House of the Dragon

[MNLonghornFUKM 8984]

10 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

I can’t believe *I* am the one who is digging this show. I think a lot of the big budget stuff lately has been awful. I’m restraining myself in the Rings of Power thread because lots of people seem to like it and there’s no real point in me shitting on it (but it sucks).

Maybe it’s because I didn’t watch that last long HOT D episode all in one sitting. I like how the characters’ true colors are starting to show and they are all conniving backstabbers who are playing the Game of Thrones. E.g., Otto ain’t done by a long shot. He wants that grandson on the throne.

We’re gonna stick it out because there’s gotta be some action coming up 

but we’ve had one maybe battle scenes that was maybe 2.5 minutes out of 4 hours of showtime?  I actually thought episode 1 was good. And it was a real cliff hanger of and ending and I couldn’t wait for next week.

 

I agree there has to be build up of character and plot line. But 4 hrs of who’s gonna be the next heir with very minimal dragons and or battles(maybe 5 total minutes of both after 4 episodes) is a recipe for criticism on a message board dominated by guys 

[Buzzrock 15136]

Hey look you can complain about whatever you want. But as others have mentioned it’s not like GoT was always action packed. The action episodes were well spaced out so that they felt like payoffs. Remember the Battle of Blackwater?

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

30 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

I agree there has to be build up of character and plot line. But 4 hrs of who’s gonna be the next heir with very minimal dragons and or battles(maybe 5 total minutes of both after 4 episodes) is a recipe for criticism on a message board dominated by guys 

Valid point and perspective. I was musing over the last episode last night based on the commentary below:

9 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

...this last episode was so slow, with so much build up to Rhaynera banging her uncle, and then again, when it concludes there's really not much payoff. its not that there isn't enough blood and guts- its that its slow and uninteresting.

all of my favorite shows feature violence- breaking bad, the wire, lost, GoT, BCS; but the violence was only a small part of those shows. those shows were great, because the 95% of the tome that there was nothing but dialogue it was interesting as hell. this show lacks that component.

Males are not the only viewers, and the last episode (judging by what was going across my feed) may have been a miss with some of y'all, but it sure got other groups of viewers engaged and talking. In the case of shadow_operative's point--the build up he finds dull and slow; from what I could gather, some of the audience consider it foreplay. Lots of scenes, the dragon buzz of the ship, for example, Raenyra knows its Daemon, she smirks a little; the scene in the garden with them together and she's wearing his necklace (I think, maybe that was the other scene with the tapestry comment). Him holding her hand as they went out into the night. Those little things were not violent, didn't have a whole lot of dialogue, but they strike a chord with some of the audience. Also from what I was reading, some of the audience are already forming 'ships,' i.e. Daemon/Raenyra vs. Ser Christan (sp?)/Raenrya and I would argue that those viewers perspectives and criticisms are just as valid and debatable as are the ones found on a male dominated message board. That episode was directed by a woman, and the way Raenyra's viewpoint in the brothel was depicted greatly reflected that.

So, now you've got some women out there trying to figure out bad boy Daemon or rooting for low born Ser Christan or even the 'why not both, you go girl' fan club that will keep those viewers engaged. I have no experience with screen writing/show running but I suspect it is a pretty difficult balancing act, and the episode writers and directors have been changed around some and whether that is by design or not I have no idea. I'm willing to give it a watch every week and find out, however.

Another thing that stood out for me when reading various comments online (not in this thread) is how many women found Daemon and Raenyra to be kindred spirits in that  both felt being held captive by their station--he is the second born son never to inherit and she is the girl who must marry for the realm and that bonds them in a restless drive to 'do' something, anything where they have some control. Yeah, sure incest for one, but having not read the Martin book upon which this series is based, it does seem to be a very realistic theme, what defines us throughout history--who's your daddy? Or to a lesser and often under-rated, 'who was your mother and what was your relationship like?' As much as we tell ourselves we are masters of our own fate, those ties that bind have far greater impact than we give them credit.

Just some morning thoughts before work.

[Baboontyme 2883]

Finished the ep last night. Perhaps it was because I couldn't tell what the hell was going on with the uncle sex but while watching I did not get the fact that he was having boner troubles. I thought it got a little rough and aggressive and he got pissed and pulled out. Then my next thought was that the princess boinked Cristan to cover up for her uncle boning in case she were to get pregnant. She could just blame it on Ser Cristan. Doesn't seem like any of the reviews I've read interpreted it that way, though. It was cool seeing the light come on and seeing her start to scheme during her conversation with Alicent. Oh shit we've got a devious one here. Alicent quicky realized it, as well. And yeah I agree with whoever said it above and I said it a few pages ago after last week's rised episode, Ser Cristan is gonna die soon at the hand of Daemon. 

