S02.E01: A Son For A Son

[CatWarmer]

5 hours ago, CountryGirl said:

I don't think Helaena saw any choice in identifying Jahaerys. She first tries to offer herself, then her necklace, thinking they're after money. They had already indicated they were going to kill both children if she didn't comply. It was identify her son or lose them both.

Sophie's Choice.

[AntFTW]

13 minutes ago, aghst said:

Damon is so rash and impulsive, like Agon and Amond want to be, going after the blockade, not looking at the chess moves ahead.

It's one thing for the kids who are young but Damon is middle aged now?  I don't recall him being quite like this in season 1.

Daemon was like that in season 1.

He was always did things without planning or without thinking of consequences. When Rhaenrya was named heir, he stole a dragon egg and fled to Dragonstone because he was mad that he was no longer the heir.

When he was fighting in the Stepstones, he feigns surrender to rush in by himself against hundreds of people to kill their leader.

He was ready to plunge the realm into war almost immediately when throne was usurped. He wanted immediate retaliation.

[iMonrey]

4 hours ago, ChicksDigScars said:

The only problem that I have is that she was so righteous and hypocritical regarding sexual behavior towards Rhaenyra and now she's finding out that hey...good sex ain't so bad. I mean, you know the King wasn't putting out like this. I can't stand the insufferable Alicent, but on this matter...whatever. Ride that bitter, petty, hot man. 

It's really apples to oranges. At the time Rhaenyra was the unwed heir to the throne so her "virtue" was a commodity. Alicent is a widowed dowager who has given birth to three children, there's no expectation for her to be a virgin. Besides, her main quarrel with Rhaenyra is that she lied to her when asked point blank if she was still a virgin. (To be fair, Rhaenyra did not lie when she said she didn't have sex with Damon, which is what Alicent was asking. But she also maintained she was pure.)

[AntFTW]

5 hours ago, CountryGirl said:

I don't think Helaena saw any choice in identifying Jahaerys. She first tries to offer herself, then her necklace, thinking they're after money. They had already indicated they were going to kill both children if she didn't comply. It was identify her son or lose them both.

Agreed. Helaena was given an impossible choice.

[baldryanr]

5 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

It's really apples to oranges. At the time Rhaenyra was the unwed heir to the throne so her "virtue" was a commodity. Alicent is a widowed dowager who has given birth to three children, there's no expectation for her to be a virgin.

She didn't pick some random single guy, she picked someone she knows swore an oath of celibacy.  Of course he already broke it with Rhaenyra, but both she and Cole are happy to rationalize that as a spoiled brat using her privilege to force an honorable man to satisfy her selfish desires, so it's not really his fault.  What's the rationale this time?  We really like each other is not supposed to be a good enough reason.

[paigow]

41 minutes ago, Cristofle said:

the men should have waited to find him and NOT KILLED AN INNOCENT CHILD,

no sympathy for child killers - but...

• They did not sign up for a suicide mission to kill Aemond
• There was already another witness so no time to hang around

[bluvelvet]

I really enjoyed the opening. I also enjoyed seeing the Starks again and Ice. However, I couldn’t help but think that Jace looks like he could be related to the Starks.

DAMN! - a son for a son indeed. Daemon does not give two 💩. He was just waiting to get let loose. Are we sure that Daemon isn’t Aemonds daddy, I mean they’re literally the two sides of the same coin. 
 

I am team black all the way but this was a fuck up  

When will they start realizing that Heleana is seeing the future ? Poor Heleana, I keep remembering Alicent chastising Aegon last season with a “what about your wife”…and I’m thinking, you mean his sister?? Every once in a while it gives me the heebie jeebies. I was also left to wonder if they planned to marry the twins to one another if ones didn’t get killed?? 

 

[AntFTW]

3 minutes ago, paigow said:

no sympathy for child killers - but...

• They did not sign up for a suicide mission to kill Aemond
• There was already another witness so no time to hang around

and the question of what happens if they didn't find Aemond was asked, and although we didn't see the answer, I'm sure they got instructions to kill somebody's royal son.

[scarynikki12]

6 minutes ago, bluvelvet said:

When will they start realizing that Heleana is seeing the future ?

If any of them do realize her prophecy skills we'll probably get a "if you go to war a great house will fall" (see: The Iliad) and it'll only encourage them to move forward with the war.

