The grim fantasy world of Westeros returned this summer with the second season of “House of the Dragon” on HBO. A prequel to “Game of Thrones” set nearly two centuries beforehand, followed the Targaryens, a royal family of dragon riders, and the war brewing between them.
The show starred Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke as Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower respectively, the two leaders of opposing sides of the conflict. The series was based on the novel “Fire & Blood” by George R.R. Martin, who also served as an executive producer. Ryan Condol served as showrunner; Condol was previously a co-showrunner on the first season.
Highs
The show made the political conflict gripping by making it double as personal conflict, leaning into the complicated relationships strained by lust for power. In particular, the complex antagonism between Rhaenyra and Alicent remained a strong emotional thread, especially with both Darcy and Cooke delivering riveting performances.
These two were not the only strong actors. The show featured a large cast of actors who consistently gave great performances. These actors had memorable dialog to work with too, delivering tense conversations and making the characters fleshed out.
This season also improved how women were written in Westeros. Westeros was a patriarchal society and “Game of Thrones” was controversial for its use of sexual assault. “House of the Dragon” was notably restrained on sexual violence, especially in its second season. On top of being more tasteful, it also confirmed two women to be queer, both of whom were core characters. Though the show was still not perfect in its writing of women, in particular, it had a habit of making too many of them passive and it could have looked deeper at misogyny’s impact, it was an improvement.
There were also, indeed, many dragons.
Lows
The show at times meandered, often feeling like it was focused more on buildup than the story at hand. This led to some characters getting more screen time than they deserved, distracting from the core ones. The earlier episodes were especially too slow.
The season as a whole and many episodes also felt incomplete due to so much focus on buildup. Though it made sense to end on a cliffhanger, the show could have focused more on making episodes as a whole more satisfying mini-stories in this larger arc. This was an area where season one was better than season two.
Verdict
With a sprawling storyline and talented cast, “House of the Dragon” continued to redeem Westeros after “Game of Thrones” had a disappointing ending. The show struck a good balance of character drama and dragons, making both impactful. If the next season manages to keep the quality up, it will improve season two even more in retrospect by fulfilling the buildup.
Both the first and second seasons of “House of the Dragon” are available to stream on Max, previously called HBO Max.
Rating: 8 out of 10.
Frank Remski is a film and theater reviewer for the Eastern Echo. He is majoring in media studies and journalism and minoring in public relations. He has worked for The Echo since summer of 2023 and has written both news stories and opinion pieces.
