It has been four years and two slow-burn seasons since House Of The Dragon first arrived on screens. As the Game Of Thrones prequel steps into its third run, it is clear that showrunner Ryan Condal knows full well that viewers are now hungry for the real dragon fireworks. The previous season closed on a montage of the battles still to come, and this one plunges into them without wasting a moment.
Streaming on: HBO Max / Sky Atlantic / NOW TVEpisodes viewed: 4 of 8
The Opening Episodes Race At Full Tilt
The first two episodes move at such a breakneck pace that, for a while, it almost feels as though the show has bowed to its critics and reshaped itself into a late-stage-Thrones-style spectacle. Along the way you get an epic sea skirmish, a few shocking losses, and some of the best dragon CGI the series has produced so far. For Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), her frenemy Alicent (Olivia Cooke), her husband Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) and the many, many supporting figures caught in the war of Green versus Black, there is no shortage of explosive upheaval.
It brings a welcome sense of unpredictability about where the story is headed.
Spectacle Without Losing The Character Depth
Reassuringly, that thrilling burst of energy never arrives at the expense of nuanced character drama or its carefully drawn quasi-historical themes. House Of The Dragon may not deliver the kind of sweeping tonal change offered by this year’s delightful Thrones spin-off A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, but it has always pitched itself as a political period drama rather than a soaring high-fantasy epic. At heart it is a Westeros spin on a Shakespearean history play, with a faint streak of West Wing-style governing drama, all viewed through the question of what it truly means for a woman to claim power in a medieval world. Those elements remain the spine of the season, never more so than in a tremendous episode that places D’Arcy at the centre of a high-wire, day-in-the-life tale about what being a queen actually demands.
Performances Deepen, And A Striking New Arrival
As the show charges forward, the performances only grow richer. After being put through some witchy dream therapy last season, Smith brings softer new shades to Daemon, a part that still suits him perfectly. The season’s most intriguing fresh addition, meanwhile, is Alicent’s cousin Lord Ormund Hightower (James Norton), a self-assured nobleman who at different moments looks like Team Green’s answer to Robb Stark, Tywin Lannister and perhaps even Ramsay Bolton, all rolled into one.
An Occasionally Uneven Pace, But An Open Ending
That very ambiguity powers a season packed with twists over what the close of this war might really look like. Only now and then does the pacing feel uneven, as the show stretches itself thin trying to check in on every character across its increasingly crowded board. The reward is a welcome sense of unpredictability about where it is all going. This is a game of thrones in which what unfolds in the royal family’s chambers and in the court of public opinion matters just as much as what happens on the battlefield, and every strand is given equal weight.
