House of the Dragon (season 1)

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⭐ 9.0/10

(Originally written by Tim)

It is so good to have Thrones back in my life. The first episode put us right back in that familiar world, with conflicted feelings about our characters and ready to have our hearts broken again.

I thought this show did have some flaws, but they are easy to overlook with the fantastic writing. There are a ton of time jumps, so I found that basically all the notable deaths didn't have any emotional weight for me. So much time passes that we don't see romances form or rivalries grow, which is a big part of the original series. Speaking of the original series, its hard to imagine this show existing without it, but I don't think that can take away from this show - if anything it should and does make this show more rich. I did get some late series Thrones vibes from a couple of the battle scenes, where the stars feel untouchable in a world that tries to tell us anyone can die, and with some illogical battle plans or reactions in tense moments. But as I said, easy to overlook with such a compelling story.

The series feels a ton like the show Succession to me, where our family gets in a big room for some event and sparks fly. It also helps that the main plot is all about succession for the crown, a level of power that needs to explanation. The tension between Rhaenyra and Alicent is the heartbeat of the show, and I thought this season does a great job building up their relationship in a way the book doesn't ever try to. I think the upcoming seasons will be incredible because of the time spent investing in the 2 of them in this season.

Another thing I appreciated about this show was its restraint. There are still shocking kills, but I thought the sexual stuff was toned down a ton compared to early thrones. Meaningful conversations can happen with the clothes on, and when the weird stuff happens it actually carries weight and tells us something about our characters. Kudos to the show runners for not feeling like this needed to outdo the original in shock value.

As a final note, I know I sound like a little boy, but can we get more dragons? It would be cool if, like the early Starks and their wolves, each young Targ was connected to their dragon in some meaningful way, so that when they mount up for battle we care about the pairing and understand what it means to own a dragon. The dragon moments in the show were all great, and I would love to see some moments of connection and not just roaring intimidation.

MVP goes to Aemond One-Eye, both the younger version and especially the older. Buddy was born to play a Targaryen.

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