Haven’t watched House of the Dragon yet but it sounds like Episode 1 was a sausage party. Are people into it? Do you want me to watch it & start doing summaries like I did with Game of Thrones, or should I not bother with it? [Just Jared]
Michael Buble & Luisana Lopilato welcomed their fourth baby. [Seriously OMG]
Everyone has been obsessed with this photo of Andrew Garfield. [Dlisted]
Tevin Campbell came out, congrats to him. [LaineyGossip]
Abolish the police – one Alabama town decided to do just that. [Jezebel]
Paula Abdul, these pants are terrible. [Go Fug Yourself]
I actually wish I owned more graphic tees. [Gawker]
Review of Beast, the new Idris Elba movie. [Pajiba]
Ancient artifacts & historic pieces are being uncovered all over Europe because of their drought. So this is terrible news, actually. [Buzzfeed]
I often feel like Juno Temple is too styled, right? There’s too much. [RCFA]
Liz Cheney is making plans for the future. [Towleroad]
People still don’t know Tom Brady’s “personal reasons” for skipping some games. [Egotastic]
Haven’t watched the first episode yet but I would love a recap/commentary each week on it! I think that was one of the best parts of GoT….the fact that it was this water cooler show, and probably one of the last big ones, where you pretty much HAD to watch it Sunday night (or as early as you could on Monday) bc people were going to be talking about it and it was impossible to avoid spoilers etc.
I think you need to wait on 2-3 episodes in. Last night seemed more like an overall introduction to the characters of which only one character (Alicent) is likable.
I think that’s going to shift. Alicent becomes pretty problematic.
In some of the commentaries I’ve read and heard, finding likable characters in general is going to be a huge obstacle for this show.
All the parts of GoT I didn’t like (gratuitous violence, violence against women, and aggressive sex without romance), and none of the stuff I did (political intrigue, sumptuous sets). The CG was really bad and fake-looking, and I didn’t leave the episode with any favorite characters or anyone I was rooting for. So….meh. My husband will watch, so I will probably see more episodes, but not because I would tune back in.
Also, all that budget and they still can’t find blonde wigs that don’t look fake and ratty.
I was disappointed.I will give it another show to two but I wasn’t impressed at all.
You nailed it: there’s no one I’m rooting for! Very little human interest, just a lot of gore and a plot about who’ll get the throne, but since I don’t like the characters, who cares? I hate to sound shallow, but the 3 main characters: king, his brother, and his daughter, are all unattractive to me, physically AND in personality. What a disappointment…
Don’t love his character, and I definitely don’t love the blond wig…But I love Paddy Considine so much. Even if the show was terrible (I actually liked episode 1), I’d probably watch for him.
I’m still not over how badly they sh*t the bed on the last 3 eps of GoT, so this is a pass from me.
Totally agree! Husband watched it and what little I saw met all my low expectations. At the end of the day GRR is in it for the shock value. NOT the protagonist.
Omg! So much graphic violence. It was just so unnecessary. I must be a prude. Lol
Oh gosh, last three episodes? I’d say the last 2-3 seasons were fairly terrible (basically when they had no more books to go off of and just made stuff up on their own) with the last half of the last season being especially stand-out bad.
But I’m going to give this series a try because: 1) everything is already written, 2) there is no Jon Snow who was the whiniest, mopiest character to ever whine and mope and 3) Weiss and Benioff are not involved.
Hope springs eternal.
Even before the impatient, almost indifferent way they tried to wrap up the series, I couldn’t forgive the way they f–ked up the whole Dorne storyline and turned the Sand Snakes into straightforward villains (and not even love-to-hate-them villains like Joffrey. Just lazy, cliché femmes fatale) with some of the most embarrassing dialogue this side of “hold me like you did by the lake on Naboo”. I finished watching the series, of course, and I enjoyed certain character arcs and evolutions, but in general, I lost faith in Benioff and Weiss as storytellers after that.
That said, I’m cautiously optimistic about HotD because it’s based on a finished work, so there’s (hopefully) less room for that kind of inept improvisation.
GoT burned me good, no pun intended, so much so that I can’t be bothered with this prequel. I’m still upset at how the previous series ended – with the status quo still in charge and Khaleesi being written so badly at the end.
