House of the Dragon Season 1 (Mini-Review)

House of the Dragon tells the epic story about the Targaryen civil war. The show's first season follows the events that lead to the start of the war. When King Viserys I Targaryen's wife dies during childbirth leaving him with no male heir, he decides to declare Rhaenyra his heir. As she is his daughter, not son, there is questioning of the decision. Otto Hightower sees his chance to put his family on the throne and so uses Alicent to seduce the king. There is never a doubt about a war starting, it is just a matter of when. House of the Dragon was released on HBO in 2022.

This prequel to Game of Thrones was burdened by the horrible final two seasons of that show. This isn't fair, but it's the truth. Seasons 7 and 8 of Game of Thrones made people lose their faith in the series. Which meant House of the Dragon couldn't just be a good show, it had to also reassure people there was a future to this franchise. In that goal the first season of the prequel series failed. There isn't enough for people to sink their teeth into, unless they're a diehard fan and/or someone that liked the final two seasons of Game of Thrones.

For a good majority of the season there are time jumps between episodes. They range from a few months to a decade. This makes it more than impossible to feel the characters on an emotional level. You'll be able to tell why characters did what they did, the majority of the time, but you won't care as much as you should. Such as the relationship between Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower is shown to be important to the Targaryen civil war aka the Dance of Dragons. Yet their friendship is only briefly shown before a distance between the pair starts to form. So how are viewers supposed to become devastated when Alicent starts to turn on Rhaenyra? It's easy to start to dislike Alicent, but those emotions should be much deeper than they are.

At the start it seemed that House of the Dragon would do a good job of showing how women are prey to the patriarchy. But that goal ultimately isn't achieved. The showrunners decided to destroy Rhaenyra and Alicent's agency to show they're victims of the patriarchy. Why does Alicent continue to be manipulated by her father? Why is she eventually reduced to someone who can't affect the world around her? Why does Rhaenyra hardly react to the fact war is going to happen? Why does Aemond kill someone near the end of the season by accident when it makes no sense for it not to be intentional? Why be so afraid of making morally complex characters? HBO has released shows like The Sopranos where audiences are made to root for the villains.

Matt Smith (who plays Daemon Targaryen) does a great job in the show. He is one of the bright spots in the show. Not only does he look good, he also helps bring a complexity to the character that otherwise wouldn't be there. There are various scenes that he improvised that really give Daemon a soul. Though the script puts a limit on how much soul Smith can put into the character. Various people have made the excuse that a bad action was entirely justified due to him being shown doing bad things previously. This even when it just doesn't make sense for the character.

I would recommend House of the Dragon Season 1 to fans of Game of Thrones. I would also recommend House of the Dragon Season 1 to those looking for a fun fantasy show.