House of the Dragon

Each new episode zips along, its concise presentation never shortchanging character or narrative intelligence. Schemes and themes that were meticulously, and often tediously, set up in Season 2 pay off with swift, delectable complications — twists best discovered firsthand.

It’s a pretty stellar season premiere, quite frankly, with more than enough rich narrative, scheming families, dragons, and sumptuous costumes to quench the thirst of any Game Of Thrones fan. .... Oh sure, there’s times when this episode feels like a crib sheet, hellbent on reminding us exactly who everyone is and what their motives are, but it’s been a hot minute since the HOTD season-one finale, quite frankly, and we could all use the help.

While it takes a few episodes for House of the Dragon to crescendo into the sort of grand, violent spectacle that the series (and its predecessor) does better than pretty much anything else on TV, there are enough nuggets of incident in the opening couple of hours to satisfy viewers’ bloodlust.

Season two proves narratively more cohesive, more entertaining and just plain better on all fronts.

There’s much to praise in this show’s telling a new story that still chimes familiar themes, a succession drama that’s of Westeros but not reheated. ... But the show can, at times, be more easily admired than watched. ... Scenes tend toward the short and pointedly written, giving us much data but only the general contours of characters.

Season two feels like a stopgap placeholder to build towards all-out warfare that will only erupt in season three, making for a poorer season meant for those with only the steeliest of patience.

It ultimately is more interested in fan service—offering up more dragons, more gore, more surprise murders, a more expensive historical re-enactment—than it is in developing scenes that ring true. ... It’s as hollow and brittle as the massive scale model of the kingdom that Viserys takes pride in building.

Single-handedly the best show which was realeased during the last few years. Huge budget is clearly visible here unlike The Rings of Power or The Acolyte where you think it´s just some expensive poor lore breaking fan fiction. Acting is phenomenal all around the cast and extras. CGIed dragons looks like they are almost real. Whole series stays very true to it´s well established lore and books.

One of the things that makes Game of Thrones work is the absence of the Targaryens: the struggle for power brings out the characters of both the individuals and their houses. Those characters, so finely and expertly drawn by GRR Martin, are what make GoT one of the greatest shows of all time, and why Martin has very few peers in his genre. Even in the books and on the show, Danaerys’s storyline, while still very good, is the weakest. Of all the sins of the infamous final season, the failure to convincingly portray her character’s arc is maybe the biggest.House of Dragons suffers from Targaryen Syndrome. There’s less distinction between the characters; to the extent they are portrayed, we’ve seen their type before. The relative lack of the presence of other houses hampers the show, while the preponderance of entitled silver-haired duds makes it hard to care about any one of them. Game of Thrones had a wealth of indelible characters whose stories fascinated us; even brief turns like Oberyn Martell were star-making and unforgettable. One of that show’s few flaws (all stemming from lack of original text and showrunners’ desire to wrap the show quickly) was including lame bad guy, Euron Greyjoy, without having the ability to develop his character (a psychopath on par with Ramsay Bolton in the book). House of Dragons hasn’t gone that far down, but it’s much more Euron than not. Daemon is arguably the most interesting character but even he seems like something not fully fleshed **** should be clear I blame the writing; like its predecessor’s final two seasons, HoD doesn’t have rich veins of Martin’s prose and character development l; its text source is more of a historical narrative. Most of the actors are very good and the show is beautifully crafted. It’s a good show, and I’ll be watching. But it carries on from the legacy **** show, making it fair game for comparison.

It is like a deja vu of the whole GoT series, it has violence, sex scenes, bad jokes, political plots for power, some scenes without sense (like Ser Criston murdering a noble in the middle of a party without any consequence). But I honestly think that the characters aren't as good as the GoT characters. IMO in, GoT pretty much all characters felt more natural and likable for the viewer (until season 7-8 of course).

Season 2 Episode 8 is the worst TV writing of the year. From the mud-wrestling scene with a TERRIBLY written a new character doing mud wrestling with gleaming 21st century veneers (hollywood fake teeth), to the soaring symphony track over a five minute closing montage, every single beat is cringe. The other S2 episodes were not nearly so unprofessional; this last entry alienates the audience unnecessarily at a key commercial moment. Whoever wrote this has not understood the aesthetic laid down in Season 1. They are looking for cheap laughs, and even cheaper character identification. You don't need a big budget to make this show sing, you just need screenwriters who can... write.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]