House of the Dragon Season 2: And Joy Has Turned to Ashes in My Mouth

[@HirilCelebrian]

These writers legitimately don't understand the fact that these female characters aren't interesting because they fought the system they're interesting because of how they worked within the system.

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

Exactlyyy, the whole point of Rhaenyra in the books is that she's just as power-hungry and complicit as her male counterparts, we already have Daenerys in the main series (aside from her Season 8 character assassination) as a feminist figure bent on destroying these oppressive systems, they're trying to re-invent the wheel but doing it so much worse

[@jeffbachman2949]

The women in GOT are much better written. Although I disagree a bit about Dany having recently rewatched the show wow are there a lot of red flags with her. But I do agree the women in HOTD are horribly written.

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

@@jeffbachman2949 I agree, I do think Dany's eventual turn toward becoming a villain makes the most sense for her character. I rewatched GoT again recently as well (which is why I wanted to make this video) and there are a lot more signs and moments of foreshadowing her villain arc than people give the show credit for. I've also been reading the books the past few months and her dark side is way more apparent there than it was in the show. The problem was that it was just so rushed, and cramming that entire story into the last 3 episodes of the show was why it felt so poorly handled. But her whole character motivation from when she conquers Meereen was that she wanted to "break the wheel" and end all these oppressive systems that prey on innocent people, which now they're trying to have Rhaenyra take up the mantle of that figure which goes against the entire point of the Dance of Dragons story.

[@jeffbachman2949]

@hakeempierstorff6964 I would have liked another episodes I agree, but having rewatched it, it definitely works a lot better when I saw the show as a whole. HOTD second season for me was just a mess. Somehow, the second season of GOT managed to fit way more characters, storylines, and big moments into it with half the budget. I'm not convinced two for episodes would have made this season much better. They already had so many scenes that felt repetitive, so I don't know how two more episodes would have made it better. It probably would have just been 2 mire frustrating episodes.

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

@jeffbachman2949 the damage these writers have caused to this story is unfixable, I think it just would've been a little better if it ended on some explosions and dragon action instead of that stupid conversation and montage. And it could've at least payed off some of the build-up if we saw the Riverlands army in action and the 3 Dragonseeds flying out to battle

[@khfan4life365]

The more you see Mysaria as a Sara Hess self insert in season two, the more her role makes sense. The character was basically redone to be Rhaenyra's lover and biggest d-rider-Sara Hess's perfect self insert character. If you took away 90% of her scenes, it wouldn’t affect the story.

[@KA-sr5jy]

I think GRRM first supported making Rhaenyra and Alicent friends when they were younger cause he thought it would intensify their later hatred and complicate their dynamics as they both raised their sons to rule the realm but with opposite points of view of duty and justice. He probably thought that them being friends would only make their enemy dynamic stronger. But instead the writers on the show have used their early friendship to weaken both characters and make their motivations confusing. Most of us didn’t even remember the book page in the finale last season but it completely freezes Rhaenyra. And then in season 2, Rhaenyra illogically risks her life to talk to Alicent, whose son just murdered Luke, to ask for peace when the war already started, but I thought “hey maybe this will be the time when both characters finally realize, ‘I truly hate her and can’t trust her anymore’” but instead they’ve continued to queerbait a certain sector of the audience, which has undermined both Rhaenyra and Alicent’s relationships with their children and (I’m sure) Rhaenyra’s relationship with Daemon. I can only imagine what he’ll say if he ever finds out that Rhaenyra tried to “sue for peace” with Alicent (who he already called out as being depraved in season 1) after her son was killed. Anyways, I think the way they’ve handled this childhood friendship is probably what’s pissed off George the most, cause in the book both Rhaenyra and Alicent were primarily motivated by their senses of entitlement and their desire to protect their children, but in the show all their development is halted by their memories of their childhood friendship.

[@Morfe02]

Yeah you explained in detail But basically : GRRM can write women and MOTHERS, this shitty writers female or male can't write Evil women or can't write mothers at all 😂

[@irusia1574]

They don't know how to write strong and smart female characters so they have to make all male characters weak and stupid) As a woman, this is so disappointing, especially after reading George's beautifully written stories where both men and women are interesting, deep and fascinating

[@michellecgb]

The show is going downhill because the people working on it all have different things they want to do with it. They all speak so differently about characters’ motivations, they’re not on the same page and that will continue to mess things up.

[@KA-sr5jy]

@@michellecgb exactly. Even in S1, Alicent was so different across all the episodes for example. I thought the whole time she was in on usurping Rhaenyra for Aegon especially cause she tells him in episode 6 that he’s meant to take the throne or die, and we see her act to undermine Rhaenyra in episode 8 but then in episode 9 she acts shocked that her father has been plotting to usurp her. Then in season 2, she literally doesn’t care about her sons at all anymore… it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

[@johansmallberries9874]

This season made me hyper aware of the difference in writing between each episode. One episode has Aegon a grieving father, the next he’s back to being a frat boy. This is where Condel fails as a show runner, he just lets it happen because he doesn’t have a unified vision himself. Run a sitcom if you can’t handle emotional continuity.

[@aersla1731]

This, it's not just one writer. If you pay attention to the interviews it's easy to see how they aren't on the same page. They can't even agree on why season 2 only had 8 episodes.

[@Trazynn]

@@aersla1731 The 8 episodes are obvious. The next two would cost as much as the rest of the season combined.

[@ddwow566]

S1 one of the show runners left. Left these hoolagins to do what they want

[@Jhon47807]

1:21:49 Its not Feminism's fault, tbf. "Gender essentialism" is what we are seeing here, "Men seek to make war and women seek to make peace". This is a form of sexism and critiqued by feminists. In other words, Its just bad writing.

[@lilchaos9212]

Yep. The whole idea of feminism is to put men and woman on equal standing, not what HOTD does by making all men into monsters and all women into saints. The original book had more feminist ideas in it than this shit show.

[@blueblack3591]

Such a good point

[@CeroAshura]

Right, except it's only feminists that say "if women were in charge of the world there'd be no wars"

[@BooksRebound]

Hollywood is so bad at writing strong women. None of them ever have strength in their femininity because Hollywoods usual tactics is just making them manly. I don't want to get into gender essentialism, and there are a lot of ways to be a woman, but the Hollywood default of making them strong by making them rude, irreverent, foul mouthed ass-kicking baddies... it just doesn't work and betrays their underlying misogyny through a pseudo-subverted reinforcement of what strength and weakness look like. One MASSIVE exception recently was Shogun. HOTD writers, take notes! Episode 9 was the best episode of tv I have watched in YEARS. Mariko as a character is fantastic and one of the strongest women I've seen on TV in a long time. She reminds me of Phedre from the Kushiels Legacy books. Mariko is noble woman who is extremely feminine and plays the role expected of her in this society and shes not some badass, rude, female warlord, yet despite that, she's incredibly strong. It's just that all her strength comes from her guile, her faith, and her indomitable force of willpower. No overt explicit spoilers. All vague: A single woman simply breaking the concealing veil of politeness and publicly disobeying a polite suggestion (AKA an order with a threat behind it) for the sake of her duty to her lord, was enough to back her enemy into a corner and bring his whole power structure crashing down. There was no siege, no shouting confrontation, she didn't slay 50 men. She just used her mind and her willpower to incredibly strong effect. We need to see a lot more of that kind of writing.

