TL;DR – An episode full of dread and tension as grief moves way to violence and the chaos that walks in its wake.  

Disclosure – I paid for the Binge service that viewed this episode.

Warning – Scenes in this episode may cause distress.

House of the Dragon Review –

Well, it is time to jump back into the Game of Thrones universe with the next season of House of the Dragon. You can read our review for Season One, but mostly, it was a season filled with grand heights that were crushed by trying to take in too large a time frame over such a short episode run. Well, with things starting to slow down and all the major players in place, I am ready to see how they will work from here.     

So to set the scene, after the Greens mobilised in Driftmark and the Blacks in The Black Queen. Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’arcy) sent her children Prince Jacaerys “Jace” Velaryon (Harry Collett) and Prince Lucerys “Luke” Velaryon (Elliot Grihault) to deliver messages to the great houses. While on that trip, Luke is set upon by Prince Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell), and as they dance in the storm, there is a crushing blow of defeat, and Luke is killed in a moment of over-exuberance. A child is dead, murdered, and now there is no hope for peace. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

If I could sum this episode up in one word, it would be brooding. Everyone on both sides of the conflict is feeling the impact of Lucerys’ death. It is a tipping point, and everyone knows it. The whole realm knows it. For the first time since the fall of Valaria, both sides of the conflict have dragons, and those dragons are about to go to war. Cities start building scorpions for the first time in an age, food is beginning to be stored, and oh, Winter is coming. But through all of this is the grief of a mother who lost her child, and that is what punches through all the mechanisms and maundering of governments.

One of the big problems that both sides have is that elements want to let rip with the dragons and carve up the countryside in flames. Young men with delusions of grandeur or bitter men wanting to attack those who spurned them, yes, I am talking about that piece of [expletive deleted]. The Greens have the wrong King on the throne and at the worst time. The Blacks are working from a place of weakness and have Daemon (Matt Smith) ready to torch the entire Seven Kingdoms. It is a bonfire that people keep throwing accelerants on and then wonder why everything goes up in flames.   

It has long been said that dragons are the equivalent of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Game of Thrones. Well, if this has been the subtext in the past, this episode turns that up to the literal text. Everyone who has even an ounce of sense is apprehensive about the coming war because once the dragons start, there may be no stopping the damage. It is that warning that helps shine a light on all the other recklessness that is going on. That recklessness led to the closing moments, which were all sound effects, but boy, am I not going to sleep well after hearing it. Indeed, that whole sequence was full of tension that had me on the edge of my seat as the dawning realisation of what was about to happen became clear.

For the production side of things, I like that they changed up the opening titles. I was never a fan of the last ones, and the tapestry stained with blood is a better motif for the show. Beginning the episode in Winterfell and The Wall was a good choice because it helped ground the narrative in something familiar for people before they had to go and remember who all these people were again after such a long time. I mean, there was a bunch that I even had to look up, but hopefully, that will be less of a problem as we advance.

In the end, do we recommend House of the Dragon: A Son for A Son? Well, I thought that their kicking a dog was going to be the worst thing I saw tonight, and I was wrong. There was a real tension this week, and you know that blood is coming, and everyone is about to get caught in its wrath. If there has been an oncoming storm on the horizon, today it started to rain.  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen House of the Dragon yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review House of the Dragon on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    
Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of House of the Dragon
Directed by – Alan Taylor
Written by – Ryan Condal
Created by – Ryan Condal & George R. R. Martin
Based On – Fire & Blood by George R. R. Martin
Production/Distribution Companies – 1:26 Pictures, GRRM, HBO Max, Binge & HBO
Starring – Matt Smith, Emma D’arcy, Olivia Cooke & Rhys Ifans with Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Matthew Needham, Sonoya Mizuno, Tom Glynn-Carney, Ewan Mitchell, Phia Saban, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Jefferson Hall, Kurt Egyiawan, Kieran Bew, Abubakar Salim & Tom Taylor and Paul Kennedy, Luke Tittensor, Elliott Tittensor, Anthony Flanagan, Max Wrottesley, Phil Daniels, Jamie Kenna, Nicholas Jones, Michael Elwyn, James Dreyfus, Sam C. Wilson, Mark Stobbart, Barny Fishwick, Ralph Davis, Tok Stephen, Rasmus Hardiker, James Craven Tom Lorcan Sacha Vodegel Matzen, Grame Dalling, Oscar Eskinazi, Sophie Ablett, Roderick Hill, Shane Stevenson & Calum Maclean