Also, I personally, as a woman, LOVE how they showed how women could use heated rocks as a sort of heating pad for menstrual pains. Even if she wasnt, though assuming she is considering the tea and how all that works, its just neat to see some detail given to that for once.
Also, finally good to see some competent, well-written female characters on the screen. Men would've been sold to feminism a long time ago if this is how the message was conveyed.
I loved how this show portrayed how the veteran dragons and dragon riders fight in aerial combat. Agon (and Sunfyre) shooting flame at Meleys and Rhaenys, thus obscuring their own vision. Meanwhile, Meleys takes advantage of this by maneuvering while her opponent is blinded, and gets in position to blindside. Twice Meleys attacks Sunfyre. First while Sunfyre was trying to find her after getting out of his own fireball, and second while the panicked young dragon was trying to gain altitude while in agony. When Vhagar and Meleys charge each other, we see the veteran Vhagar snatch Meleys before deploying flame. And later, when Vhagar blindsides Meleys using the castle. Even if the castle wasn't there, the cliff still would have provided enough cover. The dragons fly fast enough that the closing speed would ensure that, if one could close the distance to a point, the other will have no time to react.
Not castle, the castle isn't big enough, Vhagar was behind the cliff. Which WAS kind of obvious, if he wasn't in the clouds, the only other cover big enough to hide in was behind the cliff. I was thinking exactly this as she flew over the castle.
@@mrsamaritan6881same,but she was injured and probably pumped up with adrenaline to make such a mistake. This was the only thing I didn't like about this episode.
I agree, except that the part where Vhagar disappeared seemed really odd to me. Both were disoriented, but Vhagar is shown to be incredibly slow and loud. I don't understand how he managed to get up and fly behind the castle entirely unseen. Aside from that though, it was a really well done fight that showcased very intelligent tactics and a clear difference between the novice and veteran dragons. I also really appreciated how Rhaenys stayed calm and collected the entire time, and visibly knew that she was not going to survive, and yet she continued to engage intelligently rather than panic and attempt to flee. It really showed her experience, maturity, and especially her willingness to sacrifice in order to wound Vhagar, who would otherwise probably win the war singlehandedly.
@@Bitshift1125yeah I hated the part where it came out of nowhere AGAIN. They had just shown her basically limping off the battlefield just to somehow outmaneuver the faster dragon and be in place at the right time. With that said though, Rhaenys did a damn good job considering.
Rhaenys gave her dragon the "attack" command whereas Aegon did not. Thats why Sunfyre was kinda like just shocked and didn't fight back at all in the first clash, and didn't use her talons. Vhagar on the other hand is just a hardcore veteran and immediately snatched Meleys with her claws and tried to burn her. I also like the parallels to how Vhagar fights, hiding and striking at the neck like an Alligator would hiding in the water. Just shows that Vhagar is a true predator to dragons, and possibly had run ins with them in Valyria, before they came to westeros
Not a single episode where dragons made appearances in the original GoT show match just this one single episode, that "dance" scene is so iconic the word "dance of dragons" is the first thing that popped in my mind the moment it happens
Such terrific character detail having Aegon not know his High Valyrian. Of course he would've been taught but doubtful he paid any attention in lessons.
It's not even clear that he would've been taught. Alicent wasn't Targaryen, Viserys appears to have been an absentee father to her children, and Otto wasn't there to impress upon him the importance of appearing legitimate. The crown does seem to have a general "education" system of some kind for the royal family, but we don't know much about how it works. I don't think we've seen Helaena speak High Valyrian either. Woman or no, she should've been educated on matters of history and culture as befits a princess/queen. I think it's entirely possible that no one ever taught Aegon, and Aemond speaks it so fluently because he's a giant Valyria nerd like Daemon.
Aegon truly had a shitty family, his dad ignored him, his mother basically hates him, his brother tries to kill him, and they conspired to put him in a position he never wanted to be in the first place just to belittle him for not being good at holding said position. I know he's not a good guy but I can't help but feel sorry for him
Which is really a sign of great writing when the show can make you feel sorry for such an unlikeable character. That moment when Alicent tells him that all they want from him is to do nothing, you see the hurt pass across his face, like a little boy rejected by his mom, it's heartbreaking. And when he engages in the fight, he's still like a little boy on his pony entering a real fray, so obviously out of his depth...
@thedread2597 not to mention he's always been manipulated by the people around him to use his power. Alicent, Otto, his kings guard friends, Larys. He doesn't wanna rule or wants that position, he just wants some approval. Alicent is the worst mother of all time, both her sons crave for motherly love. Alicent told him to seek council from her and when he does, she was like do what you do best, nothing . I was like bruh 😐
Well Technically they have a sort of Psychic connection between themselves and the dragons, they imprint with the dragon and the dragon can sense their intentions. It's the blood magic that infused them with dragon blood of old Valyria. Which is why only Targaryen blood can control dragons.
@@R0GU351GN4L 'only Targaryens can ride dragons' is a Targaryen propaganda in-universe. Little is know what is a connection between Valyrians and dragons and where did the dragons even come from. Most evidence do point towards poorly understood magic of old Valyria
You know it’s quite sad that the simple thing of using volleys of arrows to defend a castle’s walls makes me happy… season 6-8 game of thrones completely destroyed the concept of what good midevil fight scenes look like. … they put the trebuchets outside the castle walls… they stood there for 20 minutes not firing a single arrow while their enemy was just standing there 10 yards away…
ah yes the "battle" I mean I know Dragons is literally in the name of the show, all the budget goes to dragon-cgi, Im done with this series no real battles
I do like the fact that the Dragon battles are frequently ones of ambush and positioning, rather than slugmatches. And it makes sense to attack from below - the riders can easily see above, behind and in front themselves, but the view down is blocked. Same thing for the dragons themselves. Their natural focus would be to look ahead while flying to avoid crashing into things.. sooo.
