The writers and directors of the House of Dragon really understand what made Game of Thrones tick, and as such, they've heaped together remakes of all the best bits into the premiere episode.

A corrupt kingdom falling apart? Definitely. Dragons? Yep. Gory tournaments? You got it. Pointless violence? Absolutely. A bit of T&A here and there? Oh la la.... and it still manages to surprise with a scene that will force any woman who has even given birth to switch off half way through the first episode.

The problem is that the first episode breaks the fourth wall by being a little bit too obvious about what it is setting out to do - and to be fair - it's going to struggle to do it's own thing. More of the same thing isn't bad, but what House of Dragon is lacking so far is good characterizations and pacing to go with it. We don't understand the characters or their relationships that well before they're already doing things we don't comprehend. It just makes the pace feel a bit rushed with so much happening. Maybe it will all make a bit more sense later, but then -- well it's early days -- it might not either.