spoilers [Spoilers] Episode 101 Discussion

[RhaenysBee]

The number of times I said I wasn’t going to watch this… oh well, it rained all evening and what else are you going to do in a boring vacation village while holed up in a disappointing Airbnb? So we watched House of the Dragon. 

I found it way too long and way too boring. There was no character, plot, stakes or general vibe that I would want to watch the next episode for. The story didn’t make me like Rhaenyra enough, or dislike Daemon enough or sympathize with political problems enough to make me care about what comes next. The general problem of this show is that it cannot offer anything Game of Thrones hadn’t done bigger and better at some point throughout its unfortunate lifecycle.

The costumes are fine, but nothing special, the sets are fine, the actors are doing a good enough job, the dragons are fine. But we have seen very similar costumes before - I personally don’t see the fashion evolution of 170 years or anything that sets Targaryens in particular apart, the wigs are downright terrible and so are hairstyles. We have seen very similar sets before though I do like the jazzed up Iron Throne. We have seen better actors on Game of Thrones as well as better casting choices and we have also seen dragon cgi before. And as much as HBO seems to have a checklist for mandatory game of thrones tropes too, we have seen plenty brothel sex, butts and torture scenes too. There’s just absolutely nothing that has even the chance to tickle my stimulus threshold. So it’s all bound to fall on the shoulders of the characters. 

Rhaenyra has the potential to become interesting, as mentioned in the comments, she has that edge, but it’s really early to tell if the writers are going to let that edge out to play. I’m curious where HBO in 2022 is going to take her relationship with Alicent. Viserys is surprisingly well acted but quite mediocre as a character, which may prove otherwise further down the road. Hightower was quickly set up to be the guy you’re really going to hate but it seems like HBO can’t decide how much of a jackass they are allowed to make Daemon in today’s social climate so they are trying to write him both ways (or is this a preplanned inner conflict the character is going to face and resolve throughout the story?). 

The c-section scene was more disturbing that any of GoT’s “big controversial” moments, which is I’m sure another checkbox objective they were told to meet. I don’t know a whole lot about medieval c-sections, but based on other film references, this felt awfully unrealistic and unnecessarily inhumane. (And no, sorry the mEsSaGe didn’t justify it either and it was out of character for Viserys to allow it to go down in the manner it did) 

overall, to me it was a paint by numbers copy of Game of Thrones thus far and I wouldn’t rate it one inch above 5/10. 

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

19 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

I already said it - Criston introduction made me root for him. I dislike the book character to a degree, view him as a Littlefinger-type Kingsguard ... but I could actually like that guy because he is an outsider - very much a Dunk character - trying to get into this court of snakes, and they will play with him until he (kind of) fights back. I had similar feelings for Gwayne Hightower ... and find it said that we will most likely not see more of him.

Fabian Frankel described Criston as a "lowborn knight who is in over his head" and who doesn't realize how much power he has, so maybe they'll keep him somewhat sympathetic throughout the show.

[zajaz]

7 minutes ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

Fabian Frankel described Criston as a "lowborn knight who is in over his head" and who doesn't realize how much power he has, so maybe they'll keep him somewhat sympathetic throughout the show.

I read some (alleged) leaks that, if true, could lead to some... interesting discussions about the whole Cole and Rhaenyra affair.

[C.T. Phipps]

30 minutes ago, RhaenysBee said:

I found it way too long and way too boring.

Weird, I thought it was at least 15 minutes long.

[EggBlue]

1 hour ago, Daeron the Daring said:

I doubt they couldn't marry each other if they wanted to. 

Imagine of Laenor wasn't gay. It means he would've ultimately ended up developing a crush on a girl, with a Targaryen mindset, far away from Rhaenyra, sincs he wouldn't have lived at court. Tell me it would not have happened if Laenor was into girls (as well, at the very least).

obviously , they could if they wanted to even with faith complaining about it . Laena had the most terrible dragon of the time for god's sake! but your question was if Rhaenys and Corlys intended for their kids to wed , had Laenor been straight ... well.. why would they?! if Rhaenys had ended up on the throne , it wouldn't have been a question . they would've married . but with Viserys on the throne , it's a whole different issue . they wouldn't want their kids to marry , not get close to the IT and make a new enemy in faith . what Laenor and Laena would have wanted if Laenor wasn't gay , we can never know .but it's plausible that with their Targ mindset , they could develop romantic feelings for each other .

