This House of the Dragon season 2 episode 4 recap contains spoilers. Wow! When this Game of Thrones spin-off first flapped on to the horizon many years ago, we all dreamed of spectacular episodes like this and after waiting patiently for 13 episodes, we're finally getting what we signed up for.
The Dragon battle in the skies over Rook's Rest was an awesome sight to behold, yet it was also the icing on the cake of a superb episode, in which we saw inexorable power shifts on both sides of the divide. In Dragonstone, Queen Rhaenyra finally found her voice, while in King's Landing, authority poured through Aegon's hands and towards a menacing Aemond.
US viewers wanting to keep up with the epic fantasy series need to be signed up for either HBO or its streaming service Max. HBO can be added to traditional TV packages or live TV streaming services as a premium add-on channel, including YouTube TV. Or you can sign up for Max as a standalone streaming service (though also available as an add-on channel on some platforms).
In the UK, with the show airing on Sky Atlantic, a Sky TV subscription is necessary to watch House of the Dragon. Episodes are also going to be available to stream on-demand on Sky Go and NOW TV.
'House Tully is a fish without a head...'
Overlooked by his brother, jilted in favour of his niece and then married to her, psychiatrists would have a field day with Prince Daemon and we get to explore his mind a little more in this week’s episode. Rhaenyra seems to figure who seems to conjure the most anguish in him and a younger version of her returns once again to torture him. He sees her like this because this was the Rhaenyra who stole his inheritance, yet the guilt he feels for leading her astray and eventually betraying her is clear.
When he wakes, Ser Simon Strong tells him of how Ser Cristan Cole has been at recruiting forces to the Green’s cause while he’s been at Harrenhal, yet Oscar Tully - the young heir to the incapacitated Grover Tully as Lord of the Riverlands - has finally arrived. However the youngster seems unwilling to embrace Westeros realpolitik by murdering his grandsire in a bid to ‘speed along’ his inheritance.
Later on Daemon follows a vision of himself - complete with Aemond’s eye-patch - to find Alys Rivers, a ‘witch’ who seems to know a lot about him and the quarrel with his wife. “Do you now plan to make your own claim?” she says. “It must be a hard thing to give obeisance to one who replaced you.” It’s probably a tempting thought for a man as capricious as Daemon, yet his vision of himself as Aemond is even more intriguing. While he talks to Lord Blackwood, he also has a vision of his dead wife.
We're also intrigued by Alys Rivers who sees things miles beyond her kitchen. Where did she come from and what is her purpose? Is she a key character or a mere whimsy? Only time will tell.
“The significance of Viserys’ intention died with him”
Meanwhile, at King’s Landing, Alicent Hightower is taking the morning-after potion in the hope of avoiding a permanent reminder of the night Aegon’s heir was murdered. With Rhaenyra’s words still ringing in her ears, she also quizzes the Grand Maestor on whether he believes her late husband wanted her son to be King. He tells her he couldn’t know, yet we believe he’s unwilling to speak the truth.
Alicent’s next visitor is Ser Larys Strong — Master of Whisperers and the pair share a conversation that takes place almost exclusively between the lines. It’s clear Strong knows the truth about her son’s claim to the throne and also that he shares her belief that it is now irrelevant.
Alicent is unable to attend her son’s Council, which is a shame for him as it's clear power is slipping through his fingers at an alarming rate of knots. He’s furious to hear of Daemon’s arrival at Harrenhal, even though it's the most Pyrrhic of victories.
Yet while Aegon throws his toys about with abandon, his younger brother Aemond smolders with tangible menace at the other end of the table, councilors hanging on his every word. As he switches to Valyrian, while eyeing his brother like a lion watching a sheep, Aegon is unable to reply. It’s a symbolic and completely calculated move that demonstrates how helpless the King really is and where power resides.
Outside, Aegon bumps into his mother — who now has a zest for history and Viserys’ books — and begins lamenting the lack of respect he has at council. “Do you think simply wearing the crown imbues you with wisdom?” she asks, before telling him his true place in the order of things and swatting aside his threats like those of a child. “Do simply what is needed from you - nothing.” It's clear an exasperated Alicent has reached the end of the line with her son.
