The Hollywood Reporter takes stock of the ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel, now that it’s reached the midpoint of its planned four-season run.
Olivia Cooke and Emma D’Arcy in ‘House of the Dragon.’
Courtesy of Ollie Upton/HBO
Eighteen episodes and two seasons into its run, House of the Dragon is already almost over. Sure, it will take years and years for the series to reach the end of its planned four-season arc, but the halfway point is the right point to take a beat and take stock of all that’s come before.
That’s right: it’s the off-season, folks, which can only mean one thing — it’s time to rank stuff. Below is every single episode of House of the Dragon to date, ranked from worst to first.
-
18. “The Queen Who Ever Was” (Season 2, Episode 8)
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Discovery Call it recency bias, call it hyperbolic — it’s certainly a bit of both. Taken on its own, the season two finale, “The Queen Who Ever Was,” is a solid episode of House of The Dragon, with some exceptional moments, including Daemon’s dreams culminating in a vision of Daenerys (Emilia Clarke in Game of Thrones), and Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent’s (Olivia Cooke) season-ending encounter. As a finale, however, it leaves way too much unsettled, doing little to resolve the shape of the season and particularly challenging to reconcile in the real-time viewing when two more years will pass before the next new episode, at a bare minimum. Given the backlash to the final Game of Thrones season, House of the Dragon has very little room for error when it comes to messing with huge climactic events, such as season finales. As it stands, “The Queen Who Ever Was” missed that mark, big time.
-
17. “The Green Council” (Season 1, Episode 9)
Image Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO In a future reevaluation, when tempers cool and “The Queen Who Ever Was” rises in estimation, “The Green Council” will reveal itself as the weakest entry in House of The Dragon. Penultimate episodes are always key moments for the Game of Thrones franchise, providing thrilling and subversive twists that upend the entire story, or otherwise deliver a massive battle sequence that leaves the viewer breathless. “The Green Council,” set in the immediate aftermath of Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) death, tries to have a little bit of both, what with Princess Rhaenys’ (Eve Best) great escape on dragon back, after declining the opportunity to eat all of Team Green in a single swoop. It’s a moment completely added for the show and missing from George R.R. Martin’s novel. And, while some changes are for the better, this one very much was not, a nonsensical ending that cheapens the Queen Who Never Was’ eventual death at the hands of the Green.
-
16. “The Princess and the Queen” (Season 1, Episode 6)
Image Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO Good news: Virtually every episode of House of the Dragon from henceforth on this list has merit and, in a lot of cases, the rankings become a game of inches, if not thrones. Here, “The Princess and the Queen” kicks us off as the “worst” of the rest, only because it has such a tall order in front of it: reintroducing viewers to Rhaenyra (D’Arcy) and Alicent (Cooke), after the two of them were previously so brilliantly played by Milly Alcock and Emily Carey. The story leaps forward through the decades, necessitating the actor change. But Alcock and Carey’s prior work makes them such a tough act to follow, that the show has little choice but to stumble a bit in the resetting of the tale.
-
15. “Regent” (Season 2, Episode 5)
Image Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO Speaking of tough acts to follow, “Regent” follows an episode that some have said is the very best in House of the Dragon, and currently charts among the highest-rated Game of Thrones episodes ever on IMDB’s user ratings. After the literal fall of Princess Rhaenys, the Blacks are tasked with determining their next moves in the face of such a brutal defeat. On the flip side, the Greens experience a power dynamic reset of their own, as Aemond One-Eye (Ewan Mitchell) steps into the role of Prince Regent of Westeros. A chess-pieces episode that solidly sets up the post-Aegon politics of King’s Landing.
-
14. “Smallfolk” (Season 2, Episode 6)
Image Credit: Theo Whiteman/HBO Here, we launch into Prince Jace’s (Harry Collett) plan to recruit “Dragonseeds,” Valyrian ancestors who might potentially be able to ride dragons. But before the plan works, we get a bit of disappointment when the knight and distant Targaryen relative Steffon Darklyn attempts to claim Seasmoke, only to get roasted alive. But it’s only because Seasmoke already has a rider of his own in mind: Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty), the Sea Snake’s (Steve Toussaint) bastard son, who ends the episode soaring triumphantly over the cliffside of Dragonstone.
-
13. “Rhaenyra the Cruel” (Season 2, Episode 2)
Image Credit: Max Between multiple Aegons and a Rhaenyra, Rhaenys and Rhaena, House of the Dragon has very little trouble throwing out tons of names that are brutally difficult to track. In season two’s second episode, however, two of those names come right off the board, when the Cargyll twins, Erryk and Arryk (played by twins Elliott and Luke Tittensor), battle each other to the death. A vicious fight scene ripped straight out of the book (albeit, altered somewhat), the Cargyll duel is one of the more memorable events from season two.
-
12. “King of the Narrow Sea” (Season 1, Episode 4)
Image Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO Daemon (Matt Smith) returns to King’s Landing after triumphantly ending the war against the Triarchy (at least, for now). Initially, he’s welcomed back with open arms, until he takes young Rhaenyra out for a night on the town, much to Viserys’ chagrin. So much of season one is powered by the brutal brotherly relationship between Matt Smith and Paddy Considine, and their short-lived reunion here is one of the more savage points.
-
11. “The Burning Mill” (Season 2, Episode 3)
Image Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO The conflict between the Brackens and the Blackwoods begins here. Likewise, Daemon’s haunting Harrenhal dreams begin here, too. It also contains the most memorable (and member-able) brothel scene in House of the Dragon, and is competitive with the original Game of Thrones on that level as well. Is “The Burning Hill” a great episode? Maybe, maybe not. But it’s among the Game of Thrones-iest episodes in the entire franchise, and that’s saying something.
