[Spoilers] Episode 106 Discussion

[TeethGrinder]

4 hours ago, Lightoftheast said:

I'm pretty dissapointed with lack of Rhaenys too. 

She was supposed to be a fiery granny like watered Visenya in books  & Olenna in this show but there's no screentime for her.She is fine with her situation and has zero ambition which is not quite how i pictured someone called The Queen who never was.

I want her to lash out on Rhae for bastard children. So far no one has directly confronted Rhae on it. 

I expect she'll be in the next two episodes a bit more given the titles, that's where we'll see her reaction. 

Tbh she's not used all that much in F&B either and I found the end of her story to be pretty underwhelming even if it was badass. 

Edited September 29, 2022 by TeethGrinder

[EggBlue]

57 minutes ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

There’s a rumor that 

  Reveal hidden contents

rather than getting killed off, Laenor and Qarl will fake their deaths and run away together next episode. . . which runs into some pretty big lore complications seeing as he has a dragon.

 

I would have said no , there's no chance , he won't leave all his family when he is already with Qarl anyways and he has to keep it a secret anywhere else!  but I've already seen the silliness of Laena , Rhea and Joffrey's deaths

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

2 minutes ago, EggBlue said:

I would have said no , there's no chance , he won't leave all his family when he is already with Qarl anyways and he has to keep it a secret anywhere else!  but I've already seen the silliness of Laena , Rhea and Joffrey's deaths

Actually, I've seen many people say that Laena's death on the show is better than in the book. I don't necessarily agree, but I don't think it was completely awful.

[EggBlue]

8 minutes ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

Actually, I've seen many people say that Laena's death on the show is better than in the book. I don't necessarily agree, but I don't think it was completely awful.

I've seen that too . however , I cannot see why , no matter how much I try !

I mean first of all, dragonriders don't get roasted , they burn the others . then , it appears that Daemon wasn't going to make Viserys's choice (which would have explained why Laena would prefer getting roasted than letting Daemon decide her sacrifice whether she would have wanted to give her life for uncertain life of her child or not) . additionally, with how little screen time they have given Laena , they have completely lost the only characterization she gets in the book: that she is adventurous , bold and loves flying . her conversation with Daemon about Pentosi offer was a good opportunity to have her talk of why she married him (likely for adventure) , why she prefers life of a traveler rather than country life and that if she had to stop her travels , she'd rather be in Driftmark where her daughters can have their birthrights ( in the book she and Rhaenyra made the match between their children) . and in the end, you could have her go to Vhaegar for one last fight. heck, she could actually fly to Driftmark and we didn't have to think of how Daemon will bring Vhagar back! not to mention , in this mess , they have left out another one of few redeemable qualities in Daemon!  that instead of standing there seemingly unbothered with the pain his wife is going through , he'd fly to another island to get another maester so that he may be able to give her a  chance of survival!  this Daemon seemed to be just waiting to go back to bed!

[The Bard of Banefort]

1 hour ago, Ran said:

Referring to the same rumor I suppose.

Were you given early access to the next episode too then? Does this mean we can set this rumor safely aside?

[C.T. Phipps]

Quote

I didnt like the weird looks Alicent gives to King Aegon & grabs his chin.The show makers are already making Alicent very crazy. And they are clearly going Greens bad and Blacks good by that unnecessary jerk scene. All mushroom rumors on him is likely going to be shown while those on Rhae would be whitewashed.

I mean we already have Daemon murdering his wife.

I don't think the "Greens bad, Blacks good" argument is anymore likely here than it is in the books.

It's just the majority of things Rhaenyra does that are bad are minor compared to what we believe about sexuality in the modern era.

They have confirmed quite a lot of the rumors about Rhaenyra ranging from Daemon and the brothels to the bastardry.

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

14 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

Now that I think about it, maybe they should have Daeron look like Alicent at the very least, since Rhaenyra’s two youngest sons will be pure Valyrian. That way there’s a mix on both sides.

In every image I've seen, Daeron looks like Nick Carter circa 1999. As do most male Targaryens, to be fair. 

[butterweedstrover]

3 hours ago, C.T. Phipps said:

I mean we already have Daemon murdering his wife.

I don't think the "Greens bad, Blacks good" argument is anymore likely here than it is in the books.

It's just the majority of things Rhaenyra does that are bad are minor compared to what we believe about sexuality in the modern era.

They have confirmed quite a lot of the rumors about Rhaenyra ranging from Daemon and the brothels to the bastardry.

Rhaenyra is this episode was just completely sympathetic and Alicent was awful. No modern audience is going to care that Rhaenyra breed her children off of another man because her husband was unable/unwilling to perform with his full consent. 
 

Which means the show is going for Blacks good, Greens bad.

[C.T. Phipps]

5 minutes ago, butterweedstrover said:

Rhaenyra is this episode was just completely sympathetic and Alicent was awful. No modern audience is going to care that Rhaenyra breed her children off of another man because her husband was unable/unwilling to perform with his full consent.

Which means the show is going for Blacks good, Greens bad.

If you ignore the other episodes, yes.

[The Bard of Banefort]

This article struck home for me because I, too, miss Cersei Lannister. And Sansa.

https://slate.com/culture/2022/09/house-of-the-dragon-cersei-lannister-game-of-thrones-hbo.html
 

10 minutes ago, C.T. Phipps said:

If you ignore the other episodes, yes.

