'House of the Dragon' Season 2, Episode 4: “The Red Dragon on the Gold” Review
After three episodes of slow escalation, The Red Dragon and the Gold has given us the season’s first major battle - not to mention the first showdown between the rival factions’ dragons - with far-reaching consequences for both sides.
As we saw in prior episodes, Daemon Targaryen begins the episode by hanging out in Harrenhal, hoping to rally the Riverlands to the Black faction of House Targaryen. Instead, he is met with obstacles, both external and internal. In the case of the former, House Tully is bereft of strong leadership, due to the lord being a sickly old man and his heir being a green boy. The latter, meanwhile, is made manifest by Daemon’s continued visions and hallucinations due to the evil nature of Harrenhal. The episode also marks the return of two characters from the first season, both of whom have scenes with Daemon. There’s his deceased wife, Laena Velaryon, played once again by Nanna Blondell. There is also Willem Blackwood, whom we last saw trying to win the hand of Rhaenyra Targaryen as a boy. He has become a man, now, serving as a knight and regent for his as-yet-unseen nephew, Benjicot. Once again, Milly Alcock reprises her role as young Rhaenyra for the first of Daemon’s flashbacks. Book fans will know where this is going, but while some might be relieved of the slower pace of the second season, others might accuse the Daemon plotline of beginning to drag. At the very least, his scenes include a proper introduction to Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), as well as an explanation for why Harrenhal is cursed.
Elsewhere, we return to Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) and his campaign across the Crownlands. Instead of Harrenhal, the intended target, he is focusing on smaller castles closer to King’s Landing. One by one, Rhaenyra’s supporters in the region are conquered and punished, even as Cole earns the moniker “Kingmaker” which he bore in the book. Accompanying him is an increasingly hostile Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox) who is baffled by Criston’s reckless rush towards violence when all he sees is a provocation to bring dragons into the field. Unbeknownst to him, there is a devious method to Ser Criston’s presumed madness.
That method is revealed to be a scheme between Ser Criston and Prince Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell). The plan is kept secret from everybody, including Aemond’s elder brother, King Aegon II (Tom Glyn-Carney). After Aegon’s humiliation of Aemond in the third episode, we see Aemond’s hour come round when the king is supplanted at his own council by the revelation. Both Mitchell and Glyn-Carney have done a fantastic job portraying these two brothers as wildly different, but similar enough that they are especially vindictive towards each other. Aegon has always been happy to bully his middle brother, but this has only made Aemond more calculating, more ambitious, and more dangerous. By contrast, Aegon is floundering as king; he has lost his heir to murderers, he’s surrounded himself with incompetent lickspittles, and he ignores the advice of his mother and grandfather. When the battle begins, it is Aegon who charges recklessly into battle on top of his golden dragon, whilst Aemond swoops in after him and reaps the rewards of his patience.
Speaking of which, there is a particularly hostile scene between Aegon and his mother, Alicent (Olivia Cooke). We’ve seen time and time again how much Aegon disappoints his mother, and Alicent never fails to judge him harshly for failing to match her standards. When you add to that Alicent’s realisation from Episode 3 that her late husband didn’t really want Aegon to be king, that only deepens her disgust with his failures as king. It’s a great scene in the episode, but it is also frustrating; Aegon lacks the intelligence, the self-awareness, and the eloquence to turn the tables on Alicent when she berates him and guilts him about how much was sacrificed to put him on the throne. It was, of course, a throne which Aegon did not want, and even tried to flee from in the first season. Thus, it’s a real shame that he never fires back at his mother with such an observation. Not that it matters; Alicent has shown that she’s so far gone down this path that she won’t stand for any self-criticism any longer. None of this is meant as a criticism of the episode, to be clear; the characterization of this toxic mother-son relationship is one of the best that the show has to offer.
We also get more screentime for Matthew Needham in this episode. Possibly the most sinister and enigmatic figure in the series, Lord Larys Strong is Master of Whisperers for the Green faction, but his loyalty might not be what it seems. It’s clear enough in an episode like this that he’s holding his cards out of sight, even as he keeps a close eye on those around him. It’s heavily implied, for example, that he knows about Alicent’s secret affair with Criston Cole. Will he use this information against Alicent at some point? Only time will tell.
Perhaps the biggest highlight of this episode, however, belongs to Eve Best, who’s been in nearly every episode of the show thus far. Her character, Rhaenys, was always the voice of reason above almost every other character. She was the queen who never was, whose claim to the Iron Throne was passed over in favour of Rhaenyra’s father. Her support for Rhaenyra was never guaranteed, but what swayed her to the Black faction was Rhaenyra’s desire to avoid a war. Now that war is impossible to avoid, however, she takes a far more active role than before. This leads to her intervention at the Siege of Rook’s Rest, where she and her red dragon face off against both Aegon and Aemond, leading to one of her most memorable moments in the series. It is also through her that we’ve learned the truth about Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) and his brother Addam (Clinton Liberty). Her discovery of their connection to her husband is a fantastic bit of quiet acting on Best’s part. She does a fantastic job conveying a bitter sense of betrayal from the man with whom she mourned both their children, and with whom she is risking everything to fight for Rhaenyra. But despite those feelings, she refuses to speak ill of Alyn or insist that he be sent away. It is a remarkable gesture to demand he be honoured for saving Corlys’ life, especially in contrast with Catelyn Stark from Game of Thrones. Her character has spent the second season as Rhaenyra’s conscience, the voice of reason who fears the devastation that civil war will bring. As a result, what happens at Rook’s Rest will have far-reaching consequences in the show, for both sides.
All in all, this is yet another triumphant episode for House of the Dragon. For those who are in the know, the action is unfolding like a tragedy, slowly and deliberately. For those who have no idea what to expect from this series, this episode will be an emotional gut-punch, the first of many more to come before this tale is over.