Dragon fights and family intrigue between the Greens and Blacks have returned for House of the Dragon season 2. We last left off with the death of Lucerys, the son of Rhaenyra Targaryen, caused by Aemond and his dragon Vhagar. Vhagar being the largest living dragon, kills him and his dragon in one fell swoop. A cliffhanger that forebodes the war to come. What will the Greens reaction be to starting war? What will the Blacks do to avenge their fallen son? We find out in the first episode of the season.

The season starts by swapping the intro of Viserys’ model city of bloodlines to a tapestry of Targaryen history, starting with the Doom of Valyria and ending with the current events in the show. It’s a refreshing, colorful change to the dark grey city of bloodlines the first city had (though, still with the same opening theme as Game of Thrones).

Opening with a shot of Winterfell, where Jacaerys, the eldest of Rhaenyra’s children, is on his trip to rally the North to his mother’s claim. We meet the current Lord of Winterfell, Cregan Stark, who, just as the Starks we know in Game of Thrones, refuses to give up on his oath and will send his “greybeards” to help Rhaenyra. Though they may be old men, Winter is coming and they know this will be their last. Will these northerners going south to die be enough to help the Blacks? The scene ends with Jace receiving a letter of his brother Lucerys’ death, sending him back south.

Back on Dragonstone, the ancient seat of the Targaryen’s, we see Rhaenys flying in on her dragon Meleys. When she lands her cousin Daemon comes to greet her, expressing that with his dragon Caraxys and her dragon Meleys they could take down Aemond for killing Luke, therefore winning the war with one blow. Rhaenys questions Daemon’s motives and wether Rhaenyra is ready for open dragon war. Daemon wishes to be at Harrenhal “bending knees” but gripes about being stuck at Dragonstone waiting for Rhaenyra to return. In this scene, you can see Daemon wishes he was the one giving commands, and the fact he his subordinate to Rhaenyra bothers him. He attempts to manipulate Rhaenys by blaming Luke’s death on her by not killing Aegon and the Greens when she could, then asking her to fly out with him. She responds “Would that you were the king”.

We then move on to Corlys at the the Dragonstone docks where we meet Alyn and his bother Adam. He had come to pick up a dagger he had made for his tier Lucerys before his untimely death. Just before Alyn leaves, Corlys asks if he was the one to save him from drowning last season, with Alyn responding that it was just his duty. Will these characters play a bigger role in the future?

On the other side of the war, we begin in King’s Landing where Aegon is looking for his son Jahaerys. He starts in the children’s room where Helaena, his estranged wife is sewing and watching over their daughter Jahaera. Halaena mentions Jahaerys is in his studies and is not to be bothered but Aegon wants him in the council. The twins are only 6 so Helaena objects again and wants him to learn, then expressing she is scared. Aegon scoffs and says that they have Vhagar so no danger will come, but Helaena doesn’t relent saying “Not the dragons, the rats”. Everyone looks on the floor but sees no rats, so Aegon leaves calling Helaena an “enduring mystery”.

Just before the council, Alicent and Criston Cole having an affair in her chambers before heading to the meeting. How long have they been having an affair? This paints Cole in a bad light since previously he had been aggrieved with Rhaenyra “soiling” his white cloak from them having sex, but is now fine being with Alicent.

At the council, Aegon walks in with his son, much to the other members dismay. Otto Hightower, Hand of the King, opens the meeting with news that the North and the Vale have not responded to any of their letters. We know this is because they have sworn to Rhaenyra, but that news hasn’t made it to King’s Landing yet. Aemond comes in and explains that in order to have safe defenses, they must have the lords of Riverrun and Harrenhal bend the knee. Aegon intends to send him there to see them swear or burn everything to the ground with Vhagar, but Otto shoots down this idea stressing that patience is the best course of action now.

In the next scene we finally see Rhaenyra. She rides Syrax down to a beach where peasants are stripping the remains of Lucerys’ dragon Arrax, the only thing left after his battle with Vhagar. As she rides down on her dragon Syrax, the peasants run away scared and she inspects the remains, grieving. It’s also important to note that Arrax was part of the clutch of eggs Syrax mothered, so this is a mourning for two mothers on the beach.

