The first episode of the new season of The Dragon House, showed that the imminent war will be fought both on the battlefield, on the back of dragons, and in the royal chambers. Darker, more twisted and with an ending that completely changes the landscape of the confrontation, the series makes one thing clear. The cruelty of the Targaryen factions facing each other is, at the same time, the measure of the ambition of both extremes. Which will turn the war into a wave of murders and brutal decisions that will become increasingly worse as the stakes for occupying the Iron Throne become higher.
The series begins its new episodes by counting allies. So the action moves to Winterfell and the Starks. The production takes care that this return to the North is familiar and the appearance of the region is very similar to what it had in Game of Thrones. So the conversation between Jace (Harry Collett) and Lord Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor) is a quick summary of life in the inhospitable region.
Which allows several points to be established immediately. Those loyal to Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) know that they also run a risk by opposing the Red Keep. So young Stark explains that he can’t send the soldiers so close to winter. To which Cregan, who is reminiscent in manner and tone of the House he represents, is quick to clarify that the northerners’ mission goes beyond fighting savages and the weather, as Jace implies. That, in reality, his battle is against death. A point that summarizes the battle of the Wall against the white walkers.
Sign up for MAX and you will have access to the best series and exclusive movies as The Wire, The Sopranos either Dragon House. Includes the entire Warner catalog, Cartoon Network classics, big premieres and the best sports.
The south prepares for a deadly confrontation
While the Targaryen Velaryon princes search for allies — and find them — and with the queen absent in mourning, some things continue to happen in the background. Which includes, the decision of Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), to fully support whatever the black side decides to do in the future.
This is both a strategic and family decision. But especially Corlys, he knows that his power depends on how he can negotiate—or have—control of the coast. In a key scene, the first episode introduces Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim), responsible for saving Corlys’ life and also a legitimized bastard who, in the future, will end up becoming the visible head of House Valyria. For now, it is just a latent piece on the board of power and much more, in the way it is understood on the continent. Namely: the ability of large clans to remain standing thanks to their descendants.
Something of that point is also shown in the brief absence of the queen, who goes in search of the corpse of her murdered son and her dragon Arrax. The scene, which tells how Rhaenyra is in a desperate search for the remains of the tragedy, makes two points clear. The queen has not yet decided on a devastating war and secondly, for now, her desire is for revenge, rather than conquest. The Dragon House is careful to show the way the war progresses. It is imminent, without a doubt, but both the green and black sides know that the stability of the continent is in their hands.
The third parties in discord
At least, that’s what Queen Alicent (Olivia Cook) and Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) seem to have in mind, as does the brand new King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney). The new court of King’s Landing still has trouble balancing his influences and much of the scenes spend time showing that Aegon will have to face opposition in his own house. And that, in addition, he must be careful and watchful with Aemon Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell), who is still willing to unleash an all-out confrontation, without knowing if he has every chance of succeeding.
Much of the episode — more gloomy, sober and dark, which heralds a particularly dark season — is based on the fact that power in Westeros is still teetering. Either because the Queen’s house fails to impose its position on any front or because Aegon is a king who does not know how to reign. The fact is that the series is quite clear in showing that the entire circumstance surrounding the claim of the Iron Throne, It is not entirely clear. Or at least, the support of the region is not evident.
Which leaves open the possibility that Aegon will face internal opposition — Aemon already considers that everything must be wiped out on Vhagar’s back, despite his Otto’s calls for good sense — and a tumultuous reign. Much more so, when everything around him seems to be still too fragile to claim victory.
A death and a heartbreaking scene
The chapter, which dedicated its first half to palace intrigues and background conversations, finds its best moment in the bloodiest. This is when Daemon (Matt Smith) decides to follow the Queen’s wishes to the letter. Which includes murdering Aemond as a form of violent justice for the death of his son. For something similar, the prince hires a couple of thugs to sneak into The Red Keep and take a life for the Queen’s Clan.
This is the point where The Dragon House departs from the book on which it is based, Fire and Blood. While in the novel, it is a graphic episode, told in extensive detail by the court jester Mushroom, in the episode they choose to show the worst off camera. Which includes simplifying the palace’s nightly routine, which in the book, benefited the brutal crime the couple commits.. Namely: managing to corner Queen Alicent and her daughter, to behead one of Aegon II’s sons as a form of revenge.
A violent murder at the beginning of the season
In the series, the pair of assassins manage to sneak in and corner Queen Helaena (Phia Saban), who is in the princes’ room. Forced in the midst of violence to choose one of her children, she ends up pointing out Jaehaerys, while she tries to flee with Maelor in her arms. In the end, she succeeds and manages to reach the room of her mother Alicent, who is in the middle of a passionate sexual encounter with Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel). The plot decision, which changes the impossible decision she had That taking Helaena in the book changes the possible evolution of her character from now on.
The chapter of The House of the Dragon culminates, opening the door to a war that will no longer have extenuating circumstances and that, without a doubt, is inevitable. Which sets up what will be a bloody season, surely full of battles on dragonback and a succession of violent deaths. soon.
