[Spoilers] Episode 102 Discussion

[RumHam]

2 hours ago, Ran said:

streets ahead

I don't think I've ever seen anyone use this phrase outside of talking about Community but it made me smile. I hope they actually get the movie made, supposedly they've been making progress. 

I meant to ask, any guesses which dragon is in that egg? I saw someone speculate that Aemma or Baelon's soul was contained within which I thought was interesting. I'm not even sure which dragons are around. Caraxes, Syrax, Vhagar, Dreamfyre, Vermithmor, and the wild three? I'm actually surprised they haven't show more of them in the dragonpit. But I guess it's expensive and apparently Marvel uses up all the CGI houses. 

Nitpicky but now that I think about it shouldn't the egg have looked different than the GoT season one eggs? Not being petrified? 

[C.T. Phipps]

11 minutes ago, frenin said:

Tbf book Viserys didn't find appealing marrying a 12-13 yo Laena either and just noped out of that. If you add the fact that he just hates the fact that Corlys believes himself his equal.

There's a good argument that Viserys is also trying to stand up to everyone and display he's not a weak king but, of course, just plays into Otto's hands.

[C.T. Phipps]

50 minutes ago, EggBlue said:

on a second watch , I find it more unnecessary  to age down Laena and use a child actress . although Viserys complained about Laena's age here and there , there were more reasons for him to turn down the match. and the whole Viserys's issue with ages will go down the toilet when he potentially considers Aegon for Rhaenyra. in the end of the day , he mostly wanted to show Corlys who's the boss . it honestly seemed to me that he was frustrated by Corlys's proud . not to mention , this version downplayed the oddity of him choosing Alicent instead of other candidates . if their problem was that Viserys could not possibly turn down Vhaegar's rider , well, then they could have Laena claim her dragon at the age of 16-17. 

P.S.I hope they do justice by Laena/Daemon relationship . although I don't know how they're gonna do that considering that in the next episode she just turns 15! and yes, I favor "singer" version of the story there!

I have created a thread for discussing the age-ups and age-downs of characters in the show that I think some people would be interested in and relates to topics of this episode.

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by C.T. Phipps

[frenin]

14 minutes ago, C.T. Phipps said:

There's a good argument that Viserys is also trying to stand up to everyone and display he's not a weak king but, of course, just plays into Otto's hands.

I mean, the amount of disrespect both Corlys and Daemon display would force anyone to act rashly.

[Raksha 2014]

10 hours ago, frenin said:

Can you tell me where do they say that Alicent is 14 in the show? Till this episode I was convinced she was 18, she certainly looks the part.

I will never understand fans obsession with child marriages, they are creepy and should be fast forwarded as much as possible. 

 

Sometimes I love him, sometimes I just don't. I'm on the fence with the guy.

 

It's odd; Alicent, played by an actress who was 17 to 18, I believe, at the time the show was filmed, looks older than Rhaenyra, who is supposed to be 14-15 in the first two episodes and was played by an actress who was 22 when they filmed her. 

I don't remember anyone mentioning Alicent's age in the show.  In the books, she marries at the age of 18.

[zajaz]

18 minutes ago, frenin said:

I mean, the amount of disrespect both Corlys and Daemon display would force anyone to act rashly.

It's lucky for the realm that Viserys did not have a Robert-like personality, otherwise blood would been spilled ages ago.

Edited August 30, 2022 by zajaz

[Zorral]

3 hours ago, Daeron the Daring said:

having other girls around the two?

Covid safety protocols affected a great deal about how the show looks.

You see this in all sorts of series, ongoing series, and new ones, that had to shoot before vaccines etc., and those where shooting has to be interrupted due to actor(s) being sick and so.  These seasons literally look different, because they are staged differently, not only to keep distance, but to have as few people as possible on the set, as production and actors.

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, frenin said:

15-18 is not an age where noticeable changes happen.

Extraordinarily unobservant then, or at least never around kids and adolescents, and certainly not a parent!

[C.T. Phipps]

7 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Extraordinarily unobservant then, or at least never around kids and adolescents, and certainly not a parent!

In so much that the actual 13 year old is being compared to a woman of 18-20 and people saying there's not much physical difference.

[The Bard of Banefort]

1 hour ago, C.T. Phipps said:

Speaking from a modern perspective, I have absolutely no moral objections to what they did.

Well, Rhaenyra did have a number of Velaryons’ tongues ripped out and had Daemon behead another, so they’re not exactly blameless.

Edited August 30, 2022 by The Bard of Banefort

[C.T. Phipps]

3 minutes ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

Well, Rhaenyra did have a number of Velaryons’ tongues ripped out and had Daemon behead another, so they’re not exactly blameless.

That was Viserys and they absolutely had it coming.

I mean, Viserys said, explicitly, "Bring up the bastardy accusation again and I will have your tongues out."

Velaryon traitors: Hey, those guys are bastards!

I mean...that is some epic stupidity as well as treason.

