House of Dragon

[shadowkat]

Binged the first six episodes of House of Dragon - which my co-workers can't stop talking about. Or rather the co-workers under the age of 50, the rest of us - don't really chat about television shows that much.

I like chatting about television series - but I'm also incredibly critical of them. I like to tear them apart. And they like to squee over them. Plus? We don't necessarily have the same taste in television series and movies. They love horror. I do not. They loved Squid Game. I did not. They loved Severance. I did not. A bunch of us do like the MCU superhero stuff, but I couldn't get into The Boys.

Anyhow, as much as I enjoyed Game of Thrones...House of Dragon isn't in my opinion squeeable. (Personally I think it is overrated). It's kind of annoyingly predictable. I saw Game of Thrones and read the books - so I'm on to the writers fetishes and patterns by now. This does have new show-runners, so that helps. But it's not quite in the same league as the prior series in my opinion.

Also, I can't stand two of the main characters - who I think I'm supposed to be rooting for. Alicent Hightower, the Queen, and her father Otto Hightower, along with the knight Ser Cristian Cole. They all fit a character trope that irritates me to no end - kind of the Ned and Caitlin Starks of Game of Thrones. I don't like self-righteous/sanctimonious characters who stand in judgement of others, while killing people right and left themselves. They annoy me. And I wish the writer would just kill them off within the first three episodes and put me out of my misery. But no.
In this epic, they get to hang around throughout most of the story, unfortunately.

So I don't know if I'll stick with House of Dragon.

Production value? About the same as Game of Thrones. Acting? About the same as Game of Thrones, except the actress playing Alicient isn't very good. Nor is the actor playing Cristian Cole or Alicent's kids. This doesn't help things. Everyone else is fine. I like the actors playing Rhanerys, and Matt Smith grows on me - he's quite good, even if he has no eyebrows.

Writing...it's okay. There was better dialogue in Game of Thrones, S1-3.
This is lacking somehow?

Plotting? It's a medievalist political drama with dragons. It's not really fantasy. I need more than dragons for the fantasy title to stick. Feels more like Alternate Medievalist History. I am not a medievalist. Medieval history annoys me - it's frustratingly misogynistic, homophobis, chauvinist, and sexist, and favors big white men who like to throw their dicks around and strut their stuff. After about an hour of it - I start thinking castration is a good idea, and lets eliminate some of these folks from the gene pool. Six hours? Misanthropy has set in.

I'm thinking I should flip over to Amazon's Rings of Power, which is a touch less medievalist. I don't know people study this period in history. Let's just say it was called the Dark Ages for a reason.

I'm also half-convinced that we do not have a good record of it - and really have no clue what it was like. There was a pandemic. And most of the writing was done by assholes.

I don't know if I'll continue with it or not. After reading about the book's plot, I think not. It has lots of battles - which I find boring, not helped by dark lighting. And a lot of people being burned alive or fed to dragons, or tortured and feed to crabs, not entertaining to me either. Along with lots of other torture scenes - including tongues being chopped out.

So, I may pass on the rest of it.

Comments

[elisi]

Also, I can't stand two of the main characters - who I think I'm supposed to be rooting for.
My knowledge comes almost entirely from Twitter, but it seems that everyone ships Rhaenyra and Damon, and hates 'the Greens'.

[shadowkat]

The Greens are sanctimonious twits. But per GRR Martin's books, the Greens succeed, not Rhaenyra and Damon (who are the only characters that I like). Also Matt Smith is alarmingly good at growing on me - regardless of the role. There's something incredibly affable about that actor - which I can't quite put my finger on. I think he has an innate charm or kindness about him that he brings to all of his roles? In a recent article - he complained about the number of sex scenes and the nudity, felt it was exploitative, and was glad for the intimacy coordinator.

[mefisto]

I agree with you that HotD is overrated. It's not bad as a palace intrigue show comparable, say, to The Crown or The Tudors. But GoT was much more than that. Also, GoT did stuff that's now standard so the sense of innovation has been lost.