[mdmost 44052]

No, she was just horny. Her and Cristan had a thing going since she ran off from the feast. 

[Skipper 6411]

2 hours ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

But 4 hrs of who’s gonna be the next heir with very minimal dragons and or battles(maybe 5 total minutes of both after 4 episodes) is a recipe for criticism on a message board dominated by guys 

I think they have always had to balance how much of this is a drama vs action.  I have zero fucking desire to watch primarily an action show dominated by dragons/battles as I think that inherently results in lazy writing/storylines.  I get that's a thing (i.e., all the marvel movies, etc. i've never watched) and maybe they should have (and easily could have) doubled up the battle time in episode 3 (although I'm guessing it's been more than 5 minutes).  But I think the first few seasons of GOT did a great job of balancing this and making the episodes with battles big payoffs.  We know this is a story about a Targaryen civil war.  You really need all of this background to understand the factions. I'm sure there will be plenty of solid battle scenes down the road.

[Buzzrock 15136]

1 hour ago, Baboontyme said:

Finished the ep last night. Perhaps it was because I couldn't tell what the hell was going on with the uncle sex but while watching I did not get the fact that he was having boner troubles. I thought it got a little rough and aggressive and he got pissed and pulled out. Then my next thought was that the princess boinked Cristan to cover up for her uncle boning in case she were to get pregnant. She could just blame it on Ser Cristan. Doesn't seem like any of the reviews I've read interpreted it that way, though. It was cool seeing the light come on and seeing her start to scheme during her conversation with Alicent. Oh shit we've got a devious one here. Alicent quicky realized it, as well. And yeah I agree with whoever said it above and I said it a few pages ago after last week's rised episode, Ser Cristan is gonna die soon at the hand of Daemon. 

They said during the post-credits recap that he couldn’t perform. 

[kevwun 16438]

I'm pretty sure he also had that issue in the very first episode.

[F250 29201]

17 hours ago, kingkoopa6 said:

the cast does leave something to desire in looks tho...

og GOT had some good lookin folks.. cers, jamie, rob, jon, dani, sansa, viper, 3 dorne sister baddies, drogo, roz, missande, red witch.

only decent lookin characters so fair... daemons hooker, lil alicent, cris cole, 

 

Ros, my favorite.

 

SFW version

 

[bschoolprof 6343]

My issue isn't lack of action and battles; GOT season 1 had very little - most of the battles happened off screen (e.g., we never saw Robb capture the Kingslayer). Further, the battle they have had in HOTD was dogshit, as discussed above.

But GOT, right from the start, had plot and intrigue across multiple story lines: 1) the north and the wall, and winter is coming, 2) the attack on Bran, 3) the incest in King's landing and the true heir, 4) the betrayal and killing of Ned, 5) Khalesi and the Dothraki, etc etc.  Plus, there was all kinds of back story and mystery related to events that had happened in years past, that were only vaguely alluded to, like the Mad King and his death, the killing of Rahegar by Robert, the kidnap of Ned's sister, Jon's Snow's mother, etc etc.  These things further fueled the mystery and intrigue surrounding the show and its characters.

People are naturally going to compare this show to GOT. HOTD is singularly focused on the succession story. By comparison, this would have taken up about 20 minutes of airtime in the first half season of GOT; it's over 240 minutes in HOTD thus far.  In a relative sense, it's pretty boring.  

I realize the showrunners are probably at the mercy of the source material.  But it seems like there's much more back story that could be explored in this world that is not: 1) the doom of valryia (sp?) - it's the whole reason the Targs are even in Westeros in the first place - we get nothing on that; 2) We have whole houses from other kingdoms that are not in GOT that have gotten very little screen time: - we know very little about the Sea Snake's family or their past, not much at all about the Hightower's.  These are very powerful houses that could yield some interesting storylines, but they are just absent.  Could we not cut to old town or other places to break up the monotony a bit?   

 

[Go Pokes 979]

12 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

My issue isn't lack of action and battles; GOT season 1 had very little - most of the battles happened off screen (e.g., we never saw Robb capture the Kingslayer). Further, the battle they have had in HOTD was dogshit, as discussed above.