This show is the same feminist take on an existing universe that makes him seethe in the Acolyte, it's just better made so he hasn't really noticed yet. 🤣
@@blinkusfishus2052 These are already written books? A few things are different but they are following what's in the book with the creators help. Just because something has We will call them items from Woke media doesn't mean 100% it is woke. I mean The movie "alien" it for sure had a "strong female lead" but an actual one not a fucking fem warrior. Should that be called woke because Weaver was the main character?
Aegon's downfall was also a consequence of his exclusion from Aemond and Cole's plan - he'd have felt in the loop and probably wouldn't have ridden out if he'd been privy to it.
It was both brave and stupid of Rhaenys to face Vhaegar alone. Should have listened to Daemon and face her together. The book death was much more brutal compared to the show as well. She burned alive by Vhaegar's flame just like her daughter did. And Vhaegar that old grandma , regarding her size, she really enjoys sneak attack xD
It might be brave and stupid. But do you think she felt more compelled to keep attacking because she was criticized for not taking out the entire green camp when she burst trough the floor at the coronation? Maybe seeing it as a chance to redeem herself from that ?
Yeah, I don’t know why they invented an ambush. That dragon is crazy powerful but about as stealthy as clubfoot. I did like her falling to her death. A bit more dignified for an old lady than burning to death.
Rhaenys staying Ana re-attacking was for what she didn't do weeks ago when she could have toasted every green at Aegon's coronation. She did it because last time she had the opportunity but flyed away and now she had the choice of fighting Vhagar, injured her (which she did) and not having to hear everyone talk to her as if she was a coward for not killing the greens.
I feel so bad for Aegon. His entire life, his mother and grandfather insisted he must become king, warning him that failure would result in the deaths of himself, his brothers, sister, and children at the hands of his half-sister. Despite his efforts, nothing he did was ever enough. To make matters worse, his own father barely acknowledged his existence, preferring to spend time with a model city rather than with his firstborn son. Aegon never experienced unconditional love. No matter what he did, it didn't matter, so he eventually gave up and fell into a life of degeneracy. Then he was literally dragged and forced to become king. This led to the loss of his beloved son in a terrible way, and once again, no one was there for him in his darkest hour. He still couldn't do anything without being ridiculed by his family. When he tried to be a magnanimous king and take his role seriously, he was undermined and insulted. When he wanted to participate in the campaign, he was undermined and insulted. When he did nothing, he was still undermined and insulted. No matter what he did, he couldn't escape the insults.
Excellent, without a doubt. I look forward to seeing things ramp up for Aemond. Loved him in this episode, and my opinion of Cole has improved this season, so far.
Aemond catapulted himself to become my favourite character. The strategic thinking as well as gaining the mandatory points for roasting his useless brother (as well as outright trying to usurp him so that he stops being an idiot), damn.
@@kylemma33 Viserys was not useless. While Aegon is worse than useless, any of his initiatives are outright counterproductive (hang the ratcatchers, intervene in Rook's Rest...).
IVE BEEN WAITING 2 HOURS FOR YOUR REVIEW! MY GOD! THIS EPISODE. Now that I got the first comment; on with the review! How many times at the end did you go "is that going to be the cliffhanger this week?! Noooooo!" And check the run time for the rest of the episode and are happy there's another 5-15 minutes?
Great episode, always love to see Vhagar in action. But man, Rheynera's team are pretty bad at strategy. When they decided to send a dragon i was almost screaming at the screen "It's obviously a trap !! they must have scorpions in the forest or something". Gotta be honest i wasn't expecting Vhagar but it was an awesome surprise.
I was expecting scorpions as well. Didnt expect to see Aemond and Vhagar. And Aemond clearly saw this fight as an opportunity to severely punish Aegon for his attitude towards him.
You can see Rhaenys was going to retreat after first Vhagar shows up, but instead she decides to go on a suicide mission. Probably out of regret for not ending it when she had the chance.
I feel so bad for Rhaenyra's council. They were right about everything, this episode proved they were right about everything, this disaster would never have happened if Rhaenyra had just listened to them instead of wasting her time on a completely pointless mission to Kings Landing. And all these guys ever got in return for their sensible advice, was Rhaenys shutting them down, Rhaenyra accusing them of treason, Baela being a snarky brat, and Corlys then somehow blaming them for the fact that nothing ever got done, even though his own wife was mostly responsible for that.
I think the idea with Rhaenys going back to fight Vhegar was that she was hoping to do enough damage to Vhegar to give the other dragons a fighting chance and potentially stop the war in its tracks. It’s reasonable for Rhaenys to assume that Aegon and his dragon Sunfyre died, and presuming that Malore doesn’t exist yet in the show that makes Aemond the next king for the Greens as well as their main military asset. Death was all but guaranteed but by this point it’s a very well established part of Rhaenys’ character that she doesn’t fear death. It may sound really streatched but death can come for people of old age in all sorts of ways in Westeros, so what better way was there for Rhaenys to die than fighting to protect her family?