The problem is, there’s a jarring narrative gap between the first five episodes and the sixth. The first half of the season was the writers’ own take on the characters, whereas the most recent episode was a fairly straightforward adaptation of the characters from FnB. The problem is those are two different sets of characters, especially Rhaenyra and Alicent.

[Ran]

I feel like Alicent does some of the same things as F&B Alicent but her motives definitely grow out of what the writers set in the first five episodes. I feel like Rhaenyra is a bit harder to understand, in some ways, namely in how she went from fearing and dreading motherhood to happily popping out multiple children and not seeming fussed about it. I feel like seeing the lead up to her first pregnancy and birth in an additional episode, stopping as she's about to give birth, and then starting ten years later with the birth of a third child... that might have done it.

But they had 10 episodes, not 11, so I understand why that didn't happen. Maybe if people petition enough, HBO wil lsanction a special one-off episode with Milly and Emily? Heh.

[slant]

5 hours ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

Actually, I've seen many people say that Laena's death on the show is better than in the book. I don't necessarily agree, but I don't think it was completely awful.

This looked like mercy killing by Vhagar, and I kind of liked it because it shows a kind of destructive compassion of an old dragon. If I remember right, I think in the books she gave birth to one of the malformed babies. and I do not know why they are not showing those on the show. In any case, it would have been nice to have Rhaenyra comforting Daemon at this time, but I also like the approach that the show has taken. 

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

https://slate.com/culture/2022/09/house-of-the-dragon-cersei-lannister-game-of-thrones-hbo.html

Something is seriously wrong when people say that they miss Cersei's competence.

[butterweedstrover]

36 minutes ago, C.T. Phipps said:

If you ignore the other episodes, yes.

Which is the point, the characterization is completely different from something nuanced to a trope filled evil step mother routine. Even Rhaenyra has lost a lot of her bit and sarcasm which made people dislike her. 
 

And on a personal note: Emily and Milly were far better actors than Emma and Olivia, even though the latter to have more experience.

[butterweedstrover]

1 minute ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

https://slate.com/culture/2022/09/house-of-the-dragon-cersei-lannister-game-of-thrones-hbo.html

Something is seriously wrong when people say that they miss Cersei's competence.

Well early on in the show she was portrayed as a competent player and then in the later seasons she took over the throne in what was considered a decisive move and became a military genius. 
 

Psycho Cersei who threw her friend down a well and thought Joffrey was charming is a book invention.

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

8 minutes ago, butterweedstrover said:

Psycho Cersei who threw her friend down a well and thought Joffrey was charming is a book invention.

I mean, the books are the original source material after all.

[TormundsWoman]

5 hours ago, EggBlue said:

5 hours ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

Actually, I've seen many people say that Laena's death on the show is better than in the book. I don't necessarily agree, but I don't think it was completely awful.

I've seen that too . however , I cannot see why , no matter how much I try !

I mean first of all, dragonriders don't get roasted , they burn the others.

As a person who loved this change from book to show I can only say that I prefer (knowing what I know about her) that she dies in dragonfire rather than on the stairs trying unsuccessfully to get the Vaghar.

I wouldn't use "get roasted" myself. To my ears that sounds like she had no choice in the matter and Vaghar just decided to burn the shit of our her, while in fact it showed to my eyes a very, very deep bond where the dragon refuses and then decides to acquiesce simply because it's her request, she breaks down by the end of her requests and he probably feels like she's dying. Reminded me of Drogon's anger at the IT when he saw Dany's the lifeless body. There's feeling and hurt in both for different reasons.

I do get that that book death may have show to advantage a better, more feeling side of Daemon. But it looks like show producers and writers prefer Daemon at this time to be much colder and more dark, plus I don't want another badass woman character to die a death so a badass man character gain development. Though I gotta say a softer side to the Prince of Dragonstone just about now would do a bit of good for my soul.

[butterweedstrover]

Ah, so this explains why Alicent’s character was thrown down the garbage shoot: 

https://www.indiewire.com/2022/09/house-of-the-dragon-olivia-cooke-trump-1234766026/amp/ 
 

They want her position to be fundamentally ‘evil’ (like they view trump) while having a sympathetic backstory. And Rhaenyra by consequence is going to represent the alternative viewpoint. 
 

This show was losing me with the excessive time skips, poor character introductions, stilted dialogue, and humorless framework. 
 

Now it has lost me. I don’t even want to keep watching if this is what they are doing to Alicent. 

Edited September 29, 2022 by butterweedstrover

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

45 minutes ago, Ran said:

I feel like Alicent does some of the same things as F&B Alicent but her motives definitely grow out of what the writers set in the first five episodes. I feel like Rhaenyra is a bit harder to understand, in some ways, namely in how she went from fearing and dreading motherhood to happily popping out multiple children and not seeming fussed about it. I feel like seeing the lead up to her first pregnancy and birth in an additional episode, stopping as she's about to give birth, and then starting ten years later with the birth of a third child... that might have done it.

To me, it doesn't really make sense that Rhaenyra is a better mother than Alicent, considering how the younger versions of both characters were presented.

[Ran]

20 minutes ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

To me, it doesn't really make sense that Rhaenyra is a better mother than Alicent, considering how the younger versions of both characters were presented.

Alicent has had her soul crushed by duty and expectation and disappontment. Rhaenyra has had love and laughter and freedom to mostly be who she wants. The children reflect their mothers' circumstances.

Edited September 29, 2022 by Ran