House of the Dragon season 2 episode 1-45House of the Dragon season 2 viewers react to episode 1’s Blood and Cheese storyline. Based on Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin, the hit Game of Thrones spinoff returned for its sophomore outing this past weekend, continuing its exploration of the Targaryen civil war. House of the Dragon season 2, episode 1, “A Son for a Son,” adapts the infamous Blood & Cheese storyline from Martin’s book, which features Daemon (Matt Smith), paying assassins Blood and Cheese to murder a key member of the royal family.

Viewers are now taking to social media to share their thoughts on House of the Dragon‘s Blood and Cheese sequence. The response to the show’s version of events has, so far, been decidedly mixed. Check out select reactions below:

@visenyasdaughtr calls the show’s version of Blood & Cheese “so underwhelming.”

@jjmileo notes how House of the Dragon‘s Blood & Cheese moment was positioned to be even more traumatic than Game of Thrones‘ infamous Red Wedding scene, but concludes that “it has been proven once again that nothing in cinematic history can top the [Red Wedding].”

“I will NEVER forgive them for completely changing [Blood & Cheese]!!” writes Fanny. She also says of the moment in Fire & Blood that Martin’s writing “peaked here.”

@bluixi writes that the show’s version of Blood & Cheese was “insanely anticlimactic.”

“[Blood & Cheese] was a chop,” writes tyler. “This is what they were comparing to the Red Wedding?”

@thechurchofmoe writes that the episode was “so fast paced” and that “[Blood and Cheese] did not have the emotional weight…they swore it would.”

“[Blood and Cheese] is much more tragic in the book,” writes Kate, highlighting changes made to Helaena’s traumatic decision.

@guoaei complains that House of the Dragon “fumbled so bad with [Blood and Cheese],” and adds that “it’s kinda ridiculous that they robbed [Alicent] of such a defining moment.”

How Blood & Cheese Is Different In Fire & Blood

House Of The Dragon Makes Some Key Changes

House of the Dragon season 2 episode 1-54Image via Max

In the premiere episode of season 2, Daemon is looking for revenge after the death of Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) in the House of the Dragon season 1 finale. Blood (Sam C. Wilson) and Cheese (Mark Stobbart), on Daemon’s orders, infiltrate King’s Landing with the task of finding and killing Prince Aemon. The two men ask Daemon what they should do if they can’t find Aemon, but the scene cuts away before revealing Daemon’s answer.

Blood is a former butcher, while Cheese serves as a ratcatcher in tunnels of the Red Keep.

The two House of the Dragon characters then stumble across Helaena (Phia Saban) and her two children. After making Helaena tell them which one is male, they murder the young Jaehaerys. Helaena flees with her surviving child to Alicent’s (Olivia Cooke) room, walking in on her having sex with Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel). This moment plays out quite differently in the book, however, with Martin describing that Blood and Cheese made Helaena choose which of her children she wanted them to murder.

In Fire & Blood, Helaena chooses between her two sons, Jaehaerys and Maelor. She chooses Maelor, seemingly in the hopes that he wouldn’t understand what was going on, but the assassins then choose to murder Jaehaerys instead, taunting the young Maelor that his mother wants him dead. House of the Dragon‘s timeline changes meant that it wouldn’t really make sense for Maelor to have been born yet, explaining why certain changes were made. While the Blood and Cheese moment in the House of the Dragon premiere was certainly disturbing, it’s clear that some viewers were hoping for something even more traumatic.