Game Of Thrones: House Of The Dragon: Season 1

Okay, that one was sort of interesting.

I think Viserys is a bit of a pushover, but truthfully I can't help liking him for not wanting to marry a 12-year-old. Now Alicent at 15 is hardly a great Plan B, but I liked him looking at that little kid and understanding instinctively it's totally ridiculous. Granted, not wanting to marry a 12 year old is a pretty low bar for me to like a character, but Game of Thrones as a franchise always has a VERY low bar for its characters. I'll take it.

I think Rhaenyra's bluff to tempt Daemon to kill her was fun because she's knows he likes her and won't do it. My problem is I don't think that bluff will always work in the future. If these time-skips are playing for keeps (and it looks like they are) Daemon, already nuts, will only get more unstable in the future. Let's not try that again, Rhaeny, okay?

I'm not disappointed that the main title is the Game Of Thrones Theme set to new images. I think some people might be. I am not. Don't mess with something that works. And for my money very little on that show actually did. The opening title was a high-point of the first series.

Last week was so gross it pissed me off, but this episode settled down a bit. ***1/2.

It's only episode three and I'm already tired of this show.

I think the problem is that Game Of Thrones was a slog, and that means I know what a slog this show will be. And I also hate the fact that we're only at the beginning of that slog.

Daemon's actions made no sense. Forget the suicide run after learning help was coming. If this Universe is working correctly, people will question why he killed the messenger over that bit of good news. Spoiler alert: I don't think this Universe is working correctly.

That hunt was an obscene joke. And I listen in the accompanying featurette about how stuff like that and how women are treated is done to be true to the time period. Oh, really? This is a period piece? Westoros is a made-up fantasy clearly not set on Our Earth. The idea that they are showing women being treated like property so as to be historically accurate is a sick joke. Women are treated badly in Westeros because George R.R. Martin and the producers of the TV shows LIKE treating them badly, and the fans of the shows seem to LIKE seeing them treated badly. When you get right down to it, the franchise is pretty indefensible on any moral level you can think of. I don't think people turned against Game Of Thrones simply because the ending sucked. I think it was because the ending occurred during the height of the MeToo movement and people were finally willing to call b.s. on the fact that the show was pretty much unending misogyny for the sake of "historical accuracy" in a world that never even existed. Does that piss you off? It should piss you off. It's annoying.

I'll say this for Viserys (and there is very little I am willing to say for him): Even knowing how unpopular a decision it was, so far he has refused to disinherit Rhaenyra as the heir. I am aware he's questioned the decision privately with Alicent, but when it comes to public conversations with people under him and who work for him, he takes umbrage at them already acting like he's done it, and that it was done as a mistake or a whim on his end. Him dressing down Jason Lannister was the one part of the episode I liked.

Otto Hightower turning out not to have been joking about betrothing Rhaenyra to her two-year-old brother is one of those things that makes me wonder how George R.R. Martin sleeps at night. How he exits his house every morning and dares to show his gross face in public at conventions. Equally amazing is that convention-goers don't pelt rotten fruit at him every time they see him. No, he didn't write the episode. But he's executive producer and co-creator. The fact that he didn't nix that idea immediately means he sucks.

Somebody on Twitter pointed out it's very disingenuous for Martin and the producers to do all of these horrible things on-screen in the name of historical accuracy in a show where the cast wears blond wigs but somehow grow brown facial scruff. A franchise producer telling you this nonsense is realistic is either very stupid, or thinks you are. 1 1/2 stars.

I am out. Not just this show. The entire franchise. I'm gone. A long time coming, but enough is enough.

I was going to start the review by saying that was the most reprehensible, outright repulsive piece of television I have seen in years. And I paused for a moment before I realized I've NEVER seen another piece of television that reprehensible and repulsive. I have had similar moments of disgust for Riverdale, Titans, and American Horror Story. But the truth is none of those shows at their worst were as disgusting as this.

I believe the people involved in this show belong in prison. That is how sickening that was.

I almost shut the episode off midway through but I watched the entire thing to see the accompanying featurette for the episode, to see what possible defense the creators could possibly have for that. And they jokingly said "This is Game Of Thrones". The idea is actually funny to them. That's not a defense, that's an indictment. The entire franchise is pure, disgusting poison. What a garbage fire those producers are.

Before I give this franchise a final middle finger and never watch anything in it ever again, I just would like to say I believe George R.R. Martin isn't just an overrated writer. He's a terrible, gross writer. A Song Of Ice And Fire isn't great fantasy literature. It's utterly immoral trash. It always has been.

I've freaking had it with this piece of crap franchise. Done. 0.