Season 2 of House of the Dragon more than delivers as a worthy follow up to the first season, even surpassing the first season in terms of battles and visual effects. It’s more than deliveries upon the cliffhanger that season one ended well also further building and expanding the world in very interesting ways all while leaving the future of the show seeming very engaging.
Season 2 of House of the Dragon had its first episode premiere on June 16th and its latest premiere on August 4th. House of The Dragons 2nd season has been long awaited, especially after season 1’s cliffhanger of an ending.
There were some simply amazing characters this season such as Aegon who while present in the last season truly shined as a character in this season to give the evil faction more humanity and relatability.
Additionally, my favorite character Damon gets some amazing character development this season through his being separated from the main cast for almost the whole season at an old, haunted castle that tests Damon’s mind and beliefs as he struggles to differentiate nightmares from reality.
Most discourse I’ve seen online seems to paint the 2nd season as “all build-up with no payoff.” I could not disagree more as the 1st season of the show fills this description much better than the 2nd. As the first season ends with a major character death that leads to the entire conflict of season 2 while season 2’s “cliffhanger” simply ends with a reconfirmation that now the odds have shifted in the war and death is unavoidable in the coming battles.
Although I do understand the consensus that the last episode ended somewhat underwhelming due to the ending scene being very similar to an earlier scene in the show that made the same point.
Aeomnd however serves as an excellent antagonist this season at times even feeling like the entire antagonist force in this show, which is an awe-inspiring feat. Aeomonds Dragon “Vhagar” is an astounding feat of visual effects and presence in the show.
On the topic of that, I’ve rarely seen a show design with so much tension and conflict around a single character as much as I have with Vhagar. No matter which side you’re on, Vhagar is a threat for the cast to fear and plan their actions around. What sells this idea the most is characters halfway across the world being too scared to join Queen Rhaenyras forces out of fear of strictly Vhagar even though Rhaenyras dragon is far closer to them.
This season does an excellent job of setting the stage and getting the audience excited for next season and I am very much looking forward to seeing the direction this show is going.
Overall, even if you haven’t watched Game of Thrones, I would still highly recommend watching House of the Dragon as I have not seen much of Game of Thrones and the viewing experience wasn’t affected that much. Also, it’s a prequel show so you don’t even need to have seen the original to watch it.
