I had been giving huge quantities of benefit-of-the-doubt to House of the Dragon. But after watching, or enduring, tedious episode after exhausting episode, honestly, my patience is finally gone. Some of its biggest faults lie in the nonsensical time flow of the show as well as the fact that there is not one single likable character.

This show is rushing to a future that, even after a couple time jumps, never seems to arrive. It is both moving too fast and not at all. The TV equivalent of someone that talks so much yet says so little.

As the timeline of the show moves forward, some characters are recasted while others are not. What this means for the non existing story is that, some characters decompose into old age, others seem to age in a way that doesn't make sense and a third group stays perfectly young and untouched by time. This is so glaringly bad that it almost feels like an intentional middle finger to the audience while saying "people will watch anything."

Game of Thrones had its claws in its audience because it had qualities that House of the Dragon is missing: strong, distinct and likable characters; gripping plot lines, some irreverence, lots of wit, black humour, scope, imagination, heart and soul. Dragon does have some beautifully composed shots. At moments, I found myself thinking "wow, I don't remember game of thrones looking this good/having these type of artistic shots."

Dragon is a boring soap opera with a medieval skin and lazy writing that includes several lazy plot devices and tv tropes. The GOT connection almost feels forced at this point, just there to capitalize on its success.

It feels like it's created its own version of the most recent MCU formula, a self-aware money-grab, betting on the people that will rationalize the bad writing as part of the story. A story that is always leading to the next one but never quite satisfies, knowing that audiences will indeed watch anything.