[TV] House of the Dragon

[Sinured]

GoT ended where it was supposed to. DnD were hired because they correctly surmised the ending.

The problem was they got lazy as fuck getting there or HBO wouldn't let them tell it correctly or both.

Blame G R R Melvin for it.
stalling the release of his last book to earn more cash.
dude made an inferior LOTR with porn in it and somehow its hyped up.
boomers surely love their rape scenes.

[Twdft]

Blame G R R Melvin for it.
stalling the release of his last book to earn more cash.
dude made an inferior LOTR with porn in it and somehow its hyped up.
boomers surely love their rape scenes.

You never read even one page of the books, didn't you?

[Ivanstone]

Blame G R R Melvin for it.
stalling the release of his last book to earn more cash.
dude made an inferior LOTR with porn in it and somehow its hyped up.
boomers surely love their rape scenes.

No.
Last two books. There are supposed to be 7. They will sell regardless and Martin is filthy rich without even releasing them.
Its nothing like LOTR. Having some naked people doesn't really make it porn.
True but I'm reasonably certain that GoT's success was reliant on Boomers. They can be a little puritanical sometimes.

[Voidwielder]

I don't see how this will be able to retain or even gain audiences. It's a very dour, serious, one-location fixed production.

Mushroom should have been there.

[Mhyroth]

GoT ended where it was supposed to. DnD were hired because they correctly surmised the ending.

The problem was they got lazy as fuck getting there or HBO wouldn't let them tell it correctly or both.

Didn't Martin already state the book ending would be different from the show?

[arlion]

It was a decent GoT episode, but I feel like it didn't do as good a job setting up things as the first episode of GoT.

I feel like i've seen just about everything in this show before. You don't get the equivalent of the jaime and circe reveal, and bran's punting. The main political feud seems fairly straight forward. Daemon's our new Jauffre or Bolton.

Its GoT, but with none of your favorite characters, and more white hair and dragons.

Its possibe it'll improve. I'm not saying the episode was bad. I enjoyed the episode. But I don't feel the interest in what happens next, as it feels pretty obvious as the moment.

Keep tuned! The feud is not as straightforward as it seems at first. You will see strange bed partners

[Ivanstone]

Didn't Martin already state the book ending would be different from the show?

Yes. After the show ended. Which could mean that he changed his mind on how he wanted it to end at any time in the past 10 years for any reason you care to pick.

I don’t really object to the show’s ending. I object to some of the storytelling that got us there.

[Twdft]

Mushroom should have been there.

Dude...

The show does age her up a bit, not enough to meet Mushroom I'd say.

[ringpriest]

It was a decent GoT episode, but I feel like it didn't do as good a job setting up things as the first episode of GoT.

I feel like i've seen just about everything in this show before. You don't get the equivalent of the jaime and circe reveal, and bran's punting. The main political feud seems fairly straight forward. Daemon's our new Jauffre or Bolton.

Its GoT, but with none of your favorite characters, and more white hair and dragons.

Its possibe it'll improve. I'm not saying the episode was bad. I enjoyed the episode. But I don't feel the interest in what happens next, as it feels pretty obvious as the moment.

Keep tuned! The feud is not as straightforward as it seems at first. You will see strange bed partners

I think arlion has the right of it here. Having read the George R.R. Martin novella and novelette this is based on,
I expect they're going to subvert expectations. GoT had pretty a clearly defined "good guys" side, and "bad guys" side we loved to hate, with the exception of Tyrion (and maybe Jame). With HoD, neither side in the eventual civil war is flawless nor utterly villainous. I shan't be surprised if HBO deliberately tries to cultivate a "team black or team green" vibe, where fans can endlessly debate both sides' merits and flaws.

Daemon is ambitious and definitely has a devil-may-care thing going on, but he's never proven to be outright villainous the way Joffery and Bolton were.


One of the interesting bits of this is going to be seeing how the showrunners have events turn out. For this story, Martin writes from the PoV of a historian sorting through various historical sources, and that in-universe author is quite clear that no one knows what really, happened, and there are lots of different versions of how things went down. Is Prince Daemon the kind of guy who will murder relatives for his personal gain, or is he merely ambitious and irreverent? We don't know. Hopefully it will be fun finding out!

[deenman]

Gotta admit, really curious how bad the ratings will be after GoT deleted itself from the zeitgeist.

If they manage to save the IP, it would end up being one of the biggest turnarounds in history

considering the story is complete(unlike got 3 last seasons),and george has been involved in this project (unlike got 3 last seasons),i would say its fair to be optimistic

and yes i know its likely the ending to season 8 was what george told em to do,but the rest of the 99% was just pure nonsensical cringe

[Myradin]

Daemon is ambitious and definitely has a devil-may-care thing going on, but he's never proven to be outright villainous the way Joffery and Bolton were.

I mean, he seemed like he went out and just maimed and possibly murdered a whole bunch of people to prove his power. I know he said they were criminals but the framing of the scene made it seem like he just went out and butchered people. How does that not put him in the Joffery and Bolton camp?

[Lorgar Aurelian]

GoT ended where it was supposed to. DnD were hired because they correctly surmised the ending.

The problem was they got lazy as fuck getting there or HBO wouldn't let them tell it correctly or both.

Mabye the exact ending with bran on the throne was suppose to happen but it’s obvious they didn’t take the same route to get there as the books would have with lady stoneheart cut, the false Sansa cut, the wildling lead going north for John under cover cut, stannis’s daughter changed, and so on.

There’s no way the book and the show would play out the same with such huge changes.

