GoT: House of the Dragon

[Tiplodocus]

Am I the only one still watching? That latest episode was superb. I wasn't sure that the time jump would work, but it was quite brilliant.

Annoyingly our Now TV booster accidentally purchased has run out and I don't fancy paying another £15 per month on top of Netflix, Prime and Disney. YouTube thumbnails already spoiling it so I will have to make sure not to hover near anything vaguely GOT related until they disappear

[Jim_Campbell]

Ehhh. I think I’m done with this. Leaving aside the technical issues this week (much of the dialogue in the early parts was inaudible, and the tweak-the-colour-grading-and-pretend-we-shot-at-night stuff during a big chunk of the middle section made it almost impossible to identify characters beyond “it is/isn’t one of the ones with white hair”)… I just don’t care which of this shower of unlovable bastards successfully fucks over whichever other unlovable bastards.

[Funt Solo]

I just don’t care which of this shower of unlovable bastards successfully fucks over whichever other unlovable bastards.

That's a really good point regarding this show. The King was off my Xmas card list in the first episode, then the daughter (not a good sign that I'm not even recalling names) seemed like a victim but now seems like a deliberate cad, the King's brother is evil, the Queen is Machiavellian, the tongue-cutter set fire to his own family as a Littlefinger crossed with Bolton sicko power play.

So, yes, who are we rooting for? And why don't I know anyone's name? Is that just me?

The OG books and series had loveable shits and rooting for 'em victims that you could get behind or loathe on an episode by episode basis. So, it looks like the LOTR series is more LOTR than this is anything like GoT.

[Jim_Campbell]

So, yes, who are we rooting for?

I would refer the honourable gentleman back to my comment in the very first post on this thread:

Also not helped by the fact that, by the end of Ep1 of GoT, you at least liked Ned and Tyrion, whereas the overwhelming impression of this is: what a shower of cunts.

I kind of hoped it would find its way to some kind of… I want to say "moral centre" but "moral" isn't the right word with GRRM. I'm not saying that a work of fiction has to have moral characters at its core, but if you want to have amoral fuckers at the core of your story, then look to Dangerous Liaisons. Are your characters as thrillingly bad as those…? If your answer is, "No, but look how cool our CGI dragons are!" then I think we might be close to the nub of the problem…

[Richard]

I couldn't hear anything at the start either, and I haven't learned anyone's name except Daemon's, and that's only because it sounds like demon and it's Matt Smith.

But I got into this episode from the fight between the children and the ensuing showdown in the throne room. That was pretty exciting, and I was rooting for the kid who rode the dragon and then lost an eye, because he was being bullied by the other children last week and this week he stood up for himself. I've a feeling he's going to become a significant character in the next three episodes.

Anyway I've seen 70% of it now, so I'm going to see it through.

[Rara Avis]

I'm loving it more each episode and I'm not really rooting for anyone - they are all terrible but part of the appeal to me is this exploration of the ambiguity and that it's all grey areas. Rhaenaera is the lawful heir but she's dreadful and while Alicent is right she's also awful too.

[Jim_Campbell]

Hfff. My wife prevailed upon me to continue… I mean, it's all very handsome (when you can actually see what's going on) but I just don't understand the writing. Are we supposed to root for Rhaenerys (sp?) when we have literally no reason to?

As near as I can figure out, the 'bitch' queen we're all supposed to hate (?) is about the only character who hasn't straight up murdered someone or fucked their uncle.

I don't mind amoral characters trying to get the upper hand over one another (I mean, S2 of Black Sails, which is literally wall-to-wall that, is one of my favourite bits of TV) but, for God's sake, I need to like some of them.

[Tiplodocus]

Maybe it's all a ploy so everyone can burst into singing "Shut your fucking mouth, Uncle Fucker" from South Park The Movie?

[Funt Solo]

Should've done a Cthulhu Mythos crossover called House of the Dagon.

[Barrington Boots]

I would have watched that.

[Jim_Campbell]

Maybe it's all a ploy so everyone can burst into singing "Shut your fucking mouth, Uncle Fucker" from South Park The Movie?

I'll confess that this was playing in my head for a large part of last week's episode.

[Mister Pops]

As near as I can figure out, the 'bitch' queen we're all supposed to hate (?) is about the only character who hasn't straight up murdered someone or fucked their uncle.

I’m not sure about that. She had a bit of a “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest hand of the king?” moment with cripplefinger.

….I need to like some of them.

Or at least enjoy hating them, like Joffrey Baratheon. The time jumps don’t help, the characters have understandably changed and developed in between, but we don’t go on the journey with them, we just see the major landmarks. Changing the cast doesn’t help either, but I suppose it makes all the grooming less obvious.

The king has made some godawful decisions throughout his reign, but Paddy Cosidine gas been sooo good I can at least sympathise with why he made them.

[Funt Solo]

I've not drummed up the energy to watch the most recent episode, which I suppose speaks volumes.

I was thinking about it, and the first glaring issue I had with the series was The Crabfeeder. No backstory, no personality, no reason - just a super-villain with a super-villain's name, feeding captors to crabs in a super-villainous way. Like all the best super-villains, he's all twisted and deformed and has a costume - but all his minions dress the same, and mindlessly go up against the hero bit by bit until they're all dead and it's just the super-villain left.

In OG GoT, you certainly had mean bastards (Ramsey Bolton, come on down), but they were believable in the milieu.

---

I think the show's failing (me) because they've made a show about a history book, rather than a show about a story book (based on some history).

[Rara Avis]

If I recall correctly there is a resurgence of the Triarchy at some stage later in the story that might be important. They are probably focusing on such a dramatic character so that later in the show the audience will still remember them. The bit in the book about Crabfeeder is just one line so they didn't have much to go with.

Incredible episode this week, my god but Paddy Considine is INCREDIBLE in the role of Viserys.

There's an official HOTD podcast and they interview him this week. Well worth a listen.

@ Jim, I don't think we are meant to root for any of them but I'm loving it.

[Mister Pops]

... Paddy Considine is INCREDIBLE in the role of Viserys.

This cannot be overstated, an absolutely amazing performance this week. Really struck a chord with my experiences of thran elderly relatives in palliative care.