You know what sad? The children aren’t monsters here, not yet anyway. They’re are children pushed along by their parents into a conflict. They’re going to be dragged under by people who use them as proxies
@@questioningespecialy9107 True he was a little gremlin, but that also could be attributed to Alicent feelings on Rhaenyra. They’re weren’t family and so he can do whatever he wished
I personally found Alicent's stabby stabby scene quite believable. A parent who is so devoted to her children, and a person who so fully believes they are the only person who is truly upholding justice, could easily end up finding themselves defending gouging the eye of a child out in pursuit of so-called justice.
I just see Alicent as jealous. Her raging rant about having done her duty & not getting the payoff (she hasn't defined what it is tbh I'm not sure she knows what she wants) it feels like she made a shite choice in marrying Viserys & rather than accepting it she's projecting her rage at it in jealousy at Rhaenyra. She wants her flowers, but doesn't know what her flowers are, she's just jealous ATP & is misplacing it as righteous indignation.
What I liked about the ceremony is that the kids are there. It gave me a bit of a reaction chuckle because imagine your 10-ish years old self having to watch your mum marry her uncle after you lost a parent in less than a month and the ceremony includes them cutting themselves and drinking their blood before making out sensually in front you... It would be slightly traumatizing I think.
Dude I was thinking the same thing. I was like well someone has to witness this so when the claims for the throne are coming out these two are OFFICIALLY married. I just did not expect the kids who had not one but TWO father figures die back to back to be there as well 😂😂
Yeah, both their dads just died and now they're here with their double cousins whose mum, your aunt, also died, and who are about to become your step-siblings that they will be bethrothed to because the dad is their great-uncle and also their mum's new husband.
@@Dual_Singularity Yeah!! We've clearly established that Daemon couldn't care less about his kids but come on Rhaenyra, one of your few redeeming qualities is that you're a good mom
@@johnecoapollo7 yes exactly! But I just heard this next episode is absolutely insane!. I’m so very excited. Honestly though they really are doing a great job of keeping EVERY single character in a grey agree which makes it really hard to select a side. (Minus the fact a certain queen tried to stab a child eye hole out)
I also really, really loved the aesthetic and design of the Valyrian wedding. You get the impression that it’s all harking back to a much more ancient, tribal custom that the Valyrians have needed to hold onto as the primacy of blood and magic is so important to their culture, and their control of Dragons and they want to change as little as possible for fear of upsetting that control. It’s just so different to any wedding we’ve seen, and shows just how alien the Valyrians are in Westeros even now as when they’re in their element and living up to their traditions, it’s so different to the traditions and customs of their native subjects.
It's easy to forget how alien to Westeros the Valyrians were. All the Valyrians we see are merely of the genetic stock of Old Valyria, and little obvious of their culture seems to remain. No obvious accent, little of their own fashions, none of their cuisine or religion. Valyria lives on in little more than platinum hair and a scholastic language.
I really liked the changes they made to how Aemond lost his eye. In Fire and Blood the fight starts because Aemond pushed Joff to the ground before getting on Vhagar, so Joff ran and got his brothers and the three of them started beating Aemond with wooden swords when he returned from his flight. By bringing in the twins and making the fight about Aemond stealing Baela’s chance at claiming her dead mother’s dragon, the fight was far more believable and had a much stronger emotional impact.
Honestly, I feel that between Alicen't self-righteous, decade long simmering of anger and resentment towards Rhaenyra, and the sudden violent actions 'against' her son that night, it would make anyone under that amount of stress, and pressure, and paranoia snap and go back on their supposed ideals for a moment. She's human, after all, and clearly a product of her surrounding, upbringing, and personal demons. As such, the knife scene felt realistic and earned even with a more sympathetic portrayal of Alicent. Also, her apology felt half-hearted when she was speaking to Otto, as though she were saying what she felt she was expected to say or what she deep down knows to be 'right' but doesn't actually agree with. I feel the actress did a wonderful job conveying that, making her a really complex character.
Alicent apologizes for her lack of grace and composure, not for her insistence on maiming another child. This is 100 percent on-brand for Alicent as we've seen her so far.
The saddest part of all is how she doesn't see that _she_ is the one at fault, for causing her son to believe and behave in the way that he does. And that her own father is also at fault for terrifying her into the way that she believes and behaves herself. They're so paranoid about the fact that certain things _could_ happen-that those things, in fact, end up getting pushed into happening like some kind of self-fulfilling-prophecy specifically *_because_* of their own actions inducing fairly natural responses to those actions from other people that may or may-not have ever actually even happened at all if not for their incitement first by basically acting as if those things had already happened even when they hadn't yet. And it all just snowballs, worse-and-worse from there.
Aliecent i a bad Person, she but her selfe in the kings heart to gain power, over the fact that him marrying into the house valerion would have been the best of the realm. She is s monster and her father is a much bigger monster.
@@alien777 Marrying the king wasn't even her idea. Or even really up to her choice, at all. As far as we know. But she definitely let other people, like her father, get in her head and poison her thoughts[ like marrying/serving a king was the best thing that any woman could achieve] and making her become paranoid about how her and her children's lives would be in danger of being assassinated by Rhaenyra and such just to eliminate any or all possible "competition" for the throne unless Alicent's son were put on the throne instead of Rhaenyra...and about how a woman's place was just being dutiful daughters and wives and mothers and such, rather than making their own decisions about what to do or not with their own lives or ruling from the throne[ & etc.].
I think it’s important to note that Alicent was told all her life that Rhaenyra and her kids would hurt and kill her children and now that Aemond lost an EYE (i think people downplay how serious this is. in this world he is disfigured and severely handicapped for life) Alicent’s fears are now confirmed to be a reality. NO ONE was punished for the prince losing an eye, not even in the mildest manner of punishment. No one even asked if he was okay. No one cares about Alicent or her kids, and there’s no one to protect them so Alicent will just have to do it herself.
Yeah, but this is also a world where not recognizing the heir to the throne (Rhaenyra is, and her sons after her) is treason and usually punished with death. And royals are thought to defend their honor. Aemond called Jace and Luke bastards, and they had to "defend their honor". Even if it is horrible and they are kids, Aemond committed treason, while they did what is considered their duty. So, I understand Alicent reaction, but Vyseris had no escape: closing the dispute "just" without punishing Aemond for treason was the only way to minimize the damage.
@@val_wildling767 Passing off bastards as trueborns is also treason. The biggest treason actually. If you want to go by law then Jace inheriting as a non-legitimized bastard (something everyone knows and can use to their advantage) will most definitely be usurpation. Laws on bastardy are clear in Westeros. Disfiguring and permanently blinding the son of a king is probably also punishable by death. and viserys DOES have the power to fix everything. all he has to do is make a law that says firstborns regardless of gender can inherit the iron throne but he doesnt. at this point rhaenyra is simply an exception to the rule and no one knows why. she was declared heir because the only other choice was crazy daemon. now there are THREE other choices. the situation has changed drastically and those lords who knelt before rhaenyra thinking she's the only choice will most definitely change their minds. all of this happened because viserys is a shit king and father that refuses to face the reality he created. also all rhaenyra has to do is acknowledge her kids as bastards and legitimize them. this is not like the cersei situation where her kids didnt have baratheon blood. rhaenyra's kids can most definitely still inherit if only rhaenyra and viserys went through the proper procedure. but they absolutely refuse to do so and expect everyone to just accept it. prime example of monarchs thinking they can do whatever they want, also a precursor to their people hating them for it. of course alicent is angry and frustrated. and you minimize damage by being fair. even just a little bit. doing nothing about your son being blinded is NOT fair and just antagonized the hightowers even more. he is an idiot.
@@val_wildling767 and they didn't even pull knives until Aemon was about to start bashing in the skulls of kids who were on the ground. Jace and Co started the fight but by the time they pulled the knife it was self defense. Aemon had the chance to walk away and instead went for murder
@@richardommundsen2417 Aemond was the same age as those kids, was described in the books as a sickly (weak) child, and was being beaten 4-1. god forbid he tried to find a weapon to defend himself. why are the greens always expected to be the bigger person when theyre clearly the mistreated ones in the family
@@MayumiSaegusaShiba I mean Aemond did start that fight by immediately going full d*ickhead after gaining the dragon. Jace and Luke showed up to defend their cousins and immediately got called bastards. And in the series, he was definitely winning the fight until someone pulled a knife and it sure looked like he was going to bash some heads with a rock. It doesn't mean he deserved what happened to him, kids fight after all and the blame lays squarely on the adults who failed to first to raise and then to supervise the kids.
Shooting "day for night" is pretty common in Hollywood, but it was really poorly done here. It gave me flashbacks to the pitch-black battle against the White Walkers in S8 of GoT. For some reason HBO likes it to be really really hard to see the world of Westeros.
@@asura7915 not even. The first time I noticed this "day for night" thing was back in season 5 episode 4 of GoT, which starts wiith Jorah kidnapping Tyrion and sailing away from Volantis on a boat. It's a very short scene, but I remember being like "why is the screen so dark in this clearly sun-lit scene?"
The scenes that Tim show does not look like the show to me omg is this what people see on their shit tvs and laptops??? No wonder people keep saying it looks like a black screen. Daaaamn properly calibrate your tvs and get faster internet people. It's 2022. We have the technology for this 😨
yeah... they should have done some sky replacement (so its not so obvious its day for night) and made it a tad brighter. It still looked ok on my 4k TV thoigh
I was very pleased with Laenor's "end". Firstly, because I think he deserves to have a happy ending, and this was the happiest ending possible to him. Secondly, because I think it shows some of Raenyra's character as well. She wanted Laenor to be happy. She knew he would have to "die" so that she could get what she wanted/needed, but she didn't want him to *actually* die, and came up with a way for both of them to get out of the situation. And I like that it shows Daemon's character and growth, too. He could have easily just had Laenor actually killed and even lied to Raenyra and said it wasn't his fault, but he didn't. I dunno, that whole situation just made me love each of those characters even more.
Daemon didn't grow. He still killed someone it just wasn't Laenor. Yet again the innocent suffer and die so Team Black can play happy families. Yes the Greens aren't any better, but Daemon is still the murdering monster he's always been, and now Rhaenyra is condoning his murders because it spares someone she cares about.
@@volasternmasq2746 but on a more serious note, I do believe Daemon has matured, he's a real family man now, despite having been reckless ruthless and whiny, ever since marrying Laena it seems his firey ego has cooled down and he can see and act more cleaerly now
About Alicent trying to take the eye, I think she totally lost it for a moment. She saw her child missing an eye, and his father taking Rhaenyra's side, and Rhaenyra asking for Aemond to be questioned... yeah. She just snapped.
I noticed it was dark, but it didn’t really bother me as much as it seems to have for everyone else. Maybe it’s part of a TV setting or something, but yeah, I really didn’t mind. Edit: Laenor surviving caught me off guard. The person watching with me called it as soon as the body was clearly unrecognizable. I was more skeptical because I was wondering how/where they got the body for that and it’s a rare thing for this kind of show. A queer character actually getting to live a life away from the coming storm is amazing, but I really was surprised by him surviving.
It probably does vary by TV. With any of my TV's preset modes I could not see much of anything during the late funeral/dragon claiming scenes. Absolutely a grey-black box. I was able to turn the brightness and contrast up enough to make out some details, but it wasn't easy or enjoyable watching. I think the flight on Rhagar really could have been a beautiful spectacle and I got some of that with my rejiggered settings but it was still undercut by the darkness :/
Like I said in Rings of Power, the characters in House of the Dragon are an ocean compared to the tiny rain drops of those characters in Rings of Power.
