‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2, episode 4 recap: It’s best to just be nice to your siblings

By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — Congratulations! You made it through the first battle episode of the season unscathed.

The chaotic fourth episode of “House of the Dragon” Season 2 marks a major turning point in the Dance of the Dragons, with King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), Rhaenys (Eve Best) and two dragons coming out of the epic Battle of Rook’s Rest not so unscathed. It also feels like a good opportunity to remember that teasing Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) is always a bad idea. Like, a really, really bad idea.

The episode picks up with Daemon (Matt Smith) at Harrenhal waiting for Grover Tully to die so his grandson can inherit his authority and help Daemon procure an army. Daemon also summons the Blackwoods to Harrenhal, while Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) is gathering the Brackens for his army as they head to Rook’s Rest.

King Aegon finds out about Daemon claiming Harrenhal, and he’s mad. Adding to his ire is his additional discovery that Aemond and Criston have been “plotting” war games without his authority, which is revealed when Aemond says that Criston is preparing an attack at Rook’s Rest instead of going for Harrenhal.

The petulant King confides in Alicent (Olivia Cooke), who only offers tough love – if that’s what you want to call it – and tells him to pretty much do “nothing” at this point.

Meanwhile, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) returns to Dragonstone and fills in her cranky small council about her attempted peace talks with Alicent, the outcome of which she says has left her with only two options: win her bid for the throne or die.

Empowered by her revelatory chat with Alicent that she indeed is King Viserys’ rightful heir, Rhaenyra is ready to tap into their dragon power and head to Rook’s Rest. Rhaenys volunteers to fly into battle with Meleys, Team Black’s largest dragon.

In a dramatic montage, Rhaenyra tells her heir Jacaerys (Harry Collett) about Aegon the Conqueror’s prophetic dream, Rhaenys gives Meleys a pre-battle pep talk, and King Aegon, of course, can’t just sit around and do nothing so he hops on Sunfyre and flies out to Rook’s Rest.

Rhaenys and Meleys make it there first, unleashing fire on Criston’s army on the ground.

But Criston and Aemond expected this and they have a plan. Only Criston knows that Aemond and the dragon Vhagar are hiding out in the forest waiting for their cue, so he sends Aemond the signal once he spots Rhaenys on her dragon. Not part of the plan, however, is King Aegon flying in on Sunfyre, which causes Criston to momentarily panic.

Meleys wounds Sunfyre pretty badly and a struggle ensues. King Aegon is just trying to hang on when Aemond swoops in and fires off a “dracarys,” seemingly aimed in Aegon’s direction. As Vhagar’s fire reaches the King and his dragon, they fall to the ground.

With Sunfyre out of the picture, Vhagar and Meleys tumble through the sky in a ball of fire as they continue their pursuit of each other in a real nail-biter of a sequence. Rhaenys knows she is playing a zero-sum game but continues fighting for Team Black, circling the skies until Vhagar inevitably kills Meleys.

In a devastating slow-motion shot, Rhaenys and Meleys fall from the sky. The massive explosion they land in seals their fate.

Dazed, Criston later finds Aemond in the woods looking over King Aegon, who is lying limp on the ground next to a sputtering Sunfyre.

Elsewhere in Westeros

• Alicent drinks a big cup of moon tea, leaving us to assume that she believed she was pregnant with Criston’s baby. 
• Rattled by her meeting with Rhaenyra, Alicent questions whether King Viserys truly wanted King Aegon to succeed him.
• Young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) and Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell) make cameos when they appear in Daemon’s strange visions. 
• Daemon also chats with Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) again, who tells him that Harrenhal is haunted with spirits and questions whether he’s trying to prove his own claim against his own wife.

Aemond’s betrayal of King Aegon here seemed deliberate, as opposed to simply opportunistic. Maybe he was still upset about being teased at the brothel and is just that petty.

Or maybe, something much more sinister is at play.

“House of the Dragon” airs Sunday nights on Max, which like CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.

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