House Of The Dragon – S1 E2 The Rogue Prince Recap & Review :
House Of The Dragon – Season 1 Episode 2 "The Rogue Prince" Recap & Review :
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"The Rogue Prince" Review:
Episode 2 of House of the Dragon begins less than half a year after the events of last week — and there's drama in the short council. Corlys Velaryon is not happy with the loss of four ships. It is revealed that this is part of a series of attacks on shipping lanes from Stepstones; A chain of islands populated by sailswords, and led by Crabfeeders, the man who feeds crabs to his enemies and which we learned a little about last week. Otto is offered compensation for the loss of one of his own ships, but he is not interested in it, he wants the king to take action. Rainera overhears all this and suggests that they send the Dragon Riders out to do their fast work. Instead, he hastily kicked out of the throne room and given the task of overseeing the replacement of one of the King's guards.
After hearing several different candidates, each lacking combat experience, Rainera chose Ser Kristen Cole, who bested Damon in previous episodes of the tournament. This young princess wants to be more than this, and although she has been chosen as Viserys' heir, Viserys' suggestion of remarriage indicates that a male heir may be ready to usurp her in the future.
Viserys explains his position to Corliss later that afternoon.
With the death of the queen and a girl chosen for succession, Corliss is convinced that the enemy has lost sight of the Red Keep. The Taj is weak right now and Corliss believes they need to act swiftly to ensure that there is no rebellion. To do this, Corlys suggests linking your two families together. Together with the dragons and the Valerian fleet, they will be reunited as one force.
That night, Viserys asks Otto for his advice on this. The Grand Maester believes this is a solid idea, and that it would be good for the region to prevent open war or rebellion. Viserys, however, is concerned about what Rainera will think.
Meanwhile, Rainera is optimistic that she will someday become queen but Rainey is overly pessimistic. She talks about the established arrangement and ends by saying: "Men would rather put the torch into the torch than see a woman ascend the iron throne." The irony here, if certainly, would not be lost on anyone who knows that women were actually the cause of the downfall of Westeros (Cersei and Daenerys).
Viserys is called to an emergency meeting with the minor council. A dragon's egg is stolen while the dragonstone is confiscated by Damon and placed with his cloak of gold. Damon also leaves a taunting note inviting Viserys to his wedding to Mysore. Viserys wants to go in person but Otto intervenes, pointing out that it is too dangerous and suggesting that he should go instead.
Otto and the King's Guard show up to Damon and confront him, calling him disgusting. Daemon is as calm as a cucumber, although it indicates that it is the family right to pick up an egg on the eve of a wedding - even if that egg is a Dreamfare for Prince Belon. Otto and Damon both draw swords but when a dragon appears over the castle, Otto realizes the futility of fighting and withdraws his weapon.
However, Rainyara is suddenly seen riding a dragon. She contacts Damon and explains that Dragonstone is technically his. The only way Damon has is to kill his niece and seize the position of heir himself. It's tense but Damon eventually turns around and leaves without bleeding. He too tosses the egg before going back inside the palace.
When Viserys learns where the princess has gone, he confronts her in his chamber. He is not happy with Rainera acting independently, pointing out that he could have been killed.
In the morning, Viserys decides to get a new wife, but after talking to Rainera, he has a change of heart... He intends to marry Otto's daughter, Lady Alicent Hightower. Corliss calls it silly. This is a foolish decision, considering what it could mean for the realm, and it completely dissolves the small council. Given the close relationship with Alicent, this frustrates Rainyra as well.
Corlys is so furious that he seeks out Damon, claiming that they are made of the same fabric and that he believes they should work together. After all, if Viserys doesn't do anything, maybe Damon and his bloodthirsty Gold Cloaks will. The Crabfeeder is backed by the Free Cities' powerful allies and wants to see Westeros weaken. If the shipping lane should collapse, it would seriously undermine the rule of the Corliss family. Not only will it be good for him to rid the world of Crabfeeder, but it will also give Damon an excellent opportunity to prove his worth. The thing is, if Damon is successful it will leave Viserys with even fewer allies.
Episode Review :
Not everyone is ready to be a leader and if this episode proves anything
, so it's not really Viserys. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions to prove your worth and keep the scope under control. When it comes to Viserys himself, it's immediately clear that he's making all the wrong choices.
The marriage with Corlys' daughter Laena isn't exactly smooth given the age difference, but in many ways it's the "right" choice to tie the two households together. With Viserys choosing his heart instead, which, of course, is being manipulated by Otto, he may well have thrown the realm into utter chaos.
In terms of court intrigue, House of the Dragon certainly has that aspect, but at the same time, the success of Game of Thrones stemmed from a more urgent underlying plot (the White Walkers), while keeping things fresh in Westeros. showing many different areas in. The underlying tension here was always around how everyone would work together to stop this huge menace... that idea before Seasons 7 and 8 was harder than Cersei blew up Sept.
House of the Dragon has none of that urgency and as a result, it is essentially a politically-charged drama, depicting the downfall of Targaryen. It's going to get boring for people jumping into this expected magic, dragon fire, and big, epic battles. Of course, the irony here is that the Battle of Game of Thrones was only a small part of a much larger world of politics and back-stabbing.
This is one of those shows that really needs more than one episode to be released in a week and tries to put some pacing into it. Although HBO has broken records for early episodes, I'm more interested to see how many will stick around for the finale and Season 2. I think this would be a more telling statistic.
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