HBO's House of the Dragon

For a show that will make us wait at least 2 more years… what a major let down

Deeznutz6 said:

For a show that will make us wait at least 2 more years… what a major let down

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Yeah. Hence my remark about the risk they were taking with pacing. I sat with it for a while, thinking maybe I'm just too conditioned to expect big things from a finale, but I agree. It's a letdown, they could've been more economical with their storytelling.

Daemon's Harrenhall stay was too drawn out, and I think perhaps this impacted the rest of the storytelling.

This last episode should have been the middle of this Season. Lots of wasted time considering each episode is an hour.

From what I'm reading elsewhere on the web, this season was written as 10 episodes, but they cut back to 8 based on budget.

Crazy something like The Acolyte has a higher budget than this.

This season, while good, was extremely slow. I think 2 more episodes would've done wonders. We could've ended the season on an actual event, not a lead up to.

They should just make the running time shorter like GoT -- 35-42 minutes -- and they could have their 10 episodes.

Good episode, but it is weird and disappointing to end a season like that. Best to end with some kind of closure. Though if need-be, a cliff-hanger like Star Trek: TNG used to do could work. But to just have a bunch of people dramatically looking into the distance in anticipation of what is to come is MEDIOCRE.

Based on the "look inside the episode" after the credits, it seems as if Allicent's plan may not work as she intends it to, as surprising as that may seem (Rhaenyra seizing the throne through a bloodless coup--LOL). Pretty insane and unbelievable that a mother would willingly allow her child to be killed by the way.

karamazov80 said:

Based on the "look inside the episode" after the credits, it seems as if Allicent's plan may not work as she intends it to, as surprising as that may seem (Rhaenyra seizing the throne through a bloodless coup--LOL). Pretty insane and unbelievable that a mother would willingly allow her child to be killed by the way.

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They seem to have trouble with writing this for modern sensibilities. Both queens are sometimes portrayed as the voices of reason in a violent world, but then keep flip-flopping back to being distant, violent monarchs with hungry dragons. It doesn't really read as conflicted characters so much as messy writing.

Cersei was a villain but she was consistent. Stannis was an honourable warrior but he lived entirely by the sword, even Jon Snow (closest thing we got to a 'good guy'-- one that survived, anyway) fit the in-world paradigm of rule-by-force.

At least Rhaenyra voiced the political reality of the position she was trapped in, I'll give them that. I just think the writing could be tighter and same for the pacing.

I'm actually ok with flip flopping people who have inconsistent motivations. People are really like that of course. But it does take a good writer with a steady hand to do it effectively, and I agree that there are times when this show suffers from that. Allicent's concession is just really hard to swallow without... something more to justify it. Credit to the actress for doing damn well with what she was given, though.

I've enjoyed this season overall and am optimistic for what comes next. But improvements are always welcome.

Yeah, it wasn't the best finale we could have had, but I'm still satisfied overall.
Too bad it'll be long until the next season. I hope they don't screw us over and start the next season with the aftermath of the war...

abake said:

Yeah, it wasn't the best finale we could have had, but I'm still satisfied overall.
Too bad it'll be long until the next season. I hope they don't screw us over and start the next season with the aftermath of the war...

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Start season 3 with Rhaenyra lying dead amongst a bunch of dead bodies and we just see the aftermath, No Country for Old Men style.

abake said:

I hope they don't screw us over and start the next season with the aftermath of the war...

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"The long, hard battle has come to an end. A new King sits atop the Iron Throne. Much drama has past, good conflict missed. And now we return to our story in more, trivial times..."

Season 2 is primarily going to be more people wandering around Harrenhal and experiencing dream sequences. Maybe the Faceless Men subplot will return and Aeagon can be trained there for a few seasons.

karamazov80 said:

Season 2 is primarily going to be more people wandering around Harrenhal

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You mean Season 3.

Yes, we have already sat thru TWO Seasons of House of the Dragon. More like Labyrinth of the Dragon.

... or... Drag-On.

