The Dance of the Dragons begins. Family against family, brothers against sisters, flames against flames. Fire and Blood is what the second season of House of the Dragon promises, which promises to raise the bar again, to rewrite the rules of television fantasy, and of seriality in general. After watching 4 episodes (out of 8 total) of House of the Dragon 2 I can tell you that yes, HBO’s prequel show is worthy of the best Game of Thrones, and indeed in some ways surpasses it.
Because it is a fully matured product, which, with the same quality of writing, provides a scenic framework that Game of Thrones, in its first editions, could not have. In short, it is a series not to be missed, to be devoured week after week starting from 17 June (exclusively on Sky for Italy), letting yourself be hit by fire and torn apart by the jaws of dancing dragons.
A season in continuity
It is a season that does not betray even for a moment everything that the previous season has sown: In short, House of the Dragon 2 starts again in the name of staid writingwhich wisely wants to take its time, staging a cold war between the two Targaryen factions in play (Greens against Blacks, here’s everything you need to know about the Targaryens fighting in House of the Dragon 2), punctuated by a climax that it grows bigger until it explodes in the epic Dance, narrated everywhere in the pages of A Song of Ice and Fire and now finally on the screen.
Although the focus on the development of the characters, on political fiction and on the ties between the houses remains very strong, however, inevitably House of the Dragon 2 takes another step forward compared to the previous edition. On the other hand, the first 10 episodes of the HBO series had a practically dynastic narrative structure, with a story spread over a very long temporal unit (at least two decades): practically a long prologue to what Season 2 is preparing to sing, a long catwalk in preparation for the Dance of the Dragons. Even without running, the first 4 episodes of the second season stand out for a higher pace, marked by twists (sometimes with shocking plot twists to say the least) at the end of each episode. A mechanism of causes and effects that drag on until 2×04, in which the Dance of the Dragons explodes in all its visual and conceptual power, anticipating a second half of the season that just imagining it simply gives you chills.
The most epic season of all of GoT
Without compromise, House of the Dragon has all it takes to vastly surpass Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones, especially in recent seasons, has accustomed us to flashes of spectacular television, with peaks of staging that still remain in history today, for better or for worse: the Battle of the Bastards, the Long Night, the decisive confrontation at Landing King’s.
The Dance of Dragons has the potential to dwarf all the best that GoT has given us during its ten-year run: already in the fourth episode of Season 2 alone, when the conflict between the house of Black (led by Rhaenyra) and that of Green (loyal to Alicent and his son, King Aegon II) explodes at full blast and gives us the first, incredible sparks. An episode that, in terms of staging and effects, takes your breath away, with the promise that it is nothing other than the beginning of an epochal clash.
A second season which, in short, stands (productively speaking) above everything else, starting from the directorial scope of the pitched battles up to the creation of the colorful Dragons, the absolute protagonists of the fiery slaughter. An aesthetic and formal magnificence which is accompanied, moreover, by the exceptional harmony of a memorable cast, which once again offers masterful and sumptuous interpretations, in an epic which, despite the highest concentration of action, remains refined, tense and with an exquisitely Shakespearean flavour. If you’re not ready to Dance yet, here’s the complete summary of the first season of House of the Dragon.
