Casting was a disaster it seems, not confident to go with new actors, not bold enough to put money down for great known actors. It's a mixed bag, along with the delivery of lines and the scenes in general come across very flat and uninteresting.

Of course a big part of that is the script which is frankly disappointing, given all the time and learning from the complete unmitigated disaster of the last 2 seasons of 'Game of Thrones', it seems the HBO are part of the problem here and it wasn't just David Benioff and D. B. Weiss who were the issue with the script writing department and plot planning in the previous show.

In this case the desperation was obvious by the title cards, and the marketing stuff, that keep reminding the viewer that this show is ~150 years prior to Daenerys Targaryen. Not prior to the events of GoT., but prior to Dany. Specifically Dany. The character that they screwed up the most in the entire show. So let's go through this for a second, in GoT the Dany plotline was poorly handled, leading to a terrible ending and a waste of a character that annoyed most of the fans (especially the Dany fans).

Why is house of the dragon linked to GoT, and why Dany in particular? I thought it was obvious that people don't want to be reminded of that disaster any more, along with the disappointment of the waste of the other characters such as John (aka an actual true Targarian and heir and king).

But it gets worse. For some reason the show blows its load in the first minute by having a dragon fly around the place with a rider on it. Zoom in and play some of Dany's music from the previous show. Like seriously? Playing Dany's theme tune from another show... in this show, which has nothing to do with her or GoT. Frankly it was not only stupid but insulting to the audience.

I realise now they (HBO) still think they did a good job on the final season of GoT, and that they think the Daenerys character was well written. Mind you, it wasn't even the 'evil' Dany music they reused here, it was the benevolent one. The one they always did to uplift you and tell you how good and great she was. Hah. I get that this story is about a bunch of Targs who are going to fight and kill each other to be King/Queen, so did HBO get that? I don't think they understand what they are even doing here.

So back to the first episode, it is incredibly dull. Lots of boardroom talk, boilerplate speeches and dialogue. No character development, no characters that are relatable or likable. A palette of dull multi-colored faces that have no connection or coherence for the time period or the material at hand. Great for the actors, but with terrible application.

A waste of money to make, they should have remade the final season of GoT into 3+ more seasons and not chosen a poor spin off.

4/10 a boring soap opera for people who really don't like fantasy, and a far cry from season 1 to 4 of 'Game of Thrones'; but not as offensive as the later ones.