House of the Dragon

https://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2024/06/house-of-dragon-2x2-rhaenyra-cruel.html

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 2x2 "Rhaenyra the Cruel" is the second episode of the second season of HBO's extended apology for the final season of GAME OF THRONES. Ha-ha. Just kidding, except not. Overall, I was a big fan of the first season but I feel like the two year wait on the follow up killed a lot of forward momentum that the series had been accumulating and this is from a guy with a Targaryen wallet. Still, the first episode was gutsy enough to kill a toddler and I was invested enough to be there at 9PM Eastern on a Sunday for the next episode.

The premise for this House of the Dragon episode is that everyone in Kings Landing is stunned by the assassination of Prince Jaehaerys. One of the failures of the previous season was the fact that they didn't take episodes to follow up the emotional beats to the big epic changes of episodes. Instead, it just lightning shot past these big moments and the story was the lesser for it. Here, we get to see how the death of Jaehaerys has broken his father, Aegon II, and his mother, Helaena. We see how the death has stricken Ser Criston Cole and World's Youngest Grandmother, Alicent Hightower, with guilt because they were making the beast with two backs when they should have been defending the royal family's youngest.

The Greens have been rightly called out as the "villains" of House of the Dragon and consistently made to be an utterly despicable bunch of scumbags with rare exceptions. Many of their virtues from the books have been washed away and their sins have been made worse. Still, this is an episode that humanizes them a great deal while actually doubling down on their worst traits. After the previous episode showed a softer side of Aegon II, trying to do right by the common people, we see him engage in Joffrey level sadism by hanging a hundred rat catchers in hopes of catching one.

Honestly, this moment kind of fell flat for me because one of House of the Dragon's flaws is that it someitmes has its characters acting far too modern. Alicent and Rhaenyra acted like teenage girls when they were, well, teenage girls versus adult women as they would have been treated post-sixteenth birthday in Westeros. The hanging of the rat catchers is in Fire and Blood but almost an afterthought as killing a hundred Smallfolk is just not that big of a deal in this society. Here, it's an atrocity that Otto acts like would live in infamy throughout Westeros history. Come on, people rarely remember that George Washington burned a bunch of villages during the Revolutionary War.

By contrast, I really liked how utterly devastating the charge of infanticide and kinslaying is to Rhaenyra's cause. Because Rhaenyra is a woman who recently lost her child, everyone assumes she's the one who sent assassins to kill Aegon's son. Honestly, I was surprised the show had her react with unequivocal disgust because I'm inclined to think a woman of Westeros would see some small satisfaction in "blood for blood."

Instead, Rhaenyra is disgusted by Daemon and figures out he was the party responsible very quickly. Daemon also finally confesses his jealousy and petulance regarding his disinheritance for his wife. This would have been an excellent time to introduce Nettles to soothe Daemon's wounded pride but they still haven't cast her and may even end up removing her (which would be a mistake, IMHO). We also get a good moment where Rhaenyra realizes her jealousy and distaste for Mysaria is unqueenly before pardoning the woman. It pays dividends because Mysaria then warns Rhaenyra about Aegon's ill-planned attempt to avenge his son.

The best parts of this episode are probably Prince Jaehaerys' funeral procession and the Battle of the Cargyll Twins. House of the Dragon does a fantastic job showing Queen Helaena's grief as she's forced to become a propaganda point to the common people. She's clearly agoraphobic and hates crowds yet is moved through crowds of weeping strangers who scare the living hell out of her with her son's corpse just a few feet away. Arryk and Erryk Cargyll have a fight to the death as the twins find themselves divided by their loyalties. Ser Criston Cole sends Arryk on a suicide mission to soothe his own guilt and this leads to horrible tragedy for the Kingsguard. Almost as good as these two moments is Ser Otto Hightower having the realization that Aegon is uncontrollable and a monster, which means that his efforts to prevent war via crowning him were not only doomed but counterproductive.

In conclusion, House of the Dragon 2x2 "Rhaenyra the Cruel" was an excellent follow up to a strong first episode.There's a lot of character moments and strong dramatic heft, which is what we're here for in the first place. As much as I love dragon fights, I'd rather they remain more devoted to getting to know all of these wacky incest royals.
 
https://beforewegoblog.com/television-review-house-of-the-dragon-2x3-the-burning-mill/

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 2×3 “THE BURNING MILL” is the third episode of the second season. As a huge fan of Game of Thrones, I’ve always viewed this series as something of an apology tour for the franchise after the events of season eight. That may not be fair to the actors and production status but it seems like it exists in large part to win back over the once-massive fandom that felt betrayed by the ending. Sometimes its very good at this and sometimes it’s very bad.

