RhaenysBee

Allow me to indulge in a defending Alicent spree. (Not to say that anybody is wrong to perceive and interpret her differently, or to dislike the archetype. Each to their own, everybody is perfectly free to dislike something that I happen to find likable. I also didn’t read any of the source material, but if you did and that affects your interpretation and perception and reception of the character, that’s 100% valid as well because this is an adaptation after all. That’s all the disclaimers I can think of.) 

So what I understand is that Alicent was a different character from Rhaenyra from day 1. She is the good girl, who does her studying, cares about her friend and complies with whatever her shitty father tells her because A. she has that kind of personality B. she grew up with those values C. she doesn’t seem to have any immediate family aside from her father and is entirely dependent on him. 

when she is told to comfort the king, she is visibly uncomfortable with the idea and why wouldn’t she be. It’s so soon after the queen’s death who we have seen to be kind to her, she’s very young and Viserys could be her father, and she’s best friends with his daughter. But she does it because her father says so and she is actually comfortable around Viserys, more so than around her own father, as seen via the cuticle scratching (which was a nice touch). She didn’t try to seduce the king, she was just herself, a caring, warm, dutiful and compliant young woman, which happens to be Viserys’s type as Aemma was depicted in much the same light based on what little we saw of her. 

She had no say in the king’s choice and unfortunately we skipped through just how much she must have struggled with the new identity of queen and how it alienated her from people. This is hinted at later, but a huge missed opportunity. Rhaenyra is (understandably) a brat about the situation, but Alicent doesn’t get to be a brat because she suddenly had to grow up, mature even more and she became a mother and assumed a new set of duties, expectations and a shitload of pressure of her own - nearly alone aside from her father who was only using her to build his own sand castle, and entirely without moral support for what we know, because I doubt that off screen Otto held her hand while she cried because she felt overwhelmed. That is strength. Not the watch-me-daddy-because-I-won’t-won’t-won’t type of strength, but unthinkable resilience and steadfastness.

And while she was coveted and celebrated for giving a son to Viserys, that came with more bad blood with her friend, who was suddenly her child, not only in a legal sense but in terms of behavior as well. Alicent didn’t get to stride off and huff and puff when she didn’t like something. And she tolerated all this because that’s the kind of personality she has and that’s the kind of care and trust she had for Rhaenyra. She trusted that under the childishness Rhaenyra was still her friend, that’s why she didn’t want Aegon to be named heir. To keep her friend, so she could count on Rhaenyra the way she could count on her not pushing Aegon. As someone not well versed in politics, it’s forgivable and understandable that Alicent wouldn’t (want to) see how the rest of the realm would feel (and act) about the matters she saw it as an interpersonal conflict to resolve for which she did her part. 

From the same sense of care and duty she tended to Viserys in his sickness even though it probably repelled her, as she was never in love with, least of all attracted to him. But there seemed to be mutual care, understanding and regard between them if nothing else. The fact that this isn’t enough for happiness for 16-20 year old Alicent is understandable. Yet she is not complaining and she’s not wavering, which is again, strengths. I really would (have) like(d) to see if there was any joy for her in all this, either in the children or anything else, because it is realistic that there would be a flower or two to smell even in a meadow flooded with shit. It appeared that she found no particular joy in motherhood or that the screaming baby was only adding to the stress of political pressure of inheritance, sick husband and general sense of loss over her youth and dreams (which she sure had). 

When suspicion arose that Rhaenyra slept with someone, Alicent understandable felt that this friend she cared for and stuck up for (in the business of inheritance), just shit all over everything she stood for and represented as a value. She felt jealous that Rhaenyra may have had a choice she never did or would. And she felt worried about this person who she still regarded and trusted as a friend. Then Rhaenyra lied to her face when she wanted that trust returned and would have offered genuine help. 

When you sacrifice your entire life for duty, it gets really difficult to see that some people refuse to do even the one job they have and still get away unscathed. It makes you angry and resentful and humiliated. Especially if it all goes behind your back when you offered only help and honesty to both Rhaenyra and Viserys, who both withheld truth from you. What more could you have done to get more than nothing? Especially if it costs your father’s position, who is shitty and stupid but still your father and only blood relation in the entire city with some semblance of concern for your future. Because clearly your friend doesn’t care and your husband will pick his daughter over you and yours any day and not even give you the respect of an honest discussion about it. 

