REVIEW: House of the Dragon S02 EP08 shows good reunions, but it is a great frustration

Written by Sara Hess (Orange is the New Black) and directed by Geeta Vasant Patel (Under the bridge), the final episode of the second season of The House of the Dragon (House of the Dragon), titled as The Queen That Always Was, was released almost 70 minutes long and the feeling that remains is that it could be just another episode of the season.

NOTICE: Attention, this text contains SPOILERS of the final episode of the season. It is recommended that you watch it before continuing reading.

Unlike the end of the first season, where we followed the death of Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) and had crucial scenes, this time, in the eighth and final episode of this second season, there are no major battles, nor important deaths. There are very important reunions, yes, but there are still open arcs and others with frustrating outcomes. Check out what happened in this last episode and our review. 

The Queen That Always Was

For an episode that ends a season, all that is expected is the exploration of the climax promised, for so long, during past episodes, without offering much scope for parallel stories. But, The Dragon House, did not follow this logic. Right at the beginning, the episode presents us with a completely secondary arc, which may have relevance, but which definitely should have been addressed at the beginning or middle of this season. 

On behalf of the Green Team, Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) meets with Tyroshi leaders, representatives of the Triarchy, to argue and convince them to help break Rhaenyra's blockade of the bay, in exchange for the territory they lost to Daemon and Corlys, in the first season. However, the leaders point out that they will only accept the deal if Tyland manages to beat commander Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn) in a mud fight. 

There are a lot of new faces in this sequence and, honestly, Tyland is not that interesting to make this narrative more interesting, without making us wonder why we are watching this, since, in theory, a war was supposed to be breaking out.

The Green Council recalculates the route

After seeing, with his own eyes, Rhaenyra's (Emma D'Arcy) plans come to fruition, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) decides to take out his fury on the first city he sees, which had nothing to do with the situation. Clearly, there were moments of carnage off-screen, however, we only get brief scenes of the place still burning, while the Prince Regent watched from a viewpoint – the same formula used in the clash between the Blackwoods and the Brackens.

With Alicent's return from her contemplative walk, she once again shows that she has abandoned her ambitious post to play her more humanized role as a mother. She wants to convince Helaena to leave King's Landing with her. On the other hand, Aemond wants to try to convince his sister to ride her dragon Dreamfyre to go to fight together, side by side. She doesn't want to participate in all this violence, but she also understands that there is no place in the world where she can take refuge. 

One of the most interesting points of the series, in fact, is the construction of Helaena's character. If before she was very afraid and isolated herself from the world, now she emphasizes having mastery of her mystical powers, which wouldn't work well without Phia Saban's talent.

When Aemond confronts her about her choice not to accompany him, the young woman calmly asks if he will burn her as he did Aegon, making it clear that she knows of the crime her brother committed. Furthermore, Helaena tells Aemond a prophecy: Aegon II will become king again and sit on a wooden throne, while Aemond's destiny is death. He will fly over the God's Eye (a huge lake in Harrenhal) and will never be seen again. Furious at what he heard, he ignores his sister and leaves. 

Meanwhile, all of Ser Criston Cole's (Fabien Frankel) vigor seems to be fading. Shaken by the battle of the dragons and the consequences suffered as Aegon II, he is confronted by Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox). She questions him about sleeping with Alicent. Her reaction is honest, melancholic and indifferent, pointing out that dying is perhaps a kind of relief. 

To conclude the green side, Larys tries to convince Aegon II to flee to Essos and protect himself until the entire war is over and he can return to the throne. Aegon, in turn, doesn't like the option very much. He reflects aloud on how physically and mentally destroyed he is, with no room to feed the big ego he had, but expresses his desire to try to turn things around, anyway. Even he knows that this wouldn't work and, at least at this moment, there is mystery surrounding his decision.  

The Black team is more aligned than ever

At Dragonstone, Rhaenyra hosts a dinner for the new dragonriders, Addam, Hugh, and Ulf, and their allies. In total, with Rhaenyra, Jacaerys and Baela, the Black team has an advantage, as it has six dragons, while the green ones have only four – if we count Tessarion, ridden by Daeron Targaryen, who until then has only been mentioned briefly in the series. 

She reinforces that she will make the dragon seeds the new knights of the kingdom, if they fight and swear loyalty to her. Despite Ulf (Tom Bennett) causing some losses at the table and having a somewhat peculiar humor, offending Jace, everything seems to be in order.

In the meantime, although Rhaenyra was warned about the possibility of Daemon turning against her, the rumor quickly fell apart. After six episodes portraying Daemon, in an existential crisis, desiring the throne more than ever, ultimately, upon meeting Rhaenyra (who leaves to meet him), he swears his loyalty once again. 

The purpose of Daemon's visions connects to Game of Thrones

Daemon's visions not only extended until the last episode of the second season, but they also saved the most important one for the end. He gets a glimpse of the Prophecy of Ice and Fire, the same one that haunted his brother Viserys (Paddy Considine). He saw the future of Westeros through visions from the Three-Eyed Raven, showing the Night King and Daenerys Targaryen herself, their backs turned (in the scene that closed the first season of Game of Thrones). This is because Alys (Gayle Rankin) leads him to the Sacred Grove and makes him touch the tree. 

As if it were the end of a hero's journey, Daemon finally understands that he is just a piece on a much bigger board. Self-knowledge and reflections on the important figures in his life, which emerged again through visions, were important for building the character, even though this can be tedious for those who follow.

