As some schemes end, others rise to take their place in another deliciously twisty episode of Meet The Targaryens. Here’s our House Of The Dragon season 2 episode 6 review.
Spoiler warning! These reviews are spoiler-free for the week in question, but will discuss previous episodes, and the final season of Game Of Thrones, in some detail.
One of the key incentives to make a spin-off series all about the Targaryens, I imagine, is that they’re all mad as a box of dragon pups. By the era of the first season of Game Of Thrones, the blonde-wigged dynasty had a bit of an unfortunate reputation. Daenerys’ father, Aerys II, proved overly fond of pyrotechnics, and so the show’s “Mad Queen Daenerys” ending had a certain whiff of the inevitable about it.
For House Of The Dragon’s first season, then, it was something of a surprise to find most of the Targaryens on both sides of the Green-Black divide seemed relatively sane. A bit evil, maybe, and with a higher-than-average tolerance for intra-familial relationships, but nothing beyond the pale for a show once famous for delivering exposition largely through sex scenes.
Six episodes into season two, however, it’s refreshing to find everyone going a bit bonkers. Daemon, still locked up in the absolutely-not-haunted Harrenhal, is having fewer visions about decapitating his wife, and more about his lingering big brother issues (that’s issues with an elder sibling, not a problem with totalitarian states which, if anything, he seems a bit too keen on). Queen Helaena, who we haven’t seen for a while, is spending her days poking crickets in bird cages. Aemond, enjoying immensely his new role as Prince Regent, might not be as visibly deranged, but is erring very much on the side of the tyrannical. If he doesn’t do something unspeakable before the end of the season, I’ll eat this episode’s gruel soup (you’ll know it when you see it).
This all feels rather comforting. Ludicrously flawed characters entirely unqualified to make world-shattering decisions in pseudo-medieval Europe? It’s the stuff the Thrones-verse was made for. It’s what makes an episode like this one, which could easily descend into filler territory, deliciously entertaining from one scheme to the next.
Speaking of schemes, it looks like a couple of them are starting to come to fruition. We’re finally getting a more concrete idea of what Mysaria’s been up to when she’s not been giving Rhaenyra cryptic advice, and everything continues to point towards a big ‘ol confrontation at Harrenhal for what I can only assume will be the season finale.
There is still a bit of a sense, though, that some characters are getting a little lost in the melee. Steve Toussaint’s Corlys, for example, was made Rhaenyra’s Hand of the King (very important) last episode, and has little more than a few seconds of screen time in this one. Ser Criston Cole, too, has been more or less invisible since returning home with a badly burned king and a dragon head, and Ser Gwayne Hightower feels oddly placed as a character never really in much of a position to do anything at all. Most egregiously, there are only so many times we can watch Rhaenyra pace around Dragonstone with everyone telling her to stay at home – let her set some things on fire already!
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But those are trifling concerns. In truth, I’m still completely smitten with this show. Considering few people were clamouring for a return to Westeros after Thrones ended, that House Of The Dragon has so consistently captured what made the original seasons so great is little short of a miracle. I’m still surprised at how good it is – it’s a little bit bonkers.
House Of The Dragon is streaming weekly on NOW and Sky Atlantic.
