11 Great Moments From "House Of The Dragon" S2, And 11 Moments That Had Me Wishing I Was Trapped In Harrenhal

As a horror fan, I'd argue that "The Bronze Fury" unleashing fire on potential riders was the most well-done scene in the entire season. They allowed it to breathe, lasting a little over ten minutes, which built suspense and left me on the edge of my seat.

The best glimpse at Vermithor's horrific size from Season 1 was when Daemon walked in the dark with a torch while singing. Season 2 showed just how untameable the second-largest dragon was. It wasn't a queue line of bastards going one at a time to test their worth—it was a slaughter. It was terrifying and incredible television.

The scene ended on an uplifting note, with Hugh Hammer standing up to the giant dragon and the dragon selecting him as his rider.

"It's hammer time," Hugh said, nodding. (I'm sure HotD fans would love dialogue like that)

Speaking of loving horror, everything with Daemon's arc really fell flat. I am not into the character as much as the internet, but everything with his story felt bathroom-break-worthy.

Not every story arc will be loved, but a character going off alone can be hit or miss, especially in high fantasy. Daemon's time roaming the haunted halls of Harrenhal was necessary for the planned plot. Characters constantly regress and progress, but Daemon has always been a "him first" character.

We'll see how long this new "about the cause" Daemon lasts because, like other inconsistencies in this show, the second he decides to do something for himself and not the good of Rhaenyra, every boring haunting happening in Season 2 will mean nothing.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen. That's the tweet.

Episode 4 was the first that kept me on the edge of my seat, and Rhaenys was the MVP. The episode had the perfect build-up from beginning to end, and Rhaenys was a character no one was ready to lose, but everyone felt the end coming. Outnumbered and outsized, the dread began when Vhagar showed that old, crusty dragon face.

The moment Rhaenys looked at an escape route only to turn around and fight a battle she knew she would lose was the ultimate "going out on one's shield" moment. Top-tier moments like this keep your hopes up for every episode, even if some lows are in the mix.

One of the silliest moments was Rhaenyra saying, "A son for a son."

Queen? You killed the son of the son you want to kill. What???

It makes perfect sense that she must kill Aegon to earn the throne with no future pushback, but to evoke the expression that had already been paid and got her into this messy season in the first place was really out of character and made no sense.

There were a lot of "lows" in the final episode, and this one might have taken me out the most.

I'm sure people will complain about Rhaenyra being M.I.A. in the first episode, but I thought this was a great look at her character and how she mourned the murder of her son.

Her seeking closure by searching for any sign of his death was heart-breaking but also layered. As the viewer, you wonder if she's in denial or just trying to get away from everyone as she mourns. She eventually finds part of his uniform and knows for sure he is gone. For me, the raw emotion and non-typical way of dealing with the death of a loved one was a highlight of Episode 1.

It might be an unpopular opinion, but I hated the vision of the future.

I don't like fan service. I don't like meta. I don't like this scene.

As you've already read, I was no fan of Daemon's storyline, so to have the copout of him only going back to his loyalty of Rhaenyra because Mr. Flip-Flopper basically received Reddit GOT spoilers via vision is kind of a middle finger to the viewer.

Wow. Episode 7 blew me away, but the final shot of Rhaenyra flanked by an army of dragons was peak entertainment.

For the first time in the show, it felt like Team Black not only had a chance but also moved up the leaderboard in the battle for the Iron Throne. Vhagar retreating like a punk was great. Aemond's unsettled reaction to the sight of all the dragons was A+. The music was fire. Everything was goosebump-worthy.

It made me extremely excited for the finale...which...

The finale had a lot wrong with it. Alicent, noddingly agreeing to the demise of her son (the king), could easily have been on this list, but there is a moment far worse. I hated the meta moment of her and Rhaenyra talking about Alicent's name in the history books even more.

We get it. The show is probably veering off from the source material and has to acknowledge it with some soft fourth wall breaking. Keep meta stuff out of the script. It was by far the most eye-rolling moment in the show.

As someone who did not read the book, Addam's reveal as a dragon rider was completely out of left field. It was a welcome surprise, and the suspense built as Seasmoke approached him, morphing into the realization that the dragon was choosing him...*chef's kiss* five out of five stars.

This felt like a MASSIVE moment that deserved way more lead-up and screen time, but it was still a great scene.

Speaking of Addam-Seasmoke not getting enough screen time, one thing in Episode 6 that seemed too out of left field was the romantic kiss between Rhaenyra and Mysaria.

It could have been cut entirely, but if there are future stakes to this potentially blossoming romance, the writers did a poor job building chemistry between these two. The scenes they share together leading up to the kiss have the sexual chemistry of two walls of drying paint. The acting ability is there, so it's a shame the story didn't leave more breadcrumbs.

We'll see if this ever pays off, but it was a weaker moment with an awful build-up.

Alyn's existence feels familiar to the high fantasy world but new to the story. A smallfolk bastard forced to work under his royal father, Corlys, deserves more screen time. Again, Corlys was another character sidelined this season while his ship was fixed, so Alyn didn't have much to do.

Abubakar Salim's performance left me wanting more. Perhaps Season 3 will finally offer some sea battles.

