House of the Dragon | Season 2 Episode 2 

It's just nice to have good TV back again where we can actually discuss the good and bad without it just being trash lol

i loved this episode sm, idk how ppl disliked it for being slow, also rhaenyra calling daemon pathetic was so satisfying

Agreed. When Daemon married Rhaenyra, he thought he was marrying himself. Looks like he discovered that he married Viserys instead from Daemon's perspective.

Agreed, a great slow cooker of an episode, you can feel the tension as they poke the proverbial toe into civil war.

Wow, you really gave me a new perspective on the "blood & cheese"-story. Its really a great angle, they can push further. Thank you and keep goin' 😁✌ Looking forward to you comments on Season 2 of Rings of Power 🤣 Its gonna be wild.

Ser Criston Cole he is my Psychopathic Knight, loyal to the end. Ser Criston Cole is like a hellhound not good at anything but fighting. Though he's excellent at fighting.

I mean, she still essentially chooses which child is killed. They just do not trick her with the choice, and kill the child she says. What of it? She still feels incredibly guilty, assigning a child to die.

The biggest change is the supposedly friendship of Rhaenyra and Alicent, that changes the premises big time.

When I met someone from tangiers in the Chesapeake it was so hard understanding really felt like they were from a foreign country speaking a foreign language yet they were only like a little over 100miles from where I grew up

And on the rat catchers: To paraphrase Napoleon's foreign minister, that was worse than immoral, that was _stupid_

I haven’t seen anyone talk about it, but when Halaena is freaking out mid-funeral and the seeds(?) are being thrown down at her, they look suspiciously like ashes - kind of like Dany saw in her dream in GoT, which did end up coming true. Do we think King’s Landing is going to burn again? Would make sense since we’re about to start fighting with dragons… And also, is it “again” if it came first chronologically? 😂

First thing, the book is not canon. Its more of a “the book is not show accurate” that is just how it is designed. On B&C, of course its more dramatic and exaggerated because Mushroom is an entertainer.

The way you related rhaenyra/otto + daemon/aegon with their reactions to their respective situations was soooo illuminating I adore how you break down certain things so well. How do you form your thoughts, write, film, edit and put these up so quickly?? I have so much respect for what you do.

100 % agreed, a show need to had it's own logic, this one and GOT, but the problem with GOT is way more than the ending, season 5 was decent but already had problems (Jaime rescue felt like and episode of Hercules the 90s tv show) season 6, 7, 8 were all over the place. I mean the logic was completely gone, things stooped making sense, teleportations, and rare and dumb choices, breaking rules, Arya is Wolverine/ninja warrior etc. so much more, than the ending with Daenerys, I guess some people like it, but I don't think the problem was they wanted to end were the books might, it started way before that, and they had no problem going off book even went they were a lot book content available.

In the show, Daemon wanted to go straight to Aemond. He knew he couldn’t do it alone and asked Rhaenys to go with him. That was not a bad strategy, and it wasn’t unfair, as Aemond was responsible for Luke’s death; but once more he was not taken seriously. Of course waiting for Rhaenys and Maelys to rest up was necessary, they could have taken that approach and eliminated Vaghar, no Blood and Cheese needed.

Agree 💯. They were also playing into her being a dreamer & also her being neurodivergent. she doesnt care about the politics (saving the heir etc) cheese said that he will kill all three of them if she lies. She accepts that at the face value & points to the right kid.

As you say, there are certainly elements to B&C which, in the adaption, necessitated change, however I do think we could have had a closer compromise. Having the guards be entirely absent is seemingly a plot hole (unless it's revealed later that Larys orchestrated their absence), and the absence of Maelor does reduce the overall impact of B&C going forward. The children simply being asleep is strange, especially when B&C are within 10ft and aren't exactly being very quite. The change to picking between male and female twins is pretty dumb when they can easily check which one is male. The entire point of making B&C as horrifying as possible is to make explicit that both sides of the conflict commit attrocities, intentionally or otherwise. All that being said, Alicent's absence makes some sense, depending on how well they end up executing Alicole, and Helaena's unexpected reaction is well justified by the show's interpretation of her. The inability to have the child actors be more actively threatened seems like a lack of creativity on the show's part. Sure don't show a kid be decapitated, but I do think they could have delivered a similar effect with camera work. I do think that there were a number of ways to write the scene where it works for all purposes e.g. having B&C ambush Helaena & the children in the tower of the hand could make sense, and play into Alicent's absence, as Helaena is surprised her mother is elsewhere at the time. This makes her involvement with Cole more subtle and could lead to more distrust of Alicent for Helaena. You could even have it so that Helaena & children were waiting for Alicent to see them in her chambers, and due to her absence, B&C find them. That would further push guilt towards Alicent. Generally, it feels like they should have spent a bit more time thinking through B&C, and the version we got feels like the "good enough" version.