I really liked how Aemond went to go console the kids but didn't quite know how to do it. During the kid fight scene he tries to de-escalate things to keep it limited to punching, kicking, and insults. As for the lighting, I just figured it was a visual cue that things-which-should-not-be-seen (/HP vibe) happen like a drunk prince, an affair, and a "Dragon theft" (also, known as "Hell yeah, tha's mah boi!!!")
Yes, until he picked up a rock and threatened to bash their heads in while mocking saying they’d die like their father when their (step) father is still alive. That was when the knife came out (not saying he deserved to get his eye taken out but he is the oldest and did escalate first)
Regarding Laenor, if they were going to write his character out of the show, I’m happy they did it the way they did instead of brutally murdering him like they did the other gay in the very same episode he was introduced
Yeah murderer a random innocent person instead. Id rather they not go cheap and put him on a boat. Murder is murder, doesn't matter if it's a noble or a servant. Gay or straight. Black or White.
Yeah. I mean, this is a George R. R. Martin work, so I wouldn’t have been surprised if he just died, but I’m glad they didn’t invoke the “kill your gays” trope.
For what it's worth, they likely filmed the night scenes in the daytime using a day-to-night filter. Perhaps a bit easier to film the scene lit for daylight then add a blue filter to convey moonlight rather than fighting the darkness and missing the mark. That said even the indoor scenes were soooooooo dark. I watched it in a near pitch dark room and still thought, "Boy, this is dark."
Totally agree about the darkening effect they used, and yes you're right they shot all those scenes in bright daylight. It was just so distracting in the sense that the context clues of the scenes were telling me this was daylight. Like how shiny everything was, the shortness of the shadows, light shining through the wigs, characters squinting when looking into the sky, etc. And yet it was so dark. My brain ended up defaulting to thinking I was just wearing sunglasses, because that's what it felt like and i couldn't shake it on multiple viewings. Made it jarring everytime someone was like "I'm going to bed!" or "Go to bed!" and my brain was confused because it's clearly like early afternoon, why are they going to bed? I get not wanting to shoot at night, but man did that effect really just not work for me. Especially when most of them it was unnecessary to have them be at night. Aemond and Vhagar yes, also Daemon and Rhaenyra for obvious reasons. They could've just used a several hour time jump and kept everything else in daytime, and nothing changes. Also bizarrely these same scenes were in trailers and teasers and were noticeably brighter, for the final cinematic version they just buried the darkness slider. And as to Laenor, my only gripe with it is that they gave his lines about the identity of the Velaryons, being of the water, and the sea offering freedom to Rhaenyra and Daemon. Those would've been much more powerful coming from him directly as they row away, and also how he reacted to hearing the elaborate plan to having him fake his death to get out of the marriage. Especially after the huge conversation with Laenor recommitting himself to Rhaenyra, smash cutting to him changing his mind drastically with a vague sense of why. They did the thing they've done quite a few times and is getting a little old, that they are letting the actions backfill what happened. Laenor agreed to it and is leaving, so he must've been okay with. Larys killed his father and brother, so there must have been a not great relationship there. Etc. They need to have some of these moments do more telling and less showing.
@@vulgarveil It didn't look weird to you, not because you are use to walk in the moonlight (it is a quite common human expirience ;) ) but because you have a better tv than most. On my scree I was just seeing all dark blue filter, the outline of the character...and nevertheless such well pronouced shadows. Terrible.
My favourite line in this episode was when Otto basically says that if Aemond lost 1000 eyes it still wouldn’t be enough to pay for Vhagar. Over all this episode was so interesting in the drawing of lines in the sand
I love that they spared Laenor but was 100% surprised to see him alive. Great change. Good point about the filming of this episode, I thought the very strong shadows were odd for moonlight and the light ends up being very dull and dead rather than crisp and bluish.
Tim: It was a show of Daemon's maturity and Rhaenyra's kindness that they faked Laenor's death instead of murdering him. Daemon and Rhaenyra: Cut some random guard's throat just so they can get a corpse.
I’ve been watching the series with a relative, and although I’ve read the book and know what will happen in the end, I’m having fun siding with the greens (except for Daemon shenanigans) while my relative seems to support the blacks. I can’t wait to see Aemond help carry the series and hopefully impart something into his older brother.
And Leanor not getting murdered helped keep the gray tones of Rhaenyra and Daemon. i had to re-watch that to trully understand what had happened. Brilliantly done
Exactly, I had to rewatch and listen closely to her speech, they switched to English which may or may not explain why was she being so cryptic and mysterious with the water and fire analogies. And then it all clicked at the end, Rhaenyra wanted to fake Laenor's death since they had that chat in her chambers. He's a good man with a kind heart, so she cannot kill him, but, with the war looming, she needs an unscrupulous man with a dark heart... She needs Daemon (and Caraxes).
@@alastorcorvus thats such a good point about switching to english! And totally agree that she needs someone like Daemon now that the dance is about to begin
Yeah, call me crazy, but I don't really consider murdering an innocent castle guard in cold blood as part of their plot to be a "shade of gray." They are still a couple of cowardly murderous power hungry political opportunists.
So it's okay for the innocent to suffer for Team Black to be happy? This is why I hate Team Black. It's like the Rich Elite of the real world with their "Rules for Thee but not for Me" attitude. The small folk suffer so Team Black can play happy families.
@@blaubeer8039 well we need to look at the setting right? In the GOT world, murder its quite common. That doesnt make it any less deplorable and I think is disgusting. But it doesnt surprise me because is what I would expect from GOT and HOTD. Of course I’m not excusing it 😂 and you have a good point, murdering is not right. But if we go by that standard, everyone already has their hands dirty. Even Alicent Hightower, wether she likes it or not. War is approaching and with it the unfortunate death of many innocent. Thats why I said before that I’m more rooting for cahracters than sides. The green and the black both are pretty terrible
I love this show. Everyone is a different tone of gray and I’m left sort of wondering who to root for? I think thats fascinating and has moved me to root for characters rather than sides. I love the character growth they’ve shown even if the episodes jump around on the timeline a lot, I think they’ve done a terrific job there. But the best part is the depiction of inter-generational conflict and trauma. This theme is not often shown because of the time spam it requires but DOTD does it super well. Las thing: 100% agree with the freaking darkness! Had to change my display settings multiple times!
Character growth lol we never see them grow , what have they grown from and t to what exactly, what made them change and make them do the things they do , we get mere excerpts from them and we are to guess at their motivations.
@@shawndear8941 Daemon went from frat bro crazy with brother problems to more cold and calculated. His essence is still chaotic, he is deff the spread of chaos but he is not as impulsive or as bloodless as he was on Chapter 1. Otherwise he would have just had Leanor killed. Rhanyra has always been a wild one. She feels like she is above duty and honor. She never wanted power, she just wanted to escape. As soon as she was set to be the next ruler, her whole character shifted. Now there is a big conflict becuase she wants the power but she still follows her desires more than her duty. That creates a conflict within her that she cant seem to be able to solve. Lets see how her marriage wirh Daemon place out. Alicent went from an anxious little girl that followed her father and duty and honor. To this person sittimg in her high horse while she also moves her strings to get people killed. Even if she doesnt want to do this, she finds them concenient and doesnt stop them. An example of someone who is geuinly good but its pushed to do bad things due to circumstances. And that triggers a dramatic change. Ser Criston went from a loyal knight to a resentful one. Sworn to the Queen as her protector, after Rhanyra betrayed or dumped him. He might look like the same person in the outside. But there is a deep resentment and hate brewing within that can be seen when he beats Laeonors lover to death on the wedding. I can keep going but those are 4 clear examples of character growth to me
The best episode of the season so far! Absolutely handled the claiming of Vhagar and the ensuing fight with the children and the mothers. The tensions continue to amp up and the battle lines have now been drawn. Say a prayer for Viserys, he is holding this whole thing together with his one semi-okay arm. I'm glad Laenor gets a happy ending. But what about Seasmoke? Did Laenor just throw really large rocks at them? 😅 But he can always still die in Essos and then Seasmoke would be free for another to claim. People saying Laenor would become Addam after all is the worst theory I've ever heard and I hope to god it does not happen.
You’re not wrong about the dimness of the outdoor night scenes. It was a really bad creative choice. But ultimately only minor in the grand scheme of the episode. Just please no more darkness lit like this going forward.
Well, I think that Laenor survival quite affects the plot or lore…it depends on character of Adam Velaryon. He was rider of Seasmoke after Laenor…and Dragon can have only one rider
Laenor said he wanted to go back to the battlefield and Adam doesn’t claim Seasmoke until the Dance. It is very likely Laenor would have died a warriors death during that time especially since he had to be on the ground instead of in the skies so as not to draw attention. I think it’s reasonable to assume Laenor is dead by the next episode but it’s important that he died the way he wished instead of living in court (and probably getting killed anyway)
I've heard that most book readers are #TeamBlack but the portrayal of Alicent really did give me a view into how people could land on #TeamGreen in the show. She is very sympathetic. That said I almost burned my #TeamBlack card when it looked like Rhaenyra had conspired to off Leanor. That was so cold hearted I was like "Oh, well yeah, no wonder people are #TeamGreen, this woman is a monster" but the reveal brought things back to ambiguity. I think they had to let Leanor live in order for anyone to be #TeamBlack. I still feel bad for the dude who just got murdered and burned though.
The entire point of the Dance is that every team has some sympathetic characters, some very gray and some that are just evil. The show is nailing it on that part, Alicent is given more humanity and relatability while people like Daemon and Rhaenyra are praised despite their very problematic deeds and relationship, I still love them. But this show has made me care for Alicent and have some sympathy towards her, I'm still team Black, but Alicent is just another gear in the Hightower "corporation" and started like a victim, some very clear parallels to Sansa stark have been mentioned.
I mean, Rhaenyra knows they're on the brink of war, and like she said, they're gonna need every sword they can muster. And Laenor is loyal. So I don't think she would just off him on a whim like that.
Yeah, I was team black all through the episode until I thought Rhaenyra was going to kill Leanor. Then I wasn’t sure who to root for. Then it turned out he was alive and honestly that was probably the best possible outcome (for everyone except the poor guy who was killed and had his face burned off).
The problem with Team Black is that they let others suffer for their own happiness. They don't care about the people they hurt along the way. Case and point, Rhaenyra and Daemon are happy to murder a random innocent so Laenor can have his happy ending. It's like the real world where the rich elites screw over the small folk and think it's fine because they're above everyone... Don't know about the books but the show does a good job to make me hate Team Black and their "Rules for Thee but not for Me" attitude.
@@volasternmasq2746 I mean the greens are literally doing the same thing trying to take rheneryas throne at her expense while justifying it by claiming to stop war when there literally causing it , allicaent teaching her kids to hate rheneryas creating a unnecessary cycle of violence , taking lenas Dragon from her family making them suffer even more for there own benifit team green may not have done anything overtly bad compared to team black but they aren't any better to put it to perspective , team blacks bad deeds only have short term ramifications while team green has vary long term ramifications .
