Television in General

In House of the Dragon's best outing yet, its most significant time skip helps reframe its core characters and their relationships - except when it doesn't. In my review of Episode 3 , I reflected on House of the Dragon's biggest problem: How to pace the time skips. I worried that the periods lost between episodes would be forgotten in unchanging character dynamics and narrative tensions, or else be emphasized with little context and development onscreen.  This episode, in jumping ahead so many years, the writers could not rely on freezing the characters in amber, meaning a lot of work went toward convincing us to buy that a decade had past (work that I wish the show had invested in its smaller time jumps too). As many of the core characters changed actors - Rhaenyra and Alicent, though Laena and Laenor too - the writing and performances imbued the weight of ten years (and an octet of children) into the ways these old friends related to each other. Alicent's anger and R...

Rhaenyra Targaryen is not the kindest person. As she grows into and discovers her power (and its limits), she wields it without thought or care.    Rhaenyra and Alicent planning to run away together (probably, in a fanfic) A show like House of the Dragon typically focuses on nobility and their games of thrones for good reason - it generates drama that impacts a whole realm. It's easy to get caught up in the very real challenges Rhaenyra faces, as we root for her against the forces of patriarchy. Despite her enormous privilege, as a woman, she remains unable to "fuck [her] way through most of the brothels on the Street of Silk," as her father and uncle have (and as male rulers can); plus, her legitimacy as the heir is constantly called into question.  And yet... Rhaenyra's wealth and class privilege know no bounds; tellingly, she often demonstrates a lack of empathy for those around her, especially those 'beneath her station.' She seems amused by violence and d...

House of the Dragon has a pacing problem.  In three episodes, our characters have already lived through several years, births, battles, and broken friendships. While the moments in time chosen within each episode make sense for the plot, the gaps between those moments weigh heavily on the character arcs. I've mentioned before how this show's strengths follow in the footsteps of Game of Thrones - namely, via intimate conversations between characters. But when those moments have no space to breathe because each episode blasts us ahead in time, the writers are stuck with one of two storytelling options: Freeze emotions, growth, and relationships in time, so that viewers can more easily follow character development, despite how unrealistic it is to not grow as a person or with others over the course of several years off-screen; or Jump ahead in every way, hoping that the scenes you've written and the actors' onscreen choices can effectively convey all of the missing off-scr...

  Daemon Targaryen, our titular "Rogue Prince," does not feature as centrally in this episode as I had expected. Instead, he lurks at the edges of the plot, informing (explicitly and implicitly) the actions of others - actions meant to secure power, lineage, and dragon eggs. We only actually see Daemon in three scenes, in which he is confronted by A) Otto and Rhaenyra  over a stolen egg (as the potential war of succession heats up); B) his mistress, Mysaria (and interesting decisions about performed accents); and C) Corlys Valeryon, with promises of alliances, battles, and boats. Daemon has made decisions that drive the episode's action - decisions like claiming Dragonstone, knowing that the realm may not accept a female heir - but he is only shown to us as he reacts to the consequences of his off-screen antics, ultimately losing the egg he stole so as to avoid dragon-on-dragon warfare (and for the sake of his affection for his niece, a nice reminder that he isn't a ...

  In 2013, I bought a large glass stein etched with House Targaryen's sigil, the three-headed dragon. Season 3 of Game of Thrones had just aired, my fandom was at its peak, and I wanted to augment my collection of nerdy mugs and glassware at the annual anime convention. There were a lot of GoT-specific options that year, including Direwolves and Krakens, but I settled on the Targaryen sigil since Daenerys was one of my favourite characters and also dragons are real cool.  Flashforward to 2019: Like many Game of Thrones fans, I thought S8 was a narrative disaster. The story beats and character arcs felt more like a bulleted list than an actual story. But what surprised me most about my disappointment was how much it soured me on the show overall. I continue to love and rewatch other shows with bad endings (Battlestar Galactica), and have spent years arguing that a bad ending should not ruin a good journey (this is mostly about how some audiences responded to LOST; I adore the L...

I'm excited to announced that I finally had the opportunity to publish a peer-reviewed article about scripted TV, a real career highlight! A lot of my work over the past decade has looked at disability in news media. Writing about TV like this is the culmination of everything I've ever wanted to do in academic spaces and beyond. The whole special issue,  Autism_Media_Social Justice , is  amazing and well worth your time. This piece was co-authored with my colleagues Kelly Harding and M. Ariel Cascio. You can read the full open access article here:  https://journals.library.brocku.ca/index.php/SSJ/article/view/2702 Abstract: "Media reflect and affect social understandings, beliefs, and values on many topics, including the lives of autistic and disabled people. Media analysis has garnered attention in the field of disability studies, which some scholars and activists consider a promising approach to discussing the experiences of – and for promoting social justice for – auti...