House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 1 - "A Son for a Son"

[Drizzle]

Watch the scene again, they cut away for a reason. It was there: a son for a son.

Ah, for some reason I thought that Daemon had mentioned it to them earlier in that scene in reference to Aemond but upon rewatching it it's definitely implied that's what was discussed after the scene cut away, even if it could have just been Daemon saying something to the effect of "A son for a son, interpret that how you will" and walking away without explicitly incriminating himself. Either way, by not showing him saying it they're still doing their damndest not to paint Daemon in a villainous light.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Big fans of dark as sh** cinematography, eh?

Big fan of the direction not looking 90s network TV.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Drizzle]

I haven't checked it out yet but I just know the youtube reaction crowd will be more concerned with one than the other.

 

[Weather Witch]

I really enjoyed the episode overall. Aegon surprised me in a good way. They've really made him very distinct from Joffrey.

Blood and Cheese was absolutely horrible for Helena and the actress did an amazing job there. It did feel more like an 'accident' than I perhaps would've liked. Still, Rhaenyra wanted Aemond's death while Daemon would settle for any son. Might've helped a bit if he said that on screen.

One aspect that did really work for me is that members of the Greens and the Blacks are very divided. One of my worries was that the season might be less interesting for not having these different groups
/ characters in the same place, which would lead to less dramatic tension. So far though, that's been done really well.

 

[flickchick85]

Big fans of dark as sh** cinematography, eh?

They can’t all look like Wes Ball movies.

 

[Drizzle]

Good episode, a bit on the slower side. I didn't love the way they handled Blood and Cheese, for some reason they cut or changed a lot of what made that scene so dramatic and upsetting in the book. That sound design though... Terrifying.

Spoiler

It was almost like a reverse Red Wedding in that as shocking and disturbing as it was, the way it went down in the book was even worse. While the Red Wedding added the horrific death of Robb's pregnant wife that wasn't in the book, the show eased back a bit here by removing Blood and Cheese being extra sadistic and making Helaena choose between her two sons. Leading up to the episode I was bracing myself for the "You hear that, little boy? Your momma wants you dead" moment and I didn't even consider that Aegon's third kid didn't exist on the show. I really don't see why they couldn't have had him in there. The two kids themselves only appeared in maybe three scenes tops so they just as easily could have had Aegon's younger son there too. I also feel like Helaena walking in on Alicent and Criston undermined the moment a little bit.

 

[Drizzle]

Spoiler

Exactly. Removing Alicent from the room is an odd choice to me, because not only does witnessing this horrible event with her own eyes make it even more personal to her, but she would've also been a good POV character alongside Helaena there for the audience. The actress did a good job, and she played the scene true to Helaena, but the character is naturally distant and ethereal, and her line readings didn't necessarily sell the horror of the situation in the same way Alicent could've, much like Catelyn in the Red Wedding.

Spoiler

What also would have made it more effective is if the kids had shown up for more than a handful of scenes. The same could be said for Helaena too because I think across every episode she's had maybe ten minutes of screentime, if that.

 

[blueharvest]

House of the Dragon Season 2 Leads Max's Best 1-Day Audience

“House of the Dragon” Season 2 kicked off to a promising start ratings-wise with 7.8 million viewers across platforms, including HBO and Max

www.thewrap.com

 

[Drizzle]

 

[Kane52630]

They can’t all look like Wes Ball movies.

 

[Kane52630]

Check out this beautiful 90s network TV-level quality production.

 

[CB Fan]

Well damn

 

[CaptainWagner]

Caught up on this premiere. Overall, a good start, but the fact that they've seemingly officially cut Daeron out of the show entirely really throws a big pall over my enthusiasm

 

[Iceman]

Only just caught up on this. Great to be back in this universe. And oh, the brutality’s back.

 

[Iceman]

Of all the messed up things I have seen in the GOT-verse, this might be the worst.

F Daemon. He's the biggest scumbag on the show and that's saying something. Ramsay level stuff.

Naaaahh. I don’t have him down anywhere near Ramsay just yet.