Ditto. Not re-subscribing to HBO for that, no way.
I always had a hunch about Tevin Campbell though I never said it out loud. It’s nice he is finally living his life authentically and is happy. Good for him !
I really enjoyed it, although I feel like it took GoT a long time to let the women evolve as leaders, and HoD is jumping in with that because it was such a huge success in GoT. Given that this takes place 200 years earlier, and we know there was no tradition of women being leaders in House Targaryen, I’m worried it’s gonna coma across as try hard, jumping over character development. But that one scene (trying not to spoil) which was written and filmed before the Dobbs decision was really painful to watch. This fictional medieval world just absolutely called out the present day U.S.
It’s based on the book written by GRRM, Fire and Blood and seems to follow it closely so having a female ruler isn’t due to expectations after GOT but on an already completed prequel book.
It’s going to be an interesting show because none of the main characters is likeable, I think. From a reader point of view that’s great, but I don’t know how well that plays on tv (see how they made Daenerys “nicer” than the book version so people would root for her).
Without spoiling anything, I was prepared to watch a first episode full of heavy dialogue and confusing main characters with a dash of graphic violence, was surprised that the most… disturbing? scene of the episode was something that could happen in real life. On the bright side, the wardrobe was AMAZING, too many details that made me want to pause on each frame and watch closely.
Also: all these blonde women are so interchangeable I had a really hard time distinguishing them on the teaser!
I would love to read recaps! I’m not paying for it, so you will be my source @Kaiser!
Glen Weldon at NPR is doing recaps and they’re hilarious even if you don’t watch the show. Other sites have recaps too.
I’m watching it because I’m a Matt Smith fan. Would love your take each week! It was as you would expect, but I feel a special mention must be made of Milly Alcock’s superior acting. I think she’ll be the breakout star. Overall I enjoyed the first episode and I plan to watch.
I thought Milly Alcock was great, too, but then I realized an aged up version of her character was in the trailer for episode 2. So does she not hang around long? She was so good!
I could never get into GoT (I tried several times) so I have no interest in this new show.
Oof Paula’s whole outfit is…not great. I don’t hate Juno’s dress though? But I agree she’s often got too much going on.
I don’t like Tom Brady, but his personal reasons are his business and maybe not everything needs to be pried into by the public.
– I deffo vote for recaps
– Liz Cheney still aligned with Trump on everything except the election. I’m glad she took a stand, but she is far from a politician that serves my values or interests in this country.
The only use I have for her is if she runs as a spoiler against DeSantis. She’ll peel off the non Trump but loyal repubs, and her voting record will be enough to keep dems away. But I’d rather she just be a thorn in Trump’s side until he’s incarcerated.
Wishful thinking….as a Floridian I would rather vote for a pet rock rather than DeSantis if I was a Republican. This guy has been a nightmare and now he’s after people that supposedly voted “illegally” claiming voter fraud which of course happens to be in the democratic majority counties. Scare tactic much?
Dhavynia, have you seen that in The Villages, there was a third case of voter fraud by a registered Republican? For those not aware, The Villages is (are?) majorly red. Of course, I’m presuming they voted twice for TFG and not Biden.
I enjoyed HOTD and am excited for the reason of the season. I think some of the CGI looked really fake and the costumes didn’t always feel lived in, but I’m enjoying the show so far.
Loved Ep1. Yes please @Kaiser, would love weekly recap so I can goss on here with other Celebitches. I was super reluctant to watch cuz I’m still salty asf at GoT series in general, final season in particular & D&D’s 💩 treatment of Daenerys. Was pleasantly surprised at E1 and am optimistic about this series. So far everyone seems thoroughly dislikable, keen to see character development
I hope that Liz Cheney has a healthy life as I do with other humans but I don’t care if I never see or hear from her EVER again. She only cares about the lives and prosperity of certain Americans so she can forever leave politics and public service.
I vote for recaps please.
I enjoyed E01, but yeah wasn’t a fan of Matt Smith’s hair, I kept thinking he was an elf from Lord of the Rings.
I’d love recaps too! Thank you!!!