1 hour ago, C.T. Phipps said:

I think the crowning of Aegon III seems a natural place to stop.

yes , but they'll need to include Viserys's return as well , not only because it's an important piece of the story , but because they'll need it to make the ending (Rhaenyra's death and Aegon III's depression) less bitter. I imagine they would show the coronation and with a time jump , they'll show Targaryen siblings' reunion . they'll probably move  the timeline a bit so they won't have to deal with regency (which is different in tone than Dance)  and Jaehaera's death which they could include in the outro .. for example " Alicent Hightower died in a mad state ..etc. etc. ... Aegon II's line died out with queen Jaehaera's mysterious death .... Aegon III was followed by his sons and later his brother whose line was continued until Daenerys...." something along those lines .

[Lord of Brewtown]

On 8/21/2022 at 10:32 PM, miyuki said:

The one good thing about the tourney was the heraldry. Bright banners and surcoats with sigils, I loved that. Even the early seasons of Game of Thrones never had knights wear sigils. 

I too, really enjoyed this.  I think D&D did themselves a disservice in Game of Thrones by making the heraldry more 'gritty'/and thus less colorful and recognizable.   With a large cast of characters viewers are getting used to, the bright/recognizable heraldry can help viewers identify/learn characters.   Also, , this can make it easier if it becomes necessary to make casting changes (Gregor in GoT) for the audience to realize it's the same character.  

 

[Lord of Brewtown]

On 8/21/2022 at 9:59 PM, C.T. Phipps said:

 

* I found the cesarion scene actually more traumatizing than most of Game of Thrones' violence.

Hit me hard also.  

[BlackLightning]

20 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

I agree there.

I think the scene would have worked much better if it had been clear that they had lists and names and were identifying people rather than rounding up people which could have been easily enough just innocent bystanders. Not to mention that it would also have helped to see how lawless KL was in certain quarters before coming up with this as 'the cure'.

Because the message of this whole operation there is that this is cruel but effective, and the Kingslanders love Daemon for that. The people of KL don't feel oppressed or mistreated by that kind of thing ... although they very much should in light of how this was portrayed.

I think they are doing something different in the show.

Because there's none of that "Prince of the City" worship that Daemon receives. I think that they are making a deliberate choice in this because they are...

Spoiler

...building up to the massive citywide peasant revolt that ends up killing the dragons, displacing Rhaenyra and plunging the city into pure anarchy for a little over a month

 

12 hours ago, slant said:

And when it comes to Viserys, he does seem to be trying to please everyone in the council, which is exactly what makes him weak. 

Everyone except for Corlys

Am I the only one who noticed that Corlys was either ignored, interrupted or talked over in every single Small Council meeting in the first episode?

As of now, the only person at court in a position of power who really respects Corlys is his wife.

20 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

Maybe it’s just me, but the idea of 15-year-old Alicent marrying her best friend’s middle-aged father, and Rhaenyra being pursued by her middle-aged uncle is infinitely more creepy to me than Cersei and Jaime ever were.

I never really thought Cersei and Jaime were creepy (adult versions, mind you; if we saw child Cersei and Jaime going at it in flashbacks, that'd be a different story...)

I just thought that they were toxic and foul.

And the previous Targaryen incest marriages (Aegor-Rhaenys-Visenya, Jaehaerys-Alyssane, Aegon-Rhaena) never bothered me as creepy. Aegon IV and Naerys is repulsive as is Aerys and Rhaella

11 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

Jaime and Cersei were never creepy for me. They are established as a loving couple and there is no hint that one exploited the other. At least not insofar as the gestation of the relationship is concerned.

I strongly disagree

11 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

I'm sure in the show Rhaenyra will feel betrayed by Alicent when she finds out that she has been spending time or even fucking her dad behind her back. But this thing they should be able to overcome.

Nah.

I know teenagers in Westeros or in the Middle Ages are not like teenagers in the real world but some things never change. They are still young women by any stretch of the imagination: they will be catty and they will be petty and they will hold .

The marriage between TV-Viserys and TV-Alicent will be beginning of the end of TV-Rhaenyra and TV-Alicent's relationship.

That's my prediction, at least. I don't think Rhaenyra will be able to come to terms with that anytime soon and Alicent's future actions will make matters much worse.

8 hours ago, Rockroi said:

One thing I find interesting here in House of the Dragon when compared to Game of Thrones is the use of competency.

