House of the Dragon Episode 1 Review – The New Game of Thrones?

HBO’s newest and greatest show that is part of the Game of Thrones Universe is out now. The show is a prequel to the events of Game of Thrones and it will tell the epic and glorious story of House Targaryen or as you’d rather know them as House of the Dragon. The show is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones. HBO is planning to re-taste the success of Game of Thrones, I mean when you have the biggest show in TV history it is quite a bummer when it ends and that too on a sour note. Even if Game of Thrones has ended, HBO plans on making money by giving fans more stories from the same universe. At the time of writing, there are seven GOT spin-offs/prequels in development. One of them being House of the Dragon. The show will focus on Daenerys’.

The show will feature the might of the Targaryens and their reign on the Seven Kingdoms until things went south. The first season of the show is debuting on HBO and HBO Max next month and is said to have 10 episodes. The showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik intend to make at least 5 seasons. If the show plans on doing that then it has to continue to perform well HBO throughout its many seasons. However, before we fantasize about the future. House of the Dragon Season 1 has to set the standards for HBO this year. A recent pre-screening of the show was held at Los Angeles and everyone who witnessed it couldn’t praise the show enough.

All these things said, I was excited as well as skeptical about the show given how Game of Thrones wrapped things. The pilot finally premiered today and having seen the prequel I can judge it for myself. Without any further ado, let’s commence the Dragon Saga.

Episode – Heirs of the Throne (SPOILERS AHEAD)

Rating – ★★★★1/2

Does House of the Dragon Pilot Live up to the GOT Standards?

The pilot of the show begins with King Jaehaerys succession. As a tragedy had befallen the king, he had no obvious heir. A council was held to decide on a new heir and out of the 14 applications it came down to two- the King’s eldest descent Rhaenys Targaryen and her younger cousin Viserys Targaryen, the King’s eldest “male” descent. The council made Viserys the king as they didn’t want a woman to inherit the Iron Throne. The pilot then cuts to the 9th year of Viserys’ reign or 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen.

After that we’re introduced to the various players in this game of thrones. Starting out with possibly the protagonist of the show: Rhaenyra Targaryen. We learn that Viserys is expecting a child from his wife. He has one child i.e. Rhaenyra but no male heir. His wife has had many miscarriages and stillborns. We learn the notion about women in the realm. We see Rhaenyra’s friendship with Alicent Hightower. The conflict between Otto Hightower and Daemon Targaryen is established.

We learn Daemon’s nature by the way he slaughters the criminals of King’s Landing. He is not the ideal choice to be the heir. Viserys’ wife goes through a complication in her pregnancy. Viserys chooses his child above his wife and the maestors cut her open to get the child. It is a son but unfortunately the child is born still. As the king is left childless, the talks about the heir began once again. He is made to choose between his daughter and his brother. He refuses to do so but once again Daemon’s nature results in his undoing.

Daemon celebrates the death of Baelon’s death (Viserys’s son). He called Baelon “Heir for a Day”. Viserys and Daemon quarell. Viserys sends Daemon to Vale back to his wife and he names Rhaenyra her heir. All the lords pledge their fealty to the king and his announced heir. It maybe unwilling but Rhaenyra is now the heir to the Iron Throne. The episode ends with Daemon flying back to Vale and Rhaenyra being the heir. Oh yes, we get a nod to the White Walkers in this episode as Viserys tells Rhaenyra about the great winter rising in the north.

The pilot is about 65 minutes long. The pilot establishes Rhaenyra and Daemon’s upcoming rivalry. However, it does it in a very innovative way. The relationship between the uncle and niece is really beautiful. Rhaenyra is always supportive of Daemon, little does she knows that he will be her mortal enemy in the future. He will challenge her succession. The role of Rhaenys in this episode might be little but she looks like the Littlefinger of this series. Rhaenyra and Alicent’s bond is intricately crafted, they’re so close but in the future they will not be.

Verdict

House of the Dragon’s pilot is everything we wanted it to be and more. The critics were correct. The pilot promises an epic saga that will last for the ages. While I won’t say that the pilot is as great as Game of Thrones’ but it is right up there. I love the enormous money HBO has invested in this show. Each frame of the show reflects it. The one caveat I have with the pilot is that the dragon VFX is not upto the mark. Its not bad but it is certainly weak. Its nowhere near the quality of Drogon.

I loved hearing Dracarys from another Targayren after Daeneryes. I loved the subtle inclusion of GOT’s theme song in the entire episode and the credits. The first addition to the GOT universe is an amazing start. I hope the quality of the show doesn’t drop. The pilot certainly promises us to have high hopes. The prequel’s IMDb score after just the first episode is 9/10 with 9557 votes. It has a Fresh rating of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. While GOT’s pilot for me a 5 out of 5 stars, House of the Dragon is not up there yet.

House of the Dragon is a clear winner and has potential to be another Television phenomenon. The pilot of the GOT prequel is 4.5 out of 5 stars. I can’t say whether it is the new GOT but it is certainly a good start for it. The pilot lives upto to the GOT standards but the betrayals and shocks are something that will happen in the following episodes. If you haven’t watched it already, check out House of the Dragon on HBO Max or Disney+ Hotstar.

The GOT prequel has an incredible ensemble cast that includes Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans. Along with the main cast, the supporting cast of the show includes- 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, Savannah Steyn, and more.

House of the Dragon’s Pilot is currently streaming on HBO Max or Disney+. New episodes will debut on every Sunday or Monday on HBO and HBO Max or Disney+ Hotstar depending on the region you live in, at 9 pm or 6.30 am.

If you have any questions regarding House of the Dragon, feel free to ask in the comments below. For more content, stay tuned. As usual, like, subscribe and share our articles as we here are trying to build a community of people High on Cinema!