“Dragon House”: How was the first season of the “Game of Thrones” prequel?

The first season of the “Dragon House” ends in the best tradition of “Game of Thrones” and other stories on a scale not lower than the George RR Martin universe – the abyss (translation – “breathtaking”), providing food for the next year, waiting at least to continue for thought. Today, Amediatek released the final tenth episode of the season, verified not only visually (Greg Yaitans, co-author of House Doctor, Lost and Grey’s Anatomy was responsible for production), but also in terms of internal content. This is a beautiful and very logical conclusion to the story that Ryan Konchal and Miguel Sapochnik laid the groundwork for. the project seems to be on par with the cult original in all respects. .

Set in King’s Landing, which takes place 300 years before the events of The Game, “House of the Dragon” begins with traditional Westeros intrigues, slowing down in the middle of it, deceiving the audience with its slowness, to warm the scene to the fullest. it’s in the finale again and millions of viewers cling to the screen, as if Jon Snow were dying in the frame again. In fact, even the monotony of the narrative does not seem boring here – perhaps if it were not so, it would be difficult to remember the numerous heroes of the story and their connection with each other, especially since the middle of the story. The season action jumps forward ten years.

In terms of general atmosphere, “The House of the Dragon” follows the canon set by “Game of Thrones”, and while it’s hard to surprise the sophisticated audience after that, the prequel of the series does even that: just what? It’s worth the nine dragons or nativity scenes shown to us.

As for the rest – brutal fights, epic battles, candid scenes in brothels or royal chambers – “The House” holds the bar set by its predecessor, so returning to the world created by George Martin leaves a pleasant aftertaste.

And special nostalgic notes are added to the musical accompaniment – the author of the themes for Game of Thrones, Ramin Javadi, received two Emmys for them, he is responsible for this. At one time, his work was so popular that in 2017 HBO launched the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience global tour, in which the composer performed live with music from the series, and it looks like House of the Dragon soundtracks have a chance to repeat. this is success.

Caste also managed to win love, but even in the early episodes, new faces could appear unusual in King’s Landing, county councils, banquets, and the Iron Throne.

However, in subsequent episodes, the popularity of Millie Alcock, who played, for example, the young Reynira Targaryen, one of the main characters of the series, increased several times: if in August 89 thousand people subscribed to her on social networks, then by the end of September (the first episode was August 22). Published in ), their numbers exceeded one million.

What can we say about Matt Smith (aka Damon Targaryen), who has earned the status of the new smash hit on the web – TikTok is full of videos with House of the Dragon’s hottest hero and fans seem ready to watch. the array is just for him in the frame.

In general, it is difficult to fault the casting here: Paddy Considine perfectly copes with the role of a certain Shakespearean monarch, torn by contradictions from different sides, Rhys Ifans seemed to be created for the right hand of the King, greedy for intrigue , and Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke draws attention by opening new aspects from episode to episode. But to be honest, no one other than everyone’s favorite Matt Smith seems to have matched their predecessors in terms of the degree of emotional anguish at certain moments in The House and the love and hate of the audience.

In the end, “Dragon House” turned out to be more humane, and the first season focuses not on palace intrigues and an endless power struggle, but on the personal motives of each participant in this silent war. This is a voluminous historical reference that you can’t do before you start getting rid of the characters (again, in the best traditions of Game of Thrones) who are increasingly becoming your family.

There are less tragedies that take your breath away, less cruelty that you gape at, but more cases where heroes use the mind as a weapon, not sharp swords. However, this also becomes quite understandable given the focus of the main conflict between women.

Actually, the most important thing about House of the Dragon is to understand that it is not a sequel to Game of Thrones. And it will never be the same again, because once the uniqueness of “Game” was precisely in the novelty of everything shown on the screen. Still, “Dragon House” has not lost its credibility as the legacy of the David Benioff and DB Weiss project. Will he be able to continue in the same spirit? Let’s see.