It's the worst, THE WORST EPISODE, of house of the dragon. Might as well employ ChatGPT to make a more satisfying season finale. Make the wait pay off come on. Even if it's just the beginning of a battle we'd take that you know? By the way did anyone die in episode 8?
I thought it was an excellent episode and a horrible finale. There is something there in your comments about the summer shows this year. It felt just like the Bear where nothing ultimately happened. The audience waits too long and seasons are too short for this. Disappointing.
It has the potential to be great but it’s not. The show is too slow. As a watcher, I have no vested interest in many of the characters. They appear to be too flat and static. At present, the only character that I am interested in is Aemon. I used to think Daemon was going to be awesome but that’s not what I witnessed this season. Both queens are boring. I can’t remember many characters’ names because they have no substance. There’s no humor except in the last episode with the new dragon rider. If I didn’t live the dragons, I wouldn’t bother to watch.
@@NFTProductions How is Aegon too far gone? He's only king and at war because Alicent forced him to. Rhaenyra would have been crowned from the start if she had listened to him.
@@ptitecame6688 She can tell that he's out for blood at all costs now. She can tell he's on the fringe of going off the rails and she doesn't want blood to be shed in that way.
I honestly hate the whole prophecy plot line on so many levels. And how Helaena said that her life doesn't matter. Everybody forgot about Blood and Cheese. WTF, why should I care if the characters themselves don't care whether they live or die?
Its annoying that in just a couple of episodes Alicent went from standing infront of a dragon to protect her sons, to betraying them and planning to kill them 😂
Planning to kill only Aegon. Because he was the one who’s the actual king at that moment, and it wasn’t as if alicent was all up for it when Raenerys told her it’s gotta happen.
battle of the gullet and rhaenyra's descent into messiah complex should've been sprinkled since the beginning. Jace's North and Vale arc should've been included so that he's not standing in the back mewing. Remove the dang prophecy because now it throws away Daemon's entire development over feeling remorse for his actions. And Alicent...my god...willing to sell out her children and put her brother, father and Daeron in danger, seems like she forgot Jaehaerys died with his head lopped off.
This show has officially established the same pacing and style as TV soap opera. It takes the cast an entire season to take a walk across the room and sit in a chair (figuratively speaking)
I guarantee no one will remember this season in 2 years because of how boring it was. It may affect season 3s performance, because who would want to sit through another season where nothing happens.
You do got to remember the book storyline is very short, each season is pretty much right after the season before in term of the story timeline. Not much main content to keep doing if you plan to stretch it for this many season
@@dipper5835 the world of Ice and Fire is huge and there are a myriad of ways to extend the story without dragging it out. Also. If your story is short.... Maybe dont drag it out?
The current show runners doesn’t know what pacing is, they really need to get Miguel Sapochnik back, he is the writer & director of 1st season, and the best episodes of GoT
They messed up dragging out Daemon’s exile in Harrenhal. Like… WHY did he have to spend all season there? And they just kept building up to events that NEVER happened. This season was extremely underwhelming.
He had to stay there because he doesn't have anything else to do in this part of the story. The real issue is that they kept giving him pointless scenes just because he's a popular character.
@@sillylittlesheepjax6009 they could’ve made some shxt up. I dont care about sticking to the books. Give us him developing a relationship with his daughters. With his two sons. WITH HIS WIFE. They gave us nothing but a deranged madman high on ghost pubes whose one redeeming scene was seeing dany…. Which still ended up being pointless bc the iron chair when to bran the boring anyway. The season was underwhelming and we all know it.
@@sillylittlesheepjax6009You are a pathetic HBO bot... Daemon had no real development because of the prophecy thing and he didn't even do anything outside of that just deaming and walking through the same corridors 💀 Lick Condal if you want but it's still pathetic....
@@absolutedivineNYC Season 2 could have been 2 or 3 episodes but they stretched it. Show is only supposed to be 4 seasons and we already had an entire filler season.
I watched this episode the exact same way Jace watched Ulf at the Dragon seed dinner because this finale feels like an insult honestly. I mean alicent even offered Rhaenyra Kings Landing on a silver platter, without bloodshed, and they couldn't even give us that. She spent the entire season hesitant, not wanting to spill any blood and she got exactly that , SOMEHOW, and they couldn't even let us see her restraint actually paying off! Man after episode 4 it has been a straight drop 😪
the only excuse i’m seeing for this show being bad is not enough death or action this show is clearly not just about that like game of thrones was if anything it’s more of a drama if you cant grasp the character driven narrative in the first 2 seasons before shit goes down this show ain’t for you lol
@@Demetrix24Yet i Ioved the first season. How much action or death was in that again? Not too much more than this season. I don't want it to be filled with action, which is actually abundant in the books btw but ruined the last couple of seasons of GoT. I'm actually open to the alicent surrendering kings landing to Rhaenyra, but we should've at the very least seen her take back the throne. We didn't have to wait two years to see Aegon's ascension. Episode six and seven could've been a single episode and the last two could've been spent paying off what's been built up to. Instead of a proper conclusion we got the warning of Aemond's upcoming demise and a contrived reference to Daenerys and the White walkers, whose stories were both ruined by the end of GoT and are now being forced into HotD. Now I don't think this season was bad, it had some great moments but narratively there are alot of issues and without an earned conclusion it all feels wasted.
@@Oxcymoron i appreciate your comment & critique on this show i agree with episode 6 & 7 being a single episode this season definitely needed one or two more episodes before it ended there’s just so much we still have to wait for man id love to see aegons ascension if we had a couple more episodes
@@Oxcymoron it pains to see how many people hate the scene with the white walkers because of how they screwed up season 8 of GOT personally i loved season 8 it was definitely flawed and i agree with most arguments about that season but i feel like that mistake wont happen again & were most likely getting a better storyline of the white walkers in this story than we did with got
@@Demetrix24 see you're able to give them the benefit of the doubt, it isn't so easy alot of other people. The whole white walker story line left about taste in our mouth. The general sentiment is that to those who didn't like it is that it's just better off forgotten. I hope you're right a don't make the same mistakes but history repeats itself and it all went wrong when they started making changes to the source material, like They're already doing now . I've read all the books, own the whole TV series, so I really hope they can pull it together next season .
I’m shocked that someone has the EXACT same opinion as I do. This are the same points I brought up to my friends and family. The entire season wasn’t bad by any means but it felt short. 8 episodes IS okay if they do the pacing right. And somewhere along the way the pacing fell off.
Some of the writing fell off as well. Harenhal for 5 episodes just for the payoff is Damon kneeling again? Alicent just sneaks in and gives up a son for a son yet the kid’s entire life she said they will kill him if he doesn’t take the crown? Also, they can just sneak in each other’s kingdoms as they please? I wanted to enjoy it all but its just dragging out and it’s obvious
Like 8 or 9 times they cut away. One of the few things I was looking forward to seeing, and now I have to wait 2 years? ---nah. I'm already starting to feel like: oh well, who cares, really.
The frustration comes a lot from the fact that it looked very promising, especially after the excellent first season. I was sure we were going to see something historic in the vein of GOT's best seasons. But now we're just talking about HBO's limited budget, and it's getting very frustrating. Why launch the project if they can't afford it? The first season and S2 ep4 show us all the potential, only to tell us ah! no, we're going in another direction after all. So frustrating!!!
Well he didn’t just leave they also gave the main job the Ryan Condol D&Ds protege who co wrote the later seasons of GOT. How long does it take to realise that half the people who made GOT shit are doing this show?
I still cant believe they prioritized showing us Lord Tyland fight a woman in mud, and Criston Cole's long speech to Gwayne Hightower over giving us a dragon fight for the FINALE!. They really thought that was more important? We're all doomed for season 3.
dude the 3rd season is going to be action packed there’s clearly a build up the first 2 seasons for a reason both sides will lose a lot once the war starts they clearly have no choice now & are marching to battle but the first 2 seasons are character driven & focused on the relationship of the characters if you really can’t grasp that just because you wanted a “battle” i feel sorry for you
@@Demetrix24 You are delusional. 80% of this show is filler. In Fire and Blood Daemon was immune to the witches magic, he never thought about betraying his queen and it's he who uses the gold cloaks who are still loyal to him to open the gates and take kings landing. None of this ridiculous shit of the queens sneaking back and forth ever happend.
