TV Series (Opinions, Recommendations, Flaming, etc) ***BEWARE POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

[PFSIKH]

22 hours ago, #27TheDominator said:

I'm surprised that I haven't seen it mentioned here, but I've been watching Mr. Inbetween.  I really like it, but I admit that comedies about Australian mob killers with anger management issues seem right up my alley.

I have watched it a little.  I just haven't committed to it.

HOTD.  I think it was another solid episode.  I liked the dragon battle.  

Mayor Of Kingstown.  It is a solid show if you can suspend disbelief.  

[JiFtheOracle]

2 hours ago, Nolder said:

First of all, what else did you really expect? I agree this isn’t a well choreographed sword fight or kung fu but for two fictional flying lizards made by computer artists? I dunno man you show me a BETTER dragon fight. Secondly breathing fire is not all they did. In fact breathing fire at another dragon rider seems sub optimal in most cases as was shown when Aegon and Sunfyre first attacked Rhaenys and Meleys and lost track of them in the fire. The most effective attacks seemed to be clawing at the under belly. We saw this with Sunfyre and Vhagar while Meleys nearly had her head bitten off before dying. I think the overall vision for the fight was for the dragons to fight somewhat like birds. And again I agree this isn’t going to be as exciting as say a good lightsaber duel or something but in a show about dragons going to war with dragons and with my expectations set I can’t say I was disappointed with what I got.

 

I haven’t read Fire and Blood so I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen but we all know from GoT that all these dragons are dead. Vhagar will die somehow. Caraxes, Syrax, Dreamfyre, Seasmoke. All dead. It’s going to be bloody and probably pretty sad. I’ll admit I may not care much about Aegon and I dislike Rhaenys for basically the reasons you laid out but man when those dragons were getting cut up I felt bad.

 

As for Rhaenys I completely agree. When she escaped last season she killed hundreds of people only to constantly caution rhanerya about going to war and getting people killed. Not only is she a hypocrite but as has been noted if she cared so much she could have ended the war potentially. What was one more death that day? I’m glad her character is gone.

 

I think it was left ambiguous as a “tune in next week to find out!” Kind of thing. I will say this, Aegon dying is interesting in how it will affect the story. Aegon surviving is even more interesting. My guess is that that armor he got last week is going to “save” him even though that makes no sense. We’ll see though.

I dont know what I expected and you're right, there was mele's but they were bit hard to follow at times.  I cant say that I've ever seen a flying dragon fight to compare, so maybe I was expecting a little more drama to it all.  idk.  Maybe I'm also feeling a bit like Cole right now in that the dragons almost take the art of war away?  And it wasnt that it was bad and I didnt enjoy it, I did!  I guess I was just thinking they might do more w/ it, whatever that is.  lol 

Rhaenys story arch makes no sense to me, only real gripe w/ the show so far.

If he's alive, that's borderline as silly as when Glenn didnt actually get eaten alive in Walking Dead.

[JiFtheOracle]

1 hour ago, greenwichjetfan said:

I do think Aemond intended to kill Aegon if he were still alive, and I agree that it would be fascinating to see what happens if he lives, but it would be really annoying if he were still alive only because it's so disingenuous.

I haven't read the books but I vaguely recall from GOT that the dragon rider and dragon are connected by magic and that if the dragon dies, it weakens the rider. We saw this with Rhaenys in the moment that Meleys had her head bitten off...Rhaenys almost became paralyzed as she fell to the earth.

Aegon's dragon died which should have weakened him, and he fell to the ground under his dragon the same way that Rhaenys did. How is he surviving that? Makes no sense. Aemond even picked up the King's dagger that's been passed down from Aegon the conquerer to Viserys to Aegon.

 

2 minutes ago, JustInFudge said:

If he's alive, that's borderline as silly as when Glenn didnt actually get eaten alive in Walking Dead.

Yeah, I dont know he could survive that all, just made me wonder because it wasnt confirmed and Aemond had his sword out.

[Nolder]

1 hour ago, JustInFudge said:

I dont know what I expected and you're right, there was mele's but they were bit hard to follow at times.  I cant say that I've ever seen a flying dragon fight to compare, so maybe I was expecting a little more drama to it all.  idk.  Maybe I'm also feeling a bit like Cole right now in that the dragons almost take the art of war away?  And it wasnt that it was bad and I didnt enjoy it, I did!  I guess I was just thinking they might do more w/ it, whatever that is.  lol 

Rhaenys story arch makes no sense to me, only real gripe w/ the show so far.