The sheer tension and the subtlety of the acting in this episode was phenomenal. Even though there wasn't a ton being said during Laena's funeral, the stares everyone gave to each other, especially at Rhaenyra and her kids spoke volumes. I loved the way they handled Laenor in the end. As dark, and grey, and awful this universe is, it's nice to see someone get a happy ending. My only concern is how they're going to handle his bond with Seasmoke. I'm not sure if the show handles the bond between dragon and rider like the books where it's like their souls are linked until one of them dies. If it is true, then when the show tries to get a new rider for Seasmoke, and he refuses that new rider, that's going to look reeeeeeal suspicious.
I hate that once again the small folk suffer so Team Black can be happy. Sure Laenor is alive but Daemon still killed a random innocent guy. Someone has to suffer for Team Black to be happy, as usual.
As a show only fan, I think Alicent suddenly choosing violence was actually in character. After the culmination of all the things that was placed on her she then chose to wear green in Rhaenyra's wedding. And although she is on the extreme end, what mother (or mother figure) wouldn't choose violence or some sort of payback if their son lost an eye? I think it adds to the rich complexity of her character and reinforces Martin's way of showing how flawed people are and that they are capable of both good and bad things. I think the way of "sympathetic" being used to say someone can't be violent is even played on itself during Daemon and Rhaenyra's beach conversation. Also, while I'm mainly on the black side I can't help but look forward to adult Aemond. His actor is hot with the eyepatch. 🥰😘
The turn is understandable when you remember Alicent believes her children can do no wrong. Aegon definitely set up the pig stunt which is clear to see since Rhaenyra’a kids aren’t the scheming type. The oldest is like 8 I doubt he has the capacity to think to put wings on a pig to pull a prank. Regardless of logic she believes Aegon when he says it was their idea and he just played along. Aemond was being a smug jerk when he selfishly took the dragon and then said they should have claimed it sooner when they probably were mourning and not ready to take away that piece they had of her. Also, he threatened to kill them before the knife came out and the youngest was the one who actually landed the blow who didn’t know any better. I’m sure they tried to tell the adults what happened, but Alicent sees all of them as little monsters trying to get rid of her boys to assure Rhaenyra’s place on the throne. In that case even if she doesn’t like violence she sees the attack as an assassination attempt from Rhaenyra’s side. She even claimed that’s why they had the knife when I’d assume most of the men in the show are carrying a small knife for protection. The violent outburst is perfectly logical from her perspective
True, but Rhaenyra and Daemon did murder an innocent guy to save Laenor. Once again Team Black murders do they can be happy. Its "Rules for Thee but not for Me" Team Green all the way because Team Black let the small folk suffer for their own happiness.
The lighting matches the sun. It's for contrast. Between the dark scene of vhagar and aemond to the bright scene of rhaneyra and syrrax on dragon stone it's dynamic. It was a stormy day and they're playing up the environment in all scenes
I learned to trust myself about lighting and this show after the GoT last season - it absolutely sucks sometimes. I really find it odd that it was the same director that did the Long Night battle and he still isn’t taking steps to make sure the lighting is good on tv screens during post production. Also, I really wish they had someone who had the slightest idea of how to style locs - every female Velaryon or Targaryen was really intricate braids most of the time but their locs: up or down, that’s it lol
@@merrittanimation7721 I just don’t see why it would be. I have locs myself - I can style my hair pretty much any way you’d see on the show. And they seem to pay SO MUCH attention to the white female character’s beautiful intricate braids, curls, and even silhouettes of their hair. I’m not saying this is on purpose, I just honestly think no one bothered to find a stylist who was familiar with locs…it’s a pretty common occurrence on sets
I also really liked the aesthetic of the Valeryan wedding. It made me sad to think that Laenor couldn't get that. He had to sever ties with everyone and everything he knew to be able to thrive, by faking his death.
For real, she comes to terms with not being Queen and just wants to be happy with her children and dragons on Driftmark but the actions of other people who do care about the Iron Throne robbed her of both her children, and will likely do the same to all her grandchildren in time. She’s the person I feel most sorry for in all this. 😢
There were some really sweet moments this episode, for me, little things like Rhaenyra immediately saying she likes Laenor as he is when he wishes to be different, the fact Corlys is right there with her and the kids when all the shit is going down, Rhaenyra’s boys getting on pretty much immediately with their soon-to-be step-sisters. Regarding Alicent suddenly being willing to stab a child in front of everyone, that actually felt natural to me. She’s very highly strung, and very devoted to her kids. Honestly, if someone half-blinded one of my family and then stood there going “so we’ll leave it there then, eh?” afterwards, I can’t guarantee that, in the heat of the moment, I wouldn’t try evening the odds. The way she seems embarrassed about it afterwards, and even looked a little unnerved when Larys offered to take the eye for her, made it feel more in character, for me, at least. I’m really enjoying having a cast full of moral ambiguity, tbh, I think most people are capable of both awful and wonderful things, and it’s just nice to watch fictional characters who reflect that duality. That being said, I’m really glad Rhaenyra and Daemon weren’t involved in killing Laenor. The lighting was so weird. With the way the sky looked light, but everything else had that blue-grey filter over it, it felt like I was watching something set during an eclipse. Still, I saw enough to know I love how yuge Vhagar is, they did a really good job at demonstrating what it’s like to have a fucking jumbo jet made of meat flying about. Also, understanding “dohaeris, Vhagar!” pleased me more than it should, like yeah I speak Valyrian what of it?
Rhaenyra and Daemon still murder someone it just wasn't Laenor. Once again, Team Black commit crimes for their own happiness. The small folk suffer for the Elites to have their way.
One thing you may be missing is that in the scene Rhaenyra asks that aemond be put to "sharp questioning" to find out where he heard the rumors, and that is GRRM speak for torture. Rhaenyra also calls the "rumors" high treason which is punishable by death. So Rhaenyra sees her mutilated brother and asks that he be tortured in an attempt to prove Alicent guilty of high treason which could lead to her death. Hope that makes Alicent snapping make a little more sense.
Neither. It's more fun to pick your favourite characters from 2 teams not just one :) That Aemond scene with Vhagar was majestic, absolutely jaw-dropping. The young actor did great job this entire episode even his Valyrian was spot on.
The darkness is really annoying. When music producers are done mixing a song they convert and play it on earbuds and car speakers because normal people don't listen to music in full studios with professional headphones and they want to make sure the song sounds good in real life. Weird that HBO (and half of Hollywood but this show is notably bad) apparently thinks everyone is watching on the same production monitors they're editing on or expensive OLEDs. I have a few separate discord channels with completely separate groups of people where we chat about fantasy shows and all of them are complaining about the lighting.
You're absolutely right about the brightness. It's just plain hard to discern details or identities sometimes...at least for me, the guy who gallops headlong into other people on RDR2 because I can't see in that game at night.
While I'm glad Laenor made it out, it really does show a whole new element of Rhaenyra. Sure, she was attached to Laenor and found a way to spare his life. However that involved Daemon killing a random servant to be a replacement corpse. I'm eerily reminded of how she once said "why should I care what they think" in regard to commoners. She views a random servant as less important than Laenor so she can murder him instead and it's fine? I get the feeling that in particular will be overlooked by a lot of viewers. They'll say she's righteous because she spared Laenor but she still had a man killed.
I bought Alicent wanting the kids eye, but maybe they could have shown her being more hysterical beforehand. It seemed like a 0 to 10 moment. Also- I LOVE that Aemond lied and said that Aegon called the boys bastards instead of his mother to protect her. That was so well done and poor Aegon just wasn't ready.
Still can’t believe Viserys bought that, but guessing he knew it was Alicent and wanted anyone else to blame to make an example. Probably was hoping he’d choose Criston instead of anyone in the family
I'm confusing by how I feel Rhaenyra and Daemon were really nice by helping Laenor have the life he wants... when they murdered a poor guy out of nowhere to do it
Did you all catch Aegon was like me? Twice. Once when Alicent asked him where he was, and when Aemon threw him under the dragon. When his dad was like where did you hear about the kids being illegitimate. Aemon looked at his mother when asked. Because I'm sure he heard it from Alicent. But he protected her by saying it was his brother. I'm sorry but I'm team green here. I stay laughing at Aegon lol If you noticed when the camera pans to Rhaenerya she seemed eager to get Aemon to say who told him. I loved this episode set everything up with the kids and the animosity.
I got to ask, does anyone think that the big fear of Otto and Alicent, that Rhaenyra will kill Aegon and Aemund when she is on the throne is real. I'm starting to think its more a reflection on what they would do in her position?
i believe it is a VERY real fear especially since the blacks have someone as insane as daemon. otto was right, as long as alicent’s children are alive they can be used to challenge rhaenyra’s claim. rhaenyra also has the extremely partial support of her father and crazy uncle-husband. the fears are very much justifiable.
I think it’s a self fulfilling prophecy. She will kill them because they’re challenging her claim but they’re challenging her claim because they think she’ll kill them. She would have been perfectly fine with all of them living as long as none of them tried to take what was hers because even if other people are trying to get them to rule as long as they keep saying she is the queen and her children are the heirs no one can force them to usurp her. Anyone who tries to even say she’s an illegitimate ruler and push Aegon to rule would be tried for treason. Plenty of rulers would kill people who may have a better claim, but the Rhaenyra we’ve seen has never been shown to be cruel. Especially when she offered the marriage of Jace and Helaena it was clear she didn’t mean to cut them all down as soon as her father died. Otto is the one who would do that in the position and Alicent has begun to believe Rhaenyra is more like him than herself. Alicent would never and at first she thought Rhaenyra was the same, but after finding out she lied about being a maiden she trusts her father’s judgement more than her own
@@MayumiSaegusaShiba I agree Otto is right but a t the moment Rhaenyra most crazy person is Daemon who has, What? 1. Cut of body parts of criminals as leader of the city Watch (fairly common punishment in this kind of time) 2. Started a mini war which was suggested and funded by someone else 3. Ran away to live on the road with his new wife A bit eccentric in manner yes but not really a bloodthirsty lunatic While the only really evils, remorseless killer is Larry's strong who is on the Green side Not saying she wouldn't just feel we should have seen more of a taste for murder or blood by now, Rhaedyra doesn't even really kill her husband
OMG I feel you with the light! this episode it really bothered me especially in the beach scene. I will always be team black even though I feel for Alicent is a victim of the circumstance of what men around her in all her life wants her to do. She is a typical example of a good girl going mad from trying to do the right thing amongst people who are selfish. The bad lighting aside I really loved the episode and really got me hooked for real.
Team Black always make others suffer for their own happiness. This episode Rhaenyra and Daemon murder an innocent guy so Laenor can be free. Only Alicent hasn't committed murder. She didn't know Larys would murder before it happened and it benefited him as much as it did Alicent, and she was horrified after. Team Green, because the Black's make others suffer for their own happiness like our real world Rich Elite.
In regards to the episode being dark, I myself didn’t have an issue. But I also have a brand new TV and I watched it at night with no other lights on. So I thought the episode was beautiful! However I could absolutely see certain scenes being difficult to see during the daytime. I don’t think it was nearly as dark as the last season of GOT where you literally couldn’t see anything at all. Same director though, which I’m sure isn’t a coincidence.
So are we just not going to talk about the innocent castle guard that Daemon murdered in cold blood as part of his plan to fake Laenor's death? Anyone? Anyone? This is supposed to be the new more mature kinder gentler Daemon, is it?
The day-for-night shooting was done because otherwise the beach scenes would have looked ridiculous. Like having massive search parties on the beach due to the artificial lights they would need to use. There are child actors to consider too who cannot work long hours so they can't even just wait around for the lighting to be correct. Also, more to the point, the photography looked amazing, at least for me. But that's probably due to a properly calibrated television and ultrahigh speed internet....
