House Of The Dragon: Why Season 2 Didn't Work

[@arcticwolfy1573]

The thing that annoyed me most about Rhaenyra’s writing this season is that every episode she seems to end with a new sense of agency and starts the next episode completely passive again. If she had carried the momentum each time it would’ve built up her character much better.

[@Judessin]

This. Take a shot when ever she says "what would you have me do?"

[@randomusername3873]

If that was portrayed as a flaw it would be fine, but ai really didn't have that perception

[@anais6654]

@@Judessinso once ?

[@anoushkas8726]

The character writing for the Blacks is so effing pathetic! The scenes with Greens felt pretty reminiscent of early game of thrones. And Daemon storyline single-handedly ruined the show

[@tj2375]

This is the same in season 1 to be fair. It was just that we gave the show the benefit of the doubt.

[@idk-ws8ku]

and i hate that rhaenyra felt angrier with her allies than the people who KILLED her SON

[@ginopinori]

Exactly! They were the reason she was so stressed she lost her daughter at premature birth. Then they killed her son and her first mother-in-law, who was also a powerful and loyal ally. But who did she slap when given the chance? Alicent, in those idiotic meetings? No: the old council member

[@user-vj6ws1op4u]

God forbid women hate each other right?

[@idk-ws8ku]

@@ginopinori ofc she's gonna slap him how dare he think she's doing anything wrong

[@neltins5308]

Yeah lol this video didn't even go that deep into the whole Alicent x Rhaenyra thing that the writers are trying to subtly say explains ALL of their decisions / actions / inactions. Its jarring reading the book dynamic and then watching the show dynamic.

[@javierlopez9789]

​@@neltins5308 it also doesn't help both of their characters are boring as hell.

[@shinigami1357]

The way Rhaenyra goes from on the edge of madness to completely fine and reasonable the next season is insane. She spends the whole season doing NOTHING and wishes she could proceed to do something, and then does more of nothing. Jace has taken such a hit from his character in the books its insane.

[@MeleysTessarion]

Jace’s characterization is so underwhelming. This is the problem of the writers. They refuse to expand the depth of the secondary characters properly. If Rhaenyra instead went to Cregan they NEVER would’ve cut those expansive moments from the book smh

[@Bread-nx9fo]

They tried to make him the strategist he is in the books but failed so badly, he's basically just a brooding mess in the show.

[@WobblesandBean]

Woo, 666th upvote 🤘🏻

[@PerfectDark0]

Rhaenyra did not go from the edge of madness. This is completely media illiterate, as this is never implied or shown. And she did nothing because she could only do nothing because she had no army. Did you watch the show muted or something???

[@r.beeeee]

​@@PerfectDark0the edge of madness being referred to here is the last shot of season 1. She goes from "you took my son, this means war" to "I wish we could runaway alicent" 😂

[@LadyGagadriel]

If anything, this season shows us that when an actor is good, IS GOOD regardless the material. Because the whole cast went through a lot of... stuff but god they all delivered every single time.

[@shinigami1357]

Same with game of thrones. The actors are always phenomenal and then the script just lets them down

[@Dere2727]

Especially with some of the weird dialogue where characters speak in some Shakespearian dialect in casual conversation

[@nileverdeen3797]

​@@Dere2727 that is how they spoke in the early days

[@TOTALLYsup]

What stuff did the cast go through?

[@elsagreen1476]

I haven't watched the show, but the D'arcy-Cooke duo looks incredibly compelling

[@rodrickheffley8794]

This season just fell so flat. We ended season 1 getting ready for war. And we ended season 2…. getting ready for war.

[@nathanielsaunders9815]

Except the entire green side is gone the only one left is Amond the blacks now have multiple army’s and twice as many dragons the hand is kidnapped Agon has fled l could go on

[@marcosjunior4443]

The winter is coming

[@angelantayhua3096]

@@nathanielsaunders9815yeah the dynamics of characters have changed, but narratively it does not feel significant.

[@LordofBroccoli]

It's like poetry, it rhymes!

[@debasegrog5153]

So that episode where vhagar and aemond killed rhaenys and meleys and turned aegon into Freddy Krueger didn’t exist. Or the one were a 6 year old boy lost its head in a war crime

[@karlklein2263]

We did not need 15 minutes of Daemon being freaked out in a haunted house EVERY EPISODE.

[@kims8752]

While in yhe book its actually said that "Damon did not experience any of the mystical and magical effects of the castle of Harrenhal"

[@brittany1049]

No we didn’t *need* it, but boy was it entertaining to see him so out of his element. Plus, it gave us more Millie and Paddy. (I agree with you, I’m just saying there were a few positives)

[@Crisopeia]

@@brittany1049 was it though?

[@delimelone]

​@@kims8752 The books don't know all the details and frequently get them wrong since they are a historical retelling from outside sources and not a first person perspectiv

[@MeleysTessarion]

Especially when characters are making massive movement without him. How tf Criston conquered the Crownlands and Daemon still has yet to earn the Riverlands. I understand it’s to prove he lacks how to play the game of thrones but omg these dreams are soooo repetitive

[@oppenheimer6321]

I really don't like the whole thing with Alicent misunderstanding Viserys' words, it was already established before that episode that Alicent already wanted Aegon as King regardless of Viserys' wishes and feared what Rhaenyra would do if she took the throne, all of that was thrown out the window and now apparently the only thing that motivates Alicent are Viserys' words?

[@username.exenotfound2943]

you could also say alicent is "right" as thats the choice that avoids war (if nobody wants a woman as queen as it defys tradition then dont act shocked when theres a civil war that makes the war of the roses look like a picnic)

[@oppenheimer6321]

@@username.exenotfound2943 I mean, within the context of this universe as a medieval society, she is right, Aegon is the heir because he is the eldest son, Viserys more than anyone should know this and chose to ignore it, it is obvious that it would lead to a civil war. Rhaenyra ascending the throne over her male sibling would go against centuries of tradition and law in Westeros, even if Alicent and Otto had done nothing, the Lords of Westeros would simply not accept this, the fact that the series does not acknowledge this only shows how they failed.

[@elsafowl]

I think a deeper understanding of Alicent's life and motives (and basically, the character in itself) is needed for this. It's not just "Alicent misunderstands Viserys." It's "Alicent is desperate for her life's sacrifice to be recognised and good for SOMETHING and Viserys giving even the smallest hint that he may care about Aegon makes her sacrifice worth something". Alicent was bound by duty since before the show, she obeyed every law and norm from the patriarchal westerosi society. She obeyed her father, her husband, her religion - she sacrificed herself to have sons, as she should as Viserys' wife, and then she fought to protect her sons, as she should as a good mother. She basically has no life for herself. She only respects the wishes of the men around her bc that's what a woman is expected to do. She hates Rhaenyra for having this freedom thanks to her status as Viserys' daughter. She also hates Rhaenyra bc she can't hate Viserys or any of the men truly responsible for her misery - he's the King and her husband, and she can't go against him. Same with Otto - he's her father, he's Hand, and he knows better. Rhaenyra is a woman, so Alicent can attack her. Anyway, let's just say Alicent is bitter about her life, blames Rhaenyra for it when the true culprits are Otto and Viserys, and then basically grasps for anything to legitimise her sacrifice. What's the point of all her suffering if Viserys doesn't even care about his sons? If Aegon is not on the throne, as he should as the first boy? So yeah, Alicent jumps on the first clue of Viserys' interest in their son - in herself, as his wife of 20 years, as someone who mattered in his life. The first clue is Viserys' final words, which Alicent doesn't know the true meaning to bc Viserys never trusted her with any explanation, and it puts Aegon on the throne. But it's only the drop pushing Alicent to this conclusion, not the whole iceberg. Besides, Otto and the council already had planned for Aegon to take the throne, so Alicent's opinion never truly mattered. The only element that mattered is that Aegon is a boy and Rhaenyra a girl. Therefore, Aegon is best fitted for the throne. Alicent's argument didn't hold strong for very long: it takes one discussion with Rhaenyra to destroy her entire belief system, which proves how fragile it was in the first place. And it makes sense when your entire belief system destroys yourself, as you erode your spirit to serve men who don't give a shit about you anyway.

[@machiavellica]

YES! That scene of the Green Council when she is flabbergasted by everyone plotting to put Aegon on the throne as if it wasn't the point the whole time still haunts me. They keep giving her a new personality and motivation every few episodes.

[@hali_55]

It was a ridiculous change that in hindsight spelled bad things to come for her character. I also love how they have her character so fixated on that but somehow she never mentions that Viserys dreamt of their son ascending the Iron Throne.

[@MissKashira]

Alicent's character seems butchered because her primary motivation has been to protect her kids. If she doesn't care if Rhaenyra kills her kids cause she never liked them anyway, then as Aegon asked, "What was this all for then?" She went from being ready to cut a kid's eye out in defense of her child to trading them off for lemon cakes and a free ride to Essos. Make it make sense.

[@C.J.Hamilton]

She didn’t want to cut his eye out to defend her child. She uses her kids as pawns to try and get back at Rhaenyra. She wanted to cut his eye out to prove to Rhaenyra that her and her kids can’t always get their way, not out of love for Aemond.

[@adamboh393]

I mean the two things can exist at once. Of all Alicents children she loves Aemon the most, as he’s exactly like her.

[@Bread-nx9fo]

They also made Criston Cole completely unlikable, in the books its stated hes honorable and not sleeping around with Alicent, and backed Aegon II because its simply the custom of the first born son to be named heir.

[@r.beeeee]

​@C.J.Hamilton alicent only does this because she was manipulated into believing that rhaenyra ascending the throne would put her sons lives in danger (for obvious reasons). It doesn't make it right but people acting like rhaenyra would have just let it go if it was one her sons eyes and we all know that's not true.

[@guilhermetheodoro5759]

@@Bread-nx9fo the books are canonically untrustworthy, so don't give much weight to them.

[@Dere2727]

As a book reader it’s infuriating how every interesting event is adapted in the most simple, least morally ambiguous way possible.

[@HDGaminTutorials]

Hollywood thinks we can't handle it. They treat everyone like toddlers even in adult shows

[@bloodandaces9693]

That rly pisses me off too because the characters don't take any action that progresses their arc, things just "happen to them", everything is an accident.

[@masha22092000r]

Exactly. People who haven't read the book don't understand why we are SO PISSED about Alicent being the one to give up King's Landing.

