I think budget cuts coupled with the writers strike hurt the show a lot. From my understanding zero rewrites, hence changes, were allowed from anybody during the strike, they had to work with what was already written. Goes to show how important writers are.
My comment was that I was 4.5 (out of 5) but the finale dropped the season as a whole to 3.5 (out of 5). Episode 8 would have been great as a penultimate episode of a season, but it left me wanting as a season finale. I don’t think anyone can deny that the real world challenges thrown at the show (written as 10 episode season that was cut to 8 and then not given a rewrite due to the strike) had a detrimental effect on the season. You may disagree on the severity of that effect, but nobody is saying it had a positive effect. I’m still very positive on the season and series. I just got a pair of bettas that I named Corlys and Rhaenys. 😊 The last few episodes really helped me feel more connected to the individual dragons. Before that (especially in Season 1), the dragons just felt like big horses or background extras to me. I will definitely be looking forward to watching Season 3, but the show may lose me after that if the outside influences continue to interfere. I’m not watching many shows anymore. HotD and Bosch: Legacy are the only scripted shows currently in production that I make sure I watch.
I enjoyed season 2. However, the character work on Daemon, Rhaenyra, Alicent and Rhaenys was incoherent and inconsistent. I blame the writers and not the WGA strike. Character decisions were baked in when you have 4-5 drafts of every script before the episode cut and the strike. Sara Hess and Ryan Condal both expressed their respective displeasure in Daemon's popularity among fans. Alicent flipping on her sons and Rhaenys dying like an idiot. Also, why does Baela think she hates her father? Some of the character assassination complaints stem from the inconsistent from season 1 not Fire & Blood.
My issues with the season were all in the writing, not the lack of spectacle. So many elements don't properly fit together between episodes. I'm going to largely blame this on the lack of ability to do rewrites as things were being filmed. I really hated bringing in season 8 GOT shit though.
Thanks guys for an insightful review, really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the season but on the borderline about the finale. Would have liked to have Rhaena complete her story line with claiming sheepstealer at least that would have been something closed.
I enjoyed the hotd until I started rewatching got; the first season of got is truly a masterpiece and hotd doesn’t even come close to it; I’ve read the ice and fire series and am currently reading fire &blood and I get that the source material is very different too, however, I still feel like the death of Ned in season 1 EVEN after I’ve watched got x2 and read about it in the book STILL made me cry, which honestly surprised me, whereas seeing Rhaenys and Meleys go down meant nothing to me even though at the time I didn’t know it was going to happen. Oh, and one more thing about hotd vs got: the soundtrack in got plays a big role, the music is great and is used masterfully, in hotd it’s very background🤷🏻♀️
For the most part I liked every episode. But together the season is worse than the sum of its parts. A couple of characters feel pointless (Rhaena especially) and the pirate commander in the last episode tonally did not fit (too similar to Euron in the sense that they weren’t threatening or menacing when it was clear that they were intended to be)
Season 1 is better by far, A lot of stuff that you said I don,t agree with, one of the main reasons that this season is dispointenemt for the fans is the poor writing ,they ruined almost every main character specially Deamon and Alicent so that rheanyera can shine alone this season, two years of waiting and you give me this🤡
@@ginjamutha No, the writers AND the writers strike steered the show into a bad direction, that might be partly fixed in later seasons, but probably won't.
Hollywood always doubles down, even after making a mistake. If Condal gets a fellow showrunner added and Sarah Hess is shitcanned, Ill change my tune@@bjrnbrynemo9059
Super gains said....I really didn't think about or analysis the season because it wouldn't be my real views....that is the worse possible way to engage with any art and especially when your putting a video out on an analysis of the show.
