‘House of the Dragon’ – ‘The Burning Mill’ – Review
War looms on the horizon for all of Westeros. Following the death of the innocent and the deceptions and blood of other men, the Greens and the Blacks are on a tightrope of tension and conflict, and Episode Three of Season Two, ‘The Burning Mill’, strikes the match for the wars to come.
As ancient grudges resurface, Rhaenys suggests that Alicent may see reason while the men around her seek bloodshed. Daemon arrives at Harrenhal to raise an army.
The war that will come to be known as the Dance of the Dragons has finally kicked off in Episode Three, ‘The Burning Mill’, and it’s a bloody and brutal start to a horror that will see all of Westeros burn. Houses Bracken and Stonewood, two noble houses possessed of a long-standing, generational feud, take it upon themselves to draw the first sword, each of them representing the Greens and the Blacks. And with that, the war has begun. Notified of this is Ser Criston Cole (Fabian Frabkel), Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and now Hand of the King. And his mind weighs heavy. While Cole may be the quintessential Knight in Shining Armour’, his behaviour has been anything but, and he’s in over his head and trying to control the whims of his temperamental monarch, King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), whose boastful taunts hide a weak and decrepit ruler who is ready to sow all kinds of destruction in his wake.
While the first blows of the Dance of the Dragons have been struck with the Blacks drawing the victory, at great cost, at the Battle of the Burning Mill, ‘The Burning Mill’ is an important moment for introducing several new characters. These include Ser Simon Strong (Sir Simon Russell Beale), the insightful, noble castellan of Harrenhal, who appears to see the game at hand between the Greens and the Blacks; Ser Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox), Queen Alicent Hightower’s (Olivia Cooke) arrogant and impetuous brother, and a noted knight whose cavalier attitude sends him into a conflict with the reserved and taut Ser Christian Cole; and Ulf White (Tom Bennett), a braggart denizen of Kings Landing, whose boasts of his royal heritage as a bastard of the Targaryen line, and who will have to walk a clever line if he wishes to keep his head.
While much of the tension and drama of House of the Dragon draws from the political squabbles and sizeable battle of wits and wills, ‘The Burning Mill’ takes audiences out into the fields, and director Geeta Patel lets the dragons loose. While engaged in a moment of tactical conflict, Ser Christian Cole and Ser Gwayne Hightower come upon the rage and force of Lady Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia), the elder daughter of Prince Daemon Targaryen and Lady Laena Velaryon and skilled dragon rider eager to prove herself. Audiences will be swept up in the force and vehemence of this epic chase scene, and by the end of it, they will fully realise the might and threat of the Targaryen dragons and just how dangerous this new conflict is.
Season Two of House of the Dragon has begun to take its characters in a new direction, and one of the biggest pushes comes to Matt Smith’s Prince Daemon Targaryen. And he’s not the man we once knew. Having quarrelled with his wife and queen and decided to tame the Riverlands himself, Daemon arrives at Harrenhal and, in the darkness, shadows and excessive rain, is forced to confront the sins of his past. Ever since it was burned to a ruin by the Targryens, Harrenhal has been a place of horrors and ghosts, and we see Daemon contend with these supernatural forces, which shines a light on the fact that he is no longer the same person from Season One. Still dangerous and deadly in his physical prowess, it is Daemon’s mind that is now beginning to fracture, and with his frayed relationship with Queen Rhaenyra at play, it is clear that we’re witnessing a shift in the mighty Rogue Prince. And this will have damning consequences to follow.
There is considerable drama and tension at play in ‘The Burning Mill’, and the episode hinges on its third act and an unexpected meeting between two Queens. At one time, Rhaenyra and Alicent were the best of friends, almost existing as sisters, but now their two camps are in a growing conflict, and even though their meeting is a last-ditch effort by Rhaenyra to avoid war. It’s now too late. The performances of Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke are on fire in this scene; the dramatic strain that is shared between them is a foreshadowing of things to come.
‘The Burning Mill’ sets the stage for the war to come, and with Alicent’s final words, it is made clear to Rhaenyra and all watching that all of Westeros will now burn.
Season Two of House of the Dragon is now streaming on Neon and SKY TV.
Image: SKY TV
