I Don’t Think House of the Dragon is Very Good

WARNING: Spoilers and Tangents

There it is. Baked into the title.

It’s true. I don’t like House of the Dragon very much.

When I first saw the trailer releases and the beginning of the marketing campaign for the series, I felt absolutely nothing. Originally, I found both the books and show to hold so much promise during my original exposure to them, but ultimately, I discovered some of my biggest disappointments.

The first time I heard about Game of Thrones, I was in the driver’s seat of a Toyota Camry with some idea of how to drive. My driving instructor was in the passenger seat telling me and the student in the back about this really crazy series. He mentioned that it was a political fantasy book with kings and knights and magic that was referenced but rarely ever shown. He continued to summarize the first book while I tried to focus on keeping us all on the road.

I didn’t think much of the series again until I saw the box set for A Song of Ice and Fire, with the first book being Game of Thrones, and the sequels following a similar naming convention, A Storm of Swords, A Feast of Crows, etc. It’s very much a a tropey fantasy naming convention.

I devoured those books. It had everything I found so appealing about fantasy worlds and fiction, with sprawling world building, a history that could be felt in minute details and a cast of memorable characters whose point of views we took on with each chapter. But it was also so much more mature in its content, featuring graphic violence, sex scenes, betrayal after betrayal and cumulatively what amounted to a rather cold worldview that felt more grounded as I became more disenchanted with age. 

Shortly after I started reading, the show was released and I got to see these scenes leap from the page within a year where some fans of the books had waited decades. And that felt like an event. Rarely do I feel particularly excited for the release of a movie or tv series these days. Even long awaited films like Dune were easy to be patient for. But when I think of the coolest days for television in my mind, it was the debut of The Walking Dead, which I watched at the height of my horror movie/-b-movie mania, the announcement that Twin Peaks was returning after 25 years and the Game of Thrones drop. 

My favorite characters were Arya and Tyrion, my two underdogs. Reading through the books, it often felt like homework to crank through the storyline of Daenarys or Jon, though I understood that it was necessary for the grand plot. I was impressed at the vast tapestry laid out, thrilled at the sudden twists and turns in narrative and often shocked when a sequence of carefully timed moves made by multiple characters resulted in the least expected outcome. I remember reading the Red Wedding scene and having to put the book down. I walked around the house and sat down again and waited till the next day before I started reading again. It was that show that literally celebrated the unofficial motto of “Tune in and watch us kill your favorite characters.”

I miss how glued I felt to those books, to that story, always carrying a copy around or reading in the car when my friends drove us up to the beach, or staying up until 2am crossing my fingers that my favorite characters wouldn’t get the ax. But then something terrible happened. I finished the books. And I was left with a complex web of plotlines with no resolution in sight. 

But don’t worry there is a new one coming out anytime now. I mean the first book came out in 1990 and the fifth is slotted for… 2011? Wait. What the fuck. What is going on here?

That’s when I found out that this guy, George R. R. Martin is the slowest goddamn writer I’ve ever heard about. And I wouldn’t necessarily be bugged by that if his work wasn’t a serial franchise built on sensational cliffhangers and elaborately woven story threads. But I was concerned the story would be far less impactful if I say… I don’t know… forget about them as I enter old age. 

What? Am I supposed to re-read the books everytime a new one is about to get released or spruce up my lore knowledge with cliff notes?

One time I was voicing my frustration about the series to my friend’s uncle and he responded that the series was “all pulp fiction.” Cheap thrills, he was saying. But I don’t know, I still liked it. And it was a huge inspiration for how I wanted to tell my stories. I wanted to create a world where everything was connected together. Planned. Built like a clock. 

I created a cosmos that had primordial deities and mapped out a timeline with a pre-history and the dawn of mankind and alternate histories that lead into a present full of the paranatural as I called it. I created a cast and planted epic events and started creating story arcs for all of my protagonists. And to this day, I’ve barely really fleshed it out.

I reached a point where the world had become too cumbersome to even approach. It was so hard to start because everything had to follow tracks that I often couldn’t really commit to or sometimes recall. And I realized George R. R. Martin has no idea what he’s fucking doing, which was comforting only in that I got the message that you don’t need to know what you’re doing to make a living. 