[proserpina65]

5 hours ago, AntFTW said:

Justice doesn’t exist in King’s Landing.

Justice doesn't exist anywhere in Westeros.

4 hours ago, ChicksDigScars said:

The only problem that I have is that she was so righteous and hypocritical regarding sexual behavior towards Rhaenyra and now she's finding out that hey...good sex ain't so bad.

It doesn't really fit with her demonstrated moral code or Criston's for that matter, but the woman deserves some good sex after putting up with Viserys on top of her for so long.

3 hours ago, Constantinople said:

Having dragon dreams is all very well, but Heleana doesn't provide actionable intelligence

I think she probably sees flashes which she can't really verbalize into actual advice, unfortunately.

2 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Crispy wasn't obligated to be standing outside Rhae's door out of sense of duty or because he was specifically assigned to, but did because he was hot for her.

I don't agree with this one.  Seems to me it was because he was assigned to be there.  So I think they're should've been a guard outside the door of the Queen's chambers, especially since the heir was there.  Either Criston, as Commander of the Kingsguard or Otto as Hand got sloppy about internal security.  Presumably because they felt everyone was safe in the Red Keep.

1 hour ago, Cristofle said:

(I don't know if that's an actor limitation or purposefu

There's definitely not an actor limitation.  It's absolutely purposeful.

 

[AntFTW]

3 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

Justice doesn't exist anywhere in Westeros.

That was my original thought.... and then I said "Well, the Starks try to deliver fair justice at least"

[magdalene]

Daemon has always been impulsive, sometimes it works for him and sometimes it doesn't.

Rhaenyra will be furious with him about this current debacle and she will tell him to take a hike or he will go off on his own to pout for a while.  But eventually she will need him and beg him to come back. Because you bet Rhaenyra will need more people killing.

[paigow]

33 minutes ago, magdalene said:

 

But eventually she will need him and beg him to come back.

Not a good plan to have a dragon lying around eating while its pilot is in a time-out...

[iMonrey]

2 hours ago, baldryanr said:

She didn't pick some random single guy, she picked someone she knows swore an oath of celibacy.  Of course he already broke it with Rhaenyra, but both she and Cole are happy to rationalize that as a spoiled brat using her privilege to force an honorable man to satisfy her selfish desires, so it's not really his fault.  What's the rationale this time?  We really like each other is not supposed to be a good enough reason.

Oh I'm not defending Alicent by any means, she shouldn't be doing any of the Kingsguards, period, let alone Criston. I'm just saying when she learned Rhaenyra lied point blank about still being a virgin that's when she turned against her. Not for sleeping with Criston per se. 

[aghst]

Also Damon secured additional eggs in season 1.

Pretty sure the idea is to deploy those once hatched and the dragons are grown.

They showed clips of the eggs.  I don't recall if that's from season 1 or it's meant to be coming this season clips.

Presumably only team Black has additional dragon eggs?

Because if Team Green had eggs, Amond probably wouldn't have stolen Vhagar.  Or maybe he still would have stolen her.

 

 

[ICantDoThatDave]

2 hours ago, bluvelvet said:

When will they start realizing that Heleana is seeing the future ?

To be fair, we only realize it (sorta kinda) because we're watching a TV show we can rewatch & connect the dots.  And I doubt any of us could have predicted the actual events that eventually happened based solely on her words.

She's "predicted" that for Aemond to gain a dragon he would lose an eye (waaay before it happened), a "beast beneath the floor" was a danger (way too vague - if this wasn't a line we were explicitly shown in a TV show, among the many things she must say every day that we don't get to hear, I don't think we would put much stock into it either), & she's afraid of "the rats".

That last one, even with hindsight after this episode's events, I don't see anyone in-show making the connection.  They are mostly only vague, weird things she says which we, the audience, can subsequently connect to events.

[Lady S.]

19 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I'm wondering about Aemond's rooms.  Did he get the ones Rhaenyra used to have, minus the orgy tapestries?

No, Alicent has Rhaenyra's old rooms and must've given her old Queenly suite to Helaena. In the inside the ep, they point out she was fucking Criston in the same bedroom where Rhaenyra once did. I'm sure she tells herself it's different when she does it because she has no wish to have bastards and feels suitably guilty afterwards until she does it again.

 

13 hours ago, NeenerNeener said:

They changed the opening credits! The first season was another little model like GOT, with blood running through it. The new credits are a tapestry being created in real time.

