House Of The Dragon Season 1 Review : Darker and more twisted prequel for Game of Thrones

Story: Set approximately 172 years before Daenerys Targaryen’s birth, the prequel recounts the gory and horrifying tale of the house of Targaryen’s fight and claim over the Iron Throne that caused their and the dragons’ almost extinction.

Review: The Game of Thrones prequel from Ryan Condal and George R R Martin begins when King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) has been ruling for a few years. After his cousin, Rhaenys (Eve Best) is skipped as the ruler and dubbed the ‘Queen who never was,’ his eldest daughter Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) is ignored as his successor to the Iron Throne as she’s a girl. While they eagerly (almost desperately) wait for the queen consort Aemma Targaryen (Sian Brooke) to birth a boy, trouble brews at King’s Landing as Visery’s wild and violent younger brother Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) stakes a claim on the throne. Things get sticky when King’s Hand, Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) and Lord of the Tides, Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) have their own agenda and ambition.

Fans who wanted more of Game of Thrones (GoT) can rejoice. House of the Dragon (HOTD) opens with almost all the elements of the former — conspiracies, treachery, unapologetic violence and, of course, the dragons! One will hear familiar families such as the Starks and the Baratheons being mentioned for setting the context.

Albeit gripping and updated, HOTD seems like too keen an attempt to recreate all that had the audiences so stoked about GoT. However, that’s also where it falters. The makers want to set the tone of urgency but it gets a bit much. The opening goes overboard in sex, gore and the overall shock value. It clearly lacks the finesse of its predecessor and how organic events seemed in it.

A nice touch is people of colour not being depicted as slaves like in GoT but occupying an important position. Milly Alcock as Princess Rhaenyra and Matt Smith as Prince Daemon are the prominent characters and shine in their respective parts. Emily Carey as Alicent Hightower might be the breakout character we’ll need once the story progresses.

The narrative is taut and picturisation is flawless. The dragons set the screen on fire and Westeros is captured incredibly amazingly. Amid the misogyny, blood and sex, the series hasn’t digressed in its look and feel. One hopes that once hooking the audiences is out of the way, it will be as intriguing as GoT.