RE the teams I'm team black, but uh not thrilled that Rhyneara and Daemon killed a random dude (servant?). I'm relieved it wasn't actually Leaonor but that still makes Rhyneara a murderer like Daemon already was. I wish the show hadn't tried to fake us out. I'd rather they intercut her talking it over with Leanor with the execution of the plan because seeing that relationship play out has been one of my favorite parts of the show. I'm gonna miss him. I really like the show and I realize they need time jumps but I wish they'd slow down a hair and let us sit with each time period a little longer. I want to know Harwin and...see I already forgot her name Leaonor's sister who just died. I felt like we got some time with the younger versions and then we sped up too much. I want to see the tension brewing a little slower, clearer. Like we could end up in the same place just let it breathe a little.
I agree entirely, it's why I'm Team Green. I've had enough of Team Black having a "Rules for Thee but not for Me" attitude. The small folk suffer so Team Black can be happy. No Bueno.
@@volasternmasq2746 you think the blacks are 'rules for thee but not for me'? Crispy got away with murdering a man in cold blood and they plan on circumventing the king's personal choice of heir that the lords of the realm swore an oath to honor.
@TheGrumpyPenguin You do realize ALL of that is in response to the Black's. Rhaenyra already seduced Sir Crispy Creme into betraying his oath. He was clearly uncomfortable and if he were a woman we would be screaming about Work Place Power abuse. It doesn't change just because Rhaenyra is a woman, he is a commoner, he can't say no to a Princess. If he obeys he breaks his oath. If he refuses she can have him beheaded without recourse. Sure, Crispy Creme should be hanged for murder. And Sent to the wall for Porking a Princess. But Rhaenyra has ALREADY repeated used and abused people for her own pleasure because commoners don't matter. She is above them all. Secondly, the thing Otto fought against for so long will happen. Daemon will sit on the throne next to Rhaenyra. How do you think things will go for the Greens with DAEMON wielding power. Do you honestly think Rhaenyra can keep him in check, when she went along with a plan to MURDER AN INNOCENT MAN TO PROTECT LAENOR. The Greens aren't innocent. They are lying, scheming assholes. But. Their abuses of power have only ever come in response to threats from either Daemon or Rhaenyra who abused their own power previously.
i think the darkness really depends on what screen your watching on like it is no where near as dark on my laptop or tv but ive seen other peoples where its impossible to see
It wasn't just you who was bothered by thr lighting. I accidentally rewound the episode, and so I was trying to get back to where I was, but I couldn't tell what scenes any of the images were from, since everything was just grey blobs.
On the lighting in those scenes talked about in the beginning. I actually had to ask the people I was watching it with if it looked really blurry or if my eyesight was worse than I thought 😅
This was my literal favorite episode so far! I legit watched it twice in a row, like as soon as it[ and the "inside look" afterward] had ended I just immediately clicked play again right away, because that's how much I liked it(And I haven't rewatched any other episode yet). ^-^
It was several lines into the beach scene before I noticed that Raenyra was talking to Daemon, I thought it was Laenor at first! I get that they probalby want to go for a "realistic" look, but when you can't see the facial experssions during what turned out to be one of the pivotal conversations in the season.. I mean come on!!
all the Targaryens and Veleryons felt like they wanted to talk to each other but couldn't quite figure out how to and so they stayed in their own little groups
The only logical reason I can think of for the lighting is that maybe the kids limited when they could film, so rather than only having the kids scenes be shot in the day and darkened in post they just do it all that way for consistency.
I watch with subtitles on and sometimes the scene behind them is so dark that they seem painfully bright and leave afterimages in my sight so I see even less on the screen 😩😩😩
I had to turn the brightness up on my phone because it was hard to even see the silhouette of the clip when I was on 25% brightness. So yeah. That’s a lighting problem FOR SURE
I was very reliefed litteraly sighed that they showed some happiness in the show with Leanor going free to live his happy life (by this point I was afraid their little boat was going to just get caught in a storm and end them anyway)
I didn't get to watch the ep when it first came out but I waited until last night because I knew I wouldn't be able to see anything on the damn screen if I watched during the day
Its baffling how anyone working on this show looked at all the criticism GoT S8 got for its lighting and decided to repeat its mistakes. Like it wasnt _as bad_ as the battle of winterfel, but it was still "I need to turn my brightness up substantially to actually watch this", which should never be the case
I find it fascinating that everyone is so caught up on the fact that they’re bastards. I get Alicent’s problem with Rhaenyra being able to do what she wants but everyone else? She’s the one with the “king’s” blood and the line of succession was going to follow her regardless of who she chose and their real father is still of noble birth. If his father had suggested marrying them instead of Laenor then there would be no problem. And, the fact that everyone’s talking about duty and honor when they’re nobles that live off the commoners hard work 😒 PS I loved the gay happily ever after. Was so sad for the few minutes he was dead
women cheating on their husbands is a pretty serious crime in westeros and bastards are considered untrustworthy. also all the sexist lords in westeros (most of them) would not be very happy with her for doing this which would probably cause more of them to support aegon.
The only thing that bugged me about the way they handled Laenor’s “death” is that the show frames it as this a kindness from Rhaenyra or a happy ending for Laenor, but the way they pull it off is to have Daemon randomly murder some guy and the audience is expected to be cool with this because we don’t know that dead character personally. They need the murder to happen but don’t want us to hate Rhaenyra for facilitating it, but it was still a murder of someone who for all we know did nothing wrong. Maybe they could have had a line of dialogue from Otto or Alicent or Larys that one of their spies has gone missing, implying the victim was from the opposing faction.
Tim, you are def not alone. That reminded me of that one time I made castle map for D&D group and then realized I will need a night version of it, lemme tell you that was the fastest filter slap in my life. Also I am on Viserys side, we all should take a page from his book and chill over our lego sets from time to time I do not think Rhaenyra was in on the know about Laenor drifting away with his boyfriend.
I love this idea that the show is showing what actually happen while the book is writing by a third party inside the same world, it does not take anything away from the book, since reading them gives you an outsider perspective, and it does let the show change things a bit while still making sense.
I watched the episode on my laptop in the dark, and I could see everything. And the night filter was applied intentionally, to contrast it with the night shoot of the disastrous The Long Night
I literally couldn't see anything but vague shapes on my TV in those dark scenes. I suppose I'll need to rewatch in a pitch black room or something but it was really disappointing
I haven't had too many issues with the lighting, except noticing colours. I hadn't fucking noticed that Alicent's kids are wearing green and Rhaenyra's are wearing black at all because the colours are so dark and muted.
i really liked darkness, i imagine it is what characters would have seen the world in the night. i liked recognising familiar shapes and piecing together whats going on.
Youre right about it being shot during the day, but it wasn't a wrong timeline. Shooting at night runs the risk of not getting enough light in the camera or something, thus to get a clearer shot they film at day and edit it into night (an example where its done right is Jordan Peele's Nope)
I didn't have a problem with the darkness. Though that could be because I was watching it on a HDR TV. Everything was fine to me. Also, filming stuff in the day, and turning the brightness down to appear night is very common. It's much easier to do that than film at night and, if done properly, often feels more like night than actual night shoots with a random source of light coming from nowhere.
Team Black here! I watched it in 4K on a 4K TV and had no problems with the brightness. I belive they let Laenor go bcz they don't have the balls to kill the secound black character in a row (why give the rolls to black actors then in the first place?!), same with The Boyz where the showrunner didn't wanted to kill the LGBT character on TV. I love this episode , for the world building alone, and I truely belive that Daemon and Rhaenyra love each other.
Yeh the old-fashioned "film it in daytime and slap a dark filter on it" technique was super jarring in this episode. Especially when the rest of the series they've filmed night scenes at night.
Hey tim. They DID film several scenes during the day. What happened in this episode is a tecniqie called daynight, used to make day shots look like night in post production so the crew doesn't have to shoot at night. Also this episode's director is the same as the long night episode in GOT. He likes it dark
I'm glad I'm not the only bothered by the lighting in the earlier part of the episode. The only thing that really bothers me about the show is Otto constantly reminding Alicent that Viserys has a blind spot for Rhaenrya when both she, and us the audience, are already very well aware of that, so him always saying it is not quite "I don't want it!/She's my Queen!" levels of bad but it is kinda annoying to be constantly reminded of something everyone, including the audience, already knows.
I think Alicent already knew the fight was going to happen and where she was going to stand. The almost demented way she talked about the conflict to Aegon on Ep. 6 sealed that for me. Also I didn't think it was a jump for her character to try and get the eye herself. She's been on the edge of something big since the beginning of the time jump. The bitterness has festered for years now. And I can definitely see how seeing her own child lose an eye could make her reach that boiling point.
Кино
You know what sad? The children aren’t monsters here, not yet anyway. They’re are children pushed along by their parents into a conflict. They’re going to be dragged under by people who use them as proxies
Remember like 3 or 4 episodes ago when the exact same thing was true about Alicent and Rhaenyra
@@adrianoaten3410 seriously. This whole show is just Generational Trauma with Dragons.
...The kid who lost an eye was pretty monstrous after he rode the dragon.
@@questioningespecialy9107 True he was a little gremlin, but that also could be attributed to Alicent feelings on Rhaenyra. They’re weren’t family and so he can do whatever he wished
@@questioningespecialy9107 kinda self defence but he did took it a bit too far
I personally found Alicent's stabby stabby scene quite believable. A parent who is so devoted to her children, and a person who so fully believes they are the only person who is truly upholding justice, could easily end up finding themselves defending gouging the eye of a child out in pursuit of so-called justice.
Alicent is Based and Stannis-pilled.
I agree, the scene made a lot of sense to me
The cognitive dissonance is strong with Alicent. "Upholding" justice, decency, duty all the while allying with murderers and kinslayers.....
I just see Alicent as jealous. Her raging rant about having done her duty & not getting the payoff (she hasn't defined what it is tbh I'm not sure she knows what she wants) it feels like she made a shite choice in marrying Viserys & rather than accepting it she's projecting her rage at it in jealousy at Rhaenyra.
She wants her flowers, but doesn't know what her flowers are, she's just jealous ATP & is misplacing it as righteous indignation.
yeah not sure what he was on about there, it seems pretty natural for her character to react that way after all the build up.
What I liked about the ceremony is that the kids are there. It gave me a bit of a reaction chuckle because imagine your 10-ish years old self having to watch your mum marry her uncle after you lost a parent in less than a month and the ceremony includes them cutting themselves and drinking their blood before making out sensually in front you... It would be slightly traumatizing I think.
Dude I was thinking the same thing. I was like well someone has to witness this so when the claims for the throne are coming out these two are OFFICIALLY married. I just did not expect the kids who had not one but TWO father figures die back to back to be there as well 😂😂
Yeah, both their dads just died and now they're here with their double cousins whose mum, your aunt, also died, and who are about to become your step-siblings that they will be bethrothed to because the dad is their great-uncle and also their mum's new husband.
It was weird and sweet
@@Dual_Singularity Yeah!! We've clearly established that Daemon couldn't care less about his kids but come on Rhaenyra, one of your few redeeming qualities is that you're a good mom
@@johnecoapollo7 yes exactly! But I just heard this next episode is absolutely insane!. I’m so very excited. Honestly though they really are doing a great job of keeping EVERY single character in a grey agree which makes it really hard to select a side. (Minus the fact a certain queen tried to stab a child eye hole out)
I also really, really loved the aesthetic and design of the Valyrian wedding.