But GOT, right from the start, had plot and intrigue across multiple story lines: 1) the north and the wall, and winter is coming, 2) the attack on Bran, 3) the incest in King's landing and the true heir, 4) the betrayal and killing of Ned, 5) Khalesi and the Dothraki, etc etc.  Plus, there was all kinds of back story and mystery related to events that had happened in years past, that were only vaguely alluded to, like the Mad King and his death, the killing of Rahegar by Robert, the kidnap of Ned's sister, Jon's Snow's mother, etc etc.  These things further fueled the mystery and intrigue surrounding the show and its characters.

People are naturally going to compare this show to GOT. HOTD is singularly focused on the succession story. By comparison, this would have taken up about 20 minutes of airtime in the first half season of GOT; it's over 240 minutes in HOTD thus far.  In a relative sense, it's pretty boring.  

I realize the showrunners are probably at the mercy of the source material.  But it seems like there's much more back story that could be explored in this world that is not: 1) the doom of valryia (sp?) - it's the whole reason the Targs are even in Westeros in the first place - we get nothing on that; 2) We have whole houses from other kingdoms that are not in GOT that have gotten very little screen time: - we know very little about the Sea Snake's family or their past, not much at all about the Hightower's.  These are very powerful houses that could yield some interesting storylines, but they are just absent.  Could we not cut to old town or other places to break up the monotony a bit?   

 

You may have it on the big problem.  This show is really only about one thing right now.  Who is going to inherit the throne?  They would have to just say 'screw the source material.  Let's go see what else we can imagine was going on in Westeros."  They actually did that with the Crabfeeder.  Apparently the book devoted about 3 sentences to the whole Stepstones issue (I don't even remember reading it).  So the show runners are probably aware of what people are complaining about, they just don't know how to fix it.  Or they are just thinking they'll put up with the bitching knowing once the Dance of Dragons starts, everybody will be freaking the fuck out about how awesome it is.  As a reader of the "word that shall not be said", I'm extremely optimistic that if they stick to the source material, we're all going to be pretty fucking happy.  We do need to jump forward in time pronto though.  It feels like they've devoted more time to this time period in the show than they did in the ****.  

[F250 29201]

7 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

My issue isn't lack of action and battles; GOT season 1 had very little - most of the battles happened off screen (e.g., we never saw Robb capture the Kingslayer). Further, the battle they have had in HOTD was dogshit, as discussed above.

But GOT, right from the start, had plot and intrigue across multiple story lines: 1) the north and the wall, and winter is coming, 2) the attack on Bran, 3) the incest in King's landing and the true heir, 4) the betrayal and killing of Ned, 5) Khalesi and the Dothraki, etc etc.  Plus, there was all kinds of back story and mystery related to events that had happened in years past, that were only vaguely alluded to, like the Mad King and his death, the killing of Rahegar by Robert, the kidnap of Ned's sister, Jon's Snow's mother, etc etc.  These things further fueled the mystery and intrigue surrounding the show and its characters.

People are naturally going to compare this show to GOT. HOTD is singularly focused on the succession story. By comparison, this would have taken up about 20 minutes of airtime in the first half season of GOT; it's over 240 minutes in HOTD thus far.  In a relative sense, it's pretty boring.  

I realize the showrunners are probably at the mercy of the source material.  But it seems like there's much more back story that could be explored in this world that is not: 1) the doom of valryia (sp?) - it's the whole reason the Targs are even in Westeros in the first place - we get nothing on that; 2) We have whole houses from other kingdoms that are not in GOT that have gotten very little screen time: - we know very little about the Sea Snake's family or their past, not much at all about the Hightower's.  These are very powerful houses that could yield some interesting storylines, but they are just absent.  Could we not cut to old town or other places to break up the monotony a bit?   

 

Good point about this show being primarily about succession. We know that no matter what a Targaryen will end up on the throne. In GoT multiple houses were competing for the throne which made it more interesting but in this timeline the other houses seem irrelevant. The head Lanister was dismissed as a jag off which doesn't happen in GoT. Nobody gives a fuck about the North. The Targaryen grip on power is too strong to allow for a large scale play for power. I expect this show to be a medieval version of Succession where the players are limited to family members. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be very many Targs to make it more intriguing.

I would definitely have preferred a series about the fall of Valryia.

[MeerkatBong 115]

Funny because HBO already has a show about succession that is better and costs much less.

[MeerkatBong 115]

23 hours ago, mdmost said:

I think it was more Viserys saying Otto rose to an incredible position at a very fortuitous time. What started Viserys to start being skeptical of Otto was when Otto approaches Viserys at the feast about naming Aegon his heir instead of Rhaenyra. He was already getting angry about everyone trying to force their son into a marriage pact with his daughter. He then saw a bit what position Otto was starting to put himself into as the grandfather of the future king. Then you have Otto spying on his daughter as a means to discredit her claim or make her ineligible and then it all started to fall into place. The Queen not pushing for her son to be heir made him understand that she was not part of this long play but she was definitely pushed on him by Otto. It just took Rhaenyra spelling it out for him to probe him to act. 