-
10. “The Heirs of the Dragon” (Season 1, Episode 1)
Image Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO The one that started it all. Years after the biggest show on television biffed the landing, House of the Dragon roared into town and reignited interest in Westeros. Credit goes in at least as many directions as there are kingdoms, not the least of which is the electric new cast, the return of dragons (and, so many of them), and a focused storyline that locks into King’s Landing from co-creator and showrunner Ryan Condal. It’s not a flawless episode by any stretch — and debates still rage about the level and kinds of violence depicted in Queen Aemma’s (Siân Brooke) death — but it gets the ball rolling on a show that very likely could have failed purely on the fragile grounds left behind by Game of Thrones proper.
-
9. “The Rogue Prince” (Season 1, Episode 2)
Image Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO There are few images in House of the Dragon more beautiful than the confrontation between Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) and Daemon Targaryen on the bridge at Dragonstone, especially when Rhaenyra (Alcock) flies into the scene on dragonback. The rest of the episode could be a complete wash (it’s not), and it would still rate high based purely on this visual.
-
8. “A Son for a Son” (Season 2, Episode 1)
Image Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO One of the most iconic scenes from Martin’s Fire & Blood comes to life in the form of Blood and Cheese, the bruiser and the ratcatcher sent to kill Aemond. Instead, they kill a different Targaryen, beheading Helaena’s (Phia Saban) innocent son and kicking the violence between the Greens and Blacks into overdrive. It’s a visceral sequence due to what’s not shown, but heard, even if book loyalists were expecting something a whole lot worse.
-
7. “The Red Sowing” (Season 2, Episode 7)
Image Credit: Theo Whiteman/HBO Finally, the plan to grow Dragonseeds bears fruit, as two new riders enter the picture: Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) and Ulf (Tom Bennett), a pair of Targaryen bastards who manage to claim the dragons Vermithor and Silverwing after the rest of their peer group gets wiped out in a horrid showing of fire and blood. The sequence is riveting, what with Hugh screaming in Vermithor’s face, or Silverwing delighting in her new cravenly rider Ulf. But the crowning moment comes at the end of the episode when Aemond and Vhagar ride on over to Dragonstone, only to find their own firepower finally has a match in Rhaenyra’s side of the fight.
-
6. “The Black Queen” (Season 1, Episode 10)
Image Credit: HBO Where “The Green Council” explored the Greens’ reaction to Viserys’ death, the season one finale flies over to Dragonstone to deal with Rhaenyra’s reaction. Of course, the much bigger deal is how the episode — and the season — ends: The first dragon-on-dragon battle of House of the Dragon, as Aemond stalks and ultimately kills his cousin Luke (Elliot Grihault). The image of Vhagar flying high through a thunderous sky is among the most evocative in all of HOTD, if not all of Thrones.
-
5. “We Light the Way” (Season 1, Episode 5)
Image Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO Who doesn’t love a Game of Thrones wedding? House of the Dragon throws together one heck of a party as Rhaenyra and Laenor (John Macmillan) get hitched. There’s dancing! There’s death! There’s probably cake, but the death kind of overshadows the cake! It’s no Red Wedding, but it is the end of the era for Milly Alcock and Emily Carey’s time in Westeros, and they couldn’t exit in more dramatic fashion if they tried.
-
4. “Second of His Name” (Season 1, Episode 3)
Image Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO “Second of His Name” was a groundbreaking episode of the Game of Thrones franchise, featuring its most significant time jump up to that point (Bran Stark’s off-screen growth spurt, notwithstanding). Historic nature aside, the episode boasted riveting internal character work as Viserys contemplates, prophecy while Rhaenyra struggles under the shadow of her newborn brother (and her eventual rival) Aegon. Then there’s the final sequence of the episode, in which Daemon gets his Leeroy Jenkins on, soloing the Crabfeeder and ending the Triarchy conflict almost entirely on his own.
-
3. “Driftmark” (Season 1, Episode 7)
Image Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO Jokes (and legitimate issues) with the lighting aside, “Driftmark” was a master class in classic Game of Thrones drama, bringing one of the most compelling moments from Fire & Blood to life: Aemond claiming the dragon Vhagar, and then getting his eye slashed out by Luke, setting a rivalry in motion that would ultimately yield disastrous results for the entire Targaryen clan. Extraordinary performances across the board, not the least of which is from Considine’s Viserys, not quite at his death bed yet, but getting ever closer, as the knives come out and the walls start closing in.
-
2. “The Red Dragon and the Gold” (Season 2, Episode 4)
Image Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO The best episode of season two, with a great argument for being the best episode of the whole show. “The Black Queen” featured the first dragon-on-dragon violence of House of the Dragon. “The Red Dragon and the Gold” takes it to an entirely new level, adding a third dragon to the mix, and rendering the entire conflict in broad daylight. From Aegon’s nearly fatal fall to Rhaenys’ actually fatal fall, the Thrones franchise has never done a dragon combat scene better than this one.
-
1. “The Lord of the Tides” (Season 1, Episode 8)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Ollie Upton/HBO It’s not all about violence between dragons, is it? At its core, both House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones proper focus on the same thing: family drama, and the politics that turn friends into foes. The prequel series never does this better than in “The Lord of the Tides.” Whether it’s the jovial Targaryen dinner that suddenly sours, or the decrepit Viserys’ slow-crawl walk across the Red Keep’s throne room. Indeed, it’s the end of Considine’s time on House of the Dragon, vision sequences notwithstanding. The show absolutely loses some magic as it loses its king, which is only appropriate given how Viserys’ death impacts the rest of Westeros. On a different streamer, this show might be called “The Fall of the House of the Dragon,” and in many ways, “Lord of the Tides” is when the falling dragon finally hits the floor.
