House of Dragons

[Jarhead0331]

I enjoyed the last episode and hope the finale is a memorable one. Although it is only the second season, I do not see this series surpassing GOT in terms of shear suspense and excitement. No other series, and I mean no other series in the history of film, has caused me to literally jump out of my seat shouting...the Red Wedding...Arya's revenge on House Frey...the death of Oberyn at the hands of the Mountain. The list goes on.

As lackluster as the final season turned out to be, the series overall was simply one of a kind.

[Jarhead0331]

Once again, although overall enjoyable, the finale was a disappointment for me. The entire season was literally used to set up follow-on seasons without much consideration for how it would stand on its own. The last few minutes of the finale were literally a trailer for season 3. What the hell? They should have at least included one of the confrontations they've set up and left a cliff hanger with the outcome or some of the other impending battles.

Also, we actually got more time of Daemon in bed! lol Although I will say, that the scene were he swore loyalty to Rhaenyra was pretty epic and long overdue. For me, it was the high point of the season.

What is the deal with Lady Rhaena? I'm lost with her plot line. Why is she running around in the hills and what is the story with the riderless wild dragon?

[al_infierno]

Yeah, with two disappointing season finales in a row I've swung back around to thinking GoT is the better show.

[Grim.Reaper]

Yep, total let down.  Kept waiting for something exciting to happen and never did.

[al_infierno]

It would have been a great Episode 8 in a 10-episode season.

What is the deal with Lady Rhaena? I'm lost with her plot line. Why is she running around in the hills and what is the story with the riderless wild dragon?

I was wondering about this too, an article offers this non-spoiler-for-Season-3 explanation:

Rhaena is one of the only members of her family who does not have a dragon that has claimed her, which seems to be a large contribution to her disappointment with being sent to the Vale in the first place. While at the Vale, she confronted its lady about the charred grasslands, suggesting there was a dragon running around the land, despite the lady's fierce insistence that she wanted a dragon to protect the Vale.

Instead of staying put and watching her young relatives, Rhaena decides to leave the Vale to track down the rogue dragon. This is different than what goes down in Fire & Blood, as Rhaena was not originally meant to be the dragon rider for Sheepstealer, the feral dragon roaming around the Vale, but it seems to be a change the showrunners are leaning into for the coming season.

Her decision seems to be setting her up to have a bigger role in Season 3, though whether or not the rogue dragon will become a key player in the Dance of the Dragons remains to be seen. This is a significant deviation from the source novel, so viewers will just have to wait for House of the Dragon to return for its next season to know for sure.

In short, more setup for S3.   

https://www.distractify.com/p/why-did-rhaena-leave-the-vale-house-of-the-dragon

EDIT: Also, I've been watching through GOT again and realized they straight-up spoil HOTD early in Season 3... :D

[al_infierno]

Did anyone see the blog post GRRM wrote about HOTD?  It's gone now, but he went into a surprising amount of detail about his issues with the show, considering how tight-lipped he was about GOT.

This bit was saved on Twitter with regards to the Blood and Cheese scene:

"I still believe the scene in the book is stronger. The readers have the right of that. The two killers are crueler in the book. I thought the actors who played the killers on the show were excellent... but the characters are crueler, harder, and more frightening in FIRE & BLOOD. In the show, Blood is a gold cloak. In the book, he is a former gold cloak, stripped of his office for beating a woman to death. Book Blood is the sort of man who might think making a woman choose which of her sons should die is amusing, especially when they double down on the wanton cruelty by murdering the boy she tries to save. Book Cheese is worse too; he does not kick a dog, true, but he does not have a dog, and he's the one who tells Maelor that his mom wants him head. I would also suggest that Helaena shows more courage, more strength in the book, by offering her own own life to save her son. Offering a piece of jewelry is just not  the same."

EDIT: I found a GDoc with the whole deleted post, for those interested: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bmVIrsb0tKk6y6DP0LOz5lymPDrWEh-SZsBig1hn0aw/edit