HBO Promised War, But You’re Not Ready For How Good It Is

House of the Dragon is back after almost two years away, and it’s a mostly strong return from the Game of Thrones prequel. In a sense, a lot of the hard work for House of the Dragon season 2 has been done — season 1 re-introduced the world, spanned decades, and went through multiple recastings. Season 2, in contrast, has a settled cast, no time jumps, and The Dance of the Dragons begins in earnest. The prequel’s return picks up shortly after House of the Dragon season 1’s ending, and begins building in exciting ways from there, although not everything lands.

House Of The Dragon Season 2 Begins With Classic GOT Table-Setting… And Some Big Moments

Things are already starting to move quickly

A lot of what’s in the first couple of House of the Dragon season 2 episodes is pretty much what you’d expect. Similar to Game of Thrones‘ approach, it’s about getting the pieces back in place, and setting up the board for the chess moves to begin. There are plenty of small council scenes, conversations in dimly lit rooms, and characters starting to scheme and plot.

It’s not reinventing (or breaking) the wheel and not all interactions are equal, but it’s mostly very well done. The best parts of Game of Thrones were often conversations between two characters. I don’t think House of the Dragon has quite the same breadth of characters who can live up to that, but with the right ones, it does achieve it.

There are, a little more surprisingly, some bigger moments in those opening episodes, which isn’t something Game of Thrones typically did in its first few seasons (outside of Joffrey Baratheon’s death), of course. However, despite the truncated episode count (only eight instead of 10), I don’t think anyone needs to worry too much about this repeating the pacing problems of Game of Thrones season 8. The pace gradually increases across the first four episodes and there’s a good understanding of how the war is playing out and why decisions are being made, meaning the buildup makes a lot of sense.

House Of The Dragon Season 2’s Cast Is Great – With Two Clear Standouts

Emma D’Arcy & Tom Glynn-Carney are the highlights of episodes 1-4

House of the Dragon‘s cast was uniformly great in season 1, but one concern I did have coming into season 2 was how the absence of Paddy Considine’s King Viserys might impact things. He gave, for me, the best performance in season 1, and one that rivaled the best in Game of Thrones too. And while he has two candidates trying to fill his throne, he’s not easy to replace.

Maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised that Considine’s best replacement is… well, Viserys’ replacement, Tom Glynn-Carney’s King Aegon II. The actor appeared late in season 1 and, while he was good, there weren’t many shades to Aegon. That changes in season 2, where he gets to showcase a lot more range. Like Viserys, he provides the show with much-needed humor and levity, but there’s also a real tragedy to the character, and you can feel how his role weighs heavily upon him. It’s a terrific performance, and I was shocked by how much I liked Aegon in the first four episodes.

The other standout is, less shockingly, Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen. Already great in season 1, they take things to new heights this year. Rhaenyra begins the season mourning the loss of her son, Lucerys, and you really get to feel all of her raw pain, grief, and anger, while at the same time watching as she tries to hold it together and make the right calls as a ruler. It’s a phenomenally nuanced performance that finds a wonderful balance between emotion and restraint, and absolutely deserves to be in awards contention when the time comes.

Some Parts Of House Of The Dragon Season 2 May Divide Audiences

The show makes some surprising choices, for better and worse

For the most part, I think anyone who liked House of the Dragon season 1 should be very much on board with season 2, but there are some… let’s say interesting narrative and character choices, which book readers, in particular, may not agree with. It’s difficult to get too into the weeds of these without spoilers, but there were definitely some changes from Fire & Blood that I didn’t expect — some of which worked, some of which didn’t.

This is true of any adaptation, of course, but particularly when turning an in-universe historical account into a TV show with characters who need to feel like living, breathing people with a lot more detail and depth. I get why most of the changes were made (and season 1 had plenty too). There are some changes that add new layers to characters and a much greater sense of intrigue to their arcs, while others lose a bit of impact (one moment I was particularly hyped for left me cold), and some will just be purely divisive.

When The Dance Of The Dragons Begins, It’s Truly Epic

House of the Dragon delivers dragon spectacle that rivals Game of Thrones

The Targaryen civil war is called The Dance of the Dragons for a reason, and House of the Dragon season 2 does begin to live up to that name. Some of the bigger battles will come later down the line — season 3 should have a lot, based on the book — and season 2 does pull a couple of narrative tricks that feel a bit like early Game of Thrones in getting around fights, but it’s all to keep its powder dry for when the Dance does truly explode.

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The Biggest Dragons In Game Of Thrones & House Of The Dragon

From The Black Dread to beautiful blue dragons, Game of Thrones has some of the most stunning dragons in fantasy. Which ones are the biggest?

Again, without getting into spoilery territory, I’ll just say that the spectacle here, in terms of dragon action specifically, rivals anything in Game of Thrones. From the beginning, I’ve really appreciated how House of the Dragon makes its dragons all feel distinct (something I never quite felt its predecessor achieved), but there’s a true brilliance to seeing them unleashed. A couple of scenes made me gasp, others really captured the horrors of war (and unfathomable power of dragons) that is at the heart of George R.R. Martin’s world, and Vhagar, in particular, remains a terrifying prospect.

Ultimately, halfway through House of the Dragon season 2, I’m happy with what I’ve seen and excited for where things will go. I was a little more uncertain after the first two episodes, which are a bit more uneven and where I have bigger complaints, but episodes 3 and 4 are superb, and have some of my favorite moments of the show so far. If it can build on that momentum, then forget Team Green or Team Black — we’ll all be winners.

Taking place about 172 years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon tells the tale of the rise of the Targaryens, the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria.

Pros

• The dragons are distinct and season 2 unleashes the dragons fully in its action
• Tom Glynn-Carney and Emma D’Arcy are standouts in their roles as Aegon II and Rhaenyra
• Season 2 has plenty of outstanding spectacle
• HOTD Season 2 has big moments that nicely build upon what came before

Cons

• Certain changes from the book don’t land when adapted to the screen