Welcome back, fellow Gold Cloaks, to our House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 2 recap. Last week was mostly a glorified reminder of what happened in Season 1, followed swiftly by the horrific death of King Aegon’s son Jaehaerys at the behest of Daemon. Granted, Daemon was trying to fulfill the wishes of Rhaenayra when she asked for the head of Aemond, the boy who accidentally killed her son Luke.
Then again, Daemon does not seem to care much beyond starting a war and uses his wife’s pain to stoke the flames further. Well, he certainly got everyone’s attention at King’s Landing. Will this episode push the Greens and Blacks closer to war? Or will everyone continue to linger in their castles, hoping things just sort of work themselves out? At this point, I’m with Daemon— let’s get this done!
What happened in the House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 2
House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 2 opens with chaos. The King’s Guard runs through the streets searching for the murderers; Aegon smashes that kick-ass model Viserys spent his whole life building while shouting, “I declare war!” Aemond snoops around and finds the open passageway leading to his chambers. Everyone is affected.
Alicent worries about her daughter, but Otto, the clever marketer, sees this as an opportunity to draw more aid to their cause.
Moments later, Aegon holds an awkward council, tossing his rage at anyone in sight. Luckily, Larys arrives with good news. “We found a guy and are 99.9 percent certain he’s the killer unless, by some coincidence, he was one of two men carrying a child’s head in a sack.”
“I trust in the mastery of your trade, Lord Larys,” Otto says, which translates to, “You’re free to enact Reservoir Dogs protocol and torture the bastard until you get the information you need. My Stealers Wheel cassette is upstairs.”
Like Daemon, Aegon is ready to throw down. Hilariously, everyone disregards his tantrum. Calm and collected, Otto delights in turning lemons into lemonade and suggests holding a sad funeral for the dead prince, hoping to use the sight of the child to turn the tide of the conflict.
“Jaehaerys will do more for us now than a thousand knights in battle,” Otto says, disregarding his king’s apparent despair. Alicent knows her father speaks the truth, but even she appears reluctant to cross this line.
Am I wrong to think Otto is the most interesting character on this show? He’s the most adept at playing the game and the only one looking at the bigger picture. His moves occasionally cause a stir, but he’s more reactionary than proactive, opting to play the hand he’s been dealt instead of making unnecessary moves. Otto understands that peace between the Blacks and the Greens is impossible. The logical move is to gain as much support as possible to prepare for the coming war. Fight now, weep later.
We cut to the residents of King’s Landing once again gathering to watch their overlords deal with personal issues. “Gee, I hope a f—ing dragon doesn’t leap out and kill half our population again,” someone says. The funeral procession goes as planned. Everyone weeps for the poor Queens.
Meanwhile, Larys prepares to torture his captive. He flips over a cloth, displaying a collection of barbaric tools. For the first time in TV/film history, a prisoner spills his guts before his torturer even begins his monologue. “It was Daemon,” he says, “and a ratcatcher.”
Aegon arrives and beats the shit out of him.
A few notes here. One, congrats on coming clean, big fella, but—and this is a very big but—if you’re going to execute the prince, you better make damn sure you don’t get caught. The smartest thing to do would’ve been to discard the head somewhere, lie low, and escape later. I mean, that’s what I would do if I, um, killed kids. Let’s move on.
Back at Dragonstone, Rhaenyra hears the bad news and quickly deduces Daemon is behind the attack. The power couple go at it, unleashing gallons of pent-up aggression and finally saying what they’ve wanted to say since 2022, and it goes like this:
Rhaenyra rightfully thinks Daemon is selfish. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. He’s the type of wild card you’d want to have during battle (see the Crab Eater). Unfortunately, no one knows what to do with him between the scuffles, and that’s when he gets into trouble. Like Coryls, Daemon seeks the throne more to vindicate himself than his wife. I assume he comes around at a certain point, but he’s got some personal baggage to unload.
Wisely, he performs House of the Dragon‘s version of sleeping on the couch and flies away on his massive beast.
Another quick note: this season lacks a moral center. Viserys had flaws, but overall, he was a good man trying to keep his family together. Now, we’re stuck with Rhaenyra, Alicent, Daemon, Otto, and their bratty children. Rhaenyra and Alicent are victims of circumstance, but they also made questionable choices that stirred the pot.
The moral of the story, kids, is that if you’re going to cheat on your husband and have more children, make sure you pick a man who looks like your husband.
Back at King’s Landing, Ser Criston continues his descent into utter darkness. I think he’s the only man in history who slept with someone he shouldn’t have and was mad when she didn’t call back. I get sacred oaths and whatnot, but come on, man.
He evidently watches The Acolyte because he concocts a plan to send Erryk (or Arryk?), the Green twin, to kill Rhynaera disguised as his brother Arryk (or Erryk?), the Black twin. At first, Green Twin is like, “Nah, it’s against my programming,” but then he’s like, “Eh, it’s so dumb, it might just work.” There’s also the prospect of “triumph and glory.” Plus, I’m pretty sure Cole would kill him if he said no.
