TV Review: ‘House Of The Dragon’ Season 2, Episode 5 Is Fun But Filled With Unlikable Characters
by Frank Martin
After a shocking episode with a lot of effects, action, and warfare, it made sense that House Of The Dragon would want a much mellower episode to balance out the budget. Things will no doubt ramp up when the finale comes along, but until then, politics will reign supreme. Even after the war has officially begun, there was still a lot of scheming and infighting. This is less a show about action than it is about inaction. The main focus: the two women at the center for whom everything is happening around rather than to. It would make for a truly striking story if they and their surrounding cast weren’t so unlikable.
It turns out that Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) did not die at the end of the last episode after falling off his dragon. He was merely left in an extremely injured position; basically comatose. Aemonnd (Ewan Mitchel) was elected to serve as regent in his place, which fell perfectly in line with what he wanted after being the one to injure his brother. Meanwhile, Daemon (Matt Smith) continues to experience hallucinations in a storyline that is far removed from the rest of the plot. For her part, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) is frustrated that she can’t take a more active role in the war. But through the consultation of Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), she might take up a new strategy to turn the people to her side.
The show is a very entertaining watch. The production value of the sets and the effects with the dragons are all top-notch. It’s fun to be transported to a fantasy world filled with violence and political intrigue. The problem is the characters aren’t necessarily compelling. There are so many of them with so many different names and so many different dragons, that it is truly hard to keep track of what’s going on. Game Of Thrones had the benefit of keeping all of the houses separate. In House Of The Dragon, everything is incestuous (no pun intended) with the characters, so it’s a lot harder to keep track. It’s basically a show that’s a lot of flash to look at, but not a lot of substance to absorb.
House Of The Dragon stream Sundays on Max.