I've seen some people not like Rhaenys decision but the series has given the audience reasons why she did what she did. Her decision wasn't out of left field. There's a lot of reasons that may have motivated her to turning back. It's not Season 8 GoT decisions characters made that were devoid of any logic.
I expected multiple things from this episode and most of them, I got. I didn't, however, expect Dragon Jiu Jitsu mid-air and that was AWESOME! The way the dragons grapple with each other and try to claw and bite each other for the killing move was fucking BADASS! I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT!
They fight like Eagles fight, which I believe is where they got the inspiration. It looks great because it's probably how creatures like that would fight.
Good grief I was invested. I felt for Aegon and Sunfyre, Rheanyes and Meleys and even Aemond and granny Vhagar. Watching dragons rip each other apart was hard to watch. And considering these are CGI beasts, that says a lot
If they wanted to remove they should have done two things. 1. Have a rider plus dragon dedicated to tracking vaghar. 2. Start burning all of the food supplies for vaghar.
40:00 I think you just described a better scene than the one we got. After Aemond swoops in and takes down Aegon and his dragon, Rhaenys manages to get away and Aemond doesn't even pursue her but she then turns back to fight him even though she has no chance and she could get away. I'm genuinely baffled as to why she turned back to begin with
Rhaenys having the opportunity to fly off to safety especially after taking down one of their dragons and even getting a few good shots in on the biggest and baddest but deciding to turn around and try to finish the job is how you make a badass character moment within thirty seconds.
Book version: She gets ambushed by 2 dragons, realizes she can't flee, so tries to fight them anyway and actually takes down the King before dying like a bad-ass. Show version: Saw the Green's kill each other, instead of immediately flying off and telling Rhaenyra this incredible piece of information, decides to 1 v 1 vhagar for reasons. doesn't take out anyone. dies. yass qween slay. 😂
@@blinkusfishus2052 "Dear internet, today I saw a woman lifting up a bag of groceries and became so enraged I needed to remind everyone I'm a gigantic retard."
This is what you get when you know what you're doing in setting up the characters, stakes and building blocks properly. Tension forms naturally and this episode in particular was very well executed. I would refer to the wedding scene in season 1 as the masterclass in how to build tension, not so much the climax of that scene as it has a few problems but they way they filmed the characters, the shots, the glances, the dialogue. This was somewhat different, the tension coming from uncertainty from established characters, the confusion and then the execution was absolutely brutal. This show sometimes reaches the exceptional in how scenes are executed.
If I recall correctly, it's mentioned in the book that Arrax only couldn't outrun Vhagar due to the storm. Larger dragons are less swift and nimble, so I'd wager that Meleys could have escaped Vhagar at Rook's Rest if Rhaenys wanted. In the book, she intentionally stays and fights. In the show, she gets ambushed by Vhagar before she could even attempt an escape (though I'm not sure that the show Rhaenys would have fled either).
The thing I don't understand is why couldn't all 4 Reds go out with their dragons? They are close to Dragon Stone so they aren't leaving it "vulnerable" and it would give the inexperienced riders some experience while making sure they are safe. They could do a lot more damage to the enemy forces very quickly before they have time to retreat and if the Greens did bring a dragon, or in this case 2, the Reds would still (to a degree) have the advantage. It seems like they didn't even consider the possibility and could ONLY send one dragon. Which to me was irritating. And if their reasoning is that it's too big of a risk to their military strength to send more than one dragon, I'd say it's a BIGGER risk to JUST send one. Idk, am I crazy? Does anyone have a rational rebuttal that I haven't considered? I think it's a good story, but that just didn't make sense to me...
Up to this point, it seems to me that reds are really dumb. Rhaenira goes to King's landing while Sir Crisp is casually taking Westeros piece by piece, and when they finally decide to act, instead of ganging up against the foe like any normal person would, especially when you know they got a bloody dragon the size of a damn castle, they just decided to send only one dragon because what can go wrong? In that instance Vhagar was not even necesarry, it could have been some scorpions hidding in the woods and you lose one dragon for no gain at all. They also lost one experienced dragon (and killed a young one in the process which was not intended anyway) so good luck replacing that. Oh yeah, and Daemon who is the only one that really knows how to fight is losing his minds defending a dead castle and fails miserably at gathering allies. Cause everyone knows Daemon really sucks at diplomacy, excepting Daemon apparently.
Alys Rivers and the weirwood paste she gives him, the fact that Daemon sleeps in a weird wood bed all that is really important. Just like the fact that she talked about how Harren cut down a grove of weirwood trees to clear the land.. Harrenhal is very connected to Old Gods and weirdwood magic in this universe. The show is leaning heavily into this lore.
It's not just a giant dragon, it's also old and experienced, the only dragon that can match her survival ability is cyrax , and boy oh boy they're gonna meet very soon
@@afroahmed3989 My dude. Giant dragons are not "quiet". Dragons have insane hearing. There's no way the old, slowest, giant dragon, went unnoticed by another dragon. "Smooth" means nothing.
@@davidwhidden9337 so fk all those videos of birds of prey attacking small birds in the sky and animals with keen sense of hearing right , have you ever watched animal planet?
. 29:20 When she killed all those innocent people. I had a thought. It would have been cool to show, the dragon reacted to her emotions and she lost control. So it was angry for her and went straight for the cause of her anger. Then when it burst through killing all those people her emotions would have definitely changed, and the target of her pain. It would have helped.