If he's alive, that's borderline as silly as when Glenn didnt actually get eaten alive in Walking Dead.

Yeah you don’t see Dragon combat much in anything. Dragons are expensive to CGI.

Also yeah I think some of the characters have talked about dragon combat either in this show or maybe it was GOT but it kinda summed up to be: armies don’t matter when there’s dragons, you just wait to see what’s going to happen. It’s why Aegon the conqueror faced no opposition it didn’t matter how many armies there were in Westeros he and his sisters had dragons. It was no contest.

[Jet_Engine1]

1 hour ago, Nolder said:

Yeah you don’t see Dragon combat much in anything. Dragons are expensive to CGI.

Also yeah I think some of the characters have talked about dragon combat either in this show or maybe it was GOT but it kinda summed up to be: armies don’t matter when there’s dragons, you just wait to see what’s going to happen. It’s why Aegon the conqueror faced no opposition it didn’t matter how many armies there were in Westeros he and his sisters had dragons. It was no contest.

Aegon's conquest and the use of dragons by the Targaryens was once remarked on by GRRM as the Dragons being not quite like Nukes, but close to that kind of impact.

 

I just kind of imagine how the Battle of Agincourt may have gone if a couple of A-10s showed up.... and that's essentially what happened here and vs the Lannisters in GOT ep. "The Spoils of War" 

 

 

[JiFtheOracle]

5 hours ago, bicketybam said:

I'm rewatching GoT and funny enough in season 3, episode 4 at the 16 minute mark, Joffrey tells his bride to be exactly what happens to Rhaenyra. Her fate will not change from the book as he describes exactly as the books told it. 

True.  I remember what he said, I guess the drama will be the lead up to the moment and I assume, the ensuing revenge from her son or Daemon.

[#27TheDominator]

28 minutes ago, Jet_Engine1 said:

Aegon's conquest and the use of dragons by the Targaryens was once remarked on by GRRM as the Dragons being not quite like Nukes, but close to that kind of impact.

 

I just kind of imagine how the Battle of Agincourt may have gone if a couple of A-10s showed up.... and that's essentially what happened here and vs the Lannisters in GOT ep. "The Spoils of War" 

 

 

What if Napoleon had a Sherman tank?  Discuss.

[Nolder]

1 hour ago, #27TheDominator said:

What if Napoleon had a Sherman tank?  Discuss.

We would all be speaking French.

[Jet_Engine1]

3 hours ago, #27TheDominator said:

What if Napoleon had a Sherman tank?  Discuss.

OK Harry Turtledove...

[bicketybam]

18 hours ago, JustInFudge said:

I dont know what I expected and you're right, there was mele's but they were bit hard to follow at times.  I cant say that I've ever seen a flying dragon fight to compare, so maybe I was expecting a little more drama to it all.  idk.  Maybe I'm also feeling a bit like Cole right now in that the dragons almost take the art of war away?  And it wasnt that it was bad and I didnt enjoy it, I did!  I guess I was just thinking they might do more w/ it, whatever that is.  lol 

Rhaenys story arch makes no sense to me, only real gripe w/ the show so far.

If he's alive, that's borderline as silly as when Glenn didnt actually get eaten alive in Walking Dead.

I found this to be a very good read about Rhaenys. I'm going to miss her character a hell of a lot more than that wishy washy sap, Viserys. If there is anyone to blame for the war, it's him because the guy had absolutely no backbone. They should have picked Rhaenys over that gutless pussy.

https://www.theringer.com/house-of-the-dragon/2024/7/8/24194069/house-of-the-dragon-rhaenys-targaryen-eve-best-appreciation

 

[greenwichjetfan]

3 hours ago, bicketybam said:

I found this to be a very good read about Rhaenys. I'm going to miss her character a hell of a lot more than that wishy washy sap, Viserys. If there is anyone to blame for the war, it's him because the guy had absolutely no backbone. They should have picked Rhaenys over that gutless pussy.

https://www.theringer.com/house-of-the-dragon/2024/7/8/24194069/house-of-the-dragon-rhaenys-targaryen-eve-best-appreciation

 

Agreed. She had her faults for sure, but that’s part of what made her character great. Dispute missteps, she was always looking to do the right things for the realm. Definitely going to miss her character, but also the actress portraying her. I thought Rhaenys’s was one of the better performances in the whole series.