'Either I win my claim, or die...'
At Driftmark, Princess Rhaenys seeks out Alyn of Hull, the mysterious figure who saved Lord Corlys' life in the first season. He’s not mysterious to Rhaenys though, who describes him as ‘comely’ and remarks upon how beautiful his mother must have been in a loaded and cathartic exchange for her. “I know who he is, Corlys” she says, almost confirming that Alyn will have a larger part to play as the series goes on. Is he another illegitimate child who will go on to shape the fates of men? From the sorrow in Rhaenys’ eyes we’d say the first part at least is true..
On Dragonstone, the Black council are wringing their hands over Ser Cristan’s progress when Queen Rhaenyra makes a much-anticipated return and reveals the outcome of her recent mission to King’s Landing. “Either I win my claim, or die,” she tells them. Spurred on by this final realisation, she sends Princess Rhaenys, who rides the Black’s largest dragon, Meleys, to rout Cole at Rook's Rest.
Yet she’s not the only one heading to war, as a sozzled King Aegon fails his final test by rejecting his mother’s advice and climbing on to his dragon, Sunfyre. As he takes off on the golden beast, at Dragonstone, Queen Rhaenyra tells her heir, Jacerys, about Aegon the Conqueror’s dream, The Song of Ice and Fire, which says The Targaryens are protectors who must unite the realm against a common foe in the winters to come. “The horrors I’ve loosed can’t be for a crown alone,” she says. “That is why I must believe what Viserys told me when he named me his heir.” It’s a tale that is passed from ruler to ruler, yet aptly King Aegon never heard it.
'Make the signal...'
Green forces attack Rook’s Rest, yet when Meleys appears on the horizon as Ser Gwayne feared, Cole tells his soldiers to make the signal. With Aemond and Vhagar lying hidden, it’s soon clear the Greens have set a trap, yet Aemond decides to delay his attack rather than charge straight into the fray.
Whether he has foreseen his brother’s rash actions or is waiting for another reason, Aegon is soon on the scene, which throws a significant spanner in the works as far as Cole’s plan is concerned. Meleys sets upon Sunfyre and soon has the better of her naive rival, yet at that moment Vhagar finally takes to the sky. “Dracarys” Aemond yells, as his mighty steed approaches the two duelling dragons, sending Sunfyre and Aegon crashing to the ground. It doesn't feel like an accident.
We sense he was hoping to take out a Black dragon and couldn’t believe his luck when his feckless brother entered the fight, allowing for a political assassination easily explained away in the fire and fury of a dragon duel.
Undeterred, Rhaenys then courageously orders Meleys to attack Vhagar, with hundreds of men watching on as the two beasts tussle in the air above them. It’s an awesome spectacle and Rhaenys looks broken as she wheels as both dragons come crashing to the ground. Yet Vhagar is far from finished and ambushes her as she approaches the sea, in a similar manner to fashion to that in which he dispatched Arrax and Lucerys.
After the opening of this tale back in 2022, it feels like we're finally getting what we signed up for with this terrifying face-off. It's the most stunning set piece Ryan Condal & Co. have produced so far.
As Rhaenys plummets to her death, Aemond seeks out the charred and battered body of his brother Aegon, lying in the wreckage of Sunfyre. In doing so he picks up the catspaw dagger - which is inscribed with The Song of Ice and Fire. Aegon never spoke Valyrian and no one explained what the markings meant to him, but Aemond is a far more serious prospect as it's keeper.
House of the Dragon season 2 continues on HBO on Sunday, July 14 in the US and on Sky Atlantic and NOW on Monday, July 15 in the UK. Each new episode will air at the same time weekly. You may already have HBO as part of your cable plan but if not, several live TV streaming services offer it as add-on packages. Sling TV, DirecTV and YouTube TV offer it, if you pay a little more each month.
If you don't need to watch House of the Dragon season 2 live, then you can catch it on demand using the streaming service Max, which costs $9.99 per month for its basic tier or $16.99 per month for its ad-free one.
Each episode of the new season of House of the Dragon will hit Max after it airs on HBO. The first season of the show is also all on Max for you to watch.
