House of the Dragon After watching the first three episodes of the second installment of , Ryan Condal’s staggeringly epic prequel, I was halfway through writing a rave review. Following a Season 1 conclusion that left my jaw on the floor (surely nothing could beat the sight of Elliot Grihault’s Prince Lucerys being mauled by Vhagar, as ridden by his uncle, ’s silver-haired, one-eyed Prince Aemond), the early episodes were promising, providing moments which echoed, if never quite matched, that heart-stopping sequence: there were brutal shocks, much visual spectacle, and a thrilling sense of ambiguity. After all, when Vhagar swallows Lucerys in a single gulp, what we see on Aemond’s face isn’t triumph, but shock.
Yes, the fearsome second son sometimes has the quality of a moustache-twirling pantomime villain, but he’s also the bullied, beleaguered young boy we met in the second half of Season 1, someone who was written off long ago and consequently feels he has nothing to lose. He’s also the fragile young man who sits, naked and in the fetal position, in the lap of a brothel worker in the second season’s second episode, “Rhaenyra the Cruel,” seeking comfort and telling her: “I do regret that business with Luke. I lost my temper that day.
I am sorry for it. They used to tease me, you know. Because I was different.
” In that moment, and largely thanks to Mitchell’s transfixing performance, you understand exactly who Aemond is—the prickly exterior he ne.