If the first season's could be said to be based on Vizzy's model of old Valyria, it occurs to me the new opening could be said to relate to Helaena. She's seen sewing again and one of her enigmatic sayings last seasons was about dragons weaving dragons of cloth.

Speaking of Helaena's prophecies, she's not an all-seeing psychic or mindreader, she's a dreamer, and however prophetic some of the dreams are they are symbolic and open to interpretation. Think of Bran's dreams in GoT. He foresaw the ironborn invasion by saying the sea was coming to Winterfell, but that made no sense to anybody else at the time. Helaena's clearest prediction was that Aemond would lose an eye, but that was still missing context of how and why. She repeated there was a beast beneath the boards, but likely had no idea it would be Rhaenys on her dragon interrupting the coronation. In this case, she had a rat-based premonition and likely knew her son was somehow doomed, but not how or when. I think it could also be argued that Viserys was a dreamer but he just massively misinterpreted his one dragon dream as he did most things wrong. He did sire a son named Aegon who would wear the Conqueror's crown, but that wasn't Aemma's son, and the dragons were not roaring in unified celebration but in wrath for war on each side.

[Ambrosefolly]

Well, that was a, uh, premier. The episode felt like they went with the first draft.  Maybe they should have given Miguel Sapochnik what he wanted. He lights scenes too darkly, but I got less head scratches even though last season skipped over years and even decades and maybe that had to do with him.

Some good:  Rhaenys not putting up with Daemon's shit. Emma D'Arcy's wordless performance until declaring Rhaenyra wanted Aemond. Tom Glynn Carney's Aegon having the most believable character arc. And I enjoyed seeing Cregan Stark.

What I didn't like: I am not Team Green, but I find a bit out of character that Alicent and Criston would jump into bed so soon after Viserys' death. I'm not saying that it wouldn't eventually happened; it felt too soon. If possible, it should have waited a few episodes. Alicent might not have had the most loving marriage with Viserys' but she cared about doing a good job and I agree with some commenters in the interweb that a big part of Cole's hatred towards Rhayenra is that by him sleeping with her, she potentially endangered his life with the threat of treason. 

Slightly disappointed with Aemond. I felt like we missed a scene with the guy. I would have liked a scene where Alicent found out about Luke and chastised Aemond for it. I think Ewan is capable of portraying Aemond's getting his heartbroken by his mother and then quickly turning on her as his defense mechanism. I figure that is what happened, but the  the mother/son bond is so important to his character. 

As for the North. Again, liked seeing the North and Cregan, but I'd rather seen Cregan and Jace hanging out at Winterfell with the memberberries, rather than seeing the Wall, considering 

Spoiler

what a letdown the Whitewalkers turned out to be

 

Edited June 18 by Ambrosefolly

[Dobian]

Criston continues to do what he does best.  I heard HotD's resident manwhore is set to get his own spinoff, The Dragon Bachelor.

Edited June 18 by Dobian

[ferjy]

5 hours ago, baldryanr said:

so it's not really his fault

“Just say no.”

 

[Lady S.]

4 hours ago, CatWarmer said:

Sophie's Choice.

Fun fact: Phia Saban's real name is Sophia Saban, as in a name more usually shortened to Sophie. A coincidence, I'm sure, but a very fitting one.

 

3 hours ago, bluvelvet said:

I really enjoyed the opening. I also enjoyed seeing the Starks again and Ice. However, I couldn’t help but think that Jace looks like he could be related to the Starks.

Cregan may have had the Stark voice down but Jace has the Jon Snow hair. Don't know why they didn't have the actor use his real hair in s1 since it only makes him look more like Harwin too.

Fun fact #2: Tom Taylor, who played Cregan, started out as l'il Uhtred in the pilot of The Last Kingdom. Between him, Ewan Mitchell (Osferth/Aemond), and Phia Saban (Aelfwynn/Helaena), that's 3 actors migrating from TLK to Hot D.

Aegon is now in the same situation his father was before his birth: his son is dead, his only child is a girl even though his throne derives from the no Queens precendent, and his next male heir is his impulisively violent rogue prince brother.

28 minutes ago, Ambrosefolly said:

Well, that was a, uh, premier. The episode felt like they went with the first draft.  Maybe they should have given Miguel Sapochnik what he wanted. He lights scenes too darkly, but I got less head scratches even though last season skipped over years and even decades and maybe that had to do with him.

