As the Dance of the Dragons rages on, House of the Dragon fans are caught up in their own civil war over criticisms of Season 2.
The reception to House of the Dragon Season 1 was relatively peaceful. Perhaps after the trauma of Game of Thrones’ ending, the fact that it was not only watchable but great was enough for fans.
Season 2 has been a bit different. While broadly acclaimed by critics, viewers have taken issue with its pacing and changes to George R.R. Martin’s source material.
The author even hinted at his own problems with the series in a lengthy post about dragons, coming just before Episode 6 teased a wild dragon in the Vale. That episode also featured a kiss between Rhaenyra and Mysaria, resulting in all-too-predictable review-bombing online.
On the House of the Dragon subreddit, branman887 addressed complaints that Episode 6 was “boring” and “nothing happened” by listing 11 developments, including Seasmoke claiming Addam of Hull and Rhaenyra undermining the Greens by sending food across the bay.
“It’s not slow, you’re just impatient,” they wrote, and the post has received more than 1,000 comments so far.
“Did we forget how f**king awful [Game of Thrones Season 8] was, are they for real? The dialogue alone was so f**king awful it’s not even a fair comparison,” one fan wrote, with another replying: “Everybody’s reaction to Season 2 is so dramatic dude.”
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However, another argued: “Everything is slow, it feels like it is mimicking the way of theater acting that emphasizes a lot on overdone body expressivity and articulation of the lines, which deserves the complexity of the story since it takes needless time, time that could be used to deepen and detail the portrayals of events and characters.”
“The dialogue isn’t that captivating, the characters are not very fleshed out, and every episode seems to follow the same formula,” one user commented, highlighting Daemon’s ongoing Harrenhal plot with Alys Rivers.
There have also been notable changes from Fire and Blood: Blood and Cheese unfolded a bit differently, we’ve still not met Daeron Targaryen, Maelor hasn’t been born, and it appears Nettles will be cut altogether in favor of expanding Rhaena’s storyline.
“GRRM’s writing has its flaws and limitations, even though I love his books, so I’m not complaining all that much about the changes to Fire and Blood,” one user wrote, while another commented: “I’m excited to see how the show fills in the gaps, but I can’t help but feel a bit impatient while I’m watching to see the next ‘big’ thing that happens.”
Before Episode 7, make sure you’re up to date with our House of the Dragon Season 2 release schedule, and check out our guides on Hugh Hummer, Ulf the White, and the theory about Daeron’s real father.