Good to know I am not the only one appreciating how they're building it up. They are giving the story room to breathe which is rare thing these days and people tend to forget that this is a story-driven show with action, not an action show with story. If you need action to stimulate your TikTok brain you can just continue to watch modern Disney movies. But this is just building up so much, I really felt tense as I could feel that everything was about to explode. And it honestly still hasn't worn off for me. It was just the beginning. Great review!
I can't wait to see the episode and I don't care if anything was "spoiled" for me. This is the mark of a show I am interested in seeing, mostly because I know it will be at minimum watchable, and at maximum, a great piece of storytelling within the medium of "series". Good stuff. If only all series could have this level of dedication to craft.
Thanks for review- agree with a lot, BUT didn't understand the last move of Vhaegar - HOW Rhaenys lost sight of him in such a manner and how IT was able to hide this way? - I understand that this is the same move, which it did with young prince, BUT it was in clouds and prince didn't have Rhaenyses experience to make such a mistake. AND when Vhaegar crash-landed - it is probable that it hurt it's legs - thats a crucial point for an ability to fly - SO - those two moments in such a fast battle is problematic for me - Do U have thoughts?
The battlefield was smoky and Rhaenys circled back to the battlefield. We see Vhaegar running on the ground. It’s easy to have Aemond reposition himself behind the castle under the cliff. As for Vhagar getting hurt, she is an old and seasoned war dragon, having been born before the conquest. The last dragon not raised and trained in Westeros, the blood of the Valyrian Freehold runs strong in her. I’m sure her legs could’ve taken that punishment.
It is well established in the story that while Vhagar is by far the biggest and strongest, the younger and smaller dragons are much faster. Meleys was actually supposedly the fastest one. Rhaenys could have escaped, right after Aegon fell. All she had to do hold course and was fly away. Instead she chose to turn back and attack, because she was a baller. Cole didn't find Aemond standing over Aegon with his sword drawn. He was approaching him, yes, with his sword drawn (presumably because he just landed on a battlefield). As he was approaching the king he began to sheathe his sword. That's when Cole called to him and made him freeze in the middle of the movement. Then he sheathed his sword, crouched down and picked up the dagger - which was just laying there on the ground, it's not like he looted the king's body. Though I agree Aemond delaying and then hurling a fireball into the melee definitely looked like he was trying to get rid of his brother. And as others have pointed out, Cole most definitely wiped his sword after the execution.
I thought it was because she was just going to leave all those people she came to help on the ground fight and that would make them lose faith or not be as loyal to the fight if she just fled. So she chose to face her fate and fight to the end just like they were and show that they were in the fight till the end. I mean if word spreads that one dragon took on 2 and beat one and wounded the other that might actually increase moral even if that fight is lost.
Can someone please explain me something? Why is that dream of Aegon a secret? I can't for the life of me figure why would someone want to keep secret a prophecy that basically says that if your bloodline ends and Targaryens are gone the whole world is going to hell in a handbaschet. It should be screamed from the top of every temple because it adds legitimacy to the Targayen bloodline.
As someone who was getting deeply invested again, I was thrown off by a couple of things in Ep 4. First is that there was no thought given AT ALL to sending a couple of dragons instead of one to their final mainland keep within reach of Dragonstone. Why send one? Ensuring Cole's death would have been a huge win, and a single dragon couldn't have chased loose ends through thick forests. Sending a single dragon meant anything could have happened... which did. Second was the way the show tried to pull off the same stunt that it used in the finale of Season 1 - the (post-engagement) ambush by a sluggish but enormously powerful dragon. It was a close shave in the original season, given that if Luke had flown in a straight line through the clouds he could have outpaced the bulkier one, and it was fairly absurd that the sluggish dragon could perfectly catch its prey with zero visibility on an intercept course. But in this episode, it was far worse. The combat and injuries were generally fine, and the close, exhausting escape of the princess from the initial airborne scuffle was believable. But the idea that the HUGE dragon could have done the same intercept snatch, in clear skies, from an incredibly small approach angle (vector being from sea level up a short cliff), and UPWARD (i.e. fighting gravity) without having entered a very steep (and very visible on the broad horizon) initial dive first... pulled me fully out of the series. I'm hoping they can pull me back in, but having a plot-convenience dragon is not looking great so far. I'm not complaining about the outcomes - the story did a great job of building up the stakes and the outcome could have remained the same. The path to that outcome felt contrived, and now this massive, slow powerhouse of a dragon that symbolized inevitable, creeping ruin has been used not once but twice in the role of an agile assassin. Even if you want to talk wingspan - that isn't going to give that thing better speed on an upward trajectory - straight ahead or down, perhaps. Anyone trying to outpace that thing should be heading upwards.
I think you need to rewatch the episode Shad, Sir Cole definitely does wipe his sword after he beheaded the rebel lord and I was actually very impressed that they put that in, so you are judging off a missed part, however I thought this episode was very good and had me holding my breath the moment I saw them saddling up the dragons, I knew carnage was sure to follow! Also, I'm loving the shots from the perspective of a dragon rider and the way they had the dragons lock talons, while trying to kill one another before they both hit the ground, it is exactly what I pictured back when they talked about the dance of dragons in GOT, which is how some birds of prey fight, so it makes sense that dragons would fight similarly!