In GoT, competency was generally seen as a mark of a villain.  Petyr Baelish and Tywin were the early baddies in GoT; we were warned over and over again by people that at Court, vipers rule and you could be destroyed by their abilities- all off the battlefield.  Even Varys, who is not strictly a villain, comes across as untrustworthy specifically because he is good at keeping and disseminating secrets and information.  

This all comes to a crescendo at the Red Wedding when Tywin and Walder Frey conspire to dismember the King in the North when all agree that the Freys are not the most able fighters.  As we are introduced to new characters, they tend to be competent and duplicitous - Lady Ollena, Maergery etc.  

Meanwhile, the most noble and most honorable characters are either utter idiots (Robert, Ned) or children (the Stark kids) and so have not developed into competent players at the game.  We follow people who are either destroyed by the Game or grow into it (again, the Stark kids, Sam, Dany).  

This is not a perfect theory, by any means.  Tyrion is fantastic at the game and generally good; Viserys and Joff are monsters and treated as such.  

House of the Dragon has changed that dynamic... maybe?  We see Otto Hightower as extremely competent and seems to have the best interests of the realm in his head (his daughter?  Er... maybe not so much).  The Grand Maester, Corlys Belaryon, even third-level characters like Lord Beesbury and Lord Strong genuinely seem like they are very capable and ... don;t seem too too evil (yet... big, big... yet).  Yes, there is Daemon who seems out-of-control, but so far I am intrigued by the intrigue and the hope that people who are smart will use their powers for good.

Its a naïve thought, but its still there... 

The TV show oversimplified this to a fault.

Tyrion, for example, is fantastic at the game but he is not good. Same applies to Varys but, with Tyrion, it is clear that his motives and allies are bad. In fact, he is worse than Olenna and Margaery who are exactly as you said: duplicitous

The books are a lot more nuanced in that there are a lot of characters who are both competent and good.

The TV show ended with a very ugly moral that basically communicated that to be good or to want good to happen is to be incompetent or crazy and that competency is tied with being ruthless, selfish or evil. It's part of the reason why nobody liked the ending.

 

House of the Dragon appears to be both more faithful and more adult in its handling of the political competency. Sure, there will be clear villains, heroes and bystanders but there is going to be a lot of room in between.

4 hours ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

I've actually seen many viewers sympathise with young Alicent. Her transformation from a relatively innocent young girl to neurotic psycho can be hard to digest for some. I get that this is intentional, but the fact that it occurs via time skip can make it seem like an outright personality swap.

Is she supposed to turn into a neurotic psycho?

Neurotic? Yes. Bitter? Yes. Grasping and scheming? Yes.

But psycho? No. I think she's quite sane and methodical.

8 hours ago, C.T. Phipps said:

I also think the "heir for a day" is presented as Otto putting the absolute worst spin on it and making political capital out of it when his king ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT THIS.

Agreed.

Notice that we did not actually see Daemon say this. Daemon doesn't deny it but he never gets a chance to explain himself. I doubt that he celebrated it. How can he? We literally saw him onscreen being upset about it. Being the hothead he is...his inability to explain is partially his fault.

1 hour ago, C.T. Phipps said:

I think the crowning of Aegon III seems a natural place to stop.

 

I disagree.

I think we need to end the show with the Lysene Spring. In other words, the return of Viserys with Larra Rogare, the battle between Alys Rivers and the Targaryens at Harrenhal and Aegon's marriage to Daenaera Velaryon is a good place to stop.

59 minutes ago, C.T. Phipps said:

Mind you, in the books, Rhaenyra is treated as a usurper, which is bullshit.

If I recall only Stannis believes that. Which makes sense as Stannis is often full of bullshit.

1 hour ago, Daeron the Daring said:

And then Rhaena or Baela will do an outro (just like Rhaenyra did the voice to the intro), where she tells that Jaehaera ultimately dies, Viserys comes back and dragons go extinct? Sounds weird to me. 

I thought it was Rhaenys who did the intro.

In any case, yeah I 100% agree with you. It would be very weird. And lame for the show to end with a spoken outro.

 

[BlackLightning]

I maintain that the show needs to show the Regency period. They can truncate and twist it around a bit to fit it all in a season but it's necessary.

The fall of Alicent's line by way of Aegon needs to be seen onscreen. Meaning Jaehaera has to die, Unwin Peake has to scheme and Aegon III has to marry (or at least be betrothed) to Daenera.

