It’s difficult not to compare House of the Dragon (HOTD) with its contemporary, Rings of Power (ROP). I’ll try not to, but no promises.

Believe it or not, both are in different sub-genres of fantasy even though you’ll find them labeled the same everywhere else. While ROP focuses on the sweeping epic, HOTD’s focus is much smaller in scale.

That’s the interesting part about this show.

To begin, yes, I have watched Game of Thrones (GOT). HOTD doesn’t quite reach the epic-ness of that show even though the premises are very similar:

Who will sit on the iron throne?

In a way, HOTD has its own Game of Thrones. But is it simply a rehashing? Not quite. Whereas GOT focused on several families and houses of Westeros, HOTD tells the story of two houses: Targaryen and Hightower.

Let chaos ensue.

Note: this is a spoiler-free review. Also, I have not read the book Fire & Blood. This review is based solely on the HBO series.

The Great

You can truly feel the difference between a good story and a great story, and almost everything about HOTD is great. It’s hard to know where to start.

As a writer, I want to start with the writing.

I know there’s a difference between what is originally written and what finally ends up on the screen. If you go back and read the pilot episode screenplays of some of your favorite shows or movies, you’ll see all the differences the showrunner/director made when translating the writing to screen. It doesn’t always come out exactly as it was written.

However, the writing in this show is very, very good. Just the pilot episode is a masterclass for establishing character, motive, stakes, and worldbuilding. Whether you like the characters, stakes, and world is something else entirely, and I’ll discuss that later. Because George R. R. Martin (GRRM) is excellent at delivering morally gray characters (in other words, real people) not everyone onscreen will behave admirably. Such is the way of things.

If you look at the story in terms of a cautionary tale, then you’ll see what GRRM is doing in this show.

HOTD is primarily a sociological story rather than psychological (although it does have a lot of that in it as well). By “sociological” I mean that it is primarily concerned with institutions and how they affect characters and their choices. This show, along with GOT, is actually a critique of the patriarchy in government.

If you’ve seen HOTD, then it becomes clear to you almost immediately. It comes close to, but never oversteps, the line into “preachy-ness” in my opinion. In the beginning of the show, I wondered whether it was simply placing characters with modern sentiments and values into a medieval setting. I’m not sure I have the answer, but for the last 3/4ths of the season, I just didn’t care. I was too enthralled.

There wasn’t an unsatisfying payoff. By the end of episode 7, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. The crap was about to hit the fan—and boy, did it hit that fan. At the end of it all, the smoke never settles and you’re left with a dropped jaw and a horrible presentiment of what’s going to happen in season 2. 10/10

The music is wonderful. I’ve been listening to the Season 1 soundtrack and my favorite track is “Funeral by the Sea.” Such a beautiful and sad track. I could listen to it on repeat—and I have! Ramin Djawadi is back and his music is just as good if not better than GOT’s. It’s pretty subjective, but either way, it’s worthy of any fan’s or audiophile’s music library. 10/10

I think both HOTD and ROP are on the same level when it comes to costume design. I’ll sing my praises to the people who work behind the scenes on these shows. They never get enough credit and appreciation for their work. 10/10

The actors—ah, the actors! I’ve saved the best for last!

The cast was phenomenal. Even better than “great.” I’ve never been more immersed in a show by the performances of each and every actor. In my ROP review, I listed and ranked the characters that I enjoyed the most. I don’t know if I can do that here. While the ROP actors did very well with what they were given, the HOTD actors seemed like they were born to play these parts. I’ll only give a few highlights/standouts.

In the beginning, I was very interested in Matt Smith’s portrayal of Daemon Targaryen. He does not disappoint! I watched and liked him in Doctor Who and haven’t really seen him in anything else until now. Daemon is his best role to date—bar none.

The other highlight is probably my favorite of them all: Paddy Considine as Viserys I Targaryen.

Good heavens. What a performance.

I loved every scene he was in.

I’m looking at his awards on IMDB and am impressed. If he doesn’t win any awards for HOTD, I’ll start a riot.

Blood will spill.

Just kidding.

Or am I?

11/10

The Good

I thought that the visual effects were good. Not great but good.

There were some shots of the cities where you could tell they were CGI. If you liked the dragons from GOT, well, we’ve got them here, too! And in abundance. They looked good. Their presence in this story is much different than in GOT. They are like expensive horses.

