House of The Dragon S2, EP 4 Recap & Thoughts.!
In the fiercest episode of Season 2 so far, the war has officially started with the loss of an important character and a key damage. After Rhaenyra’s unsuccessful attempt at stopping the war, the Greens have already expanded their troops across the Riverlands under Ser Criston Cole. Remember the Greens encounter with Baela in the previous episode. While Rhaenyra simply wanted to ensure that there is no way to stop the incoming war, the Greens have advanced their armies to trounce castles and laying waste on those ‘Houses’ who are in support of Blacks. They are one step ahead of the Blacks now and by coercing the fallen castles, the Green army is now strengthened.
The Blacks are yet to pull things together and regroup. The council of Blacks think their queen is weak. You can’t blame them when their queen is totally not in sight. Daemon has also left without a word. Princess Rhaenys has to bring back her husband Lord Corlys to reorganise and straighten the Black council in the absence of their queen. Rhaenys identifies ‘Allyn of Hull’ as the bastard son her husband in this scene. This should finally clear the air around the character. This also means that this character and his brother ‘Addam of Hull’ are going to do a lot more alongside Lord Corlys, especially after the bitter ending of the episode. Right after Lord Corlys and Rhaenys are at the council, the queen shows her presence all of a sudden. To everyone’s shock, she states about her visit to the Kings Landing as a last resort to avoid war. Now that she is no more holding back as she declares war and is ready to unleash her dragons for the throne. The question is are they too late for this. Daemon is hallucinating in the castle of Harrenhal, well it is yet to figure out whether Alys Rivers has to anything to do with the visions of Daemon. But Rightly so, Daemon is not in his right mind for the most part. He meets with the heir to Riverrun, a teen and Lord Willem Blackwood who has already pledged their allegiance towards the Blacks. He has the army of ‘Blackwood’ on one condition that Daemon needs to burn down his arch enemy ‘Brackens’. Daemon is still not in complete control of the reality though.
Another important part of this episode is the ensuing conflict between the brothers. Though it doesn’t look like a civil war, ‘Aemond’ has grown more critical of ‘Aegon’s activities of late. He resorts to demean the King before his council but sorry, he is using the Valeryn language. The king gets the point that he still hasn’t earned the respect. Aegon rebukes Aemond for the plan that the latter has made in secret between himself & Criston Cole. Aegon complains to his mother Alicent, who in turn is finding it hard to believe the mistake she had made. Well this confrontation scene can be viewed from different perspectives. Alicent must be convinced that her son ‘Aegon’ is not the true King Viserys wished for, that the latter was talking about the prophecy of Aegon, The Conqueror. She even detests her son, saying that a true king must listen to his council and earn his position. Aegon should have listened to his mother but instead wants to prove his worth by doing something stupid later on in the episode ending.
Aegon messes with the grand scheme of Aemond & Criston Cole in luring the dragons of the Blacks, specifically their queen to Rook’s Rest. When everyone thought the Greens would march towards Harrenhal, they targeted the Rook’s Rest which would cut away the access of Blacks to the mainlands. The biggest twist was the camouflaged Aemond & Vhagar in waiting. Queen Rhaenyra now realises that the war is inevitable and for the greater good the dragons need to be unshackled. The task lies with Princess Rhaenys who also shared the same idea as the Queen. But the blacks would have never expected a dragon in the first place at Rook’s Rest. As Rhaenys upon her dragon Meleys lay waste on the Greens army, Aegon comes upon his dragon Sunfyre. The king hijacked the brilliant scheme of Aemond & Criston Cole. The Greens had a chance to turn the tide completely towards themselves. Aemond decides to show a little late with Vhagar.
Eventually the audience gets to witness the fiercest 3-way battle of the dragons. In the end, the Greens have a strategic advantage despite a key damage while Blacks suffer losses beyond repair. The episode ends in favour of Greens. It needs to be seen how the Blacks are going to retaliate after their loss.
Compiled By Jayaram