‘House Of The Dragon’ Episode 2 Recap And Review: The Rogue Prince

House Of The Dragon kicked things off with a bang last week, unleashing dragons, brutally violent jousting tourneys and a scene of childbirth gone so horribly wrong, it was almost too difficult to watch.

In Episode 2, titled ‘The Rogue Prince,’ things move a little slower, and while tensions certainly reach a boiling point more than once, no blood is shed—only tears.

We also made our way outside of the Red Keep and King’s Landing, however briefly, and visited both Dragonstone—where Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) has taken his Gold Cloaks for an extended, illegal occupation—and the Stepstones, where the Triarchy and its leader, the Crab Feeder, have set up their bloody shop of horrors.

But much of this episode focuses on King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) and the women in his life: His daughter and heir, princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock); his new female companion, Rhaenyra’s best friend, Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey); and his own past rival for the throne, Rhaenys (Eve Best) and her husband Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint).

(And yes, I just typed all those names—characters and actors alike—without looking up any of them or the spelling! No small feat!)

The Hand’s Gambit

“The gods have yet to make a man who lacks the patience for absolute power, your Grace.” ~ Otto Hightower

Last week, we learned that the Hand of the King, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) sent his daughter, Alicent, to the king after the queen died giving birth to a baby boy, who died only moments later—both consumed by dragon flame at their funeral not long after.

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This was not an attempt to bring succor to the king during his moment of terrible grief, and nor were we led to believe it was. It seemed clear that Hightower’s motives were that of an overly ambitious man with the skill to play his liege like a fiddle.

That plot is borne out rather quickly. Six months have passed since the season premiere and the queen’s death, but Alicent has already wormed her way into the king’s heart. She speaks with him regularly, or reads to him, or marvels over his marvelous recreation of Old Valiria—but he clearly knows that it’s more than just talking, and wishes to hide from Rhaenyra. “You don’t tell Rhaenyra of these talks,” Viserys asks nervously at one point. “I don’t think she’d understand.”

This deception clearly eats away at Alicent. Her anxiety has led her to bite her nails, leaving marks on her fingertips. “You’re the most comely girl at court,” her father chides her. “Why do you destroy yourself?”

Clearly, Hightower knew exactly the worth of his daughter’s beauty and what power it would hold over the grieving king, a man who values being loved more than anything.

But Otto and Alicent are interrupted by none other than Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), the man whose jousting prowess and battle experience helped him triumph over Daemon in the tourney in last week’s premiere. It was this—along with his boyish charm and good looks—that inspired Rhaenyra to elevate him to the King’s Guard, against the wishes of the Hand.

The Rogue Prince

Cole arrives at this moment to tell Hightower that it’s time to go. In-between his scheming, the Hand of the King has other duties—such as carrying out the king’s will. This time, it’s to pay a visit to Daemon, who has occupied Dragonstone and absconded with a dragon egg—the same egg that Viserys had set aside for his ‘heir for a day.’

Daemon, it seems, is intent on pushing all of his brother’s buttons as frequently and with as much force as humanly possible. He snuck into the dragon caves below the Red Keep and stole the egg, taking it back to Dragonstone for his concubine, Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) who he claims he’s making his second wife, purportedly pregnant with a child.

Recall, Daemon is already married to Rhea Royce, heir to Runestone, a lower House in the Vale of Arryn. He calls her his “bronze bitch” and clearly despises her, though we don’t know why.

Hightower, Cole and an entourage of heavily armed men make their way to Dragonstone where they meet Daemon, Mysaria and his own force of Gold Cloaks on a stone rampart.

Hightower demands that Daemon return the egg and vacate Dragonstone immediately, chiding the prince and the City Watch who followed him into exile.

Tensions nearly boil over when Hightower asks if Daemon is really prepared to risk battle, even if it means the death of his whore and unborn child. Daemon and his men draw their swords; the king’s men draw their own, and then the red dragon, Caraxes, appears, looming over the scene menacingly. Hightower has no dragon to respond with, and tells everyone to ‘sheathe your &*#$(& swords.”

Then we hear the flapping of wings, and a shadow passes overhead. Rhaenyra, against the explicit wishes of her father, shows up atop her own dragon, Syrax, a golden beast not quite as large as her uncle’s. I will note here once again, that while the dragons look great in this show, dragon-riding itself looks very bad. It looked bad in Game Of Thrones and it looks bad again here, and I wish they’d stop shooting close-ups and just leave that bit to our imagination (or take a page from How To Train Your Dragon, which does it much better).

The two Targaryens speak in High Valirian for a moment. She tells him he’s living in her castle and that he’s angered her father. He says there’s no reason to be angered, he’s simply celebrating his wedding. “You already have a wife,” she says. “Not one of my choosing,” he replies.

“And this required you to steal my brother’s egg?” she asks.

“You shared a cradle with a dragon when you were born,” he tells her. “I want the same for my child.”

