Series Creator
Ryan J Condal, George RR Martin
Cast
Paddy Considine, Emma D'Arcy, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, Rhys Ifans, Milly Alcock
What’s The Story
The world of ‘Game Of Thrones’ is expanding, with the upcoming spin-off ‘House Of The Dragon’. The main concept of ‘House Of The Dragon’ follows the reign of the Targaryen family, some 200 years before the events of the original ‘Game Of Thrones’ series. It’s a war for succession within the family home, with Viserys I announcing Rhaenyra as his successor despite Daemon clearly believing it was his for the taking. But their way meant they would rule over an empire, even if many of their family members often descended into madness as a result of their unrelenting thirst for power.
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What’s Good
Not Trying To Ride On ‘Game Of Thrones’
The best part about ‘House Of The Dragon’ is that it’s set 200 years before the timeline of ‘Game Of Thrones’ and about 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke). Thus, you’re hardly to expect anyone from ‘GOT’ in ‘HOTD’. Therefore, you can start watching with a fresh approach and no preconceived notions. Based on parts of the novel ‘Fire & Blood’, ‘HOTD’ lives up to the expectations, at least in the first episode.
The writing by Ryan Condal and George RR Martin of the first episode makes you realise that the makers have tried hard to put in almost all the key elements of ‘GOT’ in this prequel. Dragons, costumes, jousting, treachery, violence and, above all, hints of orgies are all strewn all over the episode. To add to these elements there’s the social element of how no woman had ever been in a ruler’s position, and they were merely thought of as child-bearers and man-pleasers. ‘HOTD’s writing tries to break those shackles of patriarchy and show that the Targaryens were indeed believers of equality for women in that time period. Will this streak of smashing patriarchy continue in the subsequent episodes is what needs to be seen.
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The art design and cinematography (by Fabian Wagner) of the show have to once again be given immense credit. Within seconds of the show's start, you’re thrown into an era gone by. There is barely any instance where you are made to feel out of place.
Among the characters, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy and Milly Alcock) shows bright hints that there is more to her character than what can be seen at the first sight. Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) is also another character who was shown less in the premiere but promises to be one of the key components of the episodes to come. It seems that the fight for the iron throne is back and the two most important characters battling it out would be Rhaenyra and Daemon.
Keeping up with ‘GOT’s level of gore, there is an entire labour scene which is bloody in every sense of the word. It has been so well shot that sitting on the edge of your sofas you’re screaming out loud thinking why the heck is this happening to the character?
What’s Bad
No Strong Character Yet
‘HOTD’ has some good characters in Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen, but none as powerful as Tyrion Lannister or Cersei Lannister or Daenerys Targaryen.
Considering the show is about the ‘House Of The Dragon’, there should have been a few more scenes with the dragons. Besides a couple of scenes, there are no dragons seen in the entire first episode, which was slightly disappointing.
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The length of the episode is another issue. Editor Tim Porter could have snipped off a few minutes of unimportant scenes to keep the viewing time short. It’s almost 65 minutes long, which means that it would be a great watch now as an episodic, but later on, when people want to binge-watch the entire season altogether, it would have lesser viewership. Binge-watching is one of the most popular ways of becoming a cult series, and that’s exactly what ‘GOT’ was able to achieve.
Verdict
It’s just the premiere episode of ‘HOTD’, and there are a lot of questions that have popped up in the minds of the viewers. Hopefully, the subsequent episodes will be able to answer those questions satisfactorily. And above all, there won’t be a debacle of a season like the 8th season of ‘GOT’. Too much to look forward to, and the makers have dragon-sized shoes to fill up when it comes to the audience’s expectations. Just on this episode’s basis, ‘HOTD’ promises to be a decent One-Time Watch. I am going with 3 stars.
