House of the Dragon

[Moe_Syzlak]

Is there no thread for this show!? If there is and I missed it, my apologies.

I’m enjoying this show quite a bit. But the recasting in this latest episode was jarring for me. I felt they didn’t do an adequate job of letting us know who everyone was. I was confused for a good chunk of the episode as to who one character was. Ultimately it was clarified and I think I’ll have fewer issues with future episodes. But still I felt this was the weakest episode yet mostly due to some clunkiness with the aging up of some characters. Still a stellar show so far though IMO.

 

[Q2]

I gave up on the show after episode 3. It just feels like a cheap imitation of GoT. The characters aren't very interesting to me with too much exposition. I am enjoying Rings of Power though.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

It’s almost too bad that those two shows are on at the same time. It invites too much comparison. I’m enjoying both. I find HotD to be a great character piece where the plot is driven by interpersonal relationships. Whereas RoP is more broad fantasy where characters serve the purpose of the broader myth. I’m very familiar with the main stories of both properties, but I don’t know anything of the source material specific to these shows. And, in my personal opinion, both shows are doing justice to their respective—different—fantasy worlds.

 

[DonKamillo]

I gave up on the show after episode 3. It just feels like a cheap imitation of GoT. The characters aren't very interesting to me with too much exposition. I am enjoying Rings of Power though.

You're missing out @Q2

Just watched the Season Finale and have to say I love the show. I had doubts in the beginning because I didn't like GoT Season 7 and hated 8 and thought HotD would be a waste of time, knowing that whatever would happen in the story, would be ruined by the ending of GoT. I still had to give the show a chance and while it felt like a GoT knock-off in the beginning, it quickly got better and better with each episode.

Yes, I also had to adapt quite a bit to the time jump, especially because I really liked how Emma D’Arcy played the character of Princess Rhaenyra but it only took one episode to convince me that the change was necessary. Milly Alcock fully embraced the character and I hope the show won't butcher her character like GoT did with Danaerys. Also Matt Smith is killing it as Prince Daemon.

The last three episodes had me at the edge of my seat and rooting for characters, I didn't think I would at the beginning of the show. Everything about the show, from the visuals, the directing, music, the writing, character development, world building and story is just on point + DRAGONS! I'm glad that there won't be any bigger time jumps in the future because in essence Episodes 1-5 served as the prologue to the story.

Can't wait for Season 2!

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

I have to agree. The time jumps were a bit rough, but not as bad as I’d anticipated. But so far I actually prefer this show to GoT, and not just the last two seasons. It’s more focused. It’s could, of course, expand, but I’m loving the real focus on a handful of characters rather than the so many disparate storylines in GoT. I’ve purposefully not read the source material, but this show also has the benefit of having a full story before production began.

 

[DonKamillo]

The show IMO also manages to perfectly mix the action and fantastical elements we got in the later seasons of GoT with the intrigue and backstabbing we know and love from the earlier GoT seasons.

And while the show benefits from the source material being complete, it also has a lot of freedoms regarding the character development and dramatisation because the book is basically a fictional history book written from the perspective of an old Maester, and therefore very dry reading. For example while the character of the crab feeder was only one little paragraph in the book, he was one of the more intriguing characters of the show and caused a lot of problems even though they disposed of him faster than I thought.

 

[unfair]

I'd say episode 9 was probably the pinnacle of the series, but I agree that it's way, way more about talking than Game Of Thrones was - for the most part it's just a series of rooms with people plotting and fighting, and it doesn't make the show very dynamic. It's a bit like a medieval political drama rather than the rounded show that the original Game Of Thrones was. And at the start the characters do feel like low-rent knockoffs, but over time you get used to them.

 

[DonKamillo]

I'd say episode 9 was probably the pinnacle of the series...

Pinnacle of the season my friend. There are three more seasons planned

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

Pinnacle of the season my friend. There are three more seasons planned

Depends where you're from, people don't really use the word "season" in that context in Britain at least, though the distinction might prevent confusion!

 

[Gaith]

Just finished the season, which has been my introduction to Westeros. (I have the complete GoT Blu-ray set, but haven't started it yet.) On the whole, I quite enjoyed it, despite uneven pacing, abrupt time jumps, extensive web of characters, and lack of wholly sympathetic protagonists.

I did have some plot gripes, mainly relating to how key deaths were seemingly quickly and easily forgotten (and I know some of these are due to changes from the book). Such as: what happened to that noble's (correct) accusation that Daemon murdered his own wife? How the hell did Ser Criston escape banishment, if not indeed outright execution, for his murder of Ser Laenor Velaryon's "friend" at the feast? Couldn't Rhaenyra have found someone with an appropriate skin tone to have biological children with? And, why oh why, in episode 8, after seeing how much the Hightowers had changed the culture of Red Keep while Viserys was still (barely) alive, did Rhaenyra and Daemon leave King's Landing at all? The reason they went there in the first place was to shore up Rhaenyra's claim to her sons' inheritance, and she was sure that Alicent, speaking for the king, would rule against her. After winning that close call, what did they think would happen if Viserys were to die while they were away? (I know Rhaenyra said she'd be back in just a few days, after dropping the kids off back at Driftmark, but still - not a great plan.)

Due to these and other weird bits, the show sometimes seems almost amateurishly written, but then the performances, visuals, and most importantly themes are so grand and weighty that they either overpower the weakness in the storytelling, or maybe they just overpowered me. Either way, I'm looking forward to more, and should really get around to giving GoT itself a try.

S1 Grade: B+

 

[Gaith]

Well, now that some time has passed, I'm afraid my memory of the show isn't as kind as my initial reactions. The baffling story points, generally unlikable characters, drab visuals, and all-around death of excitement add up to a series I'm not particularly interested in revisiting. I've still yet to give GoT a try, but I'm hoping it's more fun.

Revised S1 grade: B



Anyhow, Season Two teaser, whoop whoop.

 

[MightyAttackTribble]

Well, now that some time has passed, I'm afraid my memory of the show isn't as kind as my initial reactions. The baffling story points, generally unlikable characters, drab visuals, and all-around death of excitement add up to a series I'm not particularly interested in revisiting. I've still yet to give GoT a try, but I'm hoping it's more fun.

Revised S1 grade: B

You're kinder than I. I had many of the same complaints, only I downright loathed almost every character, with the exception of the young Rhaenyra for about three episodes.

Game of Thrones also has a ton of unlikeable characters, particularly early on when the viewer is still finding their feet in the murky politics of the world, but at the very least you have some characters with obvious good intentions and some rogueish ones who we're not sure about but have enough charisma to be likeable to prevent it from being wall-to-wall conniving assholes.