House of the Dragon (2022)

[SympathysSilhouette]

56 minutes ago, Cult Icon said:

 

GRRM worked closely with season 1 of this show.

 

GOT IIRC, had GRRM up to Season 4 (or 3?).  

 

Longer. They were still using story lines from the books - and from some pre-published chapters of the next book - in the penultimate season.

[Cult Icon]

2 hours ago, SympathysSilhouette said:

 

Longer. They were still using story lines from the books - and from some pre-published chapters of the next book - in the penultimate season.

 

I heard the main complaint with fans was that Season 5-8 had way too much non-book content as the books end in Season 4.  

 

I have only finished half of the audiobook for Game of Thrones book 1.

 

It seems like the basic ending of Season 8, however it will be reached (or not, if GRRM never finishes it) will be the same as in the TV show.  I recall GRRM advised them on the ending, and HBO had free reign to make their journey to the final destination in their own way, which didn't set well with many fans.

[Cult Icon]

episode 3 has very good production values.

 

 

[SympathysSilhouette]

I don't really like it so far. I hope it improves. I loved the original show (until the final season and a half kind of ruined it a bit).

So far House of the Dragon hasn't gotten close to even average Game of Thrones episodes for me. Let alone some of the better/best ones.

[Cult Icon]

The Tourney in Episode 1 is literally

Spoiler

a gladiator spectacle.

  I thought this was not how they were fought.  It was meant to be honorable play fighting?

[Cult Icon]

 

Alt shift X is at it again, good analysis.

 

I am disappointed that R-Targearan will be replaced with a much less pretty actress (to portray her 'older' self) later on.  So this actress is really just temporary: ( 

[Cult Icon]

On 9/5/2022 at 5:32 PM, SympathysSilhouette said:

I don't really like it so far. I hope it improves. I loved the original show (until the final season and a half kind of ruined it a bit).

So far House of the Dragon hasn't gotten close to even average Game of Thrones episodes for me. Let alone some of the better/best ones.

 

are you still not a fan of Matt Smith?  TBH I like his acting, I think he's a good lead character.  I also like Milly Alcock.  It sucks that she will be replaced with an 'older' and less attractive actress in later episodes. King V is very well acted as is Lord C.  

 

I am caught up with the show after a terribly stressful week, the worst week for me in some time.

 

I rate Ep 1-3 a 4.5 out of 5 stars, with Game of Thrones S1 being 6 out 5 (unicorn status).   The show as I mentioned before is much more narrow, few iconic characters, serious instead of funny/serious and much less ambitious than GOT.   Outside of the leads so far the rest of the cast have disappeared into the background.  But is very well written, directed, and has great visuals.  Really quite elegant.  Seems to be a blend of a lot of real props and CGI.  The original GOT S1 had more real props.

 

Without knowing the book, I think King V will get killed somehow.  He is the archetypical compassionate but weak king.  And he is extremely depressed and moody, which does not bold well while he faces his ambitious court.

 

Looking forward to Episode 4 tonight.  the Alt Shift X episodes 1-3 are very good and give additional info,and show how Fire and Blood repeats archetypes established in the original. Same Same but different.

 

@Matt!  what do you think of the Show ep 1-3 so far?

[SympathysSilhouette]

I have rewatched some classic GoT scenes on YT earlier this week and it really lays bare my problems with House of the Dragon.

They are just utterly without charm and fun. Like just say Arya and the Hound's walkabout through the Seven Kingdoms.

There is nothing like that in House and it's also not clear where it could come from, with the characters we have currently been introduced to.

[Cult Icon]

1 hour ago, SympathysSilhouette said:

I have rewatched some classic GoT scenes on YT earlier this week and it really lays bare my problems with House of the Dragon.

They are just utterly without charm and fun. Like just say Arya and the Hound's walkabout through the Seven Kingdoms.

There is nothing like that in House and it's also not clear where it could come from, with the characters we have currently been introduced to.

 

I'm giving the show a bit of chance with the characters as it's only been 3 episodes.  But the problem is that the book is a lore/history type book and not a real, highly character-centric prose book like a Song of Ice of fire.  It is probably missing GRRM's quality dialogue.  It takes some time for the side characters to grow. \

 

Have you noticed how the characters in Fire and Blood are kind of repeats of GOT?  Alt Shift X spots them.  Lord C has some resemblance to Tywin but is different.  Robert Baratheon like King V are both bad kings with problems.   Princess R is like Arya stark.  GRRM, in an interview said that he was disappointed that HBO did not do a proper King's Hunt in Season 1 and we get a big one in Fire and Blood.

