‘House of the Dragon’ season 2 premiere recap: Blood and Cheese and death

Caralynn: This is my favorite scene of the first episode. I love Rhaenys being deeply unimpressed by Daemon and all his posturing.

Palmer: I appreciate that Rhaenys is one of the people who has zero desire to take Daemon’s shit.

Eammon: “Meleys must gorge and rest.” Mood.

Caralynn: Gotta say, it was extremely helpful of 2024, if you will.

Eammon: “House of the Bragon”? “Dragerton”? That second one sounds like a different show…

Palmer: Two very, very different series concerned with marriage, pregnancy, and lines of succession.

Rhaenyra, in mourning, needs to see her dead son for herself

Palmer: It’s extremely, extremely funny to see Tyland Lannister get so irritated with a small child that he is obligated to be nothing but polite to. And Aegon is so deadly serious about it! What humiliation, though — getting talked down to by your boy king for trying to stop his child heir from bothering you.

Eammon: I know Larys is basically the new/old(?) Littlefinger, but I think Otto gets overlooked for all his scheming.

Palmer: I appreciate everyone explaining that dragons are actually essentially weapons of mass destruction to Aegon, and that they’re more valuable as deterrence. But I also appreciate that his response is “My brother will simply nuke anyone who gets in our way on Vhagar.”

Larys Strong act like a normal person challenge: failed.

Eammon: Well, at least he didn’t make her get her feet out this time! Although it’s telling that she instantly needs a bath after speaking to him.

Palmer: Oh yes, it’s our favorite ambiguously dead gossip maven, Mysaria.

Caralynn: Lady Whistleworm.

Palmer: I’m no great Mysaria fan, mostly because I feel like the show constantly deploys her to make half-hearted commentary about the common folk, but free this poor woman from Daemon.

Eammon: She’s one of those, “Oh yeah, I forgot about her” characters.

Caralynn: I will say I’m curious about what they’re going to do with her long-term.

Palmer: Yep, there’s clearly a reason to bring her back, and I hope it’s a good one!

Eammon: Can we all just take a moment to appreciate Rhaenyra’s badass leather coat? I believe that’s what the kids call “a look.”

Palmer: She’s ready to “slay.” But yes, I really love the Rhaenyra leather fits.

Caralynn: The costuming on this show is always flawless.

Daemon makes an oopsie

Eammon: Aemond correctly taking stock of his mom situation: “She blames me for starting this war.” To be fair, mate, your dragon did make a midnight snack out of Lucerys.

Palmer: I do think it’s funny because Aemond is not faultless, but he’s also not particularly wrong — he does seem to have the clearest head out of the whole bunch.

Caralynn: Ewan Mitchell is great as Aemond. He has so much more insight than the others. It’s interesting how he’s the one to clock that Alicent still has love for Rhaenyra and it’s holding her back.

Palmer: He’s extremely perceptive! Criston, however, is a bitch.

Caralynn: Criston’s long-held grudge is, at this point, a bit much. For him to still be this pissed that she didn’t want to marry him is so unhinged. It’s giving fragile male ego.

Palmer: I love Aegon and his shithead friends drinking on the Iron Throne. As the people intended!

Caralynn: They’re like a bunch of frat bros.

Palmer: I was trying to think of a Westerosi frat house name but was not quick enough on the draw.

Eammon: Alpha Beta Valyria. And oh hey look, a rat. Symbolism!

Palmer: This entire Blood & Cheese bit is so silly, but not necessarily in a bad way? It’s horrifying to watch these guys bumble their way into one of the worst inciting incidents of the entire war. They have no clue what they’re doing. Ultimately, very effective.

Caralynn: This entire scene is so stressful, and the music is so effective.

Palmer: C’mon guys, does that child look like he has an eyepatch, or can hold his own in a fight?

Eammon: The realization about what’s about to happen is just horrifying.

Palmer: Extraordinarily horrifying, and I feel like it’s worse because it’s Helaena, who is about as close to an innocent as we get aside from the literal children.

Caralynn: Her weakly trying to bargain with them and realizing it’s pointless — Phia does phenomenal work here. You can practically see her dissociating.

Palmer: It’s also so brutal that Helaena tells the truth when she points out her son — what do you even do? It just feels like the worst kind of gut reaction.

Caralynn: OK, not the vibe, but this bit with the running did make me laugh a little — she’s so obviously running with a fake kid.

Palmer: I do think that these shots of her running down the hallway, limp baby aside, are very effective.

Eammon: This moment, with Helaena interrupting Alicent and Criston during sex and blowing the cover on their affair, irritated me. It’s so tonally mismatched — the goofiness of getting barged in on mid-intercourse, and the brutality of what just happened.

Palmer: I have yet to truly reckon with Helaena walking in on Alicent and Cole. It feels like it muddies the moment a bit, but I can also rationalize it as this transition point where the war really, truly becomes serious.

Caralynn: It also sets the stage for an interesting tension between Alicent and Helaena because wasn’t Criston, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, supposed to be, y’know… guarding them? But he was too busy getting his rocks off with her mom!

Palmer: Probably! Him or someone else on the Kingsguard who was slacking off. But it is worse to see one of the family’s protectors having an affair instead of protecting!

Eammon: Although, to be fair, this is the same franchise that ended its pilot with Jaime and Cersei having sex in a tower when Bran walked in on them.

Palmer: That is…. a very fair point. It is a kind of twist on that inciting incident.

Caralynn: That’s a really good point. Sex really screws everything up!! Especially like, illicit sex that these people are definitely not supposed to be having

Palmer: Yes, this is the moral we should be taking from “Game of Thrones”/”House of the Dragon”: Never Have An Affair.

Caralynn: Sex: Simply not worth the trouble (i.e., multiple wars).