It's been a minute since I wrote about anything I am watching on TV but this is only because I hadn't been watching a great deal of shows or movies lately. Since I am trying to avoid my alcoholic nature I have been spending a lot of time at home because I am afraid I succumb to social pressures a bit too easy so if someone calls me in for a drink if I am just walking around I will likely say yes and one leads to another to another for this guy.
I watched the first season when it came out and was a huge fan of Game of Thrones as well so it really isn't that surprising that the second season of House of the Dragon is just as awesome as the first and perhaps even better than Game of Thrones.
I don't want to ruin the story for anyone so I am going to stay away from major plot points and instead just talk in generalities about why I think this show is great.
Just like they did with Game of Thrones, the action that we see in way of battles and what not, are epically produced scenes that on their own, must have taken a long period of time to film, especially the ones that involve dragons in them. This amazes me when I am watching it because I love it when computer effects can be seamlessly put into live action and you don't even notice that it is happening.
We were introduced to dragons in Game of Thrones but we didn't get to see them fully grown until towards the end of the series and well, some of that was done in a way that I really didn't like such as the fact that this seemingly unstoppable force that we were presented that dragons were, was kind of easily and unceremoniously shot down, twice, in what seemed to be far too easy considering that much of the series was built around dragons being something that simply cannot be stopped.
In House of the Dragon, the dragons instead are presented as what I always presumed they would be: A completely unstoppable force that if one side has them and the other doesn't, the non-dragon side doesn't stand a chance. This is where a great deal of the story is focused in House of the Dragon because just like the name would suggest, the dragons are the focal part of the story.
This doesn't mean that this is all CGI battle and no substance though... far from it. There is a great deal of awesome characters who we get invested in and their internal battles as well as political squabbles unfold in a really dramatic and well done way.
Thus far my favorite character is Daemon Targaryen and he is just such a bad ass.
Is he a good guy? Is he a bad guy? Does he truly align with anyone? It isn't clear and the show keeps you guessing about where his allegiance lies. He seems to look out for himself mostly, but is haunted by his own mind as well. The other characters that are fighting for control of the 7 kingdoms are all great in their own right as well and even the characters that are children remain interesting to me, which is really rare.
For every massive battle scene there is a lot of time where smaller details are ironed out with dialogue between extremely well-written characters and set pieces that don't involve anything other-worldly. This is likely by design because a series that focused entirely on dragons, all the time, would be impossibly expensive.
I have no idea what it cost to make these but I would imagine it was quite a lot of money and to this day I have no idea how these companies make any money off of producing such amazing shows. Aren't all streaming companies losing money right now?
The evolution of the characters from season 1 to season 2 is pretty profound and can be difficult to follow so I would really recommend that if you are thinking of getting involved in this story that you start back at the very beginning of season 1. I suppose you would have to be interested in a fantasy style of storytelling to enjoy this but I think to some degree that most people do. It's been a while since I saw a show that I was so invested in from the start and I believe most people will enjoy this. It's a great way to spend time at home and not drink beer!