At this point Alicent is wronged, resentful, hurt, angry and more alone tHan ever before. And her cup that’s been filling for years with Rhaenyra’s shit and Viserys’s lacking as a husband just spilled and she no longer cares. If at this point she says I can play dirty too, that’s understandable. If she takes the high ground, I will salute her all the more for it. She could have told on Cole and projected her rage onto him and nobody would have batted an eye. But she knew full well that Cole was as naive and compliant as she was (until he became a psychopath and minced that guy’s face at the wedding), and Rhaenyra took advantage of his trust in her as she did of Alicent’s trust in her and so she handled him with grace. I hope she will continue to take the high ground, though I don’t think the show will go that way.

Alicent is the archetype we no longer see on tv because every female character must be physically capable and skilled, full of sass piss and vinegar, political prowess and drive to achieve their end no matter the means. This is unrealistic, boring, exclusive and reduces strength to a very narrow definition. Alicent has been a breath of fresh air and I find her far easier to like, respect and relate to than Rhaenyra.

I will shut up now, even though I’m sure I forgot to even touch on half the points I wanted to make. Never mind. 

6 hours ago, lakin1013 said:

Odd that.  I didn't think she even really liked her husband. I concluded she felt him dull. I also think sometimes parents do things for one child and don't mention it to the second wife, or stepmother. 

I do agree the moon tea pushed her over.  But again, if she had made a friend of the kitchen staff, after bearing that one son, she could have stopped having any more kids (something Cersei would have done). She just seemed so passive and trapped to me.  Rh, bitch that she is, is at least lively. 

 Based on posts here, Alicent will change soon.  Good, I guess. 

Well that’s the whole point, she’s not Cersei and the fact that this didn’t even occur to her (or so the show would have us believe) is what separates her from Cersei. And yes, she is the non-sassy and non-rebellious young female character who is passive and trapped but doesn’t have the badassness and immorality to do something about it. And bless her for that and the writer who wrote her that way (even if that strays from the source material). It’s not realistic or necessary that everybody is a Cersei or a Rhaenyra and I dearly hope that Alicent won’t turn into either of them. 

26 minutes ago, Ran said:

The horse freaked out at being approached ominously and reached for. Honestly, I think the horse's reaction is probably supposed to indicate that it sensed something was off about Daemon. Because he was planning to kill its rider. 

The problem was not the horse getting spooked or even throwing its experienced rider. Any horse can and will get spooked and any rider can be thrown. The problem is that a horse doesn’t fall flat on its back when it gets spooked. 

Again, I liked a lot. 

For the first time, I got a sense of Otto Hightower as a human being. His scene with Alicent conveyed a lot about both of them, which was necessary to understand Alicent’s character better. I really liked Alicent, I thought her reactions were founded, understandable and to me at least, pretty relatable. The acting was quite good. 

I enjoyed Laenor and Rhaenyra’s dynamic, it was sweet and the mutual respect and care showed in spite of the slightly clumsy dialogue (was that intentional? I couldn’t tell). Corlys was great and his conversation with Rhaenys was a highlight. It made them both human and two dimensional, which has been missing from previous episodes. Driftmark was stunning, especially the interior sets, though the beach shots were also lovely especially the grass ones with Laenor and Joffrey. 

The wedding set was once again beautiful. The arrival of the Velaryons was epic. The actress 100% pulled off Alicent’s power walk (the spectator comments were unnecessary, the scene perfectly conveyed what it needed to convey). The tension they were building throughout the wedding scene was sublime, I as a viewer felt the discomfort in the room, the acting was amazing on everybody’s part. 

BUT. 

That whole thing just falls apart when you try to contrive a climax to it that makes as little sense as this one did.

