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HBO's House Of The Dragon (no book spoilers)

DKehoe

Gold Member
Fair, but apparently that detail is accurate to the books.
Also, Aegon's coronation ceremony is all about showing that the Greens wield all the symbols of power to demonstrate their legitimacy and authority. Criston, the new head of the Kingsguard, crowning him is part of that. He's wearing Aegon I's crown, he's anointed by the High Septon, it's done in the dragonpit in front of a huge crowd of people and they have King's Landing which comes with everything within it, including the Iron Throne.

Then Rhaenys bursts in and demonstrates where Targaryen authority actually comes from.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
I haven't purchased a physical film/TV series for years, but as soon as HOTD releases on 4K I'm buying it day one.
 

Mossybrew

Member
I just started this yesterday and up through episode 4 now and I'm enjoying this way more than I thought I would, definitely better than Rings of Power.
 

Werewolf Jones

Gold Member
I watched the last episode. All I'm saying as soon as that character walked into that room and saw the opposition you know it wasn't gonna end well.

But that's ASOI&F for you.

Overall feeling an 8.5/10 for the season. Original S1 of GoT I'd give a 9 but with every following season of GoT it got worse with the narrative being diluted with sex scenes and trash like Podrick coming back from the whore house with the money back. This show retains its dignity the entire time... It just shills incest.
 
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Batiman

Banned
I watched the last episode. All I'm saying as soon as that character walked into that room and saw the opposition you know it wasn't gonna end well.

But that's ASOI&F for you.

Overall feeling an 8.5/10 for the season. Original S1 of GoT I'd give a 9 but with every following season of GoT it got worse with the narrative being diluted with sex scenes and trash like Podrick coming back from the whore house with the money back. This show retains its dignity the entire time... It just shills incest.
What’s wrong with the Podrick scene?
 

Batiman

Banned
You just explained yourself why it's bad at the end of the message but yeah. I'll leave it there. You either get it or you don't.
I didn’t say it was bad, I said it wasn’t a big deal. I found a lot of those “pointless”scenes pretty funny. There’s a bunch of them with tyrion and bronn. Adds to their relationship.
 

Elysion

Banned
Original S1 of GoT I'd give a 9 but with every following season of GoT it got worse with the narrative being diluted with sex scenes and trash like Podrick coming back from the whore house with the money back. This show retains its dignity the entire time... It just shills incest.

Eh, whatever people think about sex and nudity in shows like this, it‘s an undeniable fact that there was a direct correlation between the amount of sex and nudity in a given season of GoT, and that season’s overall quality. Season 1 had by far the most sex and nudity, and was also the best, while season 8 had none at all, and was by far the worst. I’m not saying that boobs automatically make a show better, just that their absence doesn’t make it good either.

And talking about Podric, I would say the opposite: HotD desperately needs characters like him or Tyrion; someone who can cut through the constant tension with lightheartedness and humor (I’m talking season 1-4 Tyrion and Podric here, not the caricatures they turned into in later seasons). I think characters like Tyrion, and the humor they brought to the show, played a huge part in GoT’s overall success (at least before they overdid it in later seasons).

HotD actually had the chance to introduce a character like that: a court jester named Mushroom, who in the source material was present during a lot of important events, but the show-runners decided to cut him for some reason. That was a mistake imo.
 

NecrosaroIII

Ask me about my terrible takes on Star Trek characters
I enjoyed thos season way more than I ever enjoyed game of Thrones. I think the only season I ever truly loved was 3.

This is up there with that
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
I haven't purchased a physical film/TV series for years, but as soon as HOTD releases on 4K I'm buying it day one.

I hope they give them the same treatment as the Blu-ray’s of the early seasons of GoT. They had some quality lore extras and the quality of the master was excellent.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Well, shit is about to go down.....

Think Aemond was only trying to scare the lad but showed that although he rides the biggest dragon it's not him wielding it or commanding it.

He realised what almighty shit he was in when vhagar just snapped them both in two.

