S2:E1: House of the Dragon
The much awaited second season of House of the Dragon on HBO (watch now on MAX) is officially here, with Episode 1, titled “A Son for a Son”, airing this past Sunday, June 16th. This season is comprised of 8 episodes and will come to a close on August 8th. I was so excited for this premiere that I crammed a rewatch of the entire first season into Father’s Day weekend… whoops. Not my finest moment as a wife but this was an important matter.
Now, when you’ve created a pretty enthralling first season and therefore a highly anticipated second season, you really need to make a bang in that returning first episode. The pressure is high.
Well, a bang they sure did make, despite the fact that 95% of the episode moved fairly slow, focusing more on establishing the mental and emotional states of the characters post-season-one-finale events. S2E1 picks up right where we left off. As a reminder, King Viserys is dead, the Green Council (Alicent, Otto, Aegon, etc) usurped the Iron Throne, and the behemoth dragon Vhagar went rogue and chomped up Lucerys (Rhaenyra’s second son) and his dragon mid flight. Both of which are acts of war if you ask me.
Below is an overview of my chronological thoughts while watching the season premiere. I want to know what your thoughts are too so make sure you DM me or leave a comment on my latest post!
Opening the episode at Winterfell felt like I was home again and the only missing piece was Jon Snow. 😭
I’ve always loved the emphasis that the GoT franchise puts on a mother’s love for children and Rhaenyra’s search for proof of her son’s death was so sad to watch, but painted a good picture of how any mother would be as it pertains to the loss of a child.
She definitely didn’t bathe for weeks while on that mission.
Despite the minorrrr detail that Rhaenyra literally plotted and succeeded in killing her son, Rhaenys (Rhaenyra’s aunt) is a badass and the ultimate girl’s girl for remaining on her side and against the Green Council. I also love that she tells Daemon to f*&! off.
The focus of King Aegon’s adorable little 4-year-old just being a toddler during the Small Council meeting made me immediately feel like this poor baby was not going to be in a good spot later on (especially because he is the heir). It was odd that they were focusing on him during that scene with no apparent purpose other than Aegon being the usual d*ck he is. That is until………. (see the second to last bullet).
I’m donning Ser Criston Cole a social climber based on his sexual affinity for the royal family. We learn that he and Alicent Hightower, who is also the mother of his newest bestie, Aemond, are now hooking up. Lots of lost respect, as if there was any left, for Ser Criston. He needs therapy.
I’m curious how Vhagar is able to fly with all the holes in her wings. Does that go against physics? I’m seriously asking.
During the “look inside the episode” after the credits, it’s confirmed that Rhaenyra had only one line in the entire episode, which was “I want Aemond Targaryen”, hence the title of the episode, “A Son for a Son”. War is officially ON.
Okay… now to the most gut wrenching, grotesque part of the episode, and I would argue in all of GoT and HotD combined… the decapitation of that adorable, innocent 4-year-old we saw earlier. This did NOT sit well with me, not that it would for any sane person, but my stomach is still in knots and I want to cry. Now, we didn’t get to see a clear a visual of this happening thank the fucking OLD GODS AND THE NEW but we still saw the arm motion of the man overtop his tiny little bed and heard the sound effects. It’s just a show, it’s just a show. My beef with the writers taking it this far is certainly rooted in my role as a mother and that is certainly why I’m passing hard judgement on the choice to display this horror versus just implying it. I’ve also heard though that the book is way more graphic. And I am a strong believer in keeping scripts closely bound to its origin book. Ugh. I don’t have the answer, but could there have been a better way to do this? Or another road to take the story down? That said, this does leave big potential for struggle between King Aegon and Aemond because now, Aemond is next in line to the Iron Throne. And he has the biggest dragon.
Lastly… I can’t decide if I have a bigger beef with what I described in the previous bullet or with the the child’s mother, Helaena, who just gave up her son without an ounce of resistance and ran away.
P.S. Helaena, King Aegon’s wife, is his sister by the way.
Do you have any theories, thoughts, or hopes for this season? I want to know! Email me at hello@letsconsume.com or DM me on Instagram. Dracarys!