HBO’s House of the Dragon continues to have a hard time focusing on what really matters.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon season 2, episode 2.
The second episode of House of the Dragon season 2 begins, as it should, in chaos. As the news of Prince Jaehaerys’ murder spreads throughout the Red Keep of King’s Landing, bed maidens and castle workers are detained, all while Jaehaerys’ father, Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney), rages over his son’s death, and members of his Small Council — namely, Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Otto Hightower brainstorm over how to respond to the tragic event. The Hightowers, as cunning as ever, decide to use Jaehaerys’ assassination to their political advantage by parading the boy’s dead body through the streets as part of a funeral procession and denouncing his murder as an act of wanton cruelty on the part of Aegon’s rival, Rhaenyra (Emmy D’Arcy).
Jaehaerys’ death naturally hangs heavy over the entirety of House of the Dragon episode 2, and director Clare Kilner repeatedly re-emphasizes the grisly nature of his murder with close-up shots of his bloodied bedsheets and the stitches that keep his severed head attached to his corpse. Despite all of that, the episode, written by Sara Hess, greatly struggles to navigate the inevitably dour mood set by the House of the Dragon season 2 premiere’s shocking conclusion. The episode, specifically, races through so many important plot twists and developments that it leaves you reeling from the emotional whiplash caused by its haphazard plotting.There’s too much going on
House of the Dragon‘s latest episode packs a lot into its 69-minute runtime, which — despite its length — proves to be too short. So much happens throughout the installment, including Jaehaerys’ morbid funeral, Otto’s removal as Hand of the King, Aegon’s executions of all of the Red Keep’s ratcatchers, Criston Cole’s (Fabien Frankel) confrontation with Arryk Cargyll (Luke Tittensor) and his subsequent demand that Arryk pose as his brother Erryk (Elliott Tittensor) and attempt to assassinate Rhaenyra Targaryen.