From that point on, I continued to watch the tv show catch-up to where the books left off and have no clue where to go. It spiraled and flailed and turned into the exact type of formulaic fantasy story that the original premise had tried to set out to undermine. And I watched, though where I was once transfixed to the screen and invested in the plot, now I felt like I was just bearing witness. 

What once felt compelling now seemed unnecessary. The masterful tone veered into melodrama. Interesting plots were completely abandoned. And the series was left feeling like barely salvaged shlock. 

This is all to preamble my mentality entering the House of Dragons. 

Of course, they would make it. HBO had built a brand with an audience. They hired a guy to invent a language. Heck they probably still had that plaster throne. It would be surprising of HBO not to throw down more for this intellectual property. And now we’re gonna see this franchise outlive us all. 

I saw season 1 well after it had aired on the network. I actually told myself not to watch it. I’ve tried to be more selective about what I watch as I have less and less time to spare these days. But one night, I found myself watching the trailer, or seeing little youtube shorts that then began to litter my algorithm. And I thought to myself, well what else am I supposed to do with all of this fictional world-building I learned about in the past few years. I may not know how to get a mortgage, but I do know that dragons can be commanded with the ancient Valaryian tongue and what the Hand of a King is, and about a dozen house names and sigils, so sure let’s go. 

What I found was that I was more attentive than I thought I was going to be with the show. I thought this was gonna be a background show to tune out, but I paid attention to this domestic drama about a monarchical family in an age of peace building up to an all out civil war. 

I actually appreciated how contained the story felt within the walls of King’s Landing. I thought the acting was superb with particularly compelling performances by Paddy Considine and Rhys Ifans. I was also really excited to see Olivia Cooke, who I hadn’t really seen on screen since Bates Motel, which is quite a weird throwback to think about now. 

And while I could appreciate the sets and the costumes and what is objectively a very beautiful show, I couldn’t help but think to myself that…- this show feels completely joyless. 

Part of this comes with the territory of “real politik” or this Hobbesian view that people are inherently cruel and brutish. Part of it is the suffocating formality of a medieval setting that is stringently hierarchical with constant ceremonies and customs that are observed. But part of it too is there’s not a lot to care about in these characters. I don’t feel like the show asks me to like any of them. And that might be a good thing. If I were to travel back in time and go back to Victorian England, and I was plopped in the middle of court to discuss foreign policy, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t like anyone in that room. It can be really interesting to work with a story in which we’re not expected to align with the protagonist/s. But I don’t think that’s what the show wants. It seems to want to do a Twilight-esque “choose a side,” Jacob or Edward. The Blacks or the Greens. 

It kind of reminds me of like Marvel Civil War, where you pick a side based off of its Charismatic Composition. Do you prefer watching Robert Downey Jr. or Chris Evans on screen? But I don’t think HotD has the same sauce. Everyone’s just so somber and dour, and those who are likable at all are Doing sketchy shit like Matt Damon… oh fuck that’s funny. I mixed up Matt Smith’s name with his character Daemon Targaryen. Matt Daemon. Holy shit that’s good, and we’re committing to it. 

So yeah, Matt Daemon, goes on to groom his niece, Rhaenyra, into becoming his lover/concubine. And this to me is weird. It’s weird to see. It’s weird to be asked to find this entertaining by the show. It’s weird to be framed as being okay when we see the relationship continues after they age Rhaenyra up to Emma D’arcy status. 

What am I supposed to do with these power dynamics? I don’t like them. They don’t feel good. It feels icky. 

Now I recently just saw Licorice Pizza and in that coming of age romance, there is a relationship with a pretty big age difference. It takes place in the 60s and the boy is 15 at the start of the movie and the woman is 25. Now as my partner and I talked about this, it wasn’t a super aversive element because it didn’t feel  like a power fantasy, it felt like “this at one point happened or has happened, what does this mean and how can we think about it?” With HotD, it feels more like “well it was a different time,” when technically, no it wasn’t, this is a fantasy show and if you want to incorporate underage incest into the story line, sure go ahead, but I mean please give me some tools as a viewer to understand what it’s doing and how I’m supposed to think of it. So no, I don’t find most of the cast charming per se.