[bicketybam]

I'm up to season 5 of my 3rd rewatch of GoT and I still can't decide who was more revolting of a character: Joffrey or Ramsay Snow/Bolton. Just two disgusting and unlikeable characters. Zero redeeming qualities.

[Irish Jet]

On 7/9/2024 at 7:23 PM, Nolder said:

I know there are a lot of spoilers for HOTD in GOT, Joffrey isn’t the only one who says stuff about it. Luckily I have a bad memory and don’t recall any of it lol.

I just love how fitting it is that it was that little sh*t who spoils it.

[Irish Jet]

On 7/9/2024 at 9:15 PM, Nolder said:

Yeah you don’t see Dragon combat much in anything. Dragons are expensive to CGI.

Also yeah I think some of the characters have talked about dragon combat either in this show or maybe it was GOT but it kinda summed up to be: armies don’t matter when there’s dragons, you just wait to see what’s going to happen. It’s why Aegon the conqueror faced no opposition it didn’t matter how many armies there were in Westeros he and his sisters had dragons. It was no contest.

Dorne did actually resist them and killed a dragon. Aegon never conquered them.

I do agree that generally the dragons are one of the less interesting aspects of the show. In the original series especially I always wanted it to get back to the drama in Kings Landing or the Northern wars.

I’ve enjoyed HOTD’s use of them for the most part, with the exception of that dumbass Rhaenys scene at the end of the first season. 

[Nolder]

On 7/10/2024 at 10:17 AM, greenwichjetfan said:

Agreed. She had her faults for sure, but that’s part of what made her character great. Dispute missteps, she was always looking to do the right things for the realm. Definitely going to miss her character, but also the actress portraying her. I thought Rhaenys’s was one of the better performances in the whole series.

IMHO I feel like the writing for the character wasn’t always consistent or top notch but the acting was always 100% on point whether I felt like there writing was there or not so definitely kudos to the actress. I think looking back people will see her character as misused or even wasted by the writing room much like Ser Barristan was in GoT. In that case it wasn’t bad lines just wasted potential though.

On 7/11/2024 at 10:23 AM, bicketybam said:

I'm up to season 5 of my 3rd rewatch of GoT and I still can't decide who was more revolting of a character: Joffrey or Ramsay Snow/Bolton. Just two disgusting and unlikeable characters. Zero redeeming qualities.

I think Ramsay. Joffrey at least could be snapped in line by more powerful men around him such as Tywin or Robert (at least while he’s still young) but I don’t think Roose ever actually had any control over Ramsay. Both are sadistic little sh*ts but Ramsay was a wild dog on top of it. Maybe Joffrey would have grown up to be worse but thanks to a certain queen we will never have to find out.

11 hours ago, Irish Jet said:

Dorne did actually resist them and killed a dragon. Aegon never conquered them.

I do agree that generally the dragons are one of the less interesting aspects of the show. In the original series especially I always wanted it to get back to the drama in Kings Landing or the Northern wars.

I’ve enjoyed HOTD’s use of them for the most part, with the exception of that dumbass Rhaenys scene at the end of the first season. 

I didn’t know Dorne killed one. That’s pretty crazy.

 

And yeah I think dragon fights, much like big battles, should be used sparingly. If you overuse them they don’t really have the same effect. Also the political drama and great writing and acting has always been what made GOT and HOTD so interesting to viewers not the battles. I think season 1 has like one very short sword fight between Ned and Jaimie and Bron and some guy and that’s it right? And that’s a great season.

[PFSIKH]

HOTD episode 5 - A solid if not spectacular episode.  Seemed, to me, that they are setting up the remaining three episodes.  

[greenwichjetfan]

2 hours ago, PFSIKH said:

HOTD episode 5 - A solid if not spectacular episode.  Seemed, to me, that they are setting up the remaining three episodes.  

I know it added to the story and was the basis for most of what made the episode great, but I really dislike that they portray Aegon surviving. If they wanted to do that, they should have made the incident less dramatic/spectacular. Getting burnt to a crisp and falling out of the sky with a dragon on you should be a final scene for the character.

Still, I agree that the slowburn, set-up of episode 5 was great.

The Baela and Corlys scene was grade A.

