‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2
If House of the Dragon Season 1 was all about carefully building a complex portrait of a family torn asunder through power grabs and petty grievances, then Season 2 is about burning that all down. House of the Dragon Season 2 opens days after the tragic events of the Season 1 finale. Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) is too beside herself with grief to enact a plan of vengeance while Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) is honestly trying to be a good king in spite of himself. However, it is the family members and power players the two dueling monarchs have assembled who make the next, devastating blows in the civil war known as “The Dance of Dragons.” Each episode of House of the Dragon Season 2 raises the volume on the show’s violence, compounding the horror with exponential speed. That the show’s cast is able to keep each character’s responses to these atrocities nuanced and realistic is magical to behold.