@@Luke-ew6uo they’ve clearly gone a different path for a reason & it was executed well setting up for the next season at the same time we clearly see daemons growth instantly & his intentions are good i will say not following by the book with his character i can see why that would mess things up & could be annoying when it unfolds the opposite what actually happens with him when it could’ve gone differently but if you’re really upset about that change you probably should stick to books with that being said the show to me is great
House of the dragon S2 🤦♀️ ------------------------------------ Rhaenyra - let's not go for this war Alicent - 😛 Alicent - let's not go for this war Rhenera - 😛 ------------------------------------
If they didn’t show literally every closing shot in the trailer, then I think the finale would have landed better. We spent the entire episode waiting to see the armies marching only for it to be the closing scene with no payoff after.
Never has a season of a show been dragged out as this. One decent episode and seven hells of mundane dialogue spoken by “characters” with all the charisma of a wet fart.
There was enough material for 3 seasons but then, they decided to stretch it to four, and here we are. It'll be funny if HBO ends up with a tiny audience for the final season.
@@mrgotitfordalowhow stupid can you be??? Maybe he watched all 8 episodes to form a proper opinion, as I bet if he only had watched half the season you would of said opinion invalid because you didn't watch the full season...
I don’t know if I’m coming back for season three, I might, because I’m a completionist …I do know that I have no intention on watching any of HBO‘s other spin offs from this universe. Like Disney, HBO is showing that all they care about is oversaturating the market with mediocre content.
Wish it ended at episode 7 instead. This “finale” might have been bad enough to make me completely lose all interest by the time season 3 rolls around.
This show went from a proper series to a meh series in less than 5 eps. No battles, no character building, no nothing but drama, boring Daemon "should i" bs, girly things and the feeling that tells you something will happen but nothing really happens. 8 eps was enough, there were too may fillers and empty episodes in this season already. It's finally over, not gonna watch s3.
Non book reader here, this entire season could have been pushed down easily into 5 episodes, it just felt like a massive drag NOTHING HAPPENS. And I don’t understand why both queens are meeting each other??? Is that in the books as well? It’s so unbelievably stupid it’s hurts my head. I don’t know anything about the books but this entire season feels like it’s just giving a the usual Hollywood “messege” that the women don’t want war and men are bloodthirsty unless they have some women calming them down. Disappointing
Moment either one of those queens entire the castle of the other the war should end then and there, what happen to the writing because no way in hell this feels like source material at all😂😂😂😂
@moncro1871 it's crazy how in just a couple of episodes alicent stood in front of a dragon to protect her sons to betraying them and playing a part in killing her own children 😂 shocking writing
The Queens do meet under a very different circumstances that actually makes 100% sense. Not this bullshit S8 level writing where they just sneak their way bcus the guards dont do their jobs.
@@Mon_IdleIt’s not what happens in the book the book is quite boring compared to Asoiaf imo it’s not that good but in the book there is a bigger age gap between alicent and Rhaynera they are never friendly in the book, they don’t have any reservations about killing each other and everyone in the books either idk why the show has made them both look like they are getting cold feet. The main showrunner this season is the guy who helped D&D write the later seasons of GOT take of that what you will
@@ptitecame6688 normally i would agree but not in regards to season 4. I get that episode 4 was a great “homelander horror” episode. I would argue the part where he is hunting down Huey was better than that part. I feel like this season they for sure knee capped homelander.
I Gazed at the TV almost sedated at the end thinking…. Have I been punked? Maybe there’s a part two of Episode 8- Not Sorry as much as the show is “not bad” I still don’t know what to think about it At this point, we don’t need a Season 4 Just make Season 3 full of drama, war and suspense and end it
I don’t mind if Season 2 was a set up to bigger battles in Season 3. But they should’ve given filler episodes that had actual meaning. Like… Jace spending time in the North the WHOLE episode.
I watched this whole season waiting for something to happen and NOTHING happened! They only showed them preparing for battle at the very end of the episode. That’s it.
Its comments like this that make me lose faith in humanity. Cutting it to ep7 would be even worse. We need to go on strike, I want my remaining 2 episodes!!😂
@@YRN230ll it's comment like these that make me lose faith in comman sence, I don't wanna go to strike for some tv show that didn't gave me enough episodes lol. What would our slogan be? XD
@@g0als. Sure, I actually didn't mind the last episode but it feels like it left people wanting more than an end to the season. In that scene I would rather have it be over when it was on hype, this season was created more like the struggle of Rhaenyra from being weak at the start of the war to where she is right now. It makes sense to end it on that than to create an extra episode for anticipation of we are just gonna get 8 episode max.
I am afraid for House of the Dragon because WB Discovery has been losing so much money after their superhero movies kept bombing left and right for a while. I don't want them to cut the budget on their HBO shows.
I had just assumed that there were going to be 10 episodes this season and was pleased to see episode 8 set us up for the coming battle in episode 9. It was only when reading some comments on the show, the following day, I realised how wrong I was....Duh!
I don’t think Daemon is about to betray Rhaenyra at all, think you got that one wrong. He doesn’t really do anything but smirk and take in information in that scene. He’s gone to the Godswood voluntarily and the whispers of Harrenhal aren’t playing on his guilt anymore. “Traitor” whispers in the wind but he’s not troubled by it, might not even hear it. He wears his Daemon face but that scene is a moment of growth for him, because he doesn’t want it anymore. I think that’s really the final temptation and his reaction, to me, suggested growth. So after that, and having the tree bear witness, maybe he did actually earn what he saw
I waited entire day for Episode 9, season 2.. And now I'm getting updates that it was cancelled? Well, no problem. Guess what? I will cancel my HBO subscription too. 🙂 Fuck you HBO! I will file a refund. Without House of the Dragon film, you are nothing!! 👍🙂
$20m to track a waif girl running thorough a valley looking for an invisible dragon (to save money on effects). LOL. And not just once but for several episodes! And Cole vanishes for 3 episodes only to give a silly speech. No battles, no violence, no satisfaction, only talk talk talk and no decisions. It's clear they are stretching it out!
The pacing fell off when the writers got lazy and wrote Daemon in a daze/dream sequence for 6 episodes. Season one’s pacing was the exact opposite of season two, in fact it was paced too quickly with time jumps. Perhaps pacing is a problem the writers just have period.
This guy made actual valid points to why he didn’t enjoy it much,compared to others just raging cuz they wanna see dragon fighting,same with the boys,everyone said it sucked but then the last 20 minutes were great so the whole season is great?people need to up their attention spans and understand the his is build up to what we have been waiting for
5:57 6 episodes to make a person wander in his fantasies and doubts, so that in a minute at the oak tree all his problems can be solved. Guys. Then there was no need to spend the whole 1 season and 6 episodes on this to change his loyalty....
I feel they did amazing for the budget they were given, id rather them save the sacking of kings landing and other bigger fights for next season with a fresh budget
@@trevylangton22 ight man then they better cancel the whole show, why even bother producing it if it's not 40 episode per season and a budget of 8 billion an episode. Am I right???
If you zoom out, yes it seems like very little happened during this season. One battle in which Rhaenys dies with her dragon and Aegon gets burnt and broken along with Sunfyres death. Rhaenyra gets her dragonriders but it happens so late that they end up not doing anything and Daemon spends the entire season at Harrenhall trippin balls and eventually gets his army. The war has hardly kicked off in the sense that we haven't even gotten a proper army vs army battle, so in terms of a chess match, the pieces have hardly moved around the board. This is likely due to the fact that this is not a sprawling epic tale a la ASOIAF where you have multiple POV characters spread all over the world each with their separate agenda. It's 2 factions in close proximity to one another, all from one family basically (2 if we count the Hightowers) and it's a show that relies heavily on VFX. The dragons looks absolutely amazing, and those shots cost $$$$, a lot of it. So you have to put things into perspective. The show is immensely watchable and enjoyable and is only going to get better. Let's be grateful that we have a in ASOIAF universe show like this after that dumpster fire GoT to keep us entertained until George finishes the son of Kong.
The main problem for me was that it was only 8 episodes. It definitely felt like 2 episodes were cut and having read fire and blood the gullet wouldve been the perfect place to end series 2 and people wouldve had a much more satisfying ending
Usually if a season is cut short from 10 to 8 episodes, you adjust and cut filler and move the events to episodes 7 and 8. They seemed to just cut the entire last two episodes with no adjustments to pacing.