Everyone is just constantly scheming and there are some really gross dynamics that feel regressive even for GoT. Like Viserys looking for a new bride and is at first offered like this 12 year old girl, Laena Velaryon (it took me forever to research the name,) and it’s played like a comedic bit like Viserys would never marry a 12 year old, but then goes on to marry and bed Alicent. Matt Daemon is clearly supposed to be the wild card of the show, but after I saw him groom his niece and kill his wife, I wondered to myself, what other quirky things can we expect to see from this pleasantly crafted character. 

I don’t even think he’s poorly acted. Everyone is genuinely played really well, but the writing positions everyone as being pieces of shit. Like I don’t care if you are charming in one scene or another. If you sleep with your underage niece and kill your wife, I’m going to feel weird. And it’s just so clear that this character is the show’s darling boy. This show cares A LOT about Matt Daemon.

I will say though, I do enjoy one piece of shit, and that’s Otto Hightower, who I do find to be delightfully Machiavellian. It’s like, yes he’s scheming and no he doesn’t care about anyone, but there’s an Iago-like duplicity that is genuinely fun to watch, especially contrasted with King Viserys’ moderate center-of-the-road politics. But the only character who I like to watch, and also just like, is Emma D’arcy, and I think the actor makes a good point about when the show is actually good.

They said in an interview that the show is best at domestic kitchen sink scenes, and I wholeheartedly agree. The show is better at being August Osage County than Game of Thrones. The best scene by far is when Viserys is a skeletal phantom of his former self but is still trying to keep the family together at the dinner table. It’s such a desperate human scene that feels like one of the biggest payoffs for setting up this branching family tree. The cherry on top is when he goes to sit on his throne and is supported by his petulant brother who is afraid to be near him as the king’s fragility and nearness to death deeply unnerves Matt Daemon. 

I said before that this is a joyless show, but that’s not true in this scene. Whatever joy there was was facilitated by the temperate demeanor of this former ruler, but that hope for unification is dashed by the escalating conflict driven by both factions of House Targaryen. 

Another qualm I have with this show, and this honestly might just be me, but I feel like the larger cast is less memorable. I don’t know how to describe it, but I feel like most of the small council members and the Kingsguard and the randos who pop in and out of the story are just really hard to keep track of. Like the show is pretty good at taking us through the years and hitting key plot points in an economical fashion, but this time jumping and emphasis on the bigger chess moves really eclipses the supporting cast. Like in Game of Thrones, it’s kind of shocking how many memorable characters there are: the Mountain, the Hound, the Prince of Dorne, Little Finger, The Queen of Thorns, Asha Greyjoy, Khal Drogo, Tywin Lannister, Sam Tarley, like it’s stacked. And ALL of the main characters, especially the Starks (minus Rickon,) Tyrion and Daenerys are so good at sharing the role of protagonist. And I wonder how much of that is good casting vs. good writing/direction.

I think that’s a big part of why I was so down with GoT. It was just so character driven.

In HotD, I know the Starks have shown up, but I don’t really remember too much about them. Same with the Baratheons when we got to finally see them at their castle. And even visiting The Wall, I’m having trouble remembering who the Lord Commander was. Again, maybe that’s a me thing, but the only non-Targaryen I can readily recall is that one Lannister with the twin. And I think that only stuck because they showed him twice. Oh and Criston Cole, but I friggin’ hate that guy.

So why am I even watching this show? 

I’m not entirely sure, but I think it comes down to the fact that I already bought in and have the lore and so what little happiness I get from recollecting a fact or recognizing a flag really gets me through the show. The other factor is Emma D’arcy. 

As I mentioned, the show wants to divide its audience into two camps, the Greens and the Blacks, and maybe there’s actual debate over this, but I mean it’s pretty clear to me that the show prefers Rhaenarys Targaryen. She’s the underdog, is far more charismatic, we know she has the stronger claim by the intention of her father and she’s not completely unstable. And her performance is just completely magnetic. She performs stress really dynamically which can be otherwise exhausting as both a performer and a viewer in the context of a show whose entire job is to stress you out and leave you on cliff hangers. 

So I think part of what keeps this dichotomy from working is, there seems to me, to be a clear favorite. The other thing is, there’s no clear identity to the houses from what I can tell aside from a few Targaryens here and a few there. 

I suppose you can try to figure out the two sides of this civil war by the houses and lands that swear fealty to the Greens or the Blacks, but even that is in constant flux and conflict because there’s genuine confusion among the rank and file as to who is bound to whom.

