A preliminary tip: to remember who is who in this universe of a billion years, who killed who, who married who, who killed whom to marry whom, you have to watch the first season or, at least, a summary of them. that populate YouTube. If the lesson isn’t new, it’s hard to follow the family tree of House of the Dragon, which returns June 17 (now on Max), after a two-year hiatus.
Once the TPC ships, the story wastes no time, picking up right after the events that ended the previous season (and still giving us a very familiar generic sound). Luke, son of Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), is murdered by Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) and she ends up trapped in a mourning that leaves the entire drama of the succession to the Iron Throne on hold. However, it is good that he does not stay too long in this lethargy, as there are too many vultures on both sides looking for a piece of power.
Criticism of the first season of the Game of Thrones prequel (which rewinds history about 100 years) was not unanimous. There were rushed time jumps, confusing narrative arcs, underdeveloped characters and incapable of generating empathy in the viewer. The second season is divided into eight episodes (two less than the previous one) and corrects some problems – the events take place in a few weeks, which allows the story to create more solid roots – but repeats others, such as the commitment to a generation of younger Targaryens who oscillate between immature, irascible and naive characters and who are very far from an Arya Stark or a Joffrey Baratheon (comparisons are inevitable), tenacious or hateful characters, but at least with charisma.
In the first four episodes (those that were available for review), the adaptation changes some things from the book Blood and Fire (by George RR Martin) that gave rise to it, there are plot twists, more blood and more battles. The list of people whose names we can’t mention, scenes whose details we can’t mention, and (virtually) commas we can’t use is extensive, but we can say, without spoilers, that revenge is the word that will guide the entire season. in an endless ping-pong between the two sides of the Targaryens.
On the one hand, in King’s Landing, the impertinent Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) is now king and, although it was his mother, Alicent (Olivia Cooke), and the king’s grandfather and hand, Otto (Rhys Ifans), who were responsible Due to this succession, things are getting out of their control. In the end, we end up seeing an unpredictable and unintelligent boy playing kings, delivering wine and brothels as if there was nothing else to do, and making decisions with no idea of the consequences. Prowling, silent as a snake, is his brother, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), the mocked and abandoned boy who is now, surprisingly or perhaps not, a dangerous psychopath.
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On the other side is Rhaenyra, the legitimate heir, who has claimed the throne since her father died and who now, with one of her sons dead, has few excuses not to attack her half-siblings and her former childhood friend.
Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke affirm that their characters are the strongest in the narrative, two intelligent, empathetic and repentant women who know perfectly well, however, that their common sense will never be enough to stop the man-children thirsty for battle. .
If in Game of Thrones we spent seasons hearing that winter was approaching, here war is imminent and it won’t be years until everyone is massacred on the battlefield.
Severed heads? There is. Flared bellies? There is. Massacred soldiers? Also. Fire-breathing dragons? Clear. This time the production team did everything twice: even the platinum wigs seem to exist in greater quantity and shinier. However, we know that quantity (or a few million more to spend on theoretically spectacular scenes) does not mean quality. There are so many pointless, confusing, or irrelevant story arcs that the question remains: Did they not learn from the mistakes of the first season? Even the names are confusing: Rhaenys, Rhaena, Rhaenyra. We needed a few hours of support in the studio just to decorate each person’s place.
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There are lords, conspirators and allies who make an appearance here and, although they had appeared before, no one had noticed them. Completely unnecessary, they contribute nothing to the story. On the other hand, the more complex characters whose next steps we look forward to are completely erased in these first few episodes. Daemon (Matt Smith) is underused and has only one hope left: to have something grand in store for the second half of the season. The same goes for Lord Larys (Matthew Needham), the cunning renegade incomprehensibly relegated to the fifteenth plane.
It must be recognized that House of the Dragon is, like the first time, addictive content and competent entertainment that catches us and makes us choose sides and support one or the other as if everything were black and white and we could only belong to one team. . It’s not Game of Thrones, but the fact that it’s a prequel is no excuse not to catch up. The goal was to be better and grander than the mother production. It has not yet achieved this and the window of opportunity for this to happen is increasingly shorter.
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Until we get there (or fail completely), we can find fascination in the fact that we are witnessing a bloody and ruthless battle within a single clan. If in Game of Thrones there were different families fighting for the throne, here they are all Targaryens. The blood bond can be worth anything or be even more treacherous, loyalty and greed go hand in hand. When you kill people who should be closer to you out of interest, where is the limit? If it doesn’t exist, House of the Dragon has room to take risks and surprise. However, you will have to know how to control your impulse for greatness as well as the Targaryens control their dragons.
Source: Observadora