Back in King’s Landing we have Aegon holding his first session of court. While Aegon has magnanimous solutions for the people of his city, Otto counsels practicality and butts heads with Aegon. A humorous scene follows with Otto coming up to the throne every time Aegon makes a decision, counseling the opposite. Finally Aegon ends the disagreement with “Our victory depends on the efforts of the small folk.”, then leaving court. Outside, Larys, the Master of Whispers, pulls Aegon for a quiet word, expressing Otto’s need for control and that is what caused Aegon’s father Viserys’ demise. The scene ends with an open question, will Aegon keep his father’s Hand or will he strike his own?

As we return to Dragonstone, so does Lady Mysaria, the ‘White Worm’ from the first season. Ser Erryk, knight of the Queensguard, finds Mysaria stowed away on a ship to escape King’s Landing and brings her to Daemon. If you remember early last season, Mysaria and Daemon were lovers who left each other on bad terms. He attempts to get what he can of that star of King’s Landing from her but she knows nothing and is escorted to the dungeons. As Daemon leaves he questions the loyalty of Ser Erryk (Erryk was one of Aegon’s Kingsguard before defecting last season).

Rhaenyra finally returns to Dragonstone for a war council of the Blacks. Many ideas are thrown around of what to do next, but through her grief for Lucerys, her only command is to kill Aemond Targaryen.

After the council Jacaerys arrives back on Dragonstone to finally grieve with his mother. He reports that the North and the Vale are hers before breaking into tears. While this happens Daemon works with Mysaria to find a way into the city to deal with Aemond, bribing her with her freedom in exchange for information on the Red Keep. Afterwards, everyone attends a funeral pyre for Lucerys.

At the Red Keep, this night is for the schemers. First we see Daemon using his old connections with the Gold Cloaks, the King’s Landing’s guards, to get entry and meet with a guard and a rat catcher. His plan is to have the Gold Cloak (known in the book as Blood) and the rat cat catcher (Cheese), slip into the castle at night, go to Aemond’s room and slay him in his sleep. A son for a son, Daemon says. The scene ends with the the two would-be murderers asking what to do if they can’t find him.

Later in the night we see how far the fractures between the Greens have gone. Prison Cole and Aemond are planning the war without Aemond, reassuring each other that the best option is to strike hard to the north and take Harrenhal. In the midst of their conversion, Otto arrives telling Cole to leave and scolding Aemond for planning war without the King’s presence, further distancing himself from Aemond.

Back to Blood & Cheese, they begin their ascent into the castle to find Aemond. On their way, they cross into the throne room where Aegon is drinking with his friends on the throne. Aegon is deep in his cups confident that he is untouchable since Vhagar is there and Aemond does whatever he says, quite the contrast from Aemond’s scene before. Once they walk past Aegon, Blood & Cheese reach the Royal Apartments, from where Cheese says he doesn’t know the layout as this wasn’t his area for rat catching. This causes Blood to get furious and tells him in no uncertain terms that either he figures it out, or Blood will for him. As they go further into the castle, they split up looking for Aemond’s chamber. While Blood is searching a room he is almost caught by a servant, but gets past her by pretending to be a rat catcher. Just after he hears Cheese calling for him to get over there.

As he enters the room we see Cheese holding a knife to Helaena’s throat. Blood is incredulous “A son for a son he said, does this look like a f—- son to you?”

As he says this, Cheese points over to the two beds with Jahaera and Jahaerys sleeping in them. Blood inspects the children to see they are twins and looks exactly them same. They demand Helaena tell them which is the son, to which she only offers her necklace in exchange for their lives. Blood rips it off her neck and demands again, to which she points out Jahaerys. As Blood and Cheese take the boy’s head off, Helaena grabs Sahara and runs away to Alicent’s chambers where she finds Alicent having sex with Cole. Helaena says “They killed the boy” and the episode ends.

It’s worth noting that this is slightly different to the book, where Blood and Cheese find Helaena and her children awake. In the book they make her choose which of her boys is to die (in the book Aegon has another son named Maelor), and when Helaena chooses Maelor, Blood looks at him saying “Hear that? Your mom wants you dead” and then kills Jahaerys, leaving Maelor alive to know his mom chose him. The HBO show makes it less dark and more of an accidental situation than Aegon’s son being the target.

This episode is starkly portraying vengeance, loyalty, and the brutal cost of power between these two sides of the family. ‘A Son for a Son’ being the perfect name showing this is an episode of vengeance for many characters.

You can watch House of the Dragon on HBO, Sunday nights at 9pm.