House of The Dragon is finally telling the story it wanted to all along. After a season of time jumps, actor changes, and hefty amounts of setup, HBO’s dragon show is spreading its wings. House of the Dragon’s first season suffered from its structure, which led to several problems that kept it from reaching the heights of its predecessor, Game of Thrones.
The first season provided some great moments but often felt like homework and a show made for the outspoken contingent of avid book readers, leaving casuals behind. Now that all of the tedious setup is out of the way, the conflict that we watched as it continuously escalated in the first season is here, and it has been genuinely great, even rekindling some of the same feelings that peak Game of Thrones would inspire.
Some spoilers for “House of The Dragon” below
The season picks up after the events of the first season’s finale. Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), whose inheritance was stolen from under her nose, prepares for war after her young son Lucerys and his dragon were killed by her half-brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and his monstrous dragon Vhagar. She is flanked by those supporting her claim to the Iron Throne as moves are made to strengthen her position and prepare for an eventual open war with the crown.
On the other side, Alicient Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and her father seized the opportunity to name her son Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney ) as King in the hours following the death of her husband, King Viserys, usurping his plan for Rhaenyra to succeed him, providing the grounds for the oncoming conflict. Aegon is a pitiful and immature King, and his advisors struggle to appease him as the threat of war looms ever closer.
What the show does well in its second season is to clearly draw the emotional lines of this conflict. This is a war that started back when Rhaenyra and Aliceint were teenagers. These two women are now in a seemingly unavoidable spiral into violence as who did what first gets lost in history. The big theme of the season so far has been how things are lost in translation across time, not just hundreds of years but weeks and even days.
The series is based on George RR Martin’s historical account of the Targaryen Dynasty, Fire and Blood. The book features reliable and unreliable accounts of historical events, and the show plays with that idea pretty masterfully, subverting even book readers’ interpretations of what’s taking place. The ambiguity of decision-making and the games being played are much more interesting this time around.
While the fighting doesn’t necessarily start in the first few episodes, the political machinations, scheming, and personal drama take center stage. These conversations in big and small rooms alike are what drew people to Game of Thrones. Seeing House of the Dragon leaning into the political drama of the realm and the personal grievances these characters all have with one another is refreshing and enriches the story it’s telling, making the eventual conflict seem much more important.
In Game of Thrones, there were big set pieces episodes that everyone remembers, like “Hardhome” and “The Battle of the Bastards.” However, some of the most impactful episodes had very little action at all, featuring several different character arcs and consequential events happening across the entire realm. In its second season, House of the Dragon uses several different locales, with characters spread around the map, which makes checking in on what is happening with, say, Daemon (Matt Smith) being haunted and having hallucinations in a haunted castle.
Daemon’s story is both a part of the larger narrative and his own arc, and the show has succeeded in making it interesting despite his being ostracized by his wife and her supporters. In GoT, you might be more interested in Arya’s plotline than what was going on on the Wall or vice versa, which meant there were multiple things to look forward to in an episode. House of the Dragon is doing similar things, and it’s paying off by making the world it’s playing in feel much bigger than it did in its first season.
The show also explains the stakes and consequences of what an open war would actually be like. The reason both sides are reluctant to use their most powerful resources, dragons, to fight head-on is that after that line is crossed, there is no going back. A war with dragons could potentially lead to ruin for everyone.
When characters are talking about confronting the oldest, biggest, and strongest of the dragons, Vhagar, it’s like they are talking about a nuclear warhead. It’s another instance of brilliant build-up. We know these dragons are about to be let loose, but the show has done a great job of playing up the consequences and realities of what that would eventually bring.
The show’s small moments and character building have improved immeasurably from the first season, and its biggest moment yet has exceeded anything it has done previously. The fourth episode, titled “A Dance of Dragons,” features the very thing everyone has been trying to avoid: dragon-on-dragon combat. After reaching an ultimatum and realizing that no matter what she did, total war was unavoidable, Rhaenyra was ready to let the dragons loose. She sends Rhaenys off to battle to stop the crown’s forces led by Critston Cole from conquering another close by castle in a show of force. What was supposed to be a simple burn and run turns into a brutal two-on-one dragon fight that was genuinely breathtaking. The battle featured all the carnage and emotional damage you would expect after such a brilliant build-up.
Overall, midway through its second season, House of the Dragon has settled into itself and is showing that the best still may be yet to come. Having HBO’s big fantasy show firing on all cylinders during the summer is a welcome feeling. It may never reach the monocultural heights of Game of Thrones, but it is succeeding in a way that makes HBO’s commitment to telling more stories in this universe seem justified.
House of the Dragon is streaming on HBO and Max.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
