Did House of the Dragon Succumb to the Sophomore Slump

The illustrious HBO is back again after two years with their flagship fantasy series, based on a portion of George R. R. Martin’s novel Fire & Blood that transcribes Targaryen history. Previously, the ruling house of the dragons had been shattered when Rhaenyra, heir apparent, had been cut off from her throne while Alicent’s son, Aegon II, inherited. The family, and kingdom, are divided by this sudden change as the two opposing sides prepare for the inevitable war.

Two years can set a lot of expectations and creative pressures. Especially when season one of their first Game of Thrones spin-off received critical acclaim, and brought disappointed fans back into the kingdom of fantasy.

The premiere did not disappoint as it continued where it last left us. The first batch of episodes felt as if the two-year wait had never happened with shocking cliffhangers and deliciously sharp dialogue guiding the characters down masterful scenes of politics. House of the Dragon returned to reclaim the summer hubbub.

A highlight from episode two, ‘Rhaenyra the Cruel,’ involves Alicent’s faction, the Greens, restructuring their political house by Aegon II stripping Otto Hightower of his role as Hand of the King. Rhys Ifans commands the screen as we see the delicate political mask he had been wearing all last season shatter from his grandson’s ineptitude as ruler. The writing building up to this event had been as delectable as a villainess sipping a glass of wine in a perfectly shadowed lair, watching her plan exquisitely play out for her entertainment.

Among the restructuring, Ser Criston Cole was appointed Hand of the King in Otto’s stead, Aegon II publicly displayed his rage toward the profession of his son’s murderer, the masses struggled to survive, and Alicent, Dowager Queen, found her power being suppressed by her own children.

Season one explored Alicent Hightower and Rhaenyra Targaryen’s relationship as kids while they grew and became family through Alicent’s marriage to Rhaenyra’s father, King Viserys. What was left of their crumbling relationship after Alicent usurped the throne for her son is what season two builds upon.

Rhaenyra, though portrayed as ruthless and cruel through the Greens’ ploys, was a pacifist. She does everything in her power to try and avoid all-out war during the early episodes of this season. Even to the point where she snuck into King’s Landing to persuade Alicent herself that war should not be their solution, to no avail.

This is bookended in the finale with Alicent coming to Rhaenyra in secret to persuade her that war is a mistake, but was too late. The populace of the realm has divided themselves. Feuding clans like the Brackens and Blackwoods unleashed a lethal battle because the ascendancy’s dispute pushed already tensioned neighbors over the edge. The nobility may not have officially declared war, but the kingdom had already obliged.

Alicent and Rhaenyra’s relationship this season had been mirrored. What one started out as the other became in the end. Alicent was once part of the political discussion, she ran the counsel in her husband’s absence, but then she was being shut out — by the men wanting to plot behind each other's backs and by her own sons who saw this as an opportunity to write their names into history while carving a more respectable position out of their situation. She no longer had power and followed a similar path to Rhaenyra when she was cast away from her throne.

Rhaenyra, on the other hand, learned to be more ruthless. The men in her counsel saw her as weak and, though politically aligned with her cause, sought her husband as their next ruler. Between the machinations of King’s Landing and her own people, not to mention Daemon leaving her side after a fight, Rhaenyra learned not to trust and to break from tradition — forge the inevitable war through her own way. In the end, she grew her dragon forces with new riders, not from noble birth, and rallied an army with her husband back in her good graces.

The amount of tension and political intrigue happening this season should have been a field day for the writers. And based on the first few episodes, the season felt like it was running full steam ahead to match the quality of their critically acclaimed first. But around the mid-point is where things start to slow down.

Confusingly, characters start to separate. Daemon leaving on his own, Aegon II recovering from severe injuries, Ser Criston Cole leading an army across the land, Rhaenyra refusing to meet with her counsel while she tries to stop the war, etc. What once was a melting pot for character interaction, and natural dialogue that was building the threat of war throughout the season, had dissipated. For several episodes characters had been talking to the same people, reiterating their position again and again in what felt like the plot spinning its wheel until the season waned.

Take Daemon’s plot thread as an example. At the start of the season, he was with Rhaenyra, he operated on his own and made a huge mistake. In a very Daemon way he left during their argument to find success — claiming Harrenhal and building an army. The pleasures of Daemon as a character are the way he reacts and how others react to him. Daemon by all measures is a wild card that thrives with people around him, but during his plot for Harrenhal, it mostly has him alone, confronting himself. Daemon’s path is a classic writing technique for having a character either quickly develop or have a character develop in the background so that they can focus on more immediate people. The problem with this technique is in the medium of modern television.

In a non-prestige format, this character would be a subplot throughout a season where we’d check on them a couple of times. The problem with modern television is there aren’t many episodes. What once was a B-plot is now an A-plot simply because there is little real estate to work with, but every time we cut back to what should be a subplot we’re getting the story more frequently which makes it feel like an A-plot. And because it’s more frequent, the takeaway is Daemon is doing the same thing in each episode; going crazy in haunted Harrenhal while he learns about himself. Understandable on paper, but on camera not too much.

This is the paradox that season two struggles within its later episodes. Characters separate to set up the war and in that plot spinning wheel many actions feel longer than they should, and at times repetitive. But because seasons have fewer episodes that run an hour or longer, it feels like more real estate is being repeated than it actually is. And so, with characters interacting less, the writing doesn’t come alive like the early episodes until the end when everyone comes back together and the eve of war touches the land with a big fat cliffhanger.

Overall, season two of this epic fantasy show is not as consistent as season one, nor does it have a standout character moment like King Viserys’ walk to the iron throne, but at times the writing showed promise while the actors all picked up the pace for a solid season of dragon parliament. The continuation of Rhaenyra and Alicent is appreciated as their fates weave around each other's motives as both realize that war cannot be avoided and that parts of the kingdom had already started without them.

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