They filmed this during the writer's strike. Every ep is gonna be based on whatever drafts already existed before the strike.

[Ambrosefolly]

21 minutes ago, Lady S. said:

They filmed this during the writer's strike. Every ep is gonna be based on whatever drafts already existed before the strike.

Well, that explains that. 

[Stardancer Supreme]

11 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Aemond's death would've been something akin to justice.  The murder of an innocent child is not justice at all.

I was calling for Justice for Luke in general. I was not co-signing the death of poor Prince Jaehaerys. Having read "Fire & Blood", I was grateful that Blood & Cheese wasn't shown getting especially graphic with the "assignment"...

[Chicago Redshirt]

 

7 hours ago, aghst said:

It's also surprising that Agon and Amond are ready to dismiss with Alicent and Otto's counsel and probably opt for Larys instead.  I thought they had to show some deference to the House Hightower.

Wasn't Joffery controlled by Cersei and Tywin?

But Agon and Amond saw no downside to forcing the other Houses to bend the knee under threat of dragon fire.  That should backfire on them, right?

One big difference between GOT and House of the Dragon: GOT comes after Robert Baratheon had successfully rebelled against the Targaryens and ousted them. He thus established a precedent that whoever was strong enough to take the Iron Throne deserved it, no matter who they were. It obviously helped that he was still a noble and all that, but that paved the way for any house to potentially win, and any house could potentially scheme and plot their way to a position of power. And even within that framework, Joffery listened only (really) to Lannisters. People would make deals with other houses, but it seemed like you could never trust someone outside your house, and often, even within your house.

In the time frame we are in now, the Targaryens have ruled uninterrupted for generations, and they have a near-monopoly on the world's dragons (with as far as we've been shown the handful of exceptions being held by their allies the Velaryons, a family they are bonded to by marriage. So in addition to having created a myth about how noble Targaryen blood is and how they are more fit to rule by birthright, they also have pretty much all the power. Which means that they owe little to no deference to the Hightowers or anyone else.  It's hard to see how threatening people to join or die will backfire on either Team Black or Team Green in the short term because of their dragon monopoly. There's very little that seemingly can be done to stop a dragon. 

I think we are explicitly told that by the time of GOT, all known dragons had pretty much died off and yet the Targaryens still retained power until the aforementioned rebellion. So we presumably will see at least some of what happened to all of these dragons and how the Targaryens retained power even despite no longer having dragons if the show runs for long enough.

3 hours ago, Lady S. said:

Speaking of Helaena's prophecies, she's not an all-seeing psychic or mindreader, she's a dreamer, and however prophetic some of the dreams are they are symbolic and open to interpretation. Think of Bran's dreams in GoT. He foresaw the ironborn invasion by saying the sea was coming to Winterfell, but that made no sense to anybody else at the time. Helaena's clearest prediction was that Aemond would lose an eye, but that was still missing context of how and why. She repeated there was a beast beneath the boards, but likely had no idea it would be Rhaenys on her dragon interrupting the coronation. In this case, she had a rat-based premonition and likely knew her son was somehow doomed, but not how or when. I think it could also be argued that Viserys was a dreamer but he just massively misinterpreted his one dragon dream as he did most things wrong. He did sire a son named Aegon who would wear the Conqueror's crown, but that wasn't Aemma's son, and the dragons were not roaring in unified celebration but in wrath for war on each side.

I would think that the "beast beneath the boards" prediction would trigger something in someone who had heard it after it came true, though...same with the Aemond one....

[edlask]

1 hour ago, ferjy said:

“Just say no.”

 

Not sure it’s as simple as that. 

[AntFTW]

18 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I would think that the "beast beneath the boards" prediction would trigger something in someone who had heard it after it came true, though...same with the Aemond one....

But why? Why would it trigger anything? It sounds like useless nonsense.

Someone mentioned upthread that her "predictions" don't really give anything that's actionable. It's things that no one can make sense of. Do the Targs refer to their dragons as "beasts"? What "boards" is this "beast" beneath? Is the beast a threat to us? How do we avoid the beast?

There was no useful information that would have helped them avoid the Dragonpit during Aegon's coronation.

Helaena spits out her prophecies and she can't even take action on her own words. If she picked up on it herself, she would have hid her children.

[ferjy]

29 minutes ago, edlask said:

Not sure it’s as simple as that. 