I feel like you guys are doing a disservice to your channels by praising it as “better than S1” or rating it a “8.9 to 9.0 out of 10”. Unless you guys are being genuinely honest, then yeah sure. But you guys are willfully brushing over faults you admit to noticing. Complacency and denial is exactly how we got S7 & S8. GOT’s decline in quality was incredibly gradual after peaking at S3. The more it deviated from the source material and/or dumbed down its dialogue and thematic plot-lines and character, the more the world began to whither until it was too late. The actors (and CGI/sets) are what kept HOTD S2 afloat and it’s painfully obvious. People don’t “hate” this season and only a few people had issues with the pacing and lack of action. The true problem lied in the character arcs of Alicent, Daemon, Rhaenyra, Corlys, & Rhaenys. We can still have civil conversations critiquing these obvious things without devolving into whining, if that’s what you guys fear. The finale was only the confirmatory proof that inconsistent writing was not just in our heads but rather a reality. The idea that budget cuts, lack of action sequences, and pacing were the main problems is all farce. The show is treating its audience like we’d be too dumb to understand anything more complex and nuanced than what theyre offering; both the books and the first half of the original GOT used to reward viewers who could handle complex dialogue, plot, characters, and meaningful subtlety. Imo it was like a 6/10 and that’s considering the fact that I care little of how faithful they remain to the source material and lore; my problem is how utterly unimpressive the ‘improved’ story they’re replacing it with truly is. The show can remain successful with some well-deserved and constructive criticism of its 2nd season. It doesn’t need this contrived enthusiasm and protection to keep it afloat. On the contrary, detailing the minor problems will prevent another disastrous ending to (yet another) fantasy/sci-fi IP adaptation.
@@cardenova OR... or... they just liked a season of television that you don't, rather than gritting their teeth and lying for no reason but to disagree with your opinion.
@@hitskwaad maybe. but I remain unconvinced that they’re actually being 100% honest. I also just wanted to share my own opinion too. I’m happy for them if they really enjoyed it that much.
Not really at all haha just look at the data of TikTok users and they open up with comparing it to other social media, so yea.. ? The writers leaned towards more that audience. Pretty easy to see that 😂
@AndoTheAndal that seems like a rather lazy back-rationalization borne out of confusion at any positive reaction to the season, but you certainly are entitled to whatever pigeonhole you can think of.
I think budget cuts coupled with the writers strike hurt the show a lot. From my understanding zero rewrites, hence changes, were allowed from anybody during the strike, they had to work with what was already written. Goes to show how important writers are.
I think the actors done their part tbh so you cant really fault them, they did what was expected and some of them even added their own little improv
My comment was that I was 4.5 (out of 5) but the finale dropped the season as a whole to 3.5 (out of 5). Episode 8 would have been great as a penultimate episode of a season, but it left me wanting as a season finale. I don’t think anyone can deny that the real world challenges thrown at the show (written as 10 episode season that was cut to 8 and then not given a rewrite due to the strike) had a detrimental effect on the season. You may disagree on the severity of that effect, but nobody is saying it had a positive effect.
I’m still very positive on the season and series. I just got a pair of bettas that I named Corlys and Rhaenys. 😊
The last few episodes really helped me feel more connected to the individual dragons. Before that (especially in Season 1), the dragons just felt like big horses or background extras to me.
I will definitely be looking forward to watching Season 3, but the show may lose me after that if the outside influences continue to interfere. I’m not watching many shows anymore. HotD and Bosch: Legacy are the only scripted shows currently in production that I make sure I watch.
The amount of shots with the sets at the shipyard and the godswood set in harrenhal was ridiculous lmao
I enjoyed season 2. However, the character work on Daemon, Rhaenyra, Alicent and Rhaenys was incoherent and inconsistent. I blame the writers and not the WGA strike. Character decisions were baked in when you have 4-5 drafts of every script before the episode cut and the strike.
Sara Hess and Ryan Condal both expressed their respective displeasure in Daemon's popularity among fans. Alicent flipping on her sons and Rhaenys dying like an idiot. Also, why does Baela think she hates her father?
Some of the character assassination complaints stem from the inconsistent from season 1 not Fire & Blood.
My issues with the season were all in the writing, not the lack of spectacle. So many elements don't properly fit together between episodes. I'm going to largely blame this on the lack of ability to do rewrites as things were being filmed. I really hated bringing in season 8 GOT shit though.
Thanks guys for an insightful review, really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the season but on the borderline about the finale. Would have liked to have Rhaena complete her story line with claiming sheepstealer at least that would have been something closed.
I enjoyed the hotd until I started rewatching got; the first season of got is truly a masterpiece and hotd doesn’t even come close to it; I’ve read the ice and fire series and am currently reading fire &blood and I get that the source material is very different too, however, I still feel like the death of Ned in season 1 EVEN after I’ve watched got x2 and read about it in the book STILL made me cry, which honestly surprised me, whereas seeing Rhaenys and Meleys go down meant nothing to me even though at the time I didn’t know it was going to happen. Oh, and one more thing about hotd vs got: the soundtrack in got plays a big role, the music is great and is used masterfully, in hotd it’s very background🤷🏻♀️
Oh, and while generally got is a tragic story most of the time, it still had a lot (a lot!) of funny dialogs; hotd has almost none
For the most part I liked every episode. But together the season is worse than the sum of its parts. A couple of characters feel pointless (Rhaena especially) and the pirate commander in the last episode tonally did not fit (too similar to Euron in the sense that they weren’t threatening or menacing when it was clear that they were intended to be)
Season 1 is better by far, A lot of stuff that you said I don,t agree with, one of the main reasons that this season is dispointenemt for the fans is the poor writing ,they ruined almost every main character specially Deamon and Alicent so that rheanyera can shine alone this season, two years of waiting and you give me this🤡
no, the writers did.
