Warning: This review contains spoilers for House of the Dragon season 2 episode 8 Finally the tide has turned for the blacks. The House of the Dragon season 2 finale begins with the dragonseeds now embedded in palace life and turning the numbers decidedly in Rhaenyra’s favor. But this leaves the queen with a choice: either she must hope that her collection of dragons is enough of a deterrent or she must strike now on King’s Landing to try and take her kingdom back.
It’s an intriguing moral quandary that sees the Dragon Queen navigating many of the same questions her future relative Daenerys Targaryen will - can she sentence thousands of innocents to death in the name of the greater good? Emma D’Arcy is wonderful at steering this breadth of feeling for Rhaenyra, who now finally feels as confident as her season 1 self. Yet, even they can’t solve the problem that the finale wastes its entire 69-minute runtime with her contemplating her choice, rather than acting on it. This, as we’ve discussed throughout the season 2 run, is nothing new.
The pacing has been the biggest victim of the cut-down sophomore season, which has often felt sluggish and repetitive. The finale continues the pattern, with its first half plodding along with new storylines before its superior second half rattles through the fascinating threads. Ultimately the unbalanced narrative results in an ending that’s all set-up and no conclusion.
Storytelling There are a fair amount of fresh elements to ju.