That was savage for the lad, and I wonder if this will make Rhaenyra more rash, or at least her eldest son. How will that play with the floating voters?

Could we be in for a Daemon v Aemond duel? Gutted the next season is so far away.

Although isn't it just as simple as 'we have Vhagar, therefore we win'? Even Melyse didn't look that big and they are also stronger as they age.
 

AJUMP23

Member
Well, shit is about to go down.....

Think Aemond was only trying to scare the lad but showed that although he rides the biggest dragon it's not him wielding it or commanding it.

He realised what almighty shit he was in when vhagar just snapped them both in two.

That was savage for the lad, and I wonder if this will make Rhaenyra more rash, or at least her eldest son. How will that play with the floating voters?

Could we be in for a Daemon v Aemond duel? Gutted the next season is so far away.

Although isn't it just as simple as 'we have Vhagar, therefore we win'? Even Melyse didn't look that big and they are also stronger as they age.
I did not expect credits almost right after that event.
 

Thaedolus

Member
Well, shit is about to go down.....

Think Aemond was only trying to scare the lad but showed that although he rides the biggest dragon it's not him wielding it or commanding it.

He realised what almighty shit he was in when vhagar just snapped them both in two.

That was savage for the lad, and I wonder if this will make Rhaenyra more rash, or at least her eldest son. How will that play with the floating voters?

Could we be in for a Daemon v Aemond duel? Gutted the next season is so far away.

Although isn't it just as simple as 'we have Vhagar, therefore we win'? Even Melyse didn't look that big and they are also stronger as they age.
As far as Rhaenyra’s concerned, she’s now lost two children to the greens’ usurping the throne. One indirectly, one flat out murdered.

Some real mad queen Dany vibes in her final shot.
 

BaneIsPain

Member
Short but sweet ending. That sapphire eye looks really good. I'm unconvinced with Borros actor. So we will get B&C along with dragonseed pretty early in season 2.
 
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EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
r6YcH23.gif
 
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EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
You just knew he was not long for this world when Vhaegar appeared out of the fog as he walked toward the keep. Little buddy did his best though, stood up to Aemond but kept his cool and did his duty. Just no chance.

Great scene with Daemon singing to the dragon. Contrast with Aemond and Lucerys struggling to issue basic commands. Daemon is one with the old ways.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
The impression I got is the dragons wanted to fight, the boys were just along got the ride at that point.

Shouldn't Daemon be KING Daemon now? Folks still calling him Prince.

And WTF with Rhaenys not bowing or anything EVER to Rhaenyra? Gonna laugh when her perpetual smug look gets wiped.

"You have Baratheon blood in your veins from your grandmother Rhaenys!" Uhhh, Rhaenyra, girl, you gotta stop believing your own lies, Borros sure as hell won't care!

Rhaenyra never seemed to have any counter strategy. Was she just hoping the Greens would quit if they saw enough Houses turn against them? Quit and do what...exactly? She scoffed at Alicent offer but never made a demand of her own, implying death was the only option for them.

If this show takes 2 years for s2 and keeps going past that, all these kids gonna age worse than the Stranger Things cast :p
 

Shubh_C63

Member
You kinda get what is gonna happen right when so much screen time was invested towards the boy even before flight from dragonstone, and they did stretched it just perfectly to have a spectre of doubt if ends gonna be different.

I guess its all out war now.
 

Nobody_Important

“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
Season ends on a banger and the whole thing is better than any single season of GoT. I was a MASSIVE skeptic in the beginning as a book reader who suffered through the war crime that was Season 5-8 of GoT ESPECIALLY with some of the casting choices (Matt Smith), but they have somehow managed to take a vague history book and turn it into a thriller.


The whole cast deserves a standing ovation and the core cast deserves awards.
 
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Nobody_Important

“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
EviLore EviLore You reminded me I need to see if the new Bleach anime is a trainwreck or not. I heard the production value is fucking amazing.


