House of the Dragon – The Burning Mill Review

Now that is what I have been waiting for from House of the Dragon for quite some time. That conversation between Rhaenyra and Alicent was the epitome of what makes a tragedy a great tragedy. That moment of realization that one single misstep, one choice, one misunderstanding set in motion something so complex and unstoppable that nothing can change it now. Everyone is already on the path to ruin. I had been wondering if the writers would ever provide Alicent with the knowledge that what she took as Viserys anointing Aegon as the rightful heir to the Iron Throne was actually him recounting the Song of Ice and Fire story as his mind failed and he died, and here we are. Alicent knows her error – a misunderstanding that was compounded by her telling her father what she heard, which in turn provided him the opening he sought to gain more influence by placing one of his grandchildren on the Throne – and Rhaenyra knows that her claim remains legitimate in the eyes of her late father, the one person she desperately wanted to please above all others.

What does this mean moving forward? Well, the story has changed from an inevitable war between family members over their own thirst for power into a tragic story of two childhood friends separated by one misunderstanding that will destroy so much and so many that they hold dear before it is through. Had Alicent spoken to Rhaenyra before Otto, perhaps things might have been different. But instead, this is now a tragedy of two women, on opposite sides of a war neither want, but who are unable to stop the rising tide. That is a great story. That has stakes. That has an emotional through line – and that explains how important it was for us to see both of these characters as children, watch their bond wither and break, and now, in what I presume to be their final scene alone together in the series, come to the realization that things could have been so very different had different choices been made in the wake of Viserys’s death. That’s the complexity that has been missing from the series for so long. And I’m so incredibly pleased we were given the chance to experience that scene between Alicent and Rhaenyra – and to see Olivia Cooke and Emma D’Arcy together again – before the war truly begins in earnest.

As for the rest of the episode, it was the strongest outing yet for season two. For one, we actually got some strong character moments – watching Ser Larys continue to manipulate Aegon (this time, for the better, in convincing him not to fly off to certain death, even if it was done by taking steps to turn him against Alicent – which I’m sure won’t lead to issues with the Small Council down the line), seeing Rhaena get a chance to move into her book storyline in earnest with her trip out to Eyrie along with a stash of dragon eggs (or, Chekhov’s dragon eggs), Daemon reaching Harrenhal (and experiencing some of is ghostly properties with that dark apparition of a young Rhaenyra sewing the head back on young Prince Jaehaerys), and Cole meeting up with Ser Gwayne Hightower (thrilled to see the always fun Freddie Freeman taking on the role) for his upcoming siege of Harrenhal. Lots of movement, lots of revelations about whose loyalties lie where (Cole wants glory, Daemon really is mad he’s not king, etc.), and some exciting things seem to be brewing on the horizon. Oh, and Rhaenys continues to be the smartest character on the series, which continues to have me worried that the final set piece for the season will be something that results in her death – I’m not sure if and when she dies in the story, but I assume most of our characters won’t make it to the end of the series alive, so I’m just speculating here. Hell, Daemon’s own death was just prophesied in this episode, so I think I’m probably onto something here.

But all-in-all, this is what I had been hoping to get when this series was first announced – episodes that genuinely feel grand in scale and trade in complexity and tragedy. I know we can’t get conversations like the one between Rhaenyra and Alicent every week (although that would be such fun), but we need more scenes written with that type of storytelling. We need more depth of character for the plethora of characters we know very little about. Aegon is a brute, but we saw he had some emotional layers last week – give us more of that duality. Aemond professes to be hardhearted and strategic, but he’s also a broken young man who desperately wants to be loved (and now that Aegon knows his secret, boy, do I think Aemond is going to become even more monstrous). We need to know more about Rhaena and Baela – what makes them tick, what do they truly want out of the situation they’re in? How about Jace, who has been mostly silent thus far this season? The series needs to take the time in the war games to explore these characters more – they aren’t all making it out alive, we need to know why we should care about them before they die.

Scenes like that Sept tete-a-tete work because we know Alicent and Rhaenyra, we know their relationship, and we know what they once meant to one another. If we get time now to better understand our supporting characters, scenes like that between them – even if it’s simply a fight between dragon riders – will hold more oomph. And sometimes, it’s simply a matter of casting someone as sensational as Sir Simon Russell Beale, who commands his character, Simon Strong, with such gravitas that he seems like he’s always been around. Sometimes, House of the Dragon shows that it can be as strong of a series as Game of Thrones was before it. But we need better character development and we need it fast to get the series to the heights it can reach.