House of the Dragon (2022– )
6/10
Meh, a soap opera with good production value, but lacks compelling plot
12 September 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I'm four episodes in and I can say I don't feel strongly about this show. I was huge fan of GoT, but disappointed with the way it ended, so I was not really excited when they announced this show.

So far, it hasn't been that great. This takes place about 170ish years before the events of GoT, so we see what a Targaryean ruled Westeros is like. The plot so far heavily revolves around a looming war of succession between multiple Targaryeans. It's basically a soap opera, with a lot of double dealing and backstabbing going on.

One thing that really annoyed me was that they try to link it the original series by connecting the Targaryean rule to the prophecy in GoT. This makes little sense, and was clearly done as a cheap tie-in with little thought behind it. The worst part is, it's just a painful reminder of the way GoT ended, and how disappointing the whole "prophecy" thing was (not to mention a red herring) and how underwhelming the white walker invasion was after years of build up.

That brings me to my final complaint, in that there's no real compelling antagonists or protagonists here. We have a bunch of unlikeable characters vying for the throne, but all of them are pretty horrible. There's no Jon Snow or Tyrion Lannister, and after episode 4, it looks like Rhaenrys has more in common to Cersei than Daenerys. There is no one to root for, and no existential threat beyond the wall or from anywhere else. It's just palace intrigues and plots within plots.

Enjoyable for those like soap operas, with a little T&A and some brutal violence, with the occassional dragon thrown in. High production value for sure, and the end of episode three had a pretty cool battle scene. But this isn't the type of show you get obsessed with like GoT was.
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