House of the Dragon | "The Burning Mill" | Recap & Review

*SPOILERS AHEAD!

Like any fantasy show set in the medieval time-ish, this episode opens with some [presumably] teenage lords and/or knights bickering over the border between team black and team green. Which is obviously Rhaenyra and Aegon's camp, respectivley. Did this remind anyone else of making imaginary borders of a "safe space" playing with your friends outside, whether it was tag or hide and seek? Anyway, moments later, bodies are piled up as far as the eye can see. With the...burning mill, in the background. I'm assuming we'll get this explained to us later right? Cool.

The conversation following between Rhaenyra and Rhaenys is interesting because Rhaenys is trying to explain that none of this-in her opinion- had anything to do with Alicent, but rather "the men around her." IThis quote really stuck out to me becuase I am trying to figure out why Rhaenys is maybe protecting Alicent or that maye she is trying to prevent Rhaenyra from doing something she'll regret. Rhaenys also mentioned all of the things leading up to this point that may have started what's to come. I am sure everyone who participated in those actions regret it- more or less.

I was also interested to see how Ser Criston Cole was going to handle his first few chores as not only the commander fo the king's gaurd, but now the hand of the king. As he make shis way to the small council chamber, he notices some knew members of the king's gaird, and you can already tell he's not going to like some of the decisions King Aegon is going to make, and has already made for that matter. While in the council, Cole seems pretty haste and conident in his decision to not only send Erryk to try and murder Rhaenyra, but also his decision and plan to ride out and try and gain some favor in the Riverlands. I am also weirdly surprised or fascinated by Aegon's confidence and the way he's handling his seat, while some of his actions may be blinded by his age, he seems to have a pretty good grasp on- at least for now- deligating his small council and let them handle what they're good at.

By the way, we did find out who was "battling at the burning mill"... get it? It was the families of Blackwood (fighting for tem black) and Bracken (fighting for team green). Criston Cole said in the small council that the Riverlands are going to be the key to the war, and thus claiming Harrenhal. Speaking of which, we finally see Daemon land there with absolutley no one to greet him. The Strongs that remain there are pretty harmless and Daemon didn't have much resistance "claiming" the castle. If you ever read and/or followed along when we did "The Stalking Dead", you'll know I am a sucker for flashbacks, but I'm also a sucker when prequels start connecting itself to the main story that we know- like things we also saw in GoT. We find out that Harrenhal was somehow burned by the Aegon the conquerer. I say "somehow" like that becuase apprently it is constantly wet and raining all the time, like Seattle. I think I also mentioned that I have yet to read the books, so a lot of this is all new to me as it is happening. Also, I am going to hold off talking about Daemon's dreams/visions that he had becuase I feel like there might be more to them, or maybe not but they were interesting.

Like we saw in episode two, the "parent trap" twin trick that Erryk used, Rhaenrya was able to dress and disguese as a septa to sneak into King's Landing, also with the help of Mysaria- the very mysterious, former FWB of Daemon. So far, this is almost a season of trickery and disguese. Rhaenyra was able to reach Alicent in the sept where she does her daily(?) prayers and lighting cnadles. Honestly, I like the deceit so far in the couple episodes that we've seen it. This time, obviously, it was [trying] to be used for good. Rhaenyra tries to convince Alicent that what she heard from her father was from a prophecy and had nothing to do with making Aegon king. Alicent claims it is too late as the wheels of war have started and that they already have forces mobilized. This scene is where the episode leaves it, so I wonder if Alicent will try and stop other actions before they get started. The look on her face kind of reflected that she may have believed what Rhaenyra was saying and that maybe team green has make a big mistake. We shall see.

We now come to the point of grading this episode. As we are hearing towards the war between team black and team green, this episode just had more of a heart-beating really fast type of vibe. Still, we are seeing things and characters being built up, which some still may see as boring. But overall I feel like this is so far the best of the three episodes so far. I would give this episode a solid B. Like I said last recap, I really enjoyed the twin trap used by Erryk vs. Arryk. And I really enjoyed the small- yet tense filled- reunion between Rhaenyra and Alicent. Probably not the reunion people were wanting or even expecting, but they used to be best friends and now on opposides sides of a war to come.