I won’t say the season was bad, even the finale wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t good and wasted a good opportunity to do something great. Honestly what I am impressed with is the acting in this season has been absolutely top notch, especially the main cast
Craziest part is, after the finals I read the source material and there are SO many big battles. Which makes the lack of action in this season even more baffling.
The problem is not the 8 episodes for season the problem is the wait of 2 to 3 years. Look what happened to Stranger Things, The Last of Us, The boys. It should be yearly.
All I keep thinking is how badly this season needed a Blackwater moment at the end to set the tone going forward. As much as I enjoyed aspects of the story, it truly felt as if we were given 8 episodes out of what was meant to be a 10 episode season.
The single thing that made this show boring was how fast the characters reached places which was necessary cause it would be boring but what we got were repeated scenes of nothingness like with daemon and rhaena and others as well. Which all good have been avoided if those were filled with the characters they have cut from the show maybe it was the budget that we didn't see daeron and nettles and few others. It felt to me like they were forced to this or maybe they went like let's do all of this and when the actual process of filming started they fell short of those things going back and forth which just made it all wrong from something and changed something so much much that people didn't like it.
A lot of "fan" criticism around Season 2. People complained that Season 1 was too fast paced. Now Season 2 was too slow. We see Rhaenyra's council change from having no respect, to having respect. We see 2 dragons being claimed by bastard sons. We see Daemon fight and internal battle between serving his Queen, and entertaining the idea of being King. We see a wild dragon for the first time ever. We see a lot more politics than what we did in season 1. We see Daemon finally bending the knee. We see more dragons than before. We got an entire episode dedicated to the Queen Who Never Was, with an insane battle. Game of Thrones Season 1 was a hell of a lot slower than HOTD, Yet, people find it easy to call this season "slow". How many episodes did we sit and wait for the Stark siblings to reunite? lol. It's not about being slow. It's about character building. No hate to anyone for disagreeing, of course. I'm merely saying that HOTD in itself, as a show is good and the those watching need to understand that it can't be fast paced all the time. One doesn't build a connection with a character like that.
Having watched these types of shows for more than twenty years, I can assert that the writing this season was lacking on several fronts. The unexpected kiss between the queen and her master of whispers was acceptable, but it's unlikely there will be further development in that storyline-it felt quite arbitrary. The shifts in character personalities seemed strange and misplaced. The repetitive dialogue was nonsensical and failed to enhance audience engagement. I found myself simply tolerating each episode, anticipating a moment that would be a redemption of the sheer boredom. HBO and the showrunners are certainly taking risks and playing with fire - just not in the way we would like.
Well it's easy, the last two episodes were cut due to budget issues. The battle of the gullet was originally gonna be part of the finale. Instead we got a finale that kinda just, ended.
What i noticed, is every screenshot or s clip from GoT has such a crisp quality to it. While HotD picture is alwats murky, as if they put a lot of CGI fake light, overblew all edges. The fake light ia bleeding everywhere, everything looks foggy. I really cannot stand this look. Every time i see a shot from GoT i am amazed how amazing it looks and how shitty the post-processing and color grading is in HotD. Anyone else?
What I don't like is they removed characters. Mainly nettles. But this is supposed to be what actually happened as opposed to fire and blood being written as a history book.
You said it all, now we have to wait until 2026,,maybe I should wait until the until they finish the whole series. They should have made it up to us considering The Games of Thrones ending was Grabage.
Rooks Rest was the kind of Episode you expect for a finale. This season has SO MUCH filler. We have grown to except GoT finales to end in blood and intrigue and this finale had none.
I wonder if they’re making it like this so it’s building up to something bigger? If you watch GOT every season feels like the first season(in a way). But together it wraps up the seasons well into a good story from different point of views.
i didn’t think it was that bad to be honest. i think the reviews have been greatly exaggerated. the episode was really good - it was just a poor finale. the final 5 minutes have really set the tone for what’s coming up, but the 2 year wait for it doesn’t leave it as satisfactory as it could’ve been.
The lack of a battle wasn’t a problem for me the first 3 seasons of GOT had one major battle the battle of the black water but every season ended with something impactful season 1 was Ned’s death and the aftermath season 2 was the battle of the black water and season 3 was the red wedding this had nothing impactful happen and that’s the problem. I don’t want the writers to take away that we just want mindless action that was the problem with season 7 and 8 of GOT I just want there to be a major event that actually moves the story along…
I completely agree with you especially if we don't get the next one for 2 years From what I hear they needed the break because the dragons took so much budget and will be needed a lot of for season 3. I hope they course correct and bring Nettles in Season 3.
I hate how it is somehow become so centred around Alison, who is one of the most annoying characters in fantasy film-making history. At least kill her as a season ending finale, do us all a favour. Also I love how Rhaena was running in the hills for the whole length of the episode, it’s like, yeah okay we get it she is looking for a dragon, who cares. Literally zero significance to the plot of this season. Actually mad how they all sat down at a meeting one day and thought that this is in any way a good use of screen time.
No budget? Come on man! What else is HBO got? No battle or major character death in finale, does not equal finale. So tired of waiting 10 years for a story to be told.
The overall problem with the show isn't just second season but the episode count each season and the writing as well. The amount of changes this season were awful. Like Rhaenyra and Alicent being friends wasn't a huge problem as other would think. This is because it would hit harder when they became enemies rather than simply just being stepmother and stepdaughter from the get-go but that never happened. Alicent had moments when she could've transitioned into her book counterpart and never did. I have never read the books but I have been informed of the differences and the books seemed a lot more enjoyable. Which is disappointing. Book Alicent seemed like a fun, easy character to hate. She was powerful. She was cunning. She was loyal to her family. She was a villainess. Which makes it such a bummer that they didn't go this route with her character. I am not sure why the writers are afraid to make a woman morally grey or evil. This is coming from a woman before anyone starts. I mean come on. let's be realistic. There is bad, evil, cruel, and/or awful women in real life. Like I love epic and powerful female characters but that doesn't mean that they can't be morally grey or evil. I wish Alicent treated Rhaenyra like her book counterpart. It would make the dynamic between the sides more interesting. More entertaining. More enjoyable. Like when Book Rhaenyra talks about the death of her sons to Book Alicent. Book Alicent response was crazy epic, telling Book Rhaenyra that the blood spilt was B*stard blood. A proper villain. A shame people won't get to see this version of Alicent in the live action. Alicent isn't the only example of an unfortunate case of a character not being like their counterpart. The major problem last season was the time jumps and off-screen writing. Which I believe occurred because of the episode count. I will always feel like one of the down sides to this show (and other shows, actually) is the amount of episodes each season. Stories as deep, detailed and intricate as the books aren't suited for 10 or less episodes a season. The characters, world building and lore have too much depth to be boiled down to 8 or 10 episodes. The time jumps and off-screen writing are a prime example of this. Another issue with the show is how the show is written in comparison to the marketing. The writing and the marketing are contradicting each other. HBO is marketing the show as "pick a side", which is nice. It made the show more interesting because of it. The idea of choosing a side. Like a "Pick your poison" or "Pick the lesser evil" because each side has their faults but the writing in the show has clearly chosen a side. Instead of showcasing a story of two sides, it's become a story about a "Good" and "Bad" side. Which sucks because almost every character in the story is supposed to be complex, multifaceted, and/or morally grey. Like Daemon. Speaking of which, he's another case of not being like his counterpart. He's supposed to be morally grey. Which is a character who isn't good but isn't bad, they're in-between. They make choices that can be bad but also decisions that can be good. We don't get to see Daemon's good side much in the show. For example, his love for his daughters. Which is a shame. That's such an easy way to showcase the more good sides to him but the show doesn't do it. Instead, they give his girls "daddy issues" when not everyone in the show needs it. There's already enough daddy issues on the show. I love an adorable father and daughter dynamic. I wish the show would just let us have more enjoyable character dynamics.
I agree with the world feeling small and it feeling like the dragons only take minutes to get to destinations. I miss the build up and travel time it took to get to places in GOT. We only got to see that with Christian Cole here
Why did Daemon need to see any visions at all? His RIVERRUN arch should have been rallying the river lords and contemplating fighting for his own claim.