I also agree that the 2 main characters are unsympathetic. Neither one deserves to win. But having read the book, and assuming they'll mostly follow it, there will be no good guys in this show.

[shadowkat]

You know there's a problem with a television series - when you are rooting for and shipping the incestuous Uncle and younger Niece relationship, and for the Uncle who ruthlessly killed his wife, by causing her horse to fall on her, then smashed her head in with a brick - to win over the faithful wife of the King. Plus - these are the only characters you are rooting for, and neither of them is necessarily likable.

The first four seasons of The Crown were a bit better - less melodramatic. I never made it through the first season of The Tudors. But I did make to well...S5 of the Crown. Basically up to the Diana section or the 1980s. I can't seem to get myself to watch that section - possibly because I've seen enough stuff on Diana and Prince Charles over the years to last more than one lifetime.

GoT did things that HotD didn't do - which is the political bits were more interesting. Also it had a broader scope and more characters. Honestly the Lannisters in GoT were far more interesting than the Taragons are in HotD. And HoTD makes a lot of the mistakes GoT made, and doesn't do a lot of the things it did well. GoT did a lot of things very well - which are missing from HoTd. HoTD just doesn't have the cast or the dialogue that the first series had.

And you are correct, the innovation is kind of lost - there's a lot of copy cats out there. I actually like "Rings of Power" much better - in fact I may like it better than the Jackson films, just going by the second episode. It's more epic and has more scope to it. Sandman was also much better than this is, more scope and better dialogue.

But having read the book, and assuming they'll mostly follow it, there will be no good guys in this show.

I decided to read a synopsis of what happened to Alicent Hightower and Rhaenry, and Damon and Criston Cole - and was not pleased. I'd hoped the writers would kill Hightower and Cole off by the tenth episode - but nope, they live til the end, and for the most part succeed against Rhaenry - also what happens to Rhaenry, I can't watch.

This is far too aggravating a storyline for me to waste my time on. I'm frustrated with life enough as it is.

I'm amazed you made it through the book. Kudos.

[mefisto]

You hit the highlights of the same criticisms I'd make of HotD and of the comparisons between the two shows.

I'm waiting on Rings of Power for the season to finish. I don't really trust Amazon to make a great show -- it does fine with solid but not great -- so I want to make sure it's worth watching.

[shadowkat]

You're not wrong about Amazon. Although The Expanse was very good in places, terrible in others, but very good in places - and overall worth a watch. Wheel of Time on the other hand - had issues. It was kind of bland, and needed some oomph. I think part of it was weak casting, also the dialogue was kind of lacklustre. I found it forgettable for the most part, and not up to the same standards as both Netflix and HBO's fantasy epics. It kind of reminded me of Apple TV's Foundation series in its pacing and dialogue.

I've not tried Carnival - the Orlando Bloom steampunk fairy series.

Rings of Power? The first episode drug and I admittedly fell asleep during it. But the second episode was interesting and showed potential. And from what I'm reading, it's better than expected. Also controversial - but in a good way? (The bigoted alt-right is upset with it.)

[mefisto]

I watched Carnival and it's worth a watch; I'd give it a B. Some good stuff, a bit heavy-handed on the metaphors (made less important by the fact that I agree with them), and a few weak spots. They promised a second season but I don't know if there will be one. However, the first season ends reasonably well so it won't matter much if the second season never happens.

[mtbc]

I did find parts of The Expanse dragged but largely I rather liked it and was glad to get to watch it. I also enjoyed Rings of Power so far more than I did the movies.

[mtbc]

Sounds like I'm doing fine to not be watching, that's good to know.

[shadowkat]

Game of Thrones it's not. Kind of like they took all the bad bits from GoT and threw them together.

Rings of Power on Amazon is much better, as is Sandman on Netflix. If you can, watch those instead.

[mtbc]

Definitely, thank you. (-: