House of the Dragon - SPOILERS inside.

[a311]

V1nce Fox said:

Paddy Considine in that last episode was outstanding. Truly excellent.

Agree I think he's played the character very well.

[Mars]

I've been consistently critical of this series so far - slow, inconsistent character motivation, story that just isn't that interesting...

... but it's getting better. This ep was really good, especially the SFX make-up on Paddy's King which was haunting and actually made me wonder if someone could actually live like that.

Anyway, for the first time I'm actually looking forward to seeing where it goes for the last two eps.

[The Rotrex Kid]

Incredibly enjoyable episode. ‘He can keep his tongue’ , amazing.

This is going to get very messy very soon.

[SlimJim16v]

V1nce Fox said:

Paddy Considine in that last episode was outstanding. Truly excellent.

Yes, what was a dull character stole the episode.

[Golfgtimk28v]

I've enjoyed this more than got, it feels like the Tudar period.

[AudiMan9000]

The King’s make up looked horrifying. Like one of the undead from the Walking Dead or Resident Evil.

His gold half-face mask looked cool. I suspect there will be lots of cos-playing as him this Halloween.

[marksx]

Presumably in GOT style it's got to kick off big time next episode?

Edited by marksx on Tuesday 11th October 09:10

[Golfgtimk28v]

marksx said:

Presumably in got style it's got to kick off big time next episode?

Well he clearly was mixing people up, and looks to have maybe told someone the wrong thing not meant for them?

[TopTrump]

I am still disappointed by this. I mean, it is better than most things on tv still, but compared to GoT it is weak.

Characters you don't care about and some poor casting
All set in one location pretty much- was this all filmed during lockdown?
Special effects are weak
People riding dragons just looks so gay- most are unnecessary scenes
Way too much politics- we are 7 episodes in. This is like Ep1 of Star Wars.
I don't care one way or another about action usually (love Better Call Saul for example) but this is so dull

Generally a snore fest that I will never go back and watch again. I almost feel pleased to have made it through another.

I find it most odd that this has highish critical acclaim. I think in isolation this is a 6, maybe 6.5/10 show.

[a311]

I reckon they've had to take their time (IMO rightly so) to build the back story basically how everything went from being hunky-dory to fractured friendships and eventually civil war. I'd agree it's been slightly difficult to get overly invested in characters due to the time jumps and change in actors for certain characters.

There's some great source material to go at for a few seasons now, and I expect it will follow a more traditional timeline. I think it's easy to look back at GoT with rose tinted spectacles now it's finished. I know a lot of people who've tried watching it and never really got into it, you forget how much was going on and the number or characters and plot lines. I'd read the books-wasn't a huge fan of POV perspectives and the writing style in the main.

[marksx]

The biggest irk with me was th time jumps. I spent a bit of time each episode trying to figure out who is who, despite some others not aging.

[The Rotrex Kid]

I agree. The story can't actually kick off until Viserys dies, which we now have. So 8 eposides into season 1, things are going to ramp up and there's plenty to go for a couple of seasons at least I reckon.

[Golfgtimk28v]

marksx said:

The biggest irk with me was th time jumps. I spent a bit of time each episode trying to figure out who is who, despite some others not aging.

Would have been no bones just to have a little text with a date or 10 years later. Very odd they didn't, almost arrogance really not to.

[JamieBeeston]

Golfgtimk28v said:

marksx said:

Presumably in got style it's got to kick off big time next episode?

Well he clearly was mixing people up, and looks to have maybe told someone the wrong thing not meant for them?

That's exactly the crux of it, now she thinks morally she has a mission to fulfil for her dear husband which correlates precisely with her fathers original gameplan.

[Adam.]

JamieBeeston said:

Disagree,

Daemon already mentioned earlier to Laenor that across the narrow sea, there were places where it didn't matter about your tastes, or your name, only how much [i]Gold[/] you had, there you could live a life of freedom.

Ditto the insistence that there be a witness to the fight and the body being so badly burned its unrecognisable.

That's obviously foreshadowing the mock execution and escape with his lover.