[@lordfreerealestate8302]

"essentialism" is I think the term? But yes. A vast, reductive mess that fails to really say anything good about feminism. In addition, they gave a redemption arc to a man who groomed his niece and k*lled his wife. And there's a lot of ignorance of other power structures, like social class and wealth. Rhaenys, Daemon, and Rhaenyra kill countless small folk and the show acts like they aren;t even human. How on earth is that a good social justice message?

[@jazwhoaskedforthis]

I wish HBO understood that people want to see GRRMs books adapted because they LIKED WHAT WAS IN THE BOOKS. It's okay for men to be complex and flawed and monstrous and nuts, but women all have to be hand wringing do good mistaken girl bosses? Please. There was so much wasted potential. I can see why fanfic exists now because there's so many changes I would've made to all this.

[@IdocarebutIdont]

It all comes down to Sara Hass and her co writers rejecting the source material and not understanding what makes the universe of ASOIAF good in the first place. I mean, Sara Hess LITERALLY said, when being confronted about the dumb 'Rhaenys breaking out of the ground during the coronation' scene: "It's game of thrones - civilians don't count!".. Tf? How can you be the executive producer and lead writer of a franchise, while not even getting the quintessence of the material that you are working with??? She NEEDS to GO!

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

She should've been kicked out of the writer's room as soon as she said that, in one fell swoop she single-handedly demonstrated that she knows absolutely nothing about the themes of this series, and is completely unqualified to write for this show. And now it's gotten even worse with this season.

[@Amberrogers]

Isn't civilians don't matter completely antithetical to a large part of the sentiment of the asoiaf series?

[@Loki-g3k]

Well those civilians who don't count in the eyes of noble caused the death of the dragons in F&B.

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

@@Amberrogers exactly

[@guerreiroazul3230]

​@@Loki-g3k Yes, the storming of the dragon pit is quite literally the most important part of Fire and Blood, why is Sara like this?

[@Elizabeth-lk3tf]

I’d love to say the strikes and budget cuts did the damage, but there are too many fumbles by the writers. Because of the focus on Rhaenyra and Alicent, characters that are pivotal to the story are treated as minor characters. I hate to be the” in the books” person, but I’m going to be. They only have 16 episodes left, I don’t know how they’re going to get the story where it needs to go, much less the aftermath of the war.

[@dejajade6726]

The most unbelievable, nonsensical thing to happen was Rhaenyra and Alicent meeting twice and not ONCE mentioning the innocent children that were just murdered! Like genuinely wtf??

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

The writers forgot so they did too

[@Hoosier765]

As a father my biggest issues with season 2 of HOTD is how Daemon never once thinks about his children, and spends the entire season doing drugs with a witch while his children wonder around The Vale.

[@jeffbachman2949]

It was a neat idea at first the visions at Harrenhall. But after the first episode or two of it then it just became boring and repetitive. Plus the visions weren't subtle at all. The were so on the nose and in your face. There was zero mystery to any of them

[@thesahel7218]

Pretty sure that's Daemon’s one redeeming trait. He's proud of his tomboy daughter Baela. She's so much like him

[@Hoosier765]

@thesahel7218 he abandoned his children and forced them across the narrow see to Essos. I'm not blaming Daemon's character. In my opinion the HBO writers were wrong for his season 2 arch where he abandoned his children.

[@saberserpent1134]

I can't even rewatch season 2. - Maelor the Missing/Blood & Cheese - A mentally castrated Daemon - A cartoonishly villainous Aemond - All Aegon's rizz is toast - Nettles? Yes? No? - KZbinr being cast as Lohar - Battle of the Burning Mill was abridged - The only decent combat is the duel with the Cargyll twins - Rhaenyra and Alicent both walking right into the other's territory, which, thus far, has had no effect on the plot.

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

@saberserpent1134 even if Seasons 3 and 4 somehow are incredible and totally redeem the show, this season is still going to hurt the rewatchability of this show so much just like how seasons 7 and 8 hurt GoT's rewatchability. Such a shame

[@Morfe02]

Kingslanding P.O.V. that doesnt add that much in fact is kinda bad writing that they presented the dragonseeds with dragón you know Is like plot armour in some point 😂 All the lords are Joke man LIKE the black council being mysoginist is a Joke, the Lannisters BOTH are jokes Not even exagerated, THEY MADE GAGS

[@KA-sr5jy]

Cutting Nettles but giving Lohar a spotlight is certainly an interesting choice…

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

Absolutely, especially when you get into the weird politics of these showrunners race-swapping the Velaryons (which I think was a great decision) but cutting the only actual canonically black character from the book. Very weird decision

[@Gigipretty64]

Lohar was unnecessary with so little time in the season…

[@lydzzz.z]

@@hakeempierstorff6964god this right here. not to mention she’s just some poor orphan whose family origins are unknown managed to tame sheep stealer by bringing him sheep everyday until he got used to her. instead we get wet mop rhaena cause they can’t bother to flesh out her character beyond wanting a dragon. she straight up abandons the queen’s kids ?? Lollll god GIVE US NETTLES

[@williamnissen5083]

@@hakeempierstorff6964I have mixed feelings about the Velaryon casting on the one hand I’m glad it’s not an entirely white cast but yes removing nettles makes that decision feel very hollow now and there are some very tone deaf writing decisions and refusal to actually engage with how the velaryons being black in show canon might affect their political standing ect. Especially since the Targs, house velaryonand every other noble house from Valyria is descended from a former slave empire. Also like the knock on effects this casting potentially has on past and future events like if house velaryon has always been black throughout show canons history are we going to have three biracial blood supremacy conquerors that practice incest coming to conquer a mostly white Westros in the Aegon’s conquest show or if it is just corlys’ mother who is black in show canon it side steps the implications I just mentioned but it still makes it feel more like tokenism as the show doesn’t critique exactly how much Rhaenyra screws that house over (The book was more critical when they were white) and like if hbo wants to do a show about Aegon iii children: A brown man leading a mostly white army to conquer the kingdom mostly populated by poc and a biracial religious zealot being poisoned by his white uncle and having the white uncle usurp his biracial nieces so he can be king and his line is put back on the throne. If the wanted to diversify the cast the Hightowers were right there and they could side step all the potential iffy implications but it seems like the made the velaryons black because they wanted to make rhaenyra the “progressive choice” even though rhaenyra was classist and racist in text and tried to have her supporters hate crime an actual black character who is conveniently cut

[@KA-sr5jy]

@@lydzzz.z I was also thinking that Rhaena’s story arc would actually be much more interesting if she wasn’t able to take sheepstealer. Sometimes it’s more satisfying to see a character develop by not getting what they want and instead finding value in what they already have

[@hannaheichinger8498]

I was frustrated with a lot this season. But the lack of complete scenes with Rhaena made me the most upset. Why are they actively changing this story from the books if they have no intention of giving us something of substance. They could just cut it all together. Make Rhaena a political schemer and lean into something other than being a dragon rider if there is no intention of giving her a scene more than 15 seconds long. It was almost laughable at the end, if it weren’t so dissapointing.

[@dianadrozd175]

I am fairly certain they did it only so that another Daemon's daughter has something to do and to cut Nettles because it would make Rhaenyra look bad.