That doesn't save the writing though 🙃
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Season ends on a banger and the whole thing is better than any single season of GoT. I was a MASSIVE skeptic in the beginning as a book reader who suffered through the war crime that was Season 5-8 of GoT ESPECIALLY with some of the casting choices (Matt Smith), but they have somehow managed to take a vague history book and turn it into a thriller.


The whole cast deserves a standing ovation and the core cast deserves awards.

Agreed. I was very skeptical after how the last few seasons of GoT went. I was even more skeptical when I found out they were adapting Fire and Blood as it's a mock history book.

However, this is probably one of the best shows I've seen in years. I'll be buying the 4K edition the day it's released.

The sheer size of Vhagar, holy shit. .

This scene was just incredible. I feel like I need to buy a bigger TV to really appreciate it.

 

Elysion

Banned
Rhaenys’ explanation for why she didn’t kill the Greens made no sense. She said it’s not ‘her war’, but then she convinces Corlys to bend the knee to Rhaenyra anyway, despite him wanting to stay neutral. Not to mention that massacring hundreds of people on her dragon during Aegon’s coronation was de facto a declaration of war anyway. And why did she have the same smug expression on her face across the whole episode, no, the whole season even?

Other than that, the finale was great. Overall I would rate the season a 8.5 out of 10. It had great cinematography, (mostly) great writing, and (mostly) good characters. What brought it down a bit were some baffling decisions, like Criston Cole murdering a noble and ruining a royal wedding without any consequences, or Rhaenys’ aforementioned massacre of hundreds (thousands?) of people in King’s Landing just to give her a ‘badass’ moment. Oh, and I have to say it again, but the Velaryons’ wigs looked terrible, especially the girls. I actually laughed out loud when I first saw Rhaena’s terrible spaghetti-dreadlocks in episode 8.

Some of the characters’ motivations also didn’t make much sense. Alicent in episode 8 is probably the most egregious example: at that point she should‘ve been more paranoid than ever that Rhaenyra will kill her children to protect her claim, especially after Daemon killed Vaemond in the throne room. Instead she and Rhaenyra reconciled, only for Alicent to change her mind that same night because Viserys mumbles some incoherent nonsense in his sleep. Wtf?

Also, even though the general consensus is that the season felt a bit rushed, especially with all the time skips (and I agree), there nonetheless was a bunch of stuff that felt like filler to me that could’ve been cut to make more room for more important stuff. That whole royal hunt in episode 3 for example didn’t feel necessary to me, it didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know before. I feel the same about the search for Aegon in episode 9; I don’t think this was needed at all. Those things could’ve been cut or shortened, in favor of more scenes between Rhaenyra and Harwin (who barely had any scenes), or to show us the aftermath of episode 5 and Criston’s actions at the wedding, or the wedding between Viserys and Alicent etc.

Lastly, as I mentioned in an earlier post, this show lacks humor and lightheartedness. I’m not asking for constant dick jokes, but some relief of tension now and then would’ve been great. Everyone and everything is always so serious and dour. I also don’t care about any of the characters as much as I cared about some of the characters in GoT. Lucerys’ death in the finale was shocking, but it wasn’t the emotional gut punch Ned’s death was in GoT. Honestly, not even Rhaenyra’s or Alicent’s death at this point would have that kind of impact on me, because I haven’t really been given much reason to root for them, or anyone really. Though I don’t really blame the show-runners for that; that’s how it is in the source material as well.

And where were the beeewbs?!

But as I said, overall this was a good first season, and leaves me wanting for more. It wasn’t on the same level as season 1 of GoT (where nearly every episode ended on a cliffhanger, and there were lots of characters to root for), but probably comparable with season 3 or 4.
 
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gimmmick

Member
I fucking love this show. HBO totally redeemed themselves after season 8 of GoT. WOW what a final 10 mins of the show. I can not wait how they will incorporate dance of the dragons for season 2.
 

Rodyon

Neo Member
Damn, the maintenance costs on those stone bridge must be high. Every times someone comes the dragon demolishes it a little.
 
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