Michelle Jaworski

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/HBOWarning: This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 3.To be a Targaryen alive during House of the Dragon is, for the most part, to have a nuclear arsenal at your beck and call. Sometimes, all you need is the threat of dragons to keep things at bay, which is part of why characters like Rhaenys (Eve Best) and Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) are so reluctant to let them loose: They know unleashing their dragons as full-on weapons of war is like opening a can of worms, so they’re trying to prolong it as long as possible.Rhaenyra and Alicent’s (Olivia Cooke) reunion at the end of Episode 3 paved the way for the inevitability of the destruction that war brings. But perhaps so did a confrontation between brothers on the same side—and a full-frontal nude scene that is as consequential as it was shocking.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Ollie Upton / HBOWarning: This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 2.Westeros, as depicted in House of the Dragon, is full of terrible people committing atrocities at every turn. The quality of life isn’t great; childbirth can be deadly, no matter how close to the Iron Throne you are; systemic misogyny rules supreme; House Targaryen can get away with nearly any misdeed imaginable, and its members care little for the smallfolk (and most don’t think of them at all). Plus, those fearsome dragons are living, fire-breathing nuclear weapons waiting to take flight and lay siege to their enemies—and probably some loyal civilians, too, if they happen to be in the line of fire.It’s about to get even worse, as the Dance of the Dragons will soon unleash seven hells onto the rest of Westeros. Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and his dragon Vhagar may have delivered the first blow, and Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) may have hired goons that fumbled an assassination. King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) may have directed his grief-fueled wrath toward every rat catcher who worked in the Red Keep to ensure he killed the one responsible for his son’s murder. Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk Cargyll (Luke and Elliott Tittensor, respectively) are now dead after a fight to the death formed through duty and honor, a suicide mission, brotherhood, and unspeakable guilt as Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) watched the carnage unfold.Read more at The Daily Beast.