Pederson Will Never Watch that Show You Recommended: That One With all the Houses and Dragons

If one were to write a travel pamphlet for George R. R. Martin's world of Westeros, it would probably say something along the lines of "Welcome to Kings Landing, where everybody has an agenda." Actually, I suppose it's sort of like working for a religious organization, except beheadings and trial by combat are usually frowned upon. Relax . . . I'm just kidding . . . sort of. It's actually a little ironic, as most of the religious places I've worked have been run by people who have openly spoken to me about their love of Game of Thrones, while also politely asking me not to tell anybody about it. I just wink at them and say, "Oh yeah, that book by Karen Kingsbury?" It's the same thing church employees do when talking about the new Limp Bizkit or Eminem albums. They say, "Oh yeah, I've listened to Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water. The Newsboys did an amazing job with that album," while compulsively winking at each other. Honestly, though . . . who cares? Television shows are a form of art, and art has been perverted and grotesque since the dawn of mankind. Believe it or not, some people actually have the ability to watch things without it affecting their mindset, Christian or otherwise. I was going somewhere with this. Oh yeah, after being told for an entire year by more people than I can count that I need to watch House of the Dragon, I finally did, and I have some thoughts.

Before I continue rambling, let me give you my brief and overly simplified plot synopsis of the most complicated story ever written. House of the Dragon begins 197 years before the start of Game of Thrones, and tells the story of the rise and fall of the Targaryen family, who ruled Westeros in one form or another since it was conquered by the first men. More specifically, it tells the story of The Dance With Dragons, a war between two rival families of the Targaryen bloodline. If you read the Game of Thrones novels or saw the show, you'll remember the numerous references to this very event spattered throughout the story. In fact, both shows are tied together by a prophecy that is eventually fulfilled (not in a great way) by Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) and Daenerys the Mother of Dragons (Emilia Clarke), who are the last two people alive (sort of ) with Targaryen blood. The first season of House of the Dragon tells the story of King Viserys's (Paddy Considine) family and the fight for succession. I won't tell you about all of the tedious subplots and backstabbing. You can watch it yourself. For now, all you need to know is that King Viserys promised the throne to his daughter Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy), his only living heir. Then King Visery's married Rhaenyra's best friend Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), who becomes queen and gives the King male heirs, thus kickstarting a bunch of shadow games, where Queen Alicent and her father, Sir Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) as well as their supporters, begin working in the shadows to see the Queen's son, Prince Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) sit on the Iron Throne once Viserys dies. Yes, that was an incredibly long sentence. Spoiler Alert: the season ends with King Viserys dying of a form of leprosy, while muttering prophecy in his sleep, that the Queen seems to hear as "Forget Rhaenyra, Aegon must sit on the throne," which he clearly didn't say, but you know . . . schemers be scheming. The season ends with both sides seeking to recruit houses for the war, and Alicent's younger son, Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) flying a giant dragon that eats Rhaenyra's younger son, Prince Lucerys (Elliot Grihault), thus giving Rhaenyra the excuse she needed to go to war.

I know, you're absolutely tracking what I'm saying. Don't worry about it, trying to explain this show is like trying to convince your kid that her friends are wrong about Santa Claus. He's definitely real and here's how he delivers so many toys in one night. Basically, House of the Dragon is Shrek. It's an ogre, and ogres are like onions, they have many layers. While I did not find all of the layers to be appealing (see what I did there?), it had enough to keep me watching. Full disclosure, I think the ending to Game of Thrones was terrible. I know at this point George R. R. Martin has publicly said that the way show-runners David Benioff and Dan Weiss ended that final season is not how his books will end, but lets be honest, it probably was until the show's ending was so critically panned. That being said, if George R. R. Martin ever finishes the Game of Thrones novels, that last book could very well change my opinion of things. How Game of Thrones (the show) affects House of the Dragon is a whole other bag of cats. Yes, you hear a lot of familiar names and see a lot of familiar places, which is fun for those of us who get obsessed with fantasy lore. However, I personally think that Game of Thrones is more of an anchor to House of the Dragon than a paddle.

Throughout the entire ten episode run of House of the Dragon's first season, it suffered from an inability to surprise, shock, and disgust people in the same way that Game of Thrones did. I have some thoughts on why. First of all, thanks to the endless references in Game of Thrones and the book that Martin released back in 2018 titled, Fire and Blood, there isn't a whole lot about the main story in House of the Dragon that is surprising. Though Fire and Blood is more of a Westeros history book than a novel, it basically lays out the entire plot of the show in a historical timeline, providing what can be seen as a series synopsis before the episodes are even made. I know that's just a woe of book to screen adaptations, but those intended elements of surprise put in by show-runner Ryan Condal and his writing team, just don't hit like they would otherwise. Another thing the show suffers from is that its ten episode run doesn't allow nearly enough time for the writers and directors to tell the story they obviously want to tell. While they do an amazing job of fleshing out and developing the main characters, there are a lot of characters whose arcs don't make any sense, because they don't take the time to properly develop them. Instead, they hint at things happening to them off screen and then move on. If you've seen House of the Dragon or Game of Thrones, you know that every sub-plot is important and relevant to the world that it exists in. So all of the off-screen story telling really messes with the coherence of the plot, making it feel jumbled and lazy at parts.

My last critique isn't so much the storytelling, as how it is presented. When Game of Thrones premiered back in 2011, that show crossed some lines that few other shows had even attempted before. They were able to do this, because unlike network television, having the show on HBO allowed them the freedom to tell the story in whatever way they saw fit . . . and they ran with that, sometimes to an extreme. For example, the very first episode shows Jamie Lannister pushing Bran Stark off the balcony, thus paralyzing him from the waist down. All because he saw Jamie doing something that's frowned upon, unless you're from the very deep south. Then there's episode nine in the third season. The Red Wedding was a display of television shock and horror that is still talked about to this very day. For those of us who read the books, we all knew it was going to happen, but to actually see it play out on screen was something that mere words can't do justice. The point I'm trying to make here is that Game of Thrones was filled with "I can't believe they showed that!" moments. In the first season of House of the Dragon, they made some very noticeable attempts to do the same. The only problem is that we've all been so desensitized by Game of Thrones that seeing a kid lose an eye or get eaten by a dragon is no longer something that would leave us in shock until the next episode. Instead, it's just something that happens. That horror no longer upsets the planes of our imaginations, because sadly, it has become commonplace. Though I suppose that's an even sadder commentary on the world we currently live in. The mirrors between this universe and the people, places, and events in modern society are terrifying.

I don't mean to say everything about House of the Dragon is negative. In fact, I would give the first season a strong 8 out of 10. While the show definitely learned some lessons from its predecessor, Game of Thrones has left a mighty shadow that House of the Dragon, at some points, struggles to step out from. However, I have no doubt that it will eventually find its footing and give fans the complete story that Game of Thrones couldn't ultimately deliver. It's a show that is visually pleasing, well acted, and will one day master its storytelling. It just has some hills to climb before it gets there. On a side note, don't watch this with your kids. I had a hard enough time watching it with my wife, and not because she got offended by the content. Whenever something crazy happened, I would start talking about it, look over, and find her fast asleep. House of the Dragon is not for everybody, but it's definitely got some wings.