While in the first season “Game of Thrones” it took a long time until the first big battle, “House of the Dragon” is already in full swing in episode 3. Our editor Michael Hille is more than enthusiastic about the action spectacle.
If the word “dragon” is already in the title, you have to deliver dragons. In “Game of Thrones” the fire-breathing creatures played a role late, in “House of the Dragon” they are part of the fictional world of Westeros from the beginning – and in episode 3 they get the big performance that fans have been waiting for . The prequel series delivers its best episode to date and can even compete with its predecessor series in terms of epic points.
Episode 2 had already shown it in the ingeniously cryptic opening scene: You saw a beach full of people who were eaten alive by carnivorous crabs. It was the work of a new villain, known as the Crab Feeder, who could start a war on Stepping Stone. The Crab Feeder is a former pirate named Craghas Drahar. There are legends about him in Westeros: the self-proclaimed prince of the triarchy is said to have left injured sailors on the beach to be eaten by crabs. The second episode ended with Daemon Targaryen pledged to help Lord Corlys Velaryon in the war against the Crab Feeder.
And if you thought the series would build up the crab-eater threat longer, you’re wrong: Episode 3 delivers a big action scene, a violent fight between Daemon, his troops and the crab-eater. And “House of the Dragon” flexes its muscles: In the visually stunning battle, an unparalleled spectacle of effects is pulled off, which shows how expensive this fantasy series was – HBO is said to have paid around 10-15 million US dollars per episode for this . It was worth it.
At the latest, when a dragon interferes in the battle, the heart of old “Game of Thrones” fans shines. But while the original series only provided such audiovisually powerful moments in the late seasons due to tighter budgets, “House of the Dragon” can already draw on the full. And doing it so early also makes sense in terms of time: The mega-expensive fantasy competition “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” only started on Amazon Prime Video on Friday – and was particularly convincing with the famous effects.
“House of the Dragon” now shows that the duel for the best and best-looking fantasy series 2022 is far from over. Even those who were still in doubt after the first two episodes have to admit: With this episode, the old “Game of Thrones” has really returned.
A new episode “House of the Dragon” is released every Monday on WOW and Sky Go, and Sky Atlantic also broadcasts the episode at 3:00 a.m. and at 8:15 p.m.
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“Game of Thrones” ended three years ago, now there is something new from Westeros. The first installment of the House of the Dragon spin-off tells the prequel to the fantasy epic and feels immediately familiar. And yet somehow everything is different than before, our author thinks.
