"Too Boring" House of the Dragon Won't Be as Good as Game of Thrones
Season 1 of House of the Dragon is over, and it is time to take stock. Inevitably, viewers of the HBO series compare it to season 1 of Game of Thrones, which seem to win effortlessly by comparison.
For starters, some viewers said that though they loved the prequel, they felt kind of bored with it. Season 1 for them seemed to lack that spark that made Game of Thrones so exciting and interesting to watch.
"I'm not saying I hate it, but I'm not excited to watch it. No one is talking about it at lunch. I don't think about it after I've watched it. I don't really care about it at all. I don't think any of the characters are as interesting, and the story definitely isn't as exciting. Oh, well. Can't win them all," a viewer wrote on Reddit.
Such opinion might be explained by the smaller scope of House of the Dragon. The show revolves around one House, a family approaching a catastrophic civil war, while Game of Thrones had numerous subplots that let us choose a character or storyline to relate to and fixate on. It was way more complex and made a successful effort to interest the audience in every storyline.
Another reason for the comparison in favor of Game of Thrones could be the time jumps and casting changes made throughout season 1 of House of the Dragon. This move let the creators establish the background behind the Dance of the Dragons, but somewhat hurt the way audience accepted and connected with the characters. The characters couldn't grow on viewers the way they did during season 1 of Game of Thrones. For many fans, just one scene from Game of Thrones season 1, episode 9 could upstage the whole House of the Dragon season 1.
"The twist where Ned is killed in episode 9 was one of the biggest brain-blasters I'd ever seen. It was one of the most liberating experiences I'd ever seen in TV show history," one commenter wrote.
Having said all that, House of the Dragon viewers are still very optimistic about the show's future and its prospects to surpass Game of Thrones in the long run. With the creators of the show promising to take the best – and even add some – to season 2 and leave all issues behind, fans are looking forward to further development of the story of House Targaryen.