There was a disgusting slap fight and I missed your post.

You think Viserys "5 years" wannabe MacBeth monologue was about Otto rising at an incredible time? It seemed like it was him saying it took 5 days for you to kill my dad and take a position of power, a situation that apparently was ignored-- nay, embraced-- as Otto was trusted and nobody even hinted at a whisper until it came out of the blue last episode. It was explicitly stated when Viserys said "It took 5 days for you to choose yourself over your King".

[Go Pokes 979]

2 minutes ago, F250 said:

Good point about this show being primarily about succession. We know that no matter what a Targaryen will end up on the throne. In GoT multiple houses were competing for the throne which made it more interesting but in this timeline the other houses seem irrelevant. The head Lanister was dismissed as a jag off which doesn't happen in GoT. Nobody gives a fuck about the North. The Targaryen grip on power is too strong to allow for a large scale play for power. I expect this show to be a medieval version of Succession where the players are limited to family members. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be very many Targs to make it more intriguing.

I would definitely have preferred a series about the fall of Valryia.

When they were kicking around prequal ideas, I found it stunning that they decided to go with the Naomi Watts show about the Age of Heroes.  If you gave me 10 prequal/sequal ideas for GOT and that was one of the choices, I don't care what the other 9 options are, that period is finishing in 10th place.  Maybe 9th place if one of the options is The Story of Hot Pie.  I thought a prequal on the Targs was the way to go, but I'd have like to have started at the beginning (Aegon's Conquest) and we just work our way up to where we are now.  Going back to The Doom would have been even better.  Spend a season on the rise and fall of Valria, spend a season or two on the Conquest, and then start hauling ass through the decades.  Not much happend during Jaehaerys' 50+ year reign.  Where we started this season probably should have been the start of season 4 or 5.  The Dance of Dragons should have been the big climax to the series since it basically signaled the end of the Targs and their dragons.   Perfection would have been to take it all the way through Robert's Rebellion.  That would be a comprehensive history of the HOD.  And pretty fucking cool.  

[MNLonghornFUKM 8984]

I think they have always had to balance how much of this is a drama vs action.  I have zero fucking desire to watch primarily an action show dominated by dragons/battles as I think that inherently results in lazy writing/storylines.  I get that's a thing (i.e., all the marvel movies, etc. i've never watched) and maybe they should have (and easily could have) doubled up the battle time in episode 3 (although I'm guessing it's been more than 5 minutes).  But I think the first few seasons of GOT did a great job of balancing this and making the episodes with battles big payoffs.  We know this is a story about a Targaryen civil war.  You really need all of this background to understand the factions. I'm sure there will be plenty of solid battle scenes down the road.

I agree. Calm before the storm, hopefully. There just haven’t been many moments where I’m on the edge of my seat


I’m just bitching…like derka

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

48 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

I realize the showrunners are probably at the mercy of the source material.  But it seems like there's much more back story that could be explored in this world that is not

 

Cut some of your post for space, but overall I like your comparison. I would add too that Martin being a weeble wobble for well over a decade now has exacerbated various issues.

 

[kingkoopa6 8709]

double

Edited September 14, 2022 by kingkoopa6

[kingkoopa6 8709]

1 hour ago, Go Pokes said:

 but I'd have like to have started at the beginning (Aegon's Conquest) 

aegons conquest would have been lit!

i had to google what it was about... (i guess the beginning of it all?)

Blake Lively/Sydney Sweeney  --   Lucas Till/Nick Hoult  -- Margot Robbie/Chloe Grace

[Mitch Cumsteen 18963]

1 hour ago, bschoolprof said:

My issue isn't lack of action and battles; GOT season 1 had very little - most of the battles happened off screen (e.g., we never saw Robb capture the Kingslayer). Further, the battle they have had in HOTD was dogshit, as discussed above.

But GOT, right from the start, had plot and intrigue across multiple story lines: 1) the north and the wall, and winter is coming, 2) the attack on Bran, 3) the incest in King's landing and the true heir, 4) the betrayal and killing of Ned, 5) Khalesi and the Dothraki, etc etc.  Plus, there was all kinds of back story and mystery related to events that had happened in years past, that were only vaguely alluded to, like the Mad King and his death, the killing of Rahegar by Robert, the kidnap of Ned's sister, Jon's Snow's mother, etc etc.  These things further fueled the mystery and intrigue surrounding the show and its characters.