Yep

Rhaynaera had genuine affection for her gay Prince and didn;t want to kill him, Daemon comes up wiht this elegant solution, but Rhaynaera can't tell anyone, even his mother

[The Rotrex Kid]

Adam. said:

JamieBeeston said:

Disagree,

Daemon already mentioned earlier to Laenor that across the narrow sea, there were places where it didn't matter about your tastes, or your name, only how much [i]Gold[/] you had, there you could live a life of freedom.

Ditto the insistence that there be a witness to the fight and the body being so badly burned its unrecognisable.

That's obviously foreshadowing the mock execution and escape with his lover.

Yep

Rhaynaera had genuine affection for her gay Prince and didn;t want to kill him, Daemon comes up wiht this elegant solution, but Rhaynaera can't tell anyone, even his mother

And Daemon found a replacement body didn't he? Snapped the neck of another chap so they had someone to throw on the fire?

[youngsyr]

a311 said:

I reckon they've had to take their time (IMO rightly so) to build the back story basically how everything went from being hunky-dory to fractured friendships and eventually civil war. I'd agree it's been slightly difficult to get overly invested in characters due to the time jumps and change in actors for certain characters.

There's some great source material to go at for a few seasons now, and I expect it will follow a more traditional timeline. I think it's easy to look back at GoT with rose tinted spectacles now it's finished. I know a lot of people who've tried watching it and never really got into it, you forget how much was going on and the number or characters and plot lines. I'd read the books-wasn't a huge fan of POV perspectives and the writing style in the main.

I wonder if there was an element of dipping their toe in the water with the first season - see if it would be popular after the fall out of the final season of GoT?

Hopefully second season on will have higher production values.

[youngsyr]

JamieBeeston said:

Golfgtimk28v said:

marksx said:

Presumably in got style it's got to kick off big time next episode?

Well he clearly was mixing people up, and looks to have maybe told someone the wrong thing not meant for them?

That's exactly the crux of it, now she thinks morally she has a mission to fulfil for her dear husband which correlates precisely with her fathers original gameplan.

I didn't follow that bit?

How does Alicent interpret the dong of ice and fire as applying to her?

And what was the deal with the hooded woman going to visit Daemon's ex-Mistress? A very short scene, but presumably important?

[Skyedriver]

Make up brilliant, especially Viserys but how did he age so much yet others only a few months...?
Yes the time jumps are a strange thing.
I've stuck with it despite being ready to walk after episode 3. Don't always follow the plot as I'm on sub titles due to hearing difficulties. Sometimes the text has gone before fully read and definitely before understanding.

[a311]

youngsyr said:

I wonder if there was an element of dipping their toe in the water with the first season - see if it would be popular after the fall out of the final season of GoT?

Hopefully second season on will have higher production values.

Makes sense. I know they only greenlit S2 after getting the first episode viewing figures. Some CGI has been meh and rough, the first season of GoT was very low rent compared to the later seasons. Remember the hands tournament in season 1? Compare that to the tournament they had in HoD production values wise.

youngsyr said:

I didn't follow that bit?

How does Alicent interpret the dong of ice and fire as applying to her?

And what was the deal with the hooded woman going to visit Daemon's ex-Mistress? A very short scene, but presumably important?

He thought he was talking to his daughter so when mumbling about Ageon she thought he was talking about their son rather than the conqueror guy.

I think Daemon has his own network watching the Hightowers/Queen. The lady who visited her was one of the serving girls so I expect the secret about the queens eldest son knocking up the serving girls isn't confined to a small circle and will come back to haunt them.

Skyedriver said:

Make up brilliant, especially Viserys but how did he age so much yet others only a few months...?
Yes the time jumps are a strange thing.
I've stuck with it despite being ready to walk after episode 3. Don't always follow the plot as I'm on sub titles due to hearing difficulties. Sometimes the text has gone before fully read and definitely before understanding.

6 Years had passed between this and the previous episode. He looked rough last week and had lost an arm. The show so far as I can tell haven't been too clear on what is wrong with him but I reckon it's leprosy. There's a thing that the throne rejects anyone who's not fit for it so showed him getting a cut early on from it that led to getting a finger amputated and eventually worse.

On the time jumps, in hindsight they could have spent less time on the back story, relationships fracturing etc than 8 episodes. One of my biggest bug bares with GoT was how Daenerys went from saviour to bat st crazy mass murderer in the space of a couple of episodes. I think they ideally had to flesh that out for at least a season IMO.