We also need to see the last dragons die.

[C.T. Phipps]

2 minutes ago, BlackLightning said:

I maintain that the show needs to show the Regency period. They can truncate and twist it around a bit to fit it all in a season but it's necessary.

The fall of Alicent's line by way of Aegon needs to be seen onscreen. Meaning Jaehaera has to die, Unwin Peake has to scheme and Aegon III has to marry (or at least be betrothed) to Daenera.

We also need to see the last dragons die.

I mean the show is about Rhaenyra and Alicent, I don't see why we would want to see much of the show beyond Rhaenyra being avenged by Cregan Stark. The Regency period is an entirely different generation and storyline.

And we can skip Viserys being alive by showing him not dying.

Edited August 24, 2022 by C.T. Phipps

[BlackLightning]

Just now, C.T. Phipps said:

I mean the show is about Rhaenyra, I don't see why we would want to see much of the show beyond her being avenged.

The show is technically about House Targaryen: how their power over Westeros began to wane and how the dragons died.

If you end it abruptly when Aegon is crowned, literally everyone is going to wonder "well what happened to all the dragons?"

 

Even if the show is about Rhaenyra, then it's not just about avenging Rhaenyra. It's about proving that she was right and that the Greens (mainly Alicent) was wrong all along. The best/most effective way to show this is for Rhaenyra's sons to be happily reunited and positioned to rule the realm together (which means we need to see Viserys meet up the Rogares in Lys, marry into their family and return to Westeros with them) and for all of Otto and Alicent's descendants to perish...including Jaehaera.

If Jaehaera dies, then we need a new queen consort for Aegon. Hence the Unwin Peake story and maybe the siege of Maegor's Holdfast which will lead into Daenaera Velaryon.

 

You can do it all in a season with Cregan Stark at the helm with Jeyne Arryn, Unwin Peake, etc. as co-regents.

[C.T. Phipps]

I think there's WAY too much story for that but I think Aegon III is already a king over a ruined kingdom, most of the dragons dead, and most of House Targareyn destroyed.

BTW, at 24:00, KNIGHTS WATCH talks about how the Tournament violence and cheating...may not be cheating at all.

 

[Chancho]

3 hours ago, BlackLightning said:

Sorry I don't think Rhaenyra is a terrible person.

I think she is overemotional and makes a couple of really stupid mistakes but other than that, she's fine with me.

She ain't terrible yet, but she Will be... She already is a spoiled and self-centered Noble and with Daemon influence she Will never look back to any virtue she might have.

[BlackLightning]

Just now, Chancho said:

She ain't terrible yet, but she Will be... She already is a spoiled and self-centered Noble and with Daemon influence she Will never look back to any virtue she might have.

What will be so terrible about Rhaenyra?

The fact that she orders and oversees mass executions for traitors? That she rules a city that had been previously held by an enemy (an enemy that could still very well be hiding within the city) with an iron fist?

Daemon does worse and Viserys and the majority of his Small Council approves.

3 minutes ago, C.T. Phipps said:

I think there's WAY too much story for that but I think Aegon III is already a king over a ruined kingdom, most of the dragons dead, and most of House Targareyn destroyed.

I disagree.

You can make the Hour of the Wolf take place at the same time as later parts of the Regency. From what I heard and based on all the rumored time-skips, they made a bunch of events that led up to the Dance all take place at the same time so they could fit it all in this season.

They can literally do the same thing for the last season of the show with the Regency, the Lysene Spring and the Hour of the Wolf

[zajaz]

31 minutes ago, C.T. Phipps said:

I think there's WAY too much story for that but I think Aegon III is already a king over a ruined kingdom, most of the dragons dead, and most of House Targareyn destroyed.

BTW, at 24:00, KNIGHTS WATCH talks about how the Tournament violence and cheating...may not be cheating at all.

 

I'm sorry, but... I took it to mean that the guy seems to consider the whole trick as not cheating because Daemon was not expelled from the tournament, and that (in-universe) it seemed like a valid move for that same reason, but that take us to where we started: the show might imply that what happend in the tournament is expected from jousts, but would the books say the same? Having said that, we need to view HotD and F&B as two different universes.