People are naturally going to compare this show to GOT. HOTD is singularly focused on the succession story. By comparison, this would have taken up about 20 minutes of airtime in the first half season of GOT; it's over 240 minutes in HOTD thus far.  In a relative sense, it's pretty boring.  

I realize the showrunners are probably at the mercy of the source material.  But it seems like there's much more back story that could be explored in this world that is not: 1) the doom of valryia (sp?) - it's the whole reason the Targs are even in Westeros in the first place - we get nothing on that; 2) We have whole houses from other kingdoms that are not in GOT that have gotten very little screen time: - we know very little about the Sea Snake's family or their past, not much at all about the Hightower's.  These are very powerful houses that could yield some interesting storylines, but they are just absent.  Could we not cut to old town or other places to break up the monotony a bit?   

 

I agree with all of this. This world of just seems so small compared to GOT. 

[mdmost 44052]

Well one was about the families all vying for the throne so it spanned a much larger area. The North, The Wall, beyond the Wall, The Vale, Dorne, Dany's entire quest across the Narrow Sea. This one is only about the Targaryen reign. I'm sure we'll get some Sea Snake and the Valyrians next week and then the Hightowers later on. It's the 4th episode. I'm really enjoying it. I'm not expecting it to equal GOT.  

[bschoolprof 6343]

2 hours ago, Go Pokes said:

You may have it on the big problem.  This show is really only about one thing right now.  Who is going to inherit the throne?  They would have to just say 'screw the source material.  Let's go see what else we can imagine was going on in Westeros."  They actually did that with the Crabfeeder.  Apparently the book devoted about 3 sentences to the whole Stepstones issue (I don't even remember reading it).  So the show runners are probably aware of what people are complaining about, they just don't know how to fix it.  Or they are just thinking they'll put up with the bitching knowing once the Dance of Dragons starts, everybody will be freaking the fuck out about how awesome it is.  As a reader of the "word that shall not be said", I'm extremely optimistic that if they stick to the source material, we're all going to be pretty fucking happy.  We do need to jump forward in time pronto though.  It feels like they've devoted more time to this time period in the show than they did in the ****.  

I agree. To prevent the issues I described, they would have to stray from the thing.  And I'm not sure I'd trust them too - we know how that turned out last time. 

Ultimately, I blame the fat man.  

[Go Pokes 979]

45 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

I agree. To prevent the issues I described, they would have to stray from the thing.  And I'm not sure I'd trust them too - we know how that turned out last time. 

Ultimately, I blame the fat man.  

I'm not even sure we can blame him.  I read the book twice and all I could think while reading it was "please make this the prequel".  Not once did it pop into my brain how limited that would be.  Blinded by dragons I guess.  The book is written in an odd way in that it is more of a chronicling of the history of the Targ house told by a maester.  It's like listening to one of Old Nan's stories.  There's  no internal dialog and any character who isn't a Targ or on the great council is pretty minor character and really only mentioned in passing.  If you don't know what any of the characters were actually thinking, it probably makes it harder to really develop the characters.  Once the Dance starts all those non-Targ characters will probably start to become pretty expendable and interchangeable.  Someone has to get burned up by dragons and it can't just be Targs dying.  So we have that to look forward to at least.  

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

1 hour ago, bschoolprof said:

I agree. To prevent the issues I described, they would have to stray from the thing.  And I'm not sure I'd trust them too - we know how that turned out last time. 

Ultimately, I blame the fat man.  

 

28 minutes ago, Go Pokes said:

I'm not even sure we can blame him.  I read the book twice and all I could think while reading it was "please make this the prequel".  Not once did it pop into my brain how limited that would be.  Blinded by dragons I guess.  The book is written in an odd way in that it is more of a chronicling of the history of the Targ house told by a maester.  It's like listening to one of Old Nan's stories.  There's  no internal dialog and any character who isn't a Targ or on the great council is pretty minor character and really only mentioned in passing.  If you don't know what any of the characters were actually thinking, it probably makes it harder to really develop the characters.  Once the Dance starts all those non-Targ characters will probably start to become pretty expendable and interchangeable.  Someone has to get burned up by dragons and it can't just be Targs dying.  So we have that to look forward to at least.  

Perhaps its neither or both or all. Hard to say for sure until the first season has aired, right?