[@DrKumkar]

The writers are idiots , losing Miguel Sapochnik for season 2 was a massive loss and it shows.

[@anotherwatcher402]

Idk why the writers insist on only writing male characters being violent, angry, impulsive, emotional, and cruel. Does the name Cersei Lannister ring a bell?

[@Loki-g3k]

Or olenna Tyrell being the cunning woman or Margaery manipulating Joffery for the her house cause.

[@bbibbi6383]

Even Mirri Maz Durr is an example of how a female character can do a cruel thing but still come of as an anti-hero, without being all 'peace-loving'

[@OrysB-po1fy]

Lmao you don’t know why? Are you fucking serious? Nah, you’re just afraid to say why.

[@ChildOfTheFlower]

Even in the main series, the show attemped to whitewash Cersei.

[@jeffbachman2949]

Pretty crazy how a just rewatched GOT recently and the death of Hodor just a 15 minute sequence was more impactful, emotional, and interesting then the entire second season of HOTD. When the original show can take a minor side character and their death is more impactfull than anything in the entire season of HOTD that means the show has a serious problem

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

I think Maester Luwin's death at the end of Season 2 is a more emotional scene then anything that was shown this season

[@jeffbachman2949]

​@hakeempierstorff6964 oh if we're just comparing season 2 of each show absolutely. Yorens death was more emotional than anything in season 2 of HOTD. HOTD also lacks any nuance or comedy. GOT the books and the show have comedy in them. Even Cersei makes you chuckle at times. HOTD seems determined to have zero humor.

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

@jeffbachman2949 I wasn't saying specifically S2 deaths, I was just pointing out that even a character as minor as Luwin left a more emotional impact on the show, since we felt worse for Hodor as we spent so much longer with him

[@lanam.9235]

This is the best and most accurate review I’ve seen. I’m so tired of everyone tip toeing around it and pretending that it was great or that it wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t great and it was actually that bad. It SUCKED. What makes it even worse is the fact that the writers are patting themselves on the back for this absolute dog shit garbage and every review I see on KZbin is eating it up like it’s compelling television.

[@SkillyMackabee]

Wow I assumed everyone was acknowledging it sucked? That’s literally crazy

[@RealRogalDorn]

Corlys Oblivion NPC arc was peak.

[@jonytm999]

I get strikes and budget cuts, but the issues of this season arise from things that have nothing to do with that. Most of them are simple fixes that any moron could have done better. Lets be real, this season was nothing compared to GoT and neither will season 3 be

[@jeffbachman2949]

The structure of the season is also terrible. Even the last two season of GOT they at least have structure to them.Events happen. There's a beginning, middle, and end. This season so many scenes felt repetitive of characters talking about the same things over and over again.

[@anastasiabinkis5132]

Completely agree with every word. They should get rid of Sara and rethink where they are going with this show. Ratings are low and represent well how people feel about this season. Fingers crossed for course correction, because cast, production, sets, costumes design are so good.

[@fayedunaway8]

The fact they took George's best written work from Fire and Blood which is the blood and cheese and turned it into the most underwhelming event in HOTD. How stupid do you have to be as screen writers? I can imagine that a writer can only dream of a sequence like that to adapt. It was the perfect opportunity to enhance the show, they made it like a tragic murder sequence that had so little impact that narratively we are made to believe that the murders of the Ratcatchers is more important than the heir to the iron throne and a prince of king's landing. I felt that the most terrifying, sadistic and disgusting men were two disgusting buffoons who were cowards. It took blood 13 days to finally cower down while going through the worst kind of torture, while in the show it took him three seconds. Cheese was a genius who was able to escape the red keep, though George left it ambiguous in the books whether he died with the other Ratcatchers. But my point being, this horrifying, impactful, important murder was so forgotten that the child's grandmother didn't bother to mention his killing when Rhaenyra asks for "a son for a son." Haelaena who should despise the blacks for what they did to her child, guides Daemon. Book Haelaena who was driven from grief and madness, just moves on. Jaehaera who lost her twin brother is never mentioned in the show. Book Aegon who fired Otto for his incompetence during the war because he was just sending letters and wanted peace while his child was just murdered but in the show he fires him with stupidity because Otto is insulting him and not for his son's murder. And even Aegon who was distraught by Jaehaerys's death never mentions him after episode 2. In short, the most impactful event of the book had little impact on the show. That tells you everything you need to know about these writers.

[@churrychurry]

Hella… The writing is so bad at times it feels like they are purposely trying to sabotage the show.

[@rainpuppies]

Ugh it’s really frustrating to me whenever writers completely fumble narratives that contain POC, women, queer characters and end up misshandling what makes them interesting, (ex: they make the women fierce girl boss but never acknowledge her negative characteristics, race swapping characters but downplay their roles till it looks like they do nothing, and giving a character’s queerness too much focus instead of focusing on the overall character ! It frustrates because I also disagree with this but I’m not one of those “THIS HAS GONE WOKE !!!” People 😭 like I hate when showrunners give them actual reason and empower their anti diversity speech because they’re incompetent writers that fail to deliver satisfying character arcs :/

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

You are so right, I wanted to dive deeper into those ideas in this video. I talked about how pointless and unnecessary the Mysaria kiss was but I ended up cutting it because it wasn't written that well on my part and I didn't want to end up sounding like some stupid conservative grifter complaining about "wokeness". But at the same time this overtly-modern feminist, try-hard activism on the part of the writers that's so prevalent this season is the reason why it fell apart. The show fumbles the fuck out of its POC characters, the Valeryons' being black could've been the point of so much interesting commentary as they are an even older race than the Targaryans, but have had to work for everything while constantly being taken advantage of by the Targaryans who are put on a pedestal entirely because of their dragons. Corlys should've been the most interesting character this season as his entire family is torn away from him by Rhaenyra but nothing comes from it. These writers are so frustratingly incompetent.

[@rainpuppies]

@@hakeempierstorff6964I really appreciate you revising how you spoke about the Mysaria kiss, especially since that scene created a whirlwind of anti woke Grift that is just too profitable but sadly it’s in very bad faith so it makes me roll my eyes because some of us do see the actual problem: these writers are very mediocre, a competent writer could definitely make these storylines work. To me the mysaria kiss scene was out of left field and awkward, but I’m even more dumbfounded at Corly’s treatment because what the hell happened there ? I wish there was as much uproar there as that dumb kiss I guess 😅 I really liked your video and appreciate your integrity as to not give in into the grift. You gained a subscriber 🫶 best of luck

[@edgardoMurnia]

@@hakeempierstorff6964 Dont dive deeper into those ideas. You made it clear how it affected the show. More would be putting yourself into the no man's land. Not enough to be anti woke. Enough to be considered toxic incel. You did really well.

[@jamiemohan2049]

There shouldn't be POC characters unless it makes sense. Game of thrones POC made sense. Casting the Velaryons a family known for frequently intermarriage with Targaryens to maintain their races physical appearance ....makes absolutely no sense and brings about more questions than answers. Just cast the characters how they are supposed to be ffs.

