RECAP: ‘House Of The Dragon’ Season 3 Episode 2 — “Queen’s Landing”

At the end of the last episode, House of the Dragon has flipped the script yet again. Peace was on the horizon in “Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood,” but when everything fails, the Velaryon fleet is devastated, and Prince Jace Velaryon is dead. Now, in House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2, “Queen’s Landing,” Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) is left to pick up the pieces of herself. 

She is a queen, but she is also a mother. But despite her two step-children and last remaining son, the mother in her has died, and she has killed the Queen in her, too. Racked with guilt, Baela returns to Dragonstone with Jace’s (Harry Collett) body, and Rhaena Targaryen (Eva Ossei-Gerning) has to live with the consequences of bringing a dragon into battle without training it first. 

The opening of House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 is somber; the score swells around the characters as Jacaerys’s body is carried behind Baela, and Ser Lorent Marbrand (Max Wrottesley) asks who won the battle. Despite Baela saying she has won, no one believes her, and in her delivery, you know she doesn’t either. 

HBO’s House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 builds on the tragedy of the premiere episode.

When Rhaenyra sees her son’s body, she is quiet and then angry, asking him, “What have you done?” There is a sternness to her voice that hides the brokenness inside, a piece of her not ready to accept her son’s death. And then she kneels beside him. Crying, all she can muster is asking why.

As a Queen, Rhaenyra has wanted peace, and as a mother, she has wanted nothing more than to see her son live to take her throne. Now, neither of those outcomes seems like a possibility with the rage that is stoked in this episode. After her first son, Rhaenyra teetered on cruelty, and now, you have to question if she will now succumb to it.

But it wasn’t just Jace’s fault for choosing his path; it was also Ser Laurent’s for listening to her son and allowing Jace to move to war. When he admits it and offers his life in forfeit, Rhaenyra responds, questioning what his death will bring. What does death do? It does not erase betrayal, nor does it quell anger; it simply becomes senseless. Ser Lorent is not the only one at fault; so are all the people in the room who simply allowed her to remain locked in her room.

House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 switches focus to the sea. The atmosphere is still the same: desperate and deadly as Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) moves through the water searching for Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) and the others kill the army at sea. It’s stressful and broken, and that is the tone for the episode. 

It’s not only sadness and woe, but it’s also panic as House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 moves back to the Vale with Rhaena and Sheepstealer. Aware that Rhaenyra will not take kindly to Rhaena’s involvement in Jace’s death, Rhaena begs Lady Jane Arryn (Amanda Collin) to give her shelter and to allow her to hide with Sheepstealer.

Safety is what she wants, and blindness is what she will get as Jane Arryn turns away but allows Rhaena and her dragon to reside in the Vale. It’s clear that there will be no ramifications for Rhaena in this episode, but as the tension and grief build back at Dragonstone, it’s a large question that remains open. Especially as Rhaena becoming Sheepstealer’s rider already diverges from the source material. 

After catching up with where the tragedy in the last episode left off, “Queen’s Landing” switches to joy as House Stark and Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) celebrate with Lannister’s heads on pikes, their lions next to them on their own pike. The singing is robust, and the excitement in the Riverlands has returned. 

“Queen’s Landing” offers victory, but it asks its characters and audience to tally the costs.

The joy is felt from across the bannermen who took up arms beneath him, and it is shattered when he reads the message from Rhaenyra’s crow. A jolt that changes the entire atmosphere, the news is, of course, grim. The Crown Prince is dead, and now, Daemon has to move to King’s Landing.

The death of the joy in this sequence also marks a sharp turning point in the series. There is no holding to defend or negotiations. As Daemon declares that they will be the Queen’s fist, the kindness and peace that seemed to be at the center of Rhaenyra’s plans are long gone. 

As Daemon speaks with the witch Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), she requests Harrenhal for delivering 40,000 rivermen to the queen’s army. When Alys pushes, Daemon acquiesces, but Harrenhal is not all that she wants. The hunger of the witch is not satisfied, and it becomes a moment of worry, and a note that her comment about the tide turning may not be for the benefit of the Black Targaryen banner. 

We’re back to the shores near Dragonstone now, with Alyn searching the beach and Baela coming to join him. She knows better than anyone that her grandsire, Corlys, may still be alive. House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 is an episode of worry and fear, but more importantly, of anger and small glimpses of hope in the distance.  

