BlackLightning

It's not. However... Aegon is buckling under the pressure that his mother and grandfather's expectations are putting upon him...expectations that are as crazy as they are dangerous. Like they are literally creating raging tempests in teapots on the behalf of Aegon. To become the poster child for treason and treachery and war is frightening. Aegon feels so crushed by it that he is driven to tears and drink. Because Aegon feels deeply unloved...and he's right. His unfortunate personality is part of the reason why he is not beloved, but his mother's paranoia and his father's sickness-induced distance only make things worse. Those two things soften Aegon. Also, Aegon doesn't want the Iron Throne. Like who runs away from what should've been the best day of their life? Speaking of Aegon talking about not wanting the Iron Throne, I love how the showrunners and writers of HoTD are constantly throwing shade at D&D. Because they are doing such a masterful job of showing what not wanting throne or a lordship means and what it does to people. Instead of seeing Jon Snow walk around like a robot parrot going on and on about "Idunwonit," we see Aegon cry, rage, drink himself into stupors and try to run away as if his very life depended on it...we see Rhaenyra question and brood and bemoan and bristle and beg...and then we see Lucerys give very good reasons why he shouldn't be heir to Driftmark as his voice cracks...

Correct me if I am wrong but weren't they the same generic castle from medieval Spain? The only difference is that they had their CGI team put Highgarden on a hill and Casterly Rock on a cliff. Same generic location however. Ugh. Yeah I didn't like that either. And now that you remind me, that's another thing I haven't really liked about this season. They seem to be constantly writing and shooting scenes that give Daemon greater dimensionality and depth...only to cut them out in post-production. Like the scenes of Daemon comforting and encouraging his daughters, removed so that we would only see Daemon walking away as they cried. I think they should've left in the scene where Daemon is having a nervous breakdown on the beach after the stillbirth of the baby princess. Yes, a few people would make it about Daemon's manpain but...let's be real. The man just lost his brother and his daughter within days of each other and his brother's last will and testament was disregarded by his sister-in-law who proceeded to steal the birthright of his wife. That's a lot for anyone to go through, especially since said wife is being so slow to act. Choking Rhaenyra out of anger because she isn't as rageful and active as he is makes sense for the character. GRRM talks about how Daemon was the best and worst of men all wrapped up into one. We should see that and feel conflicted about him like everyone else in Planetos did at the time.

It was well-established in the previous episode that Alicent is both self-delusional and self-defeating. Nobody believes her...and for good reason. It doesn't make any sense. He affirmed Rhaenyra's position as the heir to the Iron Throne at dinner not even two hours before he died. Not only that but the audience knows that Alicent purposefully misunderstood Viserys' last words; Viserys said absolutely nothing about how he now wished for Aegon to king. He didn't even mention the word king and he was going on and on about how "it must be you; you must be the one to unite the realm against the cold, dark horrors beyond the Wall." Alicent knows full well that Viserys had mistaken her for someone else (she had been living with him for the past 6 years...he had a habit of doing that). And given the context clues of his words, he was finishing up a conversation that he was having with someone else. I sorta disagree. The birthing scene was absolutely necessary. In fact, I think it should've been a lot longer. It stands as a great contrast to the births in episode 1 and 6. Queen Aemma talked about her struggles in childbirth, how uncomfortable, scared and exhausted she was and how Rhaenyra would have to weather the same with a stiff upper lip. Twenty years later, in the last episode of the show, Queen Rhaenyra is living her mother's words. The whole season almost been building up to that moment. I think that the birthing scene should've been a lot longer. I think the birthing scenes in the show are good. It speaks to the power and position of women (especially highborn ones) in the medieval era in a way that educates and unites people in a kinder, more grounded and more ubiquitous than acts of sexual violence...which GoT loved to depict. As much as people love and celebrate life, I think it's strange that our culture is so uncomfortable with birth. Honestly, it would do us all a lot of good to have more pregnancy, more childbirth, more breastfeeding scenes in media. But I agree with you in this. I think that it should've occurred over the course of two episodes. Rhaenyra loses a daughter in one and loses a son in the next. And it wasn't a miscarriage by the way. It was a stillbirth.

Now for the things I didn't like about this episode. Frankly, this episode should've been two episodes. We really should've spent a lot more time with Rhaenyra in her labors (for one, it should've been made clear that these labors were by far the worst out of the six) and in the Targaryen family's grief over the stillbirth of her daughter. Did they even mention that she was named Princess Visenya Targaryen? I didn't like that. I would've had it so that this episode, the Black Queen, revolved around Dragonstone's reactions to the death of King Viserys and the stillbirth of Princess Visenya with it ending with Rhaenyra's coronation at Visenya's funeral...thus highlighting why they are called the blacks. The one after this one should've been the one that focused on "will they, won't they" of war. With Rhaenys and Corlys finally picking a side, the war council on Dragonstone, the reception of Otto and Orwyle and the climax at Storm's End and above Shipbreaker Bay. That way that episode could've ended with first Aemond's return to King's Landing and the Red Keep's reaction to his actions and then with Dragonstone receiving news of Lucerys' death.

