[No Spoilers] Episode 108 Discussion

[Ran]

Spoiler free discussion here.

[Zorral]

So, as the Anarchy is caused by nephew Stephen de Blois, at the bedside when Henry I croaks, and tells the lords and barons that Henry I changed his mind at the last minute and whispered into his ear that he should be heir to the throne of England, not his previously, publicly -- and loudly -- proclaimed heir, the Empress Matilda -- Alicent decides the Aegon King V was referring to was her utterly impossible, gross, incompetent son Aegon.  She knew better.  But she is convincing herself otherwise.  Massive catastrophe.

When did Daemon sneak between Alicent's sheets to beget Aemond?  He's the spitting image of Daemon, and not even a that much younger Daemon -- and this includes body language.

Thank all the demons of the multiple hells that the hop, flap and flop dance was barely there.  Also, it made no sense whatsoever to have it going on, particularly when no one else danced.  That was pathetic.

So dark, dim, dreary and miserable -- claustrophic King's Landing, where nobody can breathe at all.  Why haven't they yet learned they can never have a meal in Westros where all the power hungries are gathered at the same time without disasters striking?

[BlackLightning]

42 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Thank all the demons of the multiple hells that the hop, flap and flop dance was barely there.  Also, it made no sense whatsoever to have it going on, particularly when no one else danced.  That was pathetic.

 

I liked the dance.

I thought it was cute and very refreshing. This show is so serious all of the time. Some laughter, comedy and fun was sorely needed and very welcome.

43 minutes ago, Zorral said:

So, as the Anarchy is caused by nephew Stephen de Blois, at the bedside when Henry I croaks, and tells the lords and barons that Henry I changed his mind at the last minute and whispered into his ear that he should be heir to the throne of England, not his previously, publicly -- and loudly -- proclaimed heir, the Empress Matilda -- Alicent decides the Aegon King V was referring to was her utterly impossible, gross, incompetent son Aegon.  She knew better.  But she is convincing herself otherwise.  Massive catastrophe.

Nice catch.

She is not stupid. She definitely would have picked up on the fact that he thought she was Rhaenyra. Just like Rhaenyra caught on to the fact that he thought she was Alicent and Aemma and corrected him accordingly.

Clearly, Viserys was trying to wrap up an unfinished conversation he had. Because Alicent had no idea what he was talking about and he was so insistent that they were just discussing it.

[Zorral]

Again, Matt Smith, who does Daemon, does more on the screen than any of the others, who, excepting the brilliant Paddy Considine, even when become a monster of physical disintegration, are at best workmanlike, but mostly they seem cardboard cut-outs.  Smith seems to have continued to work on his character, making it fuller and more interesting than the first episodes in which he was pure psychopath and nothing else.

Smith does it without doing it, seemingly. No expression much of the time, at most, most of the time, something in his eyes and around his mouth.  Mostly he stands there, sits there, does nothing, doesn’t move.  Until, of course, he does move.

After Considine and Smith, the next actor in effective projection is Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra. Adult Rhaenyra has dimension, somehow, though how,who knows, since the writers and non-plot don’t give her any.  Unlike the YA Rhaenyra, the adult Rhaenyra has grown in stature and interest.

Next are the actors who play Rhaenyra's kids, and Alicent’s psycho neo-Daemon, Aemond.  The rest, eh. To be fair though, nobody -- including Helena -- I had no idea she and Aegon were married, though I guess it was discussed last episode -- gets a chance to do anything, with few to no lines, and even only a few seconds on screen.  Yet, we are expected to know -- and believe -- these figures are important. 

The show, like the book it seems, is allusion to character, action and events, not scripted drama of development and trajectory, momentum toward a structured satisfying conclusion instead of just stopping and starting the whole thing over again. However in that sense, evidently HotD is historical: one bunch of powerful, privileged men mobilizing degrees of less powerful and privileged in descending orders, to confront each in militarized violence over and over and over, while oppressing, torturing, murdering and robbing those who don't have the weaponized power to stop them, yet who support them all -- and for no reason other than their own fee-fees and driver to power.

Edited October 10, 2022 by Zorral

[Zorral]

Funny, so many viewers reactions to Alicent's reaction to what appear to be King V's final words, that he's saying Aegon's his only child and it is through him something something something -- why must her treason to the rightful named heir Rhaenyra be shown as provoked by this?

Come on, small folk!  This is how the writers attempted to incorporate the historic circumstances of Stephen de Blois and his mother usurping Henry I's throne, stealing it from Empress Matilda.  It was a twofer, too: it got that retconned prophecy of the Prince Who Is Promised in there.  Nothing at all obscure in the choices of the writers for this scene.

Though I personally find the oddness of all this in the reversal of the historical template for this: Henry I was the effectual, strong king, while Stephen's character was like that of King V; the reversal also of Stephen driven by his mother, while Alicent is driven by her father.

Whether or not this works or was the writers' right choice in the eyes of the objecting viewers doesn't matter in this case: they had reasonable Reasons for this choice.  

[BlackLightning]

On 10/10/2022 at 11:39 AM, Zorral said:

I had no idea she and Aegon were married, though I guess it was discussed last episode

Six years had passed.

Aegon and Helaena's "secret" betrothal was announced in the last episode during the funeral. I call it "secret" because while Viserys had to have consented, Alicent's true reason in marrying them to each other was that it was a part of her plan to supplant Rhaenyra.