House of the Dragon Season 2 (2024) Review

Over the last 8 weeks, House of the Dragon has been the biggest show in the world and now the second season has finished and here is my review for the show. The premise of the season sees both factions preparing for a great war and attempt to find advantage to their claims to the Iron Throne. 

Main Character

Matt Smith reprises his role as Daemon Targaryen and he is just fantastic in his role. I must admit that his storyline isn't the best this season but Smith has so much charisma and absolutely owns every scene that he has on screen. 

Emma D'Arcy has a greater role as Rhaenyra Targaryen and it is great to see the character really come into their own and D'Arcy is fantastic. The character is struggling with her claim to the iron throne and I felt like there was greater depth added to Rhaenyra. 

Supporting Characters  

Olivia Cook is back as Alicent Hightower and I really liked the juxtaposition between her and Rhaenyra. She is struggling in King's Landing dealing with her sons causing chaos and the friction that she has caused in the majority of the relationships in her life. 

Even though he doesn't have as large a role Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower is one of my favourite characters on this show and he nails it once again. He is just thinking a few steps ahead of all the other characters and I just love seeing him in work. 

Tom Glynn-Carney as Aegon Targaryen is a real shining light this season. He really steps up this season and gives a fantastic performance, there is a lot of nuance to his character and at times I even felt a bit sorry for him which shows his quality as an actor. 

Ewan Mitchell also does a great job as Aemond Targaryen and I really found this character interesting. He is very cool and calculated and you see his character develop over the season, Aemond has conflict with the other characters but seems to have a side of him that does want to rule. 

There are so many characters in this show that I won't have any time to talk about them all but everybody does a fantastic job and the acting is probably the best part of the season. 

Story

There are elements that I really enjoyed in the story. The conflict that goes on within Alicent and Rhaenyra is a great part of the show and I really enjoyed both sides taking different political risks in order to put themselves in a stronger position. However, there are some elements of the story that don't work as well. Daemon's story in Harrenhall is pretty bizarre and even though it has a good payoff, it takes way too long and could have bene completed in a few episodes. Also the season kind of doesn't have a true ending, it just feels like setup for next season which is a big let down. 

Script

The script is okay, there is some interesting dialogue and a lot of the drama does hit in the right way and make you care about the main story that is being told. But this show still lacks some charm that Game of Thrones had, it is incredibly bleak and this just doesn't make it as enjoyable a watch. 

Style 

Visually, the show looks amazing. It is clear the budget is extremely large and that really gives it this epic scale, some of the action scenes are breath-taking and seeing dragons in full flight is still amazing to see. But the pacing of the show is off, there are too many story arcs and some of them are really not given the time for an audience to care and again it just feels like set up for the next season. 

Overall

Overall, House of the Dragon Season 2 is good, it still has a lot of the great things that the previous season had. However, I do think this is a step down and Season 3 really needs to step it up and deliver on the promises this season makes. It is definitely a good watch and should be watched, I just don't want the standards to drop lower. 

Rating - 7/10

House of the Dragon Season 1 (2022) Review

After the somewhat disappointing ending to Game Of Thrones, we have waited a long time for the spinoff show House of the Dragon. The first season of the show has just finished and here is my review for it. The premise of the show is set almost 200 years before Game Of Thrones and sees the House of Targaryen in charge of the 7 kingdoms and having to deal with all the conflict that comes with that. 

Main Character 

Milly Alcock & Emma D'Arcy play the young and older version of Rhaenyra Targaryen and they are both fantastic. Alcok creates this really interesting young character and she is just enigmatic on screen and I don't know why but she was one of the best parts of the show. When D'Arcy took over the role she did a great job on building on the hard work that Alcok did and feel like an older version of this character. She is just really charismatic on screen and even though I wasn't a huge fan of the time jump she did a great job. 

Supporting Characters 

This is one of the biggest supporting characters that you will ever see, so I definitely won't mention everybody but everybody is fantastic in this show and delivers really strong performances. Matt Smith plays Daemon Targaryen and he is probably the best part of the show, he is so charismatic and he owns the screen in every scene that he is in. The character has so much development and intrigue of the show that seems to have earnt him much praise and love from the fandom. Rhys Ifans plays Otto Hightower and he is certainly one of the more manipulative and conniving members of the cast. This character reminds me the most of the best characters from GOT and seeing him try and manipulate the situation is interesting to watch. Paddy Considine plays King Viserys Targaryen and he is fantastic, you see this man try and control this whole situation that he is put in and Considine nails it, especially throughout the time jump where he has to give very different performances. 

Story 

The story of the show is interesting. It documents some of the events that we were told about in GOT and seeing this rich lore come to life, the plotting and scheming is there and when it really gets into it, it really hits the high notes. The issue is mainly about the amount of content that is attempted here, the infamous time jumps have been an issue for me and made it sometimes hard to care about these characters. Also the finale didn't feel as high stakes as I think it should have done, which is a bit disappointing. 

Script

The script is really good. The writing is strong and the characters are much better written here. It is a very serious show with only a few sprinkles of humour but it feels appropriate and I am just happy to see these people fleshed out. 

Style 

The show looks amazing, the CGI is out of this world and the budget is definitely a big plus. When the action takes place, it is handled really well and in pretty brutal fashion. But the pacing of the show is a bit off, first the time jumps really don't help with getting us established with these characters and their actors. Also some of the episodes do feel a little slow at times with not much actually happening which is a shame. 

Overall

Overall, House of The Dragon Season 1 is a Great start for this new spinoff series. It continues good work from Game Of Thrones and with a few refinements it can live up to the epic heights. 

Rating - 8/10