[@k1wishade]

I know this is months old but THIS!! why do showrunners keep giving the “anti-woke” crowd more ammo by writing their marginalized characters so poorly

[@yasmina3999]

People say that fans hated the ending because it didn't have battles bit it's way more than that. Writing decisions are made only in order not to repeat the source material and compete with the author of the book in the ability to write characters and stories. Only they are noticeably losing and I now understand exactly why George was so disappointed and refused to participate in writing the third season. Writers make changes without thinking why the plot was written this way in the first place in the book. They also lose cause-consequences relation and motivations of the charachers, while doing it. But to be fair, I'm asking too much from this show-because I would remark that the characters are not consistent with the SHOW canon either. For example: They made Alicent and Rhaenyra hate each other for 20 years (just like in the book) but suddenly both of them want peace? Both of them don't care about the deaths of their son&grandson? Really? Then why didn't they try to make peace BEFORE everything got worse? Previously, way smaller things made them ignore each other for years but now they don't care about safety or their children. Alicent for 10 years was holding a grudge because her father got fired but here we are - nobody cares for Jaehaerys! Apparently, Rhaenyra even forgot that Luke was avenged ! She wants another son! Brilliant! ( By the way, the writers already confirmed that the sept reunion was a fanservice,I suspect this meeting is too. Very bad the show was ready to sacrifice all the logic just to please fans) Even Aemond&Helaena small scene ruined Helaena's characher and broke the lore - from what point did she start to understand her prophecies soo clearly and why did she want to run away with Alicent 5 minutes ago if she saw everyone's fate already? Doesn't she care for her family ? Because it looked like she wants to use her powers only for herself.And how long have dreamers been astrally moving into other people's heads? I really don't want to discuss this episode much and I can't. The only scenes I like were with Cole, Gwayne , Ulf, and Tyland. And I know the reason why: the secondary characters have a superficial description and little screen time, so it's impossible to screw it up. By in the mix with good acting (and it must be admitted that almost all of the actors in the show are excellent) it gives these characters advantages of being interestingly and consistently written. Also, note that all those listed characters are all male, which means they are allowed to have flaws in this show. Yes, that's right, for some reason "women don't want blood, they are all peaceful" narrative is repeated over and over again. It made them all bland and illogical.Even Alys, as other women in this season, is just another smallfolk champion because "women want peace, men are violent". Seriously, why can't women be just people? You know, have flaws, desires and bad habits? The only main character that got fair treatment turned out to be Aegon, and I suspect that happened thanks to incredible work of the actor Tom Glynn-Carney. Because other charachers just don't make sense, so he must be an exception. I mean, deaths don't have any affect on charachers, previous motivations were forgotten or replaced with prophecy stuff. This season feels like a huge filler because nothing has consequences, we see the same scenes over again, and the show refuses to show both sides of the story equally bad. I don't know if season 3 , even with incredible writers and help of GRRM, will be able get out of this hole. I think the damage have been made and it is useless to hope that the story will become better, only if not on the condition that they ignore season 2 almost completely. This episode deserves 2/10. The season as a whole 5,-8 or 6/10 and I'm being generous.

[@johnwayne9828]

I feel like the "you just want battles" argument doesnt work here like it did in GOT. Game was a different story all together, HotD is not game, it is supposed to be the dance of the dragons, one of the bloodiest and mosy influential wars in westerosi history. And theyve dragged their feet for 2 seasons and now have about 16 battles to cram into the last 2 seasons. Which means alot of battles are going to get cut. It seems theyre more concerned with turning what should be an epic dragon war into a Westeros lesbian soap opera.

[@dianadrozd175]

Apparently, the only scene we have of Aegon and Helaena after their son's death (the one on the staircase when they look at one another) was put in only because Tom and Phia insisted it would be weird for them to not interact at all. Except for the one scene when Aegon asks Helaena where Jaehaerys was in 2x01, there are no scenes of them together. We don't even see Aegon saying goodbye to his wife and daughter.

[@Gigipretty64]

@@dianadrozd175agreed and we have never seen Aegon interact with Rhaenyra, not once. It’s bizarre. The lack of interactions is equally as jarring as forcing Alicent and Rhaenyra together. How is Corlys not angry with Rhaenyra. That lesbian kiss just ruined all future potential.

[@3MB4R]

@@johnwayne9828 It is such a stupid argument, the reason people that don't even like Cole can feel even somewhat bad for him after he expresses how he's haunted by what he's seen and done on the battlefield it because we also see it happen as he does. You show, don't tell. The IP is very staunchly anti-war, all the best anti-war films have been about and portrayed, in careful on the ground in the thick of it detail, the harsh reality of war and what it is like to experience it first hand. Only seeing the aftermath is not enough, it can be effective when paired with actually showing battle so as not to become excessive - but seeing a dead body and seeing someone actually die is not the same experience. Pretty much everyone go to funerals when loved ones die and so anyone can relate to that, very few people actually witness seeing their loved ones die and that makes it much harder to relate to. You need to see it to really understand it, so seeing the battles is essential to understanding the Dance.

[@MourningCoffeeMusic]

Season 2 should’ve ended with Jace’s death, paralleling the end of season 1.

[@mintkit1064]

THANK YOU! Finally someone who says Philosophy Tube can't act and did a terrible job, I absolutely hate that they did a KZbin casting. It was AWFUL. Thorne doesn't match the rest of the cast at all having those veneer looking teeth and not good acting skills. I'm sorry, I just think the acting is so genuinely awful.

[@khfan4life365]

Yeah. That was a total miscast. In a show with actors and actresses who went to acting schools, f**king Philosophy Tube, who has no professional acting experience, was the best for that pirate character? Bs!

[@johansmallberries9874]

I swear it all started down this road because Emma and Olivia had really great chemistry in a few interviews and started that “Negroni.. Sbagliato” meme. I think they changed course to capitalize on that(because nothing is more important than being a tiktok clip these days), George hinted at a bait and switch from the original show outline.

[@KA-sr5jy]

@@johansmallberries9874 I think in general the writers just love Olivia Cooke too. Alicent had so many unnecessary scenes (like her floating in the lake) and apparently Olivia Cooke asked them to add in certain scenes so she could shoot in Spain and they complied…

[@johansmallberries9874]

And that’s just bad show running. Letting your affections for an actor dictate the story. I believe that was an issue with GoT in later seasons, Dan and Dave adored Massie Williams so they gave Arya increasingly cool moments on the show.

[@myong2206]

wrong. ryan & co have steadfastly insisted that the show will be centered around their roles as co-protagonists, as was the short story they based this story upon, called THE PRINCESS AND THE QUEEN.

[@myong2206]

@@KA-sr5jyyou’re just being openly misogynistic for what?

[@KA-sr5jy]

@@myong2206 how is it misogynistic to think the writers favor Olivia and write unnecessary scenes for Alicent? Alicent is not a major character at this point in F&B so they invented multiple storylines and scenes for her…

[@corvega_joe]

Season 2 felt like one big hype package for season 3. They botched so many things (like Blood and Cheese despite what the shills want you to think) and it’s painfully obvious that Sara Hess or whatever her name is is just making stuff up. As far as I’m concerned, if episode 1 of season 3 doesn’t make me go “Hell yeah! Finally!” I’m tapping out. I’m not slogging through a repeat of GoT seasons 7 and 8 again.

[@undertakenheart]

Interview with the Vampire also had similar restrictions but is vastly superior to House of the Dragon. Their second season ended a few weeks before HOTD season 2. So it would be assumed they also had to deal with the same strikes. The season is the same length as HOTD 2 but the pacing is better. It's adapting a book but still take liberties with the source material because it's confident in adapting it's themes.

