We're three episodes deep into the second season of House of the Dragon, and while it's been good watching like we all expected, in my opinion things have felt a little...muted. That all changes this upcoming Sunday, when the Blacks and the Greens clash at the Battle of Rook's Rest.
We know that the cast and crew worked on this scene for a long time. I won't give away the details, but this episode is going to be a banger. Watch the trailer below:
Next, we'll go shot by shot through the trailer to see what we can ferret out.
In last week's episode, Ser Criston Cole left King's Landing with an army, intending to turn attack houses that had declared for Queen Rhaenyra and convince them to declare for her half-brother King Aegon instead. And when I say "convince them," I do mean kill everyone if they refuse. Things will come to a head at the Battle of Rook's Rest, a minor castle just across the bay from Dragonstone. We'll see a lot of shots of the battle below.
We begin with a shot of a lone soldier looking out over a field. Expect a lot of wide shots; we're not trapped in well-apportioned hallways anymore.
Although we do visit the beautiful halls of the Red Keep as well. "Only weeks ago my lord husband was alive, and the realm was at peace," says Alicent Hightower. She appears to be talking to Larys Strong in this scene; you can see his cane at the far end of the frame:
King Aegon does not look great in this trailer. Maybe he's coming down from the hangover after all that drinking in Episode 3. Here he plays with those little balls all the Small Council members use to clock in to meetings:
Some shots of the Green army as they approach Rook's Rest. They've soldiers, they've got archers, they've got a guy with a horn!
Remember what I said about Aegon not looking great in this trailer? And why would he? His son was killed, he fired his grandpa and appointed an incel to the Small Council.
And now his mom is telling him off in this scene. "You might be half the king your father was," Alicent tells him across a table."
"Tread carefully," Aegon replies, but Alicent isn't impressed. "Or what?"
My read on Alicent right now is that she's feeling a bit nihilistic after learning that she misinterpreted Viserys' dying words and used them as justification to support Aegon's claim to the throne. Even if Otto Hightower and others would have installed him on the throne with or without her, she's got to be questioning everything right about now.
That and she's a bad mom. But Aegon's also a pretty bad son. Hurt people hurt people, etc and so forth.
Criston Cole's march to the sea
Next we check in on what Criston Cole and company are up to as they march to Rook's Rest. Traveling with him is Alicent's brother Gwayne Hightower, who shows up a goodly amount in this trailer:
In this scene, it looks like Criston and his army have just conquered some castle in the Crownlands. "All who refuse will have their death," he says to the survivors.
Quick interlude for Alicent to look at a toy dragon and question her life choices:
Back to Criston, he executes Lord Darklyn (Anthony Flanagan), who in the book Fire & Blood refuses to bend the knee to Aegon even after Crison takes his castle:
As our main point of view on the ground, Criston has a lot of screentime in this trailer. "Are you afraid, sir?" he asks Gwayne Hightower on the eve of battle. "Worse, I'm rational," Gwayne replies.
I won't give away all the details, but this battle involves dragons. Big ones. One of them is Vhagar, the oldest and biggest dragon in the world, ridden by Aemond Targaryen:
Meleys the Red Queen, ridden by Rhaenys Targaryen, is also in the mix:
And while dragons fight in the air, soldiers scramble on the ground:
Daemon Targaryen's dream
Next up we have a trio of shots of Daemon Targaryen in the Iron Throne room in the Red Keep. Daemon is currently in Harrenhal raising an army, so there's no realistic way he could make it to King's Landing. This is very likely another dream sequence of the kind he had in the last episode. Harrenhal is a very spooky place.
Below, we get a great look at the castle of Rook's Rest:
Up until now, Rhaenyra has been hesitant to send dragons into war. But with the Greens marching on one of her allies, she may feel she has no choice. "My father believed that I was meant to unite the realm," we hear her say, over shots of Rhaenys approaching her dragon Meleys:
"I needed to know that there was no other path," Rhaenyra continues. "And now I do." Cue another shot of her main rival for the throne, King Aegon Targaryen, again looking depressed:
The Battle of Rook's Rest
Once the battle starts, expect chaos. Hold onto your horse for dear life:
At one point, Ser Criston Cole rallies his men with an inspirational speech. "Hold to your courage!" he shouts. "Hold to your wits!" I guess it's too obvious to call it his St. Criston's Day Speech?
Below we get a couple of shots of King Aegon riding his own dragon Sunfyre, who's been mentioned but whom we have not seen yet. In Fire & Blood, we're told that Sunfyre is the most beautiful dragon in the world. You be the judge:
While Criston speaks, Gwayne Hightower is gobsmacked by the challenge before him:
Below, Rhaenys and Meleys rocket through the air. She's been dragonriding for a long time and knows what she's doing:
This is intercut with what looks like a tender mother-son scene between Rhaenyra and Jace. "We must send the dragons to war," Rhaenyra tells her heir.
And we know what that means: chaos on the battlefield:
We get a very cool shot of Aemond riding Vhagar and avoiding a tower of flames, probably from Meleys, as well as a shot of Vhagar belching some flames herself:
We've seen this shot of a crown falling on the ground in a couple of trailers. I believe that is the crown that King Viserys wore, and the one that Rhaenyra currently has. It looks like it's another image from Daemon's dream:
And we end with a shot of Vhagar, big as a mountain, looming over the battlefield:
This is an intense one, everybody. The new episode of House of the Dragon airs this Sunday, June 7 at 8:00 p.m. CST on HBO and Max.
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