Through interviews of writers/cast/crew, I understand that J.K. Rowling tended to stick around and give her author's perspective and vision of the world she created. Martin seems to have his fingers in a great many more pies in general and I have no clue as to how much the show holds his interest. He doesn't seem to be writing for it (the show), and maybe that makes a difference? The bolded bit in the second quote above is where either the original author perhaps lends a hand, or the brought-in talent given liberty to create something there, but that talent (given all the critical eyes scouring for accuracy/realism/whatever metric by which they judge) better bring it, or get roasted.

It's a tough gig, but I'm glad to see the industry getting back in the saddle post COVID. I'm prepared to be entertained.

[Augustus 3061]

On 9/13/2022 at 12:10 PM, shadow_operative said:

that feels like a spoiler, and a rather large one at that. 

They released tons of promotional material across all platforms explaining who the younger/older actresses would be portraying the characters Rhaenyra and Alicent with plenty of pics and trailers, while explaining that the series would jump forward in time after introducing these characters and giving their back-stories.

I don't feel like something you see in numerous trailers can be a spoiler.  

I hate spoilers with a passion, though, so if that diminished the upcoming episodes for you in any way, I apologize.

Edited September 14, 2022 by Augustus

[shadow_operative 15932]

nah, it didn't. if that's widespread news then it's definitely not a spoiler.

[Haphap 743]

3 hours ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

 

Perhaps its neither or both or all. Hard to say for sure until the first season has aired, right?

Through interviews of writers/cast/crew, I understand that J.K. Rowling tended to stick around and give her author's perspective and vision of the world she created. Martin seems to have his fingers in a great many more pies in general and I have no clue as to how much the show holds his interest. He doesn't seem to be writing for it (the show), and maybe that makes a difference?

Martin in one of his interviews mentioned that Rowling had managed to include creative control when she sold the rights for the Harry Potter universe, which as per Martin is hard to get from film/tv studios.    He gets consulted and gives suggestions but ultimately he has no say on the direction the showrunners were taking the tv series that were based from his books

[thunderlounge 8412]

2 hours ago, Augustus said:

They released tons of promotional material across all platforms explaining who the younger/older actresses would be portraying the characters Rhaenyra and Alicent with plenty of pics and trailers, while explaining that the series would jump forward in time after introducing these characters and giving their back-stories.

Bingo. Some keep wondering about backstory this and that, character so on and so forth. 

That’s what this is.

RT probably throws herself off a cliff with a long fall, protesting her marriage.

Last shot next week isnher falling. 
 

First shot the week after, older RT waking up and remembering all we’ve seen so far as a dream. Dragon caught her last moment out of view or some shit. 
 

Not really, I have no clue. But seems to be set up for something like that.

 

[bolverk 30327]

3 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

nah, it didn't. if that's widespread news then it's definitely not a spoiler.

[Augustus 3061]

5 minutes ago, bolverk said:

That first chick is amongst my favorite in the series, along with the sand snake who gave the antidote to Bronn after he was forced to acknowledge her as the most beautiful woman in the world--and in that moment I was ready to agree, as well.

[Go Pokes 979]

Bingo. Some keep wondering about backstory this and that, character so on and so forth. 
That’s what this is.
RT probably throws herself off a cliff with a long fall, protesting her marriage.
Last shot next week isnher falling. 
 
First shot the week after, older RT waking up and remembering all we’ve seen so far as a dream. Dragon caught her last moment out of view or some shit. 
 
Not really, I have no clue. But seems to be set up for something like that.
 

Damn dude. Did you read the book? That’s exactly what happens. Though it’s Daemon who wakes up and goes to the shower.. you know the rest.

[kingkoopa6 8709]

1 hour ago, Augustus said:

That first chick is amongst my favorite in the series, along with the sand snake who gave the antidote to Bronn after he was forced to acknowledge her as the most beautiful woman in the world--and in that moment I was ready to agree, as well.

[Xminus6 839]

On 9/6/2022 at 11:52 AM, shadow_operative said:

i really liked how all of the crab soldiers attacked daemon one by one, repeatedly getting killed in assembly line fashion. i always love seeing that in movies and tv shows, it's very exciting and unpredictable.

I was hoping they’d just lure all the guys in and firebomb the whole area since Daemon is ostensibly fireproof. 

[Baboontyme 2883]

15 hours ago, mdmost said:

No, she was just horny. Her and Cristan had a thing going since she ran off from the feast. 

 

14 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

They said during the post-credits recap that he couldn’t perform. 

Thank you both. I will make sure I watch going forward. I didn't realize there was more after the credits started rolling. Explains a lot. 

[Augustus 3061]

It didn't seem realistic to me that we'd assume Daemon had a problem with impotence by simply recalling the scene with Mysaria in the first episode, given that the first thing we see is him pounding her 90mph.

