House Of The Dragon, episode 2

HBO's House of the Dragon's newest episode makes a good case for being a compelling show of its own, with Rhaenyra coming into her own against Daemon while ...

But it’s enough to wash away the memory of season 8 and its “best stories.” For now, it’s enough to just have fun with Westeros again. When her father conceives of a threat he thinks generally, warning her only to fend off “whomever may dare to challenge us.” But Rhaenyra knows that threat could come from anywhere, and she’s proven herself to be game to the challenge no matter what comes her way. [old-school Game of Thrones](https://www.polygon.com/23200605/game-of-thrones-books-ending-winds-of-winter-george-r-r-martin-song-ice-fire), only here that’s not some backhanded compliment about the [lingering aftertaste of the eighth season](https://www.polygon.com/game-of-thrones/2019/5/19/18631922/game-of-thrones-finale-who-won). That Viserys and Rhaenyra rely on the same person — Alicent — to help them through their grief is just a cruelty of fate, but it’s one for which the show also has laid careful emotional groundwork. That’s the way House of the Dragon won me over, and it feels built to reward rewatch. Perhaps she still had her aunt Rhaenys’ (Eve Best) words ringing in her ears, reminding her that though she is a named heir she is still carrying her father’s cups, or perhaps it was the visual of her dad going on a date with a 12-year-old. But still the scene is all tension, with the camera ping-ponging around the various players and their respective motivations for having ended up on those Dragonstone steps. [House of the Dragon](https://www.polygon.com/house-of-the-dragon), the new prequel that returns to [the world of Game of Thrones](https://www.polygon.com/tv/2019/6/3/18634311/game-of-thrones-review-full-tv-series-hbo), takes place approximately 172 years before the events of that series. In “The Rogue Prince,” we zoom in on the finer points of what people care about, all the better setting up [House of the Dragon](https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516586&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hbomax.com%2Fseries%2Fhouse-of-the-dragon%3Foffer_id%3D5%26transaction_id%3D102c87c7%255B%25E2%2580%25A6%255D4ed39326beedc6012ca%26utm_source%3DVox%2BMedia%26utm_medium%3Daffiliate&referrer=polygon.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.polygon.com%2F23321956%2Fhouse-of-the-dragon-episode-2-review) as its own creature entirely. House of the Dragon presents both Rhaenyra and Viserys with empathy, but it also just presents them incredibly clearly. When one makes the choice to sign up for another vast chronicle of Westeros, they’re met with a whole lot of burden about where the story, inevitably, goes. And maybe that’s a little bit of the problem.