Here is my House of the Dragon Episode 2 review, and as per the title, I have to say the titles are not as good. I’ll get into that more later. However after the titles have ended and the show has begun, things remain at a very high bar, thus far.
This will be as where possible a SPOILER FREE review. I might have to mention one or two details, but for the most part I feel like I can express my thoughts without getting into the weeds. So here we go.
Opening Titles
We got our first taste of the opening titles, so famous in parent series Game of Thrones. Thus far I am less than impressed. For a start the music is exactly the same. I kinda expected that, but I also expected there to be some slight changes. Same tune but different. However it is just the Game of Thrones theme. I get it, and it’s not a complaint as much as it was a surprise.
However when it comes to the visuals on show, these titles are just not up to the same bar. The beauty of the Thrones titles was that it also acted like a small geography lesson. In the absence of maps to refer to, those titles reminded the audience where all the key players were from. Those details also changed as the series progressed. Instead, here we seem to be getting a reference to the Targaryen bloodline and how convoluted it all has become. It’s not awful by any stretch, but it doesn’t fulfill the same role as the titles on Game of Thrones did. Ergo, these titles in House of the Dragon are just overall less creative than what we had in Thrones.
I hope that does not become a metaphor for the show itself.
The Story
I have to say that Episode 2 follows on as being just as fantastic as the premiere. As always with this universe there are stark contrasts in morality form the society we currently live in. And yet, the themes and politics are taken from snapshots of our own history. Mine especially, being British.
However there are themes o sow that are still relevant today such as the empowerment of females. Unless you skipped Episode 1, you’ll know that whether a woman can sit on the Iron Throne will be a central theme played out here. I won’t give anything away about the end results. However to be honest, that’s not the point anyway.
The history we know of this period was written as an in-universe document by a Maester. One thing you should know about our own history, is that it is written by the victors in conflict. The same is also true of Westeros. Thus we know the end results of this Targaryen conflict, but not the ‘real story’ of how it happened. Sides painted as just in the text could be awful in reality. Equally those painted as villains in the text could be righteous. So far it’s fun.
Performances and Spectacle
As you would expect with such a character heavy story, the performances are all great. The innocence of children being eroded, the weight of duty and state, the ambition of those in power. All the lead actors have been amazing so far.
As for the spectacle on show, there is the usual mix of horrific and magnificent sites to behold. A new antagonist who feeds his hostages to crabs was particularly gruesome. Just as magnificent was the meeting of two dragons in a tense situation.
House of the Theories?
Last week I lamented that there may be less mystery to unravel within this series. We do after all, know how it ends even if we don’t know how we get there exactly. So far though I am finding fans starting to theorize around some of the revelations in the first two episodes and debating how and why certain historical facts will come into play.
It’s a start, and for now the show is good enough to not need it. The real test will be once we get deeper into the story and closer to the end game.
RELATED: House Of The Dragon Premiere Review – Fantastic But Something’s Missing
Overall, and once again, House of the Dragon was excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed spending my weekly time in Westeros once more and I look forward to the rest of Season 1. Luckily the show has been hugely popular once more and HBO has already greenlit Season 2. We’ll be following these characters for a while yet it seems.
GRADE: A
What did you think of my House of the Dragon Episode 2 review? What did you think of the Episode itself? Leave your own review below if you can and let us know what you think. There’s space below if you can.
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