Is anyone else watching Season 2?
I like it, but its very sloooow. The last 3 or 4 episodes have been pretty frustrating, outside of the last 5 minutes that typically get exciting. I feel like we waited 2+ years for season two that is doing little more than setting up for season 3. its going to be another 2-3 years for some payoff?
Ugh.
The Wife and I are enjoying it. It is byzantine and difficult to follow but we always watch the producers' notes section if they have one after the episode, that helps tie things together. The acting is very good and the dialogue in this second season is almost Shakespearean - which both helps us enjoy and makes it difficult to follow sometimes. But all in all we enjoy House of Dragons a lot.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on July 22, 2024, 09:23:24 AMIs anyone else watching Season 2?
I like it, but its very sloooow. The last 3 or 4 episodes have been pretty frustrating, outside of the last 5 minutes that typically get exciting. I feel like we waited 2+ years for season two that is doing little more than setting up for season 3. its going to be another 2-3 years for some payoff?
Ugh.
Agree, I love games of throne material but the first two seasons have been very slow to me. Feels like trying to build to some major payoff but who knows when that comes. Use to be must watch but recently have been less inclined to care
The whole thing with Daemon at Harrenhal is annoying. It seems like there is more time with him walking around in his pajamas at night while in some quasi-dreamlike state than anything else. They should have covered this in a single episode or two at most...we're going on 4-5 episodes of this already.
^Those are some of my favorite scenes. Diff'rent strokes and all that.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on July 22, 2024, 09:52:02 AMThe whole thing with Daemon at Harrenhal is annoying. It seems like there is more time with him walking around in his pajamas at night while in some quasi-dreamlike state than anything else. They should have covered this in a single episode or two at most...we're going on 4-5 episodes of this already.
😂😂 had these exact thoughts this morning after last episode
We get that harrenhall is a spooky place from GoT but it's played out now - the only reason I suspect they've dragged it out is as soon as he's not there he has to be flying a dragon and setting fire to stuff and the story isn't ready for that
Clearly the two black brothers from the shipyard are Targaryen and now someone's got some 'splaining to do now that a dragon has picked one to be a rider
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on July 22, 2024, 09:52:02 AMThe whole thing with Daemon at Harrenhal is annoying. It seems like there is more time with him walking around in his pajamas at night while in some quasi-dreamlike state than anything else. They should have covered this in a single episode or two at most...we're going on 4-5 episodes of this already.
Yet again, agreed. I don't even pay attention when those scenes come up, way too much focus on that. Read somewhere there will be minimally 4 seasons so means they have a lot more to drag out:)
I just started this series last night, I burned through the first four episodes all in one sitting. I'm loving it so far and dare say I think it's even better than Game of Thrones, namely for how tight and focused it feels in comparison to GRRM's wandering, meandering style of storytelling. I also feel it's, so far at least, a bit less predictable since it doesn't lean quite so hard into Martin's tendencies toward anti-climax and trope subversion.
I can't imagine this show becoming an even *more* slow burn in Season 2, but based on the comments sounds like that's exactly what they did!
^I agree that in some ways it is better than the original.
GoT is great and all minus those last few seasons, but this was created specifically for the TV screen and it shows.
^Yeah, with some legendary episodes.
House of Dragons is building towards some classic episodes of its own. The slow burn is real! And leading to greatness.
It also helps that I enjoy the Harrenhall haunting episodes.
Also, as usual, this show (along with Game of Thrones) put me in a hankering mood for Crusader Kings 3. Just reinstalled and fired up a new campaign in between episodes. :beermug[1]:
Quote from: al_infierno on July 22, 2024, 09:05:18 PMAlso, as usual, this show (along with Game of Thrones) put me in a hankering mood for Crusader Kings 3. Just reinstalled and fired up a new campaign in between episodes. :beermug[1]:
I think there's a GoT mod for that
Quote from: undercovergeek on July 22, 2024, 10:59:18 PMQuote from: al_infierno on July 22, 2024, 09:05:18 PMAlso, as usual, this show (along with Game of Thrones) put me in a hankering mood for Crusader Kings 3. Just reinstalled and fired up a new campaign in between episodes. :beermug[1]:
I think there's a GoT mod for that
There is for CK2, not sure about CK3. I absolutely love the GoT mod for CK2, I might have even played that more than the base game, though the war system is pretty messy due to the way it yanks people off your council every time there's a war.
