The clock moved ever closer to all-out war in the third episode of House of the Dragon’s second season, with “first blood” now being drawn and forces on the march. Yet the show admittedly did feel like it was spinning its wheels a bit, despite the threat and fear of a war between two unstable families with an arsenal of dragons at their disposal.

In many respects, The Burning Mill felt like a precursor, or a warning, of things to come. The episode opens up with two lesser families entering into a dispute about the line of succession, each family pledging fealty to either team Black or Green. With bad blood already something these two families have put up with for a thousand years, with the cause of their dispute being long forgotten, each side has been looking for a reason to fight and fight they shall…off-screen that is. But I understand why we didn’t see the battle, despite it being the first true opening from a combatant perspective in the Civil War. None of our principal characters were involved in this battle; they were literally peasants and teenagers we’d never seen before.

After tensions flare, the show cuts to the aftermath of the battle, with hundreds, if not thousands, lying dead in the grass and water in the name of one of the Targaryen rulers. These small folk have never met, let alone seen, one of the Targaryens I’m sure, yet were willing to die en-masse for them. This is something season two of House of the Dragon seems adamant about showcasing; how this war and its many upcoming battles (which hopefully we’ll actually get to see), affects the small folk of Westeros.

This opening salvo, in combination with previous acts of violence, causes Rhaenyra to consider her role in the current state of affairs. She’s constantly advised, mainly by older men, to unleash hell upon the usurpers, but as a mother and a Queen, she is extremely unsure about where to take this conflict. Her Small Council members seem to be ultra moronic and/or annoying, and one has to wonder if the writers are trying to intentionally belittle them in order to frame Rhaenyra in a better light. She believes Alicent and herself don’t want the conflict to go any further. So, in a last-minute attempt to appeal to reason, she smuggles herself back into King’s Landing to speak to Alicent in person in the Grand Sept, the one place the Queen Dowager is alone. However moronic going back to King’s Landing was (and it was), I applaud the attempt by Rhaenyra to try and de-escalate and communicate with the opposition, as so far much of this conflict has boiled down to miscommunication.

On that note, though, it’s the mix-up between which Aegon is Aegon that got the most attention in the end, as Alicent revealed that Viserys mentioned the Prince That Was Promised on his deathbed. Rhaenyera clued in that her father was talking about Aegon The Conqueror, causing Alicent to realize that her late husband may, in fact, not have been talking about their son. Alicent’s reaction upon realizing the massive mistake on her part was gold. But what does that matter anymore? Both women know they can’t back down now, as Alicent has her pride and Rhaenyra knows for sure now that her father wanted the line to persist (stop naming your kids Aegon!). So the war will happen; blood has been spilled too many times now and too many men are out for revenge or glory. This war will not be contained, despite the efforts of the women at the heart of the conflict and I thought this last-ditch attempt at diplomacy was commendable, despite the odds being stacked against any hope for peace and the risk associated with entering the lion’s den. And the small folk shall suffer.

Elsewhere in the episode, Daemon finds himself at Harrenhall, the haunted and derelict castle seen in Game of Thrones, where he claims with no resistance the castle in the name of his wife. The Strongs, still custodians of the largest castle in Westeros, instantly bend the knee, yet Daemon remains skeptical about any assistance. What’s more though is he seems to be haunted by the whole Blood and Cheese ordeal, seeing a vision of young Rhaenyra holding the body of young Jaehaerys before being told by Alys Rivers that he’ll die in this place. Was all of this his guilty conscience or was it some dark magic by Rivers, who some say to be a witch? Regardless, nice to see Milly Alcock return as Rhaenyra again, even if only for a few seconds.

Meanwhile, Ser Shithead Criston Cole rides out with a small army in an attempt to claim Harrenhal for the Greens, not knowing Daemon has already laid claim to the castle. He’s joined by Alicent’s brother, Ser Gwayne, who instantly dislikes Cole, mainly because he’s the man who got his father’s job (Rhys Ifans is not in the opening credits; hopefully we get some more Otto Hightower soon; the show felt oddly empty without him). Them being chased down by Baela on dragonback was probably the closest we got to open conflict this episode, but she was able to actually see it was Cole as she chased him down and reported his movements to the Small Council, which prompted Rhaenyera’s desperate bid to Alicent, as open war is upon them, whether they’d risk it or not (sorry, couldn’t resist).

I do feel like this episode should’ve had a bit more sense of urgency and despair, all that being said though. The Battle of the Burning Mill showcased that this war will affect more than just the Targaryens and that it will hit hard, but I felt like this episode was spinning its wheels a bit, in that it felt like it was taking its time laying the foundation. Considering we’ve had a whole first season of set-up and there’s only five episodes left in this second season, I do think the fear of war should’ve at least dialled things up a bit. Rhaenyera may be doing her best to avert conflict, but everyone else felt like it was on a coffee break of sorts, including Aegon’s new Kingsguards. That said, I would imagine we’ll be getting the Battle of Rook’s Rest next week or the week after, so this sense of slowing things down shouldn’t last much longer. But as it stands, this was an interesting episode but it lacked the finesse and gravitas of last week’s outstanding episode and felt like it didn’t move things forward all that much.