That’s exactly my point. You missed that I was being facetious. The quote is from a sugar-coated campaign Nancy Reagan started, to stop the youth of the day from taking drugs. There was quite an uproar about it. Some of these kids had serious addiction problems, and her solution was for them to “just say no”. Yeah, thanks Nance.

 

[goldilocks]

39 minutes ago, AntFTW said:

If she picked up on it herself, she would have hid her children.

I thought the same thing. Her prophesies seem pretty useless! 

[ferjy]

49 minutes ago, AntFTW said:

Why would it trigger anything? It sounds like useless nonsense.

Exactly. Unfortunately the characters don’t have access to the Inside the Episodes. 😁

 

[steph369]

15 hours ago, ChicksDigScars said:

Is it weird that the killing of the wolf pup in the beginning of GoT swore me off watching that show, but I just shrugged over last night's turn of events? 

I’ll say. I like animals too, but we just saw (heard) an innocent child’s head being butchered off!

[jenn31]

On 6/16/2024 at 11:19 PM, proserpina65 said:

He can't be on duty all the time.

While this is true, we’ve seen him horizontal more than on his feet (occasionally on his knees). 

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 hours ago, AntFTW said:

But why? Why would it trigger anything? It sounds like useless nonsense.

Someone mentioned upthread that her "predictions" don't really give anything that's actionable. It's things that no one can make sense of. Do the Targs refer to their dragons as "beasts"? What "boards" is this "beast" beneath? Is the beast a threat to us? How do we avoid the beast?

There was no useful information that would have helped them avoid the Dragonpit during Aegon's coronation.

Helaena spits out her prophecies and she can't even take action on her own words. If she picked up on it herself, she would have hid her children.

I mean after the fact. If you hear what sounds like babbling about a beast bursting out from underneath and then you experience an incident in which a beast bursts from underneath some boards, one would would think that might ring a bell, connect some dots. Especially when a) this wasn't a one-of but has happened multiple times and b) this is a world of magic, spells and abilities where psychics are a realistic possibility. As far as we know, no one has caught on to her clairvoyance or attempted to help her hone it 

Which is not to say even if someone had made the connection that Helaena is in a state of mind to give useful prophecies. 

[AntFTW]

48 minutes ago, steph369 said:

I’ll say. I like animals too, but we just saw (heard) an innocent child’s head being butchered off!

I think if you can survive Aemma’s torturous death in season 1, you’re good.

[millennium]

I was underwhelmed.  I hoped for some dramatic scenes but instead got a lot of talk, a down-and-out white worm, and a kiddie decapitation.

Unpopular opinion but I was not happy to see the return of the Starks or the Wall or the whole winter-is-coming hoax, because now we know that in the end, the threat of the White Walkers turns out to be just a little more terrifying than the Y2K bug.   All of those callbacks resurrected my disdain for Season 8.

Hope they do better next week.   This felt like filler.

Edited June 18 by millennium

[PippiLongstockng]

On 6/16/2024 at 11:46 PM, Oscirus said:

Between this and the aemond blinding incident, these guards are coming off as horrible at guarding children.

Alicent must be busier than we thought! 

[Chicago Redshirt]

Can't take credit for this but thought it too good not to share:

 

[Affogato]

5 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I mean after the fact. If you hear what sounds like babbling about a beast bursting out from underneath and then you experience an incident in which a beast bursts from underneath some boards, one would would think that might ring a bell, connect some dots. Especially when a) this wasn't a one-of but has happened multiple times and b) this is a world of magic, spells and abilities where psychics are a realistic possibility. As far as we know, no one has caught on to her clairvoyance or attempted to help her hone it 

Which is not to say even if someone had made the connection that Helaena is in a state of mind to give useful prophecies. 

She isn’t on Fox News. She is mostly muttering to a relatively few people who have a habit of dismissing her silliness and a lot on their minds. 

[Uncle JUICE]

14 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

 

I don't agree with this one.  Seems to me it was because he was assigned to be there.  So I think they're should've been a guard outside the door of the Queen's chambers, especially since the heir was there.  Either Criston, as Commander of the Kingsguard or Otto as Hand got sloppy about internal security.  Presumably because they felt everyone was safe in the Red Keep.