[Lord Varys]

Regardless how old Alicent is supposed to be in the show, I think the directing and her posturing in this episode is kind of implying that she is slightly older or at least more mature than Rhaenyra.

[zajaz]

22 minutes ago, C.T. Phipps said:

That was Viserys and they absolutely had it coming.

I mean, Viserys said, explicitly, "Bring up the bastardy accusation again and I will have your tongues out."

Velaryon traitors: Hey, those guys are bastards!

I mean...that is some epic stupidity as well as treason.

That reminds me of the Craster's Keep scene where Karl (the fooking legend of Gin Alley) Tanner insults him. Imagine if HotD did something similar with the Velaryons.

Rhaenyra / Viserys: If any of you here present dares to suggest my sons / grandsons are bastards, I'll have your tongues...

The tensions begins to fade, until...

Some random idiot (and big balled) Velaryon: They are bastards.

Also, GRRM did wrote 'When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say'.

Edited August 30, 2022 by zajaz

[C.T. Phipps]

2 minutes ago, zajaz said:

That reminds me of the Craster's Keep scene where Karl (the fooking legend of Gin Alley) Tanner insults him. Imagine if HotD did something similar with the Velaryons.

Rhaenyra / Viserys: If any of you here present dares to suggest my sons / grandsons are bastards, I'll have your tongues...

The tensions begins to fade, until...

Some random idiot (and big balled) Velaryon: They are bastards.

Also, GRRM did wrote 'When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say'.

Also, GRRM, when you make a threat, you better follow through on it. Like if I said I am going to break your jaw with my golden hand if you say another word.

Frey: But--

*WHAM*

[Lord Varys]

Must say I really enjoy the family dynamics with Rhaenyra-Viserys-Daemon so far.

The message there is that they have problems ... but they are family. If push comes to shove they band together and overcome their personal problems.

And you know what that means? That Alicent and Rhaenyra and their children could or should have been able to do that, too. Viserys does have a quarrelsome brother already. He knows how to keep the peace in the family ... or so he thinks.

Thus it is really fun to see how things do not work out the way they used to.

It might be in part because Rhaenyra/Daemon (and Viserys, too, to a point) never see Alicent and her children as 'real' Targaryens ... but also, most likely, because Otto and Alicent don't really try to make it work the way the others used to do.

[C.T. Phipps]

Poor Laena, all she wanted was an ENORMOUS WMD to slaughter the Smallfolk.

It would have been nice if they'd had her talk about how much she loved the killing at the tourney.

You know, set up what kind of person she's going to be and why she wants to ride her dragon to torch and destroy.

[zajaz]

Regarding Alicent and her children, I can already picture in my mind several people posting questions online along the lines of 'How come Alicent's children all had silver hair despiter her being a brunette, while Rhaenyra's Strong children did not?

I wonder if the writers could change Daeron's hair color into a light / dark brown to confirm that, yes, they also have the Hightower brunette gene, but that would probably be an unnecessary change, IMO.

Besides, at the end of the day, we all know that Westeros hair and eye color genetics are just a plot device.

Edited August 31, 2022 by zajaz

[C.T. Phipps]

8 minutes ago, Lord Varys said:

It might be in part because Rhaenyra/Daemon (and Viserys, too, to a point) never see Alicent and her children as 'real' Targaryens ... but also, most likely, because Otto and Alicent don't really try to make it work the way the others used to do.

A lot of people are focused on the fact Alicent is marrying her dad, which is a crazy but real life thing.

However, Alicent is also planning to sire children to remove Rhaenyra from power.

Alicent wants to steal her birthright and every step of the way, even past death, she thwarts it.

[C.T. Phipps]

1 minute ago, zajaz said:

Regarding Alicent and her children, I can picture in my mind already several people posting questions online along the lines of 'How come Alicent's children all had silver hair despiter her being a brunette, while Rhaenyra's Strong children did not?

I wonder if the writers could change Daeron's hair color into a light / dark brown to confirm that, yes, they also have the Hightower brunette gene, but that would probably be an unnecessary change, IMO.

Besides, at the end of the day, we all know that Westeros hair and eye color genetics are just a plot device.

You know, I 100% hope we find that Alicent has her sons hair dyed. Possibly even wearing wigs in public.

Because that's something no one has seemingly thought of.

It would also fit with how contemptible the House of Hightower is.

Edited August 31, 2022 by C.T. Phipps

[zajaz]

8 minutes ago, C.T. Phipps said:

A lot of people are focused on the fact Alicent is marrying her dad, which is a crazy but real life thing.

However, Alicent is also planning to sire children to remove Rhaenyra from power.

Alicent wants to steal her birthright and every step of the way, even past death, she thwarts it.

This 'she' is Rhaenyra, right? If so, that's probably true, although she seems to be remembered by Westerosi in general as the one who was the usurper. Speaking of which, I think Aegon III got his 'official' claim by virtue of being the only legitimate male Targaryen left (as far as people knew), not because he was Rhaenyra's son. Which makes me wonder why neither he nor Viserys decreed that their mother was the rightful queen after all.