The Targaryens are back, with fire and blood.
The hit “Game of Thrones” prequel series, “House of the Dragon” returns for Season 2 after a long wait (Season 1 aired in 2022 and did gangbusters, with around 29 million viewers tuning in weekly).
Premiering Sunday, June 16 on HBO (9 p.m.) and streaming on Max, the story picks up where Season 1 left off, following Daenerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) ancestors around 200 years before the original show. Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) is supposed to be queen, as her late father, King Viserys (Paddy Considine), named her as his heir before he died in the first season. Daemon (Matt Smith), her hotheaded uncle/ husband – yep, those Targaryens love incest – is ready to make heads roll to enforce her rule.
But, her half-brother, Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), and supporters like his mom, Alicent (Olivia Cooke), and grandfather, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), have usurped Rhaenyra and claimed that he’s the rightful monarch. With two different siblings fighting over the Iron Throne, now it’s war.
To make matters worse, Aegon’s volatile brother, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), killed Rhaenyra’s son at the end of Season 1. In Season 2, the two sides of the family are each trying to recruit powerful allies to support Aegon or Rhaenyra’s respective claims to the throne, as the bodies pile up.
Similar to Season 1, Season 2 doesn’t compare to the original show in terms of character depth and writing quality. Where “Game of Thrones” was Christopher Nolan, “House of the Dragon” is Michael Bay. It’s more bombastic and less smart, but still fun in its own way.
Season 2 is bigger and bloodier. It brings more dragons, battles, murder, scheming, revenge, full frontal nudity, and sex (some of it between people who aren’t blood relatives, a novelty).
Villainous brothers Aegon and Aemond are standouts – the actors seem to be having a blast chewing scenery, which gives their scenes an electric energy. Corlys Velaryon (Steve Touissant) and his wife, Rhaenys (Eve Best), are also highlights.
There are new characters up the wazoo – too many, but some are welcome additions, like Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty) and Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor, delivering “GoT” nostalgia by imitating Jon Snow’s accent).
The show doesn’t pause for a catch-up, so if your memories are vague about tracking all the similar character names – three different women named Rhaenyra, Rhaenys, Rhaena; Aegon and Aemond; twins named Arryk and Erryk – either run to Google, or just let it wash over you and don’t sweat the details.
Season 2 has several pitfalls. For one, grief is a very human emotion, but it’s rarely dramatically compelling. Another great HBO show, “The Leftovers,” figured out how to make grieving characters dynamic onscreen, but despite D’Arcy’s fine performance, the writing flails on how to accomplish that with Rhaenyra. Since she’s the main character, this takes some wind out of the show’s sails.
For another, Smith delivers a good performance, too, but the show doesn’t know what to do with Daemon. Much of his plot feels like filler – an especially odd choice, given that Smith is the most famous cast member. It’s a waste of Smith for the show to bench him.
“HOTD” is also suffering from residual effects of Season 1’s time jumps and casting changes – we’ve only spent a handful of episodes with Alicent, Rhaenyra, Aegon, and Aemond and Helaena in their current forms. So, although there’s a lot of dramatic death and murder, none of it has as much emotional impact as it did on “GoT,” and some big moments feel unearned.
Nevertheless, the season is full of gasp-worthy developments that will grab your attention – even if they may not tug on your heartstrings like the Red Wedding. “HOTD” will continue to dominate water cooler conversations.
Despite having a more condensed timeline than Season 1, the pacing still feels off, with Season 2 now hurtling through major events at breakneck speed – on the flip side, it does make for an adrenaline-fueled ride.
“House of the Dragon” has some Vhagar-sized flaws, but it remains a bloody good time and still feels like Event Television.