Really? Now I need to wait two years for a show to finish the season it started? Honestly, finish those first and release them out of season, I don’t care. This is criminal. What all did we actually see happen in season 2 on a character perspective? Rhanyra grieves her son, fully explored every alternative to war, finally committed to war, and took action to win the war, only to have an alternative to war present itself at the very end for her to consider. Damon went on a 7 episode trip on ayuhasca and ego, and finally resolved to do what he had already committed to. Aegon actually had an arc, having been literally forced to grow as a character, because he lost his bravado. Aemond started the season strong, quickly showing a newfound competence to match the ideal people had of him, and spent the season catching up to that image. He is forcing out confidence he doesn’t really have and it makes him unstable. That’s an interesting dynamic for sure. But, without knowledge of what’s to come, it certainly looks like he’s about to bite the dust and stop that interesting progress. Ser Criston Cole had his existential crisis, and fell in a different way to Aegon, but similarly, isn’t looking king for this world. Allicent was trying to wrangle her stupid kids for a whole season and none of them took to it so I guess she just consigned them to death to live out in the woods with her daughter. Idk man, nothing that feels resolved feels earned.
Good cinema has foreshadowing, buildup, and payoff. Where is the payoff? Where is the reward for viewers sticking with the show for 4 years? A fade to black ala Sopranos? Please, apologize all you want for this crap but I won't be coming back. I'm here to vent my anger.
I say what they could’ve done to salvage the season was keep this season at 10 episodes. Episode 9 would’ve been the battle of the gullet and 10 would’ve been the fallout and gearing up for all out war (possibly something else). Then season 3 could’ve been 6 episodes solely focusing on the war. Finally, season 4 has episodes closing out the war. Makes so much more sense in my opinion instead of the wet fart of a finale we got.
This show is phenomenal and every episode has been well written and entertaining, the problem is they are dragging this out to milk as much content from this story as they possibly can. This would be fine if this were a mid-season finale and we only had to wait a few months for the series to return
I patiently waited for the entire season to finish then binge watched it so that I don’t have to tortuously wait for the payoff week by week, just to find out by season “finale” that I still have to wait-- for TWO YEARS!!! 😂
The issue is nothing much happens, in an average game of thrones season from 1-5, characters situations shift massively, many characters die, many stories intercept and there’s usually a lot of tense scenes, the issue house of the dragon has though, is that none of that really happens all that often, the Daemon arch just leads to him going straight back to the position he was before he came to harrenhal, Alicent seems to be in the exact position she started in, alone and powerless, I don’t know how many scenes we’ve had of corlys sitting on the harbour talking to the bastard son who again stays in his same position. It’s just all to fitiguing to have all these subplots come to nothing, especially when game of thrones had such amazing sub plots like Tyrion sending off marcella, John protecting Tarly and Sansa cat fighting with Cersei. We’re really missing a Tywin character in the show who commands complete attention in every seen he’s in. Additionally to that, just overall the dialogue feels worse, I couldn’t stand any of the Jace scenes towards the end, it just all comes off as incredibly cringy, and with none who can really rebuff him beside rhaenyra with her “you are my heir” routine he’s very unbearable. Same with most of the characters, we don’t have Tyrion or Broncracking jokes or giving amazing speeches, or Cersei making pointed and penetrating attacks, or Jaime pulling of one liners, or Tywin giving stern speeches or Varys and Littlefinger giving us verbal bouts and jabs. Overall it’s just a bit of a downgrade. What we were told was dance of the dragon was going to be a conniving political drama akin to the war of five kings but with dragons, instead what we got was Rhaenyra vs the Greens with no other contenders. Rhaenys? Loyal and died fighting for Rhaenyra, Daemon? Fighting for Rhaenyra, Aemond? Injured the King who didn’t really matter anyway, The Castellan? Loyal to Rhaenyra without even knowing her, Rhaenyra council? Loyal even though they are doubting. Remember when Theon, Rob Starks best friend, left him in the off chance to serve his father? When does that happen in the show?
Is it me or they made Rhaenyra, Alicent and Rhaenys more symphatetic characters? Rhaenys and Rhanera are badass do not get me wrong but the good thing about ASOIAF is that characters are more realistic and flawed. Also Helaena is way more powerful than she is supposed to be and apparently they have eliminated Nettles and merge her with Rhaena.
What did you think of the House Of The Dragon Season 2 finale? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
We got a filler episode for a finale. Not acceptable.
maybe change the title of the video to: ‘Why I thought that the finale of season 2 did not work’
It's the worst, THE WORST EPISODE, of house of the dragon. Might as well employ ChatGPT to make a more satisfying season finale. Make the wait pay off come on. Even if it's just the beginning of a battle we'd take that you know? By the way did anyone die in episode 8?
I thought it was an excellent episode and a horrible finale. There is something there in your comments about the summer shows this year. It felt just like the Bear where nothing ultimately happened. The audience waits too long and seasons are too short for this. Disappointing.
It has the potential to be great but it’s not. The show is too slow. As a watcher, I have no vested interest in many of the characters. They appear to be too flat and static. At present, the only character that I am interested in is Aemon. I used to think Daemon was going to be awesome but that’s not what I witnessed this season. Both queens are boring. I can’t remember many characters’ names because they have no substance. There’s no humor except in the last episode with the new dragon rider. If I didn’t live the dragons, I wouldn’t bother to watch.
Alicent selling her children to her enemies so she can peace out with Haelena was atrocious writing.
Her sons were too far gone for her to even try saving them tbh
@@NFTProductions How is Aegon too far gone? He's only king and at war because Alicent forced him to. Rhaenyra would have been crowned from the start if she had listened to him.
@@ptitecame6688 She can tell that he's out for blood at all costs now. She can tell he's on the fringe of going off the rails and she doesn't want blood to be shed in that way.
@@NFTProductionshow’s Daeron too far gone?
it is so stupid and shit yes what the hell are we watching
I honestly hate the whole prophecy plot line on so many levels. And how Helaena said that her life doesn't matter. Everybody forgot about Blood and Cheese. WTF, why should I care if the characters themselves don't care whether they live or die?
I agree
Its annoying that in just a couple of episodes Alicent went from standing infront of a dragon to protect her sons, to betraying them and planning to kill them 😂
😂and you believed her🎉
Planning to kill only Aegon. Because he was the one who’s the actual king at that moment, and it wasn’t as if alicent was all up for it when Raenerys told her it’s gotta happen.
Miguel Sapochnik's absence was felt quite a bit this season, his departure clearly hurt the show, I'm surprised how little people talk about it.
Clearly hurt the show and the writing, Sara Hess and Ryan Condal don't know what they are doing anymore.
I thought the same thing. I was wary when he said he was leaving. I hope season 3 turns out better. I hate to think that season 1 was a fluke
I remember sitting there looking at the TV when it ended like...."its over!?"...That's it!?!?
I wanted the battle!
SAME....I'm like YO WTF...really that's it?
@@BrainPilot Like they could easily end with the big battle and have someone die and do the end
@@seanlepley1474 house of the dragon with no fire n blood !?!?
@@ghostsdragon9222 They could have gone with the book version...
battle of the gullet and rhaenyra's descent into messiah complex should've been sprinkled since the beginning. Jace's North and Vale arc should've been included so that he's not standing in the back mewing. Remove the dang prophecy because now it throws away Daemon's entire development over feeling remorse for his actions. And Alicent...my god...willing to sell out her children and put her brother, father and Daeron in danger, seems like she forgot Jaehaerys died with his head lopped off.
This show has officially established the same pacing and style as TV soap opera. It takes the cast an entire season to take a walk across the room and sit in a chair (figuratively speaking)
I guarantee no one will remember this season in 2 years because of how boring it was. It may affect season 3s performance, because who would want to sit through another season where nothing happens.
According to the show runners it's going to have more action in it. I guess we'll have to wait and see!
They did damage with this season, coming off of a terrible ending of GoT, having season 2 be this slow won’t go well.
And justifiably so@@The_Unsuitable
You do got to remember the book storyline is very short, each season is pretty much right after the season before in term of the story timeline. Not much main content to keep doing if you plan to stretch it for this many season
@@dipper5835 the world of Ice and Fire is huge and there are a myriad of ways to extend the story without dragging it out. Also. If your story is short.... Maybe dont drag it out?
