Finally House of the Dragon comes to the damn dragons

Like any avid Home Box Office viewer, there’s nothing that gets me more excited than a damn dragons. Sure, I love all the political intrigue, the careful examinations of patriarchal power and class consciousness in House of the Dragon And Game of Thronesbut I Also wants to see how well all that stuff goes with giant fire breathing lizards. It’s right there in the title: House of the DragonAnd in this penultimate episode, the dragons are here to play ball.

This is immediately apparent from the opening scene, a tense confrontation on a beach as Syrax and Seasmoke stare each other down while Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) confronts a newly appointed dragon rider, Addam Hull (Clinton Liberty). What could have been an extremely violent confrontation quickly turns in Rhaenyra’s favor, as Addam has no interest in using his newfound power for his own purposes. Instead, he’s glad to have found a purpose beyond the sea, and will join Rhaenyra if she teaches him to become a dragon rider.

So with only one week left in the second season, House of the Dragon gives us his version of an episode where he puts together a team, and it rocksThe revelation of Addams’ connection to Seasmoke causes Rhaenyra to reconsider her noble family’s longstanding divine claim to dragons, and with some help from Mysaria, she begins considering candidates who should not on long forgotten records of descendants of diluted Targaryen blood. Bastards born of the brothels of the rich, and the nobility’s disinterest in whatever happens after their time in the mansion is over.

But while the “misbegotten offspring” like Addam Hull are where Rhaenyra will find her dragonriders, that doesn’t mean everyone will welcome this headwind – even if it does mean a chance against Aemond. The more religious of her followers are outraged by her attempt to connect Vermithor to Ser Steffon Darklyn, and her son Jace, already wounded by being cast aside and enduring rumors about his lineage, is furious that the salvation of his line could come from the bastards of King’s Landing.

There is a thematic link here to one of the earliest ideas advanced by Game of Thronesthe way that “cripples, bastards, and broken things” can become the fulcrum on which the whole world changes. George R. R. Martin’s fantasy world isn’t the prettiest place, but it’s one shaped by the long tail of consequences, as the ripples of decisions big and small never really stop radiating outward.

Daemon also faces consequences this week, as the death of Lord Grover Tully leads to his extreme young grandson Oscar inherits his title as Lord of the Riverlands. Daemon sees this as an end to the long stalemate over the support of the River Lords, thinking he can simply overwhelm Oscar and use him to finally make the River Lords surrender.

Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO

But in what may be the best scene of the whole damn show, little Oscar Tully (a unbelievable Archie Barnes) fucking dog walks Daemon proceeds through his negotiations with the assembled River Lords, fully aware that while his status as a young lord is completely unknown, Daemon’s need for the Riverlands armies still gives Oscar the advantage. Daemon will get the support he seeks, but it will be on Oscar’s terms.

The penultimate episode of the season is full of satisfying moments like this, as the players on the edge of Season 2 take dangerous steps toward center stage. It’s a turning point in Westeros, as those who seek power—namely Rhaenyra—learn that the only way to seize it is to stop being so jealous of it. In doing so, a fundamental myth of this world is continually exposed for the fiction that it is: the ruling class are not the demigods they’ve made themselves out to be.

It all culminates in a long, tense sequence in which Rhaenyra’s assembled outcasts are put to the test by Vermithor. Things go badly for most, but for long-suffering blacksmith Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew), fate finally knocks. As does hard-drinking shit-stirrer Ulf White (Tom Bennet), who stumbles his way into a big, mean dragon unlike any we’ve seen before, a dragon who accepts the ragged villain as his rider.

In Westeros, dominoes are constantly falling.