Biweekly Binge: Westeros returns in a tepid affair

The showrunners (Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik) of House of the Dragon, the new prequel to Game of Thrones based on GRR Martin’s Fire & Blood made a choice. In the text that introduces this world—a Westeros ruled by early Targaryens—they highlight that the events in this series began about one hundred and seventy-two years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen. The text dissolves gently only for the number and the name Daenerys Targaryen to remain on screen a few seconds longer. They made a choice. Not just because she’s the most familiar Targaryen for the show’s audience but also because she remains the most magnetic, lasting figure in retrospect considering how the ending—her ending—was received by the fans around the world.

Let’s face it, Game of Thrones is zeitgeist defining but unlike what people would have you believe, no one’s really forgotten the show. Maybe people have grown cynical and don’t expect Martin to finish the original canon, but the show’s audience have not aged by much since. The eighth season was panned widely for people felt cheated by the death of Daenerys, the one who was born to rule Westeros, the Targaryen to bring the glory days of her family again. All of it was blamed on many baseless factors—the show is terrible in its treatment of women (it is but arc of Daenerys isn’t part of it), the writers made stuff up because Martin has not completed the books (yes but a careful reading of the book will tell you that it’s probably not going to be much different). Most people had made up their minds and were ready to hail the queen with Daenerys sitting on the throne and when that did not come to fruition—for entirely logical reasons in a show that didn’t stick its landing—they rose in revolt. But The Mad King’s daughter was indeed destined to be his true heir. The reception to the final season of Game of Thrones gives us the illusion that people are done with Westeros.

HBO and the showrunners know better than that. In Fire & Blood they saw another Daenerys in Rhaneyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock playing the younger version and Emma D’Arcy the adult), the young princess locked in a civil war with her crazy family tree in what was eventually christened as Dance of the Dragons in Westeros history. Maybe they want to take advantage of the budget and the dragons, the power struggle and characters with familiar last names and shared history but for anyone who knows the story, this doesn’t end any different. So, the show will be judged by its journey rather than its end, like any work should be.

From what we see in the first episode, we can tell that the grammar and the feel of Game of Thrones is retained in House of the Dragon. Confined to King’s Landing for now and not as peripatetic as the older series, the small folks, the Maesters, the council, the Hand of the King, the iron throne, the tourneys and the sex workers (an orgy paused for a speech is particularly laughable) make familiar return as does blood, gore and endless appetite for violence. To add to dismembered members and torsos we have a C-section performed on an unwilling, helpless queen. What more, even the score is reused, Ramin Djawadi’s rousing theme keeps paying us a visit through the pilot episode. 

“It’s tepid”, says King Viserys as he feels the water his pregnant wife is resting in. That’s a word that can be used for the pilot too. It’s a long way to go from here and there will be dragons but the characters feel less compelling. The first episode of Game of Thrones ended with the discovery of incest and a man pushing a kid out of the window, all for love. House of the Dragon does not yet have such a moment that will shock us into awe. But it is the Targaryens and all that incest is not far behind. As for the rest, we must wait.