House of the Dragon may have just delivered its darkest episode to date, and as hard as it may be to believe, we don’t mean that in the metaphorical sense. Watching Game of Thrones these days feels like sitting in front of your television with several pairs of sunglasses on, and having no idea what’s going on in half the scenes because you’re squinting too hard that it defeats the whole purpose.
It all started when acclaimed director Miguel Sapochnik thought it was more realistic to dispense with the artificial lighting that so many Hollywood flicks use to illuminate the night and depend on natural sources instead. The result was that most audiences had difficulty making out anything in “The Long Night” episode, not unless they tweaked the display light on their televisions or monitors and brought it all the way up to max.
Alas, it’s become increasingly clear that House of the Dragon has adopted that aesthetic choice in earnest, whether to highlight the grimdark nature of Martin’s world or just save face when HBO can’t afford to dedicate enough CGI budget to make everything as detailed as fans have come to expect.
Whatever the reason, Sapochnik took that to a new extreme for his last episode, and Game of Thrones audiences are once again complaining on social media over a “whole episode of black screen” to HBO Max.
HBO was quick to provide fans with an answer, though not one to satisfy them, nor fix the issue, calling the problem “an intentional creative decision.”
Well, we’d already figured out as much if we’re being completely frank. You do you, HBO, but that deliberate creative choice is making it really difficult to watch the show and understand what’s happening.