[@bibimbap5917]

Exactly it pisses me off so much. Everything is an accident or a misunderstanding. God forbid they show Daemon and Aemond accidentally killed each other. And Aegons dragon accidentally eats Rhenyra

[@One.Zero.One101]

The writers missed the commentary about war. War is where rich people send poor people to die. This was supposed to be a selfish power grab between two aristocratic families, dragging the entire country to death and destruction. Making the leads more sympathetic and hesitant about war completely defeats GRRM's original intent.

[@kenthehobo]

Daemon, ended season 1 kneeling to Rhaenyra, Daemon ends season 2 kneel-... wait a minute

[@eldara3]

Yeah x'D I felt kinda confused about NInja's argument that he *needed* that Harrenhal-arc to rediscover his loyalty this season, when it was also this season that invented his *dis* loyalty?

[@liamphill2873]

I really don't like that argument. I think you can certainly discuss and critizise the way they got there and the why, but the Daemon kneeling at the end of Season 1 and the one at the end of Season 2 are very different characters with very different motives. Maybe you've skipped all of Harrenhal because you were bored, but it was there for a reason.

[@duolingo0552]

Also in the last episode of S1 there is the 'Dreams didn't make us king, dragons did' speech, so...

[@blueblack3591]

Yeah so stupid

[@dominiqueodom3099]

​@@liamphill2873 If the reason was to completely neuter the most prominent Male character in the series defined by his unpredictably and his desire to control his own destiny,than you've hit the nail on the head.

[@ligiaborges4528]

“See you in 2026” just crushed me, ngl

[@balsasjekloca9308]

I mean, at least we're getting Dunk and Egg in 2025, so that's something

[@Miniscan]

Same 🥲

[@Themoonishereagain]

​@@balsasjekloca9308 I'm looking forward to it as well

[@TheHeartsGirl]

I can’t believe I’m gonna be 30 by the time season 3 comes out

[@mylalicoco]

@@balsasjekloca9308 Won't it be like 6 episodes only ?

[@MrTennessine]

Season 2 was basically a trailer for S3. We ended the exact same place we were in S1

[@elsafowl]

Except if you care about the characters, then I'd argue they went through complete arcs and characters development this season

[@MrTennessine]

@elsafowl it wasn't a bad season it just felt like where we left of in S1 was basically the same place in S2 with some plot threads being concluded in between

[@EntrEsprit]

Not quite, we still had some losses and changes in character dynamics, but i see. I feel like they wanted to avoid the "rushing" allegations at all cost, so they slowed it down

[@PerfectDark0]

I didn't know that at the end of season one, Rhaenyra had a standing army. News to me I must have missed that

[@silversauceran]

A major problem was Daemon’s story felt like stalling and neutering this season. The Blacks didn’t do much and were so disjointed. Rheanyra floundered and seemed insecure. And the visions of the future of Game of Thrones aren’t needed. Left me disinterested.

[@lom1991]

True I actually really liked this season but man did daemons plot feel like they needed to fill time

[@idk-ws8ku]

+ turning daemon from a military genius to a child who throws temper tantrums because he needs his niece's approval

[@elsafowl]

Yeah, I hoped they would just cut Daemon out of the story a bit, but I guess fans of this character were so loud it wouldn't have worked without serious backlash. And many scenes were good (with Oscar Tully, Simon and Alyn, and some of the visions too), but I would just shorten them to give more time to other characters (like Baela).

[@snugsmchuggsly5449]

Wait Daemons story was incredible!! I hated the fact that he had a sense of agency, I much prefer my rogue characters completely submitting not cause they wants to, but because they saw spoilers for GoT.

[@idk-ws8ku]

@@snugsmchuggsly5449 we love us got and blackfyre spoilers

[@davidcopperfield5345]

My problem with Alicent giving up Aegon is that she is still the same person that stood between Aegon and Maelys when Rhaenys threatened to burn them. She stood in front of a dragon to protect Aegon. She shielded Halaena from the raging mob. She tries to rip out a child's eye, in vengeance for Aemond's eye. She is an awful person. And an awful mother. But the show has shown several times, that on instinct she is willing to die for her children. There might be a more selfish reason behind it. Maybe she sees them as an extension of herself, but still without fail, when threatened, she puts her children's lives above her own.

[@r.beeeee]

Thank you!! I dont understand the "Alicent was always selfish so giving up her 3 sons, brother, and cole is completely in character" argument

[@g.ricepad9470]

Tbh I think this scene as a whole has been forgotten

[@54tisfaction]

The season shows that this side of her personality is shifting, for good reasons. The children that she has been willing to give her life for to bring to power, for the reason of honoring their dead fathers dream of a prosperous kingdom, turn on her and rob her of her power. This not only makes her unable to use that power to aid and protect them, but makes it obvious even to her that they don't care for her as much as she cares for them. Her sons are ruthless egomaniacs. Helaena being the stark contrast to that, making it even more obvious. On top of that, she finds out that her work to honor Vicaeris dream was based on a misunderstanding and him actually wanting his daughter to rule. This makes her whole world view crash down. So it makes sense to have her walk out in the woods and return with a desperate need to make things right, but now knowing how.

[@r.beeeee]

@54tisfaction I understand the realising it was all for nothing shedding the former self arc, I just think it could've been handled so much better. Her pulling this move doesn't complete her arc because it doesn't make her better, it makes her incredibly selfish to the point that she's willing to wipe out an entire family (aka, shes worse). Her brother is innocent. daeron is innocent and he's not an egomaniac. And let's not forget she's agreeing to this as payment for Luke when jaehaerys already died

[@54tisfaction]

@@r.beeeee It is not a completion of an arc, this is just the middle of her arc (the low point), where a shift is occuring. And she is not sacrificing her entire family and everyone on her side, her agreement on Dragonstone is an attempt to sacrifice just her two sons to stop the escalation to full out war. She is of course too late, and things are moving to total destruction anyway. But you can't blame a girl for trying.

[@gravejello2331]

Really hope Rhaenyra fully leans into the cult leader role. It perfectly sets up so much of what happens in the book and can help with how people feel she hasn’t done much. Daemon’s visions also inflate her ego as they probably think the vision of Dany was a vision of Rhaenyra.

[@LuisSierra42]

That was really cool

[@thewerdna]

Yeah. My hope is that them framing her as the one in the moral right currently is to contrast with her decent into villainy as the conflict progresses. Having it be because she ends up buying into her own hype and uses that to justify increasing more atrocious actions would make a lot of sense.

[@purrgundy]

​@@thewerdnaI do believe that's where the writers are heading with her character arc. I mean, she goes down in history as "Rhaenyra the Cruel" after all. Make people root for her, give her power, and make people regret rooting for her in the first place sounds right up HBO's alley.

[@ione97]

@@thewerdnayes exactly! not sure why people don’t see this coming

[@shortdrink873]

I feel like Emma D’Arcy has heavily implied they’re playing Rhaenyra’s character arc with this in mind

[@mrink8822]

The way they conclude Daemon's arc this season by showing him a vision of the Night King, something we know won't appear in the show, is just bad fan service

[@andrewrabon]

Not even the Night King, one of his generals. And not even the same actor as the GoT version. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@AureliusAmbross]

They absolutely gut his character. He doesnt come to the realization on his own at all that he's devoted to his queen. He just gets shown a vision and told to play his part. An entire season just tripping balls only to get told to lighten up at the end. Such a waste

[@upg5147]

​@@AureliusAmbross I take it as a rebel kid getting a dose of reality. The equivalent of "you're going to peak in highschool and nothing you do with amount to answer, get in line". He isn't some great ruler or future king, he's a cog in a much greater machine than any of them. He got humbled in a way that no one ever has, be literal gods telling how relevant or in his case, irrelevant he is. I think that's an interesting way to do things. He still has agency, he decided to believe that and is deciding that the blacks are the path that lead to a brighter future against the far off winter. He can still have interesting things happen in his story, but he now knows exactly where his lane begins and ends.

[@-eight-]

I thought it was interesting since it’s established that other members of his family have had a similar vision and that’s part of the reason why this war is being fought in the first place. Not saying his “arc” was great, but I thought it was a good way to get him back in line.

[@snugsmchuggsly5449]

@@upg5147 hes got the right idea. Why would you want characters doing anything cause of personal motivations? I also live by Daemon's creed and now I wont even get out of bed without consulting 4 different types of fortune tellers.

[@machiavellica]

"Why are people so shocked that she's okay to pay for her freedom with Aegon's life?" Because that goes against one of her main character traits. I'm not even talking about her book counterpart, but from what was shown in season 1. Yes, she knows her children aren't good people, she doesn't know how to be a mother to them, but it was estabilished multiple times that she does LOVE them. She goes after Lucerys for payback for what happened to Aemond, she begged Viserys to avenge him and when he refused she lost control to the point of seeking it herself and cutting the heir to the throne. She put herself in front of Rhaenys and her dragon to shield and protect Aegon, after a scene of him directly asking her if she loved him. Even Olivia Cooke answered a similar question stating that Alicent "loves the bones" of her children. And despite the writers making her put Aegon on the throne because of what Viserys said, we had her previously telling Aegon his life would be in danger should Rhaenyra take the throne and that he should take it to protect himself AND his brother. I don't think it's fair to fault her jumping personalities from one episode to the other as her simply being a hypocrite and taking away the responsability of the lazy writing she's been having all season. I don't see how Alicent giving up the life of her children (not just Aegon, but Aemond and even Daeron - because it's foolish to think only one son would be enough when the whole problem it's their bloodline) in exchange for her "freedom" can be attributed to her being a hypocrite instead of the partiality and inconsistent writing that we've already estabilished season 2 is suffering from, especially when most of the examples showcasing her hypocrisy and "lack of love" towards her children comes from said season 2. In my opinion, that whole last scene with Rhaenyra is another atempt of trying to say that "she still tried to make peace" and that it won't be her fault what happens next. That last scene doesn't exist in the books for a reason and it should've never existed in the show as well.

[@lordfreerealestate8302]

I also found it silly that she was randomly willing to sell out to an enemy, admit everything was her fault. It all just seemed abrupt and confusing.

[@PerfectDark0]

​@@lordfreerealestate8302Randomly??? Y'all don't watch the show otherwise you'd see the numerous examples of the leopards eating Alicents face. She thought she could spare her children by usurping the throne and was immediately proven wrong when her ill fit crotch goblins turned out to be vain, vicious, arrogant, spiteful and cruel, like her, like their grandfather, and like the Green Council. Like I would abandon them too if my son tried to take my last remaining daughter, whose son got his head cut off, into a dragon suicide mission. Alicent is finally doing a good thing in her life.

