Let’s start at the end. Despite its flaws and a final season that was not unanimous, Game Of Thrones remains the benchmark for television fantasy epics. Neither The Witcher on Netflix, nor The Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime Video have failed to fill the void left by the series created by David Benioff and DB Weiss based on the saga of George RR Martin.
No wonder the latter and HBO give in to the siren songs of the franchise, at the risk of tarnishing its legacy. With the arrival of the first episode of House of the Dragon in France this Monday at 3 a.m. on OCS, simultaneously with its American broadcast, early fans hope that this prequel will revive the power and grandeur of the first seasons of Game Of Thrones. 20 minutesits seen the first six episodes out of the 10 that make up the first season of House of the Dragonour undisclosed review.
House of the Dragonprequel based on the novel Fire & Blood by George RRMartin published in 2018, begins 172 years before the death of Aerys II Targaryen, nicknamed the Mad King and the birth of e Daenerys Targaryen.
A look worthy of “Game of Thrones”
The first episode propels viewers into the familiar world of Game Of Thrones : King’s Landing, the Red Keep and its Iron Throne, Flea Bottom and its brothels… The sets are as neat as ever, the costumes splendid. Only downside, here and there, a few hideous peroxide wigs.
In terms of production, we feel the touch of Miguel Sapochnik, co-showrunner, to whom we owe the epic Battle of the Bastards from the original series. The photography is always impeccable. House of the Dragon also revives the perfect mastery of the alternating editing of its predecessor, as with this sequence of the pilot which masterfully juxtaposes the collisions of a jousting tournament with a complicated childbirth.
In terms of appearance, House of the Dragon honor the memory of Game Of Thrones, especially since the problematic aspects of the original series have been corrected. The scenes of nudity and violence are less numerous and staged in a more subtle way, with chiaroscuro lighting effects.
A story of power and succession
As in Game Of Thronesthe question of power is at the heart of House of the Dragon. The main plot revolves around Viserys I, white-haired Targaryen and benevolent monarch of the realm of the Seven Kingdoms, asked to name his successor.
The eldest of the king’s children is a daughter, Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock, replaced mid-season by Emma D’Arcy). The problem? The order of succession of House Targaryen is not fixed by strict primogeniture. Although she seems qualified to succeed him, her gender is an obstacle. The king’s cousin, Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) had been denied her birthright years before… The issue of patriarchal sexism is therefore also central to House of the Dragon.
Many other characters thus have inclinations to mount the Iron Throne after the death of Viserys I: his violent and debauched warrior uncle, Daemon (Matt Smith); the children of her stepmother, Alicent (Emily Carey, later Olivia Cooke) and other supporting characters.
In short, House of the Dragon promises all sorts of family betrayals – preferably on top of a dragon, the way of Successionanother HBO success that inspired George RR Martin, Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik, at the helm of the show.
A movement unlike “Game of Thrones”
Like Game Of Thrones, House of the Dragon is a chatty series, where we discuss a lot of genealogy around well-known houses like the Targaryens or the Lannisters, but also new powerful houses like the Velaryon and Hightower.
Whereas Game Of Thrones concerned rival dynasties competing for control of the Seven Kingdoms, the plots of House of the Dragon are restricted to one family. The narrative richness of the series is, for the moment, considerably reduced.
House of the Dragon seems to follow the opposite movement of Game of Thrones, the first episodes are a kind of closed door within Dragon Rouge and the more the episodes go by, the more the universe of the series unfolds, the exact opposite of the dynamics of its Elder. Even the familiar opening theme by Ramin Djawadi, a composer already at work in the original series, seems less deployed.
A little something less than “Game of Thrones”
Epic fight scenes, sumptuous weddings that end badly, a touch of incest… House of the Dragon incorporates many of the ingredients of the recipe for success Game Of Thrones.
The flavor of Game of Thrones is however not completely found. The show suffers in particular from a cruel lack of humor and lightness. No character currently has the wit traits of a Tyrion Lannister.
And if this spin-off is talkative, it lacks the scathing repartee of a Cersei Lannister and the treacherous tongue of a Little Finger. Daemon Targaryen’s underlying madness is still too contained to be hated like Ramsay Bolton or Joffrey Baratheon.
If the dragons fly majestically in the skies of Port-Réal, House of the Dragon only hints at the magic and mysticism very present in the original series.
Will the Shakespearean feuds within the Targaryen family be enough to fully enthrall viewers? It’s too early to tell, anything is possible with this saga. But the output context of House of the Dragon is not the same as that of Game Of Thrones. The Witcher on Netflix gets better with every season and fantasy fans are eagerly awaiting another great epic, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime Video.