You get the impression that it’s all harking back to a much more ancient, tribal custom that the Valyrians have needed to hold onto as the primacy of blood and magic is so important to their culture, and their control of Dragons and they want to change as little as possible for fear of upsetting that control.
It’s just so different to any wedding we’ve seen, and shows just how alien the Valyrians are in Westeros even now as when they’re in their element and living up to their traditions, it’s so different to the traditions and customs of their native subjects.
It's easy to forget how alien to Westeros the Valyrians were. All the Valyrians we see are merely of the genetic stock of Old Valyria, and little obvious of their culture seems to remain. No obvious accent, little of their own fashions, none of their cuisine or religion. Valyria lives on in little more than platinum hair and a scholastic language.
As a Chinese person I really liked the design and cut of the clothing, it had a Chinese wuxia vibe
Also, old Valyria says yes to polygamy so marrying a la Valyrian at least spiritually handles the fact that Laenor is still alive.
I really liked the changes they made to how Aemond lost his eye. In Fire and Blood the fight starts because Aemond pushed Joff to the ground before getting on Vhagar, so Joff ran and got his brothers and the three of them started beating Aemond with wooden swords when he returned from his flight. By bringing in the twins and making the fight about Aemond stealing Baela’s chance at claiming her dead mother’s dragon, the fight was far more believable and had a much stronger emotional impact.
Honestly, I feel that between Alicen't self-righteous, decade long simmering of anger and resentment towards Rhaenyra, and the sudden violent actions 'against' her son that night, it would make anyone under that amount of stress, and pressure, and paranoia snap and go back on their supposed ideals for a moment. She's human, after all, and clearly a product of her surrounding, upbringing, and personal demons. As such, the knife scene felt realistic and earned even with a more sympathetic portrayal of Alicent.
Also, her apology felt half-hearted when she was speaking to Otto, as though she were saying what she felt she was expected to say or what she deep down knows to be 'right' but doesn't actually agree with. I feel the actress did a wonderful job conveying that, making her a really complex character.
Alicent apologizes for her lack of grace and composure, not for her insistence on maiming another child. This is 100 percent on-brand for Alicent as we've seen her so far.
@@kajamiletic3223 exactly, she is ashamed of doing things that look bad, not of doing bad things
The saddest part of all is how she doesn't see that _she_ is the one at fault, for causing her son to believe and behave in the way that he does.
And that her own father is also at fault for terrifying her into the way that she believes and behaves herself.
They're so paranoid about the fact that certain things _could_ happen-that those things, in fact, end up getting pushed into happening like some kind of self-fulfilling-prophecy specifically *_because_* of their own actions inducing fairly natural responses to those actions from other people that may or may-not have ever actually even happened at all if not for their incitement first by basically acting as if those things had already happened even when they hadn't yet.
And it all just snowballs, worse-and-worse from there.
Aliecent i a bad Person, she but her selfe in the kings heart to gain power, over the fact that him marrying into the house valerion would have been the best of the realm. She is s monster and her father is a much bigger monster.
@@alien777 Marrying the king wasn't even her idea. Or even really up to her choice, at all. As far as we know. But she definitely let other people, like her father, get in her head and poison her thoughts[ like marrying/serving a king was the best thing that any woman could achieve] and making her become paranoid about how her and her children's lives would be in danger of being assassinated by Rhaenyra and such just to eliminate any or all possible "competition" for the throne unless Alicent's son were put on the throne instead of Rhaenyra...and about how a woman's place was just being dutiful daughters and wives and mothers and such, rather than making their own decisions about what to do or not with their own lives or ruling from the throne[ & etc.].
I think it’s important to note that Alicent was told all her life that Rhaenyra and her kids would hurt and kill her children and now that Aemond lost an EYE (i think people downplay how serious this is. in this world he is disfigured and severely handicapped for life) Alicent’s fears are now confirmed to be a reality. NO ONE was punished for the prince losing an eye, not even in the mildest manner of punishment. No one even asked if he was okay. No one cares about Alicent or her kids, and there’s no one to protect them so Alicent will just have to do it herself.
Yeah, but this is also a world where not recognizing the heir to the throne (Rhaenyra is, and her sons after her) is treason and usually punished with death. And royals are thought to defend their honor. Aemond called Jace and Luke bastards, and they had to "defend their honor". Even if it is horrible and they are kids, Aemond committed treason, while they did what is considered their duty.
So, I understand Alicent reaction, but Vyseris had no escape: closing the dispute "just" without punishing Aemond for treason was the only way to minimize the damage.
@@val_wildling767 Passing off bastards as trueborns is also treason. The biggest treason actually. If you want to go by law then Jace inheriting as a non-legitimized bastard (something everyone knows and can use to their advantage) will most definitely be usurpation. Laws on bastardy are clear in Westeros.
Disfiguring and permanently blinding the son of a king is probably also punishable by death.
and viserys DOES have the power to fix everything. all he has to do is make a law that says firstborns regardless of gender can inherit the iron throne but he doesnt. at this point rhaenyra is simply an exception to the rule and no one knows why. she was declared heir because the only other choice was crazy daemon. now there are THREE other choices. the situation has changed drastically and those lords who knelt before rhaenyra thinking she's the only choice will most definitely change their minds.
all of this happened because viserys is a shit king and father that refuses to face the reality he created. also all rhaenyra has to do is acknowledge her kids as bastards and legitimize them. this is not like the cersei situation where her kids didnt have baratheon blood. rhaenyra's kids can most definitely still inherit if only rhaenyra and viserys went through the proper procedure. but they absolutely refuse to do so and expect everyone to just accept it. prime example of monarchs thinking they can do whatever they want, also a precursor to their people hating them for it. of course alicent is angry and frustrated.
and you minimize damage by being fair. even just a little bit. doing nothing about your son being blinded is NOT fair and just antagonized the hightowers even more. he is an idiot.
@@val_wildling767 and they didn't even pull knives until Aemon was about to start bashing in the skulls of kids who were on the ground.
Jace and Co started the fight but by the time they pulled the knife it was self defense. Aemon had the chance to walk away and instead went for murder
@@richardommundsen2417 Aemond was the same age as those kids, was described in the books as a sickly (weak) child, and was being beaten 4-1. god forbid he tried to find a weapon to defend himself. why are the greens always expected to be the bigger person when theyre clearly the mistreated ones in the family
@@MayumiSaegusaShiba I mean Aemond did start that fight by immediately going full d*ickhead after gaining the dragon. Jace and Luke showed up to defend their cousins and immediately got called bastards. And in the series, he was definitely winning the fight until someone pulled a knife and it sure looked like he was going to bash some heads with a rock. It doesn't mean he deserved what happened to him, kids fight after all and the blame lays squarely on the adults who failed to first to raise and then to supervise the kids.
Shooting "day for night" is pretty common in Hollywood, but it was really poorly done here. It gave me flashbacks to the pitch-black battle against the White Walkers in S8 of GoT. For some reason HBO likes it to be really really hard to see the world of Westeros.
its not hbo its this director specificaly
@@asura7915 not even. The first time I noticed this "day for night" thing was back in season 5 episode 4 of GoT, which starts wiith Jorah kidnapping Tyrion and sailing away from Volantis on a boat. It's a very short scene, but I remember being like "why is the screen so dark in this clearly sun-lit scene?"
The Night is Dark and full of Terrors.
The scenes that Tim show does not look like the show to me omg is this what people see on their shit tvs and laptops??? No wonder people keep saying it looks like a black screen. Daaaamn properly calibrate your tvs and get faster internet people. It's 2022. We have the technology for this 😨
yeah... they should have done some sky replacement (so its not so obvious its day for night) and made it a tad brighter. It still looked ok on my 4k TV thoigh
I was very pleased with Laenor's "end". Firstly, because I think he deserves to have a happy ending, and this was the happiest ending possible to him. Secondly, because I think it shows some of Raenyra's character as well. She wanted Laenor to be happy. She knew he would have to "die" so that she could get what she wanted/needed, but she didn't want him to *actually* die, and came up with a way for both of them to get out of the situation. And I like that it shows Daemon's character and growth, too. He could have easily just had Laenor actually killed and even lied to Raenyra and said it wasn't his fault, but he didn't. I dunno, that whole situation just made me love each of those characters even more.
Daemon didn't grow. He still killed someone it just wasn't Laenor.
Yet again the innocent suffer and die so Team Black can play happy families. Yes the Greens aren't any better, but Daemon is still the murdering monster he's always been, and now Rhaenyra is condoning his murders because it spares someone she cares about.
@@volasternmasq2746 this is a game of thrones, people kill, people die... Ain't no saints nor demons (only Daemon lol I had to)
@@volasternmasq2746 but on a more serious note, I do believe Daemon has matured, he's a real family man now, despite having been reckless ruthless and whiny, ever since marrying Laena it seems his firey ego has cooled down and he can see and act more cleaerly now
About Alicent trying to take the eye, I think she totally lost it for a moment. She saw her child missing an eye, and his father taking Rhaenyra's side, and Rhaenyra asking for Aemond to be questioned... yeah. She just snapped.
I noticed it was dark, but it didn’t really bother me as much as it seems to have for everyone else. Maybe it’s part of a TV setting or something, but yeah, I really didn’t mind.
Edit: Laenor surviving caught me off guard. The person watching with me called it as soon as the body was clearly unrecognizable. I was more skeptical because I was wondering how/where they got the body for that and it’s a rare thing for this kind of show. A queer character actually getting to live a life away from the coming storm is amazing, but I really was surprised by him surviving.
It probably does vary by TV. With any of my TV's preset modes I could not see much of anything during the late funeral/dragon claiming scenes. Absolutely a grey-black box. I was able to turn the brightness and contrast up enough to make out some details, but it wasn't easy or enjoyable watching. I think the flight on Rhagar really could have been a beautiful spectacle and I got some of that with my rejiggered settings but it was still undercut by the darkness :/
This does open up a problem for later, with the dragon-claiming. We'll see what happens then.
@@woutervanbinsbergen3368
Yes! It's going to create a knock-on effect for *two* important characters...
Daemon kills some random guy by breaking his neck just before the duel happens, so that's where the body comes from.
@@DarkRaven4649 Ahh, that’s what that was. I suppose the darkness this episode effected me after all, so thanks.
Like I said in Rings of Power, the characters in House of the Dragon are an ocean compared to the tiny rain drops of those characters in Rings of Power.
I really liked how Aemond went to go console the kids but didn't quite know how to do it. During the kid fight scene he tries to de-escalate things to keep it limited to punching, kicking, and insults.
As for the lighting, I just figured it was a visual cue that things-which-should-not-be-seen (/HP vibe) happen like a drunk prince, an affair, and a "Dragon theft" (also, known as "Hell yeah, tha's mah boi!!!")
Yes, until he picked up a rock and threatened to bash their heads in while mocking saying they’d die like their father when their (step) father is still alive. That was when the knife came out (not saying he deserved to get his eye taken out but he is the oldest and did escalate first)
Regarding Laenor, if they were going to write his character out of the show, I’m happy they did it the way they did instead of brutally murdering him like they did the other gay in the very same episode he was introduced
Feels like them actively subverting bury your gays which is actually pretty cool
I'm not saying I dislike how they got rid of him but it definitely wasn't a nice death
@@chunkyizanagisburden Uhm, he didn't die, which is OP's point
Yeah murderer a random innocent person instead. Id rather they not go cheap and put him on a boat. Murder is murder, doesn't matter if it's a noble or a servant. Gay or straight. Black or White.
