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HBO’s “House of the Dragon” is so hot, it drew nearly 10 million audiences overnight when premiered on Aug, 21, which was a new record for an HBO TV series opener.
This story is a prequel to “Game of Thrones,” and goes back nearly 200 years earlier. The story focuses on the power struggles of the dragon-loving Targaryen family. The historical success of “Game of Thrones” gave this spinoff show plenty of attention, before it every began.
The series continues the “Game of Thrones” magical realism style, with more emphasis on women’s moral dilemmas and power struggles under the patriarchal system.
At the beginning of the first episode, Princess Rhaenyra flew free in the sky with a dragon, but when she returned to the ground and entered the palace, she was involved in the whirlpool of the heir to the Iron Throne. Queen Aemma suffered an obstructed childbirth, but King Viserys gave up her life in order to secure the heir status of the male infant.
Women’s inequalities and struggles reinforce the tragic appeal of the story.
HBO is spending almost $20 million per episode, an expensive investment that provides viewers with amazing visual effects, fighting, killing, blood, and of course, more dragons.
The director uses a violent, aesthetic style to show the cruelty of the power struggle.
Plots and scenes full of darkness, tension, and conflict, expose the complexity of human nature and the challenge of destiny, making the story more interesting.
“House of the Dragon” is worth watching, and its rating score on IMDB is 8.9.
Considering the series’ immediate success in the ratings, HBO has just renewed “House of the Dragon” for a second season.
“We are beyond proud of what the entire “House of the Dragon” team has accomplished with season one,” Francesca Orsi, executive vice president for HBO programming, said.