[@AppalachianAlex]

Sara Hess just didn’t understand the lore, to the point where she hated it- viewing it all as patriarchal

[@KA-sr5jy]

The side by sides of Rhaenyra from episodes 7 and 8 are truly jarring 🤣

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

@@KA-sr5jy it's as if there was literally 0 communication between the writers for each of those episodes

[@robrick9361]

timestamp?

[@rise-my-angel]

Hearing someone other then me finally say Blackwater is the greatest episode of Game of Thrones had me subscribe without a second thought. This is someone with a brain I want to hear more from without a doubt.

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

It's always refreshing whenever someone says their favorite episode is something other than Battle of the Bastards

[@sweetchilliheat4559]

I’m convinced Hollywood can’t adapt properly anymore they project their own ideology into the show . As a result characters get thrown into inconsistent plots and side characters never get the shine they deserve.

[@LordKeram]

Yes. YES. YEEES! The issue never was too much dialogue. It was poorly written dialogue. It really boils my blood when people who jumped on the GoT hype train after season 5 try tell me what GoT was like. I've been there since season 1, don't try to gaslight me.

[@lordfreerealestate8302]

"At least it isn't Rings of Power" Amen. Even Daemon alabama-ing his own mom's ghost during a mental breakdown with better for my eyeballs than that.

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

I'd take a hundred more scenes of Corlys at the dock over any episode of that show

[@khfan4life365]

The Elrond/Galadriel kiss is right up there with that Rhaenyra/Mysaria kiss. Absolutely vomit-inducing.

[@Frey_Gray]

@@khfan4life365atleast one of the elves didn’t just express a deeply traumatising domestic abuse story.

[@khfan4life365]

@@Frey_Grayyeah. You’re right. It was still equally stupid, though.

[@kenchin77777]

They hate my boy Daemon. Just give him his book plot

[@delfi__arts]

I was SO SURE Silverwing flying over Kingslanding was a trap to attract Vhaegar so Rhaenyra could surprise Aemond with her new dragon riders and kill them but... No. It was just a cool ride to let her enemies know what she's up to

[@pedrotbird5426]

Ironically, I think that HoTD was way more inclusive when it wasn't trying to be.

[@Sparda-hs9me]

They made a huge mistake by killing off Sunfyre. He plays a crucial role in the later parts of the Dance of the dragons. I hope he's secretly alive somewhere.

[@amorphose8532]

I've never even considered the possibility he is truly dead. I assumed they only wrote that line to make it more shocking down the line.

[@dianadrozd175]

@@amorphose8532 They set up this whole idea of "dragonsrider death" with Leana so even if we get a scene where Rhaenyra is torched by Sunfyre it would be portrayed as epic and honorable, instead of pitiful.

[@Amberrogers]

​@@dianadrozd175I didn't even realize that til I read this

[@honeybbqwings2664]

It was garbage. I really don't even wanna watch anymore. As disappointing as season 8.

[@IlyassBendaoud-r5v]

I think the showrunners can't accept that there's a male characters that people watch the show for them like Deamon and others, Rheanyera for me is not a real main character even in the source materiel I mean her and syrex didn't do anything at All in the entire war, and this season should be between rheanyera and Aegon, Alicent is not a main character anymore, for me the only interesting figures that give this show his popularity is Deamon and Aemond 🖤💚

[@death-de1ui]

Assuming the source material needs to be “wokeffied” reflects the poor understanding the show runners have of the universe…. ASOIAF makes you root for those at a disadvantage, always. Women are ALREADY at the forefront of these stories, queer narratives already exist in universe…. oh but that’s hard to notice when you did not take the time to watch or read the SM…..

[@dianadrozd175]

They care so much for representation that they had Laenor (a black gay man) killed off-screen so that the audience will not think too badly of Rhaenyra. Most normies watching wouldn't even know that Seasmoke bonding with Addam means that Laenor died.

[@kjellduteweert9262]

Shows a mistake in making it about Alicent and Rhaenyra instead of Aegon vs Rhaenyra, ending in both their deaths. Yet we got a boring Ali and Nyra show. Dear so sad, the trailer damn it promised much but did not deliver at all.

[@johnwayne9828]

Great video. I never wouldve guessed when it started I'd be rooting for Aegon but here we are. And those Burlington bar reactions are cringe as hell.

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

At least those videos clear up who the target demographic for the show is now because it's definitely not actual Game of Thrones or A Song of Ice and Fire fans anymore

[@lukesguywalker]

This is so specific but I’m glad it’s not just me who was bothered by Philosophy Tube’s pearly whites. She just looks so out of place! 😭

[@strangerrrrrrr]

they need to bring that yellow filter in kingslanding so bad

[@bulbazavr4084]

The problem is that the story wasn't only about Rhaenyra and Alicent (I know that the story was called The Princess and The Queen, but they are the reason, not the whole story), the story has several main characters representing the fracrions and develops theirs lines. Rhaenyra is out of grief for the most time, Alicent is crazy after Blood and Cheese and does nothing, they can not be leading main charaters like Harry Potter in his story, because they have nothing to do most of the time! Showrunners decided to give Rhaenyra, because she is now Daenerys 2.0, 4 hours out of 11 screentime, 4 hours to Alicent, aaaaand that's why the script is failing. If they wanted another Daenerys they should have thrown away books completely and write a new story, because books tell story about civil war and multiple characters, not a tragic love story about just two lesbians (they actually have for this canonical Targaryen queen and real mother for the Dany's dragons).

[@GrouchyC794]

The fact the show never mentioned miscarriage or visenya once!

[@ErinJeanette]

I remember how bizarre it felt when we saw GOT actors in their regular clothes, that's how immersuve it was

[@animeisdead]

This video is literally my feelings about season 2, you speak the TRUTH!!!!! it is known.....

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

@@animeisdead It is known

[@AminHoque]

It's a shit show. That's my analysis

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

Very fair

[@youngveteran6368]

A diarrhea affair 💩

[@arturleperoke3205]

Its about .. - feminism vs patriarchy - one side (Rheanyra) clearly being the good guys vs the obviously bad (Alicent) guys - two woman who do not strive for power but only peace - stupid, aggressive men everywhere - senseless side plots - gay stuff in original not enough, add more - unnecessary "jokes" you can add even more shit to what had potential in the beginning... real shame..

[@khfan4life365]

The writers just need to adapt the f**king story from Fire and Blood. It’s not that f**king complex! 🤬

[@arunsingla3452]

Also didn’t alicent and haelena get attacked during a riot that her sweet princess rhenyera caused. Why is she trying to make peace talk with rhenyera after that? Or is it like the show runners want us fans to believe, she is somehow blaming aemond for the riots caused due to food shortages which was also because of rhenyera

[@asoiaf__]

Season 3 will definitely be a coin flip. We’re getting to the climax of the Dance and if they do it right, it could be soooo frickin epic. I’m praying they don’t mess up Daeron. He’s been described like his book counterpart so I hope they keep it that way. I don’t know if Alicent can be fixed, but they can still fix Rhaenyra. It all depends on how she reacts to the death of Jace & capture of Viserys.

[@gloriaregali9090]

You really believe they will show quite a good Green?)

