In Review: House of the Dragon (S1 – EP2) The Rogue Prince

Synopsis: In The Rogue Prince, Princess Rhaenyra dives deep into the prophecies about House Targaryen while confronting a realm that resists the idea of a woman on the Iron Throne.

The Story

Having learned about the deep prophecies of House Targaryen in last week’s episode. Rhaenyra is taking her role as Heir to the throne extremely seriously but is meeting with resistance from the male-dominated council. Meanwhile, Lord Corlys Velaryon is trying to maneuver King Viserys into marrying his youngest daughter in order to show unity between the Kingdom’s two most powerful houses. The real motive behind the idea is to have Viserys produce a male child via the consummation of the marriage. 

Added to all of this is the backdrop of a pirate who has been raiding various territories and interfering with the Targaryen and Velaryon shipping lines.

In Dragon Stone, Prince Daemon Targaryen announces that he is to marry Lady Mysaria who he claims is with child. To make matters more volatile. Daemon has stolen a dragon egg and intends to use it in accordance with Targaryen tradition, which triggers a visit from The Kings hand in order to take the Dragon egg back by whatever means are necessary. 

The Acting

Milly Alcock puts in another amazing performance this week as the young Princess Rhaenyra. She gets some amazing scenes in which she starts to show her strength and conviction. The scene between Rhaenyra and Princess Rhaenys Velaryon (Eve Best) is really telling of the amount of corruption and political games within the Kings court. It was also fun to see Rhaenyra get to put Rhaenys in her place by reminding her that she is the Queen Who Never Was. But the best is certainly saved for last when we see Rhaenyra fly into the middle of a stand-off between Daemon and Otto Hightower in order to prevent bloodshed. The moment where she tells Daemon that it is her that is standing in his way is an awesome moment that is brilliantly sold by Alcock and Matt Smith.

Overall

The Rogue Prince does a solid job of building on the storylines that were established in last week’s pilot episode. I really enjoyed watching Rhaenyra begin to establish herself as a strong leader, but in doing so demonstrate what a weak leader her father the King is. The final scene, which is a meeting between Daemon and Lord Corlys Velaryon is a great foreshadowing of what is to come.  I look forward to seeing how this will all play out.