Watched House of the Dragon over the holidays. I think it was pretty good overall, I liked it. I don't think it's on the same level as GoT but it's still entertaining as long as you don't look for the same level of quality.
There are some problems with this IMO compared to the OG Game of Thrones:
- The political intrigue is not as interesting. Perhaps this is due to the slow pace of the story.
- Some characters have very little to no personality and underdeveloped character building.
- Story pacing is very inconsistent. At first the story is moving at a snails pace but then suddenly the story moves forward 5-6 years abruptly with a lot of events taking place implicitly. I think they should have not tried to fit too much into one season and built up the characters better.
- Lot of plot points occurring off screen.
- Very weak protagonist. Rhaenyra's character is too passive IMO and mostly appears to be either a bystander or all of her actions seem to be out of desperation. I think Alicent is much more active than her.
- Nothing of note happens for most of the season until about the seventh episode. Before this the whole season has the same energy as some saas-bahu soap opera where everyone is just bitching and whining to each other.
But there are still some redeeming features:
- Story is engaging overall.
- There is no black or white good vs evil conflict. I like these kind of stories in general where everyone has grey area motives.
- Main characters are well acted and dialogues are good.
Not bad overall.