★★★★ 1/2
Based on George R.R. Martin’s novel Fire & Blood, HBO’s House of the Dragon takes place at the height of the Targaryen empire, 172 years before Daenerys Targaryen was born. Like Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon follows multiple characters fighting for power and control of the Iron Throne in a war the maesters have later dubbed, The Dance of Dragons.
The first season of House of the Dragon presented a large resemblance to Game of Thrones’ first season. What the series lacked in action, it made up for in a slow-burn culmination of political drama, world-building, and storytelling. The series excelled in each of these regards, providing an intriguing story about the shuffle for power and the lengths one would go to secure it. Even after the controversial ending to Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon returns to its roots for a high-quality political fantasy series.
Something the series took from Game of Thrones and expanded upon was including more screen time of dragons. Before the Dance of Dragons, there were 17 dragons owned by House Targaryen. Among these, we saw Syrax, Caraxes, Seasmoke, Vhagar, Meleys, Dreamfyre, Vermax, Arrax, and Vermithor in the first season. The visuals of the dragons looked outstanding and might be the best-looking dragons to appear on-screen. Each had unique features and personalities that distinguished them from one another. So far, we have only seen around half of the total dragons present in Westeros prior to the Dance of Dragons, which we are likely to see up close and personal in later seasons.
With its ensemble cast, the series featured a number of great performances. The stand outs amongst these were Paddy Considine’s King Viserys, Matt Smith’s Daemon and Milly Alocock’s Rhaenyra. Each of these actors brought a gravitas to their respective roles that did nothing but elevate the show. While his character started off unlikeable, Considine’s portrayal of the disease-ridden ruler with a hidden strength completely blew me away the later half of the season. It will be a crime if he isn’t a part of the running to receive an Emmy award for his performance.
As the story progressed, the series featured a change of certain actors for certain characters to represent them aging overtime. These time jumps are a useful tool with a series spanning decades. Given that it is simply impossible to include everything, each of these time jumps worked well to expand upon the story and the growing tension between characters. And while it is never easy to change actors, especially mid-season, I thought they were all handled quite well. While initially hesitant for Milly Alcock’s Rhanerya and Emily Carey’s Alicent to be replaced, Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke each did a fantastic job continuing and expanding upon each of these characters in a very real and believable way. The change in actors for Alicent’s children, Aegon and Aemond, was initially confusing because the younger brother appeared far older than the older brother. I caught on pretty quickly, but this character change was not handled as gracefully.
That being said, I really enjoyed House of the Dragon and would rate it 4 ½ / 5 stars. While it may have started off by building slowly, it is clear that with the story and character progression in season 1, next season will start off with a bang. I, for one, appreciated returning to Westeros and am eager to see what comes next in the Dance of Dragons.
House of the Dragon is available to watch on HBO Max.
Next: Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022) – Season 1 Review
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