The Dance of Dragons ensues with one of the biggest spectacles we've seen in Television since 2019 when Game of Thrones ended.
Director Alan Taylor that helmed key GoT episodes such as 'Baelor', 'Fire and Blood' and 'Beyond the Wall' returns for some fiery Dragon action, with the best Dragon-on-Dragon action we've yet to see in the 'Game of Thrones' universe. While in my opinion still not in the level as the key battle sequences in GoT, the final sequence of the episode reminded me of the glory days when GoT was airing. The stakes were high, the action was amazingly made and accompanied by a great musical score by mastermind Ramin Djawadi.
Of course, the battle didn't take the entire screen time of the episode, and the rest of it was pretty good as well. The scenes at Harrenhal, for example, were one of the strengths of the episode. Unusually, in this aspect, "House of the Dragon" marked an improvement over the original series, as it seems they managed to portray the atmosphere and aura surrounding the "cursed" castle more effectively than in "Game of Thrones." The set design was stunning, the cinematography was excellent, and overall, the scenes succeeded in creating an atmosphere that aligns very well with how the castle is described in the original books and the common culture of the characters within the series' universe. The atmosphere was almost David Lynchian in its essence, feeling like a horror thriller for a moment, as if something is about to happen that we do not yet know, and more and more details unfold.
The buildup for the battle was also exceptionally made, and despite knowing it was coming (from the source material but also from reactions from critics), you can feel the tension naturally building towards the unknown slowly but steadily. The episode did wonders in character development as well; Aegon became more intriguing, Criston continues to be more and more insufferable (in a good way for a villain), and Aemond is starting to solidify himself, along with his seemingly unstoppable weapon of mass destruction, as one of my favorite antagonists in the GoT universe.
If I may get picky for a moment, one thing that was missing for me in the battle sequence was attachment to characters involved. Without delving into specifics (spoilers), the battle indeed had a few characters that served as 'hooks' for interest of the viewer, and I indeed felt attachment to them, but it seems that compared to GoT, where the writers always said they tried to build most of the battle sequences around the experience of key characters and their perspective, it felt like here it had a lesser effect to a degree. But to balance this complaint, I would like to mention the Dragon v. Dragon fighting was absolutely epic, and even better than the amazing sequence we had in the 'Long Night' episode in GoT. The sequence also managed to very effectively depict the horrors of war involving Weapons of Mass Destruction in their Westerosi version. Being the first dragon battle in this war, it showed that from here on, everything is only going to get much worse for everyone involved.
But in the bottom line, Kudos for Ryan Condal for sticking the landing in HOTD's first major action piece. Accompanied by many people of great talent such as the director, composer, VFX crew, Production Design crew, pyrotechnic crew etc., it seems at least for now that the major key pieces of the Dance of Dragons are in good hands. The episode is one of the best episodes in the series yet, and a worthy entry in the Game of Thrones cinematic universe. I'm sure the internet is going to discuss it in length in the days to come, just like in the good old days, and I can't wait for next Sunday to see how things unfold next.