For crying out loud, it takes TWO people, TWO people to drag Criston off of that little git this Joffry person was. There were like 10 men around, in close proximity. Also, were is THE REST of the freaking King’s Guard? Aren’t there 6 more of them? Why aren’t they there at a royal wedding in full armor exactly to prevent something like this? Where’s the regular guard? How do you not break up something like this in minutes? Who the fuck tossed Laenor over the table? Cole? Because if he did, why didn’t someone slip in and drag the Joffrey person away, while Cole was busy with Laenor? the choreography of the scene is so terrible because they deliberately directed and shot the extras in a way that suggested a mass confrontation, which this wasn’t. And that begs the question of why didn’t anybody react like a functional human being would do? You have two functional human reactions when a king’s guard starts beating up a noble guest at a royal wedding: you flee the crowd to stay safe and let help get there, you try to break up the fight. You don’t stand around and cheer like it’s the bloody colosseum. 

Okay, Joffrey dies. Why isn’t Cole arrested or even executed on site? How does he get to that tree WITH HIS WEAPON? He just killed a noble guest at the royal wedding! He is a murderer and a liability to the safety of anybody in the Red Keep. Why is he alone at the tree and why does the queen just walk up to him? What fresh hell is this? 

and also yes, Viserys is sick, we get it, unless you mean to kill him in weeks (which you don’t because I know from the episode 6 stills I saw on Facebook that he makes the next time jump), there’s really no need to hand this fact out so heavily. We get it. 

As for Daemon… just how stupid is this dude? Why didn’t you kill that wife years ago and why didn’t you find a slightly less idiotic way? Also, did he fly there at daybreak and wait in case she rode that way? The woman opened her mouth once and you totally understood why Daemon didn’t go anywhere near her by the way. So as a viewer am I supposed to forgive Daemon for killing his insufferable wife so he may get his insufferable niece? Or am I supposed to feel disgusted and deeply sorry for this insufferable woman who was insufferable from the moment she opened her mouth the first time till the end of 3 minutes I knew her as a character? Seriously. I know it’s not a popular opinion, but mostly I’m just bored with Daemon. He is an overrated narcissistic baby, and as such a right match for Rhaenyra. 

I hated the hairstyles too. What are those updos? 

oh yeah it’s so weird that they changed the young Velaryon actors. Laena looked 10 and now she looks 25+ While Rhaenyra is still played by the same person. That’s what you get when you compress the timeline so. 

no, sorry, I’m still not done. I actually had an issue with the tension building too. It relied on characters figuring things we as an audience found out through two episodes’ worth of story by glances and looks. I’m not saying that Joffrey person and Daemon weren’t painfully obvious. But you can’t have the same character be so obvious in their body language and then walk up to Cole and talk to hiM about keeping secrets. What freaking secret, my friend, the entirely room read you like an open book. And sure, let’s say it’s in character for Joffrey and Daemon to be so obvious, where are the consequences? As for the rest of them, can we at least have someone, anyone, not know everything from looks? 

I gave it a 6 and once again I feel rather generous. 

What in fresh hell happened here? How do you screw up 53 decent minutes in only 5 more? How do you ruin something in literal minutes? Who approved this scene? 

so if you take away the first 5 minutes and the last 5 minutes, the episode was a solid 7-7.5. ridiculous. 

Seriously… 

Pfff… I liked the Velaryon score a lot. The dragon shot was nice, you know you’ve got to have a dragon shot. Laenor was fine, Corlys and Rhaenys were great. I really liked the choice for the new hand, I got a whole lot of my questions from the previous episode answered. The wedding set and the driftmark set were stunning, I loved the Velaryon costumes. I loved Alicent’s power walk and her scene with Otto. 

I… really didn’t love the wedding, and no, you didn’t get the shockvalue of the red wedding and in spite of all effort, the affair remained dull because there were two too few deaths. for crying out loud… 

3 hours ago, Buckwheat said:

do like winter, but thick and clumsy winterwear is not my thing. And yes, the transition from full summer to what we have now was so sudden. Now I am here in my flat in a thick hoodie and my legs covered with a blanket.

Oh I love me a thick, blanket-sized cardigan and all the soft and fluffy winter accessories. Also coats. Some people love handbags or shoes, I love coats. And I even love the fresh, crispy air - outdoors, not in a room sitting in front of my laptop in three layers and a blanket. I had two pairs of socks on too. 

