5 things House of the Dragon could have done better

2. The problems with time-jumps and continuity

House of the Dragon takes us on a journey through time as we witness how characters grow up in the high-stakes world of Targaryen royalty. Though essential to the storytelling, the time jumps can be pretty disorienting. As we leap forward over a decade, the pacing is disrupted, the shifts in time can feel abrupt, and it leaves us guessing what happened in the time we weren’t shown. Again, House of the Dragon is adapted from about 250 pages from the 700+ page book Fire and Blood. What’s the hurry?!

What really took fans for a spin was the sudden replacement of certain actors after the fifth episode. A different approach in easing viewers into the new “now” would’ve made things a little easier to digest. A warning, a heads up, a simple little Star Wars-style opening crawl explaining how things have progressed in these 10 years we didn’t get to witness would have been appreciated. We could also have gotten filled in on some of the story we missed. Time jumps are an interesting narrative tool, but can two the line between being engaging and disorienting.

3. Where. Are. My. Dragons?!

Have you been waiting for more fiery action in House of the Dragon? Samesies.

I mean, we’re watching the Targaryens, the iconic dragon-riding family, and though we do get to see some scaly action, the show currently revolves more around the politics of the realm and family drama. We want to see the bond between dragon and riders in the making. We want to see the Targaryens spending time with their dragons, showcasing the unbreakable connection that rival the greatest bromances in cinematic history.

I am very well aware that things will…escalate…next season. While I am very excited for all the fire-breathing, clawing and biting once the dragons start to dance, I think it would have added a lot to the show to see more of that early on.

I was very excited to see Daemon singing to Vermithor the Bronze Fury in the finale, only to be a little sad when that was all he did. Seeing more of the bonds between dragon and rider would better set up what’s coming, as both of them go to war.