This is a such strange comment. Just last week Rhaenys was criticized for negligently killing hundreds of smallfolk. And I think you are not understanding how many people dislike Alicent. In the end, Alicent actively did conspire to usurp the throne and Rhaenyra is responding to this usurpation with pure rage. It's just that they are delaying the actions by giving them softer, more nuanced, more humanistic reasons for doing so. But to say that only the leading female characters are suffering from this is strange. Aegon has been softened up quite a bit and Aemond is almost a different character. The show version of Laenor is a much better person than the book verison. Otto has become three-dimensional. And they even made Borros nowhere near as much of an asshole as he was in the books. The only characters that have not been softened and humanized in the TV show are Daemon Targaryen, Rhaenys Targaryen and Larys Strong. Rhaenys and Larys are actually tougher, more active and more competent than their book counterpart. Rhaenyra having to contend with Daemon, the walking loose cannon that Baelon and Alyssa so generously gifted us with, is not something new. The two of them did not always get along. Daemon was cold to Laena and murderously mean to Rhea. Is it really surprising that he would get physical with Rhaenyra? Especially when they are both obviously grieving, angry and on edge.

Budget issues? As in budget issues for an episode that primarily took place on an island fortress with its two gigantic dragons, two large dragons, three smaller dragons, CGI thunderstorms, a castle on a cliff, a glowing table-map and ensemble cast with four of them getting top billing. Give me a break. I hate that budget issue excuse. It's a lie. D&D were getting blank checks from HBO from the last couple seconds and HBO was willing to give them more so that they could make more seasons. In any case, the lands beyond the Wall don't count as those are real places. Apart from what we saw in some episodes in season 1 and 5, the Wall was nothing to be too impressed with. Storm's End and Shipbreaker (in addition to the way that Dragonstone looked in this episode and the way that Harrenhal looked in the first episode and the general vibe of the Red Keep) blows anything that GoT did in terms of sets, locations and moods in its last few seasons away. The only thing that came close to looking this good was the Eyrie when we first saw it in season 1...only for them to completely abandon it for the cheap, boring stupidity of Winterfell... But this isn't Rant & Rave so I'll stop there. Exactly. Even with small things such as the sigils, the embroidery, the crowns, the jewelry, the banners... Like this show is so much more colorful and magical than the original series DESPITE the fact that the story of HotD is much less magical and colorful than that of ASoIaF.

Meh Out of all of the characters, Daemon Targaryen is the most accurately adapted character in the whole series so far. The showrunners did a good job. I don't think Daemon is an more evil character than his book self. People who feel like that need to reread Fire and Blood. I think that both versions are about the same.

Can we take a moment to talk about how good Storm's End and Shipbreaker Bay looked? Good God...Condal and Sapochnik have really, really captured the World of Ice and Fire. D&D never put this much effort in.

That's the legacy of GoT

I think it's fine as is. The Baratheons are black-on-yellow whereas the Greyjoys are gold-on-black. I do think that the Greyjoys would've been better with a dark blue for the seas. But giving the Baratheons orange would've made it harder for a lot of readers to distinguish them from the Martells...especially since the Baratheon lands and the Martell lands are right next to each other. People already have enough of a hard time with the concept that the Dornish Marches are not Dorne. I agree. There's also the part where the firstborn daughter of arguably the greatest Targaryen king -- Jaehaerys I -- is called Daenerys and how Jaehaerys intended for her to marry and rule alongside her younger brother, Aemon, the king's eldest living son. Things didn't work out well between the first Daenerys and the first Aemon but...what about the next set? History doesn't always repeat itself, but it definitely rhymes.

What was wrong with the ending of episode 9? Rhaenys bursting out of from underneath the floor of the Dragonpit? The floor of the Dragonpit had already been established as being hollow/removable.

In the end, everyone's complaints about this episode (as well as general complaints about the show in general) can be boiled down to the fact that this show is trying to do way too much in 10 episodes There actually is. The Dragonpit was chosen as the place of coronation in the books specifically due to the rather obvious security concerns. You can't do this if the backdoor is wide open.

GRRM has confirmed that Daeron is in the show (him not being in the show would pulverize the plot when the war starts), but it's weird how they are not mentioning him at all. They should've name-dropped him in at least episodes 8 and 9.

I'm not being sarcastic. Keep in mind that most viewers, by in large, don't know what's going to happen to Rhaenys and the dragons. They're comparing this to season 8 because they think that these actions have no consequences. Honestly that's D&D's fault and Condal is just inheriting the bad faith of that. The Rhaenys scene and the Daemon scene from episode 3 illustrate the Toland girl's ominous warning that "wherever the dragons danced, the people died." The show is doing more to set up a massive uprising than GoT did when the Faith took over King's Landing.