So then, aside from ambiguous vows, what makes a house pick one side or the other? The short answer seems to be promise of wealth and resources, or who they think has the better chance to win by sheer force, and every once in a while you have a stubborn house that is honor bound with a clear sense of allegiance.

The two sides have no deviating characteristics. There’s no social platform or political goals that are communicated to the public besides divine mandates of “follow us or else.” This is not to say that both sides have no personality. They do, and they’re both singular. Both parties are extensions of the individual wearing the crown. 

So for part of season 2, we have Aegon the Over-Accommodator people pleasing at court for sometime until his baby is killed and he hangs a bunch of peasants. Or afterward One-Eyed Aemond who projects a cool calculating disposition and plans a couple of sleek wins before encountering one setback and laying waste to a village to feel better. Or even Rhaenyra, who constantly seeks alternatives to the war, hesitates in escalating conflicts and demonstrates an eagerness to find a civilized path forward, is quick to approve the murder of thousands of innocents in an attempt to end the war through sheer devastating force. For Rhaenyra, might is right, and when the war is won, then we can start seeking out some proper reform. 

What I’m trying to argue is the coalitions on either side aren’t held by any beliefs or values held collectively. They’re both extensions of their party’s nominees. And they act as an institutional vehicle to exercise the whims of these individuals. 

And yes, they have advisors and people to weigh in, but they’re hardly ever an effective form of accountability and are quicker to bend the knee than voice dissent. There’s occasionally a shadowy figure in the back operating a kingly puppet, but even this figure, whether it be Otto Hightower or Larys the Cripple, is able to operate through the ruler by intimately understanding the levers of their operant’s personality. And the personalities in this TV show are all over the place. 

Now I suppose one can argue there are at least a few trends. Rhaenyra has a comparatively more nurturing domestic policy as seen with some food distribution into King’s Landing while Aemond has little regard for the lives of small folk. And perhaps you could go so far as to say that Rhaenyra elevates the poor to positions of power such as her advisor, Mysaria, who suggested sending aid to the poor as a form of subterfuge. Rhaenerys has also sought to find dragonriders among the low-born and challenge the generational tradition that only Targaryens can command dragons.

But my reply to these generous interpretations is, even though Emma D’arcy is my queen, I sincerely don’t believe she gives a shit about commoners. Each of these were all choices that promised to increase her political power and I guess that’s what makes this show realpolitik. Cos’ everything is about power, woah, realpolitik. Everything is transactional, blam, realpolitik. People don’t believe in things, kachow, realpolitik. 

The only moment in the show that doesn’t seem to be governed by this realpolitik worldview is the budding romantic tension between Rhaenerys and Mysaria. I felt it pretty early on in Season 2. I figured that these two ladies are p traumatized, and that maybe they’d make each other feel safe enough to maybe explore what it could mean to love another person. I dunno, that was just my early take, but the scene where they kiss felt so sudden and right when it happened, I’m surprised my computer didn’t fog up from the steam. Apparently this was a suggestion from D’arcy after interpreting the original script that didn’t have the kiss in it. So it makes sense that I liked it, since this moment came from outside the shows’ typical creative engine. 

Anyway, both sides are cults of personality premised on hereditary claims and the interpretations of the previous administration’s intentions. Both are traditionalists that seek to maintain the status quo, they just ultimately disagree as to who will lead the maintenance of that status quo. The kingdom isn’t disrupted by revolution, but from what I can tell, a technicality. The success of one side or the other bears no promise or vision. We as the viewers are just assured that whoever wins will have to be the most competent ruler by virtue of the fact that they didn’t die. And if the less competent ruler wins, well then that’s just realpolitik. 

The only thing I think of that is actually called into question and requires some amount of societal introspection is the question of gender. 

There’s no class reformation happening here. This show has nothing to say about race besides acknowledging that it exists. No other social issue is apparent besides the fact that there’s never been a strong commanding Queen in Westeros before. This seems to be one of the few visible dynamics that apparently work against her consistently when trying to win allegiances. 

And what made me really excited to explore the shows relationship with gender in a more nuanced way, was when Rhaenerys laments on her and Daemon’s relationship. She says they were in love because they always embodied what the other wanted to inhabit. Rhaenerys was next on the throne and Matt Daemon was a man. 

