Small Council: What did we think of House of the Dragon Episode 202, "Rhaenyra the Cruel"?

The second episode of House of the Dragon season 2, "Rhaenyra the Cruel," is in the books! What did we think of it? Read our takes below, tell us yours, and vote in our poll!

DAN: First up, I think "Rhaenyra the Cruel" is a great episode title, so one point for that. Second, I thought this was a meaty, tasty episode full-bodied enough to justify its long run time and deliberate pace. I liked it quite a bit.

My favorite part was the aftermath of Prince Jaehaerys' death, and my favorite character — like last week — was Aegon Targaryen. In a room full of people trying to keep their heads, Aegon injects a ton of energy by freaking out, throwing cups and smashing scale models of Old Valyria. He's making terrible decisions, but those terrible decisions are providing a ton of conflict for me to gobble up. And Tom Glynn-Carney is burning up the screen, making the most of it. He's who I most look forward to seeing every episode.

Over on Dragonstone, the Daemon-Rhaenyra fight was a long time coming, and splendidly acted by Matt Smith and Emma D'Arcy. It seemed a bit...clinical might be the word? Or unfinished. There's definitely things left unsaid. Showrunner Ryan Condal has said that "the remainder of the season is very much a study of Daemon and Rhaenyra’s marriage," and I'm intrigued to find out what that means.

I was entertained by the fight between twin brothers Arryk and Erryk Cargyll, but I think I could have been entertained and moved to tears had the show included some of the material from Fire & Blood where we learned more about them and their bond before they killed each other in single combat. Maybe that's just me being a book snob, I'm not sure.

This episode even had me more intrigued by Criston Cole, who's the character I've always had the hardest time getting a handle on. I fully support him and Alicent having tremendously unhealthy hate sex. In fact, the Greens are such entertainingly messy disasters I'm considering switching my allegiance and rooting for them! I think that's a good place for the show to be in. How about you?

JOEL: The most surprising move made in "Rhaenyra the Cruel" wasn't that Aegon decided to replace his overbearing grandfather, Sir Otto Hightower, as his Hand (because Lord Larys planted the seeds in the first episode) but that Aegon named Sir Criston Cole as the new Hand. Not only is Cole having a secret and illicit affair with the Queen Mother, but he's also a zealot. He is not a big picture thinker. As with most zealots, he just needs to be pointed in a direction and that will take up his focus. Even worse, he is a zealot who has a guilty conscious because of the affair, and that guilt will make him overcompensate, as we saw when he sent Arryk Cargyll to Dragonstone (or was it Erryk? Who knows?). Obviously, Larys is content to work and control things from the shadows and how that plays will be key throughout this season.

The second plotline is: what is the fallout from Daemon and Rhaenyra's fight? Daemon has never forgiven his niece for usurping the throne from him, and this episode thrust that smoldering ember under the spotlight. Daemon is always the wildcard, but will he support his wife or stake is own claim? The answer to that will be the key to whatever happens next.

ALEXANDRIA: After the first episode, I questioned whether the impact of Prince Jaehaerys’ death could be as bad for Helaena as it is in the books. This episode certainly added some moments that tease how she could go into a downward spiral. Nobody is listening to her visions, and Aegon clearly blames her for the death of his son. If looks could kill, Helaena would have been dead on the stairs as Aegon walked past. That moment showed me why Tom Glynn-Carney has this role.

The Cargyll twin fight to the death wasn't something I expected to see so soon, but I loved the choreography and the way it played out. I’m still convinced it was actually Arryk who fell on his own sword and not Erryk.

I just wish we could have had more time to learn their backstory and see the love the two brothers still have for each other. That way we would believe that this fight was so hard on the two of them. We’ve seen brothers kill each other before in Game of Thrones. Just look at The Hound and The Mountain. The difference is those two hated each other, while the Cargyll twins just happened to find themselves on the opposite side of a war. Erryk’s (or Arryk’s?) decision to kill himself after taking the life of his brother didn’t have the same impact as it could have had with more lead time. That being said, the way this scene played out was an excellent change from the book. Who says that Team Black won’t spread the word that both died at each other’s hands so the people of Westeros don’t look down on own twin for fratricide? I could see Rhaenyra wanting to spare Erryk that, considering his sacrifice.

DANIEL: I loved “Rhaenyra the Cruel,” and think it was not only a step up from the season premiere, but one of the best House of the Dragon episodes to date. The drama, the tension, the masterful scoring by Ramin Djawadi, the verbal sparring, and of course, the fight to the death between Ser Erryk and Ser Arryk Cargyll. House of the Dragon viewers ate well this week.

Starting with the end, I actually wouldn’t have changed anything about the duel between the twin brothers. I enjoyed how the show played some deft sleight of hand with its shifting camera angles, putting us directly into Rhaenyra’s shoes by making it all but impossible to keep track of which Cargyll was which at key moments. Maybe it’s just that I watched “The Green Council” recently, where the Cargyll brothers go their separate ways, but I didn’t need any extra scenes for their deaths to land any better. I thought making the fight take place in Rhaenyra’s room was an especially inspired choice.

The Cargylls were far from the only great thing in this episode. I’ll echo the sentiment that Aegon was a standout, as was Helaena. I was surprised with Helaena especially, and the way the show depicted her slide toward isolation and eventual madness not just as a shattered reaction to Jaehaerys’ murder, but also an inevitable result of the emotional repression that permeates her family. Helaena and Aegon are both being denied the opportunity to grieve in a healthy way at pretty much every turn, and I think that’s leading to some fascinating material.

I was also glad to see more of Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra this episode, as well as Baela, Jace, Alyn of Hull, and the introduction of Addam of Hull. There are a lot of interesting figures coming to the fore this season, and the show is for the most part doing a really good job of juggling them all. This was also probably the most interesting episode for Ser Criston Cole since before he first slept with Rhaenyra and revealed himself as the realm’s worst incel.

But the standout of the episode for me was Otto Hightower. Otto is the Tywin Lannister of this series, placing ambition and legacy over the needs of his own family to their detriment. I haven’t always liked him, because he’s often doing despicable stuff. But in “Rhaenyra the Cruel,” we see a more human side of Otto as he loses his temper at his grandson and laments the loss of his best friend, Viserys. Rhys Ifans had some absolutely brilliant line deliveries. If I close my eyes, I can still see his exasperated expression as he says “And what…has Ser Criston Cole done?” Perfection.

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