Okay fine. I don't think it is senseless for Rhaenys to injure and kill a few hundred people in her attempt to escape. Is she supposed to stay put and let herself be a prisoner/hostage? But you are right and I can't win this argument/debate.

Hell, you see this in a more everyday level. Let's say a company is in trouble and/or needs to downsize and it's a choice between the CEO and the maintenance crew of corporate headquarters. Who is not getting a bonus or a raise? Who is getting a pay cut? Whose benefits are getting taken away? Who is getting fired? I'm not saying that to say that the lives of people at the bottom of the totem pole do not matter. What I am saying is that the CEO is very difficult to replace compared to the overnight janitor. But back to in-world because the real world is depressing sometimes...even if Rhaenyra is not the rightful Queen, she is still a a well-known public entity (i.e. celebrity), a pregnant woman and a royal princess, the firstborn child of the King. The King still hasn't even been buried yet. To throw her in a cell somewhere and have her summarily tortured into submission or executed would be an egregious, senseless crime...worse than what King Joffrey did to Ned Stark before the High Septon in the Great Sept.

But we're not talking TV. We're talking HBO. I think they should do it. Well, I don't want to see a small child be beheaded on screen and their head carried about in a satchel like a piece of bread. But Helaena (or, if you really want to ant the dramantic tension, Alicent) should be made to choose which child should be killed and the assassins should kill the child that they chose to save. Mysaria definitely has both the motivation and the power to be atrociously cruel in targeting Aegon's children (it makes sense storywise as he is a lot like Euron Greyjoy: a rapist who treats and views his bastards like excrement...someone like Mysaria would consider it poetic justice) That said, I think Daemon should be involved--at least on the level of asking for help. TV version of Daemon - although he has matured - is both careless and indiscreet enough for such a thing and to not care if he was accused of such even though he is innocent.

Right But people have to look at the alternative. Is Rhaenys expected just to languish in her room within the Red Keep like TV-Sansa first languished in Maegor's Holdfast (and refused the Hound's offer to escape) and then languished once again in Ramsay's Winterfell rape tower? She lost Ser Arryk in the crowds, and he was going to escort her to safety--despite her wishes to get Meleys. Also, if Rhaenys doesn't escape King's Landing on dragonback, then Rhaenyra is more or less doomed. Because she had stated her intention to return to King's Landing within the week.

In the end, the Greens are less popular than the Blacks for a reason. And that's in-universe and among the readers. The average non-reader viewer will think it was insane because -- if what I think is going to happen ends up happening -- it prevents all possibility of peace and it will be a subtle power move (Aemond is well-established within the show as envying Aemond and wanting to usurp him and his children) Some people will also view it as extremely childish and petty.

Yeah that was a pretty stupid remark. All I'm saying is that Rhaenys is not at all wrong for setting herself and her dragon free with a consequences-be-damned mindset, that she will come to regret this decision and the smallfolk will remember events like this and the attack on Mysaria. Plus, let's think of what would've happened if Rhaenys never escaped. For one, Rhaenyra would've never found out. She would've eventually returned to King's Landing only to walk right into a death trap and Dragonstone would've ended up facing surprise siege and blockade. It wouldn't be right.

People nowadays react very viscerally to self-righteous, "I do all the right things" goody-two-shoes. Especially ones who keep pressing and picking at issues that have already been contested and resolved. Alicent, at that point, was being very self-righteous. She is similar to Ned Stark but, unlike Ned Stark, her motives and reasonings are not pure. They are fearful, paranoid and selfish. And mother or not, stealing a dagger from a person and charging at an 8-year-old child with said stolen dagger (in public, no less) is pretty wild.

I thought it was Daeron.

D&D at their worst had no consequences. Actions such as that will have consequences in this story. It's literally hardcoded into the story. I will find that shift very weird in the show unless they play their cards right (i.e. the guilt that Aemond feels makes him crazy and mean). But then, it just makes him look like a male Helaena. After all, the Blood and Cheese event is the direct consequence of Aemond's unsanctioned, unnecessary, pettily cruel actions.

I wish they stop calling it murder. The Dragonpit had been closed and it seems like that they only have two entrances/exits: the roof and the door. How else she supposed to set her dragon free and get out of the city in the fastest way possible in one piece? Obviously, the floor is some sort of passageway or hollowed out ceiling below because there's no way that Meleys could burst through that much solid stone and earth. Speaking of which, Helaena's mini-prophecy about "the beast beneath the boards" seems to be referring both to Aegon and Meleys. Helaena was terrified of him during the coronation; she wouldn't even look.

That's a good point. I really wish that they flesh out and extend a lot of the politics and battles that happen.