I'm not sure you're correct about Daemon's instructions to Blood and Cheese, where you address the whole thing as a mistake. When they ask him what they should do if they can't find Aemond, we get cunning smile from Daemon and there the scene ends. But later they say the phrase "a son for a son" which they could only hear from Daemon. And it's quite clear which other son he had in mind since Aegon is out of reach being guarded at all times. Daemon knew exactly what a probable outcome will be. Also in this episode when Rhaenyra asks him about it he doesn't sound convincing denying it at all.

thanks for this, i watch this show in the evening so a lot of stuff goes over my head haha

Vicerys has just died, Daemon wants revenge for that and couldn’t get it. Now things are compounding, Rhaenyra loses her baby girl, Aegon sits on the throne, not Rhaenyra, Lucerys was killed, while the greens have not gone through any loss. This drives Daemon to the edge of frustration. He is still on “they took my brother’s throne”, and all the hate he feels for Otto, because he was successful in separating the brothers. Daemon wants Rhaenyra to be more assertive than her father and to trust him. The fact that she doesn’t does hurt Daemon

If I had one gripe with this episode, it's that I think the order of some of the scenes should have been rearranged. Namely, I think they should have ended it with the Cargyll fight.

Ser Criston Cole is far closer to the Hound and the mountain that rides of House Clegane. If either character knew how to calm down and turn down the intimidation. There is a certain simplicity to the character and how he perceives the world. But if you try to use them his anger and vengeance are terrible.

Blood & Cheese is a sign that the series is removing intentionality from the characters. They're not making decisions that have definite consequences. Instead we're getting accidents and misunderstandings. There's an enormous difference between Daemon ordering the murder a small child (book Jahaerys or Maelor) as opposed to targeting Aemond (show). Helaena didn't have to choose, because Maelor doesn't exist. Instead of characters making deadly & horrific decisions, which they have to own. Ditto: show Aemond didn't mean to kill Luc. It was an accident (angry Vhagar), and Rhaenyra let Laenor live. Alicent pushed Aegon on the throne, because of a misunderstanding on Viserys's death bed. I see your point, that it may make for a happier show and I'm fine with being wrong.

If Viserys was a decent father, grandfather, or husband to his second wife. then maybe his son would not destroy his shit. PS: I do love how Paddy Considine can participate even though he's no longer in the show anymore.

The book is a bunch of theories put forth so we don’t actually know what the truth is. I swear people drive me nuts 😂

How did i miss ep 1 review lol. Nah ur about spot on here - apart from it feeling like its suffering a little bit from being a story stuck in 2 buildings so far its really good - i think ep 2 i will like more once the rest of the season is done tbh, and i disagree about the missing kid tbh but it's not a deal breaker you're still the best chuck out the rest :-)

I liked your breakdown of the final scene of episode 1. I didn’t want to come across as saying 1 was better than the other. I think they usually make good choices in the show over the book. GRRM has said the show is the true events as they happened. I do think that a book can be more explicit because the images from a book are what I create in my head. So my experience is unique to me, probably why the saying, “the book was better” exists. Just a simple statement like “our hero strode down the hall” is different in my mind than yours, my hero will be different, the hall is different even the way they walked down the hall is different. But on screen, it’s all the same. So the final scene does get to the same point but I do think the choice may make that scene hit harder. I think this episode was great and I enjoyed the final scene of two brothers fighting based completely on honour and oaths. In the end which ever brother won realizing it was all BS. The fight was brutal, and I liked that. It wasn’t a technical fight like Jaime and Ned, it was a true battle for life and death. It was different from the book as well, but liked this much better because the brothers really die caring for each other but clinging to honour. Which is a theme from Jaime’s story. What is an oath when they conflict with other oaths.