[@bibimbap5917]

​@@PerfectDark0 alicent is poorly written. She's not doing anything good. The whole green clan is poorly written. I say this despite being team black. There was no need to make Aegon a rapist. The writers tried their best go make team green as unlikeable as possible while erasing all bad traits of team black in season 2.

[@KabbalahSherry]

​​​​​@@bibimbap5917- Erasing all of Team Black's bad traits? 😅 LOL They've shown Daemon killing his 1st wife, being a bad dismissive father, exhibiting signs of physical abuse towards Rhaenyra at times, sanctioning the massacre of TONS of Bracken peoples, and having weird sex dreams about his own Mother ffs. A woman he didn't even know, because she died when he was 3yrs old. He doesn't do ANY of this sh*t in the source material.... and this is just ONE Team Black character they've done this to. Don't get me started on them having Princess Rhaenys killing scores of peasants in her girl boss escape from the Dragon Pit, or portraying Jace as some despicable, hypocrite who looks down on poor people & talks about them like they're all dogs. I could go on, but.... I think you get my point. It doesn't matter what "Team" anybody is on, these writers have butchered ALL of these characters, let's be honest. Which is a damn shame, because they have a phenomenal cast of actors in this show & had they written them appropriately, it could have been something really special. But NOW?? *IT'S A MESS*

[@bridgettemartinez5335]

I disagree with daemon’s ending. Him being convinced to support Rhaenyra because of a vision of the prophecy made his whole arc seem meaningless. The harrenhall arc was him self-reflecting on his actions and relationships, so him only being convinced to support Rhaenyra by a doomsday vision erases that introspection. I personally believe the focus on the prophecy as a motivator for Rhaenyra and team black is dumb. It undermines Rhaenyra wanting the throne simply because it was stolen from her. No one ever critiques hamlet for wanting the throne that was stolen from him. Let women want power

[@randeli7785]

Also the idea of a prophecy actually being true and guaranteed in asoiaf goes against everything what George believes in when it comes to free will.

[@1975millie]

LET WOMEN BE AMBITIOUS AND WANT POWER YES

[@MattyCamachio]

Well said

[@Mildly-Mercurial]

AND! Let women be bad people. The way the shifted the narrative for Alicent just being a dutiful wife and fulfilling her dying husbands words was such a cop out. They built up her need for status in s1 with Otto teaching her how to be ruthless to get what she wants and then shit all over the storyline by giving her a (she thinks) valid reason for putting Aegon on the throne. No! She wanted him on the throne because that's what her father taught her she wanted.. Saying she's just doing it because her husband told her too was terrible writing. Let bad people be bad, it's ok... If they'd showed Aemond intentionally taking out Luc, and not hinting at "oh he was just playing and lost control of his dragon" we'd still like Aemond as a character, he's well acted, he's nuanced, little decisions like these take away a lot from the show. I guess maybe they don't want a repeat of Joffrey/Jack Gleeson, and I guess I understand that.. But... Really writers? Really? Still love the show, just a minor nitpick.

[@1975millie]

@@bridgettemartinez5335 i don’t understand their thought process on this, like having alicent just wanting to be loyal to the memory of her abuser and rhaenyra only want the throne because its what her father intended is sooo feminist. all women’s ambitions and and character traits should centre men! /s

[@dopex89]

I mean the fact that Rheanyra thought Daemon was her soulmate when he brought her to a brothel and murdered his wife for the chance to get with her should tell you a little something about her. She's not a blind innocent either, she was straight up taunting him to murder even more people and take her to Dragonstone to get married. Even in this season she says she wanted to be like him. I mean love them both, but they were absolutely ruthless, self-serving and impulsive even before her throne was usurped.

[@ghoulex642]

This season only covered 17.5 pages of the book, last season covered 83 pages deep it, they stretched the content out then they blue balled us, and we have to wait another 2 years, hit us with that devious lick ngl 😭😭😭

[@Hikaru-Makimura]

Only 17.5 pages??? My god.

[@ghoulex642]

@@Hikaru-Makimura The pacing for the next two seasons are fcked because of the the fckery they pulled this season. Its crazy how much time they wasted this season.

[@zarinaromanets7290]

Because of the way they keep defending their decisions for season 2 leads me to believe nothing will fundamentally change in S3 so I genuinely think this is me turning back from trusting them with the show. I'm perfectly happy letting this show exist in books and our heads.

[@hilda666]

The reason why Rhaenyra doesn't really do much is because she's not really supposed to be able to, in the books she spends that time recovering from the traumatic stillbirth. With the first seasons focus on the horror of childbirth and just the importance of it on so much on the story, I'm so surprised/ confused on why it's just forgotten about.

[@sheepsdog]

they completely forgot about visenya and luke it’s actually hilarious

[@hilda666]

@sheepsdog i knowww and all of that had so much potential for storylines with her being in the traditionally male role as monarch with her advisors.

[@gaphic]

People were already complaining nonstop about the prevalence of childbirth trauma/death in this show, so I don’t think having even more would’ve made audiences any happier

[@Ashbrash1998]

@@gaphic Still would have been a better than what we got, let alone she still wouldn't have given birth after season 1. It's just going with the standard season 1 set and is more realisitc/true to the book.

[@hilda666]

@gaphic my main point was that she has a really good and understandable reason for not really doing much and they just kinda forgot about it. Revenge for them killing her children is also one of her main motivations in the war. "She was my only daughter, and they killed her. They stole my crown and murdered my daughter, and they shall answer for it" and shortly after that they kill one of her sons in cold blood.

[@ofcourseitis]

I would be inclined to agree with your point about Alicent agreeing to letting Aegon die if it wasn’t for two points: 1. Alicent stood in front of Aegon (the worst son) while staring down a dragon and 2. Rhaenyra doesn’t have to just kill Aegon. She has to kill Aemond, Daeron (the actual decent son) and arguably the entire male Hightower line since they all have a claim to the throne.

[@LetsSingTheDoomSong]

Ya, this is something I've also been waiting for others to bring up. As if it's just Aegon's head that would be needed to end the war and secure Rhaenyra's claim??!! 😂 Since the Greens are so gung-ho on a male having to be the successor, and all of the Green offspring being legitimate heirs to the throne, each of them would have to be taken out in order to truly leave Rhaenyra with the best claim (at least until someone else slithers out of the woodwork to try and plan an overthrow of the Blacks)

[@actually_curious4773]

Alicent also told Rhaneyra about her brother & Cole's position... like sorry what did Gwayne do?..

[@mochalotte4702]

The male Hightower line do not have a claim to the iron throne. They are not descended from viserys or any Targaryen. The only ones with claims are Aegon II, Aemond, and Daeron in addition to Aegon’s son. The writers clearly do not understand the structure and rules of inheritance this season since they seem to think that bastards have equal claim to legitimate sons AND DAUGHTERS, and they don’t address the fact that if the blacks win, rhaenyra’s younger sons with Daemon could be used by Daemon to create another civil war against the elder bastard strong sons to inherit the throne, since Jace and Joffrey are obvious bastards and their younger brothers Aegon and Viserys are obviously Daemon’s sons. Ultimately Rhaenyra is her own biggest enemy and they keep erasing that to make her a perfect heroine which makes the whole show unrealistic and stupidly written.

[@hali_55]

I think George R R Martin being very open with the fact that he does not like this season says a lot about where HOTD failed this season.

[@hawkins347]

Supposedly he plans a post on his blog about it 🍿

[@SwieczkaNiweaniewierzeDarek]

@@hawkins347 Oh hell nah, he better be writing The Winds of Winter and not some blog posts...

[@hali_55]

@@hawkins347and I wait with baited breath

[@elsafowl]

Well, the dude likes writing way too many violent sex scenes with underage girls and/or incest, so I wouldn't trust him on everything. Besides, he's a writer, not anything linked to tv show or how to make them, so maybe some stuff he wanted to put in the show were just impossible to make.

[@asamckenzie827]

@@SwieczkaNiweaniewierzeDarekon gabg

[@SofiaByrsan]

Not a single word about Heleana? In the book she was so depressed after her son's murder that eventually jumped out the window, smallfolk rebelled against Rhaenyra, because they loved Heleana and assumed that Rhaenyra killed her, stormed the dragon pit and killed all the dragons. In the show, Heleana is no longer sad, because "kids die all the time, who cares". And she will be probably killed by Aemond. And the whole Blood&Cheese scene was pathetic. It was supposed to be as devastating as Shireen Baratheon's death, but they downplayed it and, as a comic relief, showed how Alicent was riding Chiston Cole, when in the book she was with Heleana.

[@emilyfrigge]

Just keep in mind for future seasons 1 - this season feels cut short because it was cut short. They had 10 episodes written before hbo had a merger with WB and the new ceo decided to have them cut 2 episodes to save money 2- due to the writers strike they were not able to do any rewrites to the script. Whatever was written is what they had to go with which is why it feels a little bit like an early draft write, because it basically is

[@sheepsdog]

the writers strike was not effected by this as it was written before the strike and was not filmed in america. i tried linking the la times article but it wont post

[@emilyfrigge]

@@sheepsdog that is true, but a lot of times there are rewrites that happen while filming. They didn't get a chance do do any of those on set rewrites because of the writers strike. Also pretty sure it doesn't matter where the filming location was if the company filming is American.

[@sheepsdog]

@@emilyfrigge “‘House of the Dragon’ was not affected by the SAG-AFTRA strike because it is an Equity UK contract production.” so that’s factually incorrect! they were able to do rewrites during filming and the only reason there are 8 episodes is bc the budget got cut and the show wasn’t even filmed in america or under american contracts! google is free

[@emilyfrigge]

@@sheepsdog "So when the strike happened, we definitely were pencils down. We never changed a word, and we told the cast far in advance, 'If you have any qualms, get it out now because on the day, it's not going to happen." To be fair they mention that they were done in Jan 23, and were good with where the script was at, but they also mentioned the looming writers strike did also compress what would be 2 months of feedback from the cast and crew down to 1 month, which they described as stressful. So yes, the writers strike did affect the writing of the season.

