Word: This story comprises spoilers for Home of the Dragon season two finale.
HBO reducing to black hasn’t aggravated this many TV followers since The Sopranos ended.
Season two of Home of the Dragon led as much as a fantastic battle for management of Westeros — a conflict doubtlessly fought on a number of fronts, with huge armies, impossibly excessive stakes, and fire-breathing dragons galore! And to see it, you’ll simply have to attend a pair years for season three, since Sunday’s finale concluded moments earlier than the motion was seemingly about to get underway (“When essentially the most motion within the season finale is mud wresting,” groused one viewer).
For followers (some the heated and diversified reactions beneath), the finale felt a bit like deja vu. The primary season finale ended with a way of “okay, now it’s conflict!” The second season finale has now additionally ended with “okay, now it’s conflict!” HBO’s pre-season advertising and marketing issued dueling Inexperienced vs. Black trailers and a viral advertising and marketing stunt hanging the rival Targaryen banners at historic places, teasing an epic civil conflict conflict between a home divided befitting of a franchise recognized for its epic clashes.
However whereas the season’s fourth episode delivered a well-received motion dragon-fighting motion sequence, and there have been different gripping moments of motion right here and there, this season Rhayerya (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) largely hung round their respective castles enduring small council conferences, whereas fan-favorite Daemon (Matt Smith) was shuttled off to Harrenhal to additionally hang around at a fortress and have conferences — plus desires and premonitions.
The Daemon transfer, particularly, perplexed followers this season, because it appeared extra like one thing a present sometimes does with a well-worn character 5 seasons right into a collection with 20 episodes to fill somewhat than one thing a present does with a particularly standard character throughout its eight-episode second season.
On the similar time, followers appeared to essentially like what they did get within the finale — notably, a splendidly tense face off between Rhayerya and Alicent (it’s actually straightforward to sneak backwards and forwards between these castles!), Daemon’s prophetic imaginative and prescient that included a glimpse of Daenerys Targaryen from the primary present, the introduction of Abigail Thorn as Sharako Lohar, and composer Ramin Djawadi’s rating. “Merely an excessive amount of good shit within the #HOTD finale for me to be something however impressed,” as one viewer wrote beneath.
But the truth that the season is just eight episodes is being notably bitterly felt. The primary season was 10 episodes. Deadline beforehand reported “a serious battle” was moved from season two to season three. Showrunner Ryan Condal has beforehand mentioned the shorter season was to offer the season “a great opening and a great ending.” However writer-producer Sara Hess was additionally quoted in EW as saying the shorter season “wasn’t actually our selection.” The season was shot throughout the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, having earned an exemption as most of the actors fell beneath Fairness union and never SAG, however that was after the season’s scripts had been accomplished. HBO has beforehand claimed the episode change was “story pushed” and never the results of the in depth value reducing that’s been seen beneath Warner Bros. Discovery management change. Truthful or not, it nearly feels as if “shrinkflation” — which has impacted every thing from the packaging of Oreos to Huggies — has come to streaming.
Beneath are a number of the diversified reactions to the finale: