House of the Dragon review, Culture Whisper
In retrospect, Game of Thrones is wrapped in a certain cognitive dissonance. Not because of its much-hated conclusion, the vitriol for which this critic doesn't share, but its graphic, gratuitous, and outright silly bits that often rubbed against the more revolutionary aspects. (People often forget how absurdly sexual, close to pornographic, the first season was.)
But it was the characters, the politics, and the overarching, wintry prophecy of total war that made the series so fantastically inescapable. It was a rough, horny, but intelligent adolescence for prestige TV.
What, then, is its long-awaited prequel House of the Dragon? Well, the series feels more like a cautious, nostalgic and absorbing midlife crisis. It tries to recapture those headier days, avoiding the more troubling pitfalls, yet strives to be its own thing. It’s not quite successful, but the welcoming pull of Westeros is tough to resist.
