REVIEW: House of the Dragon S02 EP04 Rhaenys, you are GIANT! 4f1o6v

For everyone watching the second season of The House of the Dragon (House of the Dragon) In anticipation of seeing more dragons, the time has finally come. This week's episode titled  O The Red Dragon and the Gold brings a brutal battle that marks the beginning of the actual fighting.   134x4o

NOTICE: Attention, this text contains SPOILERS of the fourth episode. It is recommended that you watch it before continuing reading.

The fourth episode marks an extremely important turning point. The big Battle of Pouso de Gralhas announces the beginning of the Dance of the Dragons, by showing the impulsive King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Rhaenys (Eve Best) in a fight in the air with their dragons. Furthermore, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) makes it clear that it is never a good idea to provoke him, as he decided to react after being in prison for so long.

The Red and Golden Dragon 6733d

It is no longer a secret that the kingdom is more divided than ever. From the third episode to the fourth, on the black team's side, Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) is still returning from King's Landing to Dragonstone after the brief conversation she had with Alicent (Olivia Cooke). In the meantime, her council is in a fervent clash and Daemon (Matt Smith) continues to fight to win allies while having to fight his own demons.

Rhaenyra's absence generated a commotion in the council and consequently Jacaerys' (Harry Collett) concern as he felt disrespected by them and by his own mother who prevented him from going into battle. Of course, he is a young man who could contribute a lot on the field, but from the perspective of a mother knowing that her opponents are cruel (Lucerys' example is there), the best thing she can do is preserve him. 

On the Porto Real side, the Greens presented many rhythmic events that ended up dictating the tone of the episode and where it would go. In fact, the episode starts off badly for King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), who ends up discovering during a meeting with the Small Council that Aemond and Ser Criston Cole (Fabian Frankel) are working together for the war without him knowing. 

Stressed and outraged by the whole situation, Aegon even tried to exert his power and order them not to carry out the attack on Rook's Rest castle because what he really wanted was Harrenhal – even though it no longer made sense –, but the whole show was unsuccessfully. Aemond pointed out that it was already too late to change course and that Cole was even ready to attack. 

While all this tantrum is going on, in the rooms of the same castle Alicent is very busy aborting the baby that is the result of her relationship with Criston Cole. It could be fear of giving life to a bastard in the midst of wars and politics or out of aversion to Cole. It is not known, but it is shown that she did not hesitate at any time in her decision. 

And speaking of the devil, Ser Criston Cole is playing his role very well, recruiting men and houses on the basis of terror and going to fight at full steam. Despite being chosen as Hand of the King by Aegon, he is more faithful to Aemond, the person to whom he reports everything that is happening and draws up plans together. 

Daemon's hallucinations 3fi3x

Harrenhal's paranormal activities continue to haunt Daemon through terrifying hallucinations. To the delight of the fans (and the terror of the prince), he is once again faced with the young version of Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), who harshly criticizes him and once again reinforces how resentful he is for Viserys (Paddy Considine) having chosen she, the daughter, and not he, the brother, as heir to the throne. Soon he decapitates her and, in an almost comical scene, her head continues talking.

To top it off, Daemon also hallucinates his deceased wife Laena (Nanna Blondell), which makes us think he connects the two in some way. While this one died in front of him, the other is a constant target. After that, he wakes up to news brought by a raven informing him that the Green Team's conquests are getting bigger and bigger and that the next place to be attacked would be Harrenhal (but we already know that it's old information). Stunned, Daemon pressures Lord Tully's representative to receive an army, but ends up taking other directions.

Still in Harrenhal, to break this “eat-sleep-hallucinations” sequence a little, Daemon is introduced to Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), the mysterious woman who told him at some point between his visions that he would die there. But when he actually meets her, all she does is offer a drink, a conversation, and perhaps the beginnings of a flirtation. In the book she has an important role to play in the war. Now we have to watch to see if they will maintain this small role on screen.

