House of the Dragon leaves no room for theories — they’re all doomed

polygon.com:

The season 2 premiere of House of the Dragon does viewers a kindness. Instead of following up on nearly every thread from the season 1 finale, “A Son for a Son” mainly concerns itself with one: the shocking death of young Lucerys and his dragon Arrax at the hands of his uncle Aemond. Perhaps it’s strange to call this grim opening “kind,” but in doing this the show is able to lead with feelings, not lore or politicking, although there’s plenty of that, too. Mostly, it’s a story about everyone realizing they started a war, and kind of regretting it.

This is in spite of Dragon’s opening moments on the Wall, hundreds of miles away from King’s Landing, where the bulk of the episode takes place. In this first scene, Jacaerys “Jace” Velaryon (Harry Collett) meets with Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor) to see what men of the Night’s Watch will join his mother Rhaenyra’s cause in the coming civil war. Cregan acquiesces, but not before musing a bit about the Wall and its purpose. The Night’s Watch in this show is not a dead-end job, as it is in Game of Thrones, but a noble calling, and its members remember what the Wall is for, at least symbolically: keeping Death itself at bay, with a line that even dragons fear to cross.

With this callback, House of the Dragon reminds viewers of its mission, and how it differs from Game of Thrones:This is not a show about existential threats. This is a more contained story, about the small and often petty grievances, misunderstandings, and ambitions of a small group of people painfully aware of history’s weight, or desperate to slip its bonds.

To that end, “A Son for a Son” is about the many players in King’s Landing and beyond feebly fretting over how to avert open war, or fiending for it. Young Aegon, the new king, wants to be a kind and magnanimous ruler, but is checked by his Hand, Otto Hightower, who reminds him that his every word sets a precedent. His brother Aemond knows that no amount of goodwill the young king is able to curry will