[@trishaewhite-king]

Hi, this doesn't really have anything to do with the video, but I thought I'd just throw this out there: Rhaenys isn't Rhaenyra's aunt, she's her cousin. Viserys and Rhaenys were cousins, because their fathers were brothers. Just thought I'd clear that up.

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

Thanks lol, the family trees can get very confusing

[@trishaewhite-king]

@@hakeempierstorff6964 and I wouldn't blame you the targaryen family tree is a circle.

[@jakecletus]

Okay I know it was a part of the bit BUT, I would pay good money to see Tywin tripping balls for 6 episodes at Harrenhall

[@VasundharaKanjilalROCKS]

honestly would love more thrones analysis from you. love your writing!

[@LoBaSmoke]

I loved Aegon the second he raised Blackfyer in season one. He was able to express everything without a word. He was horribly treated as a kid, the thrown was thrust upon him (kinda weird that he didnt just formally abdicate, like in front of his dad) and he had never really known love. But the people loved him. They cheered him and i knew then, that his actor was not to be undersold or simply hated. I loved that moment. I loved that he was angry someone killed his son. I loved that he was furious that they plotted without them. That he was adament about what he wanted. I loved that he wanted to help the small folk with their problems. I loved it when we saw him and Sunfyer together. That was 3 seconds long and you could tell his dragon loved Aegon more than his mother did. I love that we see him struggle with all of this with real emotion and depth. I think his actors performance was every bit as good as Paddys and he deserves every bit of fandom. I dont get how a show can have someone like Aegon in it and do so well with characters like him, Christian Cole, Aemond and Otto, then just completely drop the ball with Rhaenyra. If i had to pick one thing that destroyed this season for me, it would have to be the script. They really have great actors on this show, trying really hard to sell this world to us and it just didnt work that well this time. I hope they tighten things up next season. And we get as much Aegon as we can stand. But my prediction is that it will get worse. I hope im wrong though. Ps: not getting Nettles is just wrong. I mean fine. Okay. Combine the two characters if you must but can we get the story of how she tamed him? That was always so cool in the books. Just feed it. Stay close. Let it get used to you. Makes sense really. Its like George asked himself how any normal person would go about getting close to a dragon and wrote that. I will of course forgive it all if she ends up being worshipped by the mountain clans in the Vale. Then ill give that shite a pass.

[@PinkPatriot]

You said EVERYTHING I’ve been gripping about! Thank you 🙏🏻

[@freddiecawston2892]

One of the things the writers do is bend reality to suit Rhaenyra's needs. Need the small folk to love you? Why not blockade them and blame the Greens because it's their fault you're starving them? Then she breaks her own blockade anyway and "feeds the people."

[@maestro7058]

I have subscribed, this is an IMMACULATE, THE GOAT analysis of all that went wrong! Thank you so so much you saved me so so much time in watching the second season! I loved the first one (well almost...), but NO WAY am I watching the second now bro! Thank you! Subbed!

[@Belisaur]

Thanks for tackling this head on. Im so sick of the ASOAIF commenteriat trying to shift the goalposts by blaming this trainwreck series on it just being 8 episodes, the writers strike but its bullshit . I dont even want 10 episodeso f this shit when the writers are so elementally aggressively anti the spirit of the DOTD

[@khfan4life365]

Exactly. The problem is solely with the writing, which began spiraling in the last two episodes of season one. It doesn’t matter if the season was 8 episodes long or 10. It still would have sucked either way because of how awful the writing is.

[@churrychurry]

Sadly, I believe the ASOAIF commentariat is doing this because they have been bought off by the writers/showrunners. Which is ironic because the writers/showrunners would have had a monumentally better product if they just paid the ASOIAF commentariat to be legitimate consultants on the source material to create a better adaptation, as opposed to using them as gatekeeping hacks.

[@Souplord1]

It could have been great 😔

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

If properly adapted the Dance of Dragons could've easily been on-par with GoT. So disappointing.

[@biashacker]

The dog falling asleep killed me........,

[@khfan4life365]

That was literally me. This show did the impossible. It cured my chronic insomnia. 🤣

[@dominiqueodom3099]

This season is summed up in a phrase "Buried up an entire Moutain. Found a normal Mouse." Ive lost alot of interest in series tbh. Way too many changes,deviations,and cut moments and characters all sacrificed to focus on Rhaenrya and Alicent by removing all of their villanous attributes. They are not willing to potray these characters as the villanous snakes that revealed their venom as things got more desperate. Imagine the rivalry between Lucretia and Illithyia from Spartacus Blood and Sand and thats what we missed out on. Another issue that no one talks about is how rushed Season 1 was to get us all hyped for the war to start,only for season 2 to immediately take hard pump on the brakes and go "but wait,SEASON 3 is when the war will start." We spent all 8 episodes at the same 3 locations with same characters going over the same shit. They turned Daemon,the most interesting and dangerous character of the entire Dance of Dragons and he spent all his time at Harrenhal like a dad who got kicked out of his house by his wife. They refused to show us anything interesting like him courting the lords of the Riverlands and then they had to remind us about the ending of Game of thrones AGAIN? Alicent has gone down as one the most Butchered characters in Book to Screen. Theyve removed any and all of her villianous Attributes at the cost of beating us over the head with the message of "women in Westeros are marginalized" but the truth is she is so weak and useless to the Green faction to the point that they literally have to make her sabotage her own faction and her own family just because shes not in power. Jesus christ i hate Alicent in this show,especially compared to her Book Counterpart who was without a doubt the heart of the Green Factions rise to power. How is Cersei a better mother in comparison to Alicent? Think about who shes selling out too. Her lover Criston cole,her 3 sons Aegon/Aemond/Daeron,her brother Gwayne and her father Otto but shes like "just let me and Helaena go 🚶‍♀️" This season is my Season 5 moment with Game of Thrones. The moment i realized they were gonna deviate so far from it that it might as well not even be the books.

[@khfan4life365]

Alicent: Come with me. Us: Give me something for the cringe and let me die.

[@twelve11]

24:05 That DREAMFYRE, one of the most ancient dragons, by this stage over 100 years old, was huge, blue, beautiful, was ridden by Helaena and extremely bonded to her was criminal, where was the coronation, where was the population of King's Landing and their love for her, their love for the golden Sunfyre as well, not to mentioned ZERO development of Aegon and Sunfyre's arguably strongest bond between rider and dragon in the entire history of Westeros. Sunfyre was young, but was solid, heavy, fierce and a great fighter with flames as gold as his scales, Aegon felt Sunfyre's presence and Sunfyre felt his, its such a pity this wasn't a focus of the latter part of season 1 and moving into season 2, where the only thing that understood him, the only thing that he felt needed him was Sunfyre and that GARBAGE battle over Rook's Rest, why did Aemond suddenly become the dumbest strategist? Taking out a dragon on his own side, above his army is the DUMBEST thing you could possibly do, whether he liked the rider or not, this change in the story was ridiculous. The brothers fought Meleys together. Urgh I could go on. I HATED everything this season.

[@twelve11]

Actually, no, have more. The casting for the show was ALL wrong, wrong. From the Velaryon's race bend (I don't know any self respecting black person that would get into a crazy white inbred pure breed psychotic family) to Matt Smith's Daemon being embarrassing (He's not imposing, not commanding and laughable when he does anything), Mysaria (What stupid accent and odd laboured delivery of lines was that) and even the supporting cast look and sound wrong. None of them had presence. Go back and watch season 1-4 of Game of Thrones. Every single one of them was a main character. I feel like there isn't even one main character in HOTD.

