[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/techloot.co.uk\/entertainment\/house-of-the-dragon-season-2-premiere-review\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/techloot.co.uk\/entertainment\/house-of-the-dragon-season-2-premiere-review\/","headline":"House of the Dragon Season 2 Premiere Review: Plotting and Intrigue","name":"House of the Dragon Season 2 Premiere Review: Plotting and Intrigue","description":"House of the Dragon Season 2 Premiere Review The first episode of the new season delivers a brutal outcome after a period of plotting and planning Last season, House of the Dragon wrapped up with a spectacular dragon battle amid flashes of lightning and peals of thunder. It might be unfair to expect this new…","datePublished":"2024-06-17","dateModified":"2024-07-14","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/techloot.co.uk\/author\/andre\/#Person","name":"Andrej Kovacevic","url":"https:\/\/techloot.co.uk\/author\/andre\/","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/techloot.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/techloot-editor-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/techloot.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/techloot-editor-150x150.jpg","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Tech Loot","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/techlootio.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/techloot-footer-logo.png","url":"https:\/\/techlootio.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/techloot-footer-logo.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/techloot.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot_699.jpg","url":"https:\/\/techloot.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot_699.jpg","height":363,"width":642},"url":"https:\/\/techloot.co.uk\/entertainment\/house-of-the-dragon-season-2-premiere-review\/","video":{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"VideoObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7TsVh7yBLoQ#VideoObject","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7TsVh7yBLoQ","name":"House of the Dragon Season 2 | Weeks Ahead Trailer | Max","description":"All must choose. Watch #HouseOfTheDragon Sundays at 9pm on Max. \n\nAbout Max:\nMax is the culture-defining entertainment service for every mood. With a variety of genres that include your favorite series and movies from iconic brands and treasured franchises, it delivers irresistible stories every time. From reuniting with life-long favorites to uncovering new ones you haven\u2019t discovered yet, there's something for every moment, every feeling, every you.\n\nIt\u2019s all here. Iconic series, award-winning movies, fresh originals, and family favorites featuring the worlds of Harry Potter, the DC Universe, and HBO. Discover the best entertainment for every mood. Introducing Max \u2013 the one to watch.\n#WarnerBrosDiscovery #streamonmax #theonetowatch\n\nSUBSCRIBE TO MAX\nhttps:\/\/streamonm.ax\/3vgR69B\n\nGET MAX\nhttps:\/\/streamonm.ax\/4a83GYO\n\nFOLLOW MAX\nFollow Max on YouTube: https:\/\/streamonm.ax\/YouTube\nFollow Max on Instagram: https:\/\/streamonm.ax\/Instagram\nFollow Max on TikTok: https:\/\/streamonm.ax\/TikTok\nFollow Max on Twitter: https:\/\/streamonm.ax\/Twitter\nFollow Max on Facebook: https:\/\/streamonm.ax\/Facebook","thumbnailUrl":["https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/7TsVh7yBLoQ\/default.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/7TsVh7yBLoQ\/mqdefault.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/7TsVh7yBLoQ\/hqdefault.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/7TsVh7yBLoQ\/sddefault.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/7TsVh7yBLoQ\/maxresdefault.jpg"],"uploadDate":"2024-06-17T02:00:03+00:00","duration":"PT2M14S","embedUrl":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7TsVh7yBLoQ","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCx-KWLTKlB83hDI6UKECtJQ#Organization","url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCx-KWLTKlB83hDI6UKECtJQ","name":"HBO Max","description":"i love you, junior\nlinktr.ee\/hbomax \n","logo":{"url":"https:\/\/yt3.ggpht.com\/kYn7K474j78lLU-DZm3IzFMhJIgiEEr4XS-F1d4ODdC08k5PAf2dc-ItGWvDp9YNFfIiIkkvGA=s800-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj","width":800,"height":800,"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7TsVh7yBLoQ#VideoObject_publisher_logo_ImageObject"}},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7TsVh7yBLoQ#VideoObject_potentialAction","target":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7TsVh7yBLoQ&t={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"},"interactionStatistic":[[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7TsVh7yBLoQ#VideoObject_interactionStatistic_WatchAction","interactionType":{"@type":"WatchAction"},"userInteractionCount":1829988}],{"@type":"InteractionCounter","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7TsVh7yBLoQ#VideoObject_interactionStatistic_LikeAction","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":25559}]},"about":["Entertainment"],"wordCount":1339,"keywords":["#Daemon","#HouseOfTheDragon","#KingsLanding","#Rhaenyra","#Season2","#Targaryen","#Winterfell","Review"],"articleBody":"House of the Dragon Season 2 Premiere ReviewThe first episode of the new season delivers a brutal outcome after a period of plotting and planningLast season, House of the Dragon wrapped up with a spectacular dragon battle amid flashes of lightning and peals of thunder. It might be unfair to expect this new season to open on such an arresting note, but then again, a sense of the stakes for these characters would not be a bad thing to establish. Instead, we get an episode that for much of its running time feels like a lengthier \u201cLast season on House of the Dragon\u201d montage before a tiny bit of real action gets underway after the midpoint.We start at Winterfell, as the Starks go to deliver volunteers to the Wall to mark the start of Winter. Harry Collett\u2019s Jacaerys is with them, trying to win the North\u2019s loyalty to his mother\u2019s cause; Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor) offers him older troops for back-up, all he can spare because \u2013 sing it with me \u2013 Winter is coming. Alas, that\u2019s all we get of the plain-speaking Northerners because a raven arrives and Jacaerys learns that his brother is dead and must fly home to Dragonstone.There, he\u2019ll eventually find Rhaenyra (Emma D\u2019Arcy). She flies south first, to scour the coastline for Lucerys\u2019 remains. She retrieves something to burn, and demands that her council bring her Aemond \u2013 but otherwise she\u2019s lost in grief, missing in action just when her Blacks need to move to secure key allegiances and fortresses for the coming conflict.Matt Smith\u2019s Daemon is left in charge of the war effort, but without the authority to be effective: only a prince consort and not a king. He tries to order Rhaenys (Eve Best) around and is rebuffed; he challenges her on her failure to just incinerate all the Greens last season, but she is unrepentant. Daemon believes that he and Rhaenys together \u2013 or rather their dragons Caraxes and Meleys \u2013 can take on the huge Vhagar, and maybe he\u2019s right. It looks like we won\u2019t be finding out any time soon though.Image credit: HBOHelpfully, Rhaenyra\u2019s knight, Ser Erryk Cargyll (Elliott Tittensor), finds the spy master and plotter Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) aboard a ship and brings her to Daemon. He soon turns to her for help in killing Aemond. Ser Erryk counsels against assassination, and shows his pain at the Targaryen divide. His oath as Kingsguard, he says, was to defend the Royal family. \u201cWhat were we to do when they turned against each other?\u201d It\u2019s a plaintive note and a welcome little bit of character insight for the sometimes underserved Kingsguard; remember that his twin Ser Arryk (Luke Tittensor) serves Aegon.Back in King\u2019s Landing, Olivia Cooke\u2019s Alicent is hooking up with the awful Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), still sour-faced despite the hanky panky. She tells him this is the last time they\u2019re going to do this; by the end of the episode she will have already gone back on this promise. After a clash in council as Alicent suggests peace overtures to Rhaenyra and her father shoots her down, she and Ser Otto (Rhys Ifans) meet privately and agree to work more closely: he finally accepts her as a true co-conspirator and not merely a genetically convenient reproductive system. Yay girl power?We also get a glimpse here of Aegon as King: his fawning frat-bros-turned-courtiers call the lazy, disengaged sod \u201cthe Magnanimous\u201d. He momentarily tries to live up to that during a public audience but quickly tires of the effort. In council, he\u2019d rather allow his little son, Jaeherys, to distract his advisors than listen. He tolerates, barely, his sister-wife Helaena (Phia Saban), a slightly otherworldly girl