The first Dance of Dragons is spectacular 4z21m

The last 15 to 20 minutes of the fourth episode are dedicated to the Battle of Pouso de Gralhas and, mainly, the dragons. From the confrontation between Sunfyre, Meleys and Vhagar, the Targaryen civil war, entitled Dance of the Dragons, begins to form. 

At that moment, Rhaenys (Eve Best) and her dragon Meleys fly to locate Cole. She knew it would be a risky mission, but she decided to proceed anyway. The black team's logic behind this was to deduce that the Greens kept Vhagar in King's Landing as a protector. Thus, Meleys would be able to defeat any other dragon that was on the field, as well as Aegon's Sunfyre who was successfully attacked.

As not everything is as we expected, a take reveals Vhagar in the middle of the forest. This is one of the best images of the episode and must be sinister. The tension increases even more when the dragon collides with Meleys, as it reveals the discrepancy in size between the two and the result of this collision. 

Before that, Meleys faces Sunfyre and a completely altered Aegon. Aemond enters the middle of the fight with Vhagar and fires a Dracarys that had been stored for a long time. As if it were a strike movement, he not only hits Meleys – which, in theory, was the objective – but also directs the attack at his own brother and his dragon, who were already injured from the first fight. They fall and only appear again at the end of the episode. Sunfyre dead and Aegon almost. 

This was the first moment that Rhaenys had the chance to escape, as in the confusion Aemond decided to return close to the castle and possibly find Cole. But she doesn't give up. She ties herself even tighter to her dragon and returns to attack once again in order to hit the Green knights.

Then, Meleys and Vhagar engage in a truly mesmerizing Dance of Dragons, throwing flames at each other in a painful battle. Meanwhile on dry land, several knights are being barbecued, others are running for their lives and Ser Criston Cole ends up being knocked off his horse, completely knocked out. 

Rhaenys once again gets rid of Aemond. Does she retreat? No way. For the second time she returns to continue attacking, showing that she chose to continue the battle until she died. She flies over the place apprehensively since Vhagar is missing. But for the sake of an impactful scene, Vhagar appears out of nowhere and grabs Meleys by the neck, almost chopping off the dragon. ing that Vhagar is the biggest dragon of all, it is impossible to hide and on top of that it is described as the slowest, so it should be predictable. 

Anyway, one of the saddest scenes is definitely the one where Meleys looks at Rhaenys for the last time as life drains from her eyes. So, Rhaenys Targaryen, The Queen Who Never Was, understands that she is automatically dead too. They both fall and succumb to the inevitable.

Aemond leaves poor land and misses the start 2l4y5m

After Aegon made a point of humiliating Aemond in the brothel, he decides to take revenge in the most intelligent way possible, using strategy, his proximity to Ser Criston Cole, his influence on the council and the fact that he has the biggest dragon in the kingdom.

The icing on the cake was when he displayed his impeccable knowledge of High Valyrian in the middle of the Small Council, embarrassing his brother Aegon, who learned nothing and once again showed himself to be a failure. And all of this was just the beginning of the episode. Aemond really decided that it was time to wake up and took on one of the biggest roles in the episode. 

Of course, the entire Dance of Dragons was shocking and his participation with Vhagar was crucial in all of it. But the best part is his veiled revenge on Aegon. He postponed his own attack when he saw that his brother, the King, was acting recklessly by invading the war to try to show his strength, he waited patiently and made one of the best scenes.

When directing Vhagar to Rhaenys and her dragon, Meleys, Aegon showed a look of relief as he deduced that his brother was helping him escape the battle – as his own dragon, Sunfyre, is smaller. But not! Aemond launches a resounding Dracarys! to target both Rhaenys and her own brother. This was the last episode we saw Aegon in perfect condition. I hope they put a lot of effort into their makeup in the next episode.

Rhaenyra tells Jace about the Song of Ice and Fire 673h5n

This same moment happened between Viserys and Rhaenyra in the first episode of House of the Dragon. Aegon the Conqueror's prophecy, which dictates that great evil can only be fought if Westeros unites. The queen saw the need to share the information with her son because no one else knows about it. 

