TV Talk: HBO recaptures ‘Game of Thrones’ political dynamics in ‘House of the Dragon’
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Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.
Although “Game of Thrones” spin-off “House of the Dragon” (9 p.m. Sunday on HBO and HBO Max) is technically a prequel set 172 years before the first “GOT” series, structurally its first episode is more reminiscent of “GOT” in its later years when there was a greater focus on fewer characters in fewer far-flung locations.
Recall when “GOT” started, it flitted from location to location, from one character introduction to the next. Some characters didn’t meet until years later, a structure that’s become familiar in big-budget, fantasy series.
In its engrossing — and occasionally graphically gross — 66-minute premiere episode, “House of the Dragon” is set entirely in King’s Landing and is more political thriller and family soap opera with incidental dragons than it is a magic-filled spectacle of elves, orcs and hobbits. I’m not complaining.
As much as dragons and white walkers were selling points for “GOT’s” fantasy bona fides, it was the palace intrigue of the show’s title, the serialized, sometimes-shocking storyline twists and the show’s multidimensional and varied characters that kept viewers coming back.
“House of the Dragon,” while also based on a George R.R. Martin book (“Fire Blood”), comes from a new showrunner/head writer, Ryan Condal (“Colony,” “Rampage”). The first episode is directed by “GOT” regular Miguel Sapochnik.
After beginning with a crisp, efficient and mercifully brief bit of narrated exposition, “House of the Dragon” quickly gets down to business.
King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine), a generally merciful and kind ruler exasperated by politics, is aging and without an appropriate male heir. His brother, Prince Daemon (Matt Smith), is a brutal leader who sets his city watch soldiers upon the citizenry of King’s Landing, dismembering (and possibly castrating, though that’s a bit unclear visually) people in a bid to cut down on crime just because he can.
King Viserys’ top adviser, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), warns the king, “The gods have yet to make a man who lacks the patience for absolute power.”
Viserys’ wife (Sian Brooke) is pregnant, and the king has convinced himself she’ll have a son, provoking mixed emotions in his eldest daughter, dragon rider Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock and later Emma D’Arcy), who longs to be a soldier but also seems hurt that tradition frowns on the notion that she might succeed her father on the iron throne.
While “House of the Dragon” does have succession as a story spine, its steadfast focus on plotting within the halls of power makes this “GOT” a little less epic than its predecessor in its premiere episode.
Future episodes — HBO made the first six (of 10) episodes available for review — do go to more far-flung places and feature more dragons with the kind of epic battles it took “GOT” a few seasons to gain the resources to create at a grand scale.
While many of the younger “House of the Dragon” series regulars are relative newcomers, the series boasts some welcome new turns by veteran performers, most notably Smith, best known for his stint on “Doctor Who,” and Eve Best, known to American viewers for playing the wordly, British doctor best friend of “Nurse Jackie.” With a cunning glint in her eye, Best plays Viserys’ cousin, Princess Rhaenys, aka The Queen Who Never Was. She was passed over as heir to the throne at the Great Council because the realm favored her cousin because he was a man. (While the first “GOT” explored gender issues, they’re more prominent in “House of the Dragon.”)
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If early seasons of “Game of Thrones” meandered a bit or felt slow as the series followed assorted characters on multiple quests, “House of the Dragon” barrels through its story. Episode two takes place six months later than the premiere. Then two years pass between episodes two and three. Ten years pass between episodes five, another “GOT” wedding of significance, and six, when older actors take over at least three roles.
Sometimes “House of the Dragon” left me wondering, what’s the rush? Characters arrive and then get dispatched so quickly — one character I would like to have spent more time is on screen less than five minutes — there’s little opportunity to get invested in them. That makes it harder to care when they meet a terrible end.
But given that a tendency toward dull, self-seriousness has become hallmark of once and future fantasy series, I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt that there’s a reason for this high-speed storytelling while also hoping the producers hit the brakes just a little for the show’s inevitable, although not yet formally announced, second season.
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