At a brothel, Aemond whines to a prostitute who reminds him that the kingdom’s squabbles always impact small folk. Then, we randomly jump to Hugh Hammer, the Thor-looking dude who approached Aegon and asked for more money for the blacksmiths in the last episode. Then, we spend more time with Alyn, the sailor who saved Corly’s life. We also meet his brother Addam. Later, we see ten men hanging along the city streets and learn they are (or were) all ratcatchers slaughtered by King Aegon. A mother weeps at the sight of her son.
I don’t know where any of these subplots are going, but they do show how this conflict affects the ordinary citizens of King’s Landing. Are we seeing the formation of a rebellion?
Rhynaera meets with the White Worm, the show’s silliest character. Blah, blah, blah. After quite a bit of back and forth, Rhynaera frees her, though I suspect she’ll return and serve an essential function alongside the Queen in future episodes.
Later, Otto loses his cool over Aegon’s murder of the ratcatchers. “With your child’s blood, we bought their approval. With your mother’s tears, we made a bitter sacrifice,” Otto says, and I’m not sure if he’s talking about us, the viewers, or the citizens of King’s Landing. At the start of the episode, I found my sympathies leaning toward Aegon. Now, I’m back with Rhynaera. Yes, I’m a sheep. I’m part of the problem.
Aegon hates everything Otto stands for. “At least I did something,” he says. “I will not be thought weak … I wish to spill blood, not ink. I wish to act. Ser Criston Cole has acted.”
Otto’s reaction is hilarious. “And … what … has … Ser … Criston … Cole … done,” he says, dreading the answer.
“He has sent Ser Arryk to slay Rhaenyra.” Okay, so Arryk is the Green Twin. Got it.
“It’s time the bitch Queen pays a price,” Criston says. Fella, you gotta move on. At this point, he’s literally just Cole.
Otto lays in harder, losing his nerve with each passing second. He calms down long enough to mourn Viserys. “Remember when our biggest worry was whether or not the King would lose a finger or two on Saturday?”
Aegon tires of Otto’s insolence and relieves him of his command. I love Rhys Ifans’ acting when he hears Aegon say, “Remove your badge.” He knows he went too far and understands the ramifications of his outburst, not just on a personal level but for the kingdom. Without Otto, Aegon is free to follow his emotions. Now is an excellent time to sell your King’s Landing property.
Even worse, he appoints Criston Cole as his new Hand. Dammit. Folks, here is a prime example of someone literally sleeping their way to the top. Has Cole ever done anything meaningful or worthwhile—aside from the Queen, ayo!—that deems him worthy of this position? The Iron Throne now consists of a pissed-off King mourning the loss of his son, a Hand mourning the loss of his virtue, and a pair of Queens mourning the loss of their minds. Times are a-changin’, kids.
For the second time in as many seasons, Otto loses his job.
And for the second time in as many episodes, we get an assassination attempt. This time, Erryk sneaks around Dragonstone searching for Rhynaera. He enters her room and draws his sword, but his brother arrives in time to prevent the attack. The two brothers fight, offering another example of how this silly conflict impacts the lives of good people. Eventually, their rage fest concludes with Arryk dead. For a moment, I think the evil twin pulled a switchero and expected him to charge Rhynaera. Instead, Erryk does the one thing I don’t expect and falls on his sword after pronouncing his failure.
I mean, he did save the Queen. Did he not do his duty? On the plus side, he and his brother will quickly learn whose team was more virtuous.
Back at King’s Landing, Otto again bids farewell to his daughter, who instructs him to go to Highgarden to meet with the Tyrells. “The young are peacocks, all shrieking and feathers,” he says. “But we will yet prevail and bring forth peace, I still believe it.”
Something tells me Otto won’t be coming back.
“I have sinned,” Alicent suddenly blurts out.
“I do not wish to hear of it,” he says. Thanks, dad.
She heads out to speak (or probably yell) at Aegon and finds the poor guy crying. I’m conflicted. I kinda like Aegon, but then I also think he’s a little nuts. It could be worse, amirtie Joffrey fans?
Anyways, Alicent leaves without saying a word—thanks, mom!—and hooks up with Criston Cole. Good Lord, these people are hornier than the cast of Euphoria.
And that’s it, that’s the end of House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 2.
House of the Dragon S2E2 thoughts
Overall, a good, if unremarkable, episode. A sluggish pace undermines great acting, while storylines feel needlessly dragged out. The showrunners could have combined these first two episodes into a sharper narrative. Really, what have we learned?
Rhynaera is reluctant to fight, Daemon wants to fight, Alicent is reluctant to fight, Aegon wants to fight, and Otto wants somebody to listen to him for a change. The only noteworthy things in Episode 2 were Criston Cole’s promotion and Otto’s demotion.
Still, this is how Game of Thrones operates. Slowly but surely, we’ll arrive at a dramatic crescendo, and then we’ll long for the good ole days watching these sorts of petty squabbles.
House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 2 is now available to stream on Max.
