House of the Dragon: S2 E1

The first episode of the "Game of Thrones" spinoff's second season ups the ante as an all-out civil war between the Targaryens looms like a storm cloud over all of Westeros.

All-out civil war doesn’t break out at the very start the second season of “House of the Dragon” … but it clearly looms like a storm cloud over all of Westeros.

That’s based on the first episode of the much-anticipated “Game of Thrones” spinoff on Max (née HBO), which just aired as this review posts, in accordance with the stipulated rules for the press.

(Normally critics like to publish their reaction prior to the general release of a show or film, but them’s the rules, so abide with me. I’ll endeavor to keep to this schedule for the rest of the season.)

If you’re expecting a slam-bang full-out death-and-mayhem start to season 2, then you might come away disappointed. It’s more setting the table and moving chess pieces into final position before the assault starts. Personally I appreciated the “deep breath before the plunge,” to quote from another popular fantasy franchise.

Clearly, the creators (Ryan Condal in partnership with GoT author George R. R. Martin) are not being coy about what’s to come. Without giving anything away, the episode’s title, “A Son for a Son,” heralds the epic bloodletting surely in store for future episodes — which will run to eight for this season, as opposed to 10 in S1.

I won’t even attempt a comprehensive summary of season 1 given the sprawling cast of characters and interwoven plotlines, other than to say it tracks the years-long growing enmity between Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy), the daughter and heir to King Viserys (Paddy Considine), and her girlhood friend Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), who married the widowed king. Each woman raised their own brood of children with competing claims to the throne after Viserys’ long decline and eventual death.

The official recap video from Max does a good job for those who want a more complete primer.

At the end of season 1 (spoilers ahead if you’ve not watched), Alicent’s son Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) killed Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) in an airborne duel of dragons. This happened as each faction declared its own claim to the Iron Throne, with Rhaenyra as the would-be queen in exile, and Alicent’s older son Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) officially installed at the capitol of King’s Landing.

There had been indications Rhaenyra had been wavering toward dropping her claim to avoid a destructive war. This despite the craving for conflict of her husband, Daemon (Matt Smith), Viserys’ brother and thus her own uncle.

Yep, icky incest is nothing novel to the Targaryen clan, as we saw in GoT.

Her son’s death leaves Rhaenyra in a black spiral of depression and rage. Meanwhile, the various powers of the Seven Kingdoms are lining up on each side, and armies begin marching. Rhaenyra allies the Velaryons set up a naval and dragon blockade of King’s Landing, where belts start to tighten and murmurs of dissent grow — though King Aegon, a callow cad, is clueless to them.

Daemon, a lusty fellow in both bed and battlefield, begins to make moves of his own that may yield bitter fruit.

The production values, acting performances and CGI special effects are all of the high quality we remember from last season, and if anything seem more polished and poised. The actors and writers are finding the characters’ bones and building out compelling arcs for them to navigate.

The dragons are still just as awesome and audacious as before, the fantasy world equivalent of nuclear weapons, whose deployment brings the threat of mutually assured destruction.

As much as I did not mind the slow-burn approach to launch the season, I will say that the show runners better not dawdle too much longer in getting to the sturm-and-drang stuff. Consider the powder well laid and lit: now it’s time for the satisfying incendiaries.