How far is this show willing to go in playing with gender and asking these questions? Who knows, cos after this line is casually spoken, the second season ends precisely where the first one ends, with both sides about to go to war. Another long build up without release from the first one. And ended at eight episodes rather than the usual ten. Typically there’s a penultimate episode where a raging battle ensues the entire length of the episode or a sinister plot unravels into a big twist. Not the case here. 

Before I get into my concluding thoughts, I want to offer a few honorable mentions.

• Ser Criston Cole is the worst character. Utterly humorless and takes up way too much screen time. I do not like this character. I thought I was honestly gonna rant about this guy way more than I ended up doing. I just don’t think he does a lot. 

• Matt Daemon’s whole Haarenhal arc was kinda stupid but I didn’t mind it cos I liked the atmosphere of the scenes. I thought it was funny when he encountered houses that weren’t going to give in to his usual intimidation tactics. I liked how they were ready to face dragon-immolation rather than let this motherfucker fly in on the back of a living missile and tell them what to do. I also thought the kid who decided to begrudgingly side with him was a good character. Surprised me in a good way. But Daemon’s final dream that referenced Game of Thrones was stupid, and I didn’t buy it as the sobering vision that he needed to accept Rhaenerys as his queen. 

• I used to think the Targaryens looked really odd. Like yes, they have unnaturally light hair, but I thought everyone was going to have this like elfish quality to them. But when you look at Paddy Considine, it’s like, that’s just a guy. I don’t think it’s good or bad. It was just a strong reaction I had in the beginning. 

• Philosophy Tube has been in absolutely everything lately, what’s up with that. I mean good for her. Baldur’s Gate III. The Acolyte. And now HotD as the chief pirate. I wasn’t sure what the gender identity of the character was though. I think the show referred to Philosophy Tube’s character as a man, and I thought it was funny that when he seemed attracted to the Lannister he was like, “I like you, please make love to my wives.” It took my brain a minute to adjust and separate the actor from the character.

• I thought the idea of finding dragonriders among the people was a fun idea, but it’s pretty clear that you need SOME Targaryen blood. Hereditary magic just sort of eeks me out these days. I kinda wish at least one of the low-born dragon riders had no discernible or plausible connection to the Targaryen family. And it just makes me ask again, like why are they able to be these like Draconian demi-gods? Is that ever explained? Hold on, I’m gonna look it up real quick…-Okay, yeah, it’s not explained. They just can. 

• I miss Joffrey.

Overall, I don’t like this show very much, but there’s a lot to talk about.

The first season had flaws, but at least it tried things that were different from what we were used to in Game of Thrones by jumping through time, taking place during a time of relative peace, and having the season serve as a great build up with a promise of war. That promise was never realized in season 2 and it felt like we just waited for forces to slowly mobilize in indistinct factions without that release of tension. Just another build up that was done in a less graceful way. 

Almost all of the characters are pretty much miserable and my only rock is Rhaenerya who very well might end up suffering the same fate as Dhaenarys in which the show betrays her. But we out here and we love us nonbinary people in fantasy dramas. 

Will I watch season three? 

I think I’d need to hear some positive buzz cos’ right now, I don’t think Emma D’arcy is enough to keep me around. The whole franchise sort of bums me out. I think what the whole series, the books, and both versions of the tv series has me asking now is, what is it that these stories promised to give us and what was it that we were eager to find? When we engage in these worlds, what exactly are we buying into and what can storytellers learn from the highs and lows of such a behemoth high budget story? 

I’ll conclude with this. If you’re like me and you were into A Song of Ice and Fire and want to find something that hits similarly, I’d recommend the older series Wild Cards edited by George R. R. Martin. It’s a mosaic novel meaning that Martin pretty much DM’s the world of these weird super heroes and a bunch of writers contribute stories in a kind of cohesive anthology. The world is about an alien virus that lands on Earth during the second world war and it mostly kills people, turns them into mutants or every once in a while, turns a person into a superhuman with powers. I only read the first two or three books a while ago, but I really enjoyed it then. I’ll update my thoughts on the series when HBO announces a television adaptation inevitably. And if you plan on writing some fantasy, I hope you consider sending it my way. I’m really quite eager for some new stories.