House of the Dragon Season 2 has ‘overcorrected’ one huge Season 1 detail

House of the Dragon Season 2 is back, and its premiere is more loved than hated — except for “overcorrecting” one key Season 1 detail.

After only one episode, all hell has already broken loose in House of the Dragon Season 2. The highly-anticipated Blood and Cheese plot has been dropped in the mix, dividing fans over major changes made from the original book.

Even so, we’re only at the beginning of the action — who knows what chaos is to come? In the meantime, there’s another very obvious difference from House of the Dragon Season 1: the lighting. However, some think the show’s initial darkness has been overcorrected.

Fan debate sparked after an article from IndieWire’s Chris O’Falt stated: “The thing I find most depressing about the look of Season 2 is it has taken a huge step toward looking like everything else on TV and lost some of what made it visually distinct.

“In rewatching Season 1 episodes after the Season 2 screeners, it’s easy to appreciate what we took for granted and see how lighting was part of an overall visual approach that elevated the drama. Season 2 looks worse, but the heavier burden is what the change represents.”

O’Falt explains that both House and the Dragon Season 1 and later episodes of Game of Thrones were heavily criticized for being too dark — something that showrunner Ryan Condal took seriously.

The creative team has clearly put a lot of conscious effort into rectifying this — perhaps too much effort, according to some. However, many House of the Dragon viewers think changes have been made for the better.

“I think this author has a horrible take,” one posted on Reddit. “It’s not just people watching it on phones that had a problem with the darkness. It’s everyone who doesn’t have a crazy home theater set up.”

A second agreed: “Thank goodness. Some of the scenes in S1 were downright unwatchable.”

“Darkness is supposed to be a medium in which you play to the psychology of the unknown. The brain hates it and it will fill it with horror because known horror is less scary to it than not knowing. Predictable horror is how we survived in nature, the unknown was what killed us. I don’t think Miguel achieved using darkness for that successfully,” a third weighed in.

While we’ve still got the rest of Season 2 to binge, it’s still early days as to whether House of the Dragon will settle into its onscreen look. But one thing’s for sure — beheadings of children, kickings of dogs, and slayings of dragons have never been more visible.

House of the Dragon Season 2 continues on HBO, returning for Episode 2 on June 22.

Make sure you check out our breakdown of the Targaryen kings and guide to the wildest House of the Dragon fan fiction online. You can also find other new TV shows streaming this month.