[@sheepsdog]

@@emilyfrigge so no! ur wrong twice. the writers strike didnt effect it. budget cuts effected it. google is free and the production company was uk based so the strike had NO effect at all. what’s so hard to get hun? everything ur talking about is a company issue not a strike issue! as showrunners have final say so “feedback” would mean nothing as they alrdy had the “feedback” from when the script was *finalized* google. is. free :)

[@oppenheimer6321]

Sorry, but the whole scene with Alicent and Rhaenyra is idiotic, there is no bargaining, Alicent is not offering anything, Rhaenyra would take the city anyway and it's not like Rhaenyra taking the city immediately ends the war, Daeron/Hightowers, Aemond and Cole and the Triarch are already on the move, the war would continue and people will die anyway. And it makes no sense to hand over Aegon, with Aegon dead, Aemond inherits the claim and with him dead Daeron inherits, so to hold on to her claim Rhaenyra would have to kill all of them, including her good son Daeron, Alicent of all people should know this, if she wants to run away with Helaena she can just do that, but handing over KL to Rhaenyra is completely stupid and illogical.

[@hali_55]

@@oppenheimer6321 THANK YOU

[@ginopinori]

Also, it takes any agency and cunning from Rhaenyra and Daemon: it is not because when finally reunited they planned the next steps, which included taking the deserted capital, and they would know it’s desert because Rhaenyra is using Mysaria’s web of spies, but Alicent giving it to them

[@Guremien]

Not to mention that Aegon and Helaena also have a daughter and an another son not shown in the series. If Rhaenyra thinks that she can rule so can Helaena and her daughter!!!! There is no point of keeping them alive from this point of view.

[@roadrunneruntd]

I was going to say you forgot about Aegon's 3rd son but then I remembered Maelor isn't in the show 😅

[@cvox607]

If this season has confirmed anything , it's that writers ego is an ugly thing

[@Danielle2Cats]

Yes.

[@jrlombardi5251]

The only reason why Arcane is as amazing as it is is bc when the script was said not good enough, the guys that made it started to look for people *to replace themselves* so the show could be well done bc that's how much they loved the product and cared for it. HOTD writers, as many others, should learn something from that.

[@s.ivainesu]

@@jrlombardi5251 wasnt this a budget issue? didnt HBO not want to cough up money for the battle? Arcane seems cheaper to make, writing for animation is easier and less limiting

[@jrlombardi5251]

@@s.ivainesu HOTD writers had way more writing problems than the budget alone. Some of the main writers don't agree on the biggest changes they do in the adaptation and they started saying they wanted to do a work that honoured grrm but now they're actively saying they'll do changes that they know grrm will dislike (and in fact grrm disliked this season and thinks they're ruining the story), and beyond of it being loyal to the book (as changes are necessary and sometimes they can be better, as some in season 1) having stuff like that while making them will with no doubt affect them in a negative way, which is why they caused so many negative problems during this season, and what's to come. Unfortunately, the story that was about all sides being terrible so choosing being the wrong approach, just as mentioned in GOT itself and what grrm said he loved about this story and made it be what it is, got writers that in fact prefer a side and worked around that.

[@trinaq]

@@Danielle2Cats Totally, after Season 1 was such a hit, they started to think that they could do no wrong.

[@Fire_Summoner]

Alicent S1 and S2: "I would do anything for my children". Alicent end of S2: "I never cared for my family, children or otherwise".

[@killnotic]

🎯🎯🎯

[@PhosPhryne]

Alicent S1 "I would do anything for my children". Alicent end of S2: Oh god my children are evil monsters unworthy and incapable of ruling.

[@eamk887]

This is such a stupid take, lmao, it's like you didn't even watch season 2.

[@r.beeeee]

​@eamk887 why? people thinking alicent being selfish, a bad mom, a hypocrite, etc. equates to her offering her first born son, 2 other sons (1 of whom is completely innocent), her brother gwayne and cole to rhaenyra for slaughter when there's a whole civil war going on, 2 kids just died, and while she was one of the main catalysts of the war in the first place is baffling.

[@randomusername3873]

​@@r.beeeeeyou forgot her brother😂

[@theelectricprince8231]

40:24 bro not even Cersei would agree to that. This is not Alicent, Alicent tried to take Luce's eye out for Aemond.

[@pancakes5931]

9:38 Aemond killed Luke, not Jace. Rip. Also 32:00 Jace didn't go to the Greyjoys, he went to the Freys.

[@lizandraoliveira5382]

I wasn't wrong. He did say Jace. It was Luke.

[@YourBlackLocal]

He put a correction in the actual video for the Frey correction.

[@Butterfly-ll7mm]

He also called Addam, Alyn haha.

[@ambre4144]

@@Butterfly-ll7mmhe is bastardphobic

[@destinitaylor4360]

It’s definitely not worse than season 8 🤣 we haven’t hit THAT yet but it does have its fair share of problems to be sure

[@Hear.myvoice]

It's not worse but on the same level... People are forgetting what was the real problem in season 8 outside of the "rush" D and D made.

[@ExValeFor]

We speedran all the way to S6&7 with this one

[@gaphic]

‘We watched Daenerys become corrupted by power’ lmao no the fuck we didn’t? There was no process of corruption. The writers just flipped the crazy switch and called it a day. Genuinely concerning that you would use s8 as a positive example of women having complex morality in Westeros, of all things

[@jonathandear4914]

not so much complex morality but a darkside in pursuits of their own self interest, still a bad example in terms of build up, yeh

[@static3z]

think you just liked Daenerys bc from jump you could see the traits of her brother in her. she killed hella people and was mostly a bad ruler, just had dragons.

[@andreaaajdf94]

EXACTLY.

[@justsayin7416]

@@static3z not even remotely true

[@blueyeshadow2738]

@@static3zshe killed slavers oh boo boo to the men who seek children and violate people 🙄

[@fernandavelasco8805]

What doesn’t make sense to me is you can tell they’re trying to keep it at one death per season but in order to stay at least a little faithful to the source material at least 5 characters need to die next season unless we want another season long trailer for season 4

[@elsafowl]

Well, if the war truly starts, it'll make a lot more sense to have more deaths as the story progresses. Maybe it won't be five characters, but four would be a good count for season 3.

[@unkaleidoscoped8194]

I mean season 1 had several deaths. Laena, Viserys, Visenya, Luke, Harwin. Arguably some of these charachters are more minor but still

[@Heddell1]

The problem with cutting 2 episodes at the last minute is that basically nothing happened in season 2, while season 3 will be extremely intense, especially if it ends on Gods Eye.

[@thatamericanbritishbloke5672]

@@Heddell1 I don't think it'll end on the God's Eye simply cuz I can't see them not keeping Matt Smith and Ewan Mitchell around until the last season. I think ending Season 3 with the Fall of Dragonstone would be ideal but who knows where they're gonna end it.

[@Heddell1]

@@thatamericanbritishbloke5672 Yeah, I do agree that they need to tease their presence until the end. If they die before the last season I fear too many would drop it and would not even bother to see the end.

[@danielnemesio3388]

The only decision Rhaenyra made herself after being exclusively reactive and passive even after the death of her own child was volunteering to fight Vhagar herself, on f*cking Syrax. The writers wanted to make her sound like a queen who fights her own battles, but even the most tactically illiterate person can tell big dragon wins against little dragon. If Rhaenyra decided that she was going to risk the life of Rhaenys since Meleys was the most powerful dragon at her disposal and open the Pandora's box of dragon fire, that would mean something, but no. Rhaenys undermined the queen by saying "no, I will go", making her look like an absolute idiot who gets orders instead of giving them, and that was the best episode of the season

[@randomusername3873]

Poor syrax😂😂

[@yourlocalarchaeologist1897]

What kills me is whenever aegon suggests the same thing he's treated like an idiot because it's stupid

[@chikasagi94]

I'm sorry, but I'm so freaking tired of people calling Alicent a hypocrite in order to justify the writer's assassination of her character. This is on the same level as D&D saying we should've seen Daenery's genocide coming because of how she reacted to her brother's execution. It's misunderstanding a neunced situation and character and downplaying them to the most simple adjective you wish to adjudicate to them in order to serve your narrative. It's very clear Alicent in season 1 is constantly operating in survival mode. She's mainly a reactive character who continuously supports Rhaenyra within the constraints of her own situation, until Rhaenyra's own actions start having tangible consequences to Alicent's family (Otto being fired and Aemond loosing his eye being the best examples). Every time you see Alicent become an active character (or act hypocritical as you would say), she is directly motivated by her desire to protect her family, no matter how complicated said family may be. Even her attempts at grasping for power are motivated by that. That's why her throwing her sons under the bus because all men bad and all women pure and peaceful is such a terrible development for her character, especially after Blood and Cheese. Just as Luke's death should have been Rhaenyra's point of no return, Blood and Cheese should have been Alicent's breaking point between choosing Rhaenyra or her children.

[@r.beeeee]

I love this take on alicent..up until the very scene it happened I did not believe at all that she would give up aegon (the very reason she puts him on the throne (in her mind) is to protect him in the long run)let alone her other 2 sons, cole and brother!😂 she's not perfect but she goes to great lengths to protect her family( before this scene).

[@randomusername3873]

Jacerys death should have been her worst fear come to life, yet nobody cares about it after a couple of episodes😂

[@trevordavis6830]

Yeah, claiming Alicent’s only important character trait is her hypocrisy is such a reductive view of her character. Part of what made Alicent so fascinating for me, especially in episodes 4-6, is her conflicting feelings towards her children as on one hand she can’t bring herself to show visible displays of affection to them due to her trauma of being forced to have them, but on the other hand deep down she does love her children and would stand up to a dragon in order to defend them. It was the most complex and nuanced aspect part of her character that really tied excellently with the Greens’ larger themes of generational trauma and inability to communicate with each other, and now that aspect of her is completely thrown out the window due to the season 2 finale.

[@harshitasalariya8228]

Word

[@NaritaZaraki]

Chef's kiss, no notes, 10/10.

[@machiavellica]

One of the worst things I had to experience this season is being told multiple times by different characters how great of a king Viserys was for being such a good person despite the fact that we've all seen how incompetent he truly was in s1, lol. This whole civil war is HIS FAULT because he decided to blind himself from the truth and his inability to displease people is what will ultimately lead to the downfall of all his children; but suddenly, because the writers decided to take a page from Mother Theresa's book this season, we had to sit while Otto Hightower - of all people - sung his praises? Give us a BREAK. Ultimately, that's the true problem of House of the Dragon. They keep vying for this good vs evil narrative and taking away all the agency of the characters to the point of making them inconsistent and wishy-washy and then have the audacity to present it as something super profound and meta when in reality they're just being cowards. I'd rather have Rhaenyra taking the throne for ambition and because she thinks she's the best option for it and have Alicent opposing her for the same reason than have them both being relutant and passive players in a journey towards "the greater good" aka Aegon's dream (which is also another form of making the Targaryens holy saints).

