Tonight, House of the Dragon aired what is almost certainly the best episode of its second season so far, "The Red Dragon and the Gold." We finally saw a dragon-on-dragon battle, as King Aegon rode his dragon Sunfyre to the aid of Criston Cole, who was attacking the castle of Rook's Rest. To meet him, Rhaenys Targaryen rode in on her dragon Meleys. Neither of them expected Aegon's brother Aemond to also join the fight on his absolutely massive dragon Vhagar. It was a a kaiju battle in the sky!
By the end, Rhaenys and Meleys were dead, Aemond and Vhagar were triumphant, and King Aegon and Sunfyre were (by the looks of it, anyway) alive but grievously wounded. What happens next? Check out the trailer for next Sunday's new episode to get a sneak peak:
King Aegon doesn't appear in the trailer, but people are concerned for him, so I'm assuming that I'm right and he'll survive the battle, if barely. He "doesn't lack for heirs," so they're apparently at least anticipating finding someone to replace him. Based on that shot of Aemond standing in front of the Iron Throne, I'm betting he thinks it should be him.
Criston and Aemond bring back the head of Meleys and march it through the streets of King's Landing. The Greens can count this a victory, but those lot are never satisfied. We get some hints of further drama between Alicent and Criston. Over in Rhaenyra's camp, they struggle to figure out how to respond. We get a shot of Rhaenyra's son Jace negotiating with someone at a castle that looks like the Twins from Game of Thrones. Maybe he'll visit his stepfather Daemon while he's in the Riverlands.
The next episode of House of the Dragon will air on Sunday, July 14 at 8:00 p.m. CST on HBO and Max. As usual, we don't know the title yet. HBO's been keeping those under lock and key until after the episodes air.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.