House of the Dragon Review: A Beautifully-Made History Lesson From an Ugly Fictional World
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The post House of the Dragon Review: A Beautifully-Made History Lesson From an Ugly Fictional World appeared first on Consequence.
The Pitch: Perhaps you are a carbon-based life form with an Internet connection and/or cable TV subscription, and thus are aware of the existence of a little show called Game of Thrones, which for a few years there was pretty dang popular. Well, here’s some more of it! Specifically, here is House of the Dragon, HBO’s prequel/spinoff that does not involve Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, but does hope to capture the imagination of an ever-fickle viewing public.
To that end, we return to King’s Landing 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen (House of the Dragon is very specific on this point), where Daenerys’ ancestors still hold the very familiar-looking Iron Throne. Though we begin with the line of succession in flux, as a ruler without heirs has to make a choice between two potential new monarchs to eventually take his place: King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) or Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best).
Not for the last time on this show, sexism wins the day as Viserys is named king, setting off a chain of events with mammoth repercussions for all of Westeros, where the faces are different but the family names are very, very familiar, as is the grappling for power and prosperity despite rumors of a dark winter on the horizon…
What If the Windsors Had Dragons? House of the Dragon, by virtue of its nature, draws no shortage of comparisons to the show that came before. But the six episodes of Season 1 provided to critics by HBO reveal that a far better analogy for understanding the new fantasy drama is The Crown, Netflix’s generations-spanning exploration of the British royal family.
This has nothing to do with the casting of Crown star Matt Smith as Viserys’s younger brother Prince Daemon Targaryen, and everything to do with creators George R.R. Martin and Ryan J. Condal’s approach, as the first season treats this narrative almost like a history textbook, with multiple recastings in its first season, entirely because of time jumps between episodes that speed us past the less intriguing moments in Viserys’s reign.
The recastings most notably affect the show’s central female characters, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (played by Milly Alcock as a teenager and Emma D’Arcy as an adult) and Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey, followed by Olivia Cooke), but both younger actors are solid matches for their older counterparts, and more importantly, all four of them bring impressive nuance to characters that might have Thrones analogs, but manage to stand out as legitimately well-developed individuals.
House of the Dragon (HBO)
Different Sorts of Battlefields: While the power struggles between Viserys and his many scheming lords (especially Prince Daemon) drive no small percentage of the plot, Rhaenyra and Alicent’s journeys are the real thrust of the series, as both are forced to confront the realities of their positions while struggling to find some semblance of happiness in this world.
Rhaenyra chafes at the requirements of being a princess without getting too Aladdin‘s Jasmine about it, especially after Viserys brings her more into his circle of trust. Meanwhile, as the daughter of the long-standing Hand of the King, Alicent uses her political savvy as needed to improve her own position. Growing up the best of friends, as they age into adulthood life pulls them apart from each other. But the fact that both of them have recognizable souls, and an enduring if complicated connection, is exactly the sort of emotional hook this series needs.
Put it this way: Remember how great it was in Game of Thrones Season 1 when Cersei (Lena Headey) got drunk with Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) and they had a real conversation about their terrible marriage? That energy is in an awful lot of House of the Dragon — the sense of real emotion and ambition behind the pageantry of court and ritual.
When it comes to the cast, Considine serves as a sympathetic figure, even if his power on the throne is undercut by what could be seen as an excess of humanity. Meanwhile Smith is handed perhaps the most challenging role of the series; like so many second sons/runners-up to the throne, scheming and villainy seems to come second nature to him, but Daemon has at least one or two other interests beyond ambition, and also very real connections to a few people in his world. Making all that jibe inside the skin of one man is no easy task, and the writing doesn’t give him too much help, resulting in moments that occasionally feel out of balance.
House of the Dragon (HBO)
The Bloody Business of Being Alive: Miguel Sapochnik (responsible for blockbuster Thrones battles like Hardhome and the Battle of the Bastards) is heavily involved as a director, and his touch ensures that Dragon feels very closely aligned with what came before. Aesthetically, House of the Dragon seems to have put every cent of its multi-million dollar budget on the screen — while the episodes screened were not all fully complete, both the physical sets and digital VFX work look top of the line, with tons of details packed into every inch of wardrobe and production design.
But along with the stunning fantasy vistas, gorgeous gowns, and badass CGI dragons comes the ugly reality of life in an unevolved fantasy world directly inspired by the even uglier reality of European history: Even playful tournament combat has harsh repercussions, losing a body part is acceptable justice for certain crimes, and man does it suck to be a woman.
Condal and Sapochnik have talked about the show’s emphasis on pregnancy and childbirth in interviews leading up to the show’s premiere, and in a time where women’s reproductive rights in the United States are in a worse state than they’ve been for decades, this may be exactly the right time or very much the wrong time for a graphic reminder that pregnancy for women can be a bloody, scary, and even deadly business. How you feel about it may directly reflect how close to home those issues are for you personally, but while the show’s to be commended for not brushing over this issue, it’s certainly grim viewing.
And those scenes are arguably not even the most disturbing sequences of the series; without getting into spoilers, there is some upsetting stuff that happens in later episodes which crosses lines HBO has only nudged at in the past (unless there was more incest in The Newsroom than memory recalls). Most of it is handled with some degree of taste, but Episode 4, in particular, may prove to be quite polarizing for viewers.
House of the Dragon (HBO)
The Verdict: From Fantastic Beasts to Obi-Wan Kenobi to Better Call Saul 2022 has given us a lot to consider about what works and what doesn’t about prequels. While all of those projects are quite different, one secret to success does become apparent — the best examples are the ones where both the characters and the plot still manage to surprise us.
So while House of the Dragon is a prequel, its temporal distance from the events of Thrones means that the future might feel unwritten, at least for those who have not religiously studied the works of George R.R. Martin (specifically Martin’s Fire & Blood, the compilation of Targaryen lore on which this show is based). And the creators’ years-spanning approach gives the series a thrilling sense of momentum; we don’t know what the fates have in store for these characters, but each weekly time jump brings with it a certain excitement, as that fate looms closer.
There’s no obvious hero to root for in this world (something claimed to be by design) — in a way, it feels like House of the Dragon is relying on the world of Westeros itself to engage viewers emotionally. But while it’s exciting to see a major tentpole property like this take the chances it’s taking on a narrative level, not all of those gambles are a huge success. It’s also hard at this point to be sure what, thematically, the creators are trying to say with this show, beyond the old Thrones message of “no one is safe from being disemboweled.”
As a Westeros history lesson, House of the Dragon succeeds, even occasionally to the point of fascination, but even after six episodes the story has yet to blossom into a true epic. Perhaps it can still — for many people, after all, Thrones only ascended to must-watch viewing after the shocking death of Ned Stark late in Season 1, and Dragon definitely has twists like that up its sleeve. Its characters, though, may not prove to be as immediately immortal as their great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren, and for a TV show, that’s almost as dangerous a fate as getting pregnant in the Dark Ages.
Where to Watch: The first episode of House of the Dragon airs Sunday, August 21st on HBO. New episodes will debut weekly.
Trailer:
House of the Dragon Review: A Beautifully-Made History Lesson From an Ugly Fictional World
Liz Shannon Miller
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