Deeznutz6 said:

For a show that will make us wait at least 2 more years… what a major let down

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Now that the season has ended, can discuss a little -

- IMHO, the show misses Paddy Considine. I recognize King Viserys had a short shelf life for this show no matter what, but he was a grounding force to balance out the story and the cast. Everyone seems a little adrift now that he is not in the center.

- Emma D'Arcy as adult Rhaenyra just brings it every time. She's just impressive. ( The writing at times, not so much to help her) Milly Alc0ck left big shoes to fill as she crushed the young Rhaenyra role, but D'Arcy has acquitted herself very well. The writing she's been given is just incredibly tough. I think it might be easy to take D'Arcy for granted as a lesser actress would have exposed more of the shaking writing in S2.

- Which leads to the next complication, D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke/Alicent have absolutely no chemistry at all. In any possible way. They cannot sell that they were once best friends, they can't really sell much of the vague complexity of their overall relationship. I enjoy Cooke in most other things, she's such an elegant beauty in her natural state, but this role might be too far over her bandwidth right now. The Alicent role is extremely difficult, and is probably the most critical role on the show to create a nice consistent push/pull in the overall tension, but it's just not working. It probably doesn't help some that Cooke still looks like she could pass for a high schooler. The chemistry between Alc0ck and Emily Carey/Young Alicent was off the charts. I don't want to be too hard on Cooke here, but this role might have been better suited for someone else.

- Aegon II and Prince Aemond are roughly cutouts at this point. I don't think they actively hurt the show, but they often are not helping. Criston Cole, the bodyguard who bangs everyone, just doesn't bring anything at all. He raises the meter exactly zero. While I recognize there is canon and established backstory behind this, bringing in another very established veteran actor as a new character to drive conflict might have help rebalance the show. It's not quite evident the writers know how to handle Matt Smith or not.

- My take is if you are going to have some bloat, then just do a couple of flashback episodes. Full ones. Bring back Considine, Carey and Alc0ck for them. Their dynamic was very good. At least that can serve as a bridge to help the D'Arcy/Cooke chemistry struggles some. It could help also infuse some heavy lifting for the world building and the rest of Westeros in this timeline.

- I liked S2, not as good as S1, but there is plenty of talent here across the board to create a nice rebound for S3. If it was me, and it's not, I'd write out Criston Cole as fast as possible. I see him as a poorly executed crutch/escape hatch for when the writers get themselves into a corner in the narrative.

- Alc0ck. Alc0ck. Alc0ck. Just giving the filter some exercise here.

Criston should have been one of the "major" characters to die in this season for sure.

It looks like, as with Jaime, they are hoping to give his character a change of heart for Season 3... but then he does become "Jaime lite".

Other than Matt Smith and Aemond, I have failed to really connect with any characters in this timeline. Connect is probably the wrong word, as I only like Aemond for his villainy and perfect Anime looks for the job.

MeatHookGekko said:

Now that the season has ended, can discuss a little -

- Which leads to the next complication, D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke/Alicent have absolutely no chemistry at all. In any possible way. They cannot sell that they were once best friends, they can't really sell much of the vague complexity of their overall relationship. I enjoy Cooke in most other things, she's such an elegant beauty in her natural state, but this role might be too far over her bandwidth right now. The Alicent role is extremely difficult, and is probably the most critical role on the show to create a nice consistent push/pull in the overall tension, but it's just not working. It probably doesn't help some that Cooke still looks like she could pass for a high schooler. The chemistry between Alc0ck and Emily Carey/Young Alicent was off the charts. I don't want to be too hard on Cooke here, but this role might have been better suited for someone else.

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Nailed it. She's a problem.

MeatHookGekko said:

If it was me, and it's not, I'd write out Criston Cole as fast as possible. I see him as a poorly executed crutch/escape hatch for when the writers get themselves into a corner in the narrative.

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Cole needs to die, I'm tired of his conflicted jock routine. This show doesn't need a brooding quarterback.