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House of the Dragon - S02E02 Post-Episode Discussion!
(lemmy.world)
Things I liked
- Intro updated! Meleys and Sunfyre are on the tapestry.
- The Lannister's army bringing a live lion is such a vibe.
- Aemond saying, "No, you idiot, I'm talking about Grandpa," was hilarious.
- I love the idea of Larys leaning into the new shared disability aspect between him and Aegon II. Clever.
- Gwayne being a proud uncle is a nice setup for introducing "The Daring" in Season 3.
Things / Random Thoughts
- I honestly thought that was Casterly Rock... turns out it’s just the Golden Tooth. 🫤
- Princes Aegon (the Younger) and Viserys seem way younger than in Fire & Blood. How is the Gullet going to work?
- Did Aegon's drinking buddies get ripped apart by the mob?
- Can someone remind me if Rhaenyra is canonically bisexual in Fire & Blood?
- "Here's a description of sexual assault." Great, let's follow that with a makeout session...
- Seasmoke: "You look like that kid I used to know—you're my rider now, deal with it."
- Are they merging Nettles with Rhaena?
- Also, Sheepstealer heard that the sheep are prettier than the women at the Vale. 😉
- Steffon Darklyn totally could've claimed Seasmoke if he didn’t get cocky. As soon as he thought, "I DID IT," Seasmoke was like, "What are you doing, buddy?"
- I think Simon Strong knows more than he’s letting on. The way he described Alys trying her "healing powers" on Grover Tully was suspicious.
- Men will literally commit war crimes and sleep with their niece before giving their big bro a hug.
spoiler
I'm starting to think Rhaena is going to go rogue (like Dad) and "capture" Sheepstealer to prove her worth, leaving Aegon and Viserys vulnerable in the Gullet. I wonder if this will lead to the events with Joffrey and Viserys, which will start Aegon's dragon-related trauma and make Rhaenyra furious at Rhaena (after she trusted her children to her).
Things I liked
- Matt Smith certainly looks like The Warrior himself (God/Aspect of the Seven). If HOTD becomes an antology series (post-dance of the dragons) I would not be mad if he played another Daemon...
- Speaking of Daemon, how ducking funny is his reaction to the Brackens saying, "go ahead - burn us". Mad respect for him to actually realize that THAT is the kind of soldiers he needs.
- Alys Rivers remains one of the breakout characters of this season.
- Trippy/Trippin'/Mystical Daemon >>>>> "Regular" Daemon
- Baela is a boss. Loved her conversation with grandpa Velaryon. Indeed, Rhaenys chose to go out like a dragonrider.
- 🤩 🤩 🤩 More Book-accurate Eyrie and (Frey) Crossing 🤩 🤩 🤩
Random Thoughts
- Parading Meleys' head around is definitely a bad idea. It's diminishing the mysticism that the dragons possess. This is also undoubtedly setting the stage for the <event from F&B>.
- That's a level of incest I was not prepared to see, Daemon.
- So far with Daemon: Brother issues, niece issues and are we adding Mommy issues ? Next Episode are we getting Baelon cameo ?
- Is the Valyrian armor "HOTD-Canon" for Aegon surviving Rook's Rest ?
- I'm not quite sure who Rhaenyra's handmaiden was seeing at the end.
- "What time is it" "The WOLF". Loved how that line could have a meta context, in addition of the actual in-universe meaning.
- I loved the proposal and extent of the Dragonseed plan for the Blacks. To me, it sounds more out-of-left-field and grandiose than the F&B version.
- Was this the first usage of "Aemond One-Eye" ?
- Good job, Otto. All that work to keep Daemon off the throne... only to end up with Daemon on the throne - just with the D moved to the end and a cool eye-patch.
spoiler
I wish I had thought of this one first: After the Bracken Fiasco and all the other blunders, our rogue prince is earning the nickname Daemon Backfyre'd.
My question: does that indicate that weirwood is impervious to dragon fire?
I'm unsure. My theory is that Ryan Condal (and GRRM by extension) are hinting at the magical properties of weirwood and, more specifically, that it could harm dragons.