[Jet_Engine1]

I haven't seen Ep 5 yet (will watch later today)... but I can't believe it took me this long to realize that the guy playing Aemond was Osferth in The Last Kingdom!! I KNEW he was familiar, but it finally clicked.... look it up and confirmed. 😆 

[T0mShane]

Started watching The Wire and loved S1. Halfway through S2 and it‘s like the worst and longest episode of Law and Order I’ve ever seen. 

[SAM SAM HE'S OUR MAN]

On 7/9/2024 at 2:33 PM, PFSIKH said:

Mayor Of Kingstown.  It is a solid show if you can suspend disbelief.  

[JiFtheOracle]

8 hours ago, T0mShane said:

Started watching The Wire and loved S1. Halfway through S2 and it‘s like the worst and longest episode of Law and Order I’ve ever seen. 

Season 2 is horrible, one of the worst seasons 2 from a great season 1, ever.  It sucks, so bad but it gets better and sets up the rest of the series and the rest of the series, is amazing. 

[JiFtheOracle]

21 hours ago, greenwichjetfan said:

I know it added to the story and was the basis for most of what made the episode great, but I really dislike that they portray Aegon surviving. If they wanted to do that, they should have made the incident less dramatic/spectacular. Getting burnt to a crisp and falling out of the sky with a dragon on you should be a final scene for the character.

Still, I agree that the slowburn, set-up of episode 5 was great.

The Baela and Corlys scene was grade A.

Yes, found it very silly he was still alive, and then I'm not sure I've ever rolled my eyes harder when he said "mummy" after she was visiting him in his bed.  Like, what are they going to do w/ this?  He's just going to be a vegetable for the rest of the show?  Just a weird move in the story telling.  I'm also finding the treatment of Aemond to be ridiculous.  The dude has killed 2 of this brothers (or tried too) and his great Aunt? and supposedly the Queen knows he was going to kill his brother after the crash but nobody seems to care?  Weird.

Daemon sleeping w/ his Mom in a dream is next level ****ed up too.

Good episode.  Interested to see what characters are introduced to the show now that they're looking for more dragon riders.  They really havent added to the mix of important characters this season,  so could be interesting.  I have a feeling one of the new dragon riders is going to be the sailpor who saved Corlys.  He obviously has some Targareyn blood line.  

 

[T0mShane]

1 hour ago, JustInFudge said:

Season 2 is horrible, one of the worst seasons 2 from a great season 1, ever.  It sucks, so bad but it gets better and sets up the rest of the series and the rest of the series, is amazing. 

Thank you. This was my hope. All I want is more Michael K Williams and Idris Elba and instead I’m getting these horrible actors pretending to be dockworkers. 

[nj meadowlands]

3 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

Thank you. This was my hope. All I want is more Michael K Williams and Idris Elba and instead I’m getting these horrible actors pretending to be dockworkers. 

Season 2 is kind of an acquired taste / cult classic among Wire fans, but yeah it's definitely not the best one.

[T0mShane]

5 minutes ago, nj meadowlands said:

Season 2 is kind of an acquired taste / cult classic among Wire fans, but yeah it's definitely not the best one.

I actually googled it to see if people hated and, like you said, there’s a large contingent that thinks it’s super good. Maybe the reasoning will become apparent when I finish it. Right now, I’m at the part where the duck died.

[dbatesman]

Tough crowd. I thought S2 of The Wire was great, though I will grant that Ziggy is the most annoying non-Pearlman character in the whole series.

[greenwichjetfan]

38 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

Thank you. This was my hope. All I want is more Michael K Williams and Idris Elba and instead I’m getting these horrible actors pretending to be dockworkers. 

On my first pass, I agree season 2 was a let down based on season 1. Omar and Stringer are two of my personal favorite characters in all of TV, so I get where you're coming from.

Upon rewatching the entire series, you'll come to really enjoy season 2. It's very very good once you get yourself out of the mindset of just wanting more of season 1.

[greenwichjetfan]

1 hour ago, JustInFudge said:

Yes, found it very silly he was still alive, and then I'm not sure I've ever rolled my eyes harder when he said "mummy" after she was visiting him in his bed.  Like, what are they going to do w/ this?  He's just going to be a vegetable for the rest of the show?  Just a weird move in the story telling.  I'm also finding the treatment of Aemond to be ridiculous.  The dude has killed 2 of this brothers (or tried too) and his great Aunt? and supposedly the Queen knows he was going to kill his brother after the crash but nobody seems to care?  Weird.

