Three Episodes, Eight Hours
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This came in through the mailbox, no invitation needed.
The email kicked off with, 'I say this with respect…' and I immediately suspected that respect was not on the menu. Lucas then had some thoughts on House of the Dragon Season 3, and some of the creative choices made.
Lucas, I think what you're asking me is, do we expect too much from our TV shows. Honestly? I had the same question myself last week. I mean, in this economy, with futile wars and social inequality, is this really a priority. No, it's not. But it's fun, so why not. Anyway, Luc, you see where I'm going with this.
The cynic in me argues that we live in an era where a lot of TV shows start with a script fit for three high-quality episodes, and then stretch it out to eight. Too little story stretched across too many episodes. You know what I mean, that feeling of "wait, why are we still here."
Criston spends most of his time either wandering around the Riverlands, or just moping about. Isn't he meant to be the usurper's Hand? Mysaria and Larys barely seem to do any spying or scheming.
Although the acting was top-tier, I wish the showrunners had found a way to mend fences with GRRM and brought him in to beef up the script and storylines. They could have used his help sorting out some of the storylines and general direction, especially the season finale. They spent far too much time setting up Season 4.
Christopher Nolan, while promoting The Odyssey, spoke about the shortfalls of amateur criticism. His argument was that recognising a storytelling pattern doesn't automatically mean the storytelling has failed. And look, he's got a point. Some of the criticism here has been fair, but boy, some of the discourse online has been a bit intolerable if I'm honest.
There's a ton of criticism and bad-faith takes that shouldn't be taken seriously because they're not based on genuine goodwill. People complain that it's just more dragons and violence, while overlooking that dragons are literally the foundation of the Dance of the Dragons storyline. This is what we signed up for.
Another criticism is that the show is grim and miserable. It's meant to be. It's a Greek tragedy with dragons, and it doesn't end well for any of the characters. I guess it also depends on how much tolerance and patience you have for slow tragedy.
Luc, for what it's worth, some of your points landed, and some felt like you were just in a mood that day.
Back in the 90s and the era before then, television didn't operate at this scale. Shows today are done so well, that they look and feel like movies. And that changes how we judge them. Sometimes we just need to step back and appreciate it. People have a right to criticise, but if it's really that bad, just vote with your TV remote. That's the ultimate democracy.