Hello, My Movievaures! I hope you had a great week. As per the title, you’ve guessed I’m back with House of the Dragon‘s review. I’m pretty late as the last episode was released on Monday 24th. However, I didn’t have the chance to watch it until last weekend and yes, it was really hard to avoid all the spoilers! Anyways, I was so excited about this show. I know many were anxious about it because of how GOT ended, but I was optimistic and looking forward to it. So….? Well, before getting into that, let’s get to the non-spoilers part:

Nearly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon follows the Targaryen family ruling over Westeros, not at the peak of their power but still exercising their control over the kingdom. But as tensions arise inside the family, the question of inheritance becomes crucial to the survival of House Targaryen, leading up to the expected events of the civil war that will kill most of the dragons; symbol and tool strength for them.

Let’s address the elephant in the room: I will not compare this show to The Rings of Power. Simply because it is not the same type of show. I know it would be easy to fall into this trap, because the producers behind both actually played the competition card, releasing it at the same time and being part of the same genre: fantasy. None of the less, I watched them both and didn’t feel like it was the same type of experience. If you want to know my opinion on the LOTR show you can read my last article here. In regards to House of the Dragon, I wasn’t looking for an epic story around friendship, love, and heroism.

Well, that’s fortunate because House of the Dragon isn’t that at all! I was glad to rediscover some of the things I loved about R.R. Martin’s work: the plots, the scheming, the cursed love stories, the betrayals… It felt like watching seasons 2 & 3 of Game of Thrones. I was a bit afraid at the beginning, that it will be a bit repetitive to the original story, surrounding the Iron Throne and who finally gets it, but the story is very well written, and at the end of each episode you want to get to know how everything will implode.

Because you know where all of this leads: to a civil war within the Targaryen family. To be honest, as I wanted to know as little as possible when I started the show I wasn’t aware of all of it. None of the less, from the beginning, the problem is set: with no male heirs and the death of his wife, who will inherit the iron throne after king Viserys death? His only daughter, Rhaenyra? Not everyone in the kingdom will accept that, especially those who have also eyes on the throne. Anyways, I was completely absorbed by this storyline and I thought the casting choices were absolutely magnificent.

However, as always nothing is perfect and House of the Dragon is not an exception. I will first say that, even though I understand the script choices to add some time jumps, I thought they didn’t help the character development and how much we would get attached to the older Rhaenyras and Alicent. Especially the second time jump, being very long, it took me some time to get involved in their storylines and new relationships. I just hope the second season will not be full of these and that we will be able to understand how the characters got where they are.

I cannot finish this review without addressing the underutilization of dragons in this first season. Of course, I wasn’t expecting a battle with these great creatures in each episode, but it was sometimes a bit weird to see that those characters who actually have control over them, seem to be quite weak even in front of those who have none. I understand they needed to contain their power, in order to have something at stake and feel like everyone is in danger, but it wasn’t well explained and I’m just guessing here.

In short, House of the Dragon is actually a great show. It has some weaknesses that I’m hoping they will address in season 2, but I understand why most of the reviews are quite positive. Again, no need to compare it to anything else, except maybe from the original story of GOT as it is in the same universe and has strong links to it. None of the less, House of The Dragon has power in itself and doesn’t fall into the fan service trap. You actually don’t need to know anything about the books or the previous show to enjoy it. This is all for today My Movievaures! I hope you enjoyed this article and let me know in the comments down below or on Instagram (the_movievaures) your thoughts on the show. I’ll be back next week, with a new review!