The current show runners doesn’t know what pacing is, they really need to get Miguel Sapochnik back, he is the writer & director of 1st season, and the best episodes of GoT
Exactly. The timing and the time skips are the reason I stopped watching this show. Just horrible
Agreed he was vital! He was known for shocking epic scenes and all the great battles!
Where he at!?!?
Season 1 got a timeskip and yall think things actually happened 😭
They messed up dragging out Daemon’s exile in Harrenhal. Like… WHY did he have to spend all season there? And they just kept building up to events that NEVER happened. This season was extremely underwhelming.
bec if not then he will just die soon, he doesnt have much plot left and u fanboys will bitch abt that too
He had to stay there because he doesn't have anything else to do in this part of the story. The real issue is that they kept giving him pointless scenes just because he's a popular character.
@@sillylittlesheepjax6009 they could’ve made some shxt up. I dont care about sticking to the books. Give us him developing a relationship with his daughters. With his two sons. WITH HIS WIFE. They gave us nothing but a deranged madman high on ghost pubes whose one redeeming scene was seeing dany…. Which still ended up being pointless bc the iron chair when to bran the boring anyway. The season was underwhelming and we all know it.
@@sillylittlesheepjax6009You are a pathetic HBO bot... Daemon had no real development because of the prophecy thing and he didn't even do anything outside of that just deaming and walking through the same corridors 💀
Lick Condal if you want but it's still pathetic....
2 years? People already forgot about season 2 and its only been two days. They screwed up
Then people have bad memory remember very well fyi buy the 4K Ultra HD Blu ray disc save physical media forget crappy 4K quality on HBO Max
Many could have been waiting to beige watch the show. I have friends that do this with anime.
There was nothing this season that was “must see” imo
Season 2 was fine to me.
@@absolutedivineNYC Season 2 could have been 2 or 3 episodes but they stretched it. Show is only supposed to be 4 seasons and we already had an entire filler season.
@@RobertK1993 Just trying to read this gibberish is giving me a headache.
I watched this episode the exact same way Jace watched Ulf at the Dragon seed dinner because this finale feels like an insult honestly. I mean alicent even offered Rhaenyra Kings Landing on a silver platter, without bloodshed, and they couldn't even give us that. She spent the entire season hesitant, not wanting to spill any blood and she got exactly that , SOMEHOW, and they couldn't even let us see her restraint actually paying off! Man after episode 4 it has been a straight drop 😪
the only excuse i’m seeing for this show being bad is not enough death or action this show is clearly not just about that like game of thrones was if anything it’s more of a drama if you cant grasp the character driven narrative in the first 2 seasons before shit goes down this show ain’t for you lol
@@Demetrix24Yet i Ioved the first season. How much action or death was in that again? Not too much more than this season. I don't want it to be filled with action, which is actually abundant in the books btw but ruined the last couple of seasons of GoT. I'm actually open to the alicent surrendering kings landing to Rhaenyra, but we should've at the very least seen her take back the throne. We didn't have to wait two years to see Aegon's ascension. Episode six and seven could've been a single episode and the last two could've been spent paying off what's been built up to. Instead of a proper conclusion we got the warning of Aemond's upcoming demise and a contrived reference to Daenerys and the White walkers, whose stories were both ruined by the end of GoT and are now being forced into HotD. Now I don't think this season was bad, it had some great moments but narratively there are alot of issues and without an earned conclusion it all feels wasted.
@@Oxcymoron i appreciate your comment & critique on this show i agree with episode 6 & 7 being a single episode this season definitely needed one or two more episodes before it ended there’s just so much we still have to wait for man id love to see aegons ascension if we had a couple more episodes
@@Oxcymoron it pains to see how many people hate the scene with the white walkers because of how they screwed up season 8 of GOT personally i loved season 8 it was definitely flawed and i agree with most arguments about that season but i feel like that mistake wont happen again & were most likely getting a better storyline of the white walkers in this story than we did with got
@@Demetrix24 see you're able to give them the benefit of the doubt, it isn't so easy alot of other people. The whole white walker story line left about taste in our mouth. The general sentiment is that to those who didn't like it is that it's just better off forgotten. I hope you're right a don't make the same mistakes but history repeats itself and it all went wrong when they started making changes to the source material, like They're already doing now . I've read all the books, own the whole TV series, so I really hope they can pull it together next season .
4:49 GOD!!! YES!!!! The world is so tiny this season that it feels like a theater production.
I think they literally cut out the last 2 episodes and didn’t even adjust to make the season satisfying…
Yeah a show like this needs to be 10 episodes!
The writers strike rlly affected this season tbh, HBO cutting the last two episodes out of it was a disappointment
@@BrainPilotreason most HBO shoes are 10 spend the money Warner Bros Pictures 😂
They couldn't adjust because of the writers strike.
@@MatiZ815 they could have if they delayed the show..
I’m shocked that someone has the EXACT same opinion as I do. This are the same points I brought up to my friends and family. The entire season wasn’t bad by any means but it felt short. 8 episodes IS okay if they do the pacing right. And somewhere along the way the pacing fell off.
a couple more episodes or at least one more episode was needed for sure but damn the season was still so good
Some of the writing fell off as well. Harenhal for 5 episodes just for the payoff is Damon kneeling again? Alicent just sneaks in and gives up a son for a son yet the kid’s entire life she said they will kill him if he doesn’t take the crown? Also, they can just sneak in each other’s kingdoms as they please? I wanted to enjoy it all but its just dragging out and it’s obvious
Episode 4. I pointed this out then. Yet all these fans over here delusional trying to defend this 💩
I was tweaking with the amount of times they cut away from Rhaena. GIVE THE GIRL THE DRAGON ALREADY
Bro this was the most AGGRAVATING part! What the hell are they waiting for???????!??!?!??!?!??!
Like 8 or 9 times they cut away. One of the few things I was looking forward to seeing, and now I have to wait 2 years? ---nah. I'm already starting to feel like: oh well, who cares, really.
The frustration comes a lot from the fact that it looked very promising, especially after the excellent first season. I was sure we were going to see something historic in the vein of GOT's best seasons. But now we're just talking about HBO's limited budget, and it's getting very frustrating. Why launch the project if they can't afford it? The first season and S2 ep4 show us all the potential, only to tell us ah! no, we're going in another direction after all. So frustrating!!!
I wished Miguel S stayed as showrunner… the show lost its subtlety when he left.
Well he didn’t just leave they also gave the main job the Ryan Condol D&Ds protege who co wrote the later seasons of GOT. How long does it take to realise that half the people who made GOT shit are doing this show?
I still cant believe they prioritized showing us Lord Tyland fight a woman in mud, and Criston Cole's long speech to Gwayne Hightower over giving us a dragon fight for the FINALE!. They really thought that was more important? We're all doomed for season 3.
dude the 3rd season is going to be action packed there’s clearly a build up the first 2 seasons for a reason both sides will lose a lot once the war starts they clearly have no choice now & are marching to battle but the first 2 seasons are character driven & focused on the relationship of the characters if you really can’t grasp that just because you wanted a “battle” i feel sorry for you
@@Demetrix24 You are delusional. 80% of this show is filler. In Fire and Blood Daemon was immune to the witches magic, he never thought about betraying his queen and it's he who uses the gold cloaks who are still loyal to him to open the gates and take kings landing. None of this ridiculous shit of the queens sneaking back and forth ever happend.
@@Luke-ew6uo they’ve clearly gone a different path for a reason & it was executed well setting up for the next season at the same time we clearly see daemons growth instantly & his intentions are good i will say not following by the book with his character i can see why that would mess things up & could be annoying when it unfolds the opposite what actually happens with him when it could’ve gone differently but if you’re really upset about that change you probably should stick to books with that being said the show to me is great
@@Demetrix24it’s nice you like mediocrity…. Not everyone does
@@LordDarshdan that’s your opinion if you can’t bring up an argument your opinion is irrelevant
This season was so mid that it cured my chronic insomnia.
House of the dragon S2 🤦♀️
------------------------------------
Rhaenyra - let's not go for this war
Alicent - 😛
Alicent - let's not go for this war
Rhenera - 😛
------------------------------------
And Daemon became a confused little girl with his doubts.
Ep. 1-7 Rhaenyra: I won't kill innocents!