No, the writers strike did.
@@ginjamutha No, the writers AND the writers strike steered the show into a bad direction, that might be partly fixed in later seasons, but probably won't.
Hollywood always doubles down, even after making a mistake. If Condal gets a fellow showrunner added and Sarah Hess is shitcanned, Ill change my tune@@bjrnbrynemo9059
this is such a surface level critique, social media got everyone thinking they’re a critic 🤵🏻
Am I the only one shipping a royal throuple?
jk
Claiming you didn't hate the season as much as the average fan is one thing, but better than season 1 just feels disingenous
Super gains said....I really didn't think about or analysis the season because it wouldn't be my real views....that is the worse possible way to engage with any art and especially when your putting a video out on an analysis of the show.
Yes
Sara Hess is the new Kathleen Kennedy
I feel like you guys are doing a disservice to your channels by praising it as “better than S1” or rating it a “8.9 to 9.0 out of 10”. Unless you guys are being genuinely honest, then yeah sure. But you guys are willfully brushing over faults you admit to noticing. Complacency and denial is exactly how we got S7 & S8. GOT’s decline in quality was incredibly gradual after peaking at S3. The more it deviated from the source material and/or dumbed down its dialogue and thematic plot-lines and character, the more the world began to whither until it was too late.
The actors (and CGI/sets) are what kept HOTD S2 afloat and it’s painfully obvious. People don’t “hate” this season and only a few people had issues with the pacing and lack of action.
The true problem lied in the character arcs of Alicent, Daemon, Rhaenyra, Corlys, & Rhaenys. We can still have civil conversations critiquing these obvious things without devolving into whining, if that’s what you guys fear. The finale was only the confirmatory proof that inconsistent writing was not just in our heads but rather a reality.
The idea that budget cuts, lack of action sequences, and pacing were the main problems is all farce. The show is treating its audience like we’d be too dumb to understand anything more complex and nuanced than what theyre offering; both the books and the first half of the original GOT used to reward viewers who could handle complex dialogue, plot, characters, and meaningful subtlety. Imo it was like a 6/10 and that’s considering the fact that I care little of how faithful they remain to the source material and lore; my problem is how utterly unimpressive the ‘improved’ story they’re replacing it with truly is.
The show can remain successful with some well-deserved and constructive criticism of its 2nd season. It doesn’t need this contrived enthusiasm and protection to keep it afloat. On the contrary, detailing the minor problems will prevent another disastrous ending to (yet another) fantasy/sci-fi IP adaptation.
@@cardenova OR... or... they just liked a season of television that you don't, rather than gritting their teeth and lying for no reason but to disagree with your opinion.
@@hitskwaad maybe. but I remain unconvinced that they’re actually being 100% honest. I also just wanted to share my own opinion too. I’m happy for them if they really enjoyed it that much.
@@cardenova you shared your opinion, and I shared my opinion on the quality of your opinion, which I find wanting.
it's no where near as bad as s7/8 of got. Sure you can dislike or disagree with stuff but saying it is that bad is just BS at this point
@@nirvana_helmI said no such thing.
I loved season 2 it wasn’t ruined, Jesus Christ over reaction much.
TikTok is extremely gen z so not surprising they liked what Sara Hess and Ryan condal made. The season wasn’t that good
An argument for why people like something that you don't, that relies on a generalization as toothless as "kids these days" is a bad argument.
Not really at all haha just look at the data of TikTok users and they open up with comparing it to other social media, so yea.. ? The writers leaned towards more that audience. Pretty easy to see that 😂
@AndoTheAndal that seems like a rather lazy back-rationalization borne out of confusion at any positive reaction to the season, but you certainly are entitled to whatever pigeonhole you can think of.
@@hitskwaadlol thanks for the laugh 😂
@AndoTheAndal thank me harder. You came to this video to be mad other people like something you don't, and left smiling for once.