Hear thee, hear thee -- the time skip has arrived!

Same characters but older so lots of new faces,

Except for Sir Criston Cole ... for God knows why.

~

~

For anyone unfamiliar with HBO's House of the Dragon, it is a prequel spin-off series of HBO's other hit show Game of Thrones except that it takes place 200 years in the past.

House of the Dragon mainly revolves the struggle for power after King Viserys Targaryen unorthodoxly names his eldest daughter Rhaenyra his heir after the death of his wife and first stillborn son.
After centuries of boys being named heir to the throne, many are unhappy with his choice of his daughter Rhaenyra -- especially Rhaenyra herself who wants to be free from duty and ride her dragon all day long.

Unfortunately, and as usual, there are others who want the power of the throne -- the king brother Prince Daemond, the king's sister Rhaenys and her Velaryon husband Lord Corlys, the king's top advisor Otto Hightower, and the ancestors of popular characters from Game of Thrones well known families such as the Baratheons and Lannisters.

Logically, the two dragon-owning families of the Targaryens and Velaryons joining hands in matrimony would make the most sense but King Viserys is a weak and feeble king, physically withered away by the pressure and responsibility as king ... so lots and lots of trouble ensue!

This an HBO show. It's got scandal, sex, violence -- and since it's a Game of Thrones spin-off there's also DRAGONS and in the past more than a hint of MAGIC but maybe not here in House of the Dragon ... but time may prove that assumption wrong!

So far the show's done a good job cranking up the drama and violence. There's been a small dose of some pretty kick-ass dragon fire action but not too much or enough in some people's opinion. As was announced early on, there was a schedule time skip in the show that would replace younger actors and actresses with their older counterparts. While the younger actors and actresses weren't super impressive, they held their own almost decently considering they were mostly no-name nobodies. More seasoned actors will taking up their stead and while the first season of House of the Dragon hasn't exactly been "lit" there may be hope for it yet in the last half of the season.

~

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT BELOW:

*** SPOILERS from this point on ***

If you haven't seen the show and plan to watch or happen to be dangerously allergic to SPOILERS ... DO NOT CONTINUE FROM HERE.

FINAL WARNING -- SPOILERS AHEAD!

~

Six episodes into House of the Dragon and HBO jumps audiences ten years into the future so as one can see above -- Princess Rhaenyra and her ex-best friend/new step-mom Alicent are much older and played by older actresses to reflect that.

The episode opens with the new older actress playing Princess Rhaenyra giving birth to a son who does not have the traditional white Targaryen hair ... the reason to which we soon find out.

Queen Alicent immediately demands to see Princess Rhaenyra despite her just having given birth but Rhaenyra obliges, with the help of her Velyrion husband Prince Laenor who bears no resemblance to the child his wife just bore.

Princess Rhaenyra's father King Viserys is not looking so good. The rot that was eating him away has now taken one of his arms and most of his hair. He is so feeble and sickly that he basically an old dog being led around and told what to do by his much younger wife the Queen who does not look pleased to see Rhaenyra or her brand new child.

As explained by Alicent's father, the old top advisor to the king, Alicent's marriage to the king means her children and the princess's will be in competition to the throne.

So far only Alicent's children bear the signature white Targaryen hair and appear much stronger than Rhaenyra's sons. One of Alicent's son is a bit self-conscious though due to the fact that he doesn't have a dragon. This feels like a potentially ironic detail if it is at all some form of foreshadowing.

We soon find out that Rhaenyra has been in a long secret relationship with the son of the king's top advisor, which is why none of her children look like traditional Targaryens which is strange because statistically at least one of the three should be white-haired but they're all dark of hair.

The man who took Princess Rhaenyra's virginity, Ser Criston Cole, is still strangely played by the same actor which is odd. He is now chummy with the Queen due to him and Alicent bonding over their hatred for Rhaenyra.

In this episode, his main action is to bully Rhaenyra's sons in front of their biological father, goading a fight out of him that results in he and his father riding away to their family castle to avoid scandal.

Unfortunately, the advisor's other son, a crippled snake of a man hears Queen Alicent's complaints about the shame Princess Rhaenyra's obvious cuckolding brings to the kingdom and responds by locking the advisor and his son -- his own father and brother -- in their rooms at night and burning them alive.

This appears to be the inciting incident for this half of the season -- what other outcome but one of violence can happen after Rhaenyra figures out that one of the queen's lackeys burned her lover alive? If there is an investigation, she is ruined. If she does nothing, the queen and her new crazy lackey will feel there is now boundary to what mischief they can enact against her.

In other parts of Westeros, Prince Daemon -- the creepy uncle who kissed and undressed Princess Rhaenyra as a teenage girl only a couple episodes ago -- is happily married to Prince Laenor Velyrion's sister Laenora who is pregnant.

He has three beautiful white-haired black daughters and is living as a treasured guest of a foreign royal.

His wife owns what many believe to be the biggest dragon ever to have lived, two of his three daughters dragon eggs have hatched, and nothing and no one can bother him now ... except for his ambition, except for the idyllic peace of his current life.

There was never a time he seemed more alive than when he was swinging his sword and riding his dragon in the heat of battle.

His wife notices his displeasure with their luxurious life and insinuates of him what more can the world offer to make him happy -- and it is simple: danger, violence, maybe his brother's throne?

His wife suffers complications while delivering their latest child and instead of dying from cesarean section because their era's primitive medical knowledge she flees their home and commands her dragon to incinerate her with its flames.

At first, it resists. This is its master, its owner, a mother figure that has raised and rode it for probably decades.

But she screams. There's tears.

And a good dragon follows orders.

She says, Dracarys, and after a heavy sigh her giant dragon opens its maw and the last light Princess Laenora will ever see consumes her.

With his wife gone, with the pain of her loss, and the chaos of her now absent position of stability in his life ... what else can lie in the future for Prince Daemon but endless violent ruin. Or perhaps he decides to be a good father and support his daughters in their mother's absence -- but this is Prince Daemon.

THIS is his true face.

~

Amazon left, HBO right.

This is definitely where House of the Dragon has excelled in comparison to Rings of Power -- characters are developed we SEE their motives, not listen to them whine about it in long winded dialogue.

There's also been a lot more dramatic action instead of action for action's sake, and while House of Dragon can feel slow at times it is quite the rabbit compared to the turtled pacing of Rings of Power but perhaps I pick the wrong metaphor since most know who wins in the race between those two animals -- or perhaps this will be a race whose end actually makes sense.

The inclusion of the three families children is also a welcome delight but also danger since we know these innocent children will be dragged kicking and screaming into the nefarious affairs of their adults.

They must bond with weapons of mass-destruction and become weapons of mass-destruction themselves -- weapons creating weapons that may have never wanted to be weapons ... but that is nature and its laws without the dangerous silliness of the laws of man.

Who know what will happen next but we all know what HBO likes:

HBO's choice

~

Image Sources

1 2 3 4 5