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House Of The Dragon Review: Game Of Thrones Prequel Is Gorgeous, Opulent Television

The first episode of House of the Dragon (Sky Atlantic) is truly breathtaking. For an hour, it goes over everything that made its predecessor, Game of Thrones, such a television colossus, especially when it was at its peak

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Jousting, romping, and fighting take place.

Of course, there are dragons. There's an ax to the face, a cesarean without anesthesia, leaking wounds, amputated limbs, and severed organs, among other things. George RR Martin's world returns to our screens with full assurance and brio. It's as engrossing as it is awful.

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It begins 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen and chronicles

the fall of the Targaryen dynasty, albeit after viewing the first six episodes of feuding and scheming, the real question is how it can possibly take two centuries to collapse. It begins with the King Lear-Esque prospect of a failing king selecting his heir, and while the people change slightly over the series, succession is the thread that holds it all together.

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Royal women are breeding machines and bargaining

chips in this world. "I'm pleased I'm not a woman," a male character comments later in the series. It might serve as the campaign's tagline. Viserys' brother steps up amid much muttering about Rhaenyra. Daemon is a haughty peacock who refuses to follow any rules that he considers beneath him.

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He's a nasty piece of work, a misogynist and a sadist

to be sure, but until episode six, he's the only truly despicable main character in King's Landing. House of the Dragon takes its time introducing the down-in-the-dirt villains that are so entertaining to slam. This is due in part to the fact that it is a more mature version of this planet.

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