Rhaenys discovers that Alyn of Hull is the bastard son of her husband Corlys Velaryon 7at

It didn't take much for Rhaenys to read the environment and put two and two together. Upon meeting Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim), she comments on how beautiful his mother must be and analyzes him for a while, realizing that the man who saved her husband looks a lot like him. Without drama or shambles, Rhaenys points out to Corlys that he should recognize Alyn and help him instead of hiding him among the seas. This was a very noble attitude, since a contemptuous relationship is generally established between wives and potential bastards – Catelyn Stark says so.

Characters and performances p3u5i

This was an episode full of excellent performances. But I would like to dedicate this opening mainly to the powerful work of Eve Best, who certainly moved even those who the Greens. With little dialogue, but a lot of action, her character dynamic with the dragon Meleys is very beautiful. For those who have already read the book, it was to be expected, but this moment still ends up being quite sad, even more so because she was one of the few voices of reason left in Westeros. 

From start to finish, the exchange between Mitchell and Glynn-Carney was excellent. The declared war between the brothers managed to reach layers that are intensifying more and more. Their fight went beyond psychological conflicts and became something physically brutal as a form of revenge mixed with a lesson. I'm curious what their relationship will be like from the next episode onwards, since they have reversed their positions and now Aegon is the real dead dog.

Already on the side of Harrenhal, Matt Smith begins to shine amidst Daemon's hallucinations. His scenes with Alcock are very good and now bring an extra layer that includes other characters connected to his subconscious. Daemon is increasingly dark and, at the same time, vulnerable. It's very interesting to follow.

Finally, unfortunately we didn't see much of Rhaenyra, but her scenes are still consistently good. Her return after visiting King's Landing exudes greater vitality, as if she is now ready for what is to come, regardless of what it is. Her scene with Jace to tell him the prophecy is also effective, but it would have been interesting to see his reaction to hearing everything and how this information will affect her actions. 

Technical aspects 214466

The CGI of the dragons is excellent and the work deserves recognition, especially since it was applied in relatively long scenes, as they were the highlight of the episode. But on the other hand, the effects on people seem poorly done. There is a visible difficulty in applying adjustments to characters in aerial action scenes. When the focus turns to Aemond, Rhaenys, and Aegon, it's very hard to believe they're in the air. The way the hair moves, the costumes, the light and other elements show difficulty in combining each other in this digitization process.

If we leave these details aside, the dynamic between Rhaenys and Meleys is really beautiful. The way the CGI allowed the dragon to communicate bodily with its owner is fantastic and the emotion they put into her expressions is visible. Their relationship is very emotional and having to witness Vhagar almost taking her head off and, consequently, killing them both, is very painful.

Conclusion a5r1x

After much hearing that war was near, the fourth episode of the second season of House of the Dragon manages to deliver what the series was promising since its launch. Not to belittle the scene between Luke and Aemond in the first season, which was very good, but ended up getting lost. Now it's for real, the sequence of brutal wars has arrived.

Among the positive points of this episode is the Dance of the Dragons with Sunfyre, Meleys and Rhaegar because in addition to the dynamics, the CGI of the dragons itself was well worked on. The photography, soundtrack and direction by Alan Taylor also deserve credit. It is also worth highlighting the Daemon scenes and the tension developed in both King's Landing and Dragonstone. However, as mentioned, the effects on the characters in the aerial scenes left something to be desired. If Rhaenys' story wasn't so powerful to cause impact and commotion, her falling scene with Meleys could have been seen as a big, poorly made meme – and I don't doubt that there must be images with related jokes on the internet.

Where to watch 6f1a12

The first four episodes of the second season of The Dragon House are available at Max. There will be eight episodes in total, each released every Sunday at 22pm.

See the video 4s294b

See also other features

REVIEW: House of the Dragon S02 EP03 REACT, Rhaenyra!

REVIEW: House of the Dragon S02 EP02 the consequences of a poorly planned act

Text proofread by: Pedro Bomfim