Baela knows who Alyn and his brother Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty) are, and still, never questions the love that her grandsire had for his wife. The conversation between the two is small, but it calls for a level of maturity needed in this world. And that maturity also comes with a trust that Corlys is alive. 

When they find Corlys, the Velaryon line is together; Addam is coming off his dragon. There is something poetic in seeing Alyn, Addam, and Baela together. If Corlys were any less of a man, this wouldn’t be the case. There is no anger, no fight. Just an acceptance of family and circumstance that rings refreshing in the Game of Thrones franchise. 

When down, Corlys calls out the devastation that we’ve seen. “If this be victory, I hope I never see another,” he says.  Every time we return to the family in House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2, it’s under the weight of war and expectation. Add to the atmosphere that Baela knows Rhaena was responsible, at least in part, for Jace’s death, and it’s all for the worse. That said, the only hope that exists in “Queen’s Landing” is when they are all together, and Corlys looks at Alyn sitting on the beach.

The only hope that exists in House of the Dragon Season 3 is with House Velaryon.

With the Sea Snake at the bottom of the sea, Corlys has nothing physical to offer his sons, bastards by every other name. But a name is all that Alyn has wanted, which makes Corlys’ offering it to his sons mean so much. This is the new Velaryon, and it’s a moment that resonates, thanks to the buildup we’ve seen across Season 2 and now.

More importantly, the scenes with the family in House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 paint the important theme of the episode: boats, jewels, and any manner of riches; none of it means much when it doesn’t fulfill the soul. The Targaryen Civil War is running on a push for power, but as this episode shows, power and riches will not satiate an empty heart.

Outside of the emotional elements of surviving the battle that House Velaryon shows the audience, we are also reintroduced to Lord Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) and King Aegon Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) on the road to Dragonstone. Having been taken by soldiers on the road and about to be delivered to Queen Rhaenyra, they are stopped by the Triarchy fighting against Rhaenyra’s men on the road.

In the chaos, Larys and Aegon escape and head to Rook’s Rest, even if Aegon’s body can’t make it all the way. As if to just remind us that Aegon is scampering around like a rat to survive, this is all we see in “Queen’s Landing” before we transition into the meat of the episode. Which is Rhaenyra’s taking of King’s Landing. 

As House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 continues, we see Alicent continue to orchestrate her plan to allow Rhaenyra to take the throne. For Alicent, this means confronting the Gold Cloaks and telling them that Rhaenyra is on the way. In the interest of peace, Queen Helaena Targaryen (Phia Saban) is the sitting queen, and with her power, she needs to allow Rhaenyra to take the throne.

While initially worried about the situation, Helaena is easy to win over. But more importantly, she allows her mother to save her. Last episode, Alicent made it clear that she understood she had ruined her children; still, Helaena and her grandchild may still be saved.

To do so, she and her daughter work to have everyone who could shoot down Rhaenyra’s dragon stand down. It’s not easy to do, but when Alicent explains that Aegon has fled and Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) is heading to the Riverlands, saving people wins out in the end.  

In House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2, Alicent tries to be true to her word.

Every step that Alicent takes in this episode is to uphold her end of the deal. Last episode, the chaos left almost everything in question, but Alicent’s dedication to upholding the deal seems to come less from her dedication to Rhaenyra as a friend, and more about a last effort to protect her last child. 

Rhaenyra has lost her sons, and that has shaped her. Burying her children has broken her in a way that feels irreparable. But that doesn’t mean that Alicent still has all of hers. Instead, though, where Rhaenyra is seeking vengeance for the deaths of her children, Alicent is content to accept losing hers, after seeing their perversion or their malice. Choosing to help Rhaenyra is penance for the monsters she let be raised in the Red Keep. 

But Alicent’s choices aren’t made without others noticing. While House of the Dragon, by and large, hasn’t used rape as a narrative device in the same way that its predecessor did, House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 shows what happens to a woman in power trying to move on her own. Ser Jasper finds out about Alicent’s planning after Ser Rickard (Vincent Regan), Alicent’s guard, betrays her.

This betrayal leads Lord Jasper Wylde, the Master of Laws, to try to control Alicent through sexual assault. It’s a harrowing moment to watch. Alicent fights him off at every point, and just when she is about to lose, she’s saved by the Grand Maester Orwyle (Kurt Egyiawan). Only, the truth of her plotting is almost revealed. That said, if the people who promised to heed Helaena’s commands do so, then everything should work, and now all she has to do is escape with her daughter and grandchild.