Re: recaps — could not care less!
enjoyed seeing dragons and hearing dracarys again. It was a bit much on the gore side for shock sake. I will hold judgement until a few more episodes. I like how they mentioned Daenerys at the very beginning. Because let’s not forget she fought the Night King and the same people she burned where the same who were cheering the beheading of Ned Stark.
The whole time leading up to ‘House of the Dragon,’ I thought the concept was going to be how the Targaryens left their homeland and conquered Westeros.
Learning from a review yesterday that this series is even closer to in time to the events of ‘Game of Thrones’ surprised me but made me less interested in watching.
Same, I thought we were going to get some of “The Doom” storyline. I mostly just wanted to check out the production value, and that didn’t disappoint, but I can’t say I was hooked by the storyline of this first episode. And I know the Targaryens are supposed to look inbred, but the massive underbite on the Rhaenyris character was making my jaw hurt.
I’m one of the people who refuse to watch this show because of how horrible the last three seasons were on GOT. But even if I wasn’t dead set against it for that reason alone, I cannot build up any interest for it. Who, exactly, is asking to see THIS period in the GOT timeline? I know people who want Aegon’s conquest, his sisters, Balerion, etc., and I know people who want REALLY old, like children of the forest. But does anyone care about Rhaenys and Alicent, etc.? I don’t get it.
Yes weekly recaps please! I’m on the fence about the first episode, going to keep an open mind just like I did when I first got into GoT.
Yes, recaps would be welcome. The show left me intrigued and as long as they develop some interesting characters, I’ll keep watching. Or less gratuitous imagery and more dragons.
It was pretty lame
People need to stop with the Judgement and speculation in the United States when someone takes Paid Time Off or a Leave from work. If their employer signed off on it, that should be it. After all this time in COVID and everything else that’s gone on, can’t we let people be legitimately absent from work-even Tom Brady-without questions? It’s bad manners and bad form. Maybe his mother is sick again, or one of his kids has an issue he has to deal with, etc. and he should not need to make personal reasons public. Honestly, this is so nosy and one of the worst parts of work culture in the US. If people are off, let them be off and that’s that.
I totally would’ve applauded at, “Idris versus a lion'” too!
As a fantasy nerd, I loathe all GoT and its associations. It’s misogynistic garbage.
I hated Game of Thrones for all the gratuitous violence and just plain ickiness. But I really want to watch House of Dragons for one reason- Rhys Ifans. The man has acting chops and I’m chuffed to death that he’s part of something hella huge for once.
I thought it was a solid opener. I enjoyed being back in the GoT world and thought all the acting was great, particularly Paddy Considine, Matt Smith and the young girl who plays the princess. I actually thought she was really strong. That role is clearly very big shows to fill and she seems really good. The only person I thought was a bit meh was her friend with the dark hair. Kind of reminded me of Sansa’s acting and I never thought she was very good either..
The perving on young girls was vomity. One was forced to pursue her friends’s father. The other was all but groped by her uncle. And those are the 2 most prominent female roles so far in the series. Another woman was cut open and died in order to save a male heir. Who then died.
That’s what put me off. Felt rather gauche in terms of the timing of the release given what’s going on in the country right now, especially since they made it significantly worse than what was in the books. I don’t believe in sanitizing birth scenes or the reality of the horror of the world, but I’m finding plenty in real life right now. I’m bored with seeing it on my screen. You’re not showing me anything I can’t find opening a newspaper.
Liked it. Will watch again.
The level of misogyny in HoD was breathtaking. I was completely disgusted.
HOTD was not for me. Had a traumatic birth ending in C/S a year and a half ago and it had me TRIGGERED so hard. Then after the episode watching the behind the scenes, the director spoke about making it seem like a horrible moment FOR THE HUSBAND who had to “choose” whether or not to let them cut open his wife without anesthesia because “she would die either way but the baby could live”. F*** that guy and f*** this show.
I think it was right on par with the original. Only this time its “simpler” cos we aren’t dealing with, what, 7 houses all in their own complex stories and plots on their own lands- but just one house now alone (for now).
So its easier to follow.
That also means I can kinda of see through some of the character and plot, like “oh of COURSE this bastard’s gonna try to terrorize and murder his niece” because that’s what you come to expect by now, but, I will let myself be surprised by twists.