When he got frustrated and withdrew I just assumed it was because he was so distracted over concern about Viserys having a son that would displace him as heir to the throne.

There wasn't anything in that scene that would cause me to naturally conclude he couldn't get it up for Rhaenyra, but apparently that's what the writers were thinking.

2 hours ago, kingkoopa6 said:

That's just cruel.

[Haphap 743]

1 hour ago, Augustus said:

It didn't seem realistic to me that we'd assume Daemon had a problem with impotence by simply recalling the scene with Mysaria in the first episode, given that the first thing we see is him pounding her 90mph.

When he got frustrated and withdrew I just assumed it was because he was so distracted over concern about Viserys having a son that would displace him as heir to the throne.

There wasn't anything in that scene that would cause me to naturally conclude he couldn't get it up for Rhaenyra, but apparently that's what the writers were thinking.

That's just cruel.

probably why he put down his wife every chance he get, compensating for his inability to perform

[Mac8111 2129]

Well that and the fact she isn’t a relative.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bama Chick 28596]

Males are not the only viewers, and the last episode (judging by what was going across my feed) may have been a miss with some of y'all, but it sure got other groups of viewers engaged and talking. In the case of shadow_operative's point--the build up he finds dull and slow; from what I could gather, some of the audience consider it foreplay. Lots of scenes, the dragon buzz of the ship, for example, Raenyra knows its Daemon, she smirks a little; the scene in the garden with them together and she's wearing his necklace (I think, maybe that was the other scene with the tapestry comment). Him holding her hand as they went out into the night. Those little things were not violent, didn't have a whole lot of dialogue, but they strike a chord with some of the audience. Also from what I was reading, some of the audience are already forming 'ships,' i.e. Daemon/Raenyra vs. Ser Christan (sp?)/Raenrya and I would argue that those viewers perspectives and criticisms are just as valid and debatable as are the ones found on a male dominated message board. That episode was directed by a woman, and the way Raenyra's viewpoint in the brothel was depicted greatly reflected that.
So, now you've got some women out there trying to figure out bad boy Daemon or rooting for low born Ser Christan or even the 'why not both, you go girl' fan club that will keep those viewers engaged. I have no experience with screen writing/show running but I suspect it is a pretty difficult balancing act, and the episode writers and directors have been changed around some and whether that is by design or not I have no idea. I'm willing to give it a watch every week and find out, however.
Another thing that stood out for me when reading various comments online (not in this thread) is how many women found Daemon and Raenyra to be kindred spirits in that  both felt being held captive by their station--he is the second born son never to inherit and she is the girl who must marry for the realm and that bonds them in a restless drive to 'do' something, anything where they have some control. Yeah, sure incest for one, but having not read the Martin book upon which this series is based, it does seem to be a very realistic theme, what defines us throughout history--who's your daddy? Or to a lesser and often under-rated, 'who was your mother and what was your relationship like?' As much as we tell ourselves we are masters of our own fate, those ties that bind have far greater impact than we give them credit.
Just some morning thoughts before work.

[83Horn 1665]

On 9/14/2022 at 8:00 AM, Mrs Whiggins said:

Valid point and perspective. I was musing over the last episode last night based on the commentary below:

Males are not the only viewers, and the last episode (judging by what was going across my feed) may have been a miss with some of y'all, but it sure got other groups of viewers engaged and talking. In the case of shadow_operative's point--the build up he finds dull and slow; from what I could gather, some of the audience consider it foreplay. Lots of scenes, the dragon buzz of the ship, for example, Raenyra knows its Daemon, she smirks a little; the scene in the garden with them together and she's wearing his necklace (I think, maybe that was the other scene with the tapestry comment). Him holding her hand as they went out into the night. Those little things were not violent, didn't have a whole lot of dialogue, but they strike a chord with some of the audience. Also from what I was reading, some of the audience are already forming 'ships,' i.e. Daemon/Raenyra vs. Ser Christan (sp?)/Raenrya and I would argue that those viewers perspectives and criticisms are just as valid and debatable as are the ones found on a male dominated message board. That episode was directed by a woman, and the way Raenyra's viewpoint in the brothel was depicted greatly reflected that.

So, now you've got some women out there trying to figure out bad boy Daemon or rooting for low born Ser Christan or even the 'why not both, you go girl' fan club that will keep those viewers engaged. I have no experience with screen writing/show running but I suspect it is a pretty difficult balancing act, and the episode writers and directors have been changed around some and whether that is by design or not I have no idea. I'm willing to give it a watch every week and find out, however.