After last week, my actual predicition was that Aemond would hold back from backing up his brother at a crucial moment. I didn't expect to be right, or it to come so soon. I very much got the feeling of the same thing, though not for the same reasons, as L&O/Cop shows have when an honest cop turns in a corrupt one, and a bunch of other cops have the attitude of 'if your ever in danger/trouble', we will deliberatly be slow to respond'. What I didn't expect as for Aemond to take it further and directly go for the kill. However, I am not sure Aeomnd will try what Shad suggests. The 'I missed her and hit my brother' line, cos that admits he screwed up/was incompetant. Not Aemond's style at all. I think rather he will go to one of the extremes. he will either claim utter innocence, essentially that he had no part in it 'don't beleive your lieing eyes', or more to the point, anyone on the ground who actually saw what happened will have to think twice about standing up and telling the truth, cos if they do, they just made themselves a huge target for the one eye'd loonie who they just saw deep fry his own brother! Or, go the opposite and admit it. Yeah, I killed him. He was a moron. He'd never have won this war or been a capable king. Who wants to disagree? The look on his face as he holds back on the ground though. You could see the built up venom, (somewhat rightfully), it was a lovely moment.
41:05 Another reason I thought of was: Imagine for a second that Rhaenys had won. The war would have been over at that very moment, Aegon with Sunfyre and Aemond with Vhagar would've been dealt with. The only other dragons that the Greens have are Tessarion with Daeron (King Aegon's youngest brother who as only been mentioned twice on this show), who is all the way down at Old Town in the reach and Dreamfyre whose rider Halaena is not only traumatized but also clearly never was a fighter... Criston Cole and his army would be crushed then and there, King's Landing would be taken and the Black's would have won, no questions asked. Again, this might go back to what you're saying with the chance Rhaenys had to end the war outright in S1E9 but didn't take and now when she has the chance to end this war, she is like "I will do it or die trying". Which is also what her facial expression says to me when we get that shot of her strapping in and saying "Angos Meleys" for the second time (High Valyrian sounds so damn cool)
It’s incredible how dragons are viewed as unstoppable forces of death and destruction. But when they are pitted against each other, they can seem completely helpless. The bigger dragon basically wins the moment it gets a hold of the other, of if they’re similar in size, it’s whoever lands the first hit.
Well, Cole has already taken many castles, and no dragon has ever been there. Baela and Rhaenys returned from scouting missions several times, infroming that no dragon movement was happening, on top of mentioning the protection of King's Landing. At this point it was a fair assumption to make that Vhagar is grounded, and they told the audience several times about that, so I see no reason for them to say it again. Especially with the Black Council who have been dying to send dragons out, they wouldn't exercise any caution. Cole and Aemond have outsmarted them, and their plan was not only good, but also much better than in the book (they had Aegon there on purpose, and this is super dumb, to risk the king like that. Good propaganda though). But then, of course, Aegon screws it all up.
Brilliant episode, some great character work & dialogue plus the best dragon fight ever filmed for tv. Still prefer s1 ep8 but this was right up there. Loved the council scene, Aemond checking Aegon in High Valyrian so the other counsellors couldn't understand was a great touch the Aegon/Larys & Alicent interactions were very good. Larys is being honest in that scene, Harrenhal is too big for it's own good (intentionally, the guy that built it wanted the biggest castle on the continent as his legacy) it cost so much to maintain & run it puts massive financial strain on anyone that holds it, it also allegedly cursed & every house that holds it ends up having some massive tragedy or misfortune. The woman Daemon meets is Alice Rivers aka The Witch Queen of Harrenhal, she's gonna be important later on. Loved the battle, the tactics made sense & the cgj was mostly very good, a couple of the "dashboard" shots looked a bit janky/not Integrated so well but mostly no issues & more importantly everything felt earned from a plot/character perspective. Still disagree that it's as well written as early Thrones but it's not that far behind, they need to stop with the random lore changes that don't add anything tho, really bugging me because it's not like last season where changing Viserys made him a way better & more empathetic character, it's small things thst aren't adding anything to the story or characters
I felt so much for the dragons in this episode, which is a testament to the sound designers and the animators, it was brutal and visceral. Listening to Sunfyres agonising whimpers as it tries to limp away from the attack by Meleys. People always go on about Representation of screen, But I felt more kinship to the pain of that young dragon than any human character in the episode.
Yea I was so happy to finally see Rooks Rest done onscreen and it didn’t let me down ! It became my favorite moment in house of the dragon instantly ! But battle of above the gods eye is my favorite from fire and blood ! So if they give that the same treatment ! I will be a happy man ! 🙌
My God this show is soo fucking Epic I mean holy shit as soon as the music plays in the beginning I'm locked in the writing is phenomenal the acting is even better sets are amazing this is true storytelling watching this compared to The Acolyte which has the same budget is absolutely disgraceful and disgusting 😅.
I think rhaenys had a thought of aegon, aemond, vhagar, and cole are RIGHT THERE, she can cripple the greens and effectively end this war in one shot. So in my mind it justifies the risk
It probably is the best episode so far. But I was little disappointed with the dragon battle. I feel it was better in the books, with Aegon being in on the plan and he and Aemond both attacking Rhaenys together.
Given how the source material is written by Green biased maesters, it makes sense they would try to rewrite the events in a more flattering way. For the common foot soldier it must have looked something like what is written in Fire and Blood.
Great review Shad , but the bigger the dragon the slower it is. Meleys was one of the fastest dragons according to Fire&Blood. Vargas is bigger & stronger but slower & less agile. The weather is the only reason that vagar was able to catch Luke over storms end.
