House Of The Dragon Season 2 Episode 2 Recap & Review: “I Love You, Brother”

Following the formula that was used last week in the premiere of the second season of House of the Dragon, The show presents us with another episode that is mostly politics and staging, punctuated by extreme violence at the end. However, this scene was much more entertaining than last week’s traumatizing child murder. That’s not to say the scene was pleasant, but I would rather watch two knights fight than that gruesome Blood and Cheese scene.

Spoilers follow.

We’re starting at the end this week, because it’s sure to be the moment everyone will be talking about after the episode airs on HBO and Max. The life-and-death battle of Arryk (Luke Tittensor) and Erryk (Elliot Tittensor) Cargyll worked surprisingly well, thanks in large part to the excellent—no, perfect—casting of these two knights, who are twins in real life and on the show.

The Cargylls were both sworn knights of the Kingsguard of the previous ruler, King Viserys I (Paddy Considine), but when the Hightowers pulled off their little coup at the end of last season, the two brothers each chose different queens to support. Erryk, disillusioned by Aegon’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) frequent trips to brothels and forbidden matches in which impoverished children fight for the amusement of others, tries to convince his brother Arryk to support Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), but he is adamant. He has sworn an oath and is unwilling to break it, no matter what the prince’s “inclinations.”

(Quick note: I would be upset with Mama and Papa Cargyll for naming their sons in the most confusing way imaginable, but I’ll just chalk that up to George RR Martin, who had a lot of fun with names in his book. Fire and blood, including a whole line of Tullys with names like Grover, Oscar and Elmo).

Disappointed in Aegon, Erryk fled King’s Landing and traveled to Dragonstone, where he pledged his allegiance to Rhaenyra and became a member of her Kingsguard. Erryk stayed behind, although he probably should have realized by tonight’s episode that staying under the iron fist of the petty Lord Commander Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) is not a good idea, whether he can support Aegon or not. Cole is angry that the young Prince Jaehaerys was murdered on his watch, and is looking for someone to blame. When he notices that Arryk’s white cloak is dirty – he was guarding the Dowager Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Queen Helaena (Phia Saban) as they paraded through the city in mourning – he decides that Arryk should bear the brunt of his anger.

Cole not only orders the knight to take care of his cloak before dinner, but also spontaneously devises a mission for him: he is to go to Dragonstone, infiltrate the fortress by posing as his twin brother, and slaughter Rhaenyra there. Arryk is reluctant – he is a knight, not an assassin – but Cole does not give in and sends him on the suicide mission without consulting Aegon or the Hand of the King, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans).

When Arryk arrives, he is almost summoned by the White Worm Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), who was just in the castle with his brother and the queen. I kept waiting for her to raise the alarm, but she never does, unless we are meant to understand that she is doing it off-screen, which is why help shows up in time.

Arryk makes his way to Rhaenyra’s bedchambers, where he relieves the knight on duty and then enters her room, drawing his sword as he approaches. At that moment, Erryk bursts into the room as well, and the two engage in one of the best fight scenes this series has offered yet. What makes it so great is that it’s soon hard to tell the two men apart, who look almost identical. Those of us watching certainly can’t tell it apart, but neither can the spectators rushing into the fray to help Rhaenyra. The heat of the battle, the armor, the ferocity of the fight, all make their similarities – which we might overlook in a moment of calm – impossible to distinguish.

“I cannot tell who is who!” one of Rhaenyra’s Queensguard calls out. Me neither! This adds another layer of tension to the fight. If one kills the other, is Erryk protecting Rhaenyra or is Arryk here to kill her? They end up killing each other, but the last survivor turns to Rhaenyra and begs her forgiveness before throwing himself on his sword. Was it Erryk begging for forgiveness for ending his life and depriving her of one of her protectors? Or was it Arryk, shocked and grieving over his brother’s death, finally realizing it wasn’t worth it. “We are one soul split into two bodies,” Arryk told Cole earlier (I’m paraphrasing). Those silly oaths. As if Criston Cole would ever keep his own.

Elsewhere in the episode, we witness the funeral parade I mentioned earlier. Otto Hightower thought he would elicit sympathy from the common people by publicly displaying the prince’s body in a procession that almost goes very wrong. And not just sympathy, but anger at Rhaenyra for the assassination, which Otto made very public by sending ravens everywhere to denounce the act. It’s a plan that almost works, until Aegon hangs all the Pied Pipers outside the Red Keep, despite most of them being innocent (though Cheese was hanged too; we see his poor dog there, whining as he looks at his dangling corpse).

Otto is furious, but he goes too far, berating the young king until Aegon has had enough. “You were my father’s Hand, not mine,” he says. Larys Strong, the clubfoot, is apparently about to become even more powerful. Otto heads for Hightower, dismayed at his grandson’s (not at all surprising) rashness. This is the bed Otto made himself; he has only himself to blame.

At Dragonstone, Rhaenyra is angry at her uncle and husband Daemon (Matt Smith) for his role in the prince’s death, although he denies telling Blood and Cheese that any son is good enough. Daemon is a liar, however, so we don’t know what he actually said. They argue, and he heads off to Harrenhal to raise armies and prepare for war.

Outside the courts of power, there are several scenes with Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) and his brother Adamm (Clinton Liberty). We also see the plight of blacksmith Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew), who has no money and a sickly daughter.

At this point, we’re just getting to know these characters. The reason we’re getting to know them isn’t clear (and although I know this because I’ve read the book, I’m not going to give anything away here. They’re important characters! You’ll find out why soon enough!)

All in all, this was another somewhat slow episode, but that doesn’t really bother me. I accepted that House of the Dragon is simply a completely different caliber than Game of Thrones. We’re still in the pre-war era, and I suspect things are going to get a lot bloodier and crazier once we get there and all the battles break out in the skies and on land.

I think the only complaint I share with some viewers is that I find it hard to care about the characters. There are very few that really make you root for them like the Stark kids did, or Brienne, or later Jaime Lannister, or Tyrion, or Jon Snow, or Daenerys (most of the time), or the Hound, and so on. Thrones is full of complex characters that Martin has developed and created in his books.

Fire and blood Characters are simply people in a history book, and the HBO adaptation – while it certainly gives them a lot more to do and a lot more depth – doesn’t really make us fall in love with any of them. Rhaenyra and her son Jace (Harry Collett), maybe, and Daemon’s girl. We root for Daemon because he’s attractive and dangerous, but he’s a bad person at heart. Viserys was a good king, but a weak one. Alicent is relatable, but not really likable. There’s not much comic relief, that’s for sure! No one is uttering crackers like “I drink and I know things.”

Nevertheless, it is a brilliant show that completely captivates me. It is a great story, even if the characters are much less likable than the heroes in Thrones. That was still heroic fantasy. This is more like a Shakespearean tragedy.

What do you think about this episode? Let me know on Þjórsárdalur and Facebook.