Regarding the vision of the prophecy, a connection was made with a very large time jump, an element that was clearly used as a tool to attract fans of Game of Thrones. Just as Alicent confused the Aegons, Daemon incorrectly interprets that the young woman in the vision is Rhaenyra on the throne, and not Daenerys – who would only exist 200 years later. It is understandable to tie Daemon's arc with this justification for him to finally accept Rhaenyra as the true queen, but, at the same time, there is not enough strength and meaning to connect such distant events. 

The end of the second season of House of the Dragon

From all the chaos installed, Aemond's tyrannical actions and the reflections she had around the lakes of King's Landing, Alicent spread Rhaenyra's secret trip in the third episode, and followed the same strategy by going to Dragonstone to have a conversation with your old friend. 

Alicent's goal is to propose a plan that prevents the Targaryen civil war. As Aemond was organizing to join Ser Criston Cole in the Riverlands to steal Harrenhal from Daemon, the plan was to take advantage of this moment with King's Landing empty and Helaena on the throne for Rhaenyra to go there and claim her power without hindrance or war. 

Rhaenyra's peacemaking side is interested in the idea, but at the same time her rational side knows that it wouldn't work. Then she tells Alicent that the only way to be accepted as queen is to kill Aegon II. In a way this makes sense, but at the same time it is clear that Rhaenyra raises this issue because she has not yet overcome the death of her son Luke and wants the debt to be paid. A son for a son. Without much argument, Alicent silently agrees, showing that the character has really changed.

In parallel, the series shows that Aegon II and Larys Strong actually flee King's Landing. Furthermore, another scene was shown to intrigue the public: Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) in a prison cell. Finally, Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) finally finds the Sheepstealer dragon – now it's up to the third season to reveal whether she can conquer him or not. 

The episode ends with the classic feeling of wanting more: every corner of Westeros preparing for war. The Triarchy, the Starks in the north, the Lannisters in the west, Daemon at Harrenhal, Greens, Blacks and many dragons. 

Characters and performances

At least in this regard, the last episode of this season continues to deliver its strong point: the well-made construction of the main characters and excellent performances. The dynamics between the characters continue to be crucial to justify, in a convincing way, the paths each one decided to take.

Fortunately, we have many scenes in the episode that prove this. It is a fact that Tom Glynn-Carney showed a great performance, from beginning to end, in the role of King Aegon II and, in the last episodes, he managed to develop the duo well with Larys Strong (Matthew Needham). They portray the most political part of the series and manage to explore the definition of fall and rise. In the same core, even though it is a little explored duo, the scene between Aemond and Helaena was also very good and intense. 

Furthermore, one of the biggest highlights between characters was definitely the moment when Rhaenyra and Daemon talk in High Valyrian. This detail enhanced their reunion in Harrenhal and made Daemon's kneeling, reiterating his loyalty to Rhaenyra - much more gratifying - after the long journey of doubts, rebellion and hallucinations that we have followed throughout this time.

The same goes for the dynamic between Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke. The two meetings made during the season managed to capture the essence of the characters' friendship and the gray area in which they live. There is love, hate, hope and a constant role reversal. 

However, we have two negative highlights. First, as mentioned, it was inappropriate to spend so much time on Tyland Lannister's arc with the leaders of the Triarchy. These were moments of comic relief that were completely out of place and these characters would probably work better on other occasions. 

The second focuses on Rhaena, who has been in the background all this time, spending at least two episodes chasing the mysterious dragon in the Vale of Arryn. The surprise of having managed to find him ends up being worth it, but this whole journey was tiring, as the character deserves to be more worked on and deepened, just like her sister Baela (Bethany Antonia) who, despite starting with more screen time, returned to be ignored and seen as a complement to Jace's core.

Technical aspects

The problem is not the episode itself, but rather the construction of expectations throughout the entire season, which made the closing episode seem like just one among many. Frustration sets in, mainly because the previous episode takes a turn in the story and follows the route to fulfill what it promised, but gets lost along the way. The season would work better if it had at least 10 episodes. 

In any case, Ramin Djawadi's intense soundtrack and the sequence of final scenes that close the season are excellent. It is precisely this part that should have introduced the episode, in fact. 

Conclusion

The fact that the final episode was lukewarm is largely due to the series' certainty of a third season. This resulted in more than an hour or so of dialogue, diplomacy and promises that were never fulfilled. 

This characteristic was born with the series. The first season was dedicated to explaining the story, introducing the characters and contextualizing what was happening, so that the audience could understand the behind-the-scenes of what led to the brutal war mentioned in Game of Thrones. This path was coherent for the introduction of The Dragon House. However, the second season following more of the same, without developing much of the final episode, is frustrating. 

Looking at the season as a whole, if the final episode had at least delivered the next battle to come or some kind of firmer movement, the wait would have been worth it. Of course, the episode ties up some ends, such as the outcome of Daemon's hallucinations, the introduction of the Dragon Seeds and various movements of Aemond, Aegon II and Alicent, and all of this is great, but it leaves a somewhat bitter taste in the mouth. 

The conclusion is that the second season of The Dragon House It's another moment of preparation for the third season. Now we have to wait a few more years to find out if the war will finally be seen in practice.

Where to watch

The two complete seasons of The Dragon House are available at Max.

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