I like medieval politics. It's like if a trashy daytime drama also had realpolitik. When Gambo first became popular there were like ten shows that also tried to capture that vibe and every single one of them sucked - and in the end, even GoT would lose sight of what made it great. HotD isn't as good as those first few seasons of GoT were but it's definitely the second best medieval politics tv show made in recent years, and I hope we get more slop in this criminally underrepresented genre.
every character's a shit, pacing's pretty fucked, but there was some quite decent acting & like, authentically stupidly complicated set-up for the war of succession. that's the one thing i'll give grrrrmartin on his "gritty historical realism" charade, succession wars are the dumbest, most convoluted events and this series is certainly capturing that.
just like GoT (the good parts) the only actually interesting characters are the queens which is kinda funny, but for four different actors i think they did a fantastic job at that :shrug-outta-hecks: idk if im into it enough for season 2 tho
Well,
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having Aemon kill Jace by accident instead of on purpose strips a lot of meaning out of the entire thing
It's a "Whoopsies, guess it's time for Civil War" instead of a "This is what happens when you raise your children to think they deserve everything at the expense of others" moment
Like they're all terrible little shits who hate each other, this includes the adults
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Yeah, but remember Aemon started that fight, he was the bully
He got his dragon and decided that his first action after doing so was to go pick on some younger kids
He had big man with a gun syndrome and got salty after it didn't do him any good in an actual fight
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He was also bigger and stronger than all of them
He hectored the Velaryon girls, who were in the midst of grieving their mother
He also called Luke and Jace bastards, something which he knew would make things worse
He's a vicious little shit who should have been shoved into a locker
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that's totally not what happened he was shown being bullied earlier and it was implied it was a reccuring issue and then once he got a dragon they confronted him and being stupid kids who had a knife on hand things went too far.
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Exactly my point, Aemon hated Jace and Luserys, he was raised to
He had won the dragon argument, he didn't need to keep antagonizing (I repeat) younger kids
But he has big "Aegon's little spare" energy and escalated a situation that didn't need to be
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they were what seven and 6. kids are stupid they get in dumb fights kids with knives who are overexcited are really stupid. I don't think that fight or the loss of an eye was anything more than an unfortunate accident
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I don't know about that it's not uncommon for mistakes to be hugely influential especially in a military an Austrian army once famously attacked itself
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True, but to me it seems like the entire point of the Gameboy Throws series is how nobility and royalty bring out the worst in people, no matter how noble their intentions may be
Aemon is not a good person and taking away one reprehensible deed from him doesn't add any real sympathy to him, it just seems like a "Well, some people may like him, better tweak this event in his favor"
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I disagree I think it adds to the tragedy of it and highlights that they're all just kids
Idk we must remember that they're all teenagers trying to control literal dragons, i really like the idea of them being in over their heads
Why was nobody talking about the weather? In GoT everybody was always talking about summer and winter. Seasons are unpredictable and people always had to plan for winters that could last decades. Yet in House of the Dragon I don't remember anyone even mentioning it. Even in this fantasy setting the elite's narratives are removed from the material conditions of their world.
House of the Dragon is also trying to make points about the medieval era. But, its fantasy settings offers no discipline to actually engage with the medieval world. So the only commentary it can give is a commentary on memes and stereotypes. It's just another simulacra.
everything in HOTD so far takes place in the south. one of his themes is the geography of concern and apathy. the south never gives a shit about winter, the wall, or anything except its petty squabbles in the sun. viseries is the lone eccentric weirdo for having concern for the realm at large, let alone some prophecy about the north.
in the books "southron" is a derogatory term for people who live below The Neck, because all they know is warm sun, trade routes, fancy wines, fine silks, eat hot chip and lie.
only the north "remembers".
https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Southron
I think the weather is not mentioned in the book either, I guess GRRM forgets about it as well.
I liked it. Might overall be slop, but there's nothing better than smoking a bowl and letting the high quality slop roll in.
Great costume and set design all season too!
counterpoint he's a member of a royal family it's a realistic portrayal
Basically the same thing they did with Joffery. I think the Green kids kinda got done dirty with the time hop, simply because they weren't given a chance to develop as characters.
But he's absolutely the model of a wealthy, untouchable failson.
yeah no wonder he's a piece of shit the punishment for him assaulting somebody is for it to be covered up and him to be lightly scolded
The blacks were like deff the favorite before the show came out and even Aemond was slept on hard. Afaik Aegon being a serial rapist was also hinted at in the books, it's just more downplayed instead of being outright confirmed (like how it just speculates about Daemon killing his first wife instead of just showing how he brutally did it). Like the fighting pits and all that was 2/3 the episode too, was so fucking bad
same opinion. i really loved getting treated like i was some weird innocent baby for having an aversion to watching horrific displays of sexual violence when original gambo came out
i loved the part where gambo throne burst through the wall and said "ITS GAMBIN' TIME"
Loved it. Better TV than GoT IMO. Those books were not well suited for adaptation I think. With this they had less details so there was more freedom to play with it. Sometimes they did strange things like the fleabottom stuff.
Daemon wonderfully Targaryen. Viserys very different from the book in a good way. Otto Hightower very well acted by the almost naked welshman from Notting Hill
I want Dunk and Egg series next. Apparently it was proposed to HBO but they rejected it in favour of this though :sadness:
I agree and I dread it too. They are fairly simple stories though, which helps but is probably why they declined.
They could use the opportunity to branch out into the Blackfyre rebellions for more content.
I think Season 8 did such a good job of being terrible and killing my interest in the series that I haven't even glanced at any trailers or anything. Arya stabbing the Night King in episode 3 was a very clear indicator to me that the people making it had no clue about narrative momentum, in that the big event they've been building up to for the better part of decade was treated as a sideplot so that we could have
CLEGANEBOWL
GET HYPE
It's like GOT S4-6 tier at best although the CG is much much worse. I like that they made Daemon more abusive and that Aemond is finally getting some love from the fandom. I didn't think they were going to keep his dumb sapphire eye <3. Him not being able to control his dragon was lame tho ( ::: spoiler spoiler in the book he just says something to the effect of "I will have your life," then chases and murders him with vhagar (I also feel like this is how he's gonna lose at the God's Eye :::)). Grandma targ not killing everyone (except thousands of small folk) was dumb. The night episode was dumb and bad. Kid Dany killing a boar the way she did was dumb. Criston Cole murdering that dude and that just being fine was dumb. Idk why they never bothered to kinda age only his character either. Aegon child fighting was over the top, but I like that the show didn't downplay his uselessness or violence or disinterest in ruling (we still didn't need an episode traipsing around King's landing instead of focusing on the Green Council). All the fucking miscarriages wtf is up with that. I do like that the violence and disease looked hideous and would linger, although I personally had to skip through those scenes
Every scene dealing with the prophecy was the worst scene and I had to actively forget it to continue liking the show
I also haaaate how the fandom forgave Vizzy immediately for murdering his wife
It sounds like I'm in the minority here but I actually liked the slower paced episodes. I thought the wedding episode and the family dinner episodes were great. They created so much tension and gave the characters real texture.
Also fucking with Andor for the same reason, last episode was entirely talking and I loved it
I have absolutely been having the same experience with Andor. Iove that the most intriguing, compelling moments are well crafted conversations.
I've only experienced it through what characters my friends fixate on and post about but the sapphire eye man looks really cool and seems to have a neat character arc so far.
Also the community seems to take the issue of which side you are on very seriously with posts like "HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY BE GREEN AFTER THIS" or "I will accept any war crime the Blacks do no matter what" which is to an intensity I havent seen in a while.
