'House of the Dragon' needs to take flight in its second season

It's something of an oddity that 'Game of Thrones' - a show that meandered wildly in quality, unlike other shows of its generation - is the one that was immediately assured of a spinoff series when it ended on such poor terms.

The discourse has died down on the fateful final season, where both audiences and critics alike savaged the show while the actors themselves were held in check by NDAs and the belief that maybe it wouldn't be as bad. In the second season of 'House of the Dragon', it's not that it is so liberally flaming out as it's failing to raise a fire at all. There's a kind of drudgery in the first four episodes that's impossible to ignore. While it may be that war - a civil war, a war of succession, a war between dragons - is inevitable, there's a grimness to it all that makes the whole thing predictable and boring. Maybe it's why there are now at least two more spinoffs in the works.

Of the four episodes shown to press, we're reminded that the Targaryen dynasty is very much at war with itself and in their own camps. Matt Smith's chaotic Daemon blithely orders violent and shocking murders like he's calling for a drink, while Tom Glynn-Carey's Aegon goes off the deep end in more ways than one. Again, 'House of the Dragon' covers familiar ground by reminding us that in Westeros, men ride into battle while women scheme and plot in the shadows. So it goes that two of the show's best performers - Emma D'Arcy as heartbroken Rhaenyra, and Olivia Cooke's Alicent - are kept apart in separate castles, each of them trying to downplay the inevitable civil war by whispering in darkened - too dark, frankly - corridors and slamming tables to get men's attention.

This lack of subtlety is riven through the episodes, with one particular fight scene being so glaringly obvious as to almost be a parody of itself. Another sees a squabble over cows turn into the aftermath of a bloodbath, as if to highlight how trite circumstances are often folded into wider conflicts as an excuse. When you think back, these are themes and topics that 'Game of Thrones' previously covered with far more engaging characters and more confident writing. Here, it's playing them again, only louder and without any hint of awareness of irony of the fact. It's even using the same damn theme song.

All that being said, the performances are committed and thorough by the cast. Emma D'Arcy is a standout as Rhaenyra, far more vulnerable and nuanced than in the first season. Matt Smith, as ever, is laconic charm and displays the same kind of royal indifference that he used so well in early seasons of 'The Crown'. Tom Glynn-Carey gives our own Jack Gleeson a run for his money with his rantings and ravings, while Rhys Ifans tries to match Charles Dance for his grizzled command of the screen. All that said, the absence of Paddy Considine is conspicuous and while it was obviously pertinent in setting up this season and the whole series itself, it's still a loss to the show.

'House of the Dragon' is more of the same in the first half of the second season, keeping things at an even if sluggish pace. Even to the most devoted followers, it's impossible not to see that 'House of the Dragon' is taking far too long to get to the same place.

The first episode of 'House of the Dragon' is available on NOW and Sky Atlantic from June 17th.