This article contains major spoilers for "House of the Dragon" Season 2

Do I really need to explain the ending of the "House of the Dragon" Season 2 finale? The hit max show ended with a surprisingly action-free eighth episode that focused primarily on setting up the next phase of the Targaryen Civil War

I felt somewhat cheated by the "House of Dragons" Season 2 finale precisely because it was an anticlimactic ending to an already truncated second season Instead of showing another epic battle like in "Thrones," the season ended with a completely different episode

The focus was on emotional moments, such as Alicent's challenge to her increasingly feisty son Aemon, or convincing Helaena to go to battle in the Dreamfire, while the unruly ruler learns of his downfall in the eyes of God And, of course, let us not forget that Aerys showed Daemon a vision of the future, in which he also glimpsed Daenerys and the Night King, and then realized that he must pledge his support and strength to support his wife in the coming conflict

Although we did not see the battle of the dragons, it was still an important episode This episode put the Seven Kingdoms on a cliffhanger and made it clear that "House of Dragons" Season 3 would involve the kingdoms in an all-out war

The episode concluded with a callback to Rhaenyra's secret visit to King's Landing

There, Alicent makes a tempting offer to her former friend Helena is the de facto ruler of Westeros now that Aemon has left the Red Keep in Vergal Alicent asks Lainira to free him from the war and to allow him to leave the Red Keep with Helena and her granddaughter, Jehera

Alicent promises that if she does so, Lenila will be able to set foot in the royal city in a matter of days without further bloodshed and take the Iron Throne Not long ago, Lenila might have agreed to this deal Even in the finale, she claims that she had hoped that more dragons would be a sufficient deterrent to war

Unfortunately, this touching scene concludes with Renilla admitting that she must participate in the coming war Based on what has happened so far, she must wipe out any and all opposition to her claim to the Seven Kingdoms

As Alicent exits the building, she sees Lenila's new dragonriders - Adam of Hal, Wolf, and Hugh Hammer - dressing for war This is the beginning of a grand montage showing the various armies on the move Significantly, the blue dragon looking down on the army from Oldtown's banner is Daeron Targaryen's mount, Thessalion

At Harrenhal, Daemon looks out over the great army from the Riverlands And then the gaze goes to sea: the Tyrande Lannister sails with Admiral Sharako Rohal (Abigail Thorne) for Garret, where they form an alliance with the massive fleet of the Triple Alliance Likewise, Adam of Corliss and Hull rows toward the big ship

In that montage, Raina finally tracks the Sheepstealer somewhere in the Vale, the Northern men march through the Twins to support Raina, Otto Hightower is glimpsed locked in a cage, and Lalaith Strong convinces Aegon to King's Landing to escape, and it is revealed that he has succeeded in escaping King's Landing

The scene concludes with a matching cut of Alicent and Rainila staring off into the distance As such, it is a somewhat less action-packed finale, but one that still places the pieces for the "Dance of Dragons" to truly take flight