The fruits of Alicent’s labor ripen when Aemond arrives at Harrenhal. Having refused to give the Alys Rivers a right to the keep, House Strong remains in control, even if the vast majority of their bannermen are marching to King’s Landing.

When Vaeghar and Aemond make it to Harrenhal, there is nothing to stop them. What little Strong men are left to defend are dealt with swiftly and brutally. Daemon’s move to King’s Landing has served House Strong up on a platter; to call Aemond’s murderous path through Harrenhal, fighting, is a stretch. It’s more of a leisurely stroll that has decimated House Strong into something more than it was. 

Aemond Targaryen is a killer, and now, he’s wounded and at Alys Rivers’ whim. 

But one son does wind up stabbing Aemond, who, despite attempting to move forward and attack Alys Rivers, collapses instead. By killing the Strongs, Aemond has delivered Harrenhal to Alys, and that also secures that he won’t die, but we’ll have to wait until next episode to see Daemon’s refusal to give the witch what she wants bite the Black Targaryen flag back. 

While the path is open for Rhaenyra to fly into King’s Landing, Jace’s death has struck her down. While everyone questions Rhaenyra’s choices, Daemon doesn’t; Alys’s vision wins out over worry for his queen’s mental state. The Dragonseeds are reprimanded for having returned to Dragonstone after being given the warning of the battle in the Gullet from Harrenhal’s witch. 

Still, Daemon’s focus remains on Rhaenyra and, for a moment, on her new Hand, Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno). Having slept with both her husband and wife, Mysaria is in a predicament, to say the least, but she still trusts Rhaenyra. For his part, though, Daemon isn’t angry at the relationship between the two of them, and as he moves to Rhaenyra’s side, he does so with only one focus: waking her and moving her onto the Iron Throne. 

With news of spotting Vaeghar and Aemond flying to the Riverlands, Daemon has to get Rhaenyra to rise. But for her, the grief is too much. The two know about Baela and Sheepstealer, and the boys she raised are dead and buried; from sitting on her lap to being laid in the ground, Rhaenyra doesn’t look like herself. That said, the act of cutting up her queenly robes in the last episode ripples into this episode. 

Daemon whispers into Rhaenyra’s ear, explaining the Song of Ice and Fire that Alys showed him. The story his brother had said was true, and he believes wholeheartedly in his wife, but to have her rise, she has to move with purpose, and as a King, not a Queen. “Will you let them die in vain?” is all Daemon has to ask his wife in order to move her. The resentment she has for the Iron Throne is clear, but her grief is stronger, and so is her anger. 

That said, the eagle-eyed viewer or listener will also notice that the vision Alys gave Daemon, which he recounts, doesn’t refer to Rhaenyra. It refers to Daenerys Targaryen, hundreds of years after the civil war ends, but only the audience knows that. 

In her grey and black armored robes, Rhaenyra confronts her Small Council with Daemon, a sword on her hip. They’re heading to take King’s Landing even if the Velaryon hosts are scattered, and they’ll do so with the Dragonseed riders, Hugh (Hugh) and Ulf (Tom Bennett) flying wide around them, as back-up and a show of force.  

Daemon is the only person who believes in Queen Rhaenyra, and he rallies her to King’s Landing.

While the council eventually backs down from Rhaenyra’s plan, they do so largely because Daemon’s belief in her is bolstered. Rhaenyra’s entire rule has been defined by her gender, even from her supporters. But Daemon is not the same character he has been in “Queen’s Landing.” Instead of being selfish, he backs his Queen’s every play with force, advising her to be aggressive, to be strong. And as the duo flies into King’s Landing with no resistance, that continues. 

The Targaryen approach to King’s Landing is one of the most gorgeous scenes of the series so far. The scale of King’s Landing is captured beautifully, especially in relation to the dragons’ grandeur as they soar over. When they land, all forces put down their swords. As panic ensues in the streets, Alicent, Helaena, and her child are trying to find a way out. With hoods up, hoping to escape, the chaos is almost too much to navigate. 

Still, House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 doesn’t end without at least a small amount of action. As they enter the Red Keep, the King’s Guard hold their posts, wearing black rather than white coats as an overt sign of context. Daemon deals with the threat swiftly. As they enter the throne room, the looming Iron Throne and the sea of melted swords greet them, and Daemon lets Rhaenyra enter first. 