The word you were looking for is 'tryst'.

Great video!

I won't lie, watching Blood and Cheese scene, the book reader in me was raging at the changes made, I wanted Allicent in the room, I wanted Maelor, I wanted the book version transposed onto the screen. I did not for one second consider how Allicent and Criston's situationship would play into this whole thing. Especially since it adds some great internal conflict to their stories that you just don't get in Fire and Blood. I genuinely felt bad watching Criston watch the servants take away the bloody mattress and Allicent getting shut down by her dad when she tried to confide in him. So interested to see how this affects them as the story goes on. So yeah, your thumbnail was spot on!

Both clemens on to the throne are not decent human beings worthy of respect or worth following. But I did feel sorry for both of them and they lost their sons.

Daemon Targaryen to his black kids, stepkids, and toddlers. He will pay equally no attention to you. With all Coles's faults at least he gives a shit about the Royal Family that he's chosen. The kingmaker is the only positive male role model to the princes and princess. He's not a good one but he tries.

I apologize for this rant but I dont understand everyone saying the show favors the black over the green... both sides have some really good and really bad people but Rhynera was spoiled and got everything she wanted including her father overturning the very traditions that made him king and she made him pay in misery for it. She hasnt been faithful in her arranged marriage so I cant feel sorry for her there. She came after Sir Cristen like a toy. The brother of the Lord of the tides got chopped in half for telling the truth that she had bastard children. Her kids picked on Aemon and destroyed his eye with no real punishment... vs Alicent was forced into childhood marriage with a decaying old man, her son was permanently disfigured without penance, her son was cast aside according to the traditions that made her husband king meaning all she endured as his wife would have seen no benefit to her or her children, she saved Sir Cristen from killing himself, she rightly worried that her son could get killed in a battle for the throne, she had a growing relationship with Sir Cristen after she was no longer married, she never new parental compassion and was a kid when she had kids so she didnt know how to love them but she does love them as best as she knows. I think she's genuinely trying to do what she thinks is right. Even now Rhaynera was pulling away while the lady combed her hair making people's lives difficult... she told Daemon she wanted Aemond killed then got mad when it didnt go perfect like she doesnt understand she was declaring war. I equally like Aemond and Daemon at this point and Aemond had a reason to be mad but things got out of his control leading to his nephew getting eaten. We know that wasnt intentional. And Aegon is actually trying to be a good person but as his father neglected him he has no idea how to be king. I at least feel the show is highlighting pros and cons of each side but likely my upbringing makes me dislike Rhaynera as she had everything given to her without her having to ever sacrifice anything and that wasnt enough so she cheated to get even more.

I don't really care about B&C not being as it was in the book, as I don't think the show is faithful overall so it's simply more milk on the floor. The scene itself doesn't make sense. By the end, B&C, in their guessing game, could've actually legit gotten the wrong head given the nonsensical, circular reasoning of "you picked one, so it's the other". All they had to do was check and why didn't they do it? Because the show wanted to keep the impact from the book with a different circumstance, and it doesn't work. It goes "which son" to "who's the son", from a pick to a question, one that can be checked by themselves at that. The show would be better off by simply assassinating Jaehaerys and ending on her finding the headless body on the bed. And that's without mentioning how tonally *very* off this scene is. From the Scooby-Doo duo lurking at the beginning to Alicent riding her pony at the end. Me and my grandma legit started laughing at the ending. The whole scene was a mess and that's not because it was unfaithful, it's because it was poorly written by itself.

I hate the Cole and Alicent relationship. Its stupid and likely going nowhere. They turning Cole into season 1 Jamie . A big mistake as Cole has valid reason to hate Rhaenyra considering she took advantage of him. This relationship makes even less sense from Alicent who becomes more religious as the series progresses. She would not dishonor herself by committing a sin, let alone multiple. I never got the impression from the book or season 1 that Alicent cares about sex. She viewed sex as more of a duty than of pleasure. The last scene with her and Aegon II confirmed my fears that they are bias towards Rhaenyra's claim Alicent would console her grieving son. She wouldn't run to Cole. Even Cersei is a better mother than Alicent as she very few redeemable qualities.

Just saying we could have had all that and a more accurate adaptation of Blood and Cheese

Nah. I disagree. All changes were made to make blacks more innocent.