Everyone’s favourite dragon-riding royal family has returned for season two of House of the Dragon on HBO, and my liege lords, it is everything that has been promised: plenty of gore, sex, dragons and general debauchery.

Episode 1 turns on two important scenes. The first pivotal scene happens halfway through the episode when a tear-streaked and disheveled Rhaenyra (Emma D’arcy) approaches her war council after discovering her son’s remains on a beach. She looks at them, and says with almost no anger: “I want Aemon Targaryen”. However, her words drip with vengeance in every syllable.

The next important scene unfolds during the last six minutes of the episode where we meet the new characters, the henchman Blood and rat-catcher Cheese (Mark Stobbart), assassins who have been recruited by Daemon Targaryen. The devilish Daemon has promised them much coin to kill Aemond and balance the bloody scales so that both Alicent and Rhaenyra would have now lost a child to the war – a son for a son.

The assassins — carrying rat traps — make their way easily through rat-infested King’s Landing, even sauntering past the king, Aegon, (Tom Glynn-Carney), drinking wine and kicking it with his friends in the throne room like a couple of boozy teenagers on a stoop in Brooklyn.

After Blood (Sam C. Wilson) threatens Cheese to step up to the plate, Cheese kicks his dog in anger, and they skulk upstairs but fail to find Aemon.

The assassins do a bit of deadly improvisation and accost the goofy and mysterious Helaena Targaryen, and decide to off the King’s son instead but are confused about which of the twins is the male.

In the ghoulish scene, the assassins ask the hellish question of Helaena and she points at Jaehaerys. It is not immediately clear if this is an attempt at subterfuge but Cheese sees the pain in her giant saucer eyes and believes her. The men move to murder the child off-camera, but the horrible squelching sounds of cartilage breaking and blood squirting as they do the dark work of separating the head is enough to turn the stomach of even the most ardent Game of Thrones fan.

The episode ends with Haelena – carrying the surviving twin – escaping from the scene only to interrupt a passionate lovemaking session between Alicent and Ser Cole. Haelena then makes the chilling understatement of the year: they killed the boy.

Simply masterful.

In between these great scenes, the showrunners ratchet up the tensions between half-siblings Rhaenyra and Aegon over the Iron Throne, setting the stage for the bloodletting and atrocities to come.

And what would this series be without some vigorous sex scenes? Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) throws herself in an affair with Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) with much fervour, a development that plays up her rivalry with Rhaenyra as Alicent is the one getting her sloppy seconds. The women were once friends, now both of their families are vying for the Iron Throne and both have been intimate with the same man. My my my.

These two women are on a collision course that promises anger, and inevitable violence as shown by a scene where Rhaenyra is seen lighting a funeral pyre, and then is intercut with Alicent lighting candles for the dead. This will not end well.

One of the high points of the episode is the character development of Aegon, the Second of his name. The little bastard is still entitled and nasty, but he seems to have a real love for the people, even overruling his hand, the overbearing Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans). Aegon also displays a devilish sense of humour. In one scene, he is seen questioning his Aegon the Magnanimous title and later, while drinking with his friends, he is seen trying out titles like Aegon the Dragonc—k, the Untameable Beast. Good stuff.

In a neat bit of foreshadowing, there is a scene where Aegon is showing love for his son Jaehaerys, whom he envisions inheriting the throne one day. He brings Jaehaerys to work, a meeting of the Small Council, a move that is a major departure from the whims of his father, Viserys, who neglected to teach him anything as the late king had always favoured Rhaenyra for the top job. You know what they say about the best-laid plans.

There are rumblings of a future face-off between Daemon (Matt Smith) and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) who have both shown a penchant for incest and family slaying. Look for fireworks there.

All in all, episode 1 set the gruesome tone that is bound to play out with the murderous machinations of the Targaryen clan. Bring on the gore!