3 hours ago, Buckwheat said:

This school has the strangest system in that we have four different schedules (A, B, C, D) and they alternate weekly. So we basically get the same schedule once per month until the end of the school year (June). Schedule A is tolerable, I suppose. Schedules B and C are terrible. And I don't have the schedule D yet.

 that sounds like a nightmare to keep track of! when I used to be at school the most complicated schedule we had was weeks A and B. So how is this working for you? Like how long does it take to get used to? Is it more difficult to schedule other plans around work this way? Do you prefer the four versions to only one (potentially shitty) schedule? Sorry, I’m genuinely curious, never heard of such a complicated system before! 

Quote

Tell me if you end up liking it. 

Will do   

7 hours ago, dsjj251 said:

Alicent doesnt care who Rhaenyra slept with, its the very fact that she did indeed sleep with someone.  Yall are missing the forest for the trees.

I haven’t watched the new episode yet, but even the subtext of the previous one hinted that Alicent is jealous. She never got to choose a lover (whoever that may be) and she resents that Rhaenyra might have/did experience what she never has and probably never will, unless she compromises her values and moral duty. She resents that she did the right thing and her duty while Rhaenyra didn’t and she’s still the one to “lose” in the grand scheme of things. 

11 hours ago, Buckwheat said:

don't have the luxury of having an AC. I have to wait for the whole building to start heating.

The price of the utilities has gone up ridiculously even without the heating. The winter is going to be very expensive.

I am still wearing my summer pyjamas because I prefer them, but I will have to switch to warmer ones soon too.

Yeah, we have that in a lot of city buildings as well, but it also doesn’t get that cold in the city. Here there’s shit insulation, few buildings and not sharing walls with neighbors and it’s really cold. 

oh yeah, there’s a whole lot of concern and even more fear-mongering about energy supplies and prices for the winter. 

Same. The transition was a bit too short and I didn’t anticipate needing a blanket just two weeks after still wearing summer dresses, but I’m trying to rewire my brain and be excited about thick fluffy winterwear. 

11 hours ago, Buckwheat said:

rather have a packed Monday and/or Tuesday and then I can say I already have mose of the week done with.  

Well, yeah, I can understand that. Does the schedule change at half term or is this till June? 
 

11 hours ago, Buckwheat said:

spent most of it with the gentleman (inside, because it was raining a lot), but I also visited a friend for a short while. The most interesting part of the weekend was going to the cinema. We saw Elvis. It is a good film, I can recommend it.

that sounds fun, even with the rain. I heard only good things about Elvis, might check it out. 

1 hour ago, Buckwheat said:

t got really cold in the past few days here too. There was flooding in some parts of the country between Thursday and Saturday, luckily the rain has stopped now. But yes, it doesn't seem the hot afternoons are returning. Winter is coming and all that.

I actually put on the AC in heating mode while I took a shower   Just so I don’t freeze in pjs. Winter is coming indeed. 

1 hour ago, Buckwheat said:

tested myself and wore a mask here and there last week already. There were already some cases at my workplace.

Hope you manage to avoid it. Here people kinda just treat it like common flu at this point, at least my office even took down the hand sanitizer in the elevator landings…  I’ve been wearing a mask on public transport for a couple weeks as well, not sure how much it does for me, but it’s no discomfort at all, so why not. 

1 hour ago, Buckwheat said:

have to start very early tomorrow. My schedules this year are really weird, I often get a small number of hours on Monday and then the whole day full on Friday, which is ... less than ideal. But I suppose I will handle it, as I really have no other choice. I will complain about it a lot, though.

Did you manage to go dog-sitting then?

That’s nice though, that you have an easy start of the week. Even if it’s not ideal that Fridays are jampacked. Which is a most valid thing to complain about

I did indeed, I’m staying till Tuesday evening. It’s not the same without Prince William, but I do love the other doggos too. We had big walkies today with everyone. Chubbs is sleeping in the house with me now. And I had to give extra blankets to the Chancellor because well 10C at night. 

How was your weekend? 

10 minutes ago, DMC said:

Sure, you have to grant the show liberties in this regard -- if that's even how it's going to happen.  Obviously they're speeding up the time machine to get to the Dance. 

Although, in defense, just because she didn't know Laenor was gay at such a young age doesn't mean she wouldn't know he was gay at a markedly older age.  Particularly when those ages gloss over each of their puberties.  The time change giveth, and the time change taketh away.

