House of the Dragon Season 2 Review: The Game of Thrones Formula Isn't Fresh, but It's Still Effective

Two years ago, House of the Dragon proved that Game of Thrones still had gas in the tank (or fire in the dragon's belly, to be accurate). After the backlash to the flagship drama's rushed final season, the prequel series won over skeptical fans by taking a back-to-basics approach. It focused on what people loved about the world of Westeros in the first place — the politicking, the complex characters, the big, attention-grabbing moments. (Remember when that guy got his melon sliced? I'm saying "oh hell yeah" at the memory of it.) 

But what happens after you've demonstrated the formula still works? House of the Dragon proved itself in Season 1, but where does it go in Season 2, when going back to basics has diminishing returns? The choice showrunner Ryan Condal makes is to stay the course and just keep making Game of Thrones — which is still good, but not as thrilling as it once was. It's not stale, but it is very familiar. 

More on House of the Dragon:

• House of the Dragon: What to remember from Season 1
• Everything to know about House of the Dragon Season 4
• A guide to the House of the Dragon characters

The story picks up shortly after where it left off in Season 1, when Aemond Targaryen's (Ewan Mitchell) dragon, Vhagar, got a little more aggressive than he meant her to and killed his nephew Lucerys (Elliot Grihault), son of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy). Westeros is on the precipice of war, as Rhaenyra, the late King Viserys' (Paddy Considine) daughter and chosen heir, and Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), his wife and the mother of Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), his firstborn son and traditional heir, both lay claim to the Iron Throne. (There's absolutely no shame in watching a recap video on YouTube; it's been almost two years since Season 1, after all.)  

7.5

House of the Dragon

at HBO

Like

• Epic action
• Charismatic performances
• Complex characters
• Sonoya Mizuno isn't doing an inexplicable Jamaican anymore

Dislike

• An overabundance of setup
• A sense of playing it safe

Rhaenyra wants revenge, but she also doesn't want more bloodshed than is absolutely necessary. Unfortunately for her, her untrustworthy husband/uncle, Daemon (Matt Smith), has his own succession plans. Alicent would also like to avoid mass casualties, but she's surrounded by impetuous young men — her sons Aegon and Aemond, and her bodyguard Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) — who think they know a lot more than they do. A consistent motif in House of the Dragon is young men escalating conflict via impulsive, glory-seeking bad decisions.

That's all the plot description I'll give, both to protect you from spoilers and to keep us from being here all day. There's a lot of plot, and it's very complex, as is always the case with Game of Thrones. It's a credit to Condal, co-creator and source material author George R.R. Martin, and Condal's writing staff that they're able to keep the story engaging while delivering so much exposition and description of things happening off screen. The dialogue remains well crafted, though you'll probably have to put closed captions on unless you have really good speakers. The actors deliver their lines softly and quickly. 

But they also tell the story on their faces. Emma D'Arcy is a standout performer, and they communicate more with an intense gaze through their bright blue eyes than they do with their words. Ewan Mitchell is also terrific, playing Aemond with an ice-veined menace that's somehow weirdly likable. With his unique appearance and quiet authority, Mitchell commands the screen in every scene that he's in. He's impossible to look away from. He'd be a perfect villain in a John Wick movie. And Matt Smith's disturbing charisma as the objectively bad but undeniably cool schemer Daemon is intact. 

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HBO sent the first four episodes for review, and much of the episodes feel like the wind-up for a pitch that's going to come in the rest of the season. Something consequential happens in every episode, but there's a lot of time spent laying the groundwork for stuff that feels like it will pay off later. Season 1 did the same thing, and the second half of the season was much more exciting than the first half, so I'm not overly concerned. A lot of setup before end-of-season blowouts has always been part of the Game of Thrones model. But there are moments when I found my attention wandering, as characters whose importance is not clear mutter about people we don't know. 

When the action gets rolling, though, the buildup is worth it. House of the Dragon's unique selling proposition is dragon dogfighting, and there's a battle scene that contains the show's best aerial combat yet. It's thrilling and emotionally affecting. There are things Game of Thrones can do that no other show is capable of, and epic battles with CGI dragons that feel real are high on the list.

In Season 2, House of the Dragon feels like less of a major event than a new season of Game of Thrones has ever felt. But it doesn't feel like just another show, either. In its best moments, it's still the grandest TV available.

Premieres: Sunday, June 16 at 9/8c on HBO and Max
Who's in it: Matt Smith, Emma D'Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Fabien Frankel, Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans
Who's behind it: Creators Ryan Condal and George R.R. Martin, director/EP Alan Taylor
For fans of: Game of Thrones
How many episodes we watched: 4 of 8