La casa del dragón

I've never seen a single episode of Game of Thrones, but even so, thanks to the many fans around me, I've always been in the loop. Since House of the Dragon takes place before the events of Game of Thrones, there was no need to peek at eight time-consuming seasons, and I could embark in this journey into the world of dragons, feuding houses, political intrigue, and love-hate relationships. Given the "brutal reputation" of Game of Thrones, I was expecting House of the Dragon to be bloodier, but apart from a few downright explicitly drastic scenes, the creators kept a pretty low profile and concentrated more on playing out the (mostly grudge-filled) relationships between the various houses. I definitely liked the second half of Season 1 better. It featured some breathtaking action alongside the ubiquitous politicking. I would criticise the creators for jumping around in time too drastically in places, and I didn't entirely buy the way they approached the "ageing" of characters – keep some actors, replace some (for example, that the actors playing Allicent and Aegon are separated by just over thirteen months). But so be it! From an audiovisual point of view, as expected (but also because of the huge budget), this is a job well done – whether it was the haunting soundtrack, the beautiful locations (both real and CGI), and the work of the costume and make-up designers (especially for the make-up of Viserys) deserves praise. I'm sure I'm repeating myself when I say that I consider the most impressive scenes to be (a) the skirmish between the children followed by a chilling "eye for an eye" confrontation, (b) Viserys's climbing to the Iron Throne followed by a family dinner, and (c) the "dance of the dragons". I'm definitely curious about the next season (or seriess), as the creators ended the first one with a colossally enticing cliffhanger of dragon proportions. (25.10.2022)

Things finally start to get going and it's over. House of the Dragon is drawn out, but fortunately it has the excellent Matt Smith on its side, every time he appears on screen he steals the show for himself. Milly Alcock is fantastic and the first half of the series was a lot more fun because of her. Paddy Constantine gave the slowest dying performance I've seen so far with absolute bravura. But those protracted intrigues without much meaning are a shame. It should have ended with a proper conflict, not just before it. (25.10.2022)

A great return to the world of Game of Thrones! House of Dragon is a fitting replacement for our beloved series, and while it's a bit too rushed and there aren't that many favorite characters yet, I believe the excitement will only grow as the series goes on. From a fantasy perspective, this is without a doubt a top notch affair where you can see where the money went, which this is very important in this genre for me. The dragons look amazing and the production design is eye-catching. Again the main thrust is the politicking and intrigue, the series is unrivalled in this, though it's not yet as gripping as it was in GoT. The best character of the first season is Daemon, a self-centered bastard who steals all the scenes for himself. Next, King Viserys, his final climb to the throne accompanied by Djawadi will probably ground everyone, a downright iconic scene. I also enjoyed Princess Rhaenyra, who may be the Khaleesi of Wish, but she portrayed a strong female character, and I also really enjoyed Aemond, he plays the sleazy snake really perfectly and his final scene with the dragon is awesome. But I'm not entirely without reservations, there are a few things bothered. For example, the exaggerated jumps in time where half the characters had to be recast and I had a hard time figuring out who was what name and who was whose kid. It's also pretty much intimate and takes place mostly in 2 locations. In GoT I enjoyed the changing locations, the new settings, the castles, the towns, the names, hopefully that will happen in future seasons here, we'll see. Also, there's definitely been a decrease in gore and sex, which is what GoT is famous for, but House of Dragon is quite sparse with that. The epic battles will definitely come later, but I would welcome at least one per season. These are rather minor criticisms that prevent me from being maximally satisfied, this is both excellent and intelligent entertainment. 8/10 (01.11.2022)