House of Dragons

Grim.Reaper · July 23, 2024, 04:08:31 AM

Dameon is my favorite character and was great to see his development in Season 1. Hard to talk about Season 2 since don't really want to spoil things too much as his character continues to evolve.

For me, Games of Thrones was far better, certainly not perfect by any means, but I never considered not watching an episode and I eagerly awaited each episode throughout all the seasons. Was a much watch show for me. At times I thought it might have too many story lines it was trying to tell and at the end seemed like a mad rush to finish them all, but I still enjoyed them a lot.

I also did enjoy House of Dragons in the first season as they introduced the characters and built the story, watched each episode as they came out and don't recall having much issues with the pace. That is why I eagerly waited for Season 2. As mentioned previously, just think the pacing is a a little slow in Season 2 and in some areas think they are spending way too much time driving a point versus advancing things along at a better pace. It has certainly had its moments with certain episodes but I always keep getting the feeling the next episode will be the one where things take off, but often it has let me down and left wanting for it to pick up on the next one. Now that there is only two episodes left this season, I wouldn't be surprised if things progress a bit so they can leave us with a cliff hanger for season 3 to drag me back in:) It's clear they have desires for this show to have many more seasons (rumor is minimally 4) as they don't seem rushed to tell the story.

It is interesting to see all the different opinions as I am sure for some it has been great and even better than GOT, but for me it hasn't grabbed me like GOT did and unless it starts heading in a different direction, not really a must see show for me anymore although I will certainly still watch it, just not with the same expected excitement I thought I would have going into it. Of course that could all change depending on how things move forward.

Gusington · July 23, 2024, 06:18:57 AM

If the show was a biography of Daemon alone it would still be epic, he is my favorite character as well.

al_infierno · July 28, 2024, 12:06:07 AM

Caught up now, I'm with Gus on digging Daemon's adventures in Luigi's Haunted Mansion, but I was also a big fan of the episode where it suddenly became a crime/detective story with Ser Erryk and Ser Cristian Cole (or whoever it was) competing to chase down leads via questioning prostitutes in the scuzzy taverns of Flea's Bottom. I'm not the biggest fantasy guy so I like when the show gets a bit freaky deaky with the genre.

That all said I do think the show suffers a bit from the fact that it's obviously being adapted from fragments of an in-universe textbook. I get the feeling that the source material was too broad to cover satisfyingly in a single season but the suits were understandably nervous about signing off on any more than 10 episodes of anything GoT related before being sure it would be a hit.

Also ironically, I feel like the dragon stuff is the weakest part of the show. The "dogfights" have the look of '90s greenscreen melodrama and for the life of me I can't keep track of a bunch of big lizards with names like Abraxes and Blablaxexz. Any time a dragon name is mentioned I get a knee-jerk reaction of "who the hell are they talking about" that can be more than a little distracting when the logistics of the war seem important.

Gusington · July 28, 2024, 02:33:57 PM

^Funny you mention that. I just said to The Wife like an hour ago that the dragons are the weakest part. Ten years from now we will look back at a lot of the dragon fight scenes and laff.

Grim.Reaper · July 28, 2024, 02:54:15 PM

For me, if last two episodes don't pick up, not sure I will be eager for season 3...I'll watch, but not with the same interest I once had

al_infierno · July 28, 2024, 09:12:39 PM

Speaking of genre shifts, I liked tonight's foray into Jurassic Park.

Grim.Reaper · July 29, 2024, 05:45:42 AM

It's probably just me at this point, just continue to feel let down even with the latest episode. Only the finale to go and seems like an awful lot needs to be jammed into it. I am sure it will have something exciting finally happen, enough to drag me back in for next season but in hindsight, certainly a season I could have easily watched later and not feel like I missed something...which would have never happened for me when watched GOT, I planned my availability around it:)

Gusington · July 29, 2024, 09:14:26 AM

Just to counter what I said above about the dragons, I watched the (6th?) episode last night and the dragons looked much better...maybe it's just the dragon aerial fights that are not so great looking.

