Rhaenyra the Cruel

I have officially graduated university today and if you asked me what was your highlight of the week i would say this episode!

Been waiting for this episode with these events to be exact and it totally delivered! After last week's intense start, this episode keeps up the tension and even more, with more political drama and a final scene that i didn't quite enjoy.

The duel scene was especially strong, perfectly cast and brilliantly executed. The episode balances setup and action well, pointing at what events might yet to come.

On a side note i believe there are some good quotes from this episode that people will remember in the future, but my favorite was today's "I WISH TO SPILL BLOOD, NOT INK". Great episode overall.

Whenever an act of war is enacted you can most certainly expect an act of vengeance. While Game of Thrones is a battle between houses for the Iron Throne, what makes House of the Dragon so interesting is that this is a story about the battle between one extended family, the Targaryen, for the supremacy of the Seven Kingdoms.

This second episode of the sophomore season does an amazing job portraying not only the suffering of the rulers, bur also how this internal battle affects King's Landing, and the horde of innocents that live within its walls.

The entire episode revolves around the people caught in the crossfire, it's about how they are forced to choose a side in the war for Westeros, and what the repercussion of their choices will bring.

Episode 2 is the best of the series for me so far. Rivals they of Season 1 Episode 8. It is good across the board. Acting is masterclass across the board. Stand out are Rhys playing Otto, Tom playing Aegon, Emma playing Rhaenyra and Phia playing Helaena! Writing is good and the direction is really great! Also Sonoya who played Mysaria is good too! All the supporting casts are amazing!

Most importantly, the dog from episode 1 is well!

This is more story driven and not action packed which makes sense as there is a lot of emotion, avenue and facets they have to deal with!

Kudos to the crew and team who worked on this at the back too, like the props, costumes, extras, CGI, ALL are amazing!

I'm guessing some people were expecting battle after battle but if we look back at Game of Thrones in it's prime days, we needed episodes like this because it sets up for the bigger action. In fact this episode wasn't even that bad, it had conflict and action but more importantly it had strong dialog. The effect the last episode had, it had characters in question and confusion, in others it had anger and vengeance. Cutting straight to a war scene would feel bloated. The importance of dialog is what makes shows like this seem more real, for us as an audience to digest the story in preparation for the bigger payoffs.

Another great episode, that mamages to build upon the foundation of previous events and the inevetable feeling that war is coming!

This episode had some great drama and tension! Some of these scenes really has the actors giving their best, and shows them at a very vulnerable time, as the need for revenge overshadows reason!

After this episode i am very excited to see where Daemons character goes! I see potential for a great character arc, as the man who was denied the throne in the first place!

The duel was great too and manages to balance violence and drama, just like thrones did!

There may not have been any major events, but it worked well as a set-up!