[ringpriest]

One other thing, (warning, spoilers)
The showrunners are aiming to do something quite ambitious - we're going to get a time jump (of about 10-20 years, I think) midway through. At the end of the first episode, I guessed that's where they were heading, and a little internet diving indicates this has been confirmed (hence the spoilers).

I find this a really interesting choice, because a large part of what drives a aSoIaF are the events that took place two decades earlier, surrounding the Rebellion. With HoD, the showrunners have decided to spend some time (probably about 5 hours) showing us the equivalent of those events for this story. There will be twists and turns and unexpected revelations and betrayals (or betrothals...) that will plant seeds of the future confict... and then we'll jump forward (and yes, they're changing actresses/actors for the younger characters) and see what happens, with the audience understanding why these conflicts and fractures exist, and how they tragically lead to fire and blood.

As a spoiled reader, I obviously know the general shape of how things turn out, but the exact path they will take is very much up in the air, and it has the potential to be an amazing ride (which I hope it lives up to).

- - - Updated - - -

I mean, he seemed like he went out and just maimed and possibly murdered a whole bunch of people to prove his power. I know he said they were criminals but the framing of the scene made it seem like he just went out and butchered people. How does that not put him in the Joffery and Bolton camp?

Perhaps they will take an explicitly darker tone with him that the story does - the novella version had the brutality of the City Watch under Daemon spread out over a year or so. They seem to have compressed this passage into that one scene:

Prince Daemon took eagerly to the work of the gold cloaks, and oft prowled the alleys of King’s Landing with his men. That he made the city more orderly no man could doubt, but his discipline was a brutal one. He delighted in cutting off the hands of pickpockets, gelding rapists, and slitting the noses of thieves, and slew three men in street brawls during his first year as commander.

Obviously he delights in violence... but doing so within the confines of law and custom is not an objectively evil thing in the pseudo-medieval setting Martin is writing. Joffery and Bolton tortured the innocent and helpless, so far, Daemon does violence on criminals in the name of the law. All three enjoyed what they did, but the last - while horrific to us - is not beyond the pale for the Seven Kindgoms, "merely" extreme. To us, I expect he's intended to come-across as an anti-hero, or a dashing villain; I think the showrunners goal is to have people arguing about his actions, perhaps filling the Jame (or Bronn) niche, where people like the character, even while loathing some of his actions (Blood and Cheese <shudders>). That makes him different from Joffery or Bolton who were intended to be despised (great work by their actors). Casting Matt Smith as Daemon tells me they're looking for that "likeable villain" niche (which is quite appropriate to the character - within Westeros he is both a hero and a villain).

[Myradin]

Perhaps they will take an explicitly darker tone with him that the story does - the novella version had the brutality of the City Watch under Daemon spread out over a year or so. They seem to have compressed this passage into that one scene:


Obviously he delights in violence... but doing so within the confines of law and custom is not an objectively evil thing in the pseudo-medieval setting Martin is writing. Joffery and Bolton tortured the innocent and helpless, so far, Daemon does violence on criminals in the name of the law. All three enjoyed what they did, but the last - while horrific to us - is not beyond the pale for the Seven Kindgoms, "merely" extreme. To us, I expect he's intended to come-across as an anti-hero, or a dashing villain; I think the showrunners goal is to have people arguing about his actions, perhaps filling the Jame (or Bronn) niche, where people like the character, even while loathing some of his actions (Blood and Cheese <shudders>). That makes him different from Joffery or Bolton who were intended to be despised (great work by their actors). Casting Matt Smith as Daemon tells me they're looking for that "likeable villain" niche (which is quite appropriate to the character - within Westeros he is both a hero and a villain).

It does seem compression definitely didn't do him any favors. Perhaps a lower key "recent event" would have been better than it seemingly like he was appoint one day, and then that night he went around hacking people's limbs off in the street. I feel like they needed to show us the people had actually done something wrong first.

I'd love for him to be more likeable. Jamie's honestly my favorite character in the books.

[ClassicPeon]

Much - MUCH better then i had hoped for. No in your face gender politics or feministic superiority complexes so far. Actually interesting characters with good actors. I like it. This gives me hopes for the LOTR show aswell - not much though.

[ParanoiD84]

Really enjoyed the first episode and cant wait for next.

[Cynical Asshole]

I didn't see any woke elements beyond what the original Game of Thrones show had, and I'm pretty fast at catching annoying wokeness.

Looks good to me.

[McNeil]

Surprisingly good first episode after the stain that were the last 2 seasons of GoT, it will still take some effort to make up for them. This felt a lot closer to the first half of GoT but as of yet it lacks the world building and focusses too much on the characters. I like that they didn't tone down on the sex and violent even while some of it felt rather forced. The Iron Throne looks a whole lot cooler (wouldn't ever want to sit on it though). No sign of wokeness yet which is actually surprising. Every actor is doing a solid job so far and it really shows how much the budget has improved.

[Lex Icon]

i don't remember how GoT started but there were barely any interesting characters in this episode as far as i could see.

[Varodoc]

I'm glad that the Aegon Targaryen reveal exists. Too many DnD apologists tried to act like the series was "always about the throne" and not the "Great War", but once again this show reiterates that the Night King was the main threat, not the petty schemes for an iron chair. The Seven Kingdoms were founded solely and exclusively to unite humanity and prepare them for the coming storm. Which, of course, makes it all the more annoying that the Long Night was literally just one episode, but I digress.

Regardless of what happened in Season 8, I really like this reveal. It makes the universe more interconnected, to know that the original motivation Aegon had for founding the Seven Kingdoms was to create a force strong enough to survive the Long Night.