‘House of the Dragon’ Recap: Marriage Crumbles Alliances … and Friendships
Spoiler Alert
[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 2, “The Rogue Prince.”]
“Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne.”
Rhaenys’ (Eve Best) words serve as something of a thesis statement for House of the Dragon’s second episode, which delves even deeper into the family drama among the Targaryens in King’s Landing (and those exiled from it). After about half a year, Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) discovers how complicated her path to power might be as her father contemplates remarriage, and her input on matters of the crown is largely belittled or ignored. Meanwhile, Alicent (Emily Carey) grows ever closer to the king in what seems a thinly veiled reach for glory, and piracy strains existing alliances. Oh, and Daemon (Matt Smith) is still out there causing trouble, too. Here’s how it all comes together.
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The episode opens with a lively discussion on the small council; a band of pirates, likely from the free cities, is attacking ships. This time, their raids have hit Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), and he thinks they should do something about it. Rhaenyra, still the cup-bearer, chimes in to agree — but when she suggests sending dragonriders, she’s sent off to choose the next knight for the kingsguard, the implication that her input isn’t welcomed.
She ruffles feathers at the selection too, when she decides to choose Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) based on the fact that he’s the only one present who has experience on the battlefield. “My father should be defended by a knight who’s known real combat,” Rhaenyra says, despite the advisors’ suggestions to make a choice based on house or alliance.
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Her experience on the small council and in picking the knights gets at the heart of the episode, or at least of Rhaenyra’s story; the realm still believes a woman isn’t meant to command, and, with her father being encouraged to remarry, there’s a decent chance Rhaenyra never will. Viserys (Paddy Considine) meets with one prospective bride — Corlys and Rhaenys’ extremely young daughter — and, as Rhaenys tells Rhaenyra while they look on, men won’t accept a queen as their ruler, “and your father is no fool.”
No fool he might be, but he’s not immune to provocation, as Daemon well knows. Viserys is enraged when word reaches him that Daemon has stolen a dragon’s egg. And it’s not just any dragon’s egg; it’s the egg that was meant for Viserys’ infant son’s crib. As Rhaenyra looks on, he vows to go to Dragonstone, which Daemon has taken and holds with his army of goldcloaks, and drag his brother back to King’s Landing. Saying it’s too dangerous, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) volunteers to go instead. And go he does, but not before encouraging Alicent to pay another of her regular visits to the king.
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As it turns out, Otto and the knights aren’t very effective in getting the egg back from Daemon. Insults are exchanged, swords are drawn, his dragon appears, and swords are promptly sheathed. It seems no ground will be won, until another dragon soars in: it’s Rhaenyra! (She’s super-duper not supposed to be there, but in the end, it’s a good thing she was.) She approaches Daemon and tells him, “I’m right here, uncle. The object of your ire. The reason that you were disinherited. If you wish to be restored as heir, you’ll need to kill me. So do it, and be done with all this bother.” He stares at her for a long moment — and then he tosses her the egg and walks away.
Obviously, her father’s none too pleased that she flew off to Dragonstone without his approval. He reminds her that she’s the sole heir to the throne, but muses that he “forgets how alike” she and her mother were. Rhaenyra says it pleases her to hear she wasn’t alone in her grief for her mother, and they reach the understanding that while they both loved her, her father must remarry for the sake of the realm.
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…and that’s where Alicent comes in. Otto’s scheming and those constant, furtive meetings pay off toward the end of the episode as Viserys tells the small council that he’ll indeed wed before spring is done. But not to Corlys’ daughter: to Alicent Hightower. Corlys is the first to storm out of the meeting, insulted, and a visibly upset Rhaenyra soon follows.
It’s unclear what Rhaenyra will do with her anger, but Corlys’ emotions lead him straight to Dragonstone. He says that if these pirates control the shipping lanes, his house will be crippled, and that he won’t sit idly by while the king ignores the threat. “That was never my brother’s strong suit,” Daemon notes. “Being king.” Corlys tells Daemon that as the realm’s “second sons,” they must make their own power, and thus, a powerful (and perhaps deadly) alliance is formed.
House of the Dragon, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO
