House of the Dragon: Why the tear?

With House of the Dragon, they narrate the “Game of Thrones” prequel to showrunners. The first episode is over, not all reviews are positive. On the contrary: many film and television connoisseurs are looking for a hair in the soup in order to be able to leave as little as possible that is advantageous from the series debut.

While George RR Martin may be writing tirelessly, or at least fans hope he is, Game of Thrones is entering the next round on the TV screen. Or in a preliminary round: House of the Dragon plays as a prequel around 172 years before Daenerys Targaryen's birth. There will be ten episodes in total, the first of which is over.

Drama instead of intrigue

It's a known thing with the debut of a new series: either it hits or it doesn't. At House of the Dragon, fans and experts are currently at odds. Some praise the first episode, others see it as a kind of "Game of Thrones", only boring. Yes, some critics get really angry: the actors are not good enough, the plot is boring, the dialogues are flat. There is a lack of intrigue.

Now House of the Dragon is a prequel that primarily revolves around the fate of House Targaryen – and Game of Thrones connoisseurs know that a lot has happened even before the blockbuster series that can at least be described as intriguing. So where does some critic come from the assessment that the series lacks it? It's probably just ignorance. The first major drama about King Viserys I Targaryen has already ended - there are no spoilers here, but what happened is not only tragic, but the prelude to much that is known from "Game of Thrones" and "House of the Dragon" apparently missing: drama, intrigue, secrets, power struggles.

The first series episode roughly classifies the people, not their personalities. So far, only rudimentary information has been found about the latter. Except for Prince Daemon Targaryen, whom Matt Smith credibly turns into a noble asshole. The only bright spot? At least in terms of character portrayal. But behind it is the course of the story, which at this point in time cannot allow more than what fans have been allowed to see so far. Rhys Ifans as Sir Otto Hightower, but above all Olivia Cooke as Lady Alicent, will play major roles - but their time is yet to come. As with many of the characters.

The criticism of the debut – always with the excuse that it is of course only part one – sometimes seems ridiculous. If you had only roughly dealt with the material, you would have noticed that the shallow entrance cannot remain - the story dictates that. And because it is already certain what will happen in the future, you cannot simply change the past - at least not its framework.

While sex, brutality and plenty of symbolism are evident in the first installment of House of the Dragon, they are not its greatest strengths. The debut plays with expectations, asking you to perceive the details of the characters and the plot in order to anticipate what could happen or even know what will happen. There are enough clues: with Prince Daemon, with Princess Rhaenyra, with the High Towers, with King Viserys, with Mysaria.

The showrunners roughly stick to the panacea of ​​dragons, violence and interpersonal stories anyway. Technically, this is flawless. The well-known musical sounds underline the illusion that House of the Dragon is pretty close to Game of Thrones. You may have learned something after all, no longer savoring the shame so openly: There are brothel scenes, but they are short. Nudity stays more discreetly in the background. Will it stay that way? Wait. In the end, House of the Dragon isn't as clumsy as some critics would like the fan to believe, even from a purely cinematic point of view. Only the sets from the computer sometimes seem too modern, too soft, too artificial. This is often noticeable, rarely bothers, but could have been better.

In any case, the first pitfalls for the characters were laid with the debut episode, but obviously not everyone noticed it. One thing is certain: this will change faster than you can call Seven Kingdoms - because the future is there.

Preview	Product	Rating	Price
	Game Of Thrones - TV Box Set (4K Ultra HD) [Blu-ray]*	Currently no reviews	150,99 EUR

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