I suppose House of the Dragon is so heartwrenchingly disappointing for me because I do think we had a strong start. I do not think everything was perfect, no, but I think it was good. I blame a huge portion of the decline on the writers apparent benevolent sexism.
We can't have Alicent be a victim of a patriarchal society as well an active main antagonist, so therefore we must lobotomize her and have her be a perpetual victim and perpetually victimised, leaving her character with little to nothing to do while what was originally supposed to be her plot against Rhaenyra gets carried out by the men in the story. We can't have Rhaenyra actively go to war for the claim to the Iron Throne to avenge Lucerys because what about the thinkpieces on Twitter, I guess.
Alicent and Rhaenyra's friendship was a change from the books I did not necessarily mind, until the writers started dragging it out like a dead dog tied the back of an F-150. Their childhood friendship was over long ago and they keep using it to justify some of the very stupid decisions they have these characters make currently.
These aren't the only issues—not enough time or episodes, inconsistency in both continuity and characters, the show is way too aware of fandom, pacing, nonsense arcs and artificial conflict, blatantly doing Mad Queen 2.0—but I do think these the ones currently irritating me the most.
Frankly I believe I'd go into shock if they were able to wrap this all up in a way that is in anyway satisfying by the end of Season Four.