With the death of Prince Lucreys and Prince Jahaerys, it was assumed by most fans that war was now on. It turns out this may have been both true as well as misleading. While the first strokes of the war’s blades may have been the above two events, it is actually the feuding houses of House Bracken and House Blackwood that decide to go to war first. Mostly because of their already preexisting hatred from literal millennia of rivalry in Westeros’ history. The battle is meaningless in the grand scheme of things since this is not a war that won’t be resolved by the conflicts of men at arms but foreshadows what might be soon happening across the Seven Kingdoms.

Some fans may have difficulty with the slow burn of the war but I actually feel like the desire to get to the big battles as well as dragon fights is missing the point of the Dance. The actual battles are the least interesting part of the story. The characterization, plots, counterplots, and more are the real heart of the story as well as made Game of Thrones great. Season One rushed through events that should have probably been two seasons. Indeed, last episode was one of the best in the series because it bothered to allow the characters to mourn their losses.

Daemon Targaryen, meanwhile, heads to the haunted ruin of Harrenhal to try to make amends by raising his own army to destroy the Hightowers. What he finds instead of a hostile keep is a handful of servants as well as an aging castellan, Simon Strong. Larys Strong may be the Lord of Harrenhal but he is loathed by the people under his command that believe he murdered both his father as well as brother (which he absolutely did). Frustrated by a lack of enemies to kill, he soon finds himself haunted by what may be the literal ghosts inhabiting the keep.

I’ve always been a big fan of Harrenhal but it’s not been until now that we get a sense of what a dreary, dark, and terrifying place it is. The showrunners have constructed something straight out of Dark Souls. We also get a hint of Alys Rivers, who is a character that I hope has her role expanded from Fire and Blood. The magical element from Game of Thrones has mostly been lacking from House of the Dragon, dragons aside, and it’s nice to see it make a return in a big way. Even if it doesn’t make up for the absence of Sarah Snow.

Ser Criston Cole is surprisingly competent as a military commander as well as the Hand of the King. Maybe it is because as a veteran of the Dornish campaigns in the Stormlands, he actually isn’t smashing into the Peter Principle. Also, it may be that the bar has been set so low by Aegon II’s court that anything approaching the bare minimum of competence is an incredible accomplishment. Maybe that’s also why they introduced Queen Alicent’s brother, just so they can have him look good by comparison.

Aegon II appoints his favorites as his Kingsguard despite their lack of qualifications and actually tracks down his brother Aemond to the brothel he’s frequenting to publicly humiliate him. Note: There’s a surprising amount of male nudity this episode and it is interesting to note the prevalence of it in this season. Either way, it makes me wonder if Aemond is going to start plotting some Cain and Abel nonsense.

The most controversial scene, though, is related to the one bit of characterization that I don’t like. Basically, the treatment of Rhaenyra Targaryen as the wise, almost angelic ruler who wishes to avoid war at all costs. Normally, this is a laudable goal but her refusal to deal with the fact that Aegon II is actually invading the Riverlands is something that instead paints her as a weak ruler instead.

We also have Rhaenyra sneaking into King’s Landing to meet with Alicent Tower, which is a thoroughly ridiculous scene since she doesn’t bother to contact her earlier in order to arrange a meeting. On the plus side, their meeting resolves the ridiculous, “Viserys was talking about Aegon the Conqueror and Alicent thought he meant his son” but the fact that plot is brought up at all again is a poor decision. Still, it was nice to see both actresses acting against one another again.

I think my biggest complaint about the scene is not its impracticality. The Smallfolk are not going to recognize any Targaryen save by their white hair and violet eyes. It’s not like she’s on television or even the coinage. Plus, Rhaenyra can get on a dragon to get past most logistical issues of travel. No, the issue is the scene ruins itself by not having any tension. It is an extreme risk for Rhaenyra that there’s never any sense of actual danger. Alicent could have ended the war there and we should have wondered if she would or if Rhaenyra had agents among the church to protect her. Things that would have made them both look competent as well as raised the stakes.

