Monday, streaming on Binge As an unabashed Game Of Thrones fan, I will admit to mixed feelings about House Of The Dragon. I really enjoyed the first season — despite the jarring time jump, there were castles and swords and dragons (oh my!) and so much of the back-room scheming and world-building that I loved about the original GOT. Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
There were great performances from just about everyone, but let’s name-check Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen, Milly Alcock and then Emma D’Arcy as his daughter Rhaenyra, her best-friend-turned stepmother/nemesis Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and Matt Smith as the diabolical but magnetic Daemon Targaryen. By way of recap, after Viserys’ death, his widow Alicent attempts to install their son Aegon on the iron throne in place of Rhaenyra, setting the stage for an epic and bloody, ahem, game of thrones. Season one ends with a lingering shot of Rhaenyra’s face, a mask of grief and rage, after her son is murdered on dragon-back by Alicent’s misfit son, Aemond.
Given the look in her eyes (D’Arcy can convey everything from searing fury to a mother’s tender devotion without speaking a word), season two would surely throw us headlong into all-out war. But two episodes in and the opposing sides are mostly still in their favour-currying, bannerman-rallying, political-manoeuvring-in-gloomy-castles era, albeit with some pretty noteworthy acts of bru.
