House of the Dragon Faces a Saudi Backlash—Why the Show Is Being Targeted for Review Bombing!

Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria

The latest episode of ‘House of the Dragon’ has a lesbian kiss and it’s brought out the worst side of the internet.

House of the Dragon’ is the latest TV series to face review-bombing. The sixth episode of the second season is the lowest rated of the entire show on IMDB with an average star rating of 6.2.

This week’s episode of HBO’s prequel series to the ‘Game of Thrones’ franchise has received a raft of one star reviews, following its premiere on 21 July.

Related

Of the 27,000 ratings the episode has been given on IMDB, around 9,400 (or 35%) have been just one star. Of these, 4,500 have come from Saudi Arabia as one of the largest voting countries on the episode.

It’s the lowest rated episode of the entire series, significantly behind the fourth episode of this year’s season, ‘The Red Dragon and the Gold’, which currently has a 9.6 star rating.

The episode, ‘Smallfolk’ featured a kiss between Queen Rhaenyra and Mysaria, two female characters in the show played by Emma D’Arcy and Sonoya Mizuno, respectively.

As Queen Rhaenyra has increasingly felt demeaned by her war council during her attempt to unseat the usurpers on the throne led by the Hightower family, she has turned to her one staunch ally, her own Master of Whispers, Mysaria.

Emma D'Arcy and Sonya MizunoEmma D’Arcy and Sonya MizunoHBO

Originally, the two characters were just meant to share a tense moment at the end of the episode, but D’Arcy suggested their character should go in for the kiss, creating the moment on set.

“Initially, there’s huge feelings of empathy and gratitude towards this person,” D’Arcy told Variety. “Rhaenyra is hugely affected by the life that Mysaria has lived so bravely. Then, they are two bodies completely overrun by touch.”

It seems that the kiss, hailed as a success of LGBTQ+ representation on screen, has been the main source of ire for those leaving the scathing reviews on IMDB.

“I have never seen someone ruining his own great work with just 30 sec of unnecessary scene that will drag the storyline to its doom,” user ahmedraheemjasim wrote. RetroRick posted a review with the headline: “thou shalt not escape from the agenda”.

Not all the worst reviews of the episode focused on the kiss with some pointing out the slow-plodding plot of the second series. A fair criticism, as the show is so inevitably pointing towards all-out war but has faced a mid-season slump with dry tableside conversations in place of action.

Just as with ‘The Last of Us’ last year when another HBO series faced disproportionate numbers of low reviews on IMDB every time it put LGBTQ+ characters to the fore, the ugliness of the internet has reared its head once again.

‘Smallfolk’ was hardly a scintillating hour of television from a show that has provided edge-of-your seat watching since it debuted in 2022. However, it also wasn’t an unwatchable snoozefest, instead focusing more on tense political scene-setting and tactics for future tense standoffs.

Caraxes, the dragonCaraxes, the dragonHBO

Also, for those allergic to episodes of television that don’t feature explicit action, a dragon literally burns two people alive, one of which slits his own throat as he is engulfed by the flames. It’s about as metal a scene as the show has ever featured.

The episode is clearly being judged so harshly almost exclusively by a polarised sect of the public that refuses to accept any form of LGBTQ+ representation on screen and is showing its displeasure in the only way it knows possible.

Over the years, showrunners have bent to the will of the public when creating their shows. Hopefully ‘House of the Dragon’ showrunner Ryan Condal will have the good sense to recognise the irrelevance of this episode’s IMDB rating and continue creating and expanding on George R. R. Martin’s ‘Fire & Blood’ source material book at will.

Related Posts

LATE-NIGHT SHOCKER: Stephen Colbert SAVAGES Trump—Mocks His Brain as ‘Wet Bread’ After Bizarre Flub!

Stephen Colbert described Donald Trump‘s brain as “wet bread” on Thursday’s (June 12) episode of The Late Show as the president struggled to answer a simple question about the musical Les Misérables….

😲 Tucker Carlson Just Became a Dad Again — And Laura Ingraham’s Gift for the Baby Reveals a Secret No One Saw Coming 👶

In the quiet, tree-lined suburbs of Boca Grande, Florida, where the waves of the Gulf of Mexico whisper secrets to the shore, a new chapter has unfolded…

BOMBSHELL: Stephen Colbert STUNS Viewers With Bold Swipe at His Own Bosses Over Trump’s ‘Big Fat Bribe’!

Stephen Colbert returned from his summer hiatus on Monday (July 14) and wasted no time calling out CBS’ parent company, Paramount, for its $16 million settlement with President Donald…

😲 “Nothing Is What It Seems” — Nikki Rodriguez Finally Breaks Silence on Season 3 of My Life With the Walter Boys 💔✨

In a sun-drenched café tucked away in the bustling streets of Los Angeles, Nikki Rodriguez sits across from me, her signature warm smile lighting up the room….

Karoline Leavitt’s Mockery Backfires as Colbert’s 12-Word Retort Leaves Her Speechless for 17 Seconds!

Live television is a high-wire act performed without a net. For seventeen seconds, the world watched as someone fell, not with a scream, but in deafening silence….

Elon Musk’s Alleged Alien Contact Since 2018: SpaceX Engineers’ Chilling Claims Ignite Global Frenzy!

A bombshell claim has set the internet ablaze, alleging that Elon Musk has been in covert contact with extraterrestrial beings since 2018, with SpaceX engineers now leaking…