Edited August 24, 2022 by zajaz

[Lord Varys]

2 hours ago, Daeron the Daring said:

That would, by all standards, be a bad joke, to have someone ready for Viserys, should he has to remarry. Laena happened to be top young when Viserys widowed. It's like asking for another card with 19 in your hand.

I meant that prior to arranging the Braavosi thing this would have been what they would have want to go for if the opportunity presented itself. Sort of like, you know, Mace clearly aims for another royal wedding with his family in the Epilogue, when he suggests that Kevan should cancel the Martell betrothal and find a better husband for Myrcella.

2 hours ago, Daeron the Daring said:

On the other hand, Laenor was obviously kept unmarried to be available for Rhaenyra, but that may not have been so true in earlier times.

Before anything was official it wouldn't have been clear, but one imagines that this was what Rhaenys/Corlys were aiming at.

2 hours ago, Daeron the Daring said:

I doubt they couldn't marry each other if they wanted to. 

Imagine of Laenor wasn't gay. It means he would've ultimately ended up developing a crush on a girl, with a Targaryen mindset, far away from Rhaenyra, sincs he wouldn't have lived at court. Tell me it would not have happened if Laenor was into girls (as well, at the very least).

I don't even get how could people think he didn't say it. I imagine he was drunk and normally wouldn't have said it, but that's what he felt  and alcohol made him say it, simple as that.

 

2 hours ago, zajaz said:

Speaking of rooting for the underdogs:

  Hide contents

One of my favourite parts of Fire & Blood is the storming of the dragonpit. I'm not sure if this was GRRM's intent when writing the scene (probably not), but, to me, the mob always felt like they were the underdogs; Rhaenyra calling the people of King's Landing vermin and rats, and Mushroom saying back to her that a thousand rats can bring down a bear was oddly inspiring to me.

Now, granted, the dragons were small and chained up, except for Dreamfyre, but reading about how the mob kept charging them even after being killed by hundreds (and maybe even thousands) just made me wonder about how could those people have moved despite the weight of their huge balls.

With that being said, I think it's almost redundant to announce that I'll be lookng forward the storming of the pit. If they writers do it right, the scene might become my favourite in all House of the Dragon.

Unpopular opinion, since most people seem to love the dragons, I know, but we all have our biases, don't we?

I wrote something like that earlier, pointing out that the Storming of the Dragonpit might be a scene where the audience cheers the mob to put down the vile beasts because they brought only death and destruction on everybody so far.

Although I like Gaemon Palehair's crowd better - the Shepherd is a mad fanatic, and Trystane Truefyre just a pawn.

[Lord Varys]

1 hour ago, BlackLightning said:

I think they are doing something different in the show.

Because there's none of that "Prince of the City" worship that Daemon receives. I think that they are making a deliberate choice in this because they are...

  Reveal hidden contents

...building up to the massive citywide peasant revolt that ends up killing the dragons, displacing Rhaenyra and plunging the city into pure anarchy for a little over a month

Don't think there will be such a connection, since that is decades away. The riots in the city have to be build up slowly during the Dance, with people getting ever more paranoid and anxious that the dragons are going to burn them all. The violence is directed against all the dragons ... and all the Targaryens.

[C.T. Phipps]

37 minutes ago, zajaz said:

I'm sorry, but... I took it to mean that the guy seems to consider the whole trick as not cheating because Daemon was not expelled from the tournament, and that (in-universe) it seemed like a valid move for that same reason, but that take us to where we started: the show might imply that what happend in the tournament is expected from jousts, but would the books say the same? Having said that, we need to view HotD and F&B as two different universes.

I dunno, he pointed out it was also used in THE HEDGE KNIGHT graphic novel.

[The Bard of Banefort]

1 hour ago, BlackLightning said:

I think they are doing something different in the show.

Because there's none of that "Prince of the City" worship that Daemon receives. I think that they are making a deliberate choice in this because they are...

  Reveal hidden contents

...building up to the massive citywide peasant revolt that ends up killing the dragons, displacing Rhaenyra and plunging the city into pure anarchy for a little over a month

 

Everyone except for Corlys

Am I the only one who noticed that Corlys was either ignored, interrupted or talked over in every single Small Council meeting in the first episode?

As of now, the only person at court in a position of power who really respects Corlys is his wife.

I never really thought Cersei and Jaime were creepy (adult versions, mind you; if we saw child Cersei and Jaime going at it in flashbacks, that'd be a different story...)

I just thought that they were toxic and foul.