[@uty_eh]

Great comment! Everything is so on point

[@elsafowl]

I agree with the need for more Viserys bashing!!! I hope we'll get some of that in season 3, maybe from Alicent (who is not a fool and now liberated from the chains of patriarchy and duty... more or less). But I quite liked the reluctance from both Rhaenyra and Alicent to go into war, bc they intrinsically know the value of life - contrary to the men around them. They both had children, risked their lives in the childbed, lost one or two parents, they know death. They weren't socialised as men, learning to fight as soon as they can hold a sword and dreaming of battle ans glory while never actually going to war. As women, they don't glorify war like men do (especially men like Daemon or Criston or even Jace). Also, as women, they're not usually in a position to decide anything, let alone a war, so it makes sense for them to not truly know how to act or react.

[@BooksRebound]

So not to undercut your point but turns out Mother Teresa was an awful fucking person.

[@machiavellica]

​@@elsafowl Unfortunately, I don't think we'll get Viserys bashing anytime soon. I really hoped we would get some with Aemond, Aegon or Alicent, but they gave us Alicent praising him to Aegon and asking him to be more like his father (ugh!). And don't get me wrong, I also like that Rhaenyra and Alicent understand the value of life, show care for the cost of their people and don't want to rush into war like everyone else surrounding them, but I do think they messed up the timing for that. In my opinion, they should've explored this side of them before the death of Lucerys and Jaehaerys because, to my eyes, that should've been the point of no return for both of them. To have Rhaenyra risk her own life in going undercover to talk to Alicent after the whole scene of her burying her son and claiming she wanted Aemond dead is too much. The same goes for Alicent keeping defending Rhaenyra after B&C happened. To believe that a peaceful solution is possible after the most unforgivable thing happened to both sides does not make them appear compassionate or wise, it makes them look naive. They could show their distaste for the actions that needed to be taken to win the war AND still acknowledge that those things were inevitable instead of wishful thinking an alternative when things had already gone too far.

[@IsaDrop-rj4ry]

I agree! What is wrong with having a show about two ambitious women?! They are trying to make them both Saints!

[@samatar6852]

Alicent has been getting character assassinated by the writers this whole season. People dislike Alicent essentially sentencing all three of her sons, her father and her brother to death because it's fucking stupid. The examples you listed to try to make it seem in character like her affair with Cole and not really caring that Aemond probably tried to kill Aegon are examples lifted from this dreadful season that just further showcase the hack job done to her character. So yeah people are surprised by her because her actions don't track with the women we saw in season 1 who was fiercely protective of her childeren, stood infront of her son against a dragon and wouldn't casually be having affairs.

[@le_mas]

Yes! Thank you! She may be struggling w her kids as it was shown in s1, but she still cares for them and fights for them, so it's just a full 180 that she peaces out and leaves everyone except for the female members of her family. She isn't leaving just Almond or Aegg, she is leaving her father, her 3rd good son and her lover. I mean like, cmon girl! Stand up! Her arc this season was set up, true, it's just that it wasn't a good arc. I noticed her odd behaviour pretty early on.

[@hali_55]

This exactly! Alicent’s arc this season is so painful in hindsight because you realise by the finale that every baffling thing about her this season was written to justify that nonsensical finale scene. Alicent was not a hypocrite in s1, nor was her “virtue” a mask, it was something she actually lived by. S2 started Alicent out as a character who’d turned her back on everything she stood for in s1 without giving us an adequate explanation as to why. It feels unearned. It’s her book arc sped up and squeezed into 8 episodes.

[@Ashbrash1998]

Honestly they didn't make her desperate enough. Like she got fired from her job and gave up when Aemond wanted Halaena to help the war effort she had a hand in. She didn't try to get her seat back, didn't try to get Aegon up and back in running and its not like Aemond threatened to kill/hurt her. he did it to Halaena but she didn't know that. Part of me feels like they rushed her arc this season, as it should have been her losing control and faith of her beliefs. Finally realizing that she isn't as righteous or noble as she thinks she was and that Viserys NEVER wanted Aegon. It was just her own lust for power that did, and that the only reason she was put up to all of this was because her father used her. So now she has to play the game and try the best to get out on top with her family as its too late now.

[@theelectricprince8231]

This is not Alicent

[@Eleni1002]

@@hali_55 Alicen absolutely was a hypocrite in S1, she just was written as a consistent hypocrite for the most part.

[@hali_55]

Season 2 had writing flaws beyond just two episodes being missing and the writers’ strike. We missed crucial character defining moments like Aemond returning from Storm’s End. Blood and Cheese fell completely flat due to the odd choice to omit Alicent from the scene. Daemon spent an entire season facing his demons only for the thing to make him swear allegiance to Rhaenyra to be…watching a trailer for GoT S8. Baela was given no characterisation outside of being a cheerleader. Jace didn’t get anything meaningful until episode 7. I could go on, but you get the point. It’s not worse that GoT S8, but it’s on par with GoT S5 and S6 aka: concerning for future seasons.

[@username.exenotfound2943]

some are still of the opinion 5 and 6 were good even thoug there weere warning sines of season 8(something like season 8 doesnt come up randomly theres build up)

[@AtkinsCee]

Overdramatic much loool

[@hawkins347]

The show had this irritating tendency already in season 1. Anytime something dramatic happens, it would just skip ahead instead of showing us the fallout of the dramatic situation, case in point: Alicent saving Criston's life after the wedding. I get that it's not as exciting as the impending dragon battles, but I also wish they had developed the romantic relationships, e.g. Rhaenyra and Harwin, Alicent and Criston (in this case it's even more egregious because these scenes are actually present in the s1 scripts, they've just been cut).

[@hali_55]

@@hawkins347 It did exist in s1 but to a lesser extent and I’m more forgiving of it because of the several time jumps that I feel were necessary in s1. For example, we don’t get the immediate aftermath of Laenor’s “death” but we do see the consequences of it in the next time jump in the form of Rhaenyra losing the Velaryons’s support and therefore putting her sons’s lives in danger again. We see her and Rhaenys actually talk about it and we see Corlys and Rhaenys talk about it too (not as much as I would’ve liked though). Compare this to Aemond returning from killing Luke - a massive game changer - and we don’t see any characters on the greens’s side talk about it in any meaningful sense. Alicent is supposedly so affected by it but we never see her have a conversation about it with Aemond. I can’t think of a single major event this season where we saw characters learning the news apart from Helaena telling Alicent her son was murdered.

[@hali_55]

@@AtkinsCeehow is it overdramatic to list problems with a show under a video about problems with a show? 😭

[@amandajunecesarano7423]

I don't mind Rhaenrya being indecisive and making foolish choices: I'm bothered that no one calls her out on it. The show portrays it as she can't get anything done because of sexism and it's like no, you're just making dumb decisions.

[@bushidobrown6742]

Yes you can absolutely retroactively hate the season because the second part fell off. If the food I am eating tastes nice at first but has a horrible aftertaste, that would definitely factor in my rating of the meal. HoTD started great then seemed to be super drawn out at the end, it was almost like a trailer for season 3 when you expected things to have kicked off by now

[@songokhan8293]

A big issue i have with this show. Is how they never hold otto accountable for essentially starting this whole conflict for power. It is also something that bothers me with allicent because she never even recognises how he has essentially put the relam on the brink of destruction

[@elsafowl]

I think this particular dynamic will be explored more in future seasons. Otto was basically absent of the season, and he left before Alicent had her big revelation, so... but yeah, let's be patient about that

[@Hear.myvoice]

​​@@elsafowlSpoiler: It can't be explored 🤣 You'll see...

[@elsafowl]

@@Hear.myvoice I don't want your spoilers, thank you. Besides, the writers are not strictly following the book, so you don't really know 100% either...

[@Hear.myvoice]

@@elsafowl It isn't a spoiler... If you watch this shallow, empty show you should know they won't... Even without the book.

[@samlasalle3853]

It's so funny that in their attempt to absolve Rhaenyra and Alicent of any wrong doing, the writers essentially proved the point of all of the men in the show. Yes, Alicent did harbor too much love for the enemy faction and Aemond was right to remove her from the council because she would go on to literally offer Aegon's head on a silver platter. Yes, Rhaenyra's womanly instincts and peaceful nature do in fact make her unfit to rule because she lacks the conviction necessary to lead. They ended up writing gender essentialism and accidently disproved feminism.

[@eamk887]

Except Alicent sacrificed his sons BECAUSE he was removed from the council, if she had remained there, she probably would not have done so. Also, Rhaenyra doesn't lackconviction BECAUSE she's a woman, it's because that's how her character is. YOU are the one thinking Rhaenyra is unfit to rule because she's a woman. And really, is it really a weakness to try to end a conflict without killing people? I don't think so.

[@randomusername3873]

​@@eamk887the show tries to push the idea that people don't trust rhaenyra because of sexism, when in reality she has been an horrible leader for the entirety of the season

[@vertigo2894]

What on earth are you on about? Kings and Queens are not presidents lol! They are not elected, it's a matter of right. It's either her or Aegon so how is Aegon better? Since when has monarchy being about the subjects deciding who is fit and who isn't? What has she done up until this point that would make her any worse than most monarchs in history?

[@vertigo2894]

That doesn't make any sense. Kings and Queens are not elected, monarchy isn't about your personal feelings. It's a matter or right. How is she any different from most Kings and Queens in history? What has she done that is so bad up until this point? You people have to inject your culture wars into everything don't you?

[@vertigo2894]

Kings and Queens are not elected, monarchy isn't about your personal feelings. It's a matter or right. Are you a King maker? . What does "fit" mean in historical context? How is she any different from most Kings and Queens in history? What has she done that is so bad up until this point? Not everything is about your modern day politics.

[@trinaq]

The meta moment, where Alicent and Rhaenyra discuss the latter's name in the history books, made me roll my eyes so hard at the screen. The Fourth Wall Break just felt so forced and awkward.

[@briannarose2439]

That final scene between them had me cringing so hard.

[@christaylor7079]

What about the cringe meta moment of PhilosophyTube doing a cameo and asking the Lannister if he’s a philosopher?

[@LuisSierra42]

What made me die of cringe was that they keep foreshadowing GoT all the time, this time with Daemon's vision

[@elsafowl]

I don't see how it's cringe, knowing how true this is in real history. Women's voices (and minorities voices in general) are invisible or twisted to fit the tales of men in power. Besides, HotD is becoming something very different from the book (which was written from a very biased POV, like GRRM said), so it makes sense.