Daemon’s character progression is on display here. In the past seasons, it’s Daemon who walks into the throne room, leading  Rhaenyra, and maybe even attempting to sit on the throne himself. Here, though, he is the dutiful husband, grabbing her hand as she walks past him. A moment of relief in House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2, then changes to danger as the Targaryen duo are surrounded by the King’s Guard. 

Waiting for them to snap the snare closed around their throats, the Goldcloaks of the City Watch enter. The script for the episode milks this moment of tension. While the audience knows that Alicent has done everything she can to orchestrate this success, Daemon and Rhaenyra don’t.

More importantly, in this moment, the audience questions if it’s worked, especially with the King’s Guard unmoved. And, of course, it’s a success. Ser Luthor Largent (Tom Cullen) says, “The City Watch remembers our commander Daemon Targaryen and Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen.” Rhaenyra may have pulled her sword, but she won’t need to use it, not now. 

Rhaenyra pulls her sword, but Alicent has ensured she doesn’t have to use it, unless she chooses to.

House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 is everything that Queen Rhaenyra has wanted; only when she achieves it, her sons are in the ground, and the weight of the crown has never been so heavy. As she calls for Aegon the Usurper, Daemon confronts whom he can find. After threatening to kill the Grand Maester, he explains that Queen Dowager had helped orchestrate their success and offers a different head that can roll. 

When Daemon heads to the dungeons to release Rhaenyra’s supporters, Lord Larys Strong’s secret comes to light. Otto Hightower disappeared earlier in the series, and it turns out he was under the Red Keep the entire time. While Rhaenyra greets and thanks her supporters in the throne room, her husband returns, with Lord Jasper and Otto Hightower in hand. 

As he stands in front of the couple, he knows that he is to die. Everyone in the room knows what has to happen to the orchestrator of Aegon’s rise, who kneels in front of the Queen. While Daemon offers, it’s Rhaenyra who must swing the sword and execute the man behind this war to begin with. 

Otto is unflinching, asking only for Daemon to execute him so that he is not hacked away at. Rhaenyra has a choice of what to do. She needs to show strength and act as a king, to keep legitimacy and not be seen as second to Daemon. She needs to be true and rule, not waver, but her violence is now her own. Up until this point, Rhaenyra has not had to be a sword of violence. She has gotten close; she has given orders, but here, she is the hand taking a life. 

As she hesitates, it’s clear that a part of her compassion is still alive. As she swings her sword to behead Otto Hightower, she can not do it in one swing. In what becomes the hardest execution to watch, Rhaenyra’s scream and the tears in her eyes, the snot falling from her, accompany the execution. Still, she does it. His headless body on the floor, Daemon executes Lord Jasper with no hesitation and one swift stroke. He cleans up what he needs to, but allows her a moment of power. 

Once it’s done, though, Rhaenyra’s face changes. As an actor, Emma D’Arcy has always been profound in how they portray a queen who has been denied both justice and respect. Here, as her face morphs from crying and distraught to cold and neutral, the audience knows that Rhaenyra will not be the same. The Hightower blood makes bloodied footprints as she ascends onto the Iron Throne. 

House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 ends with catharsis and acceptance for Rhaenyra. Or at least you think it does until Alicent and her daughter are brought into the throne room, their patriarch dead on the floor. The plan worked; Rhaenyra is on the throne, and yet, now, Alicent has lost her father. More importantly, the pressure to kill Hightower throws Alicent’s survival into question. 

Otto Hightower’s execution is the closing of one chapter and the opening of another for House of the Dragon Season 3.

When the crown changes hands, killing everyone who can be a threat is the expectation, and every episode of House of the Dragon has made that clear. As “Queen’s Landing” ends, the question lingers in the air, with Rhaenyra on the throne. Does Alicent have to die next?

House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 is another good episode that rewards all the set pieces put in place at the end of last season and in Episode 1 of this third season. Rhaenyra is forever changed by grief, and now, having taken a life herself, you have to wonder how much more deadly her reign can become. If the series keeps this pace, it will blow the first two seasons out of the water in terms of quality and story. But for that, we’ll just have to wait and see. 

House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 2 is streaming now, exclusively on HBO Max, with new episodes releasing every Sunday. 

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