This second episode is a worthy follow up to the series premiere.
It takes us 6 Months after the last episode, and it does a fairly good job of cementing the foundation on which the whole series would be based. It opens with a reminder of the threat that Corlys keeps sounding the alarm about and as usual, the King and the council couldn’t be bothered.
We see that the grieving King and Alicent have grown quite
close, and Rhaenyra is quite oblivious as she confides in her of her worry about
her father getting wed again. Deamon is still a thorn on the King’s side haven
disobeyed the King’s order to return to Runestone and instead seized Dragonstone
and situated his rebellion there with a loyal city watch army.
Pressures have begun to mount on the king to take a new wife. Coryls and Danyeas meet with him and propose their daughter Laena to him.
He confides in his hand Otto but of course, Otto has his own personal ambitions
and as expected tries quit diplomatically to discourage the king. He did mention that Coryls has overreached,
which I found quite ironic seeing as Coryl’s house is the wealthiest house in
the realm, and its actually Otto Hightower who is overreaching in this case by
setting his daughter up to swoop in on the throne.
House of the Dragon Season 1, Episode 1 Premiere Review - The Heirs of the Dragon
The King is torn between duty and his family, he knows he
has to wed a wife soon but is worried about how his daughter would feel.
Daemon carries out a heist of a dragon egg in the dead of the night and the King finally decides to confront Deamon but Otto proposes to go instead, the standoff on the bridge at Dragonstone seemed to be an impasse until Rhaenyra rode in on her dragon and negotiated the dragon’s egg out of Deamon’s hands.
Rhaenyra is hungry to prove herself
and she does demonstrate her strength both in force and in diplomacy. She
strikes an imposing figure riding in on her dragon and also shows her political
acumen and judgement both in choosing a King’s guard and negotiating with
Deamon. Of course, her close and personal relationship with Deamon is an added
advantage. Viserys is non too pleased about it, but father and daughter soon
bond about their common loss, and he finally confides about his impending
nuptials.
Viserys meets with Lord Lynoll Strong in what he terms to be
a search for an “unencumbered” counsel, although Lynol thinks wedding Laena is
a wise move and counsels him to accept Coryl’s proposal, he would go on to do
as his heart pleases.
The King calls the small council and then announces to all present
including his cupbearer Rhaenyra that he had decided to take a new wife. The
presence of Alicent at the council should have drawn Rhaenyra’s suspicion
quicker but the poor dear realized what was going on at the exact time her
father started mentioning Alicent’s name.
House of the Dragon Season 1, Episode 1 Premiere Review - The Heirs of the Dragon
I don’t think there was enough foundation for them to spring Alicent as his choice on us.
It seemed like quite a reach to go from taking a walk in the gardens with Laena (a very uncomfortable scene), consulting Strong for counsel to announcing Alicent in the small council against said counsel.
It seemed like a reach. A reach quite reminiscent of the last season of Game of Thrones when Daenerys, just at the spur of the moment decided to burn down King’s landing. Not enough foundation was built. While I understand Laena is too young and the King might be in haste to start siring potential heirs, It still seemed like, they started to build a backdrop and then abandoned it altogether for the sake of surprise. Taking a leap to surprise the audience should be done with enough foundation to support the leap.
The King makes an enemy in Coryls who promptly storms out of
the Council followed closely by Rhaenyra. Coryls does not waste time in aligning
with Deamon. For now, however, he seems to be more interested in fighting the
Crab Feeder, a threat to his livelihood and wealth.
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