House of the Dragon was never supposed to the kind of show that dabbled in happily ever afters, but the first four episodes of Season 2 make it clear that the HBO hit is fully embracing the horror, trauma, and absolute inhumanity of civil war. The characters here aren’t motivated by a sense of chivalry or justice, but the Molotov cocktail of grief and rage. As more than one character opines in Episode 3, sin begets sin, blood is answered with more blood, and, when dragons are unfortunately involved, it all begins to quickly go off the rails into a fiery holocaust.

House of the Dragon Season 2 starts off by setting the table for the banquet of atrocities about to be served. However the speed with which series showrunner Ryan Condal gets to the grotesque cost of these highborn games suggests that HBO is not flinching from George R.R. Martin’s bitterly dark source material. House of the Dragon Season 2 is still an incredibly-produced, brilliantly-acted journey to an intoxicating fantasy world, but this go around gives us front row seats to the show’s volatile characters burning it all down. House of the Dragon Season 2 pulls no punches when it comes to the horrors of war.

House of the Dragon is set roughly two centuries before the events of Game of Thrones, in a time when the Targaryens didn’t need to worry about Lannisters or Baratheons. They only needed to fear the threat posed from each other. House of the Dragon Season 1 used multiple time jumps to explain thirty years of tense family drama, mostly focused on how the close girlhood friendship of young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock) and Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey) was corrupted by the dreams and designs of their fathers, King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) and Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans). By the time the girls are grown, into still heir apparent Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and now Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke), the friendship has been replaced by bitter enmity.

House of the Dragon Season 1 ended with Alicent spearheading a coup to put her feckless son Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) on the Iron Throne. The last shot of the season is of Rhaenyra learning that her beloved tween son Lucerys “Luke” Velaryon (Elliot Grihault) will not be returning from what was meant to be a simple diplomatic errand to the Baratheon stronghold of Storm’s End. The boy and his young dragon ran into Alicent’s dangerous second son Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and Vhagar, an ancient behemoth who happens to be the oldest, largest dragon in Westeros. Aemond briefly loses control of Vhagar, who eagerly chomps down on Luke’s dragon, killing the boy, the beast, and any chance of negotiated peace.

House of the Dragon Season 2 opens days after this horror. While Rhaenyra is wracked by grief, her closest advisors, husband/uncle Daemon (Matt Smith) and cousin Rhaenys (Eve Best), debate how best to use their dragons to their side’s advantage. Daemon wants to burn it all, while Rhaenys is happy to plead Rhaenyra’s case for caution. In King’s Landing, Aegon is giddy about his new position of power, while Alicent fears her grip on power is slacking. As tragedies compound, the fragile semblance of peace is irrevocably shattered until the horrific inevitable occurs.

Without delving into a myriad of spoilers — even for book readers — showrunner Ryan Condal has managed to bring the shock and horror that made Game of Thrones so addictive to House of the Dragon in Season 2. After previewing the first two episodes, I was slightly tepid on the direction the show was moving in this season. Some of the dialogue felt wooden, the action was a tad understated compared to the spectacle that former co-showrunner Miguel Sapochink was so known for imparting to the world of Westeros. The writers were also struggling to “seed” new characters into the story in organic ways.

However, after seeing what follows in Episodes 3 and 4, I’m confident that House of the Dragon Season 2 will not only keep viewers on their toes, but leave them awestruck. Like the characters themselves, Condal and company quickly find the impulse to go all out with this bloody saga and it’s impressive to behold. As a fan of this specific fantasy world, I was even more delighted with the season’s smaller nods to Martin’s deep lore, particularly at a cursed castle called Harrenhal.

The cast continues to do incredible work in House of the Dragon Season 2. Emma D’Arcy ably navigates the dichotomy of Rhaenyra being at her political apex at the same time she’s personally at her emotional nadir. Olivia Cooke gets to explore new corners of Alicent Hightower, as a woman who has to live with the repercussions of her own mission accomplished. Matt Smith continues to devour every shot with the alien energy he’s known for, but everyone’s ever-so-slightly upstaged by the bold performances of two younger actors. Tom Glynn-Carney finds a way to make Aegon simultaneously more tragic and comic than simply “Joffrey with a Dragon,” while Ewan Mitchell transforms Aemond into a more terrifying threat than a real dragon. The magic in both performances is how you find yourself sympathizing with these devilishly dramatic royals while delighting in their mania.

For fans of Westeros — its incestuous soap opera, lavish world-building, and theatrical tragedy — House of the Dragon Season 2 delivers everything you love and then some. It’s I, Claudius with movie monsters, medieval history sprinkled with magic. Viewers be warned, though. Unlike Game of Thrones, which gave us a slew of virtuous characters to root for, House of the Dragon is a story about how swiftly the moral high ground can turn to quicksand when trauma is paired with apocalyptic levels of power.

House of the Dragon Season 2 is spectacular to behold, even if what’s unfolding is absolutely terrible.

House of the Dragon Season 2 premieres on HBO and Max on Sunday, June 16.