[@renzovasallo5778]

@@elsafowl no, it´s literally saying "ours is the real canon, what GRRM wrote is pure bullshit made up by evil misogynistic men", is totally disrespectul to Martin as an author, no wonder he wasn´t a fan of season 2

[@foerbjoern4916]

Thank you for acknowledging that this season has good and bad. I swear your description of how social media sees this season was exactly spot on. Everytime I find myself on a discussion about S2 people either want to shit on me for "having bad taste, and probably loving the last GoT seasons" or "being unable to understand the writing and being a whiny b*tch". Thx for making this video mate, I surely will enjoy it.👍

[@Sa-oq5qq]

Same. I truly feel like GOT fans have become as toxic as the Star Wars community (or LOTR or any -too- big fandom). It's like whatever your opinion is, people will literally come after you. When at the end of the day it's just a show and people are allowed to have different tastes and interpretations 🫠

[@winteryblackfyres]

​@@Sa-oq5qqthe culture war bs is spilling over into every fandom now

[@Sa-oq5qq]

​@@winteryblackfyres It's honestly sad and dumb, I think no matter how passionate you can be... It's still "just" a book, a show, a movie... 😭 It's entertainment, it shouldn't be worth arguing with and insulting people online because they have different opinions 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

[@randomusername3873]

"Because of the patriarchy I was never taught about warfare (I could have learned about it by myself but never bothered), should I listen to my war council, that's here for that exact reason? Naah" -Rhaenyra Targaryen

[@monetdehaan-cc2vh]

idk if he said that bc im still watching but fun fact: the season was CUT SHORT. the writers wrote ten eps, then hbo told them to cut to eight. a few months later, the strike began and the show happened as the scripts were "finished". it was harmful in many ways bc often writers, directors etc change script while on production

[@samatar6852]

Yeah two less episodes was not a good thing but imo people are now just using it as an excuse. The season's writing had issues beyond being cut short from the very start of the season.

[@mulqueen2023]

​@@samatar6852 You're absolutely correct. The first eight were already underwhelming and had very few moments of good. The EPS being cut literally changed nothing nor excuses anything. The season was already bad. If anything those cut EPS spared us from further mediocrity. HOTD s2 has moments of spectacle, great CGI and acting but was let down by the writing quality and poor pacing. And those had nothing to do with the cut episodes.

[@aalllllllexx]

25:42 I don't fully agree with this. I think the first half of the season maybe, but the second half makes it very clear that Rhaenyra's obsession with being chosen by the gods as heir at the expense of the smallfolk/dragonseeds and her own son is not righteous and comes from a place of pride and Targaryen supremacy. The writers even called her a fanatic cult leader. Hell they even made aegon care more about the smallfolk than rhaenyra.

[@mochalotte4702]

Except they only subtly communicate this once in the second to last episode. Maybe if they had organically shown her megalomania taking control as much as they incessantly drilled across character arcs for daemon and Corlys it would have been communicated better. Seems like bad writing if they failed to do that since they definitely were able to show her ego and beliefs of superiority as reinforced by daemon in season 1. Now she’s a perfect wishy washy supporter of the small folk it doesn’t even feel like the same character even if they try to drop some narcissism into her arc momentarily before going right back to where they were before for the Rhaenyra pandering finale “the queen that ever was”. Even dune pt II had to change chani’s arc to show a different perspective on the danger of her lover becoming a false messiah rather than an action movie chosen one hero. Otherwise audiences would have been fully in support of Paul’s jihad and seen no problems with it because most audiences are pretty dumb and lack media literacy. This season oversimplified some aspects for casual audiences and yet failed to stress other more important key points and give gravity to things like the loss of Lucerys and Jaehaerys.

[@aalllllllexx]

@mochalotte4702 clearly they're going to expand on it more in the next season but there were several times throughout this season that showed rhaenyra's obsession with targaryens take on a sort of religious fervor. More mention of the gods, the stuff with the small folk and the dragonseeds. I mean really as far back as the seeing the stag set it up. And it's not a complete arc yet obviously so it doesn't need to take up the entire season.

[@user-vj6ws1op4u]

I’m so glad you acknowledged the bias towards Rhaenyra and team black

[@ione97]

it’s to properly set up her descent into cruelty. to show who she was before she earned the name “Rhaenyra the Cruel.” it’s essentially a villain origin story, not sure why people can’t see that.

[@Hear.myvoice]

​@@ione97People see this literally everyone but it doesn't make any sense at this point... When they called her sons bastards she did nothing. When they killed Luke she did nothing. When they killed Rhaenys she STILL didn't do anything... She just randomly sent her riders to burn cities in the last episode 🤣💀

[@Guremien]

​@Hear.myvoice well, ALL of her children are bastards even Daemon's ones, cause her husband was still alive by the time of her "marriage" to Daemon. Just a note. How do you want her to react even worse than she did in a bastard-calling scene? She suggested to torture Aegon before he tells the "truth" about how her bastards took a eye of a king's son. She SAID that she wants Aegon tortured for him and others calling her bastards bastards. Even though show tries to depict her in a positive light she is still an absolute shit of a person already. I agree it would've been better if they showed her in all her glory of being an entitled bratty murderous slut. Whitewashing of her character is insane.

[@user-vj6ws1op4u]

@@ione97 If she becomes mad, they will blame the men around her

[@holdmysalazar]

@@user-vj6ws1op4uI mean it makes complete sense to say that the men in Rhaenyra’s life caused her to go mad; her father was so obsessed with having a son that it caused her mother’s horrifying death, her father married her best friend, and her uncle groomed her (which for some reason people ignore).

[@FreezVy]

S2 made me question that look rhaenyra gave in the last scene of s1, it screamed "revenge" and felt so badass but now i wonder what it meant since she still was trying to fond à peaceful solution at start of s2.

[@Bread-nx9fo]

They seriously failed to show the main theme of the book, its a civil war that didn't need to happen, its a family infight between siblings because they're all too prideful to talk to each other and resolve their problems. Rhaenerya is rightfully angry that the Greens killed her son, and in retribution she sends assassins to murder the heir, it wasn't Daemon it was HER, and she doesn't apologize for it or feel sympathy. Even when she's killed by Sunfyre, she mocks Aegon II and doesn't concede, she wanted war she doesn't try to avoid it. Targaryens are their own worst enemies and the season fails to actually show how complex the war is.

[@Greendalewitch]

Robert : "I love you Rhaegar, as a brother" Rhaegar: "I love you too Robert" - If todays HBO made an adaptation of Roberts rebellion.

[@thrillcollectors]

“Come with me to the tower of joy Robert!”

[@FadzaiSimango]

​@@thrillcollectors _ménage à trois_ 😮 ?

[@Male_Ficent]

Lmao

[@ginopinori]

I think they would have Ned oppose Robert’s warmongering by making him travel in secrecy to meet rhaegar saying “I know your father killed my father and my brother, and wants my head! But I still prefer peace”, only to meet again later and Rhaegar ask him to be Jon’s godfather

[@randomusername3873]

"They were secretly gay lovers the all time"

[@drereviews8868]

It also just feels weird that in a story where one of the main themes is “maybe divine right of kings/ absolute monarchy is bad” is kinda just then out the window when it comes to rhaenyra. Towards the end of the season they almost turn her into this religious figure by connecting her to the “song of ice and fire” like it’s her true destiny even though, again, is something asoiaf seems to reject. If they use this prophet angle in a similar way to muad’dib they could be very interesting

[@michaelfraser1073]

The show depicting the blacks as the ‘good guys’ isn’t just robbing the story of nuance, it’s a betrayal of the books. George R R Martin (the author) was an objector to the Vietnam War and this attitude permeates an awful lot of his work. In the ASOIAF books, including the one HOTD is based on, war is uniformally depicted as pointless violence. Two groups go to war, they fight, and all they accomplish is devestating innocent lives and killing thousands. Even wars started for noble reasons (or what the characters believe to be noble reasons) don’t actually solve any problems, instead making everything worse. It further fits into the major theme of ASOIAF of self-interested people fighting and squabbling whilst a truly deadly threat grows in the background. The book HOTD is based on pretty much lays this theme out explicitly: the Dance of the Dragons didn’t serve anything except slaughtering thousands and sealing the end of the Targaryens. The character who ends up winning the war is depicted after winning as sad and lonely, and not really caring about the throne because they pretty much lost everything and everyone they loved. They are said to spend their final days simply wishing for their loved ones back. The books depict war as horrible people fighting each other, and all it does is get innocents killed and make everything worse. So yeah. Sorry for the long-ass comment, but just wanted to drive home how much depicting one of these sides as ‘good’ betrays the message of the source material.

[@hali_55]

This 100%, and I have no doubt that it’s part of the reason why GRRM is unhappy with this season.

[@elsafowl]

Yeah but I don't feel like either side was depicted as good? The Green have a lot of shit, but Rhaenyra also sends innocents to be devoured by dragons? It may be more subtle now, but it's already clear both the Blacks and the Greens don't truly care about the population... and it will only get worse in future seasons

[@Ashbrash1998]

It's not just that, they made both sides much better instead of showing flaws and all of both sides. The Greens got robbed of ambitions save for Otto and Aemond, took away their more misogynistic and cruel actions to make certain people more sympathrtic. Like where was Alicent leaving Visery's body to rot for days? Her wishing Rhaemyra to die in childbirth?

[@Male_Ficent]

Are they really depicting the blacjs as good guys? Cause with season 2 it's esp. clear this is about painting women as good and men as bad.

[@mijanhoque1740]

100% perfectly said

[@anon35423]

I would say on Alicent agreeing to Aegons death being surprising, from my perspective it’s because from what we’re presented with her as a mother in season 1 is entirely different from how she is in season 2. Simply look back to the Aemonds eye being taken scene, she was fiercely protecting her child there and although there are moments where she’s harsh with them in season 1, her kids are literally her purpose of being, in her eyes the rightful heir to the throne with Aegon and Haelena on the throne, so in terms of what we are presented of her as a mother in season 1 and her whole goal/purpose to get her kids on the throne, it makes no sense for her to just give up Aegon to Rhaenyra unless she had another plan to keep him safe and lie to Rhaenyra about it.

[@dontemcl]

Definitely agree!

