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Sorry, House of the Dragon: For me, the ‘ship you officially launched in Sunday’s episode just doesn’t sail.
Those who watched the hour know that it ended with the wedding of Rhaenyra Targaryen to her uncle, Daemon Targaryen, a moment that I think we’re supposed to applaud. Or have warm feelings about. Or something. (Read a full recap of the episode here.)
Look, I’m over the fact that he’s her biological uncle, because Targaryens gotta Targaryen, blah blah Aegon the Conqueror bliddy blah. And if Rhaenyra has made peace with their history — aka that the last time she saw him, when she was a teenager, he left her panting and pantsless in a King’s Landing brothel — I probably shouldn’t judge.
But I DO! Mainly because the show’s decision to skip through Westerosi history in Season 1 feels like it has hollowed Rhaenyra and Daemon’s relationship — or, at least, leaned too hard on viewers’ imaginations to fill in the gaps. Matt Smith and Milly Alcock had undeniable chemistry in the season’s early episodes, and he was also great opposite Emma D’Arcy in the most recent hour. But did I get a strong sense that either Daemon or Rhaenyra were pining for the other during the decade that they spent apart? Nope. And having them go from loaded looks at the funeral to beach walk confessional time to sex in the sand to let’s fake your hub’s death by actually killing someone else to here comes the dragon bride all in the space of 58 minutes? Vhagar, take the wheel!
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A few more thoughts on the episode:
* As the holidays season gets underway (an easy fast to those who observe this week), I’m going to go into my family’s gatherings channeling Daemon in the Hall of Nine scene, in which Alicent demands that Luke lose an eye. Uncle D just hangs back, watching the tumult with a bemused expression on his face. “Can you believe this nonsense?” his mellow pose and slight smile seem to say. And just like Daemon, I’ll only step in to moments of heightened family emotion when it seems like bloodshed is imminent.
* Speaking of that scene: I rewatched it several times to try to see who moved first in that Daemon/Criston interaction. I thought Criston stopped Daemon from going to Rhaenyra’s aid, but several of you saw it the other way.
* I’m glad that Rhaenyra wasn’t part of a plan to have Laenor killed; everything we’d seen of the affection between them leading up to that point wouldn’t have fit with it. Though I am sorry for the dude whom Daemon decided would be a good stand-in corpse.
What thoughts/questions/predictions do you have after this week’s House of the Dragon?
Pacing is kind of the huge problem with the whole show, like last week when Daemon’s wife had the dragon burn her up it lacked any real dramatic momentum at all because we’d just met that character that same episode. Same with the real father of Rhaneyra’s kids: he shows up one minute, gets killed off the next, so what. And the end of this week’s episode, where we see that Laenor is alive and sailing off with his lover, this would have had a lot more impact if we’d had even just one or two scenes previously where the men had talked with each other or their relationship had been humanized, so we could have had some better sense of their feelings (this is also symptomatic of GOT’s tendency to use gay and minority characters as just disposable plot devices to further the stories of straight or white characters, without really investing much in them).
If we were going at this rush-through-everything pace in the original GOT, Ned Stark would probably have been executed at the end of the first episode and everybody would have been “so what” instead of “ohmigod I can’t believe they did that.”
The problem with the pacing is that they seem intent on getting to the actual war by the end of the season… which means getting decades of story during the season. If they took their time more, I am sure we would have more people complaining about things being too slow. I would have been fine with having this entire season be with the younger cast and then aging them up for season two but thats not their choice.
You do realize that in the books there is a lot of gap years as well. This is basically the FIRST chapter of that book. I think there pacing is totally fine. If you can’t keep up that’s on you.
I didn’t say I couldn’t keep up… I was responding to the previous poster’s comment about wanting more time to develop characters. The book is essentially a history lesson, that doesn’t lead to getting as much in-depth on characters as you otherwise would have.
I agree. The pacing is fine considering the source material. Spending any more time on this prelude stuff would mean less time on all the juiciness to follow.
Exactly right! Scenes aged went to fast, I
Loved Game of Thrones much better,
Jon Snow an Danny was a better time
Are you following the show? Her character was in the very first episode.
I think Geo was referring to the actress, not the character. The actress was new, even if the character wasn’t. Besides, we barely spent time with Laena at any age (little girl, teen, young adult).
I agree , why every character that’s gay got to be black all the time, but that’s Hollywood trying to sell that narrative and as usual the color characters always get killed off who’s next Laeman’s father
Agreed about the pacing. I do like the show, but it’s no Game of Thrones. There are barely any characters I really care for, because they either get too little screentime/story, or they get offed in one episode (Daemon’s first wife, the father of Rhaenerys’ kids, etc). Honestly Laenor was also a character with big promise and now he’s likely off the show aswell; would have loved to see more of him. You get a glimpse of the characters, but very little depth. It surprised me that some fans like this pacing, while the final season of GoT got so much backlash; while the pacing was slower than this first season. The show is good enough for me to keep watching though, but it’ll have to improve over time to come even remotely close to GoT and it’s characters.
