House of the Dragon 2x08 "The Queen Who Ever Was" review

    HOUSE OF THE DRAGON "The Queen who Ever Was" 2x08 is the final episode of season two of House of the Dragon. It has been a controversial season afflicted with numerous delays, budget cuts, and issues over the writers' strike. As such, it ended up having a gap year between the first season and second that sucked out a lot of momentum from the series. Unfortunately, we're going to be having another gap year with no House of the Dragon in 2025. This is somewhat alleviated by the fact that we will have a six episode season of DUNK AND EGG to tide us over.

    So, how was the final episode of the season? Well, it was okay. Unfortunately, this episode is going to go down in history of A Song of Ice and Fire canon as an infamous series of choices. It's a fine episode with a lot of drama as well as fine acting but it feels very much like the 8th episode in a ten episode season. This is something I felt immediately after watching it and have seen echoed on various social media platforms. It's not that it's bad, it's that it should have a climax that it just doesn't.

    The premise for this episode is the set up for taking King's Landing. Daemon Targaryen has finally assembled the host necessary to invade (way after it would have done any good) and receives his final Harrenhal vision: one of Game of Thrones' Daenerys Targaryen as well as the White Walkers. Linking Aegon's Conquest and now the Dance of the Dragons to the events of the original series has always been a controversial choice (I'm going to use that word multiple times) but I think it is fundamentally an apology from HBO. It is an acknowledgement that Daeny was the Prince who was Promised who saved the world, no matter what happened afterward or how stupid. Either way, Daemon renews his fealty to Rhaenyra and the show is better for it.

    Aemond is finding his rulership of King's Landing falling apart as he is incapable of leadership that doesn't involve taking revenge. He scorns the Smallfolk and punishes a loyalist town to Rhaenyra for no reason other than to salve his ego after being forced to retreat. He attempts to marshal his sister, Helaena, against Rhaenyra's dragons but she has no desire to burn anyone. Worse, she uses her gift of prophecy to say that Aegon will once again sit on the Iron Throne. Also, that Aemond will disappear in the God's Eye of Harrenhal.

    The bastard dragon riders are also proving an uneasy fit for Dragonstone. Addam of Hull and Hugh Hammer are doing fine, mostly understanding that you should keep your mouth closed and your ears sharp. However, Ulff the White is getting himself into no end of trouble with the Crown Prince as Jace despises the bastards for reminding him of his own misbegotten heritage. Ironically, this makes me like Jace a great deal more as he reminds me of Book Jon Snow a lot more than the final seasons of GOT Snow. 

    Rhaenyra is finally starting to remember her Fire and Blood persona as the power of having multiple dragon riders under her command immediately goes to her head. She plans on destroying Lannisport and Oldtown, no longer caring about avoiding mass civilian casaulties. You can also sense that she's not reading the room correctly with the fact she promises to make them knights if they serve her well. Given any knight can knight another and there are, in fact poor knights in Westeros, this is a ridiculous undervaluing of their services. The seeds are definitely sewn for some bastardly treason.

    The most controversial decision this season (see, I used that word again) was definitely the arrival of Alicent Hightower for yet another clandestine meeting. This meeting is one that the Fire and Blood Alicent Hightower would have never made because it ends with her deciding to betray the Green faction to Rhaenyra. Worse, she is willing to give up both Aegon as well as Aemond to Rhaenyra's now twisted sense of "justice." It puts a new spin on her meeting with her earlier this evening as she never intended to spare Aegon if he surrendered.

    In conclusion, the episode was fine. Just fine. The lack of a Battle of the Gullet or taking of King's Landing leaves it feeling like a poor finale. It just feels like there's more set up in a season that was full of set up. With the revelation that there's only four seasons, this means that the subsequent two seasons will be stuffed but I'm not sure they'll ever get to the action proper.