only more bitter over Rhaenrya’s rejection.

Speaking of, the Blacks of Dragonstone are still grappling with their loss. Daemon is hungry for revenge, ready to storm King’s Landing with his and Rhaenys’s dragons to reclaim the lost throne. Rhaenys, however, refuses to participate in Daemon’s plan and explains the complexities of Rhaenerya’s grief that has led her into exile. She insists that Rhaenrya must see Lucerys’ death for her own eyes to move beyond her paralyzation. Rhaenyra eventually gets the closure she seeks, discovering Lucerys’s dragon remains on a beach. Where Olivia Cooke’s Alicent is stunted, Emma D’Arcy wails in agony, a brutally unvarnished performance. When Rhaenyra returns to Dragonstone and is greeted by her council, who is ready to talk strategy, she demands one thing only: Aemond Targaryen.

Burnished by Rhaenrya’s demand and still unsatiated in his own right, Daemon pursues seedier avenues to get revenge on his nephews. With begrudging help from his former paramour, Mysaria, Daemon pays the infamous Blood & Cheese to murder Aemond, in what he describes as “a son for a son.” The two would-be assassins sneak into the Red Keep, bypassing a drunken Aegon on the Iron Throne. They don’t find Aemond, as he retired to bed after a conversation with Otto about keeping a cooler head in his search for vengeance. However, they find Queen Haelena tending to the two heirs to the throne. The vagueness of Daemon’s demand leads Blood & Cheese to decide that killing Jaeherys, the same little future king bugging Tyland, would suffice.

It’s a shocking loss in its own right, but even more gutting when you think of the circumstances. Grief and power are extraordinary motivators and incredibly destructive under the worst possible conditions. It doesn’t get much worse than an imminent war between two closely linked families who have immediate access to fire-breathing dragons. With its season two premiere, House of the Dragon set the stage for the intricate character storytelling and the explosive consequences viewers expect from the Game of Thrones universe while also charting a path forward to push it further into murkier, more compelling territory.

House of the Dragon is now available to stream on Max. New episodes will debut every Sunday on HBO.