Yeah. I mean, this is a George R. R. Martin work, so I wouldn’t have been surprised if he just died, but I’m glad they didn’t invoke the “kill your gays” trope.
For what it's worth, they likely filmed the night scenes in the daytime using a day-to-night filter. Perhaps a bit easier to film the scene lit for daylight then add a blue filter to convey moonlight rather than fighting the darkness and missing the mark. That said even the indoor scenes were soooooooo dark. I watched it in a near pitch dark room and still thought, "Boy, this is dark."
Totally agree about the darkening effect they used, and yes you're right they shot all those scenes in bright daylight. It was just so distracting in the sense that the context clues of the scenes were telling me this was daylight. Like how shiny everything was, the shortness of the shadows, light shining through the wigs, characters squinting when looking into the sky, etc. And yet it was so dark. My brain ended up defaulting to thinking I was just wearing sunglasses, because that's what it felt like and i couldn't shake it on multiple viewings. Made it jarring everytime someone was like "I'm going to bed!" or "Go to bed!" and my brain was confused because it's clearly like early afternoon, why are they going to bed? I get not wanting to shoot at night, but man did that effect really just not work for me. Especially when most of them it was unnecessary to have them be at night. Aemond and Vhagar yes, also Daemon and Rhaenyra for obvious reasons. They could've just used a several hour time jump and kept everything else in daytime, and nothing changes. Also bizarrely these same scenes were in trailers and teasers and were noticeably brighter, for the final cinematic version they just buried the darkness slider.
And as to Laenor, my only gripe with it is that they gave his lines about the identity of the Velaryons, being of the water, and the sea offering freedom to Rhaenyra and Daemon. Those would've been much more powerful coming from him directly as they row away, and also how he reacted to hearing the elaborate plan to having him fake his death to get out of the marriage. Especially after the huge conversation with Laenor recommitting himself to Rhaenyra, smash cutting to him changing his mind drastically with a vague sense of why. They did the thing they've done quite a few times and is getting a little old, that they are letting the actions backfill what happened. Laenor agreed to it and is leaving, so he must've been okay with. Larys killed his father and brother, so there must have been a not great relationship there. Etc. They need to have some of these moments do more telling and less showing.
@@vulgarveil It didn't look weird to you, not because you are use to walk in the moonlight (it is a quite common human expirience ;) ) but because you have a better tv than most. On my scree I was just seeing all dark blue filter, the outline of the character...and nevertheless such well pronouced shadows. Terrible.
My favourite line in this episode was when Otto basically says that if Aemond lost 1000 eyes it still wouldn’t be enough to pay for Vhagar.
Over all this episode was so interesting in the drawing of lines in the sand
I love that they spared Laenor but was 100% surprised to see him alive. Great change. Good point about the filming of this episode, I thought the very strong shadows were odd for moonlight and the light ends up being very dull and dead rather than crisp and bluish.
Rheneyra is still evil
@@DavidoMAMO why’s that?
@@_somerandomguyontheinternet_ that innocent man got killed to replace Leanor's corpse
@@DavidoMAMO definitely not great. That said, labeling anyone as “evil” is a bit morally simplistic for a George R. R. Martin work, isn’t it?
wipes the blood off of Daemons hands when they could have gone that route. now it feels that the greens are the only baddies
Tim: It was a show of Daemon's maturity and Rhaenyra's kindness that they faked Laenor's death instead of murdering him.
Daemon and Rhaenyra: Cut some random guard's throat just so they can get a corpse.
I’ve been watching the series with a relative, and although I’ve read the book and know what will happen in the end, I’m having fun siding with the greens (except for Daemon shenanigans) while my relative seems to support the blacks. I can’t wait to see Aemond help carry the series and hopefully impart something into his older brother.
And Leanor not getting murdered helped keep the gray tones of Rhaenyra and Daemon. i had to re-watch that to trully understand what had happened. Brilliantly done
Exactly, I had to rewatch and listen closely to her speech, they switched to English which may or may not explain why was she being so cryptic and mysterious with the water and fire analogies.
And then it all clicked at the end, Rhaenyra wanted to fake Laenor's death since they had that chat in her chambers.
He's a good man with a kind heart, so she cannot kill him, but, with the war looming, she needs an unscrupulous man with a dark heart... She needs Daemon (and Caraxes).
@@alastorcorvus thats such a good point about switching to english! And totally agree that she needs someone like Daemon now that the dance is about to begin
Yeah, call me crazy, but I don't really consider murdering an innocent castle guard in cold blood as part of their plot to be a "shade of gray." They are still a couple of cowardly murderous power hungry political opportunists.
So it's okay for the innocent to suffer for Team Black to be happy?
This is why I hate Team Black. It's like the Rich Elite of the real world with their "Rules for Thee but not for Me" attitude. The small folk suffer so Team Black can play happy families.
@@blaubeer8039 well we need to look at the setting right? In the GOT world, murder its quite common. That doesnt make it any less deplorable and I think is disgusting. But it doesnt surprise me because is what I would expect from GOT and HOTD. Of course I’m not excusing it 😂 and you have a good point, murdering is not right. But if we go by that standard, everyone already has their hands dirty. Even Alicent Hightower, wether she likes it or not. War is approaching and with it the unfortunate death of many innocent. Thats why I said before that I’m more rooting for cahracters than sides. The green and the black both are pretty terrible
I love this show. Everyone is a different tone of gray and I’m left sort of wondering who to root for? I think thats fascinating and has moved me to root for characters rather than sides.
I love the character growth they’ve shown even if the episodes jump around on the timeline a lot, I think they’ve done a terrific job there.
But the best part is the depiction of inter-generational conflict and trauma. This theme is not often shown because of the time spam it requires but DOTD does it super well.
Las thing:
100% agree with the freaking darkness! Had to change my display settings multiple times!
Character growth lol we never see them grow , what have they grown from and t to what exactly, what made them change and make them do the things they do , we get mere excerpts from them and we are to guess at their motivations.
@@shawndear8941 Daemon went from frat bro crazy with brother problems to more cold and calculated. His essence is still chaotic, he is deff the spread of chaos but he is not as impulsive or as bloodless as he was on Chapter 1. Otherwise he would have just had Leanor killed.
Rhanyra has always been a wild one. She feels like she is above duty and honor. She never wanted power, she just wanted to escape. As soon as she was set to be the next ruler, her whole character shifted. Now there is a big conflict becuase she wants the power but she still follows her desires more than her duty. That creates a conflict within her that she cant seem to be able to solve. Lets see how her marriage wirh Daemon place out.
Alicent went from an anxious little girl that followed her father and duty and honor. To this person sittimg in her high horse while she also moves her strings to get people killed. Even if she doesnt want to do this, she finds them concenient and doesnt stop them. An example of someone who is geuinly good but its pushed to do bad things due to circumstances. And that triggers a dramatic change.
Ser Criston went from a loyal knight to a resentful one. Sworn to the Queen as her protector, after Rhanyra betrayed or dumped him. He might look like the same person in the outside. But there is a deep resentment and hate brewing within that can be seen when he beats Laeonors lover to death on the wedding.
I can keep going but those are 4 clear examples of character growth to me
The best episode of the season so far! Absolutely handled the claiming of Vhagar and the ensuing fight with the children and the mothers. The tensions continue to amp up and the battle lines have now been drawn. Say a prayer for Viserys, he is holding this whole thing together with his one semi-okay arm. I'm glad Laenor gets a happy ending. But what about Seasmoke? Did Laenor just throw really large rocks at them? 😅 But he can always still die in Essos and then Seasmoke would be free for another to claim. People saying Laenor would become Addam after all is the worst theory I've ever heard and I hope to god it does not happen.
You’re not wrong about the dimness of the outdoor night scenes. It was a really bad creative choice. But ultimately only minor in the grand scheme of the episode. Just please no more darkness lit like this going forward.
Well, I think that Laenor survival quite affects the plot or lore…it depends on character of Adam Velaryon. He was rider of Seasmoke after Laenor…and Dragon can have only one rider
Laenor said he wanted to go back to the battlefield and Adam doesn’t claim Seasmoke until the Dance. It is very likely Laenor would have died a warriors death during that time especially since he had to be on the ground instead of in the skies so as not to draw attention. I think it’s reasonable to assume Laenor is dead by the next episode but it’s important that he died the way he wished instead of living in court (and probably getting killed anyway)
I've heard that most book readers are #TeamBlack but the portrayal of Alicent really did give me a view into how people could land on #TeamGreen in the show. She is very sympathetic. That said I almost burned my #TeamBlack card when it looked like Rhaenyra had conspired to off Leanor. That was so cold hearted I was like "Oh, well yeah, no wonder people are #TeamGreen, this woman is a monster" but the reveal brought things back to ambiguity. I think they had to let Leanor live in order for anyone to be #TeamBlack. I still feel bad for the dude who just got murdered and burned though.
The entire point of the Dance is that every team has some sympathetic characters, some very gray and some that are just evil.
The show is nailing it on that part, Alicent is given more humanity and relatability while people like Daemon and Rhaenyra are praised despite their very problematic deeds and relationship, I still love them.
But this show has made me care for Alicent and have some sympathy towards her, I'm still team Black, but Alicent is just another gear in the Hightower "corporation" and started like a victim, some very clear parallels to Sansa stark have been mentioned.
I mean, Rhaenyra knows they're on the brink of war, and like she said, they're gonna need every sword they can muster. And Laenor is loyal. So I don't think she would just off him on a whim like that.
Yeah, I was team black all through the episode until I thought Rhaenyra was going to kill Leanor. Then I wasn’t sure who to root for. Then it turned out he was alive and honestly that was probably the best possible outcome (for everyone except the poor guy who was killed and had his face burned off).
The problem with Team Black is that they let others suffer for their own happiness. They don't care about the people they hurt along the way.
Case and point, Rhaenyra and Daemon are happy to murder a random innocent so Laenor can have his happy ending.
It's like the real world where the rich elites screw over the small folk and think it's fine because they're above everyone...
Don't know about the books but the show does a good job to make me hate Team Black and their "Rules for Thee but not for Me" attitude.
@@volasternmasq2746 I mean the greens are literally doing the same thing trying to take rheneryas throne at her expense while justifying it by claiming to stop war when there literally causing it , allicaent teaching her kids to hate rheneryas creating a unnecessary cycle of violence , taking lenas Dragon from her family making them suffer even more for there own benifit team green may not have done anything overtly bad compared to team black but they aren't any better to put it to perspective , team blacks bad deeds only have short term ramifications while team green has vary long term ramifications .
The sheer tension and the subtlety of the acting in this episode was phenomenal. Even though there wasn't a ton being said during Laena's funeral, the stares everyone gave to each other, especially at Rhaenyra and her kids spoke volumes.
I loved the way they handled Laenor in the end. As dark, and grey, and awful this universe is, it's nice to see someone get a happy ending. My only concern is how they're going to handle his bond with Seasmoke. I'm not sure if the show handles the bond between dragon and rider like the books where it's like their souls are linked until one of them dies. If it is true, then when the show tries to get a new rider for Seasmoke, and he refuses that new rider, that's going to look reeeeeeal suspicious.
They might just have him fly off into the sunset. If a fully grown drago flies off is anyone really going to be able to stop it?
I hate that once again the small folk suffer so Team Black can be happy.