Overall, this was an okay episode but one that isn’t nearly as strong as the previous two. I feel like both Alicent and Rhaenyra should have been both supporting the war option themselves by the end of Episode 2. The bridges were thoroughly burned by then. I’m excited about upcoming events but I feel they’ve lost some of the momentum from the first two episodes.
 
https://beforewegoblog.com/houseofthedragon2x4/

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 2×04 “THE RED DRAGON AND THE GOLD” is an answer to every fan who complained about House of the Dragon being too slow. It finally has one of those glorious battles between dragons that has been promised since Season One. There’s going to be some complaints from the fans about tactics, undoubtedly, and how some of the scenes don’t make too much sense but I am overall satisfied with the results. A lot of things change on the game board of thrones and we sadly lose a character who has been with us from the beginning.

The premise is that the Blacks are in dissaray from the abandonment of Rhaenyra during their critical hour of need with Daemon having also taken off to raise his own army. This doesn’t do much to paint Rhaenyra as a good queen candidate since you think it would have been fairly obvious to appoint someone in charge while she was gone or to take over should something happen during her ill-conceived peace initiative. It doesn’t paint a particularly flattering opinion of her son and heir either since he clearly did nothing to take over either.

Daemon’s attempts to garrison Harrenhal are shown to be a comedy of errors as the castle is a broken ruin with Lord Larys Strong having emptied its treasury. Harrenhal is basically depicted as Castle Ravenloft and the only thing it is lacking is a vampire lord. His hallucinations and dreams are very well done. We also get some more depiction of Alys Rivers who brings some nice First Men magic and surreality. One of the big weaknesses of Hot D is the lack of Starks and their strong contrast to the Targaryens.

One of the scenes that bothered me this episode is Daemon meeting with Oscar Tully, the heir of House Tully. Basically, Grover says that he can’t help Daemon because his grandfather is incapacitated and won’t usurp his authority. The thing is, I’m pretty sure that when your liege lord gives you an order, you can’t take a sick day. That’s treason and worse than the Late Lord Frey’s hesitation.

House of the Dragon has the weird attitude that if you don’t have the lords in charge that they just sit around on their bottoms, waiting for someone to come back. Chains of command exist in feudalism just like they do in the modern age. The show is really not suggesting any of the factions have much organization or initiative. At least Rhaenyra tells her son the Song of Ice and Fire since otherwise it would have died with her.

Alicent Hightower takes some moon tea to either prevent herself from becoming pregnant by Ser Criston Cole or to abort a pregnancy she might have already had from him. It’s a reminder her character is only about 35 in-universe (the actress being 30) and pregnancy is less likely but hardly impossible. Certainly, while possible of passing off another child as her husband’s (lich as he was at the end), the Dornish features would have been a dead giveaway.

Alicent seems to have done a bit of a circle in terms of her characterization as she was a lot more ambitious, manipulative, and brutal after the initial time skip in Season One. Now, after finding out that Viserys never wanted his son on the throne, she starts going back to that attitude. I hope they keep this change as I found that Alicent more interesting as a contrast to Rhaenyra. One of her best moments in the series is Alicent shutting down her son and saying she should rule in his stead.

The actual dragon battle is a triumph of CGI and something we’ve been waiting for the entire time. We see Meleys, Vhagar, and Sunfyre duke it out over Rook’s Roost. A small castle that ends up becoming one of the most important battles of the war. The fact they let Duskendale fall without providing much of a defense is something that doesn’t make much sense in the show. I’ve complained about how the Blacks haven’t exactly proven themselves worthy feudal lords but they finally do lend themselves to living up to their obligations. Sadly, the cost is tremendous. I also love the twist with Aemond finally taking the steps that Daemon, himself, wasn’t willing to.
 
CT Phipps said:
extended apology for the final season of GAME OF THRONES
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what is this myth that just the final season was bad? the entire second half was bad. season 7 was so bad i dropped the show there. ive still never seen season 8. hell the only reason i didnt quit after 6 is because my dad wanted me to watch it with him
 
R.Graves said:
what is this myth that just the final season was bad? the entire second half was bad. season 7 was so bad i dropped the show there. ive still never seen season 8. hell the only reason i didnt quit after 6 is because my dad wanted me to watch it with him
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Season 8 wasn't just bad, though. It was extraordinarily bad.
 
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