And the previous Targaryen incest marriages (Aegor-Rhaenys-Visenya, Jaehaerys-Alyssane, Aegon-Rhaena) never bothered me as creepy. Aegon IV and Naerys is repulsive as is Aerys and Rhaella

I strongly disagree

Nah.

I know teenagers in Westeros or in the Middle Ages are not like teenagers in the real world but some things never change. They are still young women by any stretch of the imagination: they will be catty and they will be petty and they will hold .

The marriage between TV-Viserys and TV-Alicent will be beginning of the end of TV-Rhaenyra and TV-Alicent's relationship.

That's my prediction, at least. I don't think Rhaenyra will be able to come to terms with that anytime soon and Alicent's future actions will make matters much worse.

The TV show oversimplified this to a fault.

Tyrion, for example, is fantastic at the game but he is not good. Same applies to Varys but, with Tyrion, it is clear that his motives and allies are bad. In fact, he is worse than Olenna and Margaery who are exactly as you said: duplicitous

The books are a lot more nuanced in that there are a lot of characters who are both competent and good.

The TV show ended with a very ugly moral that basically communicated that to be good or to want good to happen is to be incompetent or crazy and that competency is tied with being ruthless, selfish or evil. It's part of the reason why nobody liked the ending.

 

House of the Dragon appears to be both more faithful and more adult in its handling of the political competency. Sure, there will be clear villains, heroes and bystanders but there is going to be a lot of room in between.

Is she supposed to turn into a neurotic psycho?

Neurotic? Yes. Bitter? Yes. Grasping and scheming? Yes.

But psycho? No. I think she's quite sane and methodical.

Agreed.

Notice that we did not actually see Daemon say this. Daemon doesn't deny it but he never gets a chance to explain himself. I doubt that he celebrated it. How can he? We literally saw him onscreen being upset about it. Being the hothead he is...his inability to explain is partially his fault.

I disagree.

I think we need to end the show with the Lysene Spring. In other words, the return of Viserys with Larra Rogare, the battle between Alys Rivers and the Targaryens at Harrenhal and Aegon's marriage to Daenaera Velaryon is a good place to stop.

If I recall only Stannis believes that. Which makes sense as Stannis is often full of bullshit.

I thought it was Rhaenys who did the intro.

In any case, yeah I 100% agree with you. It would be very weird. And lame for the show to end with a spoken outro.

 

This is one of those things where age does matter. Jaehaerys and Alysanne were only two years apart. Daemon is significantly older than Rhaenyra and started grooming her from a young age. I don’t necessarily think this will get people to stop watching the show, but how we view age gaps is something that has changed dramatically during the last ten years. 

One of the problems with Alicent is that by aging her down, they’re trying to make her sympathetic by having her be the pawn of older men her whole life and, unlike Rhaenyra, never even getting the chance to experience young romance. In the books, she’s much more conniving and ambitious. They’ve actually gotten rid of some of her agency, ironically.

Jaime isn’t off the hook for siring bastards and helping pass them off as Robert’s, but Cersei was definitely emotionally abusive/manipulative towards him from the time they were teenagers. She always planned on marrying a powerful man (preferably a prince or king), but convinced him to sign his life away by joining the kingsguard so that she could still keep him to herself. He also remained faithful to her all their lives, and she didn’t, nor did she feel any guilt about this. If Cersei was a man and Jaime a woman, we would definitely recognize Cersei as the toxic partner that she is. She also hits him a lot.

[The Bard of Banefort]

Much like with the critic reviews, the fan reviews I’ve seen are roughly 2/3 positive, 1/3 negative. Initially, the reaction to Aemma’s death was uniformly positive, but now I’ve seen some more critical reactions. There were two female YouTubers I saw who hated the scene: one was a fan of the books and said it ruined Viserys’ character, the other said it was a way for the show to continue brutalizing women now that they can’t get away with copious amounts of sexual assault anymore. In a way, the showrunners can’t win, but I think that’s HBO’s fault more than the viewers’. It’s been their MO for so long, it’s unreasonable to expect skeptics to put aside all criticism right away. And while no one wants to admit it, there definitely are people who get off on this stuff. If you don’t believe me, go look at how many porn videos there are featuring rape plots.

As an aside, for all the emphasis marketing has placed on the dragons, pretty much everything I’ve seen said about them has been negative. A lot of people thought the CGI looked bad and was better on GOT.