“You’re to have a child?” she replies, and he glances over at Mysaria, who looks . . . well, she looks really angry at Daemon, to be honest. “One day,” he says, and we realize that no, he probably hasn’t discussed any of this with Mysaria at all, and is simply using her as a pawn in his elaborate trolling of his Viserys. She storms off and Daemon looks a bit miffed.

“I’m right here, uncle,” Rhaenyra says. “The object of your ire. The reason that you were disinherited. If you wish to be restored as heir, you need to kill me. So do it, and be done with all this bother.”

Daemon grins, but only with his eyes. He looks down and then across at Hightower and the soldiers. Then he turns and walks away without a word and, almost as an afterthought, tosses the egg to his niece.

Back in Dragonstone, Mysaria and Daemon fight. “You swore to protect me, Daemon,” she says angrily. I’ll admit, her accent is extremely thick and difficult to understand. Captions would probably help at this moment—though I’m not sure I care much about Daemon and his concubine’s relationship. She tells him that she came to him “to be liberated.” “From what?” he asks. “Fear,” she tells him, though that seems an odd thing to escape by embracing a man like Daemon.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker Make Me A Match

“Marriage is not an obligation you can put off for long.” ~ Lord Lyonel Strong

Back in King’s Landing, Viserys has a conundrum. On the one hand, he doesn’t want to get married at all. It hasn’t been that long since the death of his wife, whom he loved dearly. On the other, as Lord Strong of Harrenhal reminds him, a king’s obligation is to the realm and he must produce heirs and take a wife, whether or not he likes it.

The king must choose someone, and a very suitable choice has presented itself. Lord Corlys and his wife Rhaenys have offered their own daughter’s hand in marriage to the king. Their daughter, Laena (Savannah Steyn) is only twelve, but she’d grow into a woman soon enough and could start popping out babies in a few years time. Uniting King’s Landing and Driftmark, Targaryen and Velaryon, by blood would create a strong alliance.

Lord Corlys commands a large fleet and is the wealthiest man in the realm. The marriage would exude strength. Lord Strong (Gavin Spokes) thinks it a wise decision. Rhaenyra herself, who observes the king and the young girl walking together, also approves, telling her father that she understands his obligation to remarry.

Only Hightower opposes the union, though he minces words and beats around bushes, telling the king that he also dearly loved “mine own lady wife” and that he cannot comprehend how terribly difficult it would be to be pressured into remarrying so soon. He says all this while, as we well know, pulling the king’s and his daughter’s strings, nudging them closer and closer while standing in the way of what would, in fact, be the best course of action for a prosperous future for the realm.

So the King finally tells them who he plans to wed, and everyone—except Otto and Alicent—is unhappy with the choice. Lord Strong, a man who seems to be a very loyal and pragmatic man, doesn’t outright say he’s against the union, but it’s clear that he thinks it’s a mistake.

Corlys, meanwhile, invites Daemon to his castle in Driftmark and proposes an alliance between the two men. The king is providing no relief or assistance in the Stepstones, where the Crab Feeder has butchered Westerosi sailors and burned their ships, stolen their goods and disrupted trade. Daemon, Corlys suggests, could make his name and help save Westeros from this threat if he came down to fight alongside Corlys and his men.

“We’ve been passed over too often,” Corlys says. “Did you call me to Driftmark to remind me of my low standing, Lord Corlys,” Dameon replies. “Or was there some other reason?”

“You’ve heard of the trouble in the Stepstones?” Corlys asks.

“Some Myrish prince is feeding sailors to the crabs,” Daemon replies, and we see the prince in question carrying out his bloody business, hammering men into posts as they scream, crabs racing across the sand. Perhaps this prince—and not Daemon—is the Rogue Prince of the episode’s title?

“I have been petitioning the king to send my navy into the territory, but he’s denied me,” Corlys says.

“It was never my brother’s strongest trait,” Daemon replies, cryptically.

“What?”

“Being king.”

All told, while this was a slower, more deliberate episode of House Of The Dragon than last week’s, I still find the story compelling. My problem so far remains that I’m having a hard time caring very much about any of these characters. Perhaps that will change with time.

I do find both Rhaenyra and Alicent quite likable, and Daemon is certainly a fascinating figure whose motives remain obscure and hard to figure out, which I rather enjoy. These are all well-drawn characters. The bumbling, but affable, king. The scheming Hand, whose ambition has begun to cloud his judgment. The proud Sea Snake at the end of his rope. These young girls thrown into the viper’s pit of politics, with no end in sight.

But in Game Of Thrones I found characters who I instantly wanted to root for—Arya Stark, Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow. Sure, Martin always writes “grey” morality and complicated characters, but in Thrones there lots of characters you really wanted to see emerge victorious. Here, it’s harder to say.

And while that can result in an even better story, where “good vs evil” is less important than who is, in fact, best at the game of thrones, it can also mean we find ourselves caring less about the fates of these people, and that can translate into less emotional investment.

Time will tell, of course. What did you think of Episode 2? Let me know on Twitter or Facebook. You can find my other websites and social media here.

Watch my video review below:

My House Of The Dragon Writing (So Far)

Here are some of my articles on the show, though I will continue to write new content regularly.