There is the "Queen that Never Was," and then there is the "Ship No One Asked For." The reveal of Alicient and Criston's sexual relationship had great shock value and made sense between the two characters based on their fragile state.

This felt like it went nowhere, and if it had been a collection of deleted scenes instead, it doesn't feel like it would create any major holes in the plot. Both characters actually had great moments in the season (Especially Olivia Cooke's acting. Let her "Cooke"), so this was a very forgettable element of the overall story.

To ensure the traitorous ratcatcher who helped kill Jaehaerys receives punishment, King Aegon hangs every castle ratcatcher for all of King's Landing to see.

This scene is so good plot-wise that its consequences are crucial to the story. Because of this, Team Green loses Otto Hightower as the Hand (Aegon robbing us of some great Rhys Ifans acting) and the trust of the smallfolk.

The visuals are alarming, and seeing the corpse of Cheese is great. We, as the audience, know, but Aegon doesn't...and it doesn't matter to him. He took his revenge by not allowing any doubt. The smallfolk crying over the innocent men is chilling.

While the scene of Blood and Cheese killing the child Prince Jaehaerys was brutally well executed in making the collective stomachs of the audience churn, how it went down felt a little questionable.

Phia Saban's performance as Helaena demonstrated tremendous acting chops, but her gesture toward the son felt like it needed something else. These shows are all about twists and turns. Why didn't the writers have Blood and Cheese questioning way more about whether Halaena had lied about which child was the boy? Why wouldn't the assassins just kill both to be sure? Do you know what a man willing to kill a kid in a crib is willing to do? Kill two kids.

It may seem like a throwaway scene, but the scene where Otto Hightower explains to Aegon why a king can't simply give the people what they want was very well done. It actually made viewers think Aegon could make a decent king.

Little moments like this provide insight into the crown/smallfolk relationship, and showed a side of Aegon we haven't seen yet. They tease his influence on the people in his ear and how it will mold him as a king. Bonus: we are also introduced to Hugh Hammer.

With a show with so many characters, screen time is everything. The end of Season 1 and the first two episodes devoted a good chunk of screen time to the twins, and the payoff was borderline: "Oh no...anyway."

All the great tension built with Blood and Cheese was followed by a Diet Coke version of the episode before.

I guess Otto Hightower was right when he called this a "prank." Me complaining about killing characters off too early? Welcome to the GOT universe, I guess.

Sure, Criston Cole may be foolish, but his response to the devastation shows how powerless a man can feel in the presence of a war between dragons.

Episode 4 had a lot of great action, but the brief look at the ruin left behind by dragons fighting was amazing. Seeing it all through Cole's eyes upped the ante for how bloody a war between dragons could be. Smallfolk claim dragons are like gods, and after seeing a soldier turned to ash, it's hard to disagree.

Backtracking to that awful vision sequence, I hated that Haleana (who deserves more screentime) was present to reassure Daemon (who deserves less screentime...I said it, fight me) that he has a part to play is so BAD.

There are things I don't like, but then there are things I think are bad. Using a character to push other characters and their arcs forward isn't a very good approach when the "pusher" isn't even used.

Also, let us ignore that Daemon is the one who put the hit on Haelena's child. I guess all is well in the convenient vision world.

It's such a small and simple scene, but Rhaenyra providing the smallfolk of King's Landing with food care packages was a highlight.

It is another one of those little moments that affects every storyline. We see what Hugh Hammer is willing to do to feed his family and the fallout from the higher-ups on Team Green. Team Black, coming off as givers to the people, drives a wedge between the smallfolk and the current sitters of the Iron Throne.

Also, hattip to smallfolk. Not everything has to be about the throne.

This was a great scene for Aemond and Aegon's brother dynamic, but I don't think we needed to see a very fake ding-dong in the process.

Not Aemond's. Good for you, man.

I'm talking about having to see a curtain pulled back to unveil a clearly prosthetic slong being orally pleasured by a brothel woman.

X-rated content aside, it's like seeing a Starbucks cup in Westeros. The phoniness of the ding-a-ling was enough to take me out of the show. They should have tried CGI, and maybe it would have looked a little more authentic.

#CGIseason3Peen Make it happen (but, seriously, don't make it happen).

I imagine fans weren't happy with this meeting, but I thought it was a great subversion. There was suspense while they spoke, and I waited for someone to recognize her. With a dagger to her side, capture meant the death of both characters, which would have been WILD, but my belief was indeed suspended for this nerve-racking conversation.

Alicent learned about the mix-up with the whole story of Aegon the Conquerer from a dying Viserys. Now, both Alicent and Rhaenyra know about the mishap. It changed the game (of thrones, lol) and would alter how Alicent views the bloodshed.

As mentioned earlier, the assassination of Prince Jaehaerys should be the major inciting incident of the season, one that is constantly looked back on. However, it feels like an afterthought following episode 2.

If you look at political propaganda and talking points in modern politics today, something like this would be spoken in almost every sentence. Daemon had a baby assassinated in a crib, but the show plays it off as him with a f*ck boi smile like, "Oopsie, I guess accidents happen."

It feels like this should have been more than just an inciting incident, and Team Green (and those appalled in Team Black) should have referenced it way more.