I mean we already glossed over some big character development opportunities to speed through the story (I don’t know what we are speeding toward because I didn’t read whatever the source material was*) and get to wherever we need to get to. I guess we will see if the trade off was worth it. 

*I’m fine with the spoilers, I don’t intend to read Fire and Blood or whatever other story is involved. 

7 hours ago, DMC said:

And, considering she relents on marrying Laenor as long as Otto is sacked, perhaps she's aware he's gay and she'll still be afforded that independence anyway.

B-b-b-but the last time she was in the same shot with Laenor was in episode 1 and he was like 12. How could she possibly know in the premise of the show? And here I was generous enough to think that Rhaenyra agreed because she wanted to right her bad decision.

1 hour ago, DMC said:

As an instructor that's had to inflate grades for countless undergrads that don't meet expectations, a "B" is clearly an 8.  A 7 is a C.  Lowered expectations  

 Well I talked myself back to a 6 in the other thread anyway. So C- then? 

So there was a lot I liked here, Alicent and Viserys (both as separate individuals and as a union) are still the most interesting, relatable and fond part of this show for me. I still think there’s a lot of room to enrich them as characters especially Alicent. I would like to see how she experiences motherhood and how she views her children with Viserys.  I think the episodes so far had a good take on how she isn’t in loved with, least of all attracted to the king, but she still cares for him and has genuine warmth toward him. 

I really liked Viserys’s reaction to the report about Rhaenyra and I generally like how he (attempts to) parent her. I like Viserys. 

I kinda like the younger and more playful Jorah-Daenerys dynamic of Rhaenyra and Criston Cole. And I hope they dive into how their relationship evolves. Thus far it seems like Criston Cole is a handsome young man who Rhaenyra enjoys having around, but he’s hardly the forbidden love of her life. I want to see how he feels about Rhaenyra’s using him even though he is genuinely completely in love with her and how this changes their dynamic. 

The episode was shot beautifully. The sets are rich and gorgeous. 

But. 

You need to stop putting lines and messages of gravity into the mouth of a no-name, no-background prop character who had a total of 5 minutes of screen time in four episodes. Much like fetch, you need to stop trying to make Daemon’s paramour/prostitute/lady friend happen. 

Why in the deepest pits of hell would you have a scene of a 10 year old lethally stabbing a grownass man over mild bullying and then walk away with the camera and pretend it never happened? Why? How? What did you wish to accomplish? What was the point? 

Sacking Otto Hightower lacked buildup. This is something someone should have been consistently whispering to Viserys or something he should have gradually realized over small moments (if there were any that I didn’t notice, my mistake).

So Rhaenyra will wed Laenor. When, how, with whose assistance did the sea snake learn about and agree to this idea? Didn’t he want to tug at Viserys’s chain a bit and play hard to get after Laena was passed over? At least have the grace to include a no dialogue scene of Viserys corresponding. 

Rhaenyra is still a brat by the way, she has no respect for anything or anyone though she seems to have toned herself down concerning Alicent. She really really really badly needs to recognize her privilege, which is something Criston Cole, Viserys, Alicent and even Daemon brought to her attention at this point. 

Which brings us to my worst and biggest complaint. King’s Landing is actually a hedonistic carnival by night? Wow. Just wow. Theatre, acrobatics, finger food, wine, dancing, sex dungeons. What else would the small folk be doing in their freedom by night? Not sleeping because they work 18 hours a day to make a living. Not dying or being sick because of an infection they caught one way or the other? Not starving because they are down on coppers and have 8 children? Not getting stabbed because someone wants to rob them of the one copper they do have? (Wasn’t crime a problem in this city just 3 episodes ago?) Naaaah. It’s an R rated frenzy of freedom and fun. Rhaenyra better get a reality check about the freedom of the commoners soon. 

And in a related topic. I want to be generous and assume that depicting the passion and elemental instinct in sex through a brothel scene is an exaggeration for contrast and Rhaenyra is yet to find the healthy approach to sex in later episodes. Still, it’s a choice to awaken her interest in physical intimacy in a setting where people buy it as a service from providers of questionable willingness, who most likely didn’t go down this path in life out of freedom. And no, the way to balance this is not a throwaway line about hard lessons from Daemon’s ladyfriend. 