No way god's eye happens this season there's so many other big events we have to get to first. SPOILERS I think rhaenyra taking king's landing will be the finale, now if the follow the book the gullet will probably be the only other big battle before then however I've seen a lot of people say that they changed the order and the gullet will be next season which doesn't really make much sense. I'm hoping the gullet will be episode 7 this season keeping in the tradition of GOT and having something really big in the 2nd last episode
The dragon fell to the floor, breaking it... So very foreshadowing! Alicent misinterpreting Viserys last breath didn't really affect the outcome. Otto+Criston had already been plotting usurping the throne from Rheynera. According to the behind the scenes, they choreographed the dragon fight after how real birds of prey fight each other.
on your point at 26-with rhenyra beeing gone, one thing i think they have done really well to put on top of that is that even i as a viewer found myself asking where the fuk she has been as everything has unfolded. like even if we have been shown that she was in kingslanding and she has been doing other stuff, they have showed so many times when her council are sitting alone or she is not there or she is there but for a moment with an excuse as to why she was not there before and stuff, (they have shown her absense from the counsil ALOT,) that i find myself asking where the hell she has been all this time solidly cuz i feels like i have seen her counsel more without her then with her, and the few times she has been there she has been pissed off or mad that the council want to take action and do something rather then nothing, (one of the reasons i think we find them bicering and beeing undeceive when we see then this Episode,
I think they assumed they could have had a dragon. That is why they said it was too dangerous and why they sent Melys, as she is the biggest dragon (they have a rider for) that they have.
That's a chonky sword! :) Every episode this season has been so impactful. What a bombastic and emotional battle sequence. I was blown away and had tears in my eyes. I hope this series has at least a couple more seasons because WOW. I wonder if they left Aegon's other son out of the show to amp up the stakes for Aemond if Aegon gets killed.
HotD is better thus far for me than GoT. You can really spot the difference with them working with an already completed story as the source material. GRRM has his fingerprints all over these episodes as well. What a work of art episode 4 was. I like how the producers studied how birds of prey fight in midair in real life for inspiration behind what dragons might have done fighting while in flight as well.
I think that would be a crazy cool concept. Like how would you make formations so that it would minimize the damage a Dragon could do in a fire breath pass. And how the armies would HAVE to bring anti-Dragon ballista in order to be able to combat them other than with another Dragon. I'm sure they would invent something like that it they had a need. But ya, that would be an awesome idea 👍
I don't think Rhaenys decision of attack Aemond a second time was just a "i'm tired of all of this". She was just watched Aemond trying to kill his own brother, knowing that this is the guy that killed Luke and probably will be assuming the throne if Aegon dies.
After Vhagar appeared on the battlefield, it made no sense to stay especially so after she had grounded him. She and Meleys had a head start if they wanted to flee. I mean from the beginning of the war the plan was to have multiple dragons take on Vhagar. She didn't even try to escape. If they would have shown decent wing damage then I could have bought fleeing not being an option, but they didn't. Meleys's wings seemed fine. she wasnt a tiny dragon like Luke's. It's also strange to me that the biggest dragon seems to keep relying on surprise attacks. They should've had Vhagar get back up, starting a pursuit. Then cut to a shot of Rhaenys (looking messed up) seeing Vhagar in pursuit then looking over Meleys, showing her dragon is wounded all over (having fought with two dragons) leaving no chance of out running Vhagar. Rhaenys and Meleys lock eyes seemingly both making the decision to go down swinging. They turn back, facing head on with Vhagar then the scene goes down like it did in the show.
Rhaenys slaughter of the commoner smallfolk of Kings Landings is going to be a setup for a massive plot and revolt later in the series. Rhaenys actions in S1 E9 is going to have massive horrible conquences for House Targaryen and their Dragons.
13:27 if you watch really close Ser Coles squire asks for his blade. But ser cole rejects him and put his sword away with minimal cleaning. Id also imagine cole would later clean his sword later and not during his epic speech
Meleys is the fastest dragon in Westeros. She 100% could of got away. She succeeded at taking out the king and his dragon. Not to mention, hundreds of enemy soldiers. The risk-reward wasnt worth reengaging
Small nitpick, Meleys (red dragon) is the fastest Targaryen dragon so even if Rhaenys fled back to Dragonstone early, Vhagar would not have been able to catch her. One minor problem i did have with the fight sequence is that they never quite showcased Meleys' speed and or quick relfexes to try and overcome Vhagar when the two clashed. Outcome was still expected since bigger dragon = winner.
Yeah, but she literally flew in from across the bay. It wouldn't have been a very long chase and Vhaegar likely would have done some damage by the time the other dragons got activated.
Sometimes I wish I did not know the book and thus how this ends. A predictable and realistic ending (for a fantasy world) but in some ways unsatisfying. Personally I look forward to the “hour of the wolf”. Hopefully it does not get cut.
@@verihimthered2418 eh, I don’t know. “The hour of the Wolf” is like the epilog of the “Dance of Dragons”. Plus it gives some very satisfying conclusions to certain……….. weasels? It also shows very well who and what northerners are all about. I hope they keep it, but time will tell. One thing is for sure they need a bigger man to play Lord of Winterfel.
Meleys crashing the throne room party was added in the show for the cool scene, you can stop referencing it when you talk about the character consistency.
I was literally on the edge of my seat and realised I was all tensed up. Enthralling tele with characters you actually give a shit about. It truly was a Dance of Dragons
Meleys is stated in the book to be one of, if not the fastest ridden dragons. It was her greatest advantage over the other dragons. This isn't specifically shown in the show though. And they definitely should have sent a wingman with Rhaenys, if for no other reason than to get some battle experience, because even Rhaenyra doesn't have battle experience.
