House of the Dragon

Episode 7 of House of the Dragon was great and got fans excited for what the finale had in store for us, then we actually saw the finale. Underwhelming and disappointing is quite an understatement and I am not sure that I can contain my disdain to this article but I will try. I also went live with one of my favorite TikTokers during the episode and after so that we could commiserate. Welp…here we go with the finale of House of the Dragon.

Well first things first the writing for this show can not possibly get any worse. Not sure what credentials Sara Hess got hired on but they are questionable at best. The pacing for this episode was very random and all over the place, we spent way too much time in places we didn’t need to and blasted through opportunities for good character development.

Tyland did not need to be in this episode at all. The purpose of a season finale IS NOT to set up the next season, it is to give the audience a satisfying progression of the story that ends on a cliffhanger to build excitement for the next season. Tyland’s scenes were overly long and a waste of time. They could have all been pushed to season 3 and it would not have changed the story at all.

We got 30 seconds with Jace and Baela when that is the relationship and the characters that need developing. We should have had more of them, perhaps even a scene with them training the new dragon riders.

Then we have Aemond. His only real scene was an attempt to bully Heleana into riding Sunfyre and the scene after was him trying to manipulate her. The only real progression that happens is that he finds out that Heleana knows that he tried to kill Aegon. Heleana’s book changed would be good if the writers actually did something with them. They made her a dreamer and loveable and then they did nothing with that. Also a waste of time.

Dear lordy the scene with Alicent and Rhaenyra made me want to jump out of my window. We now have 2 scenes with them this season that read like bad middle school fanfiction. They should have had 0 interaction this season and we have already talked about Alicent being far to present in the show as a whole. The only reason she survives the dance is because she is irrelevant. Also her plan for taking King’s Landing was a bad one. And then the direction of the scene was also terrible. There was so much dead time and like 2 minutes of them just staring at each other. The writing of that scene was embarrassing, I have shit out better scenes in a sleep deprived haze. Sara Hess needs to be FIRED.

And then the last two minutes of the episode were just a lame montage where nothing happens. My sweet Rhaena literally just ran and panted the whole episode and the most she gets it's to stare at Sheepstealer…and then nothing happens. The new riders get fitted with their armor…and nothing happens. Armies start marching so, of course, nothing happens. We could have filled that time with Aemond landing in Harrenhal, Rhaena claiming Sheepstealer, or literally anything else that would make fans excited to wait two years for the next season.

This season finale proves that the writers do not have a gameplan and have no idea what the function of a season finale is in their story. If this were a Friends episode it would be called “The One Where Nothing Happens”. Using this as a filler, or set up episode was piss poor writing and a fundamental misunderstanding of season structure. It was bad business and I think come time for season 3 they are going to realize that. You can not stretch this out into 4 seasons and it be good. The entirety of the dance takes place over about 300 pages and that includes Viserys being named heir in opposition to Rhaenys AND the entirety of the aftermath with Rhaenyra’s son being crowned king, Aegon’s youngest dying. Everything. All of it happens in 300 pages, most of which are taken up by rumors, some are just picture pages. No writer that actually knows how to write would even try and make this last 4 seasons.