House of the dragon

By Joshua Xiang

Genre: Drama, Fantasy serial

Covering an era of tenuous peace with a ferocious, albeit abbreviated, focus, House of the Dragon is an impressive prequel that exemplifies the court intrigue that distinguished its predecessor. (Critics consensus, rotten tomatoes)

The Targaryen dynasty is at the absolute apex of its power, with more than 10 dragons under their yoke. Most empires crumble from such heights. In the case of the Targaryens, their slow fall begins when King Viserys breaks with a century of tradition by naming his daughter Rhaenyra heir to the Iron Throne. But when Viserys later fathers a son, the court is shocked when Rhaenyra retains her status as his heir, and seeds of division sow friction across the realm.

As we got introduced to the map table set by Rhaenyra, the season drew to a close. It also indicates the upcoming war games that are going to last for decades. Later, candles will be placed under the table so that all place names and waterways will glow like lava or dragon fire. It is also an obvious but effective metaphor, spoiling that the whole of the Seven Kingdoms is about to catch on fire, figuratively and also literally.

If you are worried about having too high of expectations for watching this Game of Thrones' prequel will at last make you disappointed, I can assure you that there is no need for this concern. After ten episodes House Of The Dragon has established its core cast, introduced us to three generations of Targaryens, and laid the groundwork for a civil war that looks set to consume Westeros, as well as the next few seasons of the show.

One of the biggest advantages of House of the Dragon is that most audiences come from fans of Game of Thrones or at least know some background information about this show. It would be a lot easier for the director to build the worldview for the House of the Dragon. Audiences can also find a lot of similarities between the two shows, like the hierarchy system, what different jobs are responsible for, the cultural background, relationships between different families, and so on.

However, there are also a couple of aspects that the two shows decide to draw differently. In House of the Dragon, the director didn't put a huge weight or biased view on either side, Greg Yaitanes decides to introduce all the characters and narrate the story from a neutral perspective. It is probably also because this is a civil war between one family, rather than families against each other. It is obvious that the Targaryens make less sympathetic leads than Thrones' Starks. Ned's family stuck together, circumstances may have divided them but they rarely knowingly took up arms against one another, also we are clear that they are the "good" ones. So, I found myself getting less emotionally struck and sympathetic leads when I saw people die in this show, in my opinion, that is the part that I feel the director didn't handle well.

Not everything has been as clearly laid out. The idea of “Greens,” supporting Alicent, and “Blacks,” supporting Rhaenyra, might have worked better if there had been much sign of House colors being significant at any point before or after Alicent came to dinner in a nice new look. Similarly, the fundamental point of differentiation between the Targaryens and everyone else is the fact that they have dragons, and that too has been strangely underplayed.

Overall, House of the Dragon's first season was a slow burn at times, but the emotional impact of this finale shows that all that foreshadowing has built characters worth caring about and investing in. It also seriously kicks off Dance of the Dragons with some of the best action scenes of the season and gives the audience a signal to get ready for season two, because it is going to officially be a war.