Review bombing has become a common tactic against ‘woke’ media online. Most recently, The Acolyte got review bombed, and the latest season of The Boys faced similar backlash for satirizing the right-wing audience. Ironically, The Boys has actually been a satire mocking the far-right since Season 1 of the show, but the lack of media literacy means it took a particular section of people quite some time to grasp that.
Conservative voices are quick to count the diversity of sexuality, race, and gender in any piece of media and label them as “wokeness.” Such is the nature of online criticism these days that if you don’t like something, you can just call it “woke” and think that’s an insult and a really intense criticism.
In that context, House of the Dragon is the latest victim of a massive review bombing, as some of the show’s viewers are triggered by a single kiss.
House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 6 Gets Review Bombed
The latest episode of House of the Dragon, “Smallfolk,” was one of the season’s slower episodes but featured a significant moment—a kiss between Rhaenyra and Mysaria, the ‘White Worm.’
Naturally, this has been labeled “woke” by the conservatives and sparked a social media outrage among the show’s lesser-accepting viewers. House of the Dragons, which features dragons and a married uncle and niece duo as the show’s primary couple, has really pushed its viewers’ suspension of disbelief this time regarding what a fantasy show can be by showing two women kissing, with people on social media accusing the episode of pushing liberal propaganda and gay agenda.
As “Smallfolk” becomes the lowest-rated episode of the season due to a review bombing on IMDb, a geographical breakdown of the ratings reveals that viewers from one specific region are particularly outraged.
While Smallfolk holds an aggregate rating of 7.1 in the United States and 7.1 in the UK, it has an aggregate score of 2.6 with over 6,000 ratings in Saudi Arabia, a country known for its harsh anti-LGBTQ+ stance, homophobia, and sexism. Which I suppose further proves the severity of the criticism and how seriously you should be taking the show’s gay agenda.
The More Articulate Criticisms of House of the Dragon Season 2
Despite the show’s overall positive reception, House of the Dragon is not without its problems, of course.
While the season has had interesting moments and conversations, its glacial pace has led to disappointment for many fans. The nearly two-year wait between seasons exacerbated this issue, leaving fans expecting more action and resolution after the intense cliffhanger at the end of Season 1.
Rhaenyra’s character development has been particularly slow, making her less interesting to watch. This sentiment also extends to other characters, whose arcs feel unnecessarily prolonged. For example, Rhaenyra’s council’s lack of belief in her and Daemon’s struggles at Harrenhal could have been resolved in single episodes but have been stretched over the season, affecting the pacing of other storylines.
In particular, the Blackwoods terrorizing the Brackens and the Sea Snake’s blockade were major events that happened largely offscreen. Viewers saw minimal impact on the small folk and tensions at King’s Landing, while more screen time was devoted to less engaging plots like Daemon’s drug trip around Harrenhal.
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While all this may yet pay off and be a setup for a grand finale in the future, people rightly feel aggrieved since the nature of television is such nowadays that they will probably have to wait another two years for the next season.