‘House of the Dragon’ S2, E3 Is Your Last Chance to Take a Side
Westeros is so vast and well-constructed that suspending your disbelief of dragons is hardly difficult. While recapping House of the Dragon each week, I’ve become so engrossed in the story and its complicated family trees that I sometimes forget about the ice zombies in the North and the Stone Men in Old Valyria. It’s a shame (because both of those monsters are very cool!). As good as the drama is in this family civil war, I can’t help but wish we had a little more of those dark fantasy elements lurking around us. I’d love if the dragons could talk, honestly, but I know HBO isn’t bold enough for that. To my surprise this week, ghosts are still on the table.
If “Milly Alcock cameo” was on your House of the Dragon bingo card for season 2, check off the box, because episode 3 delivers. After Daemon (Matt Smith) arrives at the burned-down castle of Harrenhal, the young Rhaenyra from season 1 returns to haunt her eventual uncle-husband. “Always coming and going, aren’t you?” she asks him. “And I have to clean up afterwards.” Her ghost hums to herself as she sews the young Jaehaerys’s head back on. It seems as if Daemon is going to spend a few days slowly going insane in this castle. There are holes in the roof and the rain pours in everywhere. The walls are also burned from when Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) killed his whole family last season. It’s kind of like staying at Dad’s shitty motel room after he and Mom divorced.
Daemon has a weird new roommate as well. Simon Strong (Sir Simon Russell Beale)—Larys’s great-uncle—is the only member of the family who remains at Harrenhal. He tells Daemon that he cares little for politics, surrendering the castle to him over supper. He knows that a couple small houses in the Riverlands–named Blackwood and Bracken—just killed each other in a big battle, but he can’t remember which house fights for Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and which for King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney). We meet some youngsters from either side in the episode’s opener, and you can tell who’s who—because they wear their house’s colors, no matter the outfit.
Team Black
As Rhaenyra buries Erryk and Arryk (Elliott and Luke Tittensor), Rhaenys (Eve Best) offers her council. “Soon they will not even remember what began the war in the first place,” she says. Sure, Rhaenyra states that it was when they conspired to take her throne. Rhaenys asks if it was before—when Aegon II was born. Before long, we’ll “be at the point when none of it will matter,” she explains. I blame Otto (Rhys Ifans) for telling his young daughter to marry Viserys (Paddy Considine). She suggests trying to plead to Alicent (Olivia Cooke) once again before the fighting begins. “There is no war so hateful to the gods as a war between kin,” she warns. “And no war so bloody as a war between dragons.”
Right on cue, Seasmoke flies over Dragonstone and cries out. Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) suggests that the dragon is lonely, hinting that a new rider is on the horizon. Is it Mysaria? She seems likely to join her council. I now understand why so many viewers are #TeamGreen so far, because Rhaenyra’s council is made up of seven guys who all look and sound alike. Challenge to the audience: Tell me the name of just one person at this table. In this episode, they even suggest running the show themselves if it’s too much for her to bear. “Treason?” Rhaenyra asks. Time for some new friends.
(You can tell by the green.)Theo Whiteman - HBO
Team Green
Ser Criston Cole’s (Fabian Frankel) kingsguard has been severely relaxed since his promotion to Hand of the King. He descends the stairs and Aegon II’s knights are lounging around. Then he enters the king’s council meeting and picks up his big marble. I’ve mused previously about how weird it is that everyone has some sort of marble in front of them at these gatherings. Can you customize them? Is there a marbling ceremony? We’ll come back to this, hopefully.
A small army update for the king: Master of Coin Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) announces that his twin brother, Jason (also Jefferson Hall), is assembling an army at Casterly Rock. Lord Jasper Wylde (Paul Kennedy) is talking to the Hightowers in Old Town, where Otto is currently on his way to speak with his grandson Dareon. “We should unite these armies and strike as one,” Measter Orwyle (Kurt Egyiawan) suggests. Tyland thinks that’s a stupid idea. I don’t know why, but dysfunction reigns supreme on television this week!
Ser Criston suggests leading an army himself into the Riverlands, an area of Westeros that he calls the “key to the war.” Alicent thinks that Cole’s plan is also dumb, but King Aegon II likes it. He wants war, baby! Steel and blood! He would even fly out himself, if anyone would let him.
To accompany Cole, Alicent’s older brother, Ser Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox), returns to the show for the first time since—I kid you not—season 1, episode 1’s jousting competition. He’s a little upset that his father lost his Hand of the King position to Cole, but he remains loyal to the king. “May the Seven guide you,” Alicent tells Cole with a sigh. She seems angry that her new lover is going to war against dragons—a battle that a human is likely not capable of surviving. He experiences his first taste of human-versus-dragon warfare when Baela (Bethany Antonia) spots them on Moondancer. Criston and Gwayne hide safely in the woods.
After Larys finally convinces King Aegon II not to join them, he goes out for a night on the town. He arrives at a bar and sits next to a new character with a Johnny Paradise vibe. If you recall, he’s the townsperson with a thick accent that I mentioned to keep an eye on last episode. His name is Ulf (Tom Bennett), but he claims that he’s secretly a Targaryen. “I’m the son of Baelon the Brave,” he reveals. Hold on a second—let me check my Targaryen family tree over here. Yes, Jaeharys had a son named Baelon. This guy is Daemon’s bastard half brother if he’s truthful. Despite telling his buddies that Rhaenyra’s son Jace Velaryon (Harry Collett) is the rightful heir to throne, he’s the first to call out for King Aegon II and bow his head when he arrives. Ulf is watching out for his neck. Aegon II later catches Aemond with his favorite prostitute—the only woman he’s ever slept with. Drunk, he kicks his brother out of her chamber so that his knights can have their way with her. Aemond walks out fully nude, seething.
Who Should I Root for Again?
As a last resort, Rhaenyra asks Mysaria to help her sneak into the church in King’s Landing so that she may speak with Alicent. Dressing as a nun, she’s escorted in as easily as Ser Arryk broke into her bedroom in Dragonstone last episode. Rhaenyra still wishes to avert war. “Men seek blood,” she tells Alicent. “I know you do not have that desire within you.” The two childhood friends trade apologies for murdering each other’s young, claiming that neither attack was their fault. But even as they come close to an understanding, they remain apart.
It doesn’t even matter when Alicent learns that Viserys said Aegon the Conqueror’s name instead of their son Aegon II’s. See, this is what happens when you name everyone the same thing! Even when “The Dance of the Dragons” ends, the Targaryens never learn this simple lesson. “There’s been no mistake,” Alicent decides, doubling down. “It’s too late, Rhaenyra.” Please send me to Westeros so that I can shake these people.
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