Sure Laenor is alive but Daemon still killed a random innocent guy. Someone has to suffer for Team Black to be happy, as usual.
As a show only fan, I think Alicent suddenly choosing violence was actually in character. After the culmination of all the things that was placed on her she then chose to wear green in Rhaenyra's wedding. And although she is on the extreme end, what mother (or mother figure) wouldn't choose violence or some sort of payback if their son lost an eye? I think it adds to the rich complexity of her character and reinforces Martin's way of showing how flawed people are and that they are capable of both good and bad things. I think the way of "sympathetic" being used to say someone can't be violent is even played on itself during Daemon and Rhaenyra's beach conversation.
Also, while I'm mainly on the black side I can't help but look forward to adult Aemond. His actor is hot with the eyepatch. 🥰😘
The turn is understandable when you remember Alicent believes her children can do no wrong. Aegon definitely set up the pig stunt which is clear to see since Rhaenyra’a kids aren’t the scheming type. The oldest is like 8 I doubt he has the capacity to think to put wings on a pig to pull a prank. Regardless of logic she believes Aegon when he says it was their idea and he just played along. Aemond was being a smug jerk when he selfishly took the dragon and then said they should have claimed it sooner when they probably were mourning and not ready to take away that piece they had of her. Also, he threatened to kill them before the knife came out and the youngest was the one who actually landed the blow who didn’t know any better. I’m sure they tried to tell the adults what happened, but Alicent sees all of them as little monsters trying to get rid of her boys to assure Rhaenyra’s place on the throne. In that case even if she doesn’t like violence she sees the attack as an assassination attempt from Rhaenyra’s side. She even claimed that’s why they had the knife when I’d assume most of the men in the show are carrying a small knife for protection. The violent outburst is perfectly logical from her perspective
True, but Rhaenyra and Daemon did murder an innocent guy to save Laenor.
Once again Team Black murders do they can be happy. Its "Rules for Thee but not for Me"
Team Green all the way because Team Black let the small folk suffer for their own happiness.
The lighting matches the sun. It's for contrast. Between the dark scene of vhagar and aemond to the bright scene of rhaneyra and syrrax on dragon stone it's dynamic. It was a stormy day and they're playing up the environment in all scenes
I learned to trust myself about lighting and this show after the GoT last season - it absolutely sucks sometimes. I really find it odd that it was the same director that did the Long Night battle and he still isn’t taking steps to make sure the lighting is good on tv screens during post production.
Also, I really wish they had someone who had the slightest idea of how to style locs - every female Velaryon or Targaryen was really intricate braids most of the time but their locs: up or down, that’s it lol
Great point about the hair!
The hair might be a stylistic thing
@@merrittanimation7721 I just don’t see why it would be. I have locs myself - I can style my hair pretty much any way you’d see on the show. And they seem to pay SO MUCH attention to the white female character’s beautiful intricate braids, curls, and even silhouettes of their hair. I’m not saying this is on purpose, I just honestly think no one bothered to find a stylist who was familiar with locs…it’s a pretty common occurrence on sets
I also really liked the aesthetic of the Valeryan wedding. It made me sad to think that Laenor couldn't get that. He had to sever ties with everyone and everything he knew to be able to thrive, by faking his death.
Faking his death with a real death of an innocent. That's 2 murders to Daemon now.
At this point I'm on Team Rhaenys...
Okay underrated comment, and I’m team alicent all the way
For real, she comes to terms with not being Queen and just wants to be happy with her children and dragons on Driftmark but the actions of other people who do care about the Iron Throne robbed her of both her children, and will likely do the same to all her grandchildren in time.
She’s the person I feel most sorry for in all this. 😢
@@Longshanks1690 She really wanted to keep them out of the conflict too, but Corlys HAD to push it.
There were some really sweet moments this episode, for me, little things like Rhaenyra immediately saying she likes Laenor as he is when he wishes to be different, the fact Corlys is right there with her and the kids when all the shit is going down, Rhaenyra’s boys getting on pretty much immediately with their soon-to-be step-sisters.
Regarding Alicent suddenly being willing to stab a child in front of everyone, that actually felt natural to me. She’s very highly strung, and very devoted to her kids. Honestly, if someone half-blinded one of my family and then stood there going “so we’ll leave it there then, eh?” afterwards, I can’t guarantee that, in the heat of the moment, I wouldn’t try evening the odds. The way she seems embarrassed about it afterwards, and even looked a little unnerved when Larys offered to take the eye for her, made it feel more in character, for me, at least.
I’m really enjoying having a cast full of moral ambiguity, tbh, I think most people are capable of both awful and wonderful things, and it’s just nice to watch fictional characters who reflect that duality. That being said, I’m really glad Rhaenyra and Daemon weren’t involved in killing Laenor.
The lighting was so weird. With the way the sky looked light, but everything else had that blue-grey filter over it, it felt like I was watching something set during an eclipse.
Still, I saw enough to know I love how yuge Vhagar is, they did a really good job at demonstrating what it’s like to have a fucking jumbo jet made of meat flying about. Also, understanding “dohaeris, Vhagar!” pleased me more than it should, like yeah I speak Valyrian what of it?
Rhaenyra and Daemon still murder someone it just wasn't Laenor.
Once again, Team Black commit crimes for their own happiness. The small folk suffer for the Elites to have their way.
One thing you may be missing is that in the scene Rhaenyra asks that aemond be put to "sharp questioning" to find out where he heard the rumors, and that is GRRM speak for torture. Rhaenyra also calls the "rumors" high treason which is punishable by death. So Rhaenyra sees her mutilated brother and asks that he be tortured in an attempt to prove Alicent guilty of high treason which could lead to her death. Hope that makes Alicent snapping make a little more sense.
Neither. It's more fun to pick your favourite characters from 2 teams not just one :)
That Aemond scene with Vhagar was majestic, absolutely jaw-dropping. The young actor did great job this entire episode even his Valyrian was spot on.
The darkness is really annoying. When music producers are done mixing a song they convert and play it on earbuds and car speakers because normal people don't listen to music in full studios with professional headphones and they want to make sure the song sounds good in real life. Weird that HBO (and half of Hollywood but this show is notably bad) apparently thinks everyone is watching on the same production monitors they're editing on or expensive OLEDs. I have a few separate discord channels with completely separate groups of people where we chat about fantasy shows and all of them are complaining about the lighting.
You're absolutely right about the brightness. It's just plain hard to discern details or identities sometimes...at least for me, the guy who gallops headlong into other people on RDR2 because I can't see in that game at night.
While I'm glad Laenor made it out, it really does show a whole new element of Rhaenyra. Sure, she was attached to Laenor and found a way to spare his life. However that involved Daemon killing a random servant to be a replacement corpse. I'm eerily reminded of how she once said "why should I care what they think" in regard to commoners. She views a random servant as less important than Laenor so she can murder him instead and it's fine?
I get the feeling that in particular will be overlooked by a lot of viewers. They'll say she's righteous because she spared Laenor but she still had a man killed.
Exactly. Team Black make people suffer so they can be happy.
Team Green all the way.
Both sides clearly just don't care for the common man, that clearly was how all these noble blood people were raised and it isn't really unrealistic.
Lighting? You are 110% correct! I have to crank my AV Mode to "Game", just to prevent serious squinting.
I bought Alicent wanting the kids eye, but maybe they could have shown her being more hysterical beforehand. It seemed like a 0 to 10 moment.
Also- I LOVE that Aemond lied and said that Aegon called the boys bastards instead of his mother to protect her. That was so well done and poor Aegon just wasn't ready.
Still can’t believe Viserys bought that, but guessing he knew it was Alicent and wanted anyone else to blame to make an example. Probably was hoping he’d choose Criston instead of anyone in the family
@@alliew31 knowing viserys I wouldn't be suprised if he prefer believing it's the kid than alicent.
I'm confusing by how I feel Rhaenyra and Daemon were really nice by helping Laenor have the life he wants... when they murdered a poor guy out of nowhere to do it
Did you all catch Aegon was like me? Twice. Once when Alicent asked him where he was, and when Aemon threw him under the dragon. When his dad was like where did you hear about the kids being illegitimate.
Aemon looked at his mother when asked. Because I'm sure he heard it from Alicent. But he protected her by saying it was his brother. I'm sorry but I'm team green here. I stay laughing at Aegon lol If you noticed when the camera pans to Rhaenerya she seemed eager to get Aemon to say who told him.
I loved this episode set everything up with the kids and the animosity.
I got to ask, does anyone think that the big fear of Otto and Alicent, that Rhaenyra will kill Aegon and Aemund when she is on the throne is real.
I'm starting to think its more a reflection on what they would do in her position?
i believe it is a VERY real fear especially since the blacks have someone as insane as daemon. otto was right, as long as alicent’s children are alive they can be used to challenge rhaenyra’s claim. rhaenyra also has the extremely partial support of her father and crazy uncle-husband. the fears are very much justifiable.
I think it’s a self fulfilling prophecy. She will kill them because they’re challenging her claim but they’re challenging her claim because they think she’ll kill them. She would have been perfectly fine with all of them living as long as none of them tried to take what was hers because even if other people are trying to get them to rule as long as they keep saying she is the queen and her children are the heirs no one can force them to usurp her. Anyone who tries to even say she’s an illegitimate ruler and push Aegon to rule would be tried for treason. Plenty of rulers would kill people who may have a better claim, but the Rhaenyra we’ve seen has never been shown to be cruel. Especially when she offered the marriage of Jace and Helaena it was clear she didn’t mean to cut them all down as soon as her father died. Otto is the one who would do that in the position and Alicent has begun to believe Rhaenyra is more like him than herself. Alicent would never and at first she thought Rhaenyra was the same, but after finding out she lied about being a maiden she trusts her father’s judgement more than her own
The game shifts and the sides change.
With Daemon on the Throne via Rhaenyra things will get very bloody.
@@MayumiSaegusaShiba I agree Otto is right but a t the moment Rhaenyra most crazy person is Daemon who has, What?
1. Cut of body parts of criminals as leader of the city Watch (fairly common punishment in this kind of time)
2. Started a mini war which was suggested and funded by someone else
3. Ran away to live on the road with his new wife
A bit eccentric in manner yes but not really a bloodthirsty lunatic
While the only really evils, remorseless killer is Larry's strong who is on the Green side
Not saying she wouldn't just feel we should have seen more of a taste for murder or blood by now, Rhaedyra doesn't even really kill her husband
@@AaranMoonlight that man killed his wife, he’s ALREADY a kinslayer. there is no universe where alicent shouldnt be afraid
“If you’re accusing me of some depravity, you’re gonna have to be more specific.” Is right up there with “Say it…” and “He can keep his tongue.”
OMG I feel you with the light! this episode it really bothered me especially in the beach scene. I will always be team black even though I feel for Alicent is a victim of the circumstance of what men around her in all her life wants her to do. She is a typical example of a good girl going mad from trying to do the right thing amongst people who are selfish. The bad lighting aside I really loved the episode and really got me hooked for real.
Team Black always make others suffer for their own happiness.
This episode Rhaenyra and Daemon murder an innocent guy so Laenor can be free.
Only Alicent hasn't committed murder. She didn't know Larys would murder before it happened and it benefited him as much as it did Alicent, and she was horrified after.
Team Green, because the Black's make others suffer for their own happiness like our real world Rich Elite.
I always love your reviews 😁👍🏾👏🏾✌🏾
It's called "day for night" shooting and (as you see with this episode) it can be pretty easy to screw up, particularly with wide shots.
