House of the Dragon

 

 

This is less of a constructive review of this TV series, and more a reflective bemusement that carries on me burying the demon that was ASOIAF. I couldn't exactly forget HotD, the illegitimate spawn from HBO, so allow me to prepare an unmarked grave next to the giant that once was.

After the Game of Thrones TV series ended, HBO no doubt felt they weren't financially satiated. Their bellies still grumbled, and their pockets demanded more. Again, much like the false hope we've all had to adopt for GRRM giving us Winds of Winter over the years, HotD amongst all the other rumoured spin-off shows could not only give us viewers more of the same, but perhaps cleanse our memories of the insulting end to the main show. It was a known and working foruma, and for some reason the source material now being a completed 'work' by GRRM (no doubt the master of the side quest) we avoid the writers bringing a 'the dog author ate my homework' to the table. 

The short of it is: 

• Season 1 was really quite good. Reminiscent of the highs that GoT itself provided.
• Season 2 comes around, and decides to slam on the brakes and throw the source material out the window.

It seems that you can give modern showrunners/writers all the ingredients and a working forumla. You can show them the mistakes of those that came before. You give them a safety net and a harness. You can even just throw money at a problem. 

Only this time, those given the keys to the show and acting roles dislike fantasy even more than those last time round. I always found it bizarre how many of the actors from the GoT show never bothered to pick up the books. Careers were born out of that show. Names were made. Childhoolds were spent. The adults and teenagers both had no interest in reading what it was all about. Not even a mild curiosity. What makes HotD even worse, is that the showrunners and directors themselves also have no love for the genre. No, they didn't want dragons. They didn't want fire and blood. They didn't want civil war and political scheming. They wanted to inject moden-day LGBT romances into a plot that never had any and do it under the umbrella of HBO and the success that came before.

Imagine being given the green light to adapt a really high budget historical adaption of the Wars of the Roses and it turns out the writers are actually solely interested in a couple woman they/theman from both the houses of York and Lancaster getting intimate. Cast the source material aside and use it for kindling. 

Any complaints, any audience backlash? Simple. Empowerment is your friend. Just declare all criticism as homophobia, cut another season short and continue to serve the dish that nobody wants. If they don't like it, tell them fantasy adaptions are a saturated market and if their bigoted little brains don't like it they can go and watch The Rings of Power instead. Not a fan of that either? The Wheel of Time or the Witcher, perhaps? Whole new meaning of 'cancel culture' there. Enjoy. Whether it be HBO, Amazon or Netflix steering the ship, this is apparently the best us dirty fantasy nerds deserve.