Hmmm… 

What an interesting idea to commit an entire episode to this one theme only. And still end up lacking depth. I’m being unfair, the episode did have more layers than I would have expected, and the thought and care that went into it really showed. But the complexity still didn’t take my breath away.

On the one hand it was refreshing to take a break from contrived affairs that resolve themselves in 10 minutes of screen time/off screen. On the other hand the gratuitous fillers fragmented what could have been a beautiful slow burn of a deep topic. (Which also wasn’t as deep or beautiful as it could have been)

The plot advancement happened the episode served happened abruptly and without a gradual or substantial buildup. Some filler scenes made so little sense you ended up blinking yourself out of the experience. The acting is all right with Viserys and Rhaenyra standing out as particularly strong. I’m still not a huge fan of the female costumes but the male costumes are beautiful and rich, as are the sets. The cinematography was absolutely beautiful especially in vulnerable scenes. (And no, cinematography doesn’t require large scale battles or computer generated acrobatics and beasts to be beautiful) 

I gave it a 6, which feels unfair now. It was a B… -. Let’s translate that to a 7. 

On 9/6/2022 at 8:44 PM, Buckwheat said:

I ended up going home between classes and the parent-teacher conference, as I had a few hours. It worked out.

I am sorry to hear your work is brutal. I hope it improves.

The mornings are cold already, but the afternoons, when I return home, are still hot. I never know what to wear. I put on jeans in the morning, and in the afternoon, I wish I had just a skirt. Hmmmm, maybe skirt with tights underneath is the answer. I can take these off and go home without being too hot in the afternoon in just the skirt.

I can’t say it has improved. But at least my job seems to want to make it better for me so there’s that. Even as a gesture it was nice, especially if it manifests into something. 

that sounds like the life hack for this season. Though here it’s kinda past the hot afternoon phase now. We have steadily crawled into the jacket season this week. 

17 hours ago, Buckwheat said:

... anybody home?

Aaaaanyway, school is still going on as usual. There are already covid cases going around. Way too many covid cases overall.

Just one day till the weekend! I am looking forward to it.

Yes, still here  

quite a bit of covid around here as well but it’s mostly treated and viewed as common flu and nobody gives a damn… which feels a bit weird to me still but I suppose it’s the natural course of things.

yay for the weekend. I’m taking most of today for chores and errands anyway. And if I didn’t catch covid at a work event yesterday, I’ll go dog-sitting for a couple days on Saturday. 

Well hello autumn and below 20C evenings and hot tea spiked with rum  

19 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Lazy Europeans.

 

You have to earn holidays off. 

If you are too stupid to work at a place that does not give paid holidays, then you do not deserve a paid holiday.

Hear hear! 

Noooo  everybody deserves paid holidays whatever work they do. Only because some don’t have the opportunity/character/luck to work in a place that gives  paid holidays, doesn’t mean they aren’t hard workers fully deserving that paid holiday. Also, why can a workplace even do that? My European brain cannot conceive the labor law that allows this. 

hmm, isn’t it bad luck to kill spiders? I keep my spiders because they eat my other insect intruders. I only “cut back” the web when it gets too visible. 

I fully understand why Rhaenyra is being a brat, and that anybody in her place would be. My issue with her is that badass moments with her dragon or killing boars (which really wouldn’t have worked without Criston Cole) doesn’t make her a likable person or a more capable ruler than Viserys. She either needs to hit rock bottom to start growing soon, or she needs to care about something or someone enough that it brings out some natural humility in her. Because watching a bratty protagonist be bratty and badass gets very boring, very quickly. And thus far Alicent 100% outclasses her as strong female character. 
 

I kinda liked this episode.

You do have to get over the criminal decision to time jump 2 years and cut vital character moments and challenges for Rhaenyra, Viserys and Alicent. I don’t know who made this choice but they definitely missed a gold mine of opportunity for first class scenes. 

I also didn’t like that Laenor (who makes me think of the fabric softener, sorry) aged 5+ years in two. At least my last recollection of him is that he looks to be about 12. 

