House Of The Dragon's greatest strength is that it doesn't waste your time

A lot can happen in just a few years – ask Alicent Hightower, who has gone from Princess Rhaenyra's trusted confidante and friend to a bitter political rival threatening to wrest control of the Iron Throne from her.< /p>

Compared to the much more languid "Game of Thrones," that breakneck pace at the start of "House of the Dragon" might be the biggest change between the original and the prequel. This is primarily due to the breadth of the story told in the book "Fire & Blood" by author and series co-creator George R.R. Martin, which acts as a sort of in-universe historical document that chronicles the events of the reign of House Targaryen. Due to its affinity for borrowing from real-world history, it means a confusing family tree filled with boring similar names, seemingly distant wars and conflicts that will have massive ramifications, and a propensity to span entire swaths of time. where nothing of note ever really happens.

Since the latter would be awfully boring for an HBO series to portray on screen, the creative team behind "House of the Dragon" instead picked and chose their spots to advance in time and remove even the hint of filler or image padding. Rather than spinning its narrative wheels waiting for Viserys' son Aegon to grow up or compact a plethora of game-changing events into an impossibly short period of time - thinking back to "Game of Thrones," a note from fun footnote comes from the fact that so potential leaders rise and fall and so wars start and end so quickly - "House of the Dragon" takes an approach more sensible that allows each episode to hit hard.

In fact, these time jumps may soon become the show's not-so-secret weapon.