Game of Thrones
2011
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Find out the ratings, reviews, and trailers for House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel based on George R.R. Martin's \"Fire & Blood\". Watch the show on Max, Prime Video, or Apple TV.
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‘House of the Dragon’ Cast on Dragon Riding, Family...
- House of The Dragon
The reign of House Targaryen begins with this prequel to...
- Olivia Cooke
House of the Dragon First Reviews: HBO’s Game of Thrones...
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House of the Dragon is a poised and polished prequel, mixing...
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Aug 19, 2022 · The reviews are in for HBO ‘s highly anticipated House of the Dragon. The review embargo was lifted Friday for the Game of Thrones prequel, and its initial notices are largely positive, with ...
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By Helen O'Hara
Updated: Oct 29, 2022 3:07 am
Posted: Oct 26, 2022 4:43 pm
House Of The Dragon is now streaming on HBO Max. The below review discusses some details of the plot, but no major spoilers. See below our spoiler-filled reviews of each episode:
House Of The Dragon: Series Premiere Review
House Of The Dragon: Episode 2 Review
Showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik (who has bowed out of Season 2 ) set the tone with an opening episode that offered grisly violence, royal plotting, and medieval pageantry – and a small blonde girl on a dragon, lest we forget where we’re coming from. The ties to Game Of Thrones were obvious and immediate in those early episodes, down to the reuse of Ramin Djawadi’s iconic theme music. But the brand new cast, and the focus on a family already in power but riven against itself, felt fresher.
That’s not to say it was always smooth sailing. Even the showrunners seem to understand this first season as a slow burn, and recently promised that the next season would pick up the pace. Some episodes dragged, and the shift from the immensely likeable and charismatic Milly Alcock and Emily Carey to Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke, as Rhaenyra and Alicent respectively grew up, took a disjointed minute to process. But to the credit of the cast and creators they’ve covered 20-odd years of Targaryen family history without stinting on the requisite plotting and gore. Not bad for 10 episodes.
Rhaenyra
Daemon
Viserys
Rhaenys
The show has also faced, mostly with success, its core problem: 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. They also didn’t sleep with one another, leading to, for example, cases where one’s son is also one’s great-nephew. Of course, that’s the entire point. A civil war brews because of House Targaryen’s original sin: when they came to Westeros they fought to preserve their dragon-riding abilities via inbreeding rather than standing up for their women’s right to rule. Otherwise, Rhaenyra would simply take the throne and no one would make a fuss.
Paddy Considine is an actor who can’t help but draw you in, so his Viserys remained sympathetic.
House Of The Dragon was on TV at the same time as Prime Video's The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, which Samantha Nelson gave an 8/10 for IGN. "Some inconsistent plotting and unnecessary misdirection slows it down, but doesn’t derail the story, and when it reaches its climax in the sixth episode it all comes together brilliantly," she wrote. Read the full review here.
It's not totally absent. House Of The Dragon has faithfully delivered the dragon bit of its promise. But what has been under-examined is what those relations between beast and rider mean beyond mere firepower (pun intended) in a world with numerous dragons and multiple dragon riders. Are they broadly similar for everyone or as different as each person and dragon? Viserys rode old Black Balerion just once, only to be left dragonless when the great beast died. The mere fact of his flight bolstered his claim to the throne, but how much did Balerion’s death then emasculate him? We were first introduced to Rhaenyra proclaiming her love of dragonflight, but she’s barely mentioned it since. Worse, there have been few scenes of riders simply visiting their dragons, or talking to each other about how those relationships work. You don’t even need expensive effects. Wouldn’t some dragon chat have made sense as a way for obvious dragon geek Daemon and self-professed enthusiastic flier Rhaenyra to bond? We need to care as much about dragon deaths as we do about the humans for the coming war to hit as hard as it should, rather than simply having them lurk expensively in the background.
House Of The Dragon has managed to take Martin’s deliberately dry pseudo-history and turn it into a character-led drama.
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But enough nitpicking. It’s a great time for fantasy when House Of the Dragon, Lord Of The Rings, Wheel Of Time, and The Sandman are reaching the screen, and while we can quibble about detail they’re all generally doing their source material justice. House Of The Dragon has managed to take Martin’s deliberately dry pseudo-history and turn it into a...
Early on it sometimes felt too faithful to its predecessor, but after ten episodes House Of The Dragon has forged its own identity and established itself as a worthy prequel to Game Of Thrones. That’s largely thanks to strong writing, a wildly overqualified cast, and a veritable flock of dragons. More of the same next time, but a little more confid...
EDITORS' CHOICE
Review scoring
amazing
After 10 episodes, House Of The Dragon has officially emerged as a worthy successor to Game Of Thrones.
House of the Dragon - Season 1 Finale Review
House Of The Dragon - Episode 9 Review
IGN's Helen O'Hara reviews the first season of Game of Thrones' prequel, covering the Targaryen civil war, the dragon battles, and the cast performances. She praises the showrunners for covering 20 years of history, but criticizes some of the characters and the pacing.
- Helen O'hara
Aug 19, 2022 · HBO’s long-awaited prequel series has the swords and the dragon flame, the Hand and the Iron Throne. But something’s missing. Matt Smith is among the bickering Targaryens in “House of the ...
Aug 19, 2022 · House of the Dragon looks like you want a Game of Thrones -adjacent series to look, which comes in no small part from the contributions of director/co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik. Jim Clay’s ...
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