House of the Dragon’s second episode this season really makes a hard case to get both the Small Folk of King’s Landing and us, the audience, to start rooting for Team Green. After the horrifying events of last week’s episode, the show wisely puts the spotlight on the characters, as opposed to the action. Some may find this slow or tedious, but considering how rushed seasons 7 and 8 of Game of Thrones were, making sure we understand the pain and fear of these characters is really important for the events to come.

Much like the death of Viserys last season, this episode opens up with Ramin Djawadi’s hauntingly sorrowful score, accompanying the Red Keep in the early morning. Whereas Viserys’ death was preceded by routine and the mundane, the castle is in a state of fear and confusion after the death of the young Prince. Dogs are sniffing everything, guards are rounding up the people, and Aegon II Targaryen is absolutely livid, openly declaring war on his half-sister for killing the heir to the Iron Throne. Tom Glynn-Carney is crushing it this season as Aegon, a spoiled brat who essentially had his heart ripped out of him. It’s a delicate balance, as we have to sympathize with Aegon right now despite his history and Glynn-Carney has been more than up to the task.

Whether it’s having a quiet moment of sadness to himself, destroying his father’s prized miniature Valeryrian city, or firing Otto Hightower as Hand of King, we can understand every action Aegon takes, even if we may not agree with all of them considering the situation and by having the full picture. The scene with Otto, in particular, was one of the many standouts for acting in this episode, with him criticizing the King/his grandson on the knee-jerk reactions he’s been taking that will only cause the Small Folk to hate him.

The other acting highlight this week was between Rhaenyra and Daemon. When Rhaenyra hears about the death of Jaehaerys and that the Greens blame her for the act, she’s in utter disbelief. She’s a mother who just lost a child and would never wish that pain on any other mother, especially her former best friend Alicent, despite their disagreement. But she quickly learns that Daemon sent assassins to kill Aemond on her request and said assassins instead opted to kill a child; something Daemon seems to have no remorse or sympathy about. The pair trade barbs, with Rhaenyra chastising Daemon over the act which will likely cause many of her sworn lords to abandon her as she attempts to raise an army and accuses him of questioning her claim to the throne as being King was always something Daemon wanted. In my opinion, Emma D’arcy and Matt Smith delivered award-worthy performances in this scene.

Both Alicent and Helaena are forced, more or less against their will, to follow the funeral procession to be symbols for the Small Folk, per the guidance of Otto Hightower. He seeks to undermine Rhaenyra by painting her as a cruel villain and weaponizes the family’s grief. Elsewhere in the episode, Cristen Cole really shows his hypocrisy by chastising Ser Arryk for failing to protect the late prince, grilling him on the sacred duty of his oath; all while it was he who was breaking his oath of chastity (again) with Alicent during the horrific act. Cole’s just the worst, and in a move to try and “redeem” Arryk, he sends him to Dragonstone to assassinate Rhaenyra by impersonating his twin brother, Ser Erryk. So of course, the plan fails, thanks to Mysaria noticing the twin upon her departure. Both brothers die in a duel, with Erryk literally falling on his sword after killing his brother to protect his queen.

And that’s what seems to be the point of this show; for every act, there’s a response. I can see why some viewers may find this frustrating, that show focuses so much on the aftermath of an event, but it’s in these moments of rash decision-making and unravelling information that these characters really get put through the ringer, creating some important moments of both development and of narrative progression. If we jumped straight into an action scene after last week’s episode, we’d miss out on critical nuances that make us actually care about what’s going on and allow us to get invested in the current conflict. We just also happen to get treated to some quality top-tier acting in the process and in my opinion, that’s a win-win. Having read the book Fire and Blood, we’ll be getting all the action soon enough and having this foundation will only work in the show’s favour.