While causally browsing online last night, I saw a post warning fans that the Season 2 Finale of The House of the Dragon has been leaked online. This episode isn’t set to air until Sunday, August 4 on HBO/Max. We only had to wait 5 more days until the Season Finale. Plus, I barely had time to process the last episode, which aired less than 2 days ago.

I understand excitement about the show because I love The House of the Dragon but this is getting ridiculous! Nowadays, we have to wait an average of 2 years between seasons of most shows and on top of that, seasons are getting shorter. For the first season of The House of the Dragon, we received 10 episodes and for this season, we will get only 8 episodes. So, what is the rush?

Has the binge model ruined viewers to the point where we can’t wait a couple of more days to enjoy an episode? Personally, I want to sleep in on Sunday, wake up, run errands, reset my apartment for the week ahead, and then, after a nice dinner, snuggle up on my couch to watch the season finale.

I know what you are thinking, “You can still have your ideal Sunday if you avoid social media until then” or “This is based on a book, so you already know what’s going to happen anyway?”

Avoiding social media is an easy sacrifice to make but it’s not one we should be forced to make. If you decide to go online, nowadays, you can’t expect to get a spoiler warning. You can accidentally scroll down and see a leaked photo, script, or clip. In the past, sneak peaks were the norm so it’s becoming harder to distinguish between a planned sneak peak and a genuine leak.

While the show is based on Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin, the showrunners have made changes because the book is a historical retelling of the Targaryen dynasty written by unreliable and biased narrators. I see the book and show as two entities. So, I look forward to the showrunners and writers’ interpretation of the text so, in some ways this show is new to me.

In the end, the episode was leaked, and as we know, once something is online, it’s hard to take back. I just hope that if you want to wait until Sunday, that you are not spoiled beforehand. I know I will be waiting until Sunday so I can enjoy fan reactions, analyses, and memes next week.