In regards to the episode being dark, I myself didn’t have an issue. But I also have a brand new TV and I watched it at night with no other lights on. So I thought the episode was beautiful! However I could absolutely see certain scenes being difficult to see during the daytime. I don’t think it was nearly as dark as the last season of GOT where you literally couldn’t see anything at all. Same director though, which I’m sure isn’t a coincidence.
I had to mess with my TV settings to see anything. my wife and I both thought it seemed as if it weren't filmed for the darkness on screen.
The lighting looked a lot better on my TV with the lights off, but I can totally see how it would be pretty hard to watch on certain screens
I prefer the adults on the black (Rhaenyra's) Targs. But I love all of the green Targ children and will cheer for all the chaos they will brew.
So are we just not going to talk about the innocent castle guard that Daemon murdered in cold blood as part of his plan to fake Laenor's death? Anyone? Anyone? This is supposed to be the new more mature kinder gentler Daemon, is it?
“Seems the gods have been especially cruel to you” savage ass daemon
The day-for-night shooting was done because otherwise the beach scenes would have looked ridiculous. Like having massive search parties on the beach due to the artificial lights they would need to use. There are child actors to consider too who cannot work long hours so they can't even just wait around for the lighting to be correct. Also, more to the point, the photography looked amazing, at least for me. But that's probably due to a properly calibrated television and ultrahigh speed internet....
RE the teams I'm team black, but uh not thrilled that Rhyneara and Daemon killed a random dude (servant?). I'm relieved it wasn't actually Leaonor but that still makes Rhyneara a murderer like Daemon already was. I wish the show hadn't tried to fake us out. I'd rather they intercut her talking it over with Leanor with the execution of the plan because seeing that relationship play out has been one of my favorite parts of the show. I'm gonna miss him.
I really like the show and I realize they need time jumps but I wish they'd slow down a hair and let us sit with each time period a little longer. I want to know Harwin and...see I already forgot her name Leaonor's sister who just died. I felt like we got some time with the younger versions and then we sped up too much. I want to see the tension brewing a little slower, clearer. Like we could end up in the same place just let it breathe a little.
I agree entirely, it's why I'm Team Green. I've had enough of Team Black having a "Rules for Thee but not for Me" attitude. The small folk suffer so Team Black can be happy. No Bueno.
@@volasternmasq2746 you think the blacks are 'rules for thee but not for me'? Crispy got away with murdering a man in cold blood and they plan on circumventing the king's personal choice of heir that the lords of the realm swore an oath to honor.
@TheGrumpyPenguin You do realize ALL of that is in response to the Black's.
Rhaenyra already seduced Sir Crispy Creme into betraying his oath. He was clearly uncomfortable and if he were a woman we would be screaming about Work Place Power abuse. It doesn't change just because Rhaenyra is a woman, he is a commoner, he can't say no to a Princess. If he obeys he breaks his oath. If he refuses she can have him beheaded without recourse.
Sure, Crispy Creme should be hanged for murder. And Sent to the wall for Porking a Princess. But Rhaenyra has ALREADY repeated used and abused people for her own pleasure because commoners don't matter. She is above them all.
Secondly, the thing Otto fought against for so long will happen. Daemon will sit on the throne next to Rhaenyra. How do you think things will go for the Greens with DAEMON wielding power. Do you honestly think Rhaenyra can keep him in check, when she went along with a plan to MURDER AN INNOCENT MAN TO PROTECT LAENOR.
The Greens aren't innocent. They are lying, scheming assholes.
But.
Their abuses of power have only ever come in response to threats from either Daemon or Rhaenyra who abused their own power previously.
My wife commented on the darkness but it didn't bother me. I knew who I was looking at and what was happening. I also watch with all the lights off.
i think the darkness really depends on what screen your watching on like it is no where near as dark on my laptop or tv but ive seen other peoples where its impossible to see
It wasn't just you who was bothered by thr lighting. I accidentally rewound the episode, and so I was trying to get back to where I was, but I couldn't tell what scenes any of the images were from, since everything was just grey blobs.
On the lighting in those scenes talked about in the beginning. I actually had to ask the people I was watching it with if it looked really blurry or if my eyesight was worse than I thought 😅
my immediate reaction to this episode was “I CANT F*CKING SEE”
Yay for RUclips engagement!!! I vote for better lighting alongside you. That is pretty much my only complaint so far.
That episode was a night vision nightmare🤣
This was my literal favorite episode so far! I legit watched it twice in a row, like as soon as it[ and the "inside look" afterward] had ended I just immediately clicked play again right away, because that's how much I liked it(And I haven't rewatched any other episode yet). ^-^
It was several lines into the beach scene before I noticed that Raenyra was talking to Daemon, I thought it was Laenor at first! I get that they probalby want to go for a "realistic" look, but when you can't see the facial experssions during what turned out to be one of the pivotal conversations in the season.. I mean come on!!
all the Targaryens and Veleryons felt like they wanted to talk to each other but couldn't quite figure out how to and so they stayed in their own little groups
I really like the twist in the end of the episode, it was smart and nice to see a "happy ending".
The only logical reason I can think of for the lighting is that maybe the kids limited when they could film, so rather than only having the kids scenes be shot in the day and darkened in post they just do it all that way for consistency.
I watch with subtitles on and sometimes the scene behind them is so dark that they seem painfully bright and leave afterimages in my sight so I see even less on the screen 😩😩😩
I had to turn the brightness up on my phone because it was hard to even see the silhouette of the clip when I was on 25% brightness. So yeah. That’s a lighting problem FOR SURE
0:56 They used a Day for night filter when filming the scenes. It wasn't done in post.
The episode looked better in my cellphone than on my laptop.
I was very reliefed litteraly sighed that they showed some happiness in the show with Leanor going free to live his happy life (by this point I was afraid their little boat was going to just get caught in a storm and end them anyway)
I didn’t have any lighting issues? All the night scenes looked clear on my TV
I didn't get to watch the ep when it first came out but I waited until last night because I knew I wouldn't be able to see anything on the damn screen if I watched during the day
I only noticed the lighting once but it definitely day for night
Its baffling how anyone working on this show looked at all the criticism GoT S8 got for its lighting and decided to repeat its mistakes. Like it wasnt _as bad_ as the battle of winterfel, but it was still "I need to turn my brightness up substantially to actually watch this", which should never be the case
I laughed so hard at your "corspe husband" comment. At work. With earbuds in. People looked at me strangely.
I find it fascinating that everyone is so caught up on the fact that they’re bastards. I get Alicent’s problem with Rhaenyra being able to do what she wants but everyone else? She’s the one with the “king’s” blood and the line of succession was going to follow her regardless of who she chose and their real father is still of noble birth. If his father had suggested marrying them instead of Laenor then there would be no problem. And, the fact that everyone’s talking about duty and honor when they’re nobles that live off the commoners hard work 😒
PS I loved the gay happily ever after. Was so sad for the few minutes he was dead
women cheating on their husbands is a pretty serious crime in westeros and bastards are considered untrustworthy. also all the sexist lords in westeros (most of them) would not be very happy with her for doing this which would probably cause more of them to support aegon.
The only thing that bugged me about the way they handled Laenor’s “death” is that the show frames it as this a kindness from Rhaenyra or a happy ending for Laenor, but the way they pull it off is to have Daemon randomly murder some guy and the audience is expected to be cool with this because we don’t know that dead character personally. They need the murder to happen but don’t want us to hate Rhaenyra for facilitating it, but it was still a murder of someone who for all we know did nothing wrong. Maybe they could have had a line of dialogue from Otto or Alicent or Larys that one of their spies has gone missing, implying the victim was from the opposing faction.
Dude I always watch this show at night with all my house lights off lol
Tim, you are def not alone. That reminded me of that one time I made castle map for D&D group and then realized I will need a night version of it, lemme tell you that was the fastest filter slap in my life.
Also I am on Viserys side, we all should take a page from his book and chill over our lego sets from time to time
I do not think Rhaenyra was in on the know about Laenor drifting away with his boyfriend.
I love this idea that the show is showing what actually happen while the book is writing by a third party inside the same world, it does not take anything away from the book, since reading them gives you an outsider perspective, and it does let the show change things a bit while still making sense.
I watched the episode on my laptop in the dark, and I could see everything. And the night filter was applied intentionally, to contrast it with the night shoot of the disastrous The Long Night
I spent a good part of the episode thinking "is something wrong with my TV? why is this SO dark?" lol
I literally couldn't see anything but vague shapes on my TV in those dark scenes. I suppose I'll need to rewatch in a pitch black room or something but it was really disappointing
Might wanna check the runtime on Nebula.
I haven't had too many issues with the lighting, except noticing colours. I hadn't fucking noticed that Alicent's kids are wearing green and Rhaenyra's are wearing black at all because the colours are so dark and muted.
i really liked darkness, i imagine it is what characters would have seen the world in the night. i liked recognising familiar shapes and piecing together whats going on.
Youre right about it being shot during the day, but it wasn't a wrong timeline. Shooting at night runs the risk of not getting enough light in the camera or something, thus to get a clearer shot they film at day and edit it into night (an example where its done right is Jordan Peele's Nope)
Im unsure which version i downloaded........ but the lighting was kinda cool in it. I definetly saw all the details
I didn't have a problem with the darkness. Though that could be because I was watching it on a HDR TV. Everything was fine to me. Also, filming stuff in the day, and turning the brightness down to appear night is very common. It's much easier to do that than film at night and, if done properly, often feels more like night than actual night shoots with a random source of light coming from nowhere.
Queen goes along with father's plan, complains to former best friend
They didn't murder Laenor, but they still murdered a man...
Team Black here! I watched it in 4K on a 4K TV and had no problems with the brightness. I belive they let Laenor go bcz they don't have the balls to kill the secound black character in a row (why give the rolls to black actors then in the first place?!), same with The Boyz where the showrunner didn't wanted to kill the LGBT character on TV. I love this episode , for the world building alone, and I truely belive that Daemon and Rhaenyra love each other.
It was dark, but it was visible. My TV is a decade old and I could see it all. Adjusting the TV set would be the best course of action.
I noticed the weird lighting in those "night time" scenes too, it was really distracting for me. I hope it was a one time thing
Yeh the old-fashioned "film it in daytime and slap a dark filter on it" technique was super jarring in this episode. Especially when the rest of the series they've filmed night scenes at night.
Hey tim. They DID film several scenes during the day. What happened in this episode is a tecniqie called daynight, used to make day shots look like night in post production so the crew doesn't have to shoot at night. Also this episode's director is the same as the long night episode in GOT. He likes it dark
He must have better eyes than most people or doesn’t want anyone to see what’s going on
I'm glad I'm not the only bothered by the lighting in the earlier part of the episode.
The only thing that really bothers me about the show is Otto constantly reminding Alicent that Viserys has a blind spot for Rhaenrya when both she, and us the audience, are already very well aware of that, so him always saying it is not quite "I don't want it!/She's my Queen!" levels of bad but it is kinda annoying to be constantly reminded of something everyone, including the audience, already knows.
I think Alicent already knew the fight was going to happen and where she was going to stand. The almost demented way she talked about the conflict to Aegon on Ep. 6 sealed that for me.
Also I didn't think it was a jump for her character to try and get the eye herself. She's been on the edge of something big since the beginning of the time jump. The bitterness has festered for years now. And I can definitely see how seeing her own child lose an eye could make her reach that boiling point.