House of the Dragon - Discussion
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(Until we have spoiler tags here let’s please keep at least one week’s time as a spoiler-free time? I.e. let’s not discuss specifics for episodes that have come out in the last seven days)
I am very happy so far with HotD. I know it’s only two episodes in, and maybe they’ll mess it up going forward, but especially the second one made me care about multiple characters - they are interesting. Their dynamics are engaging. They are three-dimensional and there is a history behind them the show is just now starting to peel back.
Frankly, this is already close to peak Game of Thrones engagement.
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@Arkandel I was deeply upset with the way Aemma’s death was handled in the first episode, but I am much more down with this after last night’s episode.
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The latest silliness of posts - both on social media but also clickbait articles, Reddit, etc - comparing rating between House of the Dragon and Rings of Power irks me a bit.
For starters why can’t they both be good shows. Why does one need to ‘lose’ for the other to ‘win’?
For another the timelines are completely different. They will peak at different times, their action pieces, revelations, plot twists and arc resolutions are reserved for different points. We’re still 3 episodes into each series’ season one.
Come on, nerds, just enjoy yourselves. What a time to be alive!
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It is really absurd to compare the two, especially considering how obvious it is that RoP is the unequivocal winner.
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@Kestrel The last episode of HotD was really good, IMHO.
I quite enjoyed the ambiguity of what exactly happened in certain scenes. Was there sexual coercion? Did someone get taken advantage of? Were certain people turning down sexytimes due to noble reasons or not? Was someone acting out of a sense of duty or ambition?
It’s not Game of Thrones. Frankly I don’t think any show will re-capture that any time soon - where the first few seasons were simply HOLY-SHIT-MUST-WATCH-TV for so many completely different groups of viewers and an instant hot topic around every water fountain.
But in certain respects it could be better. If for no other reason than that the story is already fully written and they don’t need to make shit up to subvert expectations.
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Wow, that last episode was actually very good. Not just HotD-good. Very well shot, the cinematography was actually astonishing; windswept beaches, scenes in twilight, character progression and plot twists.
The special effects in fact were incredible. That one scene worked quite well, I think.
Now the pieces are in place, though. I don’t know about winter, but a bloodbath is definitely coming.
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As someone who disliked the last 3 seasons of GoT (to varying degrees), I am enjoying this show a lot. Not perfect but way better than I expected.
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@Smile Season one is a grimdark fantasy soap opera.
Kinda what Dynasty would be like if the patriarch was slowly dying and everyone in the family was ready to get their hands really dirty. Oh, and had dragons.
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I WOULD SURE LOVE TO BE ABLE TO PHYSICALLY SEE WHAT’S HAPPENING IN SCENES
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@Roz said in House of the Dragon - Discussion:
I WOULD SURE LOVE TO BE ABLE TO PHYSICALLY SEE WHAT’S HAPPENING IN SCENES
The Battle of Winterfell called, it wants its non-existent light sources back.
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@Roz My SO was angrily raging over this and initially wondered if the TV was broken.
I asked her if she really wanted to clearly see a guy macking on his niece.
The conversation was basically done after that.
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@SpaceKhomeini said in House of the Dragon - Discussion:
@Roz My SO was angrily raging over this and initially wondered if the TV was broken.
I asked her if she really wanted to clearly see a guy macking on his niece.
The conversation was basically done after that.
wow don’t kinkshame your SO
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@Arkandel I suspect Succession (also HBO) was another source of inspiration.
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Look, let’s face it, Westeros is so fucked up I don’t think it matters who they get to sit the Iron Throne.
Murderous lunatic? Immense bloodshed ensues.
Alcoholic burn-out? Immense bloodshed ensues.
Absolutely bonkers religious fanatic? Immense bloodshed ensues.
Nice guy who loves his family and just wants everyone to get along? Immense bloodshed ensues.
Westeronians: Just put a random person on it so you can get back to your main hobby: chopping each other to pieces. Sheesh.
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Monarchies yo.
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@Smile I feel Westeronians would vote in Kanye West as President for Life if they had the chance.
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I gotta say, and it pains me to do so… House of the Dragon is easily the better show compared to Rings of Power. It outclassed it so far in just about every aspect with the possible exception of special effects, and even there HotD kept its own.
The characters are so much deeper and nuanced. There are relatively few characters who’re just unapologetic villains; others act absolutely brutally on occasion but have redeeming qualities, some act through fear and others out of ambition or love. The politics especially are simply on a different level, and the stage they’re on is considerably more volatile - in that regard the two shows aren’t even comparable.
I’m happy we do have at least two major triple-A fantasy shows around these days. Hopefully when their second seasons hit we’ll see them both picking up and getting even better.
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AND the soundtrack. Omg.
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I thought the recent episode was great… up until the very end. Without spoilers, it just felt out of place and done purely for spectacle. Great spectacle, to be sure, but it also took me out of the moment and made me shake my head and go: ‘This doesn’t make sense’.
Anyway, looking forward to the season finale!
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Honestly, the show is at a stage of I will forgive so much because it’s already waaaaay better than I thought it’d be. And being one of those dorks that read F&B, it’s better than it should be, being based on a fake history book that is very scant on any details. So yeah. Weird spectacle in certain scenes aside, it is amazing.
