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What’s up, ladies and gentlemen? Welcome back for
house of the Dragon article. In this article, I will be giving my initial
thoughts on the very first episode of HBO's new Game of Thrones series, House
of the Dragon. Well, my friends, the day we have all been waiting for is
finally here.
Now, I
don't usually do this, but now the House of the Dragon is actually here, I
think it should be celebrated. Now, I got to be honest, I wasn’t sure if this
day would ever come. After the divisive Game of Thrones ending and the
cancelling of the Long Night series, I did wonder if something would happen to House
of the Dragon before it actually aired. Thankfully, it is finally here, and I must
say, the very first episode was great.
The first
thing I want to do is get into some of the things I liked about this episode. I
think this first episode did a great job at setting everything up for this
first season. Right out of the gate, we are shown that the matter of succession
will be the main conflict of this series, something that is very reminiscent of
Game of Thrones. I mean, it's no secret why the main series, as well as George
R R Martin’s first novel in the A Song of Iceland Fire series, is named Game of
Thrones. The matter of succession will be the backbone of this new show, and it
wasn't long before we started seeing how this would affect each of the new
characters and House of the Dragon.
Now, before I get into all of that, I want to
mention the first scene after the cold opening. Again, I have to be honest, I
would be lying if I said I didn't feel a little emotional when the music
swelled right at the beginning of this episode. When we saw RHAENYRA flying
over the Red Keep for the first time, it felt amazing to finally be back in
Westeros again. They did a great job at making this feel like we're right back
in Game of Thrones without making it feel like the exact same show. There’s
something about the whole aesthetic of this show that I really like. I don't
know why, but most of the scenes that are shot outside makes me feel like I'm
walking around inside of a dream. I don't know if it's the effects they use or
some sort of filter, but the whole aesthetic is great. If you ask me, it was actually
nice seeing the Red Keep alive and filled with friendly visitors at the beginning.
Unlike in Game of Thrones, where it almost always had this ominous and dark
feeling, whenever we were inside of this castle, I thought this was a good way
of setting up who Viserys Targaryen is.
We immediately see how Viserys Targaryen is Unlike
many of the other kings we have seen or heard of before. he is a nice guy,
although he might be a little soft for the Iron Throne. It was interesting how
we kept seeing the Iron Throne make him bleed, foreshadowing how he might not
be sitting there for much longer. Now, as soft as Viserys is, I also did like
that we finally saw he does have some fire inside of him when he started
flexing his muscles near the end of the episode when everyone started telling
him who he should name as his successor.
I also
really like how they set up Sir Otto Hightower. Easily one of my favourite
characters to watch already. He’s not going to let someone walk all over him,
and he's not afraid to speak his mind even when he’s addressing the King about
his very own brother. Sir Otto gives me those Littlefinger vibes, especially
after the way he had his daughter go visit Viserys after his wife and son had
just died. He let us know right away that he does have his eyes set on the Iron
Throne, even if that means sacrificing his own daughter's innocence. Now, as
disgusting as that might be, and as habitable as he might become, I think it
makes for a very interesting character. I thoroughly enjoyed his interactions
with Daemon Targaryen as well. They set up their relationship and hatred for one
another right away, and it should make for some very interesting scenes in the future.
Another one of my favourite moments from this
episode was Daemon’s introduction. Now I will say no one will ever be as great
as Lord Tywin Lannister’s, but I still enjoyed his nonetheless. It sorts of
reminded me of Jaime Lannister's scene when Ned Stark saw him sitting in front of
the Iron Throne when he arrived in King's Landing. Any dominance Daemon might
have lacked in the first scene was certainly made up for in his second. When we
meet him in the City Watch, he immediately made a statement to everyone living
in that city. His justice is vicious, but I must say it did help the first half
of this episode for me because the beginning did feel like a slow burn,
although it was very understandable because they had to set everything up.
The
addition of several Targaryen’s speaking in High Valyrian is great as well. It
further demonstrates just how different these Targaryen’s are from everyone else.
As if their hair and dragon riding wasn't enough.
Now speaking of the dragons, they look amazing as well. Having this many bigass dragons in the very first episode alone lets us know this isn’t your daddy's Game of Thrones show. We don't have to wait several seasons before we start seeing massive dragons flying around in the sky. How so? The dragon is giving us that right out of the Gate. I also love just how different some of them look from Deanery’s dragons. I mean, Daemon’s dragon actually does look like a damn Bloodworm with its long neck and body.
It looks kind of odd at first, but I
really like it because it does make him stand out from the rest. Unlike Game of
Thrones, they're finally giving all these dragons their own characteristics
they've always deserved.
I really
like Rhaenyra and Alicent’s relationship in the episode. Their friendliness and
fondness of one another is only setting up even greater scenes down the road.
Once they have their falling out, it will make their relationship even more heart-breaking
once we see how violent things actually get once the dance of the dragons begins.
Now, one thing I was not expecting was the scene with Viserys Targaryen's wife,
Emma Erin. I must say, the scene of her giving birth to their son was brutal,
and I was not expecting to see Viserys make the decision to save the son. Now,
they made it obvious how badly he wanted a son, but it did not seem like he
would do that after the way they were setting him up. This does seem like an afterthought.
However, after watching his wife lose her life for the sun. This might sound
messed up, but for me, thesis when the episode really started to get good.
I thought the second half of this episode was a
lot better than the first once they had most of the main characters established.
Now, if you're someone who has read Fire and Blood or even A Song of Ice and Fire,
I’m sure you noticed how fast and loose they were with some of the source of
material. Jaehaery shouldn't have been there during the Great Council, Rhaenys
son should have been there during the election, and the Weir wood shouldn't
have been in King's Landing either, and so on and so forth. I don't think it
should have a major effect on the overall story, although the verdict is still
out until we see the rest of the episodes from this season.
Like I
said earlier, I think this was a great episode to start off the show. The only
thing it was really missing is one of those big major moments like Game of
Thrones first episode had. If you remember, that first episode began with the
White Walkers, and it ended with Brand being thrown from the window. This
episode did not necessarily have one of those hooks or cliff-hangers like the
original series, but there are many amazing moments still to come. For my
initial thoughts, I say they did a great job at reintroducing everyone to Westeros.
They did a great job at setting up who everyone is and their relationships with
one another.
As always, the sets look amazing, the costumes look phenomenal, and the overall production is what you would expect from an HBO series. As you can imagine. I’m very interested and eager to see where everything goes from here on out.
Let me know what you thought about everything
down below. Make sure you follow my blog now because I will be writing my reactions
after every episode, every week of this season. As always, I want to thank
everyone for reading this article. you all have a great day. see
you again very soon. Bye.