[@Justjestering96]

It makes me upset that if they weren't going to characterize the dragons, and push for a bad storyline of boring characters. They should have chosen Maegor the cruel, rheana, aenys, queen visenya to tell the story entire jahearys They should have started with that. It fits more of the storyline they are trying to push. Sarah hess should be fired, her terrible changes to the story will be the reason I refuse to watch season 3.

[@KatAdVictoriam]

Great breakdown and solid points that had me "Yasss"ing along. Your video deserves way more likes. There was a ridiculous amount of cope for shit writing this season. I ducked out after Ep. 3. I saw it was diverging from the source material in bad ways and got that late-stage GoT ptsd reaction. I'm done with this show. I'm not gonna invest time in disappointment.

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

I was so frustrated with how many people were defending this season because "it isn't season 8", giving all it's awful writing and character assassinations a pass. The changes they've made from the source material will only negatively affect the future seasons. These writers shouldn't have the same problems GoT had, the whole story is already written this time which I think is why George Martin was so outspoken about his disappointment while he never talked about Season 8. This show is a lost cause but fingers crossed A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is worthwhile.

[@khfan4life365]

Daemon was destroyed because Sara Hess hates him. She hates his popularity despite being a "bad" character (which is why he was so beloved in the first place, but that woman's two brain cells are fighting for third place, so...). Making Mysaria her self insert for season two was her attempt to combat that, but, to the surprise of no one, people hated that character. Plus, Daemyra is the central couple of the show. Breaking that apart for a shoehorned, forced, horribly-written "romance" between Hess's insert (Mysaria) and Rhaenyra will, of course, result in huge backlash from the majority of the fanbase. Plus, am I supposed to believe that Rhaenyra's love for Daemon (one of the focal points in season one) suddenly faded in one episode (2x06)? Be so for real. The only people who like that "romance" are chronically online Twitter twits who love lesbian relationships, no matter how awful, poorly written, or forced it is. Sara Hess, her cohorts (Geeta, et al), and Ryan Condal need to be ejected from the series. If HBO wants the series to reach four seasons, they need to get rid of these people.

[@trutherror]

Thank you, Sir. Not all heros wear capes. You broke this down perfectly. This is the sentiment at large, in our country rn... people are just shoveled shyt and told it's wonderful when in all reality it's just shyt and I'm standing around looking at people like you love this? Like the fn twilight zone. I love GOT, I adore the books and this season was okay. I will watch season 3 but man am I sick of the girl power bs. If it makes sense in a story great but why are we diverting from good stories to deliver a writes beliefs? If I want to hear a girl power message I'll go stand in front of a planned parent hood and listen to the libs shout about their bodies and baby murder, You go girl! Idk I'm getting political now. Your body your choice but when I watch a fantasy I want to watch a fantasy, enough with the messaging.

[@duepunishment]

I kept checking to see how much time was left in each episode, hoping something...ANYTHING...would happen. I was disappointed more often than not. At least I got "ANGOS MELEYS!" So there's that.

[@jtoegi]

Bro you cooking with this vid. Saying what I've been thinking. Still like season 2 but broooo it could've been so much better

[@lacym9278]

I would have been happy if they finished the season with Rhaenerya taking King's Landing, even with the Luigi's Mansion bullshit with Daemon. They ruined Alys Rivers for me.

[@asoiaf__]

Interesting to see how they will portray her relationship with Aemond

[@khfan4life365]

@@asoiaf__seeing as Aemond was turned into a one dimensional anime villain in season two, his writing in the last two seasons don’t look promising. Instead of a genuinely loving relationship as seen in the book (well, as much as it can be, seeing this is ASOIAF), it’ll probably be more predatory and hateful.

[@TheMrShnickers]

I swear if Aemond doesn’t meet Alys I’m going to be so livid

[@Eleni1002]

@@khfan4life365 Have you read the book? Aemond has always been a one dimensional anime villain with an anime death to go with it. In the book his relationship to Alys is never expanded upon but she's referred to as a spoil of war, which isn't a particularly loving term.

[@khfan4life365]

@@Eleni1002 I did read the book. Book Aemond was fiercely loyal to Aegon, protective of his family, wore an eyepatch around women so he wouldn’t scare them with his fake eye, and was massively flawed. He was supposed to be the mirror foil of Daemon.

[@Morfe02]

Writers trying to justify mass murderer women a second time 😂😂 Like you didnt get enough of Cersei now you got 2 Cerseis

[@akashnagar8694]

Great job man, i gave up after episode 6

[@LarisaBayaMomo]

Agree with you a 💯% I still rewatch certain seasons of GOT, I do not want to rewatch HOD at all.

[@captainziggy82]

Viserys didn’t groom Aegon to be king lol I have so many issues with this season too but cmon man, get your facts straight lol

[@Amberrogers]

Yeah that's my only issue is if anything the show portrays Alicent's kids were somewhat an afterthought to Viserys

[@hakeempierstorff6964]

What I was going for was that simply by being the first-born son of the king, by association your going to feel the pressure of becoming heir, despite him naming Rhaenyra as heir. It's just the circumstances of the situation he was born into, nothing that Viserys did or didn't do

[@Slynnke]

I look at Larys’ arc and I’m just like “…This is just aliexpress Qyburn.” He feels like such a retread. I’m waiting for him Robert Strong somebody at this point. I’m also seriously considering seeing how the time stacks up - did we spend more time with whichever Lannister and the Triarchs or the Red Wedding? Joffrey’s wedding? And holy crap I am JUST now realizing - the Beesbury thing was an entire war??? It sounded like it was a temp skirmish at most??? Wtf??? I had read the books before I watched all but S1 of Thrones. With how much they’re changing, I shouldn’t HAVE to read Fire & Blood at ALL to follow what’s happening. I’m going to before S3, but that should in no way be required of a viewer, otherwise why adapt it at all? Not being able to do rewrites on the latter part of the season cuz of the strike really hamstrung this. It’s still good, I’m gonna keep watching, but woooooow.

[@THISISRISE]

That kissing scene told me everything I needed to know

[@rocksjoshua]

I love how their marketing for season 2 was "Pick a side", but they write the show in a way that makes picking a side not a difficult choice at all, the vast majority of fans choose the black faction. Season 1 set the show up for failure with how it was written, painting the Greens in a villainous light vs the Blacks in a heroic light. They made Aegon ii evil, how can any fan defend his actions from season 1, it makes the show uninteresting compared to GoT.

[@MrBuddyGuy]

Only 2 seconds in, but I'm liking the vid because of the description alone haha

[@kkplx]

Anyone who recognizes patterns could see that HotD would deteriorate quickly. Raceswapping the valeryons, making it about women in a patriarchal society were only 2 massive red flags among a sea of smaller ones - all of it hidden under an admittedly fantastic presentation and some very good acting. S1 started around the level GoT was at in S5.

[@sunfire5790]

I really loved rhaena’s orginal story and a pink dragon is so cute.

[@blurpledragon2779]

You are 1000 % right , I would have hoped on Syrax and had Vermie and Silverwing jump Vhagar and then I would tell Syrax Dracarys and ended the war !!! It would have saved so many people and dragons !!

