‘House of the Dragon’ braces for war in its fiery second season

Still not quite the series “Game of Thrones” was, this prequel now mirrors its barbaric take on palace intrigue well enough to have become bloody good.

If the first season of “House of the Dragon” challenged viewers with its dizzying list of introductions and disorienting time jumps, the second involves a more straightforward build-up toward a great civil war, where strategy often takes a back seat to vengeance and emotion. Still not the series “Game of Thrones” was, this prequel now mirrors its barbaric take on palace intrigue well enough to have become bloody good. Once again, the battle for the throne has “You win or you die” stakes, pitting Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), her uncle/husband Daemon (Matt Smith) and their assorted forces against Rhaenyra’s childhood friend Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and her sons (who happen to be Rhaenyra’s half-siblings), one of whom, Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), currently claims their late father’s mantle. Living up to the show’s title, both sides of this Targaryen-on-Targaryen faceoff have an arsenal of dragons, which amount to a version of air power in these medieval times, and an almost nuclear-style deterrent against ill-thought-out behavior. While the dragons took a while to grow into players in the original series, here they figure prominently in calculations about military action and seldom disappoint once unleashed. In that sense, while other series have sought to match “Thrones” in conjuring spectacle and grandeur (none more so than “The Lord of the Rings” on Amazon’s Prime Video, whose deficiencies owe more to character and story), little on television can truly rival “House of the Dragon’s” scope and scale. Happily, under executive producer Ryan Condal (who shares “created by” credit with author George R.R. Martin), the new season feels cleaner and more tightly focused, despite juggling existing players while adding a few key new ones. At its core, the women still hold the center, as the initially grieving Rhaenyra must deal with the headstrong Daemon, while Alicent and her father, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), struggle to manage Aegon, another weak, erratic ruler prone to actions and decisions that risk undermining their cause.