S02.E03: The Burning Mill

[proserpina65]

7 hours ago, Roseanna said:

Finally, people didn't renounce their rights because in their world it was do or die.     

Sometimes they did if they felt it was in the interest of the realm.  Rhaenyra might've been convinced to renounced her claim, although that's highly unlikely, but Aegon would never have done so.  And once Viserys died, this was the only way to prevent the war.

 

[Roseanna]

I rewatched some episodes from S1 and was reminded that Rhaenyra and Daemon decided that, because a ruler should be feared, to let the people imagine that they had got her husband killed in order to marry each other.

I think that decision had fateful consequences now for Alicent can't trust in Rhaenyra. 

Of course it's a moot point because Alicent has no power over his sons and Rhaenyra's idea couldn't succeed. But perhaps she did it for herself - she needed to know that she had tried to do all to prevent the war (which wasn't exactly true  as she wanted it to be done in her terms).

[Ottis]

On 7/1/2024 at 5:41 PM, magdalene said:

On reflection this was my least favorite episode this season so far.  I thought it was extra mean-spirited and of dubious taste.

One of the things about the original GoT that drew me in was that we had men of conscience and integrity (Ned Stark) and men of no ethics who have power (some Lannisters). Ethics didn't always win, but there were examples of it and people for which to root.

I'm not one to shout about "woke," but in this ep we had MEN who:

- slapped the ass of a poor barmaid

- who lied about being part of the ruling family

- who exposed his team to attack because he wanted to go to an inn

- who fought a battle over a meaningless slight by a mill

- who went to a whorehouse and insulted a whore

Are there ANY men of integrity in House of the Dragon?

Because while the men are all awful, the women are trying to avoid war, and save babies, and think strategically and compromise, and evolve beyond violence, and avoid all the gross men. I am very glad to see this and that women are at the center of this story.

HOWEVER ... f the rationale behind casting many different kinds of people, and having different kinds of people play different roles, is so that all viewers can see themselves in a show, then what does it mean that all the men on HotD are now violent fools and jerks? Is it no longer important to represent all viewers? The hypocrisy.

I can root for people who *aren't* like me just fine. The complete absence of people like me playing worthy rules is noticed.