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I am conflicted about the Rhaenicent scene. While the content of the conversation was okay, I also don't see why it was needed. It almost seems to remove what should be a lot of anger and grief that they both have towards the other side and portrays them as extremely naive. They should both know that ONE meeting in SECRET that no one else is involved in is not going to stop the war. And I also hate the way that it seems to flatten Alicent's motivation for the war into "it was a misunderstanding because of the prophecy" when Alicent in season 1 starts this war (not on her own) because of real anger and fear. I liked the lack of closure that Alicent and Rhaenyra had as two characters that were close as children but grow further and further away, both because of their own choices and because of outside circumstances, that make it so they can never reconcile and never truly understand why the other goes to these lengths. I prefer that their conflict goes unresolved and they never truly understand each other after their initial lovely short childhood. The scene in the last season where they send letters to each other that are rejected should have been the end of that, especially after the murders on both side. WHY ARE THEY STILL SENDING LETTERS TO EACH OTHER LIKE THAT WILL DO ANYTHING?

@4:41 The Greyjoys are simple at least, they’ve never wanted more than to be able to pillage and plunder

That scene rubbed me the wrong way as well. As a writer, sometimes we can see the invisible hand of other writers (or perhaps directors) forcing something to happen that shouldn't be. They had several issues they needed to solve, and this was their somewhat clumsy way of doing it. 1) Give the queens one last attempt to make peace so later when they start doing more warlike things, they can feel like they tried. 2) Remind us about what really started all this, the prophecy, while letting those characters finally understand each other's point of views, so later they can actively be making decisions instead of these constant blunders each side makes. 3) Alicent doubling down on her stance. Even if she was wrong about the prophecy, it is too late to save her family by conceding. They both want to protect their children, and for her that now means waging war. The scene of the dragon chasing the knights was great. Harrenhall is great. Overall, I'm so thrilled by this series.

4:18 "Like with the Blackens and the Brackwoods"

It’s peak

it was unrealistic but the scene was so brilliant with the realisation that the war had grown out of their control and they were helpless to stop it was so good it made up for it a hundred times over

I think the scene in the sept was a good idea, but found it frustrating that Rhaenyra stops short of explaining the entire prophecy to Alicent. It's like once she hears the information she's looking for to answer her own question she doesn't take it any further. If you're trying to negotiate your way out of a war after there have been injustices and murders on both sides, you'd better have a damned good reason. A prophecy that could doom everyone IS such a reason. But instead she brushes it off as "it was this story my father used to tell," like NO dumbass, it's existential and the entire reason he named you his heir! To call that a missed opportunity is an understatement. It seems so pointless that they had that conversation only to resolve to go to war anyway. Rhaenyra, if she REALLY cared about the prophecy, could simply offer to step down from her claim and meet with the council at King's Landing to explain the prophecy to them and collaborate on a plan going forward. But I think she wants to be queen for the sake of being queen, like to validate her father's love for her. And Alicent obviously doesn't care that both her sons are rabid psychopaths, so she's an even worse problem.

I don't like the way they try make Alicent look innocent in all this, both because it doesn't work and it's unnecessary. There's no need to have "ohh he hold me on his death bed blah blah" story line. I think episode 1-7 gives her more than enough motivation to fight for the throne. Honestly anytime someone tries to guilt trip Alicent she should say "remember the time my son lost his eye and we were treated like criminals for telling the truth?"

I usually hate when events happen to characters without those characters having agency, but in HOTD it feels like they have enough agency to fly into the web, and enough to flail round trapped once they’re caught. But I like that so much is beyond their control.

I really didn't mind Rhaenyra's quick travel to the crypt. I think the tone of the imminent threat was conducted well enough, and I loved how they tied it to the prophecy at the end. I think that these first 10 minutes (the battle of the blackwoods + rhaeny's monologue on what started the war) might be the best of the whole series

