House of the Dragon’s massive time jump turns up the heat

polygon.com:

One creative decision has been looming over House of the Dragon since the August premiere of the show: A 10-year time jump right in the middle of the show’s first season, one that would mark new actors assuming the lead roles of Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower. With a few exceptions — like those who play the children of Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), who are each portrayed by three sets of actors throughout the season — Rhaenyra and Alicent are the only two main cast members to swap performers after the time jump. This has made the mid-season decade leap forward feel unusually weighty — and for the most part, House of the Dragon does not make a big deal of it.

This is in keeping with established habits. The epic sweep of House of the Dragon has only been subtly signaled in the show. After on-screen text in the premiere denotes that the series’ events take place “172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen,” House of the Dragon never bluntly nods to the timeline again. Characters denote the passage of time and say how many years it’s been — often for the audience’s benefit — but like in Mad Men, time jumps in this show have been frequent and unremarkable. The time between one episode and the next is simply how long it takes for another interesting thing to happen, be that four days or four years.

So it’s a little underwhelming, if consistent, to see House of the Dragon introduce the new versions of Rhaenyra and Alicent under relatively mundane circumstances. We meet Rhaenyra first (now played by Emma D’Arcy after Milly Alcock’s tenure as young Rhaenyra) in the midst of childbirth. The arrival of her son, Joffrey, is what “The Princess and the Queen” hangs its structure around, as Rhaenyra chooses