House of Dragons vs. Rings of Power (and a touch of Wheel of Time)

[Mercurius]

Rings of Power is fast losing me. This latest episode... yeesh. "Elves are coming to take your jobs?" Seriously? I'll give it one more episode to drastically improve, but then I'm out.

Y'all have convinced me to give "House of the Dragon" a try, however.

I haven't even watched the 4th episode yet. I'll update after.

HotD is good. Not great, but good. You'll probably feel the lack of iconic central characters like Tyrion, Jaime, Cersei, Eddard, etc, or great secondary characters like Varys, Tywin, etc. But it has its own atmosphere and qualities that make it enjoyable, if not on the level of GoT.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The endless grimness of HoD turns me off too much to even try to like it.

So far I like RoP.

WoT is complete unmitigated and unsalvageable garbage.

 

[SakanaSensei]

Guess there really are different tastes for everything! I'm really enjoying RoP so far, especially the harfoots. Every time they're on screen I smile. I'm also loving the stuff with the dwarves so far, mostly because of the stuff going on with the prince and his wife, they're just a lot of fun to watch.

 

[Rabulias]

Here is my theory: Amazon is taking a leisurely build up with this series, one that does not work as well for week-to-week viewing, but will work well for binge viewing when it is done.

Amazon has already committed so much money to this, I think they might be looking at all of first season as a prologue, setting the stage for the rest of the series to come. They don't need good ratings for this season to get a renewal. Thus I want to judge season 1 as a whole work.

 

[Imaculata]

Screw 'em all! Willow will be better than any of them!

I really hope Willow steps up and gives us that epic fantasy full of humor and likeable characters that we're all longing for. So far House of the Dragon is just okay. But it doesn't have me on the edge of my seat.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

With each new episode of House of Dragons, I find myself liking the series more and more. With each new episode of Rings of Power, I find myself liking the series less and less

I agree completely.

Really, I think Erik Kain of Forbes summed up some of my feelings quite well.

And that review sums up my feelings pretty well:

They could have tossed Tolkien’s lore onto a bonfire and I’d have been perfectly happy if they’d simply crafted an enjoyable story with characters I care about.

Unfortunately, The Rings Of Power is written so poorly it defies even my worst fears.

With all of the toxicity and negativity that was being generated around TROP before its release, I was determined to let the show stand or fall on its own merits, regardless of how far it deviated from "lore" - a pretty broad category, given how many times Tolkien himself revised his work: there are an awful lot of "takes" that would have been valid with regard to some stage of an ever-evolving legendarium.

But the writing and characterization does not inspire me. It is pretty to watch...but that's the only real positive for me. I fell asleep half way through Episode 4.

I had fairly low expectations of HOTD, and have been pleasantly surprised. Matt Smith steals the show with his brooding sociopathy, but other actors are starting to grow into their roles, and I think that overall the casting is very good. I do miss the wry humor of the early GOT - although this was a fine balancing act, and later seasons overstated this, especially with regard to Tyrion.

 

[Zardnaar]

I read that Forbes review as well and yeah the last episode was a bit crap.

HotD is getting better.

BUT that time jump is coming up. I don't care about Galadriel at all but Rhaenya has grown on me might be rough with new actor.

RoP is turning into Bored of the Rings. Dwarves and Harfoits are carrying the show.

Both are better than WoT.

Other thing with HotD it's hard to be unbiased. How does it compare with season 1 of GoT? It's not hitting the heights of GoT but peak GoT was season 3 through to Tywins death imho.

It's better than season 5-8 already imho.

Was RoP episode 4 a one off?

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

While I disagree on the RoP assessment, I totally agree on HotD. Paddy Constantine's performance as Viserys makes an (intentionally) weak character fascinating. Viserys is a milquetoast making mistake after mistake, but still he's compelling, because of the actor's skill.

And yeah, as I said in the OP, I agree that HotD lacks great characters, but the acting is pretty good. RoP lacks both great characters and, for the most part, good acting, though it is hard to tell how much of that is the writing and plotting.

 

[wicked cool]

I’m watching rings for just the sake of watching. I won’t be upset if it got cancelled after 2 years if it loses massive viewers which I think it will. I can’t get my casual viewing friends to watch like I did with got and now house
House is not great but it’s solid . The acting is far superior . The dialogue in rings is very bad at times such as the children singing the password to the hidden mine or the wife’s tall tales or the hobbit folk just being moronic and borderline evil (we will leave you behind if you can’t keep up). Galadriel and Elrond acting nothing like their movie counterparts (they are not children) .

Andor will now be entering the ring (no pun intended) plus for those sports fans every 4 of the major American sports is played in the month of October. I think this hurts rings the most as both dragon and to some extent andor could have more loyal audiences and Andrew r is the fresh flavor of month
Rings has entered into the political debate somewhat like kenobi did and that’s never a good thing. Going after fans just drives them away regardless if you are potentially on the right side
I see rings potentially going into walking dead territory where you fire the director/show runner due to no fault of theirs. The producer in wd was fire because the farm story was boring and viewers left after a very good first season. After that amc keeps promising trust us it gets better and I think Amazon “may” have that problem.

 

[Mercurius]

While I disagree on the RoP assessment, I totally agree on HotD. Paddy Constantine's performance as Viserys makes an (intentionally) weak character fascinating. Viserys is a milquetoast making mistake after mistake, but still he's compelling, because of the actor's skill.

Yeah, Paddy Constantine has been excellent - and the acting is, overall, quite good. Just no characters that just make you want to watch them, from the ever-enjoyable Tyrion to the "I can't look away" Tywin--or even Joffrey. I suppose Daemon is the closest thing.