Love your analysis (especially on the Blackwood/Brackens' old-age feud), except your critics on the Sept scene with Rhaenyra and Alicent. Meeting on an island wouldn't do for the both of them, Rhaenyra said so herself in the episode: if she warned Alicent of her wish to meet and talk, Alicent would believe the whole ordeal is a trap. And Rhaenyra would think the same if their roles were reversed, she said so herself in the same scene as well. Besides, nobody on Team Green would allow or support Alicent going (in secret) to meet Rhaenyra for potential peace talks. Nobody wants peace on Team Green, especially not the ones with the most power in their hands at the moment (meaning Aegon, Aemond, and Criston). Larys is now shifting his loyalties from Alicent to Aegon (because he's a bitch), and he wouldn't help Alicent to meet Rhaenyra - war serves his personal goals, too. And he killed Harwin, Alicent knows that, and I bet he wouldn't want her getting too close to Rhaenyra in case the truth on this matter ever came out. So no, there is literally no way for Alicent and Rhaenyra to meet outside of KL, it would be even more unrealistic. Furthermore, I think sneaking into KL goes with Rhaenyra's personnality pretty well. She's a "hot blooded Targaryen", she thinks highly of herself as the true heir to the throne (and before that, the realm's delight and the princess), she is confident in herself and her power, and she has been living with Daemon fucking Targaryen for at least a decade!! If Daemon was able to sneak into KL for Blood & Cheese just like that (with a worst disguise than Rhaenyra, must I say), I don't see why Rhaenyra wouldn't be able to do the same. The double standard is kinda annoying, nobody batted an eye when Daemon went into KL - simply because it's Daemon!! Now, I know the security is probably way higher now that Jaehaerys was murdered, but it would probably be focused more on the Red Keep. Aegon doesn't care about his citizens, why put security in the streets? And nobody would attack the Sept or members of the Faith, so why bother with security there? Besides, I bet Mysaria knows her way around Flea Bottoms and KL a bit more surely than the guards. And I don't think the guards would be able to recognise Rhaenyra on sight (especially not if her hair are hidden), anyway. She hasn't been in KL for decades at this point, no way anyone would know her facial features outside of her close family. And she's wearing a religious uniform, people would not look twice at her. So yes, it's dangerous, but the plan is not stupid in itself. There is low military presence around the Sept, Alicent is alone in her prayers, and nobody would suspect Rhaenyra or even think Rhaenyra would be bold enough to come to KL in this context. Like Mysaria said, the "men don't look at you if they're not trying to seduce you", and nobody would try to seduce a nun. Besides, this scene true goal is not to develop the plot, but to develop the characters. It is character-wise and essential to have this scene between Rhaenyra and Alicent, for different reasons. Rhaenyra needs the confirmation Viserys truly wanted her on the throne, to get rid of her own doubts about her legitimacy and capacity to rule and be the Queen. She also needs the reminder of the prophecy, because it's not just her crown on the line - it's the future of Westeros, which she must protect from the "end of the world of men". She has a mission way more important than anything Aegon could push forward. Finally, she also needs the confirmation from Alicent that the war is unavoidable - Alicent is stuck (which is even more clear with the scene happening in KL and not on an unknown island), among men who thirst for blood, and she has no control over them anymore. It's too late. Respecting Viserys' true wish to see her on the throne + protecting Westeros from doom in the future + facing a war they cannot stop anymore = Rhaenyra is now 100% involved and determined to win this conflict, because she is in the right (according to Westerosi laws, Targaryen law, and just her vision of right and wrong). For Alicent, this meeting is also a turning point for different reasons. We know Alicent is already on the brink of a breakdown: she's been having sex with Criston as a way to punish and shame herself, plus Jaehaerys was killed during one of their trysts together (not truly her fault, but Alicent is 100% carrying guilt for this), she lost all power in the council among men who do not care for her (often wise and intelligent) opinions, her father has been exiled to Old Town and lost his Hand title (again), she lives with her children but hasn't been further away from them (emotionnaly), even Larys doesn't care about her anymore, she has lost all purpose. The Sept scene and the revelation of the true meaning of Viserys' last words are the last nail in Alicent's coffin: she has respected the law and the norms of Westerosi royalty, she has been dutiful and she sacrificed everything (she has basically no self, since she was entirely built following the rules of the men around her), she suffered for... nothing! Her sons are monsters (she recognises it herself), Helaena is grieving the worst loss a mother could suffer (and it's - in part - because of Alicent) and she's always been estranged from her mother, Otto doesn't care about her as his daughter but only as a political pawn, Larys and Criston use her as a sexual object, and Viserys wasn't much better because he only used her to pop out heirs - without even caring for them afterwards. And now, the ONLY thing someone has EVER done for HER in her (post-young Rhaenyra and Alicent fight) life is revealed to be a lie?? The only time Viserys seems to consider her role as a Queen, Aegon's role as his son and as Alicent's son, to recognise her work and suffering and to give her something in return for all these years of dutiful service... well, it's a lie. Worse, it's a misunderstanding she could never have predicted, because Viserys was talking to Rhaenyra about something only the true heir should know about. It's nobody's fault really, but all the consequences are falling on Alicent (and Rhaenyra, and everyone more or less tied to these two women). The only silver-lining in Alicent's life is destroyed just like that, and what is an immense groundbreaking revelation for both Alicent and Rhaenyra doesn't even matter in the world of men. Otto (and his council) had already planned to put Aegon on the throne when Viserys died, and he hadn't even thought necessary to warn Alicent of the plan - she's a woman after all, she's fragile and emotional and she still holds love of their enemy. So yeah, it's heartbreaking for Alicent to learn the truth, and yet she knows it doesn't matter one bit in the grand scheme of things. She doesn't matter, she hasn't mattered at all since the very beginning - since her marriage to Viserys, truly. It didn't matter she birthed heirs after heirs (THREE boys, it's not nothing!). It didn't matter she basically ruled in Viserys' stead for at least a decade. It doesn't matter she cared for him alone as he grew more ill. Anything she has done, doesn't matter in the end. This revelation = there is nothing to be done about the war, it's too late for us to make peace, Alicent says to Rhaenyra. And she truly believes this, and truly believes Rhaenyra will trust her as well. Also, it's funny how Alicent doesn't even flinch when she notices the knife pointed toward her (she's merely annoyed, which is kind of funny), but she's having a full shock when she recognises Rhaenyra! 😂anyway, just to say the scene made of lot of sense for both characters, and i guess for people not focusing on Rhaenyra and Alicent's personnal stories and evolutions, it could seem a bit "useless" for the overall plot. But that's what makes HotD truly stands apart from GoT, which was (sometimes annoyingly) the reverse: a LOT of political plot (which is nice when it's well-written, then horreful when they pretend to write good dialogs) for little to no character development for the main characters (especially in the last few seasons). I hope HotD will continue to focus on these two women, it's the only thing TRULY separating the show from basic political drama, and making it UNIQUE.

