“Game of Thrones” fans might have experienced déjà vu while watching the seventh episode of HBO’s prequel series “House of the Dragon,” which resulted in outrage from many fans over several scenes being too dark to see. “Thrones” ignited similar backlash during its final season, especially for the dimly-lit battle episode “The Long Night.” Both that episode and Episode 7 of “House of the Dragon” were directed by Emmy winner Miguel Sapochnik.

As many fans took to Twitter to express their frustration over “House of the Dragon” being too dark to see, one of HBO’s social media accounts went public defending the dark moments in the episode as “an intentional creative decision.” …

Many fans claimed the episode was “unwatchable” because the screen was simply too dark. The Ringer writer and podcaster Joanna Robinson tried to warn fans ahead of the episode’s airing to update their TV settings to make the screen a bit brighter, adding, “Watch it with all the drapes closed.”

[The only thing worse than super-dark lighting decisions is mumbled dialogue, and we’re getting a lot of both in film and television these days — Ed]