{"id":5086,"date":"2024-06-17T14:23:52","date_gmt":"2024-06-17T14:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/khabarok.com\/entertainment\/house-of-the-dragon-season-2-episode-1-series-review-returning-game-of-thrones-prequel-takes-off-in-style\/"},"modified":"2024-06-17T14:23:52","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T14:23:52","slug":"house-of-the-dragon-season-2-episode-1-series-review-returning-game-of-thrones-prequel-takes-off-in-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/khabarok.com\/?p=5086","title":{"rendered":"\u2018House of the Dragon\u2019 Season 2 Episode 1 series review: Returning \u2018Game of Thrones\u2019 prequel takes off in style"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nA still from \u2018House of the Dragon\u2019 Season 2 Episode 1
\n| Photo Credit: Theo Whiteman\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There are shocking things aplenty in A Son for a Son<\/i>, the first episode of the second season of House of the Dragon<\/i>. This prequel to the violently popular Game of Thrones, <\/i>based on George RR Martin\u2019s series of fantasy novels, is also based on a Martin novel, 2018\u2019s Fire and Blood<\/i>. The novel tells the story of the House Targaryen and the civil war \u2014 the Dance of the Dragons \u2014 that brought the once powerful house to its knees.<\/p>\n

Picking up immediately after the events of the season 1 finale, we join Jacaerys (Harry Collett) at his meeting with Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor) in the North \u2014 the Starks are back with their warnings of the winter that is coming. Rhaenyra (Emma D\u2019Arcy) \u2014 who had sent her eldest sons Jacaerys and Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) across the seven realms to garner support for her claim to the Iron Throne \u2014\u00a0is grieving the death of Lucerys, who in the shocking finale of Season 1, was killed by Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and his dragon Vhagor.<\/p>\n

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\nMatt Smith in a still from \u2018House of the Dragon\u2019 Season 2 Episode 1
\n| Photo Credit:
\nMax\n<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, Rhaenyra\u2019s uncle-husband Daemon (Matt Smith) wants \u201ca son for a son.\u201d It is this that leads to the horrific slaughter of a toddler at the end of episode 1, indicating even more reason for the friends-turned-foes Rhaenyra and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) to go to war, however much they wish to avoid it.<\/p>\n

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House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 1\u00a0(English)<\/h5>\n

Creator<\/b>: Ryan Condal <\/p>\n

Runtime<\/b>: 54 minutes\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cast<\/b>: Matt Smith, Emma D\u2019Arcy, Olivia Cooke, and Rhys Ifans<\/p>\n

Storyline<\/b>:\u00a0The battle lines are drawn with a grieving vengeful mother on one side and a frightened, determined one on the other<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), Alicent\u2019s father and Hand to her husband, King Viserys I, has the unbridled ambition that Macbeth could have used with no milk of human kindness curdling in his veins. The episode shows the Sea Snake, the head of the rich and powerful house of Velaryon, Corlys (Steve Toussaint) recovering from a pirate attack, while Daemon holds Rhaenys (Eve Best), Corlys\u2019 wife, responsible for all that has gone wrong with their house.<\/p>\n

Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) having sex with Alicent is one of the jaw-dropping moments of A Son for a Son<\/i>. The common-born Lord Commander of the Kingsguard hooking up with the dowager queen, and what it tells about the two, promises to make for great dinner conversation. Alicent scrubbing a spot on her shoulder brings \u2018Macbeth\u2019 back once more. Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), the brothel dancer with a dodgy accent and Daemon\u2019s former squeeze \u2014 who became a spymaster (mistress?) called the White Worm \u2014 is back but in a rather bad temper.<\/p>\n

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\"Olivia<\/div>\n

\nOlivia Cooke and Fabien Frankel in a still from \u2018House of the Dragon\u2019 Season 2 Episode 1
\n| Photo Credit:
\nMax\n<\/p>\n

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Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), occupying the Iron Throne, brings much-needed lightness into the dark proceedings. He wants to help the great unwashed and even promises the sheep back to a shepherd before Otto tells him the sheep are needed to feed the dragons when war comes. He also promises to pay the blacksmith as long as he keeps making those Scorpions \u2014 the only weapon that can bring down a dragon. He takes umbrage to being called Aegon the magnanimous, insisting that no one would know its meaning, preferring Aegon the generous.<\/p>\n

Daemon, who throughout the episode is chomping at the bit to go to war, orders the rat catcher Cheese (Mark Stobbart) and Blood (Sam C. Wilson) to kill Aemond of the glittering eye. That Blood and Cheese are horrid is underlined by the fact that they kick the dog (was it a terrier?; they are great ratters by the way) who was only trying to help. They decide to take the easy way out when they come upon Helaena (Phia Saban), Aegon\u2019s sister-wife (these incestuous Targaryen I tell you!), in the nursery. Instead of doing the sensible thing, they present her with a \u2018Sophie\u2019s Choice\u2019 situation and also a way of a possible come back from the assassination.<\/p>\n

From that mesmerising tapestry-themed title sequence to a gruesome climax scene, A Son for a Son<\/i> is riveting. The dragons are magnificent, while the towering castle rooms where every kind of horror is being plotted and dispensed are par for the course. There is a lot to like about this first episode, including Rhaenyra\u2019s Dragon Syrax comforting her in the face of her quiet, uncompromising grief and at finding Arrax\u2019s broken wing and Lucerys\u2019 clothes \u2014 his clothes mind you not the body…<\/p>\n

House of the Dragon streams on JioCinema with fresh episodes of season 2 dropping every Monday till August 5<\/i><\/p>\n

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