Le allegations!

I think how we got to the scene and how Rhaenyra got to KL was a but weird in execution and ambigous in how she got to the sept undiscovered, but the resulting scene with her and Alicent was great.

The teleporting cow at the end of the video felt very on point for this episode 😂😂. Great video as always!

They addressed why the women didn’t meet in a neutral location though. Rhaenyra says she can’t do that because both of them would assume it was an ambush unless it was a surprise. And I find it totally believable that Alicent wouldn’t want to hurt her and would let her go, especially after learning what her mistake was. Even if that wasn’t super smart.

Well, Dragonstone is practically next door to Kingslanding so it makes sense to me that they could just hop over there. And I do like that they gave Raenyra and Alicent one last opportunity to try to talk things out. I agree though that the whole thing was wildly implausible. It's one thing for Daemon to make a quick trip; he was commander of the Gold Cloaks, still has friends there, and he was wandering around at night. That being said, I don't know how else they could have put Alicent and Raenyra in the same spot without tying themselves into knots to justify it happening with zero repercussions. At least this way was quick and I think the show is better for Raenyra and Alicent having that conversation so I'm willing to give it a pass.

I agree with the point about them stretching for more for Rhaenyra to do and I think its a real shame. We had so much from her and Alicent in season 1 and we could have a great opportunity to develop some of the rest of the cast like her sons and Corlys for a few episodes while she is recovering. Especially the sons feel quite underdeveloped to me.

The Dance of the Dragons is loosely based on The Anarchy period in English history but what struck me while watching this episode - and what seems to have struck you too - is the similarity to the leadup to World War I. A generation of boys trained to fight, raised on stories of the glory of war, as the memory of the horrific reality slowly fades. Politicians who don't want war but are powerless or inadequate to prevent it, as mistakes and bad luck slowly compound, until somehow an the assassination of an Austrian archduke in Bosnia has French and German boys killing each other in Belgium.

“He was really cool…might’ve been gay with his brother” well alright Tim

i hated that final scene so much, it makes zero sense rhanera is not that stupid that she'd put herself at risk to have a chat with alicent when she knows very well alicent has no power to stop anything anyway and alicent has not reason not to take rhanera hostage to force the blacks into surrendering the moment she turns up in KL its just so dumb, it reminds me of got S7-8, the first really bad moment of this season for me, the first two episodes were flawless

I don't think Alicant could have left King's Landing at this point without people realizing, so while I agree it was crudely done I also think it was the only way it could be done at all.

I'm loving how the minor characters are the ones catching strays. It's the perfect reflection of war.

House of the Dragon is definitely a show I'd describe in a sentence as "It's good but it's not great". It's too inconsistent in its quality, for everything they do right or really well they screw something else up. The show has yet to strike a balance.

I think they chose not to have the choice be between the two boys because now the Greens also only have a female heir. It deepens the hypocrisy at play. This also makes them feel more human, as they had no real reason to be torturing her like that. In this version, they don't seem to take gleeful joy in what they do.