I hate cgi version of real life animals with passion. It’s so fake and cheap it rips you out of the story completely. How difficult/expensive  can it be to go to a conservation center and film an actual deer? You can touch up the color by computer and fake the kill with smart cinematography and a bit of cgi. Please make an effort. 

I did like that Daemon didn’t (really) have dialogue and Matt Smith acted out the layers of the character without having to deliver dumb sassy lines. 

I liked the dragon ex machina scene in the beginning though it’s interesting that the dragon is driven away by a couple hundred flaming arrows. I mean if arrows are of use against these things, would they really have been the ultimate deciding weapons in battles? But fine, cgi budget (though you know, you didn’t need the deers).

I like Alicent’s character and her portrayal, I really liked her dynamic with other characters in various scenes, it showed a lot about who she is and how she deals with her situation without gratuitous exposition. Rhaenyra is a rude brat which is getting tired and monotonous. I really liked Viserys though, his scenes this episode conveyed that he is not fit for ruling much more effectively than previous episodes. His physical tiredness, weakness, his psychological struggle with the pressure, the family and internal conflicts, turning to alcohol… it will be time to see something  different next episode, but for now it played out well. 

If I gave a 5/10 to previous episodes, this would be a solid 7/10. 

14 minutes ago, A True Kaniggit said:

You get paid holidays? I’m Jelly. 
 

They take 8 hours of PTO for holidays.  

Europe things.

That’s barbaric  Bank/religious holidays are paid and not retracted from one’s paid days off here. 

11 minutes ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Shitty raise?

Well it didn’t exceed my expectation. But I should rein in my millennial entitlement and appreciate the extra paid holiday days I got. 

We had a department announcement today about annual raises. The communication was disgraceful and it’s barely more than nothing but it could be worse. Well… then, I cry half desperate, grant me at least a new servitude, 2023. 

We had an announcement at work about  the annual raise, which seemed like the right time to finish up my summer gin. I didn’t like this gin (Harahorn). In general, I don’t like pink gin. 100% a cheapo Beefeater advocate. 

And with that, let the autumn winter booze season commence. I will finally make hot buttered rum this year. 

10 hours ago, Buckwheat said:

I meant that the happiest are the ones I don't teach anymore, so that means they got rid of me.  But still, it is nice to see all of them.

Some new hair colours, a few might have grown a bit ... and some 16 or 17 year old boys got like three flimsy hairs under their noses and are now sooooooooo proud of their "mustache".  Because they are soooooo adult, you see.

The next three days, I have to be at the workplace before 7 ... and on Tuesday, there is the parent-teacher conference in the afternoon, which means I have to stay until late afternoon. Not too thrilled about that.

How is your work, RB?

I doubt that’s the reason  

Well 16-17 is still the awkward in-between phase. I guess it’s kinda sweet how desperately they want to appear and be adults at that age. If only they knew what they wish for…!  

ah I’m sorry. I have extra long days as well, September is always brutal. And soooo much non-work related baggage. I’ve only been back one week from vacation and I’m already exhausted. 

30 minutes ago, Buckwheat said:

We already got warned at our job that this winter, we are going to limit the heating, it will be strict with turning the lights off and other energy-saving measures ... 

my sweet summer child of the euro zone. We are expecting schools to close for the heating season and go fully online covid style because the institutions can’t afford overheads during the winter months *   In Eastern European despair* 

seriously though I’m sorry, these measure are annoying and sitting in class in winter coats is so. Hope the kids will take it well. 

35 minutes ago, Buckwheat said:

Our school year just started today, as in, the students came back! It was a chaotic and exhausting day, but also it made me happy. I actually missed my noisy, provocative, moody, typically teenagerish band of 16-year-olds.

Obviously I got the most enthusiastic, happiest and warmest greetings from the ones I don't teach anymore this year.

Yay for that! It’s so nice of them, sure sign that you are a well liked and appreciated teacher! Congrats for that! And it’s really sweet that you missed your class. Have they grown/changed over the summer? 
 

We had a dreary first day of September and I feel sorry for the kiddos that they had to start school in pouring rain. But I’m sure friends and shine new school supplies made up for it, I do have fond memories of prepping for the school year.