Daemon sleeping w/ his Mom in a dream is next level ****ed up too.

Good episode.  Interested to see what characters are introduced to the show now that they're looking for more dragon riders.  They really havent added to the mix of important characters this season,  so could be interesting.  I have a feeling one of the new dragon riders is going to be the sailpor who saved Corlys.  He obviously has some Targareyn blood line.  

 

One thing that I guess plays to general audiences but that I don't like very much is that this season of HOTD you can kinda figure what's going to happen just based on the cinematography. Like Rhaenys going over the cliff was such an obvious tell that Vhagar was going to cut her neck off out of nowhere just like she did to Luke's dragon Arrax. Similarly, the lingering shot on Aegon as Alicent is walking away - so obvious that they were going to show him moving or talking.

If they went through all this trouble to keep him alive and also be somewhat conscious, they better freaking heal him outright. I wanna see fireworks between Aegon and Aemond with Alicent, Cole, and the rest of that swarmy council all caught in the crossfires.  

[JiFtheOracle]

2 hours ago, T0mShane said:

Thank you. This was my hope. All I want is more Michael K Williams and Idris Elba and instead I’m getting these horrible actors pretending to be dockworkers. 

I get it.  I almost quit watching the show because S2 was such a bore but as mentioned, it gets better and the story lines from that season are referenced and used through the rest of the series. 

I actually did a recent rewatch and still thought it was a bore, so not sure where all this affection for that season comes from but it's important to the rest of the story.

 

[JiFtheOracle]

2 hours ago, greenwichjetfan said:

One thing that I guess plays to general audiences but that I don't like very much is that this season of HOTD you can kinda figure what's going to happen just based on the cinematography. Like Rhaenys going over the cliff was such an obvious tell that Vhagar was going to cut her neck off out of nowhere just like she did to Luke's dragon Arrax. Similarly, the lingering shot on Aegon as Alicent is walking away - so obvious that they were going to show him moving or talking.

If they went through all this trouble to keep him alive and also be somewhat conscious, they better freaking heal him outright. I wanna see fireworks between Aegon and Aemond with Alicent, Cole, and the rest of that swarmy council all caught in the crossfires.  

Yeah, I think that's clearly on the horizon.  They didnt show that easily thrown away scene for him to not make a comeback in some fashion.  

[bicketybam]

30 minutes ago, JustInFudge said:

Yeah, I think that's clearly on the horizon.  They didnt show that easily thrown away scene for him to not make a comeback in some fashion.  

The question is whether they follow the book or not.

[LionelRichie]

5 hours ago, T0mShane said:

Thank you. This was my hope. All I want is more Michael K Williams and Idris Elba and instead I’m getting these horrible actors pretending to be dockworkers. 

I just re-watched the series not that long ago.  The first time I saw it (mid 2000’s) I thought the same thing about season 2.   When I rewatched it I liked it much more so go figure.   1 + 3 are awesome, 4-5 are different but still excellent.

if you like the wire and/or boyz in the hood - check out snowfall on FX.  Another good show and it really takes you back to the 90’s 

[dbatesman]

5 hours ago, greenwichjetfan said:

On my first pass, I agree season 2 was a let down based on season 1. Omar and Stringer are two of my personal favorite characters in all of TV, so I get where you're coming from.

Upon rewatching the entire series, you'll come to really enjoy season 2. It's very very good once you get yourself out of the mindset of just wanting more of season 1.

I think this is it. It's pretty jarring after S1, but once you watch the whole thing, it fits a lot better.

[RutgersJetFan]

1 hour ago, dbatesman said:

I think this is it. It's pretty jarring after S1, but once you watch the whole thing, it fits a lot better.

There are seasons of shows that when you see them fresh as the show is running seem lackluster. Season 3 of Stranger Things, one or two of the later Sopranos seasons, S2 of The Wire, even this current season of The Bear. When the series runs more of its course and you know the whole narrative you tend to look at them more favorably. 

[JiFtheOracle]

17 hours ago, bicketybam said:

The question is whether they follow the book or not.

Right, I've never read the books but I've pieced together the story from just content that is out there and kind of know the story a bit.  I read some back drop stuff after the GOT series, so it will be interesting to see how they play this out based on what I understand of his story arch, that said, it wouldnt be super duper compelling for TV, especially the way they've set it up, but interested to see how they make this work for the purpose of the show.