Review of House of the Dragon: After a rocky beginning, the Game of Thrones spin-off improves
Review of House of the Dragon: After a rocky beginning, the Game of Thrones spin-off improves
The beginning of House of the Dragon is the worst part, which is excellent news. A brief history of the Targaryen dynasty is provided in the opening narration of the Game of Thrones spin-off, which premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO. The narrator identifies significant individuals when a great council gathers to choose an heir to the Iron Throne. The Harrenhal Evening News is less spectacular than informative before on-screen text jumps forward in time, bringing us there (172 years before Daenerys Targaryen).
Epic Fantasy for Dummies has the most uninteresting orientation imaginable. Thrones was never that, whatever it was. The fantasy phenomenon on HBO began in 2011 with a remarkable amount of faith in its scope and secrets, letting a snowy-enigmatic main lead gradually give way to the arrival of more than a dozen interconnected characters.
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Dragon skips the gradual burn and speeds up the late-era grandeur of its predecessor: large settings, big fights, great tragedies, and big dragons. One of the titular beasts soars upward above King's Landing after the prologue. Princess Rhaenyra, a 15-year-old with wisdom beyond her years (Milly Alcock), rides it. Her father, King Viserys (Paddy Considine), had waited for a male heir for all of her life. Viserys rose to power after his grandfather believed that his cousin Rhaenys (Eve Best) was too feminine to rule the Seven Kingdoms, which are kingdoms.
The gender gap in Dragon's fictitious nation is highlighted. Rhaenyra is informed by Queen Aemma (Sian Brooke) that "the childbed is our battlefield." She has firsthand knowledge. For the fifth time in a decade marred by miscarriages, Aemma is pregnant. Her husband plans a tournament to coincide with labor since he is certain that this child will be the promised prince. (Good birthing strategy, Pops.)
To get to know a large cast, ask them all to a party. As the tournament draws near, Viserys seeks counsel from a Small Council that includes Corlys Velaryon and Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) (Steve Toussaint). Otto is a born con artist. Corlys is a pirate, explorer, general, and nobleman, much like Blackbeard would be if Francis Drake, Lord Nelson, and Odysseus were all combined. Concerning Viserys' crazy-eyed brother Daemon (Matt Smith), a living embodiment of the TV-MA rating, they have good reason to be concerned. Daemon runs his City Watch out of a brothel and orders them to severely amputate the limbs of anyone who commit small offenses. He is also the heir apparent because he is Viserys' closest male relative.
This quick chronological pacing respects the intention of franchise creator George R.R. Martin. Dragon adapts Fire & Blood, a fictional Targaryen history from his novel. Beginning in 1996, the primary Song of Ice and Fire novels by the author decapitated every well-known fantasy paradigm. The Targaryens were seen as ancient history and a forgotten era of magic mayhem by people like Ned Stark and Tyrion Lannister. Fire & Blood may have received the highest praise from me, and I've always believed that Martin wrote fantasy with the safety off in this book, weaving a bloody tapestry of dragon battles and mythical figures.
Dragon was co-created by Ryan Condal and Martin with Miguel Sapochnik serving as showrunner. It is noteworthy that none of the four legendary fights he oversaw for Game of Thrones have yet to appear in Martin's novels. This explains a lot about the distinction between television fantasy and literature, and Dragon's first episodes are immediately epic. Almost all dialogue scenes include succession. An early digression involves naval conflict between rival armies vying for important maritime lines. On a strategic level, the climactic skirmish is ridiculous—but magnificent. 50 miles away at one point in the ultra-distance? – we witness a dragon dodging fiery catapults, along with two battleships.
Even though the details are sketchy, that scope is remarkable. The Red Keep serves as the center setting for Dragon, and the King's heir serves as the primary narrative, making it less complex than its dispersed predecessor. Characters frequently hear the incorrect thing from a nearby corner. There is a (unintentionally) humorous horse-related fatality. Additionally, Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), Daemon's love interest, has a hilarious accent that serves as a reminder of how unsteady Thrones may be when dealing with non-Westerosi "foreignness."
Three of the performances are exceptional, with two of them standing out. Alcock, who portrays a young monarch with hints of arrogant indifference and wounded ambition, is an absolute revelation. She makes you feel that the incestuous family floats ethereally while yet pouring hell, which is a very Targaryen dichotomy. Smith's Daemon is a true hell cyclone that lends a semblance of nobility to his irrational haste. Considine, in contrast, seems to be afflicted with a lack of enjoyment as his King sags beneath the weight of the crown. However, the actor accomplishes a lot with wistful silences, allowing you to understand Viserys' desperate efforts to maintain the peace as an additional source of endless suffering.
Does it matter that only the Targaryens have children? Six episodes in, I feel like there aren't any standout supporting actors: no Sams, no Hounds, not even an Illyrio. Compared to its bi-continental predecessor, Dragon has a more defined objective and a prominent central theme. Rhaenyra exclaims, "If I were born a man, I could bed anybody I chose!" during an episode when Red Keep gossip about who is boning whom dominates the conversation. Because of cultural expectations, daddies pimp out Rhaenyra and Alicent for high-status relationships, locking them both up.
Therefore, the production wants Rhaenyra and Alicent's romance to take center stage. However, the early episodes mess up their dynamic, pushing a vague friendship to the background. When combat lines are clearly defined, the tension increases. The adult characters make an absolutely spectacular first impression, presenting tangible and tragic consequences for past choices. And if the show didn't depict delivery situations in such realistic detail as a true medical nightmare, their mere frequency would be a running joke. A house wasn't constructed in a day, but a dragon doesn't soar right away.
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