[@CameronkAK]

Do people think season 3 will get a real writers change? Surely the producers have to look and go, people aren't happy, things need to change.

[@KhaledSham]

I think they already were writing season 3 long before season 2 aired so we're cooked. I literally bought the book half way thru the season

[@CameronkAK]

@@KhaledSham you sadly might be right. Our only hope is the producers stepping in and realising just how unhappy people are with the self insertion from the writers.

[@singstreetcar5881]

They show lacked subplots, side characters, sub story lines.

[@singstreetcar5881]

Men=bad Women=good The show in a nutshell

[@omegalul3949]

The writers really didnt learn a thing from dave and dans failure

[@ValyrianPrince]

Didn’t know what I would get with this video but I’m glad I watched. I wasn’t disappointed. I feel like people just don’t care about Westeros anymore and we’re stuck with the bottom of the barrel acolyte esque fan’s. (Stanners and Shippers)

[@joiedevivre55]

Completely agree. It is hard to criticise a show because you get labelled a conservative, anti-woke and it just shuts down any sensible critique. I find that most writers these days have some interesting grand concept but no actual talent for constructing a story and writing compelling, believable characters. They do their own ideas such disservice. Take Acolyte -- it's okay for a show to explore if Jedi need to be checked, are they good etc. But the way they went about it was so unbelievably dumb and juvenile. Or take Rings of Power -- they wanted to show a Galadriel who is susceptible to corruption (I think that's one of their ideas, but who knows for sure), but they went about in this EMBARRASSINGLY BAD fan-fictiony shipping of Sauron and Galadriel. I mean -- oh my GOD!! The writers seem to think that having a contrary "take" on an existing IP is all that is needed to create a show. It is clear they have no talent, no understanding of how to develop a story, create genuine conflict, write intelligent dialogue, develop themes without spelling it out and they have the hubris to think they can do better than GRR Martin or Tolkein!

[@faisalkamal4319]

Tywin tripping in harrenhall sounds cool

[@3MB4R]

Sara Hess herself said she writes “every character on our show equally flawed and nuanced and interesting and virtuous and fucked up at the same time and to imbue our women with just as much contradictory flawed humanity as possible.” I think this is the root cause of the shows problems, this insistence that all the main characters have to share a near even balance in morality with each other at all times so one team can't be 'the good/bad guys' for more than 10 minutes. They have to be bad but not too bad, good but not too good, they all need some tragic backstory as to why they do anything fucked up at the cost of butchering the characters, often nonsensically so, robbing them of any agency because its always someone else's fault. Both sides being 'equally bad' is true AFTER the war has ended, because they do fucked up things at different stages of the war, it doesn't work if they need to be neck and neck most of the time, nor does it make sense as war almost always tends to become more desperate and brutal as they progress. The show consistently fails to be consistent with its setting, or even its own on-screen canon. Previous wars for the Stepstones went for years yet had no effect on Kings Landing despite disrupting trade, because obviously Westeros produces its own food and only imports luxuries, but the whole city is starving within a month when the bay is blockaded. The writers forgot the Crownlands are still connected to the Reach and the Stormlands, the former of which is where most food is produced. Characters ages are all over the place because of age and timeline changes and they can't keep track of their own changes because it is impossible for Daeron to be 16 at this point. But what bothered me the most was the scene of Riverlords collectively showing up at Harrenhal in the middle of the night to berate Daemon for ordering the Blackwoods to attack the Bracken's (which happens, for some reason, after the Burning Mill). I seriously thought that they were either ghosts or it was Daemon having another hallucination to remind and torment him about the cost and terrors of the war he's been so eager for, because surely there was no way that neighbouring houses would get this bothered about the Brackens and Blackwoods doing what they have done for thousands of years, while already in open war on opposite sides, doing what happens in every single war that has happened in Westeros' 10,000 + year history. When they showed back up and Oscar Tully (another Tully's denied their trademark red hair) did a 180 pivot in personality to verbally rake Daemon over the coals in front of everyone (Hess' work I have absolutely no doubt) and he ends up having to behead Willem for obeying his orders, the orders of the crown that supersede the authority of the Tullys - that's when I knew this show was beyond fucked. It can only be the writers criticising the audience for wanting to see the war that the show is about because 'war is bad and you're bad if you want to see it' and the constant need to tear down Daemon's character and what he represents. Where is Daemon having the Blackwoods bait the Bracken's out into attacking, ambushing them when they're encamped and preparing their own ambush and when they loose and withdraw they find Daemon sitting on Craxes perched on their castle surrounded by an army of several other Riverlands houses that have taken it almost bloodlessly - which has the Bracken's yield and agree to change sides? Daemon being good at the one thing he's good at? Military leadership? Not in this show apparently. Westeros is a brutal, unforgiving place that hides how wretched it is beneath a false image of honour and chivalry, the kind of place people like Tywin or Daemon thrive during war time with underhanded tactics, because they know the reality of the world they live in. But the show wants to pick and choose where this applies depending on which character the writers want to prop up or take down a peg. Daemon gets chewed out and humbled twice in front of a crowd for trying to solve the issue in what is, unfortunately, realistically the least destructive way possible at that point, but Alicent only points out that he torched thousands in a fit of pique as a weak comeback when he's trying to get Helaena to join in the war. Hearing about whole towns and cities getting torched is what causes majority of smallfolk unrest (very important for later) because they're obviously terrified of it happening to them, but this is neither shown nor told after Sharpe Point, more important to show them being irritated at being on a fish diet. They cut so many characters, 95% of the Riverlands characters don't get introduced so the audience will have such a minimal connection to the Riverlands when they get decimated later. I'm sure some will pop up only to die offscreen 2 minutes later. Or Alys will chew Aemond out about it and make him have vague visions. George wrote stuff that got you hyped for war, but the immediate reality of it and its aftermath turned your stomach. Neither show has been able to achieve on the screen even half of what George did with words on a page, not surprising as they keep cutting out or butchering the best bits in favour of adding their own trash. Apologies for wall of text.

[@solarflare671]

As someone who absolutely loves foreshadowing and prophecy and riddles, I found myself absolutely hating Rhaenera is going to conquer Kings landing and Daemon and Aemond are going to die spelled out loud... You don't see the red wedding coming, then you see the pieces laid. The first season seeing Ned make mistakes and seeing ways he could have prevented his death. He is honorable and assumes honor will win. He doesn't want to win. He wants good to prevail. But subtext, hints, lore, I loved the lore. Just spoiling Kings landing and the fights. I hate it.

[@sarahgirlisit]

Alicent wasn’t 15 she was 18 and wasn’t for forced to marry her son and daughter…yeah read the books at this point.

[@ΒασιληςΛυπηριδης-φ4κ]

The first 2 episodes where the best, the rest was boring

[@jerrymartin4450]

Personally, 4 and 7 were the best.

[@SaneMillennial]

39:00 I absolutely agree w/you! I hate all of this horrible writing and inaction when they could've had some! Rhaenyra should've gone after Aemon and Vahygar there! This season gave me blue balls basically.

[@VeternovaYT]

The Sarah Hess episodes really are awful huh

[@kragary]

16 hrs is enough to tell any story and tell it well, as long as the director isn't wasting endless time with filler scenes, repetitive scenes and scenes of actors staring vacantly into the distance.