This review, of course, contains spoilers for both Game of Thrones and Dragon House. But you have already seen the first one, and you were left with the second one, really
In 2011, “Game of Thrones” appeared in the world. The series by David Benioff and D.B. For four seasons, Weiss changed the rules of television drama (not only in fantasy worlds) and then, especially when her plot diverged from the book series on which it was based, simply died before our eyes. From a series that kills major characters without blinking, it has become a series that prepares deuces and saves characters that were not supposed to be saved. Bran is going to die? Oh, here’s his uncle (who we haven’t seen for three seasons) came to save the day, what does it matter that you don’t remember him. Is Jon Snow dead? Not bad, death is a reversible thing with us now.
So yes, there were a lot of mistakes in “Game of Thrones”, but the series deteriorated already too late for us to get out of it in time, because otherwise – why did we do all this? Why have we watched this universe evolve for a decade? And now that there’s a prequel, what, won’t we watch it too? Of course we’ll watch, even if it means waiting again every week for another episode and finding out that it’s just not what’s going to save the franchise. So sorry, “Dragon House”, but continuing with you for a second season because we already invested time in the first (and also in “Game of Thrones”) is simply a perfect example of what is called in economics “sunk cost”: to keep investing because we have already invested, and in the end only to lose even more and more More.
And it’s deceiving. Because of course the opening of the series was excellent except for a few unnecessary scenes (Damon and his wife do a Davin round on their dragons without any purpose). Because the leap of years was good for the series and advanced the plot to where it should be (after all, there are 300 years to catch up until the fall of the Mad King). Because she let us see how the characters develop over the years and mature at a fast pace and along the way she also solved some traffic problems that were in “Game of Thrones”. (Because there are more dragons, so suddenly trips from one end of the map to the other don’t take months, but a two-day round-trip flight). Because the series itself constructs the history of the seven kingdoms in an almost Shakespearean manner, one can almost forget that not so long ago viewers signed a petition that demanded a reshoot of the last season of “Game of Thrones” because it was disappointing.
Because our confused memory wants to love Game of Thrones. The synopsis for that series on IMDB is still “nine noble families fight for control of the lands of Westeros, while an ancient enemy returns after being dormant for a thousand years”, and not “zombies invade the lands of Westeros and attack the nine noble families who are busy fighting for the throne”, because the zombies They are not the main thing (no matter how much screen time they got in recent seasons). But “Dragon House” doesn’t learn from that mistake, and just like its name Just as they put too much focus on the dead invaders from the north in “Game of Thrones”, this time too they put too much focus on the dragons themselves – and they are the least exciting thing about it. we We were shocked when Otto Hightower sired his daughter for the throne, when Damon murdered civilians on the King’s side, our hearts broke when we saw the old and sick Viserys trying to bring his family together and keep it together. But most of the budget goes to CGI of dragons, and yes, they look just great, but what’s an army of dragons worth if there’s no budget left for Viserys?
So everyone asks “Can ‘House of the Dragon’ succeed ‘Game of Thrones'”. But instead of learning from “House of the Dragon” about the history of Westeros, it is better to look at “Game of Thrones” to learn about the history of what happens to the series in this franchise, and the answer is: even if it starts well, it does not end well. At the moment it is not clear if the “House of the Dragon” even has the power to redeem itself, so the task of also redeeming “Game of Thrones” is simply too big for it. But we will continue to watch, after all We spent too much time and too much energy and too much effort keeping track of all the characters and houses and convoluted side plots and remembering the names of the places and the directions of the wind and the prophecies and the rivalries. For most of us it is already too late. Those who can get out should do so now.