House Of The Dragon Season 2 4K UHD Review
“House Of The Dragon” remains a bland prequel.
Based on George R.R. Martin’s “Fire And Blood,” “House Of The Dragon” is a prequel series to “Game Of Thrones.” In the 8 episode 2nd season, the Targaryen civil war escalates. Queen Rhaenyra mourns the loss of her son Luke who died at the hands of Aemond and believes that King Aegon II has illegally taken the throne. This feud worsens due to assassinations, character deaths, and dragon battles. Elsewhere this season are storylines involving Daemon having bad dreams and visions at Harrenhal, a search for dragonriders, Aemond becoming more violent, allies and armies, Criston and more.
After the enormous success of “Game Of Thrones,” it was inevitable that HBO would tell more stories within this universe. The prospect of the Dance of the Dragons war sounds enticing on paper, but thus far “House Of The Dragon” has been a largely empty spectacle that feels like a generic carbon copy of ‘Thrones.’
Since the show’s inception, ‘House’ seems to desperately want to recapture the magic of ‘Thrones.’ It never does. Sure, there’s more dragons, connections to ‘Thrones,’ and big production values, but showrunner Ryan Condal and HBO seemed to have lost the plot with this spin-off. The entirety of season 2 feels like a big stalling set-up for the war that should have already happened by now. Even George R.R. Martin has even been critical of this season. Anytime both ‘Thrones’ and ‘Dragon’ went off book, it has not gone well. The writing takes a big hit. How many times do we need to see the plot go in circles while the characters talk about the same things over and over without engaging in action? ‘Dragon’ truly talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk. Nothing hurts a show more than a lack of forward movement and ‘Dragon’ is guilty of that.
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of ‘Dragon’ is the characters. We all know ‘Thrones’ was filled with wonderful heroes and villains and a stunning ensemble cast. Despite a supremely talented cast featuring the likes of Matt Smith (the true MVP of the series), Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, and Rhys Ifans, the characters are largely dry. It’s hard to care about any of them and that’s certainly not the fault of the actors. It’s the poor characterization and plotting that lets them down. The Targaryen conflict isn’t as compelling as it should be.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 2.00:1 2160p. How do the episodes look? The episode prints are crystal clear. This is the best way to watch the series.
Audio Track: Dolby Atmos. How does it sound? From the iconic Ramin Djawadi score to the dragon action, this Atmos is straight fire (pun intended).
Extras:
* 8 character cards
* “The House That Dragons Built”- Extended featurettes for all 8 episodes that include set footage, episode clips, cast and crew interviews, story and character discussions, technical and production elements, and much more. Fantastic extras.
* “Defend Your Council”- A short bonus feature that covers the families.
* Character spots for Rhaenyra, Aegon, Daemon, Corlys, Alicent, Aemond
* “Fire Hot Takes”- 3 featurettes that cover “Team Green Vs. Team Black,” “Daemon Vs. Aemond,” and “Case For Ruler.”
* “Return To Winterfell” focuses on the iconic location.
* “House Who?”- 3 featurettes that cover the Starks, Bracken and Blackwood, and House Tully and House Frey families
* “Return To The Realm”- A brief HBO spot selling the 2nd season.
* “Eve Tribute Piece”- Spoiler alert! Eve Best and others bid farewell to Princess Rhaenys.
* “Guess That Line”- Eve Best and Steve Toussaint play a guessing game of who said what line.
* “Family Tree”- A rundown of the family trees.
* “Divided Kingdoms” revolves around the conflict at the heart of season 2.
* “The Curse Of Harrenhal- Extended”- A featurette on Harrenhal.
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