I'll be quite interested to learn just how widely the new series is watched. Anecdotally, it doesn't seem as though anyone I know is excited about the prospect of more "Game of Thrones," siding with the broad displeasure of the masses over the final season (and ending) of the mother series. At the same time, it doesn't seem like vast swaths of people have defiantly declared they will not watch the spin-off. So it feels to me like viewership could range wildly.
If people do tune in, what might they think after episode one? My own review would be something like "it's fine, though far from exceptional." The network and creatives at the show are obviously hoping for another multi-year hit to replace Game of Thrones, so episode one is clearly just an amuse-bouche that really can't get us very far into a story. Still... everyone involved must also know that a lot of people are coming to this (if they're coming at all) with extreme skepticism, so they must feel an obligation to get your attention quickly.
I think how you react to the first episode, "The Heirs of the Dragon," probably depends a lot on how much you need this to be "better" in your mind than your perception of the Game of Thrones finale. The more guarded you are, the more you need to be sold on this prequel, the less it will likely succeed in doing so. The more you're just open to "more dragons, please," with a general hope that it will get better, given time? The more likely I think you'll get exactly that (if nothing more).
This first episode wasn't gripping to me. But it did have a few characters who popped right out of the gate. Matt Smith's Prince Daemon is an effective heel, a sort of adult Joffrey who toggles between petulance and true danger. Milly Alcock as Rhaenyra shows potential as a compelling protagonist, though perhaps simply by not slotting into a simple box as the rest of the archetypal characters do at this very early juncture.
A few scenes definitely popped as well. The juxtaposition of child birth with the jousting tournament did feel a bit "film paper" in conception, especially after a character explicitly defined giving birth as a battlefield earlier in the episode. Still, despite seeing all the strings being pulled, the resulting scene worked for me in delivering a meaningful emotional (even physical) reaction as it unfolded. Another sequence stuck out at me for what it didn't show. Hand of the King Otto Hightower seems to be sending his daughter Alicent into a situation specifically to seduce someone, but the result was a rare case in which the world of Game of Thrones does not give in to base or repugnant attitudes about sex.
After one episode, House of the Dragon has not made itself "can't miss TV" for me. But I'm intrigued enough to want to see more, and hopeful that there are enough ingredients in this stew for it to be something tasty once it's simmered. I give the first episode a B.
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