You might feel like it’s going too fast, but the real show hasn’t even started yet. The Dance of the Dragons (the section of the book this show is based on) starts with Viserys’ death. So the fact that they’ve devoted almost an entire season to building up characters and providing backstory proves to me they’re trying to do the story justice. They could’ve easily introduced everyone in 1-2 episodes and gone straight into war, but they didn’t.
Actually this show is based on the prequel novel “Fire & Blood, and is set about 200 years before the events of the “Song of Ice and Fire (GoT) series.
You’re thinking “A Dance with Dragons.” “The Dance of the Dragons” (aka “Dying of the Dragons”) is the chapter of “Fire & Blood” that I was referring to.
Ok. So, we’ve made a collective decision to normalize incest because, it’s supposed to be fantasy?
Yes. If you find it problematic or triggering and need a safe space then you can stop watching.
What would be the point in expressing outrage over the incest in a fictional world in which incest is part of the norm? The author made that decision but it’s also worth noting that the repercussions of incest in the Targaryen family are hardly an endorsement for “keeping the bloodlines pure.”
We can move beyond the fact that this is a fictional world and acknowlege that incest was fairly common in the real world for many centuries of our existence and was often used by royals to keep power in the family.
Don’t use words like “collective” when you have the opinion of a few.
I kind of understand all the time jumps. It’s called House of the Dragon which means (if it’s what I think they’re doing) they are going through all 200 years till we get to The Mad King. So all of next season will probably be The Dance of the Dragon
If they were gonna do that.. i’d kindof have preferred if they actually started with Aegon the Conqueror but it is the Dance of the Dragon that they seem to be interested in
This! The series begins about 1/3 of the way into the ‘Fire & Blood’ book, completely eliminating what IMHO were the most interesting parts of the book.
Anger was mounting, was surprised Daemon
Let
The pacing makes this feel like the last season of GOT.
Viewers trying to identify someone to root for in the show is a problem with viewer approach to the material. “House of Dragons” is to be regarded as a telling of an important slice of history within the Game of Thrones universe. It is what it is, or what it was. Every character depicted in season one will have died several decades before Robert’s Rebellion. Trying to find someone to root for would be like watching something about Henry VIII or Elizabeth I of England and trying to figure out who to root for.
Huh? There are lots of historical dramas created with characters to root for.
I think the pacing is fine! You should remember this season was completed long before HOTD even knew there would even be a second season. I realize there will be yet another jump in time probably in the next episode if you watched the previews of what’s to come. I just wish the episodes could have been longer but there is only so much that can be done in an hour!! I hope there will be several continuous seasons (7-8)of this series just like the original GOT! I love House of the Dragon; just look at how many viewers they already have!!
If u don’t like dont watch it
Haha i mean, i read fire and blood when it came out, after a decade without Winds i was stoked for a new asoaif book, it’s always interesting seeing a show only viewers take on things
So obviously they were always going to get married, that’s a major aspect of the civil war. But honestly the show did more to flesh out the two of them, the books written from first hand accounts, so you don’t get a lot of their thoughts or scenes together, the show at least built them up a little more.
But honestly, it isn’t meant to be that they’re true loves or anything like that hahah, obviously it’s a power play, he’s the best targ around and she needs him to support her claim in the eventual conflict. There’s times where they do seem to care for each other, at least most of the time til Nettles
They’ve definitely leaned into his brutal side a lot more, the book he’s more of a oberyn/varys clever dude that isn’t only a warrior
But yeah, they need to get this sorted and move forward haha can’t spend too much time on their courting.
Actually, the events of the “Song of Ice and Fire (GoT)” series are around 200 years before those of this drama, which is based on the precursor novel “Fire & Blood.”
I cannot imagine how someone read the scene as anything but Daemon seeing Cruston inbound and moving I. To stop him. It was beyond obvious with the direction. Which leads me to not trust any of this ‘author’s’ opinions
Inbound** and moving in***
Seems like a lot of comments from people who likely read the book and think the storylines are fine because this time period was a blip there.
To people who didn’t, we are just watching a tv show where the time jumps haven’t allowed for much of any character development. So, when stuff hits the fan, it’s hard to be invested in the outcome.
Disappointed that they took one of the most important scenes out!!!…. that of Damein consoling his daughters. Best scenes just cut!
Yet made time for scenes of the actual sex scene between him and Rhea and/ or even the kids fight scene. I don’t believe Ameond should have been able to take Vagar either. Way too much packed into a much important episode that should have lasted a min of 2 hours yet …actually made another episode! Very odd. Very disappointing and hate that Queen A is such a witch. I had high hopes for a good queen for once. Truly disappointed.
show sucked in ep6, got worse in ep7. I’ve no more time to waste on this ‘show’.