And I’m back! After a nice little vacation, one of the first things on my to-do list once unpacked was to catch up on the highly anticipated return of HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff, House of the Dragon. It’s been two years since the Targaryen Civil War’s inciting incident happened and we definitely wanted to see what the fallout of that would be. Would there be a chance at peace or would things only get worse? Book readers know, but now TV viewers are in the know as well.

After showcasing a new opening crawl (featuring a tapestry as opposed to the bloodlines from season one), the first thing that stood out to me wasn’t anything to do with the plot but with production. I was critical of House of the Dragon’s first season’s production value, citing some clunky VFX when it came time for showcasing cities like King’s Landing. Season two, which is filming in many new locations this time, immediately feels like it’s rectifying this problem. There’s more outdoor shots, the VFX is better and the colour correction makes the scenes feel richer. With the departure of Miguel Sapochnik as co-showrunner, Ryan Condol is in complete control here and has brought on Game of Thrones vet Alan Taylor to not only help produce the series, but also direct the premiere. All this works to make the second season, thus far, feel more like the original Game of Thrones in terms of its production values and scope.

We start not in the South, but with shots of Winterfell and the Wall, with Jacaerys (sporting a new haircut) meeting up with Cregan Stark to call them to arms. It’s here where Jace learns of the murder of his brother Lucerys by Aemond, something that Daemon and Rhaenyra have been privy to for days already. Both are handling the situation differently, with Emma Darcy’s Rhaenyra being in a state of grief and denial for most of the episode. Darcy doesn’t say a lot verbally but speaks volumes with her performance nonetheless. Daemon (Matt Smith) is quick to resort to violence and has no real moral compass to keep him in check, despite Rhenys’ attempts to encourage a path not guided by vengeance. Of course, said guidance will not be taken and the situation will only get worse.

Meanwhile, in King’s Landing (always an impressive set), the newly crowned King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney, crushing it), actually seems to be setting into being a King better than we may have thought. His first base instinct is…to be kind and merciful to the townsfolk? So much so that Otto Hightower has to chide him to not give back sheep to a farmer, as his dragons will need the meat for the war to come.

His mother, Alicent, has become much more intimate with Christen Cole but remains confrontational towards her son Aemond, the best warrior on their side, for inadvertently starting the war. I think Alicent would 100% take an opportunity for peace at this point if the chance presented itself, she offers a prayer to Lucerys and is clearly distraught about what’s happened and the fear of what could happen. In a great scene, she actually challenges her controlling father about how she has to be seen in the eyes of her sons and it’s great to see Alicent be more in control of her life. But I don’t think she anticipated just how far the Blacks would go when it came time for revenge.

Ramin Djawadi once again does the score and as always, his music is always a positive for the episode. But he really brought out the big guns for the Blood and Cheese sequence towards the end, which saw the composer channelling horror tones to build uncomfortable tension. Daemon elected to fulfill Rhynera’s wish of having Aemond killed in response to the death of Lucerys. With the help of the White Worm, Daemon hires two killers, never named but identified as Blood and Cheese in the book, to kill the prince and take his head, with an open-ended order to do as they see fit depending on circumstances. But the two killers elect to kill Aemond’s infant nephew, Jaehaerys instead. The act of decapitation thankfully happens off-screen, but the sound effects and the look of shocked horror on his mother’s face honestly make the scene that much more horrifying. It’s surely a moment that’ll rank with the likes of The Red Wedding for the shock value but takes the cake for being the darkest thing depicted since Shireen being burned alive in Game of Thrones. The scene is a little different than in the book, with some aspects I prefer in Geroge R.R. Martin’s faux-history Fire and Blood and other bits coming off stronger in the show, but all the horror and tension are still present regardless. With this act now having been committed, all chances of peace are off the table now, with two children now dead as a result of the other (and no army has even been mobilized yet).

House of the Dragon returned with a solid premiere that set the stage for the season to come while also raising the stakes even higher. Production values and design are noticeably improved and all the actors involved once again do a fantastic job in their respective roles. It’s good to be back in Westeros.