'House of the Dragon' Has Big Debut on HBO
by EG
Ratings for the first episode of Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon were the biggest ever for a new series on HBO. The long-awaited series tells the story of the house of Targaryen almost two centuries before the events of the original series. Will the new series catch on as solidly as its predecessor did? Only time will tell. Read on for details.
For the better part of a decade, Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones dominated the drama series Emmy races and delivered big enough ratings for their respective networks that it’s no surprise they wanted more. In a nice piece of kismet, HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel is arriving the same week that AMC’s Breaking Bad prequel concluded. Better Call Saul was a show that was hailed for maintaining fidelity and continuity with the Breaking Bad universe, while immediately carving out a tone and aesthetic all its own.
Game of Thrones was a bigger hit than Breaking Bad, plus the notable decrease in quality of its final season (or final seasons) may make the inherent affection for the brand more precarious. So it probably isn’t surprising that after an elaborate bake-off process to develop a prequel, HBO has ended up with a show that feels reverse-engineered to give devoted Game of Thrones fans a facsimile of what they liked about the original series, while casual Game of Thrones fans get … ummm … lots and lots of dragons.
I mean, it’s right there in the title, House of the Dragon, which I can only assume supplanted the original Game of Thrones: Oops, All Targaryens!
So. Many. Targaryens.
Created by Ryan J. Condal and George R.R. Martin from parts of Martin’s Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon begins 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen, famous for having resurrected dragons, traveled the whole of Westeros to ascend the Iron Throne and engaged in countless acts of mercy and brutality, while still having a worse story than Bran the Broken.
Dany’s brother, you might recall from the first season, was Viserys and House of the Dragon starts with his namesake, Viserys I (Paddy Considine), taking control of the kingdom after a contentious succession. Not as contentious as in Game of Thrones, mind you. Here, a council voted from among several contenders and chose Viserys over Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best), who had a more direct claim, but no penis.
So now Viserys is king, but he has no male heirs. He has a spirited and intelligent daughter in Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), but she suffers from a similar deficiency to that which plagued Rhaenys.
Rhaenyra is kinda awesome. She rides dragons, stands up for her opinions and even though her friend Alicent (Emily Carey) thinks she isn’t paying attention, she knows her history, namely that she can’t become ruler in this patriarchal society. So Viserys, newly a widower, has a problem: Either marry again and keep trying for a son or else name brother Daemon (Matt Smith) as successor. The latter option is bad because Daemon is tyrannical despite his limited clout. Viserys’ chief advisor (Rhys Ifans’ Ser Otto Hightower), who also happens to be Alicent’s widower father, worries about what Daemon would do with absolute power.
Get the rest of the review at The Hollywood Reporter.