Ep. 8 Rhaenyra: Let's burn cities 🫠❤️🔥
If they didn’t show literally every closing shot in the trailer, then I think the finale would have landed better. We spent the entire episode waiting to see the armies marching only for it to be the closing scene with no payoff after.
Never has a season of a show been dragged out as this. One decent episode and seven hells of mundane dialogue spoken by “characters” with all the charisma of a wet fart.
Yet you watched every episode. It's very weird to watch a show you think has "one decent episode."
It felled like going though mud
There was enough material for 3 seasons but then, they decided to stretch it to four, and here we are. It'll be funny if HBO ends up with a tiny audience for the final season.
@@mrgotitfordalowhow stupid can you be??? Maybe he watched all 8 episodes to form a proper opinion, as I bet if he only had watched half the season you would of said opinion invalid because you didn't watch the full season...
"We choose fire" - wet fart
I don’t know if I’m coming back for season three, I might, because I’m a completionist …I do know that I have no intention on watching any of HBO‘s other spin offs from this universe.
Like Disney, HBO is showing that all they care about is oversaturating the market with mediocre content.
Wish it ended at episode 7 instead. This “finale” might have been bad enough to make me completely lose all interest by the time season 3 rolls around.
You'll forget it now but in two years you'll be like a kid in a candy store.
@@cricketReviewChannel211Not everyone has memory problems...
This show went from a proper series to a meh series in less than 5 eps. No battles, no character building, no nothing but drama, boring Daemon "should i" bs, girly things and the feeling that tells you something will happen but nothing really happens. 8 eps was enough, there were too may fillers and empty episodes in this season already. It's finally over, not gonna watch s3.
Season 3: 6 episodes
Season 4: movie
Non book reader here, this entire season could have been pushed down easily into 5 episodes, it just felt like a massive drag NOTHING HAPPENS. And I don’t understand why both queens are meeting each other??? Is that in the books as well? It’s so unbelievably stupid it’s hurts my head. I don’t know anything about the books but this entire season feels like it’s just giving a the usual Hollywood “messege” that the women don’t want war and men are bloodthirsty unless they have some women calming them down. Disappointing
Moment either one of those queens entire the castle of the other the war should end then and there, what happen to the writing because no way in hell this feels like source material at all😂😂😂😂
@moncro1871 it's crazy how in just a couple of episodes alicent stood in front of a dragon to protect her sons to betraying them and playing a part in killing her own children 😂 shocking writing
The Queens do meet under a very different circumstances that actually makes 100% sense. Not this bullshit S8 level writing where they just sneak their way bcus the guards dont do their jobs.
@@Mon_IdleIt’s not what happens in the book the book is quite boring compared to Asoiaf imo it’s not that good but in the book there is a bigger age gap between alicent and Rhaynera they are never friendly in the book, they don’t have any reservations about killing each other and everyone in the books either idk why the show has made them both look like they are getting cold feet. The main showrunner this season is the guy who helped D&D write the later seasons of GOT take of that what you will
@@daquaviousbingleton9763The book is objectively better...
This season finale capped off perfectly with that terrible PTSD of giving Daemon a vision of how all roads lead to GOT S8
The Boys most certainly did NOT pick it back up in the final episodes. Season 4 was bad from start to finish.
There were moments in The Boys. Episode 4 was great and the final two episodes were decent
@@BrainPilotAnything that didn’t involve Homelander was either pointless or uninteresting
@@ptitecame6688 normally i would agree but not in regards to season 4. I get that episode 4 was a great “homelander horror” episode. I would argue the part where he is hunting down Huey was better than that part. I feel like this season they for sure knee capped homelander.
@@BrainPilot thanks for the reply your videos are very well done.
People are coping. et them lie to themselves.
I Gazed at the TV almost sedated at the end thinking….
Have I been punked?
Maybe there’s a part two of Episode 8- Not
Sorry as much as the show is “not bad” I still don’t know what to think about it
At this point, we don’t need a Season 4
Just make Season 3 full of drama, war and suspense and end it
After this completely banal season, I'm officially done with anything Thrones related. I'm sick of it. It sucks. I'm not watching anymore.
you’ll be back for season 3 don’t lie
Life must be one big bummer for you lol
Go for a run and we will cya in for season 3.
@@nolanmeier53💀
I don’t mind if Season 2 was a set up to bigger battles in Season 3. But they should’ve given filler episodes that had actual meaning.
Like… Jace spending time in the North the WHOLE episode.
He shoulda stayed there for a few episodes. The only thing they let him do that was good was go to the Freys
I laugh when people say Spoilers Ahead. What are you spoiling? Like what really happened that we would want to see and not be spoiled?
Plus Haelena spoiled the whole ending of the show 🤣
There are no spoilers anymore.
What was the point of 4 dialogue episodes if the finale was going to be dialogue also
I always watch each season 2 times .not this time boring
I watched this whole season waiting for something to happen and NOTHING happened! They only showed them preparing for battle at the very end of the episode. That’s it.
The ending felt like the start of the season they should have just stopped with ep7 and make the next episode come out in the next season.
That would've been just as bad
Its comments like this that make me lose faith in humanity. Cutting it to ep7 would be even worse. We need to go on strike, I want my remaining 2 episodes!!😂
@@YRN230ll it's comment like these that make me lose faith in comman sence, I don't wanna go to strike for some tv show that didn't gave me enough episodes lol. What would our slogan be? XD
@@g0als. Sure, I actually didn't mind the last episode but it feels like it left people wanting more than an end to the season. In that scene I would rather have it be over when it was on hype, this season was created more like the struggle of Rhaenyra from being weak at the start of the war to where she is right now. It makes sense to end it on that than to create an extra episode for anticipation of we are just gonna get 8 episode max.
I am afraid for House of the Dragon because WB Discovery has been losing so much money after their superhero movies kept bombing left and right for a while. I don't want them to cut the budget on their HBO shows.
I had just assumed that there were going to be 10 episodes this season and was pleased to see episode 8 set us up for the coming battle in episode 9. It was only when reading some comments on the show, the following day, I realised how wrong I was....Duh!
It was TERRIBLE
What happened to your attention span?
My goodness the writing was particularly terrible in this episode.
I don’t think Daemon is about to betray Rhaenyra at all, think you got that one wrong.
He doesn’t really do anything but smirk and take in information in that scene. He’s gone to the Godswood voluntarily and the whispers of Harrenhal aren’t playing on his guilt anymore. “Traitor” whispers in the wind but he’s not troubled by it, might not even hear it. He wears his Daemon face but that scene is a moment of growth for him, because he doesn’t want it anymore. I think that’s really the final temptation and his reaction, to me, suggested growth.
So after that, and having the tree bear witness, maybe he did actually earn what he saw
I waited entire day for Episode 9, season 2.. And now I'm getting updates that it was cancelled? Well, no problem. Guess what? I will cancel my HBO subscription too. 🙂 Fuck you HBO! I will file a refund. Without House of the Dragon film, you are nothing!! 👍🙂
We want something like "battle of bastards"
100%!
The fact that this guy named the battle of kings landing in S8 as a “stand out” moment ruins his credibility in my eyes worst battle in thrones
First of all it was not a battle but a massacre... Second of all outside of writing it was brilliant.
Cost HBO $20m per episode to make smh
$20m to track a waif girl running thorough a valley looking for an invisible dragon (to save money on effects). LOL. And not just once but for several episodes! And Cole vanishes for 3 episodes only to give a silly speech. No battles, no violence, no satisfaction, only talk talk talk and no decisions. It's clear they are stretching it out!
When the credits rolled, I had to check my calendar if it was still April.😅
The pacing fell off when the writers got lazy and wrote Daemon in a daze/dream sequence for 6 episodes. Season one’s pacing was the exact opposite of season two, in fact it was paced too quickly with time jumps. Perhaps pacing is a problem the writers just have period.
I cannot BELIEVE we spent an entire season gearing up for a war it will take years to see. 😡
Yeah it's a shame
This guy made actual valid points to why he didn’t enjoy it much,compared to others just raging cuz they wanna see dragon fighting,same with the boys,everyone said it sucked but then the last 20 minutes were great so the whole season is great?people need to up their attention spans and understand the his is build up to what we have been waiting for
5:57 6 episodes to make a person wander in his fantasies and doubts, so that in a minute at the oak tree all his problems can be solved. Guys. Then there was no need to spend the whole 1 season and 6 episodes on this to change his loyalty....