 

A negative aspect, which is part of its narrow scope, is that the show is REALLY fast.  Years pass between episodes. The timeline has multi-year jumps. The makeup artists did a good job in aging up all the characters.  Milly gets older and older and Matt Smith gets more and more wrinkles.  His lover even gets small wrinkles too and looks older.  

 

She is the only bad actress that I detected in the show, but she has a beautiful face.

[Cult Icon]

@Stromboli1  are you caught up too with the show? 

[Stromboli1]

28 minutes ago, Cult Icon said:

@Stromboli1  are you caught up too with the show? 

 

I am, but will be 1 episode behind after tonight and will watch this & next week's episodes back to back on Sunday September 18th.

[Cult Icon]

Also it seems like the Crab leader 

Spoiler

doesn't have any personality except his greyscale and his scary mask.  This is the guy who is beating the two Westeros factions. 

This story moves at lighting speed, and the characters are pretty much supporting background for the leading characters.

[Cult Icon]

 

[Cult Icon]

I watched episode 4 HOD.

 

It's a well directed episode with good production values but I liked it less than Episodes 1-3.  

 

I was expecting an episode that could expand more on the other characters but the focus remains squarely on the Targareans and their problems.  

 

Like in previous episodes, King V continues to be a bad king, not really knowing what's going on and continuing to drag out his issues with his daughter.  He is really slow at keeping up with politics.

 

The stuff that happens in this episode is also somewhat cliche', and at this point dwelling on Princess R's/King V's issues is getting somewhat repetitive.  Hopefully episode 5 will not be a continuation of this.  The Actress that plays Lady Alicent is decent but not good enough for dramatic chops.  Daemon remains interesting as he continues to be an unhinged badboy.

Spoiler

The romance between Princess R and her bodyguard is a bit 'too fast'.  Same thing with Daemon.  There could have been two scenes with each guy to strengthen the impact of the affair.

 

[Cult Icon]

Episode 5 might be Milly's last episode before she is replaced with an aged up version.  

 

After checking the Fire and Blood book, it looks like Season 1 will use up to 7 chapters.   The first 11 chapters for some reason has been skipped by the showrunners.  

 

After Season 1, there are only 5 chapters left.

 

My guess is that Season 2 will finish book 1, and maybe some more.  It is unclear if they will use the first half of the book for season 3 or skip it entirely.

[SympathysSilhouette]

 

There are theories about who this kid might be and whether or not he will return after the time jump. (Most popular theory being that he is their version of young Benjen Blackwood).

Favorite scene of the episode.

 

@Cult Icon Apparently Alicent is a much more interesting character once she is played by Olivia Cooke. Several reviewers who have seen more episodes have mentioned this. I agree that the young actress who is currently portraying that character is a bit light-weight and not very interesting.

 

[Cult Icon]

1 hour ago, SympathysSilhouette said:

There are theories about who this kid might be and whether or not he will return after the time jump. (Most popular theory being that he is their version of young Benjen Blackwood).

Favorite scene of the episode.

 

@Cult Icon Apparently Alicent is a much more interesting character once she is played by Olivia Cooke. Several reviewers who have seen more episodes have mentioned this. I agree that the young actress who is currently portraying that character is a bit light-weight and not very interesting.

 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the kid had a place in the lore.  I have the book now and as described by others it's very different from a Song of Ice and Fire.  It is like GRRM's version of the Simarillion, a history book with little prose.

 

I read the wikia for Fire and Blood last night.  It surprises me that Alicent is actually a main character.  So far she is lightweight as you say.  The aged up version (Olivia Cooke) is actually an antagonist of the story.  So far the young version seems more like a side character.  Lord C, Otto Hightower, Sir Cole are also supposed to be main characters (instead of the side characters they appear to be now).  I guess we'll see if the showrunners manage to develop them properly.

 

My personal favorite scene of Ep 4 was the reconciliation right at the start and Daemon's conversations after that.  It was touching.  But unfortunately, it didn't last.  Not the biggest fan of what happened afterwards but the audience seems to have liked the episode.  

[Cult Icon]

The bully shouldn't have brought a knife to a sword fight lol.  Even if the sword was being swung by a little kid.

[SympathysSilhouette]

On 9/13/2022 at 2:49 PM, Cult Icon said:

The bully shouldn't have brought a knife to a sword fight lol.  Even if the sword was being swung by a little kid.

 

If the theory is true that this is their version of Benjen Blackwood, that kid is going to be a bad-ass when he grows up.

[Cult Icon]

3 hours ago, SympathysSilhouette said:

 

If the theory is true that this is their version of Benjen Blackwood, that kid is going to be a bad-ass when he grows up.

Benjicot Blackwood - A Wiki of Ice and Fire (westeros.org)