 

Wasn't he posted there because Rhaenyra was the heir to the throne at the time, and Viserys was extremely protective of her? Not that the Queen isn't important, but at the point we're at in the story, it's not like her death would throw the realm into chaos, as would the death of the next in line. What makes less sense to me is why there's no kingsgaurd posted in the royal residences at all, and Blood can just tool around in there without resistance. Then I can probably fall back on "Aegon is basically a dumb twenty year old who doesn't quite understand the literal constant threat to his very tenuous succession," and didn't post any, plus Cole (as Lord Commander) AND Alicent want to get their fuck on without more people knowing (naive at best, stupid at worst), so the Lord Commander isn't the one who's going to say "Hey, maybe we should have a few more guards up here." 

Can someone please explain why Aric and Eric (fucking stupid names) were taken into the Kingsgaurd at EIGHT YEARS OLD? Is there like a youth program the KG runs? I thought Jaime Lannister was young at 14.

[Uncle JUICE]

10 hours ago, Ambrosefolly said:

What I didn't like: I am not Team Green, but I find a bit out of character that Alicent and Criston would jump into bed so soon after Viserys' death. I'm not saying that it wouldn't eventually happened; it felt too soon. If possible, it should have waited a few episodes. Alicent might not have had the most loving marriage with Viserys' but she cared about doing a good job and I agree with some commenters in the interweb that a big part of Cole's hatred towards Rhayenra is that by him sleeping with her, she potentially endangered his life with the threat of treason. 

 

  Hide contents

what a letdown the Whitewalkers turned out to be

From a mechanical perspective, let me offer a theory on the, granted, 'rapid' fuckdowns that Criston and Alicent are getting into. If you allow their chemistry to develop into this relationship, it's harder to not like them for it, which is I think the reaction we're supposed to have to the idea, like a sneering "Ugh, you guys are gross" reaction. If you let us see that they're gradually growing attracted to each other, we will find a way to sympathize with them even more. Doing it out of the blue like this, a little Lord's Kiss to reintroduce us to Alicent, is jarring intentionally and gives us the feeling that they're not in love, they're not on their way anywhere, they're both bonding over bitterness and resentment. Show them on a date and it's something different, I think. 

 

[baldryanr]

2 minutes ago, Uncle JUICE said:

Can someone please explain why Aric and Eric (fucking stupid names) were taken into the Kingsgaurd at EIGHT YEARS OLD? Is there like a youth program the KG runs? I thought Jaime Lannister was young at 14.

They weren't, he said it happened when they were eight and ten (i.e. 18). 

[Uncle JUICE]

31 minutes ago, baldryanr said:

They weren't, he said it happened when they were eight and ten (i.e. 18). 

LOL, wow, that makes so much more sense. Damn you marijuana! Why would twins be TWO YEARS APRART IN AGE?!? But seriously guy just say 18. I wish the show would have done me a favor here and had someone respond "Wait, which one of you was eight and which one was ten?" and then A/Eric would have clarified and the person said "You mean you were 18? Why not just say that?" 

Trying to think if I've heard them use a 'teen' number over all those episodes now. 

Edited June 18 by Uncle JUICE

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, Affogato said:

She isn’t on Fox News. She is mostly muttering to a relatively few people who have a habit of dismissing her silliness and a lot on their minds. 

What I'm saying is that those relatively few people, if they heard her, should have had some of these prophecies click.

I see why some of the prophecies (like the one about the rats) would still remain so cryptic that even after the fact it reasonably wouldn't be connected to anything.

Others -- like the beast one and close-an-eye-to-find-a-dragon one -- are ones that should IMO raise eyebrows after they come true because they are more or less literal as to what happened. 

[aghst]

Remember that early on teens Raynyra and Alicent thirsted over Criston at that jousting tournament.

Didnt Rynyra get to pick him as her bodyguard or whatever his official title?  Then she was feeling horny after Damon blue-balled her and commanded him to satisfy her.

Similarly, Alicent and Criston became allies when she wanted to slut-shame Raynyra and he wanted to get back at her.  Only a matter of time before they boned.

So yay for girl power in an otherwise unenlightened patriarchy which is Westeros?

[Cindylou]

17 hours ago, bluvelvet said:

DAMN! - a son for a son indeed. Daemon does not give two 💩. He was just waiting to get let loose. Are we sure that Daemon isn’t Aemonds daddy, I mean they’re literally the two sides of the same coin. 

i think Daemon wants Aemond to come for him, so he can be the one to kill him since he took out Luke,  maybe he thinks it will score him some points .