[@GreenBeanDragon]

I really wish we didn’t see a Alicent/Rhaenyra reunion until Rhaenyra… *spoilers* … takes kings landing. After this Rhaenyra becomes a darker figure, believing she lost four children because of the greens. I’d love to see a more vengeful and ruthless version of her. And Alicent could still be regretful of all the pain she caused. It would be a reversal of their previous relationship, with Rhaenyra in power and using it to harm Alicent. Or they could both be remorseful and just want them to be peace. It would just be more emotional for them to meet at this time

[@ione97]

that makes sense! they could almost keep all of the dialog from the scene the same but it would become a more realistic plot point

[@Guremien]

Because of her entitlement and greed for power. No, she never cared about the realm. She never prepared to be a good queen. She never respected customs and did nothing to build herself a good reputation. All of this is a result of her bratty power hungry nature, not anyone else. So, there is no point for her to become different. In the book she is a cool character, in the show she is just dumb and slow for not owning her careless and entitled nature. There is no logic in the show. Women characters are sterile and nothing can change it.

[@r.beeeee]

18:36 thank you...but alicent selling out all of her sons (including daeron), cole and basically her entire house IS out of character. Morally compromised doesnt equal murdering your entire family. People forget that her selfishness extended to her family as well, she didnt like her sons, but having her go ok murder my first born is wild.

[@anbuookami13]

Thank you! I was like this dude is tweaking right now 😂

[@idgaf2386]

@@anbuookami13his takes are ass most of the time

[@jeneveuxpasdiremonnom1198]

​@@idgaf2386 nah just this one

[@jacearmor5274]

Olivia Cooke: Alicent loves the bones of her children. Everyone after watching Episode 8: 🤨

[@calamitystrikes]

The wait time between seasons is why I love The Chosen series. They’re also about 8 episode seasons but because it is crowdfunded and an independent studio, they still get seasons out about one a year. They released season 4 to the public end of May, beginning of June and they’re already finished filming and are currently in post prod for season 5. I wish all shows would adopt the method of not letting people wait so gosh dang long

[@Danielle2Cats]

Season 1: Good with the potential to be great Season 2: Bland recap of Season 1. Where is the war?

[@Em35nyc]

Season one was also bad/had writing issues. *ducks* I swear people saw The Witcher and Rings of Power and decided to hype up HOTD too much just because it was a bit better than those other two shows. HOTD is not actually great either.

[@BillyVell]

Out of all the problems with this season, my one personal thing that really hurt was that they essentially skipped over Jace's time in the North and his relationship with Cregan Stark. In the book it's said that they became friends immediately, did everything together while Jace was there (as in, a few days at the least, not just one talk at the wall), and even swore an oath of brotherhood called "The Pact of Ice and Fire". You might think this is irrelevant but 1 - It would be great to develop Jace more instead of having him just stand around as extra at Dragonstone, Daemon can stay away from everyone hallucinating the whole season, but he can't stay in the north for even one whole episode? 2 - With the damn "Song of Ice and Fire" prophecy being a major element of the show, it would EVEN MORE sense to to include this "pact of Ice and Fire", and 3 - Spoiler alert: Cregan is actually meant to be important towards the end of the war. It's pretty obviously implied that he does what he does partly to honor Jace's memory, the show removed all the emotional weight of that by not adapting their bond.

[@Anacronian]

I think the worst part of this series is that in most part the whole conflict is based on a misunderstanding.

[@atroposz]

But it isnt. The "misunderstanding" is the justification the various parties used to convince themselves that they were in the right in going after absolute power. In that, GRRM (as a history lover) was very in tune with medieval thinking. Medieval royalty/nobility talked endlessly about their honor but in reality most times there was a way to frame their actions as "right" (usually in the eyes of God as they saw it), they were all in. But having that justification (even if incredibly flimsy) was paramount and necessary.

[@keitv1247]

The way the king could have just put his succession in writing before he passed so there was no room for interpretation, and prevented all this😭

[@teenprez]

Eh, he had all the great houses come to King’s Landing to swear fealty to Rhaenyra, so I think that counts.

[@lavenderbambi3501]

He did that, but alison thought he changed his mind so She quickly crowned aegon

[@teenprez]

@@lavenderbambi3501 yes but having his original wishes in writing does absolutely nothing to change that misunderstanding.

[@Male_Ficent]

And who's gonna honor it? The Greens who have infested the council?

[@petrfedor1851]

​@@teenprezBut that happened before Aegon was born

[@flor9784]

People who liked Alicent betraying her family aren't team green and it shows... Her betrayal and Aemond trying to kill Aegon just destroys their relationship, it breaks the team and it's heartbreaking because once again, the writers take the Blacks side and leave the Greens with nothing.

[@timothyfogwill2627]

Aemond trying to kill his brother is entirely within his character though. He's a lot like Daemon - ambitious, ruthless and immoral. I don't think he 100% hates Aegon (he doesn't like him either though) but he definitely wants the throne for himself and will do anything to get it. I personally don't mind Alicent offering her son up either. At this point the scales are tipped pretty far in the blacks favour, if the war goes on her entire family will probably die (the blacks have dragon superiority now and have just raised the riverland army, with the starks marching south as well). The green leadership and family is in disarray and their prospects don't seem great. She's kind of trying to save some of her family from death while also freeing herself of her own shackles. Make no mistake, as much as she tries to portray as just and righteous she is absolutely cunning and ruthless. If at the beginning of the war she could've killed one of her own kids to win I believe she would have done it. She's doing something similar now except to keep some of them alive.

[@Dietepamplemousse]

I don’t think people were surprised that Alicent would betray her sons, I think they just didn’t like it. 1. It meant that she really had forgotten how her grandson had his head cut off, and 2. It was another example that the greens are truly the bad guys that even the matriarch thinks they should be killed. Cersei was cruel but at least she loved her children. And the idea that Alicent sleeping with Cole is the same as when Rhenerya did it is laughable. Alicent’s husband is dead. She’s not having an affair. We can discuss her sleeping out of wedlock or sleeping with a supposedly chaste knight, but it’s not an affair. I agree full with FSN pointing out the writers unabashedly took sides this season. The marketing made it seem like there were sides but clearly the writers had no interest in maintaining any semblance of good on the greens or bad on the blacks. Blood and cheese could have been a stain on the blacks, but because that side are the good ones, they never bring up that Damon caused a toddler to have his head cut off

[@Dietepamplemousse]

Also feels a little weird to blame a child for being groomed by her dad to marry his friend. I agree that adult Alicent is a hypocrite in many ways, but to start that criticism when her was a teenager is tone deaf (though again, the writers sure want us to think she was a sneaky slutty 15 year old manipulating an innocent older man because all greens are bad).

[@killnotic]

Oh, I was surprised, all right! If for no other reason than Alicent sold out Daeron, who objectively did nothing to perpetuate the Dance. He's literally chilling in Oldtown, minding his own business!

[@Dietepamplemousse]

@@killnotic that is true. She didn’t even give a second thought to putting the one son she’s been told is a good person to death

[@Ashbrash1998]

I mean it is considered an affair since Cole is married to his job and his vows. Even without semantics its still taboo and would be a giant scandal.

[@yangwenli1272]

Also her sleeping with Cole is season 2 nonsense. This whole season is her character assassination.

[@fannykem8820]

The way i jumped on the notification

[@ColorMePixel]

People said that the major problem was the 2 episodes that were axed. IMO, whether we had the 2 episodes or not, the character assassinations have been worse overall.

[@jacearmor5274]

Alicent going from loving her children to willing to sacrifice them in Season 2 would be like Caersei sacrificing Joffrey.

[@actually_curious4773]

Cersei sneaking up to Cat in Robb's camp and offering her Joffrey's head would be peak writing according to HotD writers

[@MarcosValcuende]

Hope you like this universe, cause George just said they’re making 7 more spin-offs

[@sarahchicago]

That’s concerning when you consider how badly budget cuts effected this season. If they refused to give their flagship franchise what it needed when there was only one show, how shoestring will the budgets be if theres 7?

[@MarcosValcuende]

Most of them are animated, so they’ll just pay poorly to the animators

[@username.exenotfound2943]

yeah anything to make sure he doesnt finish of his magnum opus

[@Kaiheart]

And they'll all probably be out and finished before the last GOT book.

[@roadrunneruntd]

I have faith in A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms because its not a lengthy power struggle that takes the forefront.

[@quentandil]

Rhaenyra has made bad decisions in this season: giving free dragons to unknown bastards, and loosing the whole order of dragon keepers in the process.

[@dylanbaker2659]

The thing is she makes bad decisions in theory but the show so far has not shown these to mean anything. Like she lets a women who sold out her family in the previous season became her 2nd in command. This woman was in a jail cell branded a traitor and in a week the queen listens to only her

[@18Aleziita]

​@@dylanbaker2659 don't forget that she kisses the alleged woman without any hint that those two were having that type of feelings or at least this is used in later episodes to build on something Just fan service

[@freddiecawston2892]

(46:39) Christen Cole is a sad boi because Rhaenyra made him besmirch his honour and yes he's a hypocrite for having an affair with Alicent. But there's another side to that. He HATES himself so much that he's bingeing bad behaviour to reinforce his self hatred. "Oh, I've already lost my honour so I might as well keep being dishonourable." He even bullies Ser Arik as a form of projecting his insecurities onto someone else.

[@turtleneck6197]

I love watching film critics/reviews about shows I haven't watched a millisecond of

[@essenby123]

A huge issue is that Alicent puts Aegon on the throne in the first place in the book for the threat that Rhaenyra's ascension means for her sons lives: if Rhaenyra wishes to rule unchallenged, she needs to kill Viserys' sons, because in Andal law daughters can come before uncles but they never come before sons. This wasn't purely manipulation or lies from Otto and Alicent in season 1 - it's a reality of the world they live in. It IS a feudalist medieval patriarchy (which is obviously bad and misogynist and hurts women which has been so clearly established, but nonetheless the reality) so the system will always favor sons, and it's the strength of Aegon's claim that endangers his life, because while he lives he will arguably have the stronger claim to some, and the Blacks will have to take him out of the picture to rule securely with Rhaenyra as monarch. Even if Rhaenyra would be reluctant to kill Alicent's sons, Daemon would not hesitate at the chance to eliminate people he views as Hightowers or Hightower adjacent, as he has always hated Otto and Alicent. Also, from the Greens' perspective, Daemon killed his first wife out of convenience and together Daemon and Rhaenyra killed Laenor so they can marry (and Rhaenyra was unbothered with the idea her son took Aemond's eye and even demanded Aemond be punished instead to protect herself and her sons) so of course the Greens would fear what the Blacks would be capable of when it comes to securing their own power. So it's not a misunderstanding of Viserys' last words but a need to protect her family that Alicent actually puts Aegon on the throne in the first place and this is why that was always the plan from very early on in the timeline. This was the only way in her eyes to save her family. (And this is a serious flaw of season 1 that they would try to reduce the decision to crown Aegon to an oopsie mistake especially when the threads of the real motivation existed before this point - this was just the start of their gender essentialism "women good" stuff and biased storytelling at play.) And so the problem that people have with Alicent's arc this season and the onscreen portrayal of this character is the idea that she would willingly condemn her family to die and give them up to the Blacks when that has only ever been her main motivation in the story. Essentially, it's the deviation from the source material to the point that it ultimately and completely demolishes her character and role in the story. No matter how flawed she could view her sons, in no world would she let the Blacks kill them so she could be "free" (and by the way, there is no real freedom anywhere for women in this world, especially for highborn women and especially during wartime, so it's unclear what "freedom" Alicent would actually be envisioning at this point. Towns are getting sacked and homesteads are getting raided and burned down by soldiers, outlaws, and others... there would realistically be no safer place for the wife of the last king than in King's Landing, especially for someone raised with highborn comforts and zero survival skills or ability to live in the complete wilderness. Even in Essos her prospects would be extremely limited.)