I feel they did amazing for the budget they were given, id rather them save the sacking of kings landing and other bigger fights for next season with a fresh budget
What the world you know about their budget????!!!
What another small budget with 8 episodes?? It’ll lack too much
@@trevylangton22 ight man then they better cancel the whole show, why even bother producing it if it's not 40 episode per season and a budget of 8 billion an episode. Am I right???
What went wrong? They cut 2 full hour long episodes. Video over.
4:11 - 4:21 Oh no, not these GOT Season 7 moments where the characters and dragons start using 'Fast Travel' between scenes, NOT AGAIN...
If you zoom out, yes it seems like very little happened during this season.
One battle in which Rhaenys dies with her dragon and Aegon gets burnt and broken along with Sunfyres death.
Rhaenyra gets her dragonriders but it happens so late that they end up not doing anything and Daemon spends the entire season at Harrenhall trippin balls and eventually gets his army.
The war has hardly kicked off in the sense that we haven't even gotten a proper army vs army battle, so in terms of a chess match, the pieces have hardly moved around the board.
This is likely due to the fact that this is not a sprawling epic tale a la ASOIAF where you have multiple POV characters spread all over the world each with their separate agenda. It's 2 factions in close proximity to one another, all from one family basically (2 if we count the Hightowers) and it's a show that relies heavily on VFX. The dragons looks absolutely amazing, and those shots cost $$$$, a lot of it. So you have to put things into perspective. The show is immensely watchable and enjoyable and is only going to get better. Let's be grateful that we have a in ASOIAF universe show like this after that dumpster fire GoT to keep us entertained until George finishes the son of Kong.
The main problem for me was that it was only 8 episodes. It definitely felt like 2 episodes were cut and having read fire and blood the gullet wouldve been the perfect place to end series 2 and people wouldve had a much more satisfying ending
Ye whole season is very stretched and last episode is rushed and teleportation is used so often that it’s again very annoying
Usually if a season is cut short from 10 to 8 episodes, you adjust and cut filler and move the events to episodes 7 and 8. They seemed to just cut the entire last two episodes with no adjustments to pacing.
This season was more of a medieval soap opera than anything. Got tired of watching it.
This was definitely setup for the last 2 episodes of season 2 if they didn’t cut it.
I won’t say the season was bad, even the finale wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t good and wasted a good opportunity to do something great.
Honestly what I am impressed with is the acting in this season has been absolutely top notch, especially the main cast
Yea fuck that seasons should be 10 episodes at least
Craziest part is, after the finals I read the source material and there are SO many big battles. Which makes the lack of action in this season even more baffling.
Hopefully in the next season!
8 episodes a season is a huge kick in the balls to fans.. go back 20 years and you can have 25 episodes a season
I think a show like HoTD is a ten episode kind of thing.
25 episodes a season would be on a sitcom budget every episode of this show has the budget of a feature length film it wouldn’t work for this format.
The problem is not the 8 episodes for season the problem is the wait of 2 to 3 years. Look what happened to Stranger Things, The Last of Us, The boys. It should be yearly.
a season per year , having 2 year creates too many problems and the fans hate it
Agree. If it is going to take 2 years, we should get 12 or 13 episodes, at least.
All I keep thinking is how badly this season needed a Blackwater moment at the end to set the tone going forward. As much as I enjoyed aspects of the story, it truly felt as if we were given 8 episodes out of what was meant to be a 10 episode season.
Yeah i'd agree!
The single thing that made this show boring was how fast the characters reached places which was necessary cause it would be boring but what we got were repeated scenes of nothingness like with daemon and rhaena and others as well. Which all good have been avoided if those were filled with the characters they have cut from the show maybe it was the budget that we didn't see daeron and nettles and few others.
It felt to me like they were forced to this or maybe they went like let's do all of this and when the actual process of filming started they fell short of those things going back and forth which just made it all wrong from something and changed something so much much that people didn't like it.
I don’t understand why everybody hates this episode. It was so good. I can’t watch one video without somebody hating on it. It’s quite annoying.
A lot of "fan" criticism around Season 2. People complained that Season 1 was too fast paced. Now Season 2 was too slow.
We see Rhaenyra's council change from having no respect, to having respect.
We see 2 dragons being claimed by bastard sons.
We see Daemon fight and internal battle between serving his Queen, and entertaining the idea of being King.
We see a wild dragon for the first time ever.
We see a lot more politics than what we did in season 1.
We see Daemon finally bending the knee.
We see more dragons than before.
We got an entire episode dedicated to the Queen Who Never Was, with an insane battle.
Game of Thrones Season 1 was a hell of a lot slower than HOTD, Yet, people find it easy to call this season "slow". How many episodes did we sit and wait for the Stark siblings to reunite? lol. It's not about being slow. It's about character building.
No hate to anyone for disagreeing, of course. I'm merely saying that HOTD in itself, as a show is good and the those watching need to understand that it can't be fast paced all the time. One doesn't build a connection with a character like that.
Having watched these types of shows for more than twenty years, I can assert that the writing this season was lacking on several fronts. The unexpected kiss between the queen and her master of whispers was acceptable, but it's unlikely there will be further development in that storyline-it felt quite arbitrary. The shifts in character personalities seemed strange and misplaced. The repetitive dialogue was nonsensical and failed to enhance audience engagement. I found myself simply tolerating each episode, anticipating a moment that would be a redemption of the sheer boredom. HBO and the showrunners are certainly taking risks and playing with fire - just not in the way we would like.
It's funny how something actually does happen when the showrunner writes it, not surprised that the underlings tumbleweed through the story.
Well it's easy, the last two episodes were cut due to budget issues. The battle of the gullet was originally gonna be part of the finale. Instead we got a finale that kinda just, ended.
What i noticed, is every screenshot or s clip from GoT has such a crisp quality to it. While HotD picture is alwats murky, as if they put a lot of CGI fake light, overblew all edges. The fake light ia bleeding everywhere, everything looks foggy. I really cannot stand this look. Every time i see a shot from GoT i am amazed how amazing it looks and how shitty the post-processing and color grading is in HotD.
Anyone else?
Might just be me but I LOVED this finale. Gives me a reason to be excited for the 3rd season.
What I don't like is they removed characters. Mainly nettles. But this is supposed to be what actually happened as opposed to fire and blood being written as a history book.
You said it all, now we have to wait until 2026,,maybe I should wait until the until they finish the whole series. They should have made it up to us considering The Games of Thrones ending was Grabage.
Rooks Rest was the kind of Episode you expect for a finale. This season has SO MUCH filler. We have grown to except GoT finales to end in blood and intrigue and this finale had none.
I wonder if they’re making it like this so it’s building up to something bigger? If you watch GOT every season feels like the first season(in a way). But together it wraps up the seasons well into a good story from different point of views.
I don’t think people are taking into account how hugely the strikes affected the show. I think the writers had to rush before the strike happened.
Im still lowkey hoping that they just come out in Sunday with a surprise episode 9 (Gullet) and then a perfect ending with ep 10 (Kings Landing)...
i didn’t think it was that bad to be honest. i think the reviews have been greatly exaggerated. the episode was really good - it was just a poor finale. the final 5 minutes have really set the tone for what’s coming up, but the 2 year wait for it doesn’t leave it as satisfactory as it could’ve been.
HBO spit a big hawk thua in our faces
If they would at least gave us the Battle of the Gullet at the end, it wouldn't have felt like they went out with a whimper.
Yeah exactly!
The lack of a battle wasn’t a problem for me the first 3 seasons of GOT had one major battle the battle of the black water but every season ended with something impactful season 1 was Ned’s death and the aftermath season 2 was the battle of the black water and season 3 was the red wedding this had nothing impactful happen and that’s the problem. I don’t want the writers to take away that we just want mindless action that was the problem with season 7 and 8 of GOT I just want there to be a major event that actually moves the story along…
I completely agree with you especially if we don't get the next one for 2 years
From what I hear they needed the break because the dragons took so much budget and will be needed a lot of for season 3. I hope they course correct and bring Nettles in Season 3.