IMO the best way to play is to do the Clash of Kings start date and create a custom character to replace Robb in The Vale. It's an excellent starting location for a new dynasty, and nobody will particularly miss or care about Robb. Plus it gives you Littlefinger as a courtier and his stats are ridiculous.
Is there a spoiler tag on here? I don't see one, so just a heads up that this paragraph has spoilers up to S1E6.
The character development for Daemon has been insane. I liked characters like Cersei and Tywin as villains for their charisma and whatnot, but none of them are remotely as interesting or well developed as Daemon. No matter what backstory or motivation you give to a ruthless, relentless psychopath, they're still just that. But it was a really cool choice to repeat the dilemma from E1 (my potential heir or my wife), have Daemon make the "good guy" choice despite all our expectations, and have him punished by fate anyways. I don't mean to belabor the point, but if GRRM wrote this, it would take like 4 season of moustache-twirling and good guy murdering to get him to this point. GRRM has his talents, but concise story telling is not one of them.
On top of all that, Larys Strong is like Littlefinger if Littlefinger were an infinitely more interesting and mysterious character rather than yet another moustache twirler. I got the sense when he first showed up all "Oh I'm so harmless, I'm not a knight, I'm just a poor crippled boy!" that he'd be bad news sooner or later, but shit man, his whole speech at the end of E6 was colder than anything I expected.
I guess I just like the slow burn and subtlety compared to GRRM's writing.
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.
If the show was a biography of Daemon alone it would still be epic, he is my favorite character as well.
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.
^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.
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
Speaking of genre shifts, I liked tonight's foray into Jurassic Park.
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:)
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.
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:)
^Heh I have similar questions and feelings on the dragons.
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:)
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.
Quote from: al_infierno on July 29, 2024, 01:18:04 PMQuote 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.
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. :TimeOut: 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. :embarrassed:
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.
Quote from: al_infierno on July 29, 2024, 09:51:23 PMQuote 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. :TimeOut: 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. :embarrassed:
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:)
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.
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?
Yeah, with two disappointing season finales in a row I've swung back around to thinking GoT is the better show.
Yep, total let down. Kept waiting for something exciting to happen and never did.
It would have been a great Episode 8 in a 10-episode season.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on August 05, 2024, 11:07:42 AMWhat 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:
QuoteRhaena 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. :doh:
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
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:
Quote"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
Anyone been watching Season 3? The first 2 episodes were good, but they really should have been episodes 9 & 10 of season 2.
Really cool naval battle put to screen in the first episode with some boarding action. Makes me wish we got more of that kind of thing with big budgets like the days of Master & Commander or even Pirates of the Caribbean.
Oh, and if you were concerned if that YouTuber who can't act was going to get a lot of screen time -- well, let's just say you can put that worry to bed.
Haven't seen episode two yet, but episode one definitely started with a bang.
The Dry Devil from Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 makes an appearance in the latest episode!
I'm enjoying this season a lot so far.
Im on trial so im very far behind. I'll binge watch as soon as i can.
Season 3 really ended with a bang. The last episode has some of the coolest medieval siege warfare on film that I've seen in a hot minute.
But the fact that the first and last episodes were both battles really highlights a major issue with the show: The pacing is totally wonky. Back in the glory GOT days, the siege would have been Episode 9, and then there'd been an Episode 10 aftermath where you get to see everyone's reactions to the latest developments. Instead, we have to wait another two years to get an idea how things are going to pan out going forward.
Just as a comparison, at the end of Season 1 of GOT there was as pretty obvious closing of the chapter: Ned's dead, now we gotta take King's Landing and kill the Lannisters. At the end of Season 2, you have the Lannisters slipping the noose and cementing their position with a new alliance while the White Walkers (slowly) close in. And so on.
This show feels much more like a classic pulp serial where each season leaves off on a cliffhanger that leaves you wanting more. Take that for what you will, but I do miss 10-episode seasons.
EDIT: Oh, and the soundtrack for the final battle of the season was nuts, too.