 

also I"m Team BLACK!!!

 

Alicent and Crispy deserve each other, when she pushes him aside i wonder how long it will take him to start talking shit about her, i can see this happening and Aemond killing him .   just my thoughts

[Cristofle]

45 minutes ago, Cindylou said:

i think Daemon wants Aemond to come for him, so he can be the one to kill him since he took out Luke,  maybe he thinks it will score him some points .

I think Daemon may make Aemond more personal going forward, but I'm not sure he put that much value in killing Aemond himself in this episode. I think he would have been perfectly fine with Blood and Cheese killing him and explicitly told them to do it, only seeming to give alternate instructions if they couldn't find Aemond. I don't think Daemon currently thinks much about Aemond himself, only Vhagar. 

[paigow]

23 hours ago, AntFTW said:

Justice doesn’t exist in King’s Landing.

As if Tyrion found a Tardis...

[tennisgurl]

We've certainly coming in hot this season, episode one and we already have a vicious child murder. Its great to finally have this show back, but its a rough reminder of how nasty things get in Westeros. Poor Helaena and poor little Jaehaerys, two of the only innocents in this whole messy game and they are the ones who are getting hurt the most. Those sounds were awful, they might have been even worse than actually seeing what was happening. What a double dose of trauma, her son being murdered and then walking in on her mom having sex. 

The Kingsguard really need to up their game, between the eye incident and now this, they totally suck at their one job of protecting the royal family. Someone is getting fired over this, or probably beheaded. Its too bad that the captain of the guard was too busy banging the Dowager Queen while assassins are murdering the heir. Those guys literally just walked into the Red Keep like they were casually strolling into an Arbys, come on now.

Looks like Aegon is aiming for "love me" instead of "fear me" with his subjects, which is surprising but does make a lot of sense, all last season he was dragging his feet about being the king but he was positively glowing when everyone was cheering for him, he doesn't care about actually ruling a country so much as he wants to be adored. He has even gathered a bunch of flunkies to be his entourage who's only jobs seem to be hyping up Aegon and getting drunk with him on the Iron Throne. 

Loved seeing Winterfell, the Wall, and Cregan Stark, the guy they have playing him was great, he felt like a Stark from the first second he appeared. 

Rhaenyra's grief was so heartbreaking, Emma D'Arcy was amazing in this episode, she hardly had any lines but still conveyed so much sadness. My favorite scene though was when Jace came back and tried to give his report with some sort of professionalism only to break down crying as Rhaenyra hugged him, he needed his mom not his queen. 

[Jack Shaftoe]

3 hours ago, Uncle JUICE said:

Can someone please explain why Aric and Eric (fucking stupid names) were taken into the Kingsgaurd at EIGHT YEARS OLD? Is there like a youth program the KG runs? I thought Jaime Lannister was young at 14.

Yeah, seriously, this line made no sense whatsoever.

Gotta love how Daemon, Rhaenyra and their, for lack of a better word, faction have no spies in the capital and need the help of someone Daemon denounced as a traitor that very day.

But since the other side is just as laughably inept the insane idea of hiring some rando rat catcher to murder a prince worked. The wannabe assassins passing through the throne room really highlighted how grotesquely silly the whole thing was. Why was the king drinking on his extremely unergonomic throne anyway?

Needing to ask which one was the boy and letting the queen slip away so easily added another note of bad comedy to the whole thing.

Correct me if I am wrong, but in season 1 a single dragon sufficed to break a naval blockade. Now somehow King's Landing is about to be blockaded, even though ships are extremely vulnerable to dragons (and naval blockades didn't work particularly well with pre-modern ships but let's not digress).

Do dragons eat more in wartime? Don't they have feeding arrangements well established for a long time now? How much can a few dragons eat anyway, surely not every tenth goat, sheep and whatever in the whole of the Crown Lands? :)

[iMonrey]

14 hours ago, Ambrosefolly said:

What I didn't like: I am not Team Green, but I find a bit out of character that Alicent and Criston would jump into bed so soon after Viserys' death.

We don't know this just started. For all we know, Alicent and Criston have been fucking for years.

[magdalene]

1 minute ago, iMonrey said:

We don't know this just started. For all we know, Alicent and Criston have been fucking for years.

Yes, There were a couple of times last season where I thought they are doing it.