I hate how it is somehow become so centred around Alison, who is one of the most annoying characters in fantasy film-making history. At least kill her as a season ending finale, do us all a favour. Also I love how Rhaena was running in the hills for the whole length of the episode, it’s like, yeah okay we get it she is looking for a dragon, who cares. Literally zero significance to the plot of this season. Actually mad how they all sat down at a meeting one day and thought that this is in any way a good use of screen time.
No budget? Come on man! What else is HBO got? No battle or major character death in finale, does not equal finale. So tired of waiting 10 years for a story to be told.
Nah I mean in general as quite a lot of shows have changed formats!
I thought this season exceeded my expectations and was good but my expectations were low after the finale of Game of Thrones.
The overall problem with the show isn't just second season but the episode count each season and the writing as well. The amount of changes this season were awful. Like Rhaenyra and Alicent being friends wasn't a huge problem as other would think. This is because it would hit harder when they became enemies rather than simply just being stepmother and stepdaughter from the get-go but that never happened. Alicent had moments when she could've transitioned into her book counterpart and never did. I have never read the books but I have been informed of the differences and the books seemed a lot more enjoyable. Which is disappointing. Book Alicent seemed like a fun, easy character to hate. She was powerful. She was cunning. She was loyal to her family. She was a villainess. Which makes it such a bummer that they didn't go this route with her character. I am not sure why the writers are afraid to make a woman morally grey or evil. This is coming from a woman before anyone starts. I mean come on. let's be realistic. There is bad, evil, cruel, and/or awful women in real life. Like I love epic and powerful female characters but that doesn't mean that they can't be morally grey or evil. I wish Alicent treated Rhaenyra like her book counterpart. It would make the dynamic between the sides more interesting. More entertaining. More enjoyable. Like when Book Rhaenyra talks about the death of her sons to Book Alicent. Book Alicent response was crazy epic, telling Book Rhaenyra that the blood spilt was B*stard blood. A proper villain. A shame people won't get to see this version of Alicent in the live action. Alicent isn't the only example of an unfortunate case of a character not being like their counterpart.
The major problem last season was the time jumps and off-screen writing. Which I believe occurred because of the episode count. I will always feel like one of the down sides to this show (and other shows, actually) is the amount of episodes each season. Stories as deep, detailed and intricate as the books aren't suited for 10 or less episodes a season. The characters, world building and lore have too much depth to be boiled down to 8 or 10 episodes. The time jumps and off-screen writing are a prime example of this.
Another issue with the show is how the show is written in comparison to the marketing. The writing and the marketing are contradicting each other. HBO is marketing the show as "pick a side", which is nice. It made the show more interesting because of it. The idea of choosing a side. Like a "Pick your poison" or "Pick the lesser evil" because each side has their faults but the writing in the show has clearly chosen a side. Instead of showcasing a story of two sides, it's become a story about a "Good" and "Bad" side. Which sucks because almost every character in the story is supposed to be complex, multifaceted, and/or morally grey. Like Daemon. Speaking of which, he's another case of not being like his counterpart. He's supposed to be morally grey. Which is a character who isn't good but isn't bad, they're in-between. They make choices that can be bad but also decisions that can be good. We don't get to see Daemon's good side much in the show. For example, his love for his daughters. Which is a shame. That's such an easy way to showcase the more good sides to him but the show doesn't do it. Instead, they give his girls "daddy issues" when not everyone in the show needs it. There's already enough daddy issues on the show. I love an adorable father and daughter dynamic. I wish the show would just let us have more enjoyable character dynamics.
I agree with the world feeling small and it feeling like the dragons only take minutes to get to destinations. I miss the build up and travel time it took to get to places in GOT. We only got to see that with Christian Cole here
Why did Daemon need to see any visions at all? His RIVERRUN arch should have been rallying the river lords and contemplating fighting for his own claim.
Really? Now I need to wait two years for a show to finish the season it started? Honestly, finish those first and release them out of season, I don’t care. This is criminal. What all did we actually see happen in season 2 on a character perspective? Rhanyra grieves her son, fully explored every alternative to war, finally committed to war, and took action to win the war, only to have an alternative to war present itself at the very end for her to consider.
Damon went on a 7 episode trip on ayuhasca and ego, and finally resolved to do what he had already committed to.
Aegon actually had an arc, having been literally forced to grow as a character, because he lost his bravado.
Aemond started the season strong, quickly showing a newfound competence to match the ideal people had of him, and spent the season catching up to that image. He is forcing out confidence he doesn’t really have and it makes him unstable. That’s an interesting dynamic for sure. But, without knowledge of what’s to come, it certainly looks like he’s about to bite the dust and stop that interesting progress.
Ser Criston Cole had his existential crisis, and fell in a different way to Aegon, but similarly, isn’t looking king for this world.
Allicent was trying to wrangle her stupid kids for a whole season and none of them took to it so I guess she just consigned them to death to live out in the woods with her daughter.
Idk man, nothing that feels resolved feels earned.
Everyone complaining like there's anything better on TV these days. We finally get good cinema and people pick it apart negatively.
Good cinema has foreshadowing, buildup, and payoff. Where is the payoff? Where is the reward for viewers sticking with the show for 4 years? A fade to black ala Sopranos? Please, apologize all you want for this crap but I won't be coming back. I'm here to vent my anger.
never happy writers and actors strike didn't help
I did see a drop in the quality of acting and screenwriting in season 2 when compared to season 1. Something needs to change for season 3
I say what they could’ve done to salvage the season was keep this season at 10 episodes. Episode 9 would’ve been the battle of the gullet and 10 would’ve been the fallout and gearing up for all out war (possibly something else). Then season 3 could’ve been 6 episodes solely focusing on the war. Finally, season 4 has episodes closing out the war. Makes so much more sense in my opinion instead of the wet fart of a finale we got.
This show is phenomenal and every episode has been well written and entertaining, the problem is they are dragging this out to milk as much content from this story as they possibly can. This would be fine if this were a mid-season finale and we only had to wait a few months for the series to return
I patiently waited for the entire season to finish then binge watched it so that I don’t have to tortuously wait for the payoff week by week, just to find out by season “finale” that I still have to wait-- for TWO YEARS!!! 😂
The issue is nothing much happens, in an average game of thrones season from 1-5, characters situations shift massively, many characters die, many stories intercept and there’s usually a lot of tense scenes, the issue house of the dragon has though, is that none of that really happens all that often, the Daemon arch just leads to him going straight back to the position he was before he came to harrenhal, Alicent seems to be in the exact position she started in, alone and powerless, I don’t know how many scenes we’ve had of corlys sitting on the harbour talking to the bastard son who again stays in his same position. It’s just all to fitiguing to have all these subplots come to nothing, especially when game of thrones had such amazing sub plots like Tyrion sending off marcella, John protecting Tarly and Sansa cat fighting with Cersei. We’re really missing a Tywin character in the show who commands complete attention in every seen he’s in. Additionally to that, just overall the dialogue feels worse, I couldn’t stand any of the Jace scenes towards the end, it just all comes off as incredibly cringy, and with none who can really rebuff him beside rhaenyra with her “you are my heir” routine he’s very unbearable. Same with most of the characters, we don’t have Tyrion or Broncracking jokes or giving amazing speeches, or Cersei making pointed and penetrating attacks, or Jaime pulling of one liners, or Tywin giving stern speeches or Varys and Littlefinger giving us verbal bouts and jabs. Overall it’s just a bit of a downgrade. What we were told was dance of the dragon was going to be a conniving political drama akin to the war of five kings but with dragons, instead what we got was Rhaenyra vs the Greens with no other contenders. Rhaenys? Loyal and died fighting for Rhaenyra, Daemon? Fighting for Rhaenyra, Aemond? Injured the King who didn’t really matter anyway, The Castellan? Loyal to Rhaenyra without even knowing her, Rhaenyra council? Loyal even though they are doubting. Remember when Theon, Rob Starks best friend, left him in the off chance to serve his father? When does that happen in the show?
Is it me or they made Rhaenyra, Alicent and Rhaenys more symphatetic characters? Rhaenys and Rhanera are badass do not get me wrong but the good thing about ASOIAF is that characters are more realistic and flawed. Also Helaena is way more powerful than she is supposed to be and apparently they have eliminated Nettles and merge her with Rhaena.
It feels if D&D gor involved in season 2😂
no because it was actually based on a finished book
@@whoknew2273 They adding stiff not in the book too.