Grim.Reaper · July 29, 2024, 10:15:11 AM

The dragons are a bright spot of the season, like how they are all different, some smaller, some big, and with different personalities. Although for the life of me, can't figure out how the riders stay attached to them while doing all the flying, must have the best saddles in the world:)

Gusington · July 29, 2024, 10:23:51 AM

^Heh I have similar questions and feelings on the dragons.

Grim.Reaper · July 29, 2024, 12:19:34 PM

It's funny that I am questioning how riders stay on the dragons, versus me accepting that dragons existed to be ridden in the first place:)

al_infierno · July 29, 2024, 01:18:04 PM

Quote from: Grim.Reaper on July 29, 2024, 05:45:42 AMIt's probably just me at this point, just continue to feel let down even with the latest episode. Only the finale to go and seems like an awful lot needs to be jammed into it. I am sure it will have something exciting finally happen, enough to drag me back in for next season but in hindsight, certainly a season I could have easily watched later and not feel like I missed something...which would have never happened for me when watched GOT, I planned my availability around it:)

It really does feel less like Season 1, Season 2, Season 3 and more like Season 1a, Season 1b, Season 1c. Also, ironically, it feels like the show lost a lot of momentum once it slowed down to focus on a small timeframe instead of jumping across decades.

Grim.Reaper · July 29, 2024, 02:02:38 PM

Quote from: al_infierno on July 29, 2024, 01:18:04 PM
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on July 29, 2024, 05:45:42 AMIt's probably just me at this point, just continue to feel let down even with the latest episode. Only the finale to go and seems like an awful lot needs to be jammed into it. I am sure it will have something exciting finally happen, enough to drag me back in for next season but in hindsight, certainly a season I could have easily watched later and not feel like I missed something...which would have never happened for me when watched GOT, I planned my availability around it:)

It really does feel less like Season 1, Season 2, Season 3 and more like Season 1a, Season 1b, Season 1c. Also, ironically, it feels like the show lost a lot of momentum once it slowed down to focus on a small timeframe instead of jumping across decades.

yep, kind of felt that way....incremental advancement.

al_infierno · July 29, 2024, 09:51:23 PM

Quote from: Grim.Reaper on July 29, 2024, 12:19:34 PMAlthough for the life of me, can't figure out how the riders stay attached to them while doing all the flying, must have the best saddles in the world:)

According to the Wiki of Ice and Fire, the riders are chained to their saddles, so even if they die in combat they'd be flopping around mid-air until someone unchains them.

Not sure we even saw them getting chained into their saddles in the show.

Speaking of, I did a no-no and read the plot summary of Fire and Blood on the wiki. I won't spoil anything, but let's just say I fully expect S2 to end on what feels like a random plot point/development and not a natural ending to the season, much like the end of S1.

Not to get too negative because I still love the show and think S1 is way better than any season of GoT... but I'm pretty tempted to just take a 2-3 year break and wait for the whole thing to be done.

Grim.Reaper · July 30, 2024, 06:07:28 AM

Quote from: al_infierno on July 29, 2024, 09:51:23 PM
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on July 29, 2024, 12:19:34 PMAlthough for the life of me, can't figure out how the riders stay attached to them while doing all the flying, must have the best saddles in the world:)

According to the Wiki of Ice and Fire, the riders are chained to their saddles, so even if they die in combat they'd be flopping around mid-air until someone unchains them. Not sure we even saw them getting chained into their saddles in the show.

Speaking of, I did a no-no and read the plot summary of Fire and Blood on the wiki. I won't spoil anything, but let's just say I fully expect S2 to end on what feels like a random plot point/development and not a natural ending to the season, much like the end of S1.

Not to get too negative because I still love the show and think S1 is way better than any season of GoT... but I'm pretty tempted to just take a 2-3 year break and wait for the whole thing to be done.

Yeah, I generally know the events to come, assuming they stick to the original story. Guess we will see this week where they choose to cut things off for the t season. House of dragons won't top my love for got, that will remain near the top of my all time series, although sons of anarchy will always be my number one:)