House of the Dragon Season 2 Episodes 1 to 4
I had been putting off watching House of the Dragon until a few episodes had been released. I love a good binge. And it turns out episodes 1 to 4 in one burst was ideal. Slow to start, tension builds, some death and attempted murder, then a grand battle.
I started watching episode one and realized I had no idea what was going on. The previous season was a while ago, and things got a bit convoluted. So I paused, read the Wikipedia recaps for the last season and then started again. I now had a vague idea, but frankly, too many names are similar for someone with my attention span.
For the rest of this I will often refer to the two sides as being team Rhaenyra or Team Alicent. It’s easier that way.
Still, the show is great. Not quite Game of Thrones early season great, but compared to most stuff on TV, including the latter half of GoT, it is better written, acted, and produced than most.
My general feelings on House of the Dragon Season Two so far – Here be Spoilers
So far, I have been enjoying it. The tit-for-tat assassinations and slow buildup towards war has been well done. You kind of know the main targets of the assassinations will fail, as the characters are too cool. But they were exciting to watch. I also kind of thought the war had started at the end of Season One, but there is still room to escalate apparently.
I did like how Rhaenyra kept saying they shouldn’t involve a dragon in the war, as it would escalate things. It makes them analogous to nuclear weapons. At least a bit. They can kill a lot of people but only a few hundred in one go, especially in field. They are pretty lethal to settlements and castles though. Either way, when there is a dragon on the screen, it is just awesome.
The characters have all been well written and believable. The two queens are both reluctant to go to war but the more aggressive and chaotic members of their teams keep forcing the escalation. There is no truly evil stuff going on, just some unpredictable characters. In GoT you want Joffrey to die because he’s an evil sadist and a bit of dick. The person I hate the most in this show is Sir Criston Cole – purely because he is a massive dick. I am firmly team Rhaenyra purely because of him.
Well, team Rhaenyra also seems a bit nicer.
It feels like there is less nudity and excessive violence compared to GoT, which is a shame. But that never really added to the plot or anything. There are also, so far, fewer moments where you spit your dinner at the screen and shout ‘holy shit!’ During GoT, there were a few of these and they always provided great fodder for conversations with your mates the next day. However, there doesn’t feel so much need for big shocks, as that has kind of been done already.
Most of the above applies to episodes 1 to 3. Things kick off in episode 4. If you want to see a dragon in a fight, this was the episode to watch. There is a lot of dragon on dragon action, some great fight scenes and a couple of major deaths. (Although the deaths weren’t hugely shocking.) We are also seeing Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) and Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell – cool eyepatch guy) emerge as likely pivotal players. I would describe them both as violent Chaotic Neutral and they are superb to watch.
We also see how a dragon can play a part in the warfare of such a world and it’s done really well. ‘My dragons are bigger’ is a pretty cool statement in any fantasy show.
Final thoughts
House of the Dragon has been a great series so far. I am also watching weekly episodes of The Acolyte, and the Boys at the moment, which makes for quite a contrast. The three shows are wildly different and House of the Dragon feels the most adult of them all in terms of script, pacing, and acting. Although of the three, I would strongly advise kids don’t watch The Boys. It is insane (but fun).
From now on, I will watch House of the Dragon weekly. Now I am back in it, I can’t wait another four weeks. I doubt I will write a weekly review, but I may mention weekly thoughts, in brief, in the weekly science fiction and fantasy update on my new Substack – The Cosmic Scroll. (That was pretty seamless, right?)
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