The most cringeworthy moment in episode 2 of House of the Dragon is the point at which King Viserys saunters through a garden on a blind date with a preadolescent child. During the creepy convo that follows, the tiny Lady Laena (played by actress Nova Fouellis-Mose) announces that her mother, Rhaenys has already informed her that a marriage would be a great match and that she won’t have to bed him until she is 14 (cue the stomach-churning violins).

The ick factor aside, it is worthy to note that an ‘oh hell no’ look bends its way across Viserys’ face as the words fall from her mouth. Even if these betrothals were commonplace back then, it is redemptive to note that at least, he is no ‘pervy’ dirty old man.

All of this ickiness is the result of a power play by her father, the Sea Snake, Lord Corlys Velaryon, who has offered his daughter to this pot-bellied, rotting wreck of man in order to improve his positioning. Ditto to the slithery, serpentine Otto Hightower who offers his own nubile daughter as a honeypot to the still-single king, all to aid in his own designs for power.

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So while the major players plot and scheme, the spurned prince Daemon squats in Dragonstone with his sexy concubine and dares to commandeer an egg for his new bride, taunting his brother to take action.

Viserys, with his hangdog face, is like Hamlet in this drama, powerless to do anything about the huge forces he cannot comprehend pushing him inexorably towards his eventual doom. Viserys is rapidly degenerating, the Iron Throne doesn’t like him and it seems to be enjoying slicing and dicing this weak king to shreds.

Last week, the Iron Throne’s sharp edges nicked his finger and now, the King has yet another wound that doesn’t heal and that leads to another toe-curling moment when his quack doctors instruct him to put his rotting finger in a bowl of maggots (where is Alexander Fleming when you need him?) to feed off the dead flesh.

By the end of the episode, the decaying Viserys makes a grand announcement, choosing the 15 year-old Alicent (yeah, only slightly less creepy) over the pint-sized Lady Laena, thus alienating his already rabid daughter, Rhaenyra. She storms off predictably. Will her friendship with Alicent survive this test?

Until that moment, Rhaenyra had been doing reasonably well, swooping in with aplomb on her dragon to resolve the Dragonstone Egg Emergency with mettle and balls, and possibly saving Otto Hightower from a certain death. But after her father’s unexpected announcement, she appeared to be marginalised figure once again.

By the end of the episode, it appears that the battle lines are drawn. War seems all but inevitable as Alicent’s loins will no doubt produce male heirs that could only further sideline her former best friend. At the climax, we see a seething Sea Snake entering into a dangerous new Axis of Evil with Daemon, who already loathes Otto Hightower, the King’s Hand and Alicent’s father. There will be plenty of blood and gore in the offing before this tale ends.

So how will it play out? How will Viserys bite the dust? And will Rhaenyra ‘break the wheel’ of destiny or fall under its rotating axis? Just ask Daenerys how well that turned out for her.