#House of Dragon season 2 episode 1

[multiverseofseries]

The first episode of season 2 of House of the Dragon, titled "A Son for a Son", will be 64 MINUTES long, according to HBO's official schedule.

[bbygirl-aemond]

one of my favorite things about hotd is how we get exposed to the differences in the dragons' personalities. one great way to see this is through how each dragon forms a bond with a new rider. when aemond claimed vhagar, she bucked around like a bull and tried to throw him off to make him prove his worth by staying in the saddle. when seasmoke claimed addam, he hunted addam down and basically claimed addam himself. when hugh claimed vermithor, he stood up to him and roared in his face. and when silverwing claimed ulf, she headbutted and sniffed him before deciding to take him for a joyride. each has such a distinct personality and you can see a clear dichotomy between dragons pursuing their riders and riders pursuing their dragons.

[greenqueenhightower]

Alicole was underwhelming, but B&C takes the cake as the worst adaptation of a single asoiaf/f&b event so far:

It was so rushed and whitewashed and did not focus on Helaena at all. Where is Helaena pleading for her son's life and offering up her own life instead? Where is Maelor whom Helaena was coerced to offer up as a sacrifice and does not bear to look at? Where is Heleana being forced to make a decision that haunts her entire life? She is obviously traumatized by what happened, but having her just say "they killed the boy" does not do her character and her grief justice. I really hope we get to see more of Helaena in episode 2 because it would be really upsetting if the show just brushes her off.

Not to mention Alicent's absence from the events of B&C. Alicent was really there, worried for her daughter's and grandchildren's lives, and was the first person to offer Helaena some comfort and consolation. The more I think about it the more mad I get because we got robbed of what could have been a truly harrowing and distressing scene that would do the events and the characters justice. Book!B&C was about two mothers and their shared agony, pain, and grief. It could have been powerful and shocking from an acting perspective alone if they had followed the events of the book.

[witheredoffherwitch]

😭😭😭

[imjulia-andilikecats]

HE IS JUST A BABY👶!

[chumphell]

HotD S2 E3 Spoilers Ahead!!!

After all the interviews I’ve read between the actors or show runners, I genuinely think people are missing out on a lot of HotD by not interpreting Alicent and Rhaenyra, at least partially, as WLW. Sara Hess and the other producers have explicitly said that there’s a deeper love between them. Even if they “don’t have the words or ability to recognize it as romantic or sexual attraction.”

All of the actors who play Rhaenyra and Alicent (younger and grown) have said they intentionally inject homoerotic tension into their scenes. Idk idk I just don’t think we need to see them kiss on screen to know the intention behind the way they act with each other

I truly believe if you don’t clock the longing glances and lingering embraces as romantic then you’ll miss out on the ongoing characterizations of Rhaenyra/ Alicent in the show.

I see a lot of people say “Rhaenyra should have never snuck back into kings landing,” or “Alicent should have killed her in the sept” and yeah, sure, that would make sense if they didn’t have years of subtly placed romantic interactions between them. Because of their history and the love they have for one another it’s no surprise to me that Of COURSE Rhaenyra trusts that she won’t die during the mission, OF COURSE Alicent lets her go after.

Their relationship is so much more than being girls who were close friends when they were younger………….

[daemyra-fire]

• Episode 1• Season 2

"Did you find what you needed?" "I want Aemond"

I loved that in this chapter Daemon fights with the entire castle, person he crossed paths with, person he was arguing with, and Rhaenyra arrived and was like: "What do you want me to do? I kill for you, ask me to kill for you!"

[nonbinarylesbianherb]

Please god take her suffering and give it to the men in the show

[boardchairman-blog]

**Shots of the Episode**

House of the Dragon (2022)

Season 2, Episode 8: “The Queen Who Ever Was” (2024) Director: Geeta Vasant Patel Cinematographer: Catherine Goldschmidt

[nosferatvpussy]

HBO is really out here wasting money and people's time with season 2 of house the dragon

[allovesthings]

The way they could have written two seasons out of the politics pre-dance and instead went with rushed out first season.

Also the way they gave the revenge dress to Alicent instead of Rhaenyra but that's just a personal gripe.

But I'm not bitter or anything.

[strollthroughstars29]

I feel like this season of House of The Dragon is going to be utterly ruthless in it's approach.

As always, the intricacies never fail to take my breath away...

Last season, the opening showed blood on rock... rock that does not stain. But this time, we see blood tainting canvas, likely to leave deep gashes that won't be washed over, won't signify beginning anew.

Helena saying beware of the rats but not knowing who it is... Alys, who betrays information or her, who betrays herself.

The ruthlessness is further seen in how the last shot we saw of Rhaenyra was with her back facing the fire and darkness in her eyes. Yet, here we see in in the same room with a map of the seven kingdoms... alit with fire, demanding Aemond's life and walking out without a word.

Fire in all it's duality is clearly seen when alicent lights a candle for Viserys parallel to Luke's pyre being burned and finally as she wished to quell her guilt, lighting a candle for Luke, only for it to cut to Rhaenyra being obscured by flames, signifying that this stain isn't going to be washed off, it's not a rope that's frayed, but one that's cut.

In all its glory, there are four fronts that are going to impact the game moving forward:

Alicent's desire for victory, and whether she sees it in sleeping with Crison Cole, or allowing her soul absolvement from guilt by making peace between her and the blacks (Rhaenyra).

Otto's thrist for violence and who he deems (un)worthy enough to sacrifice.

Rhaenyra's vengeance, and which wing will forever be grounded next.

And Daemon's venerence towards Rhaenyra and who he's willing to betray for it.