At the same time, I miss Drogon. :’(

The dragons in GOT looked better to me, but maybe my standards are too high. Although they weren’t so bad that they tossed me out of the story, I was hoping for a bit more realism. That being said, I’m certain the budget will only increase in the next season—which I’m excited to watch in 2024. 8/10

Into the Gray

I really don’t have anything else to say about this show’s technical side. The writing, acting, etc. were all top-notch. Now, I’d like to talk about the themes of HOTD.

When examined thematically, the story makes a point to show that each character is acting on what they believe is right. But those who have watched GOT will recognize that there is no overarching “right and wrong” in this show. There never has been and there never will be.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. GRRM wasn’t the first one to create morally gray characters in a violent world. Stephen R. Donaldson (SRD), for example, created Thomas Covenant well before Martin created A Song of Ice and Fire. Covenant is one of the greatest anti-heroes ever written, in my opinion. Even in J.R.R Tolkien’s (JRRT) body of work, you have complicated characters who make bad decisions. But JRRT's and SRD’s body of work was generally optimistic whereas GRRM seems to lean toward the pessimistic side.

And I’m not saying that GRRM isn’t optimistic at times in his writing. But when it comes to government and patriarchal systems, his characters generally suffer under its weight. Nothing ends well for them.

In HOTD, you see this clearly. In Viserys’ desire for a male heir, suffering ensues. When he goes against established tradition, war ensues. It became clear to me while watching this show that none of the problems plaguing these people would ever have taken place if this patriarchal government institution didn’t exist—or at least didn’t encourage its maddening pursuit for male heirs.

And if you realize that, then BOOM! GRRM’s got you!

Because that’s what’s been happening for thousands of years in human history. HOTD wants to show you just how ridiculous these kinds of institutions are and the kind of suffering they cause.

Because the Targaryen family is messed up, yo. So are the Hightowers. There isn’t a single character in this show I’d like to be friends with. If I were a scullery maid or a servant of some kind, I would have packed my bags and left Westeros for good. Nothing good happens there—and now we know why.

HOTD is peak sociological storytelling. It’s absolutely not comfort food for the fantasy fan’s soul. The characters are secondary to the institution/system that controls them and enables them to act the way they do. If you want the warm fuzzies, go watch Peter Jackson’s LOTR trilogy. HOTD was uncomfortable for me to watch (which is why it took me so long) and that’s the point.

Flaws?

If the show did have any flaws whatsoever, the first I would point to would be the time jumps.

I’m slightly more than 99.9% sure that GRRM and the showrunners had several lengthy conversations about whether or not to include time jumps in the show. Now, I didn’t mind them. I knew about them ahead of time, so I was expecting them.

There were actually quite a few time jumps aside from the big one where they had to change actors. I can understand why some watchers might get confused. I have no idea how they would have told the story otherwise besides trying to condense it into just a few short days or weeks.

BUUUUT…we all know how that worked out for ROP, now don’t we?

(Sorry…I said no promises, didn’t I?)

The second flaw (if it is a flaw) is a little more difficult to explain.

I initially had a problem with a certain character’s choice they made in the final episode. Without getting into spoilers, this choice led to a consequence I felt could have been easily avoided. I was onboard 100% until I thought about it a bit more, and I realized the choice this character made seemed very unlikely, and I feel there should have been more push-back against this decision by the other characters present.

But there wasn’t.

It bothered me for a long time. It kind of still does. I’ve heard all sides of the argument with conversations I’ve had, and I’m starting to concede to the notion that maybe I’m the one making faulty assumptions, or perhaps misunderstanding the decision and why it was made.

Either way, what’s done is done. And, yeah, what a finale! Season 2 will reveal the fallout and, if I’m honest, I’m a little frightened to see what happens as a result…

Conclusion

Visually remarkable. Rich characters. Compelling story.

Everything under the hood of this show is well-composed. It has a message, and it doesn’t just tell you what it is—you feel it by the end of the season. For some, it will make them uncomfortable. There’s a reason why this show is TV-MA. Actually several reasons—so make sure you do your research!

HOTD is a low-magic, small-scale fantasy drama. If you like dragons, it has a lot of them but in a very different way than we’re used to seeing them in GOT. (Hint: they’re still awesome.)

Compared to ROP (again, sorry), I feel the writers actually knew what they were doing, and knew how they wanted the audience to feel by the end. The decisions they made were smart and, at times, brilliant.

I definitely recommend this show, but it’s not for the faint of heart.

My score:

Images credit: HBO Max

House of the Dragon: A Review

The Great

The Good

Into the Gray

Flaws?

Conclusion

10/10

Excerpt: Breaking Colossus

The Rings of Power: A Review