I think it was Rhaenys' guilt over not killing the greens at the coronation that made her go back and face Vhagar which redeems her character for me, I forgive her and now appreciate her character.
Man i really do hate seeing dragons die in these shows. They build them up as being so important, interlinked with the rider and hard to hatch that I really do feel for when they die. Regardless it is cool to see a dragon fight.
I don’t have any issue with the Blacks not asking about Cole having a dragon with them, because the army has been taking castles all through the Riverlands, never with any report of a dragon aiding Cole. While the tactic is smart to use at Rook’s Rest, of course, the Blacks think they know how Cole has been operating.
R.I.P. Rhaenys Targaryen and Dragon Meleys, the Queen Who Never Was and the Red Queen respectively. Meleys had a cool dragon design, NGL. I like Jacaerys/Jace as well. Him and Luke. My favorite character from the Green side is Helaena, because after watching the history and lore for her, I felt sorry for her the most, and I liked her even better when the show runners decided to make her autistic, since I can relate with being on the spectrum.
Cole did clean his sword. He is handed a rag and he wiped the blade before putting it away.
I was about to comment on this, haha. It made me so happy to see him clean it too!
Yeah it was pretty obvious
Beat me to it
Yeah.. talk about small little things MISSED
@@mamunestor actually threw it to the floor. Seen it once but it sticks out, clearly
Also, I personally, as a woman, LOVE how they showed how women could use heated rocks as a sort of heating pad for menstrual pains. Even if she wasnt, though assuming she is considering the tea and how all that works, its just neat to see some detail given to that for once.
Also, finally good to see some competent, well-written female characters on the screen. Men would've been sold to feminism a long time ago if this is how the message was conveyed.
I loved how this show portrayed how the veteran dragons and dragon riders fight in aerial combat. Agon (and Sunfyre) shooting flame at Meleys and Rhaenys, thus obscuring their own vision. Meanwhile, Meleys takes advantage of this by maneuvering while her opponent is blinded, and gets in position to blindside. Twice Meleys attacks Sunfyre. First while Sunfyre was trying to find her after getting out of his own fireball, and second while the panicked young dragon was trying to gain altitude while in agony.
When Vhagar and Meleys charge each other, we see the veteran Vhagar snatch Meleys before deploying flame. And later, when Vhagar blindsides Meleys using the castle. Even if the castle wasn't there, the cliff still would have provided enough cover. The dragons fly fast enough that the closing speed would ensure that, if one could close the distance to a point, the other will have no time to react.
Not castle, the castle isn't big enough, Vhagar was behind the cliff. Which WAS kind of obvious, if he wasn't in the clouds, the only other cover big enough to hide in was behind the cliff. I was thinking exactly this as she flew over the castle.
@@mrsamaritan6881same,but she was injured and probably pumped up with adrenaline to make such a mistake. This was the only thing I didn't like about this episode.
I agree, except that the part where Vhagar disappeared seemed really odd to me. Both were disoriented, but Vhagar is shown to be incredibly slow and loud. I don't understand how he managed to get up and fly behind the castle entirely unseen. Aside from that though, it was a really well done fight that showcased very intelligent tactics and a clear difference between the novice and veteran dragons. I also really appreciated how Rhaenys stayed calm and collected the entire time, and visibly knew that she was not going to survive, and yet she continued to engage intelligently rather than panic and attempt to flee. It really showed her experience, maturity, and especially her willingness to sacrifice in order to wound Vhagar, who would otherwise probably win the war singlehandedly.
@@Bitshift1125yeah I hated the part where it came out of nowhere AGAIN. They had just shown her basically limping off the battlefield just to somehow outmaneuver the faster dragon and be in place at the right time. With that said though, Rhaenys did a damn good job considering.
Rhaenys gave her dragon the "attack" command whereas Aegon did not. Thats why Sunfyre was kinda like just shocked and didn't fight back at all in the first clash, and didn't use her talons.
Vhagar on the other hand is just a hardcore veteran and immediately snatched Meleys with her claws and tried to burn her. I also like the parallels to how Vhagar fights, hiding and striking at the neck like an Alligator would hiding in the water. Just shows that Vhagar is a true predator to dragons, and possibly had run ins with them in Valyria, before they came to westeros
Not a single episode where dragons made appearances in the original GoT show match just this one single episode, that "dance" scene is so iconic the word "dance of dragons" is the first thing that popped in my mind the moment it happens
Such terrific character detail having Aegon not know his High Valyrian. Of course he would've been taught but doubtful he paid any attention in lessons.
It's not even clear that he would've been taught. Alicent wasn't Targaryen, Viserys appears to have been an absentee father to her children, and Otto wasn't there to impress upon him the importance of appearing legitimate. The crown does seem to have a general "education" system of some kind for the royal family, but we don't know much about how it works. I don't think we've seen Helaena speak High Valyrian either. Woman or no, she should've been educated on matters of history and culture as befits a princess/queen.
I think it's entirely possible that no one ever taught Aegon, and Aemond speaks it so fluently because he's a giant Valyria nerd like Daemon.
Aegon truly had a shitty family, his dad ignored him, his mother basically hates him, his brother tries to kill him, and they conspired to put him in a position he never wanted to be in the first place just to belittle him for not being good at holding said position.
I know he's not a good guy but I can't help but feel sorry for him
Also forced to marry his sister when he didn't want to. Then has some joy from his son, who was then killed as payback from what his dumb brother did.
