‘House Of The Dragon’ Episode 1 Review: Targaryen Succession Drama, And Its Gender Politics, Show Promise
What’s our take on prequels? In the weeks that are going to give us prequel series of two of the biggest pop-culture phenomena, The Lord Of The Rings and Game Of Thrones, this is a pertinent question to pose, I feel. How much do we want the prequels to be like the original series? Should they consciously focus on rectifying mistakes of their future past? Or should they have the liberty of their own follies and stumbles? House Of The Dragon, which explores a section of the history of House Targaryen from Game Of Thrones some 180 years before Daenerys Targaryen, has the impossible task of measuring up to what’s easily the biggest television phenomenon of our time. And it also had one of the most perfect pilots that I ever saw. While I’d personally breathe dragon fire at anyone who draws shallow comparisons like “Oh it’s good but it’s not GoT,” I’m all for debating the nuances of what makes House Of Dragon better than Thrones at its lowest point or not as good as Thrones at its best. And luckily for us fans, House Of The Dragon packs enough firepower, politics, and strong performances to make this a more than a fair fight.
House Of The Dragon is based on the book Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin, executive produced by George R.R. Martin, Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik. It stars Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans with an additional cast of Milly Alcock, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Emily Carey, Harry Collett, Ryan Corr, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jefferson Hall, David Horovitch, Wil Johnson, John Macmillan, Graham McTavish, Ewan Mitchell, Theo Nate, Matthew Needham, Bill Paterson, Phia Saban, Gavin Spokes, and Savannah Steyn.
House Of The Dragon Episode 1 begins with the ascension of King Viserys I Targaryen, First Of His Name, to the Iron Throne, succeeding his grandfather King Jaehaerys I Targaryen. It’s not a straightforward one, for he beats his cousin sister Rhaenys in an election because nobody wants a woman on the Iron Throne. We skip to a few years later when Viserys has a firstborn daughter, Rhaenyra, and the realm awaits his pregnant queen, Aemma Arryn, to soon deliver the King’s heir. When that doesn’t happen, the battle for succession begins anew. The king’s younger brother, Prince Daemon Targaryen, an exceptional warrior and dragon rider is in the running. But nobody is a fan of his erratic, whimsical, and often bloody ways, particularly the Hand Of The King, Ser Otto Hightower, who doesn’t think Daemon would make a good king. Meanwhile, Corlys Velaryon, the richest man in the Seven Kingdoms and husband to Rhaenys aka The Queen Who Never Was, is on the King’s council as Master Of Tides, pushing his own agenda. There’s mutiny brewing in a group of islands in the Narrow Sea called the Stepstones. And the king is even more under pressure to name an heir. Welcome to Westeros, and watch your fooking backs because the Dance Of Dragons, a full-blown Targaryen civil war, is on the horizon.
But man, it is good to be back home at the Red Keep in King’s Landing, where the Iron Throne is still inviting applications for more swords of enemies that the Targaryens have conquered. The skull of Balerion the Black Dread (Viserys I was its last rider) isn’t dismissed to some dank corner of the Keep just yet but has a place of reverence underneath the halls, candles lit around it. The sept, the weirwood tree in the courtyard, the Dragonpit… feel like trudging old grounds when they still looked new, much like the narrow streets of Fleabottom, the whorehouses, and the ships that anchor in the sea at the bottom of the hill. Your ears will pique upon hearing some familiar House names, like Hightower, Velaryon, Tarly, Arryn, Martell, and Baratheon, and a few new ones too. The visuals even more deliberately invoke Game Of Thrones. A scene that starkly stands out is when Milly Alcock as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen dismounts her dragon. From her stature to her tenacity to the command in her voice when she speaks Valyrian, the Daenerys Targaryen recollect is strong with this one. In another scene, when a young Rhaenyra and Alicent Hightower (played by Emily Carey) are walking through the Red Keep, you’d almost think it was an AU where Daenerys and Margaery Tyrell were BFFs traipsing through Kings Landing together.
The first episode of the House Of The Dragon is a seamless return to Westeros and the world of Thrones. In just the first episode itself, kings and queens are taken down and coronated, heirs decided and heirs debated, the King’s small council is convened and political rivals established. There’s violence, there is sex, and there’s a (TW) bloody childbirth scene that is not for the fainthearted. A tourney is held where knights of the realm spill more than just blood. And oh, this show, from the privilege of being about the age when it was still a strong belief that Targaryens were closer to Gods than men, there are magnificent dragons and fearless riders.
The GoT pilot was easily some of the best television I have seen (That scene from North of The Wall…). So when I went into HOTD, I went with tempered expectations that as great as it might be, it would require something truly remarkable to top its predecessor. The Dragons pilot doesn’t exactly top it, but it does manage to establish key players of the game in the first episode, tease us with dragons and the usual GoT baits of bloody, gore, sex, and quote-worthy dialogues, and lots of succession tussle. It successfully engulfed me in the Targaryen drama and had me craving the next episode, which is testament enough that the show holds some major promise.
But my biggest allure is how gender politics are even more starkly woven into this succession drama. House Of The Dragon puts forth the struggles of being a woman in Westeros, and Westerosi politics, and the need to be more than just a womb to bear the kings and lords’ heirs. A gory childbirth scene and a jousting tourney where men’s physical prowess is at display are interwoven to prove an earlier remark from the queen—the childbirth bed is a woman’s battlefield. Guess which one is going to make even grown men avert their gaze more. There’s also the matter of the two Targaryens, uncle and niece (much like GoT’s Dany and Jon Snow dynamic), being almost alike and equals in every way, except gender, fighting for the Iron Throne. And yet, for one of them the struggle is always a shade harder because of their gender.
Also Read: House Of The Dragon Writer Says Show Won’t Have “Sexual Violence” Like ‘Game Of Thrones’ Did
I’ve already waxed eloquent about just how much seamless the production and visuals make slipping back into Westeros mode. But we also need to talk about the cast and their performances. Paddy Considine as King Viserys, Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower, and Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon bring a commanding presence and much gravity to their characters. But it is the women that really steal the show for me. Milly Alcock, Emily Carey, and Eve Best put forth dominating performances that you cannot take your eyes off of. Graham McTavish, I have been a fan of since I watched him on Outlander, and I am eager to see more of him on HOTD.
But let’s please talk about Matt Smith as my impulsive bad boy and second son Prince Daemon Targaryen. Sexy name, sexy deeds, and sexy performance. Smith’s Daemon makes you want to detest him but also “fix” him with a hug, you know? The one thing that both Thrones and Targaryens are infamous for is incest, and we are going to get enough of it in House Of The Dragon too. And let me tell you, your morals are going to shake like the bones of someone confronted with a dragon when you see Matt Smith’s Daemon Targaryen make lusty eyes at people who should not be making lusty eyes at. The man could conjure chemistry with a rock, and the bad boy act suits him to the D. And this is one character WHOse arc I am so excited to see develop.
Verdict
After Episode 1, House Of The Dragon does spark hope that it could be a promising heir to the Game Of Thrones legacy. All Men Must Watch.
House Of The Dragon premieres on Disney+ Hotstar starting August 22, with new episodes releasing every Monday at 6:30 AM IST.
