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The much-awaited second season of Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon will soon be released in India. With the season one finale raising the spectre of an impending war, Emma D’Arcy’s Rhaenyra Targaryen and Olivia Cooke’s Alicent Hightower will face off in a battle that will last forever. (Also Read: OTT releases this week: Two and two love, Bridgerton season 3 part 2, House of the Dragon season 2 and more)
The first reviews of the show, which streams on JioCinema in India, are already out, with critics ranging from loving the show to thinking it could have been better. Despite this, the series has already been renewed for a third season. Let’s find out how the second season of HOTD fared.
‘Too many extra tasks, not enough stakes’
USA Today wrote that HOTD season two had too much of everything – from dragons and blood to confusion and plot holes. They wrote, “Too many scenes in which common sense and logic fly out the window, more twists and surprises presented without context or emotion to support them, and more gratuitous violence that borders on outright indecent. There are too many side quests and not enough stakes for me to care about the battle for the Iron Throne that is the core of the series.”
‘The series looks satisfyingly gorgeous’
However, Vogue thought the opposite, noting that the web series broke a long line of ‘middling’ TV content. They also pointed out that dragons and castles remained central to the show, writing, “There are many, many scenes of dragons in these episodes. Huge, gorgeously rendered CGI monsters that leap into the air and spit fire and lay waste to whatever they wish. It’s a little astonishing to think how many millions tuned in to the aerial sequences; one in particular stunned me. And the scale of the settings – castles, ruined chambers, fields and forests – is large enough that the series feels satisfyingly grand.”
‘Dragon-on-dragon violence, as promised’
Variety noted that while season one was nothing more than a glorified set-up for the Dance of the Dragons in season two, they write that the show finally feels like ‘this is what it’s meant to be’. They wrote, “The new episodes, four of which were screened in advance for critics, have everything their predecessors didn’t, from the development of key relationships to the dragon-on-dragon violence promised by the title. “House of the Dragon” has been heightened, sharpened, and broadened in scope – all in service of a show that is now as dark figuratively as it already was literally.”
“It is difficult for it to escape from its trap”
IndieWire wrote that nothing that happened in the first few episodes of the second season piqued curiosity. Noting that the series still serves its purpose, they wrote, “So far, Season 2 is having a hard time breaking out of its own trap. The plot drags on. The characters focus on what we’ve already seen. New developments on either front do little to pique our curiosity. For those who want to see it and get what they expect (plus an extra embarrassing death or two), that’s probably enough. But “HotD”‘s duty to “GoT” should be only as limited as its prequel status requires.”
‘Matt Smith, Emma Darcy, Olivia Cooke did the heavy lifting’
Empire said that ‘Season 1’s flaws have been ironed out, but its strengths continue to shine through.’ They also praised the performances of the lead actors, writing, “Fortunately, we have the equally impressive Cooke and D’Arcy – not to mention Ifans and Matt Smith (still evil as Daemon) – who do the heavy lifting, while Tom Glynn-Carney, Evan Mitchell and Fabian Frankel (as the black-hearted Kristen Cole) are able to spread their wings in juicy roles. With characters as disturbing and combustible as these, who needs dragons to ruin the world?”
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