Andor: Saw the first 3 episodes of this. It's a strong series, overall, and far better than the last 2 Star Wars series (Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi). Plot and character are both solid. I particularly like how the security officer who becomes Andor's main antagonist in this part of the series is actually an idealist. The idealism is misplaced. But it's actually not unreasonable (given what he knows) for him to believe that he has a duty to find the man who apparently murdered two of his colleagues. If I have a reservation, it's that most of the plot was too predictable. After the first 20-30 minutes, I could figure most of what was going to happen in subsequent 2 episodes, and how it would lead Andor to join the Rebellion (don't whine about spoilers: If you watched Rogue One, you already know he's going to do that!).
Rings of Power: Continued modest improvement, as the plot comes more into focus. But still mediocre. The dwarf/Elrond plot is getting better. But the Elf/orc and proto-Hobbit plots continue to be tedious, albeit less so. The Numenorean expedition to Middle Earth seems pathetically small (in this respect, greatly at variance with the account in Tolkien), and it makes no sense that Galadriel or any other informed person thinks it will make any significant difference.
House of the Dragon: Yet another strong episode! It's a good depiction of how the conflict between Alicent's faction and Rhaenyra's begins to spiral downward.
As with Daemon's murder of his first wife last week, this one resolves ambiguities in the book version in favor of a darker interpretation. SPOILERS here:
- The fire at Harrenhal was deliberate.
- Rhaenyra's three sons are indeed illegitimate.
The above is heavily implied in the book. But the in-universe historian/narrator can't really know the truth.
There are a few nits here (including one more SPOILER):
If you haven't read the book, it's hard to keep track of who all the kids and other new characters are. Turning Laena's death into suicide-by-dragon (as opposed to the book version, where she dies on her way to try to take one final flight), seems gratuitous escalation.
Finally, this episode continues the series' tendency to be more sympathetic to Rhaenyra and her supporters than Alicent's faction. They clearly want to make her a character the audience roots for, at least to some extent. But, barring much greater deviation from the book than we have seen so far, this approach is going to get harder and harder to bring off.