[bbygirl-aemond]

i love how aegon was like "i'm gonna break the generational cycle of my dad ignoring me by being the best dad to jaehaerys ever" and instead he actually just continued viserys's original generational cycle of ignoring daughters in favors of sons and now one day aegon's going to look at jaehaera when she's the only thing he has left and maybe then he will finally understand why viserys treated rhaenyra with such guilt

[greenqueenhightower]

The scene at the sept with Alicent lighting three candles as Rhaenyra lights a funeral pyre is the highlight of the episode for me. Alicent and Rhaenyra are so intertwined in each other's psyches and I loved that detail. It was also interesting to see Alicent's inner conflict and religious torment since she recognized that her family, and to an extent her own actions, have caused Rhaenyra's pain and suffering and she needed to atone for this.

[blackcat419]

Hotd S2 E1 A Son for a Son review

It's here. Two years weight and I'm more disappointed than a vegan at Outback Stake House. Lets get into this then.

Predictions for Season 2 and if they came true

My predictions for the reactions towards Blood and Cheese were pretty damn on. People justify Jaehaery's death, missing the irony of an eye for an eye, a son for a son, when Aemond didn't get Luke's eye and Jaehaerys isn't Aemonds son, Alicent being blamed for it.

Blood and Cheese was an accident, meant to go in for Aemond, stumbled upon Helaena, and just got told who the son is, at least they didn't accidentally trip and stab Jaehaerys.

White walkers are alluded to even though we now know they're so easy to take care of, just need one episode and POOF!

No Dyana mention so we'll see if she shows up.

Where we left each character and where they are now

For TB its very consistent. Rhaenyra is mourning Luke, Daemon is pushing for war, Rhaenys is pushing for no war, and Corlys is pushing to be relevant.

For TG its all over the place. Our consistent characters include Otto pushing for war and control, Alicent pushing for control but less war, and Larys pushing to hold the most secrets any person can. Our characters that have changed are Aegon now wanting to be king and trying to prepare Jaehaerys, Aemond deciding he totally did mean to kill Luke, Alicent changing from rule follower to now rule breaker, and Cole deciding he does like sex actually.

Aegon and Aemond's transitions make sense, they were set up in last season and it works for them. Alicent and Cristin are in a full-blown sexual relationship that's been going on long enough for them to feel comfortable doing it in mid-day. That was not set up. We miss an entire character arc for both where they 1. decide they don't want to follow the rules society tells them to and 2. decide they want to bone. This was not set up in season 1, it comes out of nowhere, there is no explanation for why these two are boning now, how they justify it to themselves, if they justify it to themselves, nothing. So instead of an interesting character arc where we see change, we just get the end with no idea how they go here. Thanks, I hate it.

Conflicts

Again, for TB the conflict is consistent from season 1 and makes sense. Rhaenyra is being pulled by her duty to the realm for peace but by her grief for war. Daemon is pushing for war, Rhaenys is pushing to not start the fight, and Corlys is there too.

But for TG it's all over the place. We still have the dumb conflict between Alicent and Otto over how much war we'll have. Not between peace and war but just, should we have more or less? it's not even really about involving the dragons as that's Aegon and Aemond's position. Overall, Alicent and Otto's conflict is poorly thought out and their positions hold so little difference that it borders on meaningless.

The conflict between the two groups is who will strike the first blow. We already have one kid dead and a blockade but we are still waiting for someone to act. wow, so intense much drama.

Adaptation from the Book

The main parts of the book being adapted are Jace's visits to the Vale, the sisterlands, White Harbor, and his stay in the north. Rhaenyrs finds out about Luke's death, and blood and Cheese.

The only part done well is Rhaenyra's grief over Luke's death. It is so powerful and Rhaenys saying that she can't properly grieve until she knows Luke is dead is very powerful. Jace has an amazing trying to talk while he cries scene, the funeral pyre is so emotional, and very well done in showing how much losing Luke affects these characters.

I am very disappointed that Jace's whole storyline going north is turned into exposition about Stark customs and the wall being so sexy and cool. No Jace and Cregan being friends, no Jace trying to convert Cregan, not even Jace hooking up with Cregan or Sara Snow. just nothing.

Blood and Cheese has to be the worst thing I've seen in a while. We have Daemon telling them to kill Aemond but it is ~ ambiguous ~ whether he said to kill Jaehaerys. We have Rhaenyra saying she wants Aemond dead but it is ~ ambiguous ~ if she knows Daemon is doing this. Blood and Cheese literally walk past Aegon in the throne room? No secret passageways into the queen's chambers, no plan, no nothing! they just happen to find Helaena. We also lose the character development of Helaena where in the books she offers up herself to be killed and only after Blood and Cheese say they'll rape Jaehaera and kill all of them, does she give in and choose Maelor to die. We don't get their cruelty of telling Maelor his mom wants him dead and then killing Jaehaerys. No, Helaena just offers up her necklace, they take it, then AFTER she knows they're going to kill her son (one of them says they need a head and a son for a son), she just walks out and runs into Alicent riding Cristin? Why? Where is the tension of Helaena being forced to choose a child to die only for that child to know their mom chose them, the drama of Helaena offering up herself to try and save her kids, the horror at what these monsters are willing to do for coin? Nothing. It was emotionless, I only felt shock at how poorly it was done.

Overall Enjoyment

I did not enjoy myself. This was not fun or interesting to watch. The showrunners are scribbling over a beautiful sketch with crayons.

What I hope for the next episode

NO MORE ACCIDENTS! I swear this show is the house of accidental war crimes.

I want to see Nettles, Daeron, and Maelor.

I want actual character development instead of character teleportation.

I predict that Alicent's character will continue to be massacred and put in scenes where Ryan Condal can see Olivia Cooke naked.

[imjulia-andilikecats]

The Ending...REALLY? AGAIN?!