Another thing that stood out for me when reading various comments online (not in this thread) is how many women found Daemon and Raenyra to be kindred spirits in that  both felt being held captive by their station--he is the second born son never to inherit and she is the girl who must marry for the realm and that bonds them in a restless drive to 'do' something, anything where they have some control. Yeah, sure incest for one, but having not read the Martin book upon which this series is based, it does seem to be a very realistic theme, what defines us throughout history--who's your daddy? Or to a lesser and often under-rated, 'who was your mother and what was your relationship like?' As much as we tell ourselves we are masters of our own fate, those ties that bind have far greater impact than we give them credit.

Just some morning thoughts before work.

 

[Texzilla58 4792]

It didn't seem realistic to me that we'd assume Daemon had a problem with impotence by simply recalling the scene with Mysaria in the first episode, given that the first thing we see is him pounding her 90mph.
When he got frustrated and withdrew I just assumed it was because he was so distracted over concern about Viserys having a son that would displace him as heir to the throne.
There wasn't anything in that scene that would cause me to naturally conclude he couldn't get it up for Rhaenyra, but apparently that's what the writers were thinking.
That's just cruel.

I didn’t think he couldn’t get it up, as it wasn’t apparent in the scene. Rewound it and made sure HDR was off. Still nothing. Until the post show comments we thought he prematurely shot his splooge and just left as one might expect of a medieval fantasy styled dude. Which is why we thought she went back to snag Criston. To cover her possible pregnancy.

[Hermanator 7674]

On 9/6/2022 at 9:40 AM, Go Pokes said:

But I was told I could do whatever I wanted.  

 

 

 

[thunderlounge 8412]

16 hours ago, Texzilla58 said:

I didn’t think he couldn’t get it up, as it wasn’t apparent in the scene. Rewound it and made sure HDR was off. Still nothing. Until the post show comments we thought he prematurely shot his splooge and just left as one might expect of a medieval fantasy styled dude. Which is why we thought she went back to snag Criston. To cover her possible pregnancy.

I didn’t get that either. 
 

While it played out it seemed more like he had a moral conflict between his real feelings for her and he really did want her, and the fact he was being a slimeball and would ruin her. 
 

Which I guess still could be the root issue for losing wood. 

[mdmost 44052]

Maybe he has penile greyscale. 

[bschoolprof 6343]

The scene was poorly directed. Perhaps she was so focused on, artistically, not shooting the scene like a dude that she forgot about making sure a diligent viewer could reasonably infer what was happening.

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

 

12 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

The scene was poorly directed. Perhaps she was so focused on, artistically, not shooting the scene like a dude that she forgot about making sure a diligent viewer could reasonably infer what was happening.

She didn't direct the first episode and he couldn't perform then either, so....

Anyway, in the first episode, I think Daemon and his mistress were discussing the council's objections/remarks/opposition to Daemon becoming an heir apparent and perhaps it was another way of foretelling Daemon's overall multi-episode frustration as a male who is/was not being allowed to 'be' a typical example of what a Valeryian male would be (due to the kingdom mostly being at peace, his removal from various positions (due to Otto) and the further court drama of the high council et al) He cannot control what he cannot control and oh look, his own body betrays him. Everywhere he turns he is thwarted. Perhaps that is so the viewer can contemplate whether Daemon was always a rogue or did circumstances of birth and choice and his reaction to those choices make him so? Some viewers won't care about that, but some will.

 

Maybe the wedding episode will have something for everyone: a little pomp and circumstance, a little bloodshed (not marital though, oopsies), some dragons and death. I think this is the last episode featuring young Rhaenyra and young Alicent, so enjoy their performances-I think they did quite well.

 

 

 

[Texzilla58 4792]

The scene was poorly directed. Perhaps she was so focused on, artistically, not shooting the scene like a dude that she forgot about making sure a diligent viewer could reasonably infer what was happening.

Totally agree. A lot of directors these days are shitty storytellers. It was filmed so dark it was hard to see what the hell was happening, and the dialogue didn’t further the narrative. All she had to say was “you limpdick! Can’t get it up? Wtf?!” Or “you came already! What about me?!”

[52-80 19377]

The dragon just didnt want to come out of its lair, amirite?

[mr. sunshine 2859]

Don’t want to bookfag this thing but does Viserys have a dragon?

If so there’s got to be some top of the line Lazy Boy recliner strapped to its back 

[Js1 87185]

The time jump better make this more interesting because idk man. 

[kevwun 16438]

Viserys said he was the last Targ to ride Aegon's dragon.  He never said if he rode another after Balerion died.

Edited September 19, 2022 by kevwun