HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Ep 4 “King of the Narrow Sea” Reaction & Breakdown (Maesterminds)

[@AllTheArtsy]

To be honest, Otto being removed as Hand of the King is kind of a moot point-- his daughter is still Queen. His grandson is still the firstborn son of the king. At this point, the job is already done, it's just one last step, and the Princess seems unable to let the heirship from slipping through her fingers anyway.

[@Simphiaa]

I love these deep-dives and discussions every week, I'm as excited for them as for the new episodes themselves 😂

[@AllTheArtsy]

Daemon's plan really is self-destructive, but also so diabolical for Rhaenyra. He's essentially trapping her-- get her out to the Street of Silk, have sex with her, expose her to rumors and gossip, so that he can pressure Viserys to get her married to him. For all that Viserys' council are also self-serving vultures, they're kind of right about Daemon. How can he be a good king? He couldn't even go one day without fucking things up for the royal family.

[@greywater3186]

I read it COMPLETELY differently. She told him she felt trapped, that she didn’t want to end up like her mother. From the moment we first see him it’s clear he loves her (and perhaps degrades his wife the way he does because she is not Rhaenyra). He took the egg knowing it would cause the restless princess to come to see him to retrieve it. He didn’t care about the egg, doesn’t care about the realm. He cares about her, and what they can achieve together. What he does is for his family. He actually loves them. He wants to be loved back. Wants to be respected by the people he loves. He believes their family blood is superior. He took her to the road of silk to not only free her from her cage, but as a way of showing her things people do without having to do them. He didn’t plan on anything happening between them, and when it did he couldn’t handle it as he prefers to be in control. He thought her to take what she wants - to be different than her “weak” father. He wants to marry her, but wants her to make that choice. In the meantime he’s going to give her the tools he thinks strong Targaryens sho possess. Speaking of being weak, the king should have slit Otto’s throat as soon as he spread the lie.

[@philosophynerdlady]

​@@greywater3186 Daemon planned this to benefit HIM. He is a complex character, but he is not the hero you seem to make him out to be. Matt Smith is doing a great job - that doesn't mean Daemon is "good". To clarify your last position - Are you saying that kings should just murder people? When you say "lie" do you mean the idea that Daemon and Rhaenyra had sex? It looked to many like they did. Do you really think the king should murder his Hand for telling the king information that is important for the king to know? That sounds like the Mad King Aerys/Dany "burn them all" solution that led to both of their deaths.

[@L33Reacts]

This shows writing is just on another level then anything else on tv right now.

[@Thejericko17]

One of the things that I really love is the production and custom design of this show. The artistic directors do a great job of showing how people are operating politically based on their clothing. Alicent is the clearest example of this happening. She starts off wearing soft and pastel greens/blues but as she interacts with people and politics those colors shift. Whenever she goes to see her father she wears the deep political green of her house. When she goes to see Visery she's also wearing the deep greens of her house. Once she married her alignment begins to shift towards the king. She wears the reds and black of house Targaryen, this is typified by her outfits this episode. We know (from previews) that she switches back to the deep greens of her house showing where her allegiance lies. Rhaenyra does the same. She is her truest most rebellious self when she's wearing her dragon riding gear.

[@greywater3186]

I like The White Worm A worm is small yet can do great damage, can survive if cut, lives underground (so one never knows where to find it exactly), and the color description indicates the individual thinks of themselves as something unique.) Also, the name could have come from the Bram Stoker novel ‘The Lair of the White Worm’ which does seem to have some similarities to this story so far.

[@alastorcorvus]

Also Soyona Mizuno is an underrated actress and can't wait to see her shine as a master spy on Hot D

[@amylynn4201]

Woo! Been looking forward to this! Thanks for all the hard work making these :)

[@OceanHedgehog]

Sam Tarly, Maester Aemon, and Maester Luwin.

[@DianaAmericaRivero]

Dan: "This episode was fun for the whole family! I said - "

[@philrm99]

Another great discussion.

[@Kiwironic]

Wow, I didn't expect that you didn't see Daemon's neck scars, greyscale?

[@philosophynerdlady]

The portrayal of Alicent also showed us what Cersei went through when she was younger - but even worse because Cersei and Robert hated each other. One problem with the prophesy is that it seems to allow any behavior necessary to "save the world of men". It reduces or eliminates moral responsibility on the part of Targaryen rulers. Not into that.

[@BrockSamsonite]

I think Otto will be back as the hand next episode because the king confronted daemon. And daemon confirmed the rumor, even though it wasn't what really happened. So I think Otto may have his credibility back.

[@zero11010]

I think the FBI should check the browser history of the writers of this season.

[@ameliacraiig4193]

Surely the FBI isn't as shallow-level to not investigate the source of the writing beforehand, GRR Martin(?!)

[@zero11010]

@@ameliacraiig4193 hard to understand your English. But, these are screenplays not written by George. Those screenplays are based on George’s writing, but, not written by him.

[@ameliacraiig4193]

@@zero11010 My point, if you can understand it, is that Martin's novels are filled to the brim with incest, rape, etc., so your little quip should be directed towards the initial source, if at all.

[@zero11010]

@@ameliacraiig4193 if in a 600 page novel there are a dozen references that’s pretty different from this being the focus of the first four hours of this TV series. The scripts are an adaptation of the source material. They can keep concepts while reducing them to something in the background. You know … because of how writing works.

[@ameliacraiig4193]

@@zero11010 Lol. A dozen?!! Try peppered throughout his many novels. And since the Targaryens are renowned for their incest, of course this show will focus on it from time to time.

[@doedarling1215]

I thought someone said it was 6 months between 3 & 4.

[@305Oski]

Honestly I think its the "white wyrm" Its a limbless dragonlike creature think sea snake or gyarados.

[@kingweb11]

Lugubrious. Lovely.

[@vanessalore9942]

I hate those after episode things. They lay it out so we can discuss what happens, and then tell us what happened. And then they are contradicting each other. I listened to Condal but ignore anyone else. Daemon was encouraging her; he wasn’t threatened by her response.

[@JusDion]

I think 🤔 I'm still shell shocked from this latest episode...I think I need to watch it again.🤮🤧🙈

[@Betrayed_King]

Mikey is NOT into Kristen 😆

[@Forever_weird]

Man I still don’t understand Mikey’s hate at all

[@janmitchell3976]

you look tired

[@greywater3186]

Here’s the thing: y’all have 2.7 MILLION subscribers. You should be asking yourselves why you aren’t seeing better numbers for the biggest (?) if not second biggest show on the planet. Isn’t it possible to forward your questions in advance to the people who will be on your panel? Also, do you think you could have those individuals record in rooms that aren’t meant for the Mormon Tabernacle Boys Choir recording sessions? We don’t need acoustics. I get the likely reason(s) you aren’t breaking these episodes down, but if one of the reasons is to drastically increase viewership, then I think it’s time to come up with a new idea.

[@alastorcorvus]

Yeah, this would probably be better as a Livestream

[@maryvaughn5882]

I listen to it like a podcast, never even occurred to me to stare at faces for an hour.

[@greywater3186]

@@maryvaughn5882 even so, the sound quality is shit. The stumbling to find answers is an insult to people who actually care about production quality

[@philosophynerdlady]

@@greywater3186 Don't watch?