The second season of House of the Dragon premieres this Monday and received raved reviews from critics and audiences alike. The follow-up to the Golden Globe-winning first season kicked things off in true Game of Thrones fashion with a brutal death that shocked audiences. The show currently sits at a critics score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.
While the audience score for the second season stands at 87%, many fans were quick to note that it ranked higher than the Star Wars show The Acolyte, whose audience score stands at 14%. The Acolyte’s scathing reviews were accused of being part of a review-bomb campaign due to the leads being female. However, House of the Dragon’s high score negates that point.
House of the Dragon Scores Above Star Wars’s The Acolyte
The season 2 premiere of House of the Dragon had a stellar opening this season with the shocking death of Prince Jaehaerys at the hands of Daemon’s assassins Blood and Cheese. The episode takes off from the season one finale which saw the death of Rhaenyra Taragryen’s son Lucerys at the hands of Aemond, the son of Alicient Hightower.
The two queens are set to compete for the Iron Throne in an intense war of succession that has been teased in George R.R. Martin’s books as one of the bloodiest wars. Critics, who had early access to four episodes of the new season, have praised the show for its production values and emotional stakes, led by Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke’s characters.
After the premiere of the second season, House of the Dragon scored 87% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. Though it is less than the critics’ score, the margin is not too wide, unlike the Star Wars show The Acolyte. The latter reportedly received a critical score of 84% on RT while the audiences gave it a scathing score of 14%, the margin being extremely wide.
I guess the ists and phobes didn't get the memo to also review bomb House of the Dragon, only The Acolyte right? pic.twitter.com/HTbbxwuOX2
— Lily* (@300mirrors) June 17, 2024
You mean this female led genre TV show isn't getting review bombed by the toxic males just because it's really good?
— Heroes Ahead 🇺🇸 (@heroesahead) June 17, 2024
Will this crazy world ever make sense?
Crazy fact is they cost pretty much the same to make… You can see the quality difference and you would think HOD has double the budget but no… it just has double the length of episodes which is even crazier. Same budget but Acolyte is much worse and has much shorter eps 🤔
— Austin Medeiros (@austin_medz) June 18, 2024
Yeah weird, almost like people care about good writing and great stories.
— Lily* (@300mirrors) June 17, 2024
Why would people review bomb an actually great show?
— SamJReimer (@SamuelStark93) June 17, 2024
The Acolyte has been widely hated by traditionalist Star Wars fans for its dismissal of canonized elements in the universe and its bad writing. While the creators had accused fans of being misogynistic against the show due to its protagonist being a Black female, the stellar rating of House of the Dragon proves that only bad writing was the problem with The Acolyte.
The Acolyte’s Review Bombing Accusation Does Not Make Sense Now
The Disney-led Star Wars has been controversial with every project that has been released, with only shows like The Mandalorian and Andor receiving undivisive positive responses. The most recent series The Acolyte, which sees Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland take over as showrunner has been the most divisive of the lot.
The series has received rave reviews from critics who have praised its diversity and ‘bold’ choices in the Star Wars universe. However, fans seem to have the exact opposite response and have criticized it for its shoddy writing, dialogues, and dismissal of the canon. The show has a terrible audience score of 14% on Rotten Tomatoes.
However, this rating has also been accused of being part of a review-bombing campaign by traditionalist fans, who allegedly do not like the diversity angle of recent Disney Plus shows. Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy even accused fans of targetting the s*xual orientation of creator Leslye Headland and criticizing the show (via NY Times).
However, the stellar rating of House of the Dragon, which has two women leading the fantasy franchise disproves the theory that The Acolyte’s diversity was an issue with fans and not terrible writing.
House of the Dragon is currently available to stream on Max while The Acolyte is streaming on Disney Plus.
