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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
59
Mixed:
23
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews
Jun 18, 2024
Season 2 Review:
I’m having mixed feelings. .... The show remains highly watchable, and it mostly supports its status as a Sunday night ritual, where battles rage, dragons swoop and soar, white hair blows, and the palace drama stays at a solid boil. .... But the absence of Paddy Considine as King Viserys leaves a large hole, as he was one of only a few acting heavyweights in the mix. .... Matt Smith, who added so much sly ambiguity to the first season, is largely MIA, as his Daemon goes off on a side trip to a decaying castle.
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Jun 14, 2024
Season 2 Review:
Those who happen to like how “House of the Dragon” challenges some of the more irritating aspects of “Game of Thrones” will probably enjoy this new season, which promises more of the same, along with twists and dragons aplenty. (“House of the Dragon” has been also renewed for a third season.) For those who prefer the latter for its vast network, menacing speeches and subterfuge, this world will probably continue to feel a little impoverished.
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Aug 23, 2022
Season 1 Review:
"House of the Dragon" takes about five episodes to warm up, which corresponds to the amount of time that we spend with the younger actors playing key roles before a time jump necessitates a casting change. ... Rhaenyra is not Daenerys. She doesn't have a hype squad cheering on her murderous inclinations – yet – or an unearned sense of destiny. She's learning the price of capability and lessons about what it means to be a Targaryen, and a woman, from noble sources and unseemly ones. That combination of influences makes her an enigmatic guide back to a land we haven't forgotten, yet aren't entirely sure we've missed very much.
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Aug 19, 2022
Season 1 Review:
Nothing about the first several episodes of House of the Dragon, premiering Aug. 21 on HBO, marks it as a potential masterpiece. There are structural flaws, elements that come across as excessively derivative, a yawning void where thematic resonance should be. But it’s solid enough. ... Dragon plays it safe.
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Aug 19, 2022
Season 1 Review:
It’s disconcerting to see House of the Dragon becoming less distinctive and more beholden to Game of Thrones as it goes along, when it ought to be the opposite. There’s a lot that’s impressive in the first six episodes, but it’s as safe as a show with incest, gore and horrifying depictions of childbirth could possibly be. It needs to find its own voice.
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Jun 14, 2024
Season 2 Review:
It’s neither interesting enough to pull us consistently into the flow nor weird enough to rattle our chains. The production is solid but static — it has the board-game feel that marks the franchise. The fetish for geography and architecture is there, but without the earlier show’s visual grandeur. And the audience’s emotions are still manipulated through melodramatic choreographies of events rather than genuine, organic surprise.
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Jun 6, 2024
Season 2 Review:
The good news, for people who were happy with what HotD offered last time around, is that this is the same show as before, even a bit better in some areas. But anyone hoping for a substantial growth curve will find it as denied to them as the Iron Throne is to Rhaenyra.
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Aug 19, 2022
Season 1 Review:
The series does have the epic production values fans have come to expect, and the show is at pains to show early and often how far dragon-rendering technology has advanced in the years since Daenerys fire-bombed King’s Landing. What it lacks is something much simpler: a heart. ... If all you want is more Game of Thrones, then House of the Dragon might well be the Show That Was Promised. But if you’re looking for a show that is to the current TV landscape what Game of Thrones was then, well, there’s a long winter ahead.
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Aug 19, 2022
Season 1 Review:
None of the key players are particularly cunning or flailing; everyone is aggressively fine. Without standout characters that could lend the show some tonal variety — the wit of Tyrion Lannister or the bold earnestness of Brienne of Tarth — the series just sort of sits there, hitting the same beats again and again.
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Aug 19, 2022
Season 1 Review:
As an exploration of the social contract in a decadent monarchy and an allegory for a grab bag of modern ills, including patriarchal sexism and the corrosive effect of weapons of mass destruction, “House of the Dragon” is reasonably smart and well put together. ... That seriousness of purpose doesn’t translate into engaging drama, however. There’s a lot of sitting around tables and talking.
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Aug 18, 2022
Season 1 Review:
"House" often does work well as straight history. It's that fantasy part that's missing. Other than dragons, there's little magic or mystery in this corner of Westeros — or that epic sense of wonder that made "Thrones" so thrilling through the first seven seasons. At least those dragons are fun.
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Jun 17, 2024
Season 2 Review:
The best I could muster at the end of their sweaty, bloody passion play was, "Ouch." Again: the subpar writing deserves the blame for that, not the performers. .... We may find that the back half of this one finds ways to remedy the diluted storytelling leaving us cold. The fourth episode fuels that hope even as the action within drains whatever dregs of assurances are left for the realm.
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The Daily BeastAug 19, 2022
Aug 19, 2022
Season 1 Review:
House of the Dragon’s rote mimicry of its predecessor undermines character development and dampens any sparks generated by its ensemble, and literally, due to a lack of sustained time with the titular creatures. ... The problem is not just that the dragons here feel less physically tangible than they did before or that they lack definitive personalities. It’s that House of the Dragon takes them for granted, just as it does our attention.
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