I did also think it was a little silly but like you said the scene itself was quite good and honestly it didn't really bother me.

2:48 i think theres also a good point there two in misjudgment of the severity of a situation. To the people who moved the stones this is a little iasue to boast with ypur friends over. To the person whose land was stolen this isnt a joke or a threat- its a warning that you're fucking around and about to find out. There's a reason the boastful, false Knight ended with his own sword through his neck. He wasnt ready for the consequences of hiw own actions.

Logistical clunkiness of the Alicent/Rhaenyra conversation aside, I really appreciate the narrative, character and thematic significance on multiple fronts: 1. It felt in line with their love for each other and primary motivations being conciliation (as set up by their previous actions). 2. It tied up their relationship arc nicely by explaining the misunderstanding with Viserys's "final wish." 3. They (especially Alicent) concluded that despite resolving the misunderstanding, it was ultimately too little too late; Tragically, they're powerless to stop the war to come. As Rhaenys said, it doesn't matter what the instigating incident/s were. The people with the reins are hot-blooded young men who've never known the horrors of war. They're impulsive and all too eager to prove themselves through senseless violence and there's no bottling that genie anymore :/

If you were either queen, at this point, would you trust Larys to arrange anything for you that you would rather keep secret? I wouldn't! Mysaria instructs Rhaenyra to get to King's Landing the same way that Daemon did, basically, and I have no problem with that. Rhaenyra has not, in the past, been against a risky move, as we saw way back in Season one, so again, I don't understand why you would not care for this plan, which has, in fact, echoes of when Rhaenyra flew to intervene between Daemon and Otto (and first saw Mysaria, incidentally). I'm not understanding why you would have a problem.

Great video and I love the community engagement in these comments. Your channel has serious potential for these next few weeks if you continue producing these cool on-sight commentaries in a timely manner after each episode is aired and fans are eager to see commentary on YT. Props for sharing your personal opinions on what felt good or bad in the episode.

Even with the realistic difficulty and risk it would take to even reach alicent, what did rhaenyra think she would achieve? Alicent has no real power, only influence over some key parties that actually hold power. And there is no way any of them would ever consider peace now. Alicent can't do anything to stop the war

Also Ulf openly yapping about being Baelons bastard was way stupider and dangerous than the Alicent Rhaenyra talk. Felt like some fanfic shit

Definitely a sex issue. We all love the scene where Bran was in the tower and saw Jon. We all hate Rhaenyra using her resources to sneak into the cept and Alicent not furthering the conflict unnecessarily after she realizes she was wrong about Viserys final moments

Was anyone else just aggressively cheering on the Highland Cows in the background for just existing and vibing or was that just me

This episode was full of a lot of redundant arguments and pointless conversations characters flip flopping their motivations

"Don't matter who did what to who at this point. Fact is, we went to war and now there ain't no goin' back. I mean, shit, it's what war is, you know? Once you in it, you in it. If it's a lie, then we fight on that lie. But we gotta fight." Lord Slim Charles

" ... he might have been gay with his brother ... " WHAT? Pardon me?! Don't get my expression of shock twisted, though: I want equal opportunity Targaryen incest. Brother-on-sister is freaky enough, but fortunately or unfortunately it's been done already in the Thrones franchise, to the point where it's normalized in the fan club. Give us brothers who are gay for one another or go home, HBO!

Otto: War is diplomacy by other means... Aegon, Daemon, Aemond: Imma stab a fool!

I think Rhaenyra getting in and out of King's Landing does actually make sense. What I find to be contrived is how easily Arryk got to Dragonstone. There's literally an entire blockade preventing ships in Blackwater Bay from moving past Driftmark. Unless Arryk travelled on horseback literally around 400 miles (about a 2 week journey) to get around the blockade by land before getting on a ship to Dragonstone, then he teleported to Dragonstone. Well, it hasn't been two weeks. It's only been a few days (if that). So he teleported. Rhaenyra on the other hand has the authority to command Velaryon ships to just let her pass. Or she can fly Syrax nearby some fishing village before getting into costume and hitching a ride on a fishing boat with a little gold, so even her boat's captain wouldn't realise she's anyone of importance, so can't sell her out. The Blacks can easily move to and from King's Landing, like Daemon flew Caraxes there and back, using the cover of night to hide Caraxes and his remaining loyal goldcloaks to smuggle him through guarded gates. But the Greens simply can't reach Dragonstone without having to fight dragons prior to landing. They should have given more detail about how the blockade was conducted. Maybe it's redirecting ships to Driftmark so they can make port before they have to sail back to the Free Cities, or to ransack and commandeer them if they sailed from King's Landing. Then Arryk would be forced by the Velaryons to disembark on Driftmark like a trojan horse, able to cross the island and board the next ship bound for Dragonstone. Problem is there's no way he does that without Verlaryon soldiers searching him and finding his Kingsguard armour. If he tries to bribe them, they'll just take the gold and search his bag anyway. You can't bribe someone who's literally already successfully robbing you. So someone else would need to guarantee Arryk isn't searched. Perhaps Larys would be approached for a connection on Driftmark? That's plausible, but not stated at all. As it currently stands, Arryk teleported.

