YouTuber Preston Jacobs wasted no time when he began his Home of the Dragon after-party livestream: “I’m going to say proper up [top], I feel at this level that is my jump-the-shark second. I don’t suppose that this present is salvageable anymore.” Sunday’s season finale, he says, “actually ruins the whole lot.” Plotlines contradicted one another, some story arcs went nowhere, he stated. It was a large number. And whereas Preston has had divisive Recreation of Thrones opinions up to now, on this level, a number of followers agreed with him—each in his livestream’s feedback and throughout the web.
This isn’t the place for Home of the Dragon Season 2 finale spoilers—you’ll need to look ahead to your self for that—however the lengthy and in need of it’s that the episode abruptly ended simply when it was beginning to get good. After weeks of selling a serious battle between the Greens and the Blacks of the Targaryen household tree, no such battle materialized. As The Hollywood Reporter put it, “HBO reducing to black hasn’t irritated this many TV followers since The Sopranos ended.”
The Sopranos comparability is each hyperbolic and little apropos. Home of the Dragon is much from the beloved essential darling that Sopranos was, but it surely does now get the type of scrutiny that its status predecessor as soon as did. Following Recreation of Thrones’ womp-womp 2019 collection finale some followers have hoped Home might regain a few of its predecessor’s former glory, whereas others fearful it will make the identical errors. Sunday’s episode appeared to point to many it is likely to be all dragons, no fireplace.
“Y’all principally made this season a construct up now we gotta wait an entire fkn 2 years” for the following season, wrote @Tata_Onika on X, referring to rumors that the following season gained’t come till at the least 2026. “Actually pissed me off,” wrote one other X person. “Did I simply watch a 70-minute trailer for Season 3?” requested one other—a sentiment that others echoed. Over on Reddit, followers had been “mildly butthurt” and lamenting, “I didn’t see a CRUMB of consequential motion.”
One other private fave: “We needed to take care of Freud goals for this?!!”
Season 2’s finale may be an indication of the occasions. HBO, Max, and all of its affiliated properties have been going by means of numerous upheaval since guardian firm Warner Bros. merged with Discovery. Whereas large exhibits like Dragon and The Final of Us haven’t been hit as onerous as different properties, this season was solely eight episodes, whereas final season was 10, and this one was shot through the Hollywood strikes, thanks partially to lots of its solid being in a distinct union that wasn’t hanging. Deadline additionally reported final 12 months {that a} “main battle” was moved from Season 2 to Season 3, and in so doing the present could have been left with a humdrum finale.
Will Home of the Dragon get well? Eh, in all probability. Season 2 already didn’t fairly hit the viewership heights the present’s first season hit. However because the streaming wars proceed and other people drop providers or ponder, within the case of Max, switching to ad-based tiers which are additionally going up in value, evaluating one season’s numbers to a different’s seems like a idiot’s errand. HBO greenlit a 3rd season—cocreator Ryan Condal revealed Monday it’ll finish with the fourth season—which might very nicely open with the confrontation followers had hoped for. Till then, everyone seems to be simply going to have to attend whereas this drags on.