[@r.beeeee]

"So it's not misunderstanding viserys' words but a need to protect her family that drives alicent to put aegon on the throne.. that's why we see the plan early on" that part🎯🎯

[@Jedidiah_McCain]

The last time I was this early, Rhaenys was still alive.

[@NearlyHeadlessNish]

To be fair, rhaenyra does make some pretty flawed decisions this season. She let like 30 low born dragon seeds get flame grilled by vermithor while she just watched. I think it’s more of the audiences’s fault if they didn’t see that as cruel as it was

[@NearlyHeadlessNish]

It was also incredibly naive of her not to vet the dragon seeds and make sure they’d be loyal before giving them a chance at a dragon. She’s definitely given the preferential treatment, but she’s not written to be perfect

[@masha22092000r]

The problem is not bad decisions. It's that she never gets called out for them. It's always someone else's fault.

[@machodgdon]

This season made me realize “Oh yeah this is still Game of Thrones” in the worst way possible

[@actually_curious4773]

underrated comment

[@jeneveuxpasdiremonnom1198]

Kinda agree, I'm worried for future seasons

[@AW-xc1xc]

I really wished I could like this season, the build up to the conflict part of the dance was so well made in s1... Everything that made the characters three dimensional was bulldozed. I still love the ASOIAF world but man was I disappointed in what we got.

[@arielpearson4819]

I always assumed Alicent was hypocritical because she believed she was protecting her children. That's why her ending doesn't make that much sense to me.

[@jackevans6200]

I felt that the episode pacing was very off this season: for example, I felt that Rooks Rest should have been nearer the end of the seasons run (compare to Season 1 when it excelled at building everything leading up to the Dance, motivation and all). Plus restricting Daemon to an entire season of him wandering around Luigi's Mansion tripping out on the weirwood shrooms, when one episode focused singularly on him, his dreams, fears and ambitions, would've worked better.

[@sameerkashyap1750]

Cersei till Season 4 is like Top 10 Female Characters of all time.

[@actually_curious4773]

showCersei is a brilliantly written and acted character, she was my favourite

[@JSPokemonYT]

Dylan, thank you for bringing up the frustration of waiting 2 years for a new season of television.

[@domocan6877]

I’d say the story was always heavily biased in Rhaynera’s favor even in S1. The prophecy, removing the worst of her actions, the all around sense of nobility to her goal that wasn’t there in the book. But it got super egregious this season as it wastes so much of her time agonizing over peace despite the loss of a son, baby, and father.

[@tamagothchic]

The lack of payoff really contributes to the feeling of the entire season being filler, not because what happened isn't interesting or useful, but because at this point people could probably skip directly from S1 to S3 and not really feel they missed too much. I find it absolutely impossible to ignore the ridiculous age casting problems; it's laughably bad and distracting, literally worse than disney channel

[@liarozen8309]

I’ve agreed with everything till the «hypocrite Alicent» part. As much as I see the clash in her actions, I saw that clash not only here, but in the whole character and motivation of Alicent throughout the whole show. The show-runners wanted her to be that actually good but manipulated girl, who believing in faith and righteousness, that they kinda forgot how severely that crashes with canon events they cannot write out (also literally nothing states that Alicent wed Aegon and Helaena). And now her book canon acts doesn’t go with her manipulated saint role in the show canon, just because she once more has none of the agency, and it seems still love her childhood friend that she’s been in conflict for almost 20 years. In the show, she is just so inconsistent. Here she loves her family, the next episode she hates them and loves her ex-bestie, and the next she suddenly loves her power «bad man» took for her. She seems to love power, but forgets it the next episode, where she still loves her kids, but then go and sell them all (even the good one) to her girl gang to flee because now her arc is about «good girls». I really tried to find a character behind that storm, but all I see is repressed lesbian story (not that is bad, but HOTD was a big politic story and I expected it to be the main focus, not Alicent’s feeling for Rhaenyra) combined with being a plot-device. And that's sad.

[@sorasorisora]

I haven't gotten to the Dance in F&B, did HotD age up Rhaenyra or age down Alicent for them to be peers?

[@liarozen8309]

@@sorasorisora Both actually. Alicent was 18 and Rhaenyra was about 9 at the time Viserys married Alicent

[@hicranakdeniz]

Just an important side note that everyone ignores or forgets: Rhaenyra tried to have kids with Laenor, but it didn’t work out. In the books it’s hinted that they even had threesomes (MMF) so that Laenor could play his part in making babies.

[@javierlopez9789]

Those must have been horrible nights for rhaenyra then lol.

[@iggyzeta9755]

@@javierlopez9789 No, in the books it's suggested she really enjoyed those. She was horny af

[@r.beeeee]

Rhaenyra had the choice to pick a husband (a wide array of choices actually, that alicent and the other highladies never had), viserys' only requirement was that he came from a noble house, so she could've picked any highlord, even Harwin😂 viserys only made her marry laenor because she 1. Disregarded the king by ending the tour early and 2. Was found in a brothel with daemon.

[@aceanarchy5554]

Honestly at the end it felt like the only one who'd be participating in any type of war was Aemond. Everyone seemed like they either suddenly didn't want it or suddenly decided Rhaenyra was actually the rightful heir. It was kind of odd, that now only one person seems to even be wanting a fight. Season 3 will have to do a lot of tension building and rectification in order to actually give us the war, which is literally the main event we've all been waiting for

[@chickensoupfordinner]

If John Wick can have a whole movie franchise that starts based on revenge for a dog, why wouldn’t a whole revenging a child’s death with dragons not work? It seems like a proven money maker plot.

[@siran424]

It won't work because John Wick has some good action that is not CGI...

[@technobladeleakedclips1827]

Wholesome keanu chungus 100!!!!!!!!!!!

[@najeebnaseer46]

Think of it this way: if you watch anime, the Hashira training arc (season 4) was generally a boring season, but the final episode was so mind blowing that it made the entire buildup worth it. If season 2 of HoTD had ended with a similar tone, then it would have been so much better. Season 1 ended with the Greens drawing blood. Season 2 should have ended with the Blacks drawing blood as well.

[@otgenesis7410]

Nice callback to Demon Slayer. It may not have been action heavy but what's coming after made it a worthwhile watch.....to me.

[@PhosPhryne]

But that's on the producers and execs, not on the writers or actors or anyone who actually worked on the show. The people being blamed for this season being supposedly 'bad' are not the people who caused the last 2 episodes to be cut without a chance to rewrite the season to fix the fact that now they were working on 8 episodes instead of 10.

[@technobladeleakedclips1827]

Anime is dogwater

[@najeebnaseer46]

@@technobladeleakedclips1827 Ok

[@graceross4888]

My biggest complaint is that Alicent VS Rhaenyra worked in S1 but by S2 in RL they would be so over each other shit. They should have changed the focus to Rhae VS Aegon (you know, the contender to the throne) and let us see the Green siblings dynamics

[@TheAdamGiles]

11:37 Otto leaving, is in the book. More that 85% of what happens is in the book. So either it's a pacing issue or people don't care for the book. 🤷‍♂️

[@Hear.myvoice]

This has at best 50% of the book.

[@jokk130994]

The finale is what mid-season finales used to be. If we still had mid-season breaks, that episode would have felt super satisfying.

[@andalilbitqueer]

One payoff I think they were trying to go for was the "a son for a son" line; i think its supposed to be that Rhaenyra and Daemon go in opposite directions character-wise and that moment's supposed to be the culmination of that. At the very least, I think that line was supposed to convey a connection with the first episode's themes.

[@lauraandersen4634]

Rip Alicent you woulda loved ‘in the end’ by linkin park

[@laurencamila9024]

they think making women inherently good is feminism but NO. Feminism is allowing women to be complex, to be flawed, while still being worth the screen time. Like Jo March said "Women, they've got brain, and they've got minds, as well as just hearts. And they've got ambition, and they've got talent, beauty. And I'm so sick of people saying that love is all a woman is fit for, I'm so sick of it." You can have a female character that cares about being morally good, but also have the AMBITION to WANT to be queen. It doesn't have to be a tragic hero "oh only if I must" character.

[@idocohen1765]

Season one was definitely in favour of the blacks, after the second time skip the introduction of Alison’s children was literally a villain introduction, the first time we saw Agon was after he rapped a woman and the first time we saw Amond was when he was sparing with Christen and stating that he didn’t give a shit about tournaments, clearly implying that he was training for war against the blacks. The greens were always the bad guys, what ambiguity are you talking about?

[@PercyBoom69]

The way they fumbled with Matt Smith is hilariously sad. He can be such a good actor if he gets the right script, but this wasn't it.. I absolutely love the general acting in this season though, my favorite is easily Emma Darcy and Harry Collett even at such a young age, they are both amazing.

[@travisspazz1624]

Every other scene was someone asking, "what would you have me do?"

[@annachase6036]

I don't agree that Rhaenyra did nothing morally wrong in this season. She sacrificed like 30 people just in case one of them bonded with a dragon. Sure you could say they chose to participate but it's not really a choice when you can either slowly starve to death or maybe ride a dragon. Speaking of starving. Her blockade is starving the people in Kingslanding. Sure she send ships with food one time but it's not nearly enough for everyone and it wasn't to save them but for political propaganda

[@MaterialGworlKodi]

Dude, your videos are a perfect blend of intelligent commentary and humor! Cant wait until you hit a milli!

[@Aemond2024]

Aegon is the only one that hasnt been butchered. He has great potential

[@Mine-mo2cc]

09:40 Luke, not Jace!