Harren: "You cannot breach my castle." Aegon: "You mean your oven?" Harren: "What?" Aegon: "What?"

Are you Kiwi?

The scene with Allicent and Rhaenyra is interesting because that miscommunication is the entire foundation of the war in one sense. Rhaenyra being aware of her father's last words and Allicent being aware of their true meaning should change the way they both play the game

I'm also a bit irked by Rhaenyra being able to sneak in to see Allicent...but honestly the line about how easily Daemon did so really smoothed that over. Yes, he has his Goldcloak contacts etc. but that was enough - for me - to get past the nuts and bolts of secreting Rhaenyra back n forth and to allow it to be enough to justify having the scene in the sept, which I feel is pretty vital for the series before Rook's Rest next week.

Your thoughts about Alys Rivers are interesting....I did not get the impression that she was the one giving Daemon those visions or making him sleepwalk. I thought it was the inbuilt magic of Harrenhal that did that. She is most likely someone who is more talented in magic things like bloodraven and Melisandre but in the books even non-magic characters like Jamie Lannister get weird dreams when around weirwood trees and Targaryens themselves have been known to have dreamer powers through their own magic. Regarding the season 8esque meeting between Alicent and Rhaenyra the best thing to do to avoid that would be to just stick to the books especially with the major story beats of the characters. If they wanted to show a female character being badass in the episode titled burning mill then they really missed their chance with Alysanne Blackwood who is supposed to have done a very badass thing in the battle of the burning mill, but they skipped over that battle. Imo they should start giving more focus to the other houses instead of just focusing on the Targaryens. That meeting between Alicent and Rhaenyra with Alicent realizing that all this happened because she misinterpreted that Viserys was saying would have had much better impact if the scene had taken place much later at a part of the story from the books when it is much more plausible (spoilers).

Cool take. Would be interesting to go further into what you talked about in the beginning, but from the legislate side. When was the dejure & defacto start of the war? Was the Brecken-Blackwood war cooped into a a Targeryan civil war or other way arond? And all this war was coused in the first place mainly because of the failures of the legislate institution, that was weakend by frequant drastic interference by the very powerful (changes to inheritance, revange withot trial,..) and by ignoring their duties to uphold the law and government when inconvinent (the sceeen from season 1 at the small council meeting where they are infomred that the conflict is brewing up again between Brackesn and Blackwoods and that the Tullys are unable to enforce the Kings peace.... and the council ignored it with disinterest and contmept........ so could we argue that the war become unavoidable at this very moment when those holdingh the highest authoriry in the realm ignored their duty to the realm? ) ----- and on the flip side, would that make a Battle of a Burning Mill escalation a just one in order to set things straight between to feuding (punt intended) parties? I agree that they could add 1 or 2 more sceens (i thik it was implied in one sceen that Mysria will handle the logictis, but yeah, twas a bit awkward and fast) that woudl lead up to that Rhynera-Alicent meeting to make it less out of the blue last second action. But character motivations for it is fine, and 'teleportation'..... cmon Dragonstone is not that far from Kingslanding

You articulated my thoughts on the Rhaenyra stealth mission exactly. The whole thing felt incredibly forced.

I didn't worry about plot contrivances. They made Aegon's Dream the reason Alicent put forward her son, when she could have either just wanted to or felt she needed to. Or that Vhagar was acting as Aemond wanted instead of going against him. The real problem I have had so far is that we've yet to see Sunfyre or Dreamfyre up close this whole time!

“he might have been gay with his brother” wait WHAT 😂😂

Who knows how the feud between the Blackens and the Brackwoods really started...

I'm in the USA but I still feel a kinship with The North because I'm up far enough in the mountains to have seen bears in the wild and have four feet of snow. Harrenhal isn't just cursed because it's spooky, I feel like especially in the events of Game Of Thrones like everyone who gets gifted it dies; though lots of people die in that anyways. I love how the book treats Rhaenyra and Allicent as monsters, and the show does an amazing job of showing that they are just people pushed to extremes, and also no one bats an eye when the teenage boys do the most fucked up shit possible and starts wars on a whim.

Great video.