Finale was excellent. The final sequence with Arrax and Vhagar was extremely well done. No expense has been spared on the dragon CGI budget, that's for sure. I loved how Visery's warning about it being an illusion that they truly control the dragons came to a head. They're basically kids with nuclear weapons that have minds of their own. Even without Luke getting chomped the war was inevitable but what a catalyst to really kick it off.
Daemon going to see Vermithor was also another great scene. Emily D'Arcy acting her ass off again. I was worried about the time jump and taking to the new actresses but both Olvia Cooke and Emily D'Arcy have been brilliant.
As I already said on Facebook and Twitter, Aemond might be the first anime villain done well in live-action.
Motherfucker looks badass.
Yes, I'm gushing because the show deserves it. It deserves all the flowers.
I know it's beating a dead horse at this point but the comparison with Rings of Power is kind of relevant. They went up against each other as the two flagship fantasy shows of the year and it's not even close. The hype around House of the Dragon online has been vastly larger than anything Rings of Power has mustered as well. You don't need official viewing figures to know which one captured the zeitgeist. House of the Dragon was obviously not a cheap show to make but again, compared with Rings of Power...
The only problem with the new format of big expensive film-quality shows is that the wait between seasons is excruciating. We're probably looking at 2024 before season 2. Maaaybe, end of 2023. A long time!