During Aegon's Conquest, Brandon Snow (Torrhen Stark's bastard brother) offered to cross the Trident alone at night, sneak into the Targaryen camp, and assassinate the dragons while they slept. So, at the very least, Brandon thought he had something powerful enough (and maybe fireproof—or at least resistant) to get the job done.
The connection to Weirwood might be in ADwD. In that book, one of the visions Bran has through the Winterfell heart tree is of "a pale, fierce, and dark-eyed young man" slicing three branches off the weirwood and shaping them into arrows. I've read before that this may be Brandon Snow, preparing Weirwood arrows to kill the three Targaryen dragons.
It seems that way (at least according to HBO)... in book lore, it is hinted that Danny's dragons are the eggs stolen during Jaehaerys' reign by Elissa Farman.
Things I liked
- Intro updated! Jaehaerys and Rat-catchers shown. Luke's death no longer shown 😔
- Braken v Blackwood!
- Rhaenys keep speaking truths.
- "It's a big chair, made of swords" - Daemon cracks me up.
- Ulf is growing on me.
- I love how we were shown a gruesome after-battle in the Riverlands, and everyone is basically saying "That was a cheeky skirmish between the Brackens and Blackwoods"
- Loved seeing "little" Moondancer.
- It seems we're walking towards evil stepmother and Maegor with Teats after all/
Weird Things / Random Thoughts
- That was Bloody Ben, right ?
- Hull is everyone's favorite shit-talking uncle.
- That was Alys Rivers over a Harrenhal, right ?
- Did.... they make Aegon's posse from the previous episodes the new KG ?
- It's been a while since I read F&B, but I don't recall Daemon getting prophetic/dragon dreams.
- Wait... is the show implying that the curse of Harrenhall could be tied to the weirwoods ?
- The premise of the secret Sept meeting is ridiculous, but the scene itself was great.
- I am not buying "Seasmoke is acting out because it's bored" - I think this might be a sign that something happened to Laenor.
- I appreciate that the "misunderstanding" angle in HotD is being sidelined. While misunderstandings did play a role in the events leading up to this point, the conversation at the Sept makes it clear that Alicent knows Viserys didn't truly want Aegon to be king. At this stage, Alicent's actions are more about ignorance, greed, ambition, and other emotions that have entangled her and the rest of the characters deeply..
spoiler
Daemon Sleepwalking ... was it induced by time-traveling Bran ? Bloodraven ?
I loved Otto in this episode.
Slowly realizing that VizzyT was great.
Also Peak Otto:
“Daughter, as long as we are together we can work through any issue”
“I have sinned, dad”
“OMG y’all are the worst - that does it - leavin’ right now for Oldtown to hang with Daeron”
Things I liked
- The new intro - IMHO it is much better than 3D Valyria model, but not as good as OG Planetos' map.
- Seeing the north, Winterfell and the Wall again
- Cregan Stark was better than I expected.
- Meeting new characters, a lot of time spent with this Alyn fella in the docks with Corlyn 😉
- Rhaenyra and Jacaerys mourning scene was the standout scene for me.
- Looks like they're using humor to humanize Aegon II.
- Seeing everyone over at r/asoiaf loose their mind over Blood and Cheese ROFL
Things that puzzled me.
- Torren knelled at the wall ?
- Cole x Alicent - IMHO it came out of nowhere.
- The pacing of Blood & Cheese and the fact that the final minutes of the episode was split into 3 scenes: Blood & Cheese, Helaena's random walking and finally her entering Alicent's chamber.
Random Thoughts
- So... is Maelor chillin' with Daeron (The Daring) over at Oldtown ?
- Change the intro as much as you like, every season if you will. As long as OG GoT theme song plays, it will never be skipped.
- I love that they are still leaving us with the idea that, just like F&B, some events are still not completely understood/shown. We never see Daemon give the explicit order to target - same as we never see Daemon explicitly say "Heir for a Day" back in S1.
- I really think that Rhaenyra will be furious at Daemon - not only because he single-handedly plunged everyone further into a MAD scenario, but Rhaenyra's side (probably) just lost the moral high ground.
Great LastWeekTonight episode. Very clearly the F in FDA is silent….
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(For the last time in 2024) Things I liked / Random Observations
antlered human😱Going back to the
antlered humanin the godswood... I would have preferred an antlered being as a vision from a certain event in ASOIAF: