DigitalCount

Might have been my favorite episode of the season, or even the series. I've been listening to that French song repeatedly since watching it. Ekko and Powder make such a great team.

So Zoe definitely killed the dog, right?

I think the back half of S3 was pretty good, and the end of S3 makes looking back on it much more satisfying, but when you're watching it week to week waiting for certain things to become clearer and it seems to get more muddled, it can be hard to get through. Also, the impression I got was that the writers came to the network and asked to have a time frame for the ending to be allowed to wrap things up. They were denied this because Lost was doing well enough to justify just having it go on with no end in sight. In response, they essentially demonstrated what that sort of treading water would look like, and the network allowed them to set a limit for the ending seasons.

The thing is, Aegon doesn't really have to challenge Aemond in hand to hand. As Alicent once said about him with regard to Rhaenyra, Aegon's mere existence is his strongest challenge. As soon as he's well enough to sit the throne, he is the king. Aemond is merely the Prince Regent because Aegon is unable to get out of bed for long periods of time, though theoretically he could probably hold council in his room if he so desired. Now, obviously once someone takes power it's hard to get them to relinquish it, but that's a different issue. But if Aegon is well, he has the legitimacy of being the king on his side against Aemond.

Again, dumb question. Are we meant to believe that Alys killed Grover on Daemon's behalf, so that he could treat with the heir unhindered? That's the impression I got but I also don't know if we're supposed to see her as being willing to do something like that. I predicted Rhaenyra and Mysaria kissing about twenty seconds prior to it happening, but it was mostly a joke when I said it to myself--I actually was hoping for something more like her relationship with Alicent when they were young, just a bestie who was actually in her corner. But whatever they can find with each other will hopefully be good for them. I hope this has a happy ending and I'm more than happy to stick my fingers in my ears and close my eyes to any bad things on the horizon. Dogwatch 2024 continues, lol. I now believe that the dog will survive, because it would be too cruel to keep showing him and then kill him off. Did we get a name for the dog?

I forgot to mention that fireplace scene, I did really enjoy that. In a lot of ways, Daemon and Rhaenyra are halves of a whole (he said about an uncle/niece marriage, somehow, without barfing)

Is it too much to hope for one of the soldiers maybe considering the dog a good companion for some reason or another and taking him in? It's somehow more painful to think that something bad might happen to the dog because a) he's a dog (a real creature that exists in the real world) b) he looks particularly cute and trusting, even though he's obviously seen better days c) he's still so loyal to his master (Cheese?) even though he was abusive

I'm about to ask a really dumb question and sound like a complete clown. Did anyone else see...something...between Daemon and Alys during this episode? It was probably just me but maybe it wasn't. Not really an important addition to the conversation, but I'm fine with looking silly.

"But I never thought the dragons would eat MY face," cried Alicent, Dowager Queen of the Dragons-Eating-Faces lineage Larys said basically exactly what I was thinking, which makes me feel like I need a shower. It's all well and good that Alicent knows how to do stuff, and she was absolutely right about herself (and about her son), but she was the one who went full steam ahead with the patriarchy to begin with; did she really think that doors she was happy to shut wouldn't be shut on her in turn, by her own logic? But I did enjoy that moment where she looked about ready to flip the table and kill everybody in that room. If only. It was intriguing to see that Criston seemed genuinely shaken by his experience at Rook's Rest, and that probably caused him to miscalculate with parading Meleys around like a trophy. I guess from what I'm given to understand about Dorne, they never had the same level of reverence for dragons there as any of the other kingdoms did, so maybe it's a bit of culture shock. Maybe he'll suck a tiny bit less now that he's seen that stuff up close. The less said about Aegon's scenes, the better. Cooked into his own armor, yikes. I'm actually enjoying the smallfolk perspective as well, because they're maybe the only people in this show who are completely innocent as far as this war goes. For example, I didn't expect to see Dyana at all after she was dismissed from the Red Keep, but we've seen her a couple of times now. I'm interested to see how Mysaria's plan develops. If that's Daemon's mother, does that make him a moth--eh, I guess we already knew that anyway. Honestly, it seems like he's one of those people who tends to be his own worst enemy. He may be dangerous to the people against him, but for his own cause he's basically lethal. There was something gallant about him being willing to pick up an axe and join in the restoration efforts, but of course that was hugely overshadowed by him going on his old fallback of doing war crimes. Good luck to Sir Alfred, since we've already seen Daemon go ape on one messenger. Not sure what to expect re: Rhaenyra and Jace casting about with 23andMe but maybe they'll get that guy from the tavern that was bragging about being an illegitimate Targaryen. It's a bit wild to think that he might end up riding Vermithor or something. I am glad that Rhaenyra decided to make Corlys her Hand; it seemed overdue tbh. I was surprised that she hadn't made Rhaenys the Hand before, but at least now she has one.

As far as how Aegon survived: the impression I got was that Sunfyre might have intentionally shielded him somewhat because he was still alive when he fell, as opposed to Meleys who was dead before she hit the ground. That's about all I can muster tonight. Note to self: don't stan any characters (first Luke, and now Rhaenys, so I'm not going to make any commentary on how cute it was to see Jace and Baela united, or even think about Corlys or his illegitimate son)

Okay, so I wasn't the only one who felt a bit of a microaggression there? Definitely seemed at least kind of suspect. The classism was more on display (before Baela showed up Gwayne was obviously trying to undermine his position), but it seemed unnecessary to bring up Criston's heritage in that "offhand" manner--unless he had an issue with it. Criston is undoubtedly scum, but I had to smile when he was shown to be right about taking their concealment seriously. Otto last week, Criston this week...it seems like the Greens tend to be better at administration, whereas the Blacks are being portrayed as being more morally sound. If they could have worked together, what could they have accomplished?

Personally, I could see Alicent deciding not to take Rhaenyra captive out of shame. She's not an idiot; she knows that she was wrong about what Viserys was saying on his deathbed, and she knows that to a degree the fallout is her fault, and that she's now consciously making the decision to defy the king's wishes for his succession. I can see the mental A-to-B that would let her feel like it would only be "fair" to let Rhaenyra go free from the Sept as a way to quiet her own guilt. I don't know that that would definitely be her reasoning, but it feels like it fits.

It could be that he's hoping to get into a fight because of that. Maybe he thinks it'll wash away his fears that he's not really in control, and that Vhagar killing Luke was just a fluke, a freak accident that isn't likely to happen again. Without another fight, all he has is the one data point, and it's not great for him.

It's always a bit contrived; there's no reason why the captors should care about the love lives of their captives. It made a bit of sense with Danny, because he wanted to take from them what was taken from him, but it felt beneath Ben to get in on it.

I saw people observing it elsewhere (especially since it's 2023) so I think it counts as legit. Happy belated LOST Day!