who was something of a simpleton in the books but who has strange insights here. She says she\u2019s afraid of \u201crats\u201d and by the end of the episode it\u2019s clear why.That\u2019s because Daemon has set about getting Rhaenyra her head. Sneaking into King\u2019s Landing, he recruits a disgruntled Goldcloak and a ratcatcher \u2013 known, respectively, as Blood and Cheese in the book; unnamed here \u2013 telling them to infiltrate the Red Keep and bring him Aemond\u2019s head. When they, reasonably, ask what to do if they can\u2019t find him, he muses silently \u2013 but it later becomes clear that he must have told them \u201cA son for a son\u201d. When they can\u2019t find Aemond, therefore, they find the King\u2019s kids and put a knife to Queen Helaena\u2019s throat to force her to tell them which is which. They kill the tiny heir to the throne, cutting off his head to bring to Daemon. These are irredeemable bastards, underscored (unnecessarily) by Cheese kicking his own dog. As if killing an infant wasn\u2019t enough.Image credit: Theo Whiteman\/\/HBOThe episode finishes in silence, to leave you haunted by the sound of butchery; the murder itself is heard but not seen, because even Westeros draws a line somewhere. But there are a few other things to note. Characters mentioned in the book arrive onscreen for the first time: in the Sea Snake\u2019s shipyards we meet a shipwright and sailor called Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim); he\u2019s only a young teenager in the books, and the fact that they\u2019ve aged him up may mean he\u2019ll see some action. One of Aegon\u2019s petitioners is a smith called Hugh, played by Kieran Bew; he\u2019s given a fraction too much attention to be a one-off character.We also get a reminder that Ser Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) is a deeply creepy dude who scares Alicent even as she uses him; Larys also tries to turn Aegon against his grandfather and Hand. Aemond has had enough waiting and wants to fly to war. He tries to enlist Ser Criston\u2019s support and like Daemon, he sees Harrenhal as a key stronghold. Could be trouble in the future!These Targaryen squabbles are a distraction from the real threat.It\u2019s a well-shot episode, without some of the dim lighting that made some conversations last season almost invisible. Sure, there are dark moments, like Mysaria\u2019s below-decks hiding spot, but there are also beautiful scenes, with beams of moonlight illuminating Rhaneyra and Jacaerys\u2019 reunion on Dragonstone. The intercutting between Alicent\u2019s candle-lighting (for her mother, Alerie; her late husband Viserys and \u2013 after some hesitation \u2013 Lucerys) and the Blacks burning what remains of Lucerys is effective too.Image credit: Theo Whiteman\/\/HBOBut there\u2019s a downside to that opening scene in the North. The Wall must remind us of the wider stakes of the battle for Westeros: a genuinely world-ending threat lurks out there under the trees. These Targaryen squabbles are a distraction from the real threat, and in fact risk Westeros\u2019 ability to meet the threat of the Night King. All this plotting, and this horrible murder, only weaken the dragon riders who should lead the fight against the ice, and that\u2019s a frustrating truth at the heart of this whole show. Alas, now that both sides have taken heartbreaking losses, all hope of peace seems lost. Surely the war must now begin.VerdictAside from that one shocking murder \u2013 perhaps thankfully less shocking than it might have been visually \u2013 this is a period of phony war for the Greens and Blacks, as each side casts about for alternatives to violence and finds none. It\u2019s also an episode with relatively little action, setting up the stakes of this season rather than delivering huge amounts of drama in its own right. Still, that final bloody slaying shows that the cost of all this maneuvering will be high, and that it will be borne by those least able to defend themselves. It\u2019s a horrifying illustration of the cost of a civil war: with a family turned against itself, even the youngest and most innocent are not safe."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Entertainment","item":"https:\/\/techloot.co.uk\/entertainment\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"House of the Dragon Season 2 Premiere Review: Plotting and Intrigue","item":"https:\/\/techloot.co.uk\/entertainment\/house-of-the-dragon-season-2-premiere-review\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]