@@thecensoredmuscle563Who as the good kinslayer of an aemond that he is tried to then kill poor aegon for the grievous crime of making fun of him?
@@thecensoredmuscle563man aemond sure loves kinslaying ...
Which is really a sign of great writing when the show can make you feel sorry for such an unlikeable character. That moment when Alicent tells him that all they want from him is to do nothing, you see the hurt pass across his face, like a little boy rejected by his mom, it's heartbreaking. And when he engages in the fight, he's still like a little boy on his pony entering a real fray, so obviously out of his depth...
@thedread2597 not to mention he's always been manipulated by the people around him to use his power. Alicent, Otto, his kings guard friends, Larys. He doesn't wanna rule or wants that position, he just wants some approval. Alicent is the worst mother of all time, both her sons crave for motherly love. Alicent told him to seek council from her and when he does, she was like do what you do best, nothing . I was like bruh 😐
I love that Aegon was too lazy to learn Valyrian but stubborn enough to teach his dragon English
Sunfyre is bilingual😂
Well Technically they have a sort of Psychic connection between themselves and the dragons, they imprint with the dragon and the dragon can sense their intentions. It's the blood magic that infused them with dragon blood of old Valyria. Which is why only Targaryen blood can control dragons.
@@R0GU351GN4L 'only Targaryens can ride dragons' is a Targaryen propaganda in-universe. Little is know what is a connection between Valyrians and dragons and where did the dragons even come from. Most evidence do point towards poorly understood magic of old Valyria
It's rare now that so-called 'epic' fight scenes don't cause laughter rather than excitement.
You know it’s quite sad that the simple thing of using volleys of arrows to defend a castle’s walls makes me happy… season 6-8 game of thrones completely destroyed the concept of what good midevil fight scenes look like.
… they put the trebuchets outside the castle walls… they stood there for 20 minutes not firing a single arrow while their enemy was just standing there 10 yards away…
The archer bit was the worst bit of the show though in terms of realism..
@@kalumbailey5103how do you figure that?
So pathetic how Highgarden fell in 10 minutes with no resistance
ah yes the "battle" I mean I know Dragons is literally in the name of the show, all the budget goes to dragon-cgi, Im done with this series no real battles
I do like the fact that the Dragon battles are frequently ones of ambush and positioning, rather than slugmatches. And it makes sense to attack from below - the riders can easily see above, behind and in front themselves, but the view down is blocked. Same thing for the dragons themselves. Their natural focus would be to look ahead while flying to avoid crashing into things.. sooo.
Gotta love the stark difference between the video titles for this show and the Acolyte.
Mannnyyyyyyy😂
😂
(excuse the pun)
This show is the same feminist take on an existing universe that makes him seethe in the Acolyte, it's just better made so he hasn't really noticed yet. 🤣
@@blinkusfishus2052 These are already written books? A few things are different but they are following what's in the book with the creators help. Just because something has We will call them items from Woke media doesn't mean 100% it is woke. I mean The movie "alien" it for sure had a "strong female lead" but an actual one not a fucking fem warrior. Should that be called woke because Weaver was the main character?
Aegon's downfall was also a consequence of his exclusion from Aemond and Cole's plan - he'd have felt in the loop and probably wouldn't have ridden out if he'd been privy to it.
This episode was such a banger even for me who knew exactly what was going to happen. It was that good that it kept me on edge even despite knowing
It was both brave and stupid of Rhaenys to face Vhaegar alone. Should have listened to Daemon and face her together. The book death was much more brutal compared to the show as well. She burned alive by Vhaegar's flame just like her daughter did. And Vhaegar that old grandma , regarding her size, she really enjoys sneak attack xD
Why they still didn't figure out divebombing? You can kill Rider with flames and keep dragon alive and possibly capture it.
It might be brave and stupid.
But do you think she felt more compelled to keep attacking because she was criticized for not taking out the entire green camp when she burst trough the floor at the coronation?
Maybe seeing it as a chance to redeem herself from that ?
Yeah, I don’t know why they invented an ambush. That dragon is crazy powerful but about as stealthy as clubfoot. I did like her falling to her death. A bit more dignified for an old lady than burning to death.
Rhaenys staying Ana re-attacking was for what she didn't do weeks ago when she could have toasted every green at Aegon's coronation. She did it because last time she had the opportunity but flyed away and now she had the choice of fighting Vhagar, injured her (which she did) and not having to hear everyone talk to her as if she was a coward for not killing the greens.
@@edwinsuijkerbuijk5106yeah I feel she didn't want to return and get that flak after the first time
I feel so bad for Aegon. His entire life, his mother and grandfather insisted he must become king, warning him that failure would result in the deaths of himself, his brothers, sister, and children at the hands of his half-sister. Despite his efforts, nothing he did was ever enough. To make matters worse, his own father barely acknowledged his existence, preferring to spend time with a model city rather than with his firstborn son. Aegon never experienced unconditional love. No matter what he did, it didn't matter, so he eventually gave up and fell into a life of degeneracy.
Then he was literally dragged and forced to become king. This led to the loss of his beloved son in a terrible way, and once again, no one was there for him in his darkest hour. He still couldn't do anything without being ridiculed by his family. When he tried to be a magnanimous king and take his role seriously, he was undermined and insulted. When he wanted to participate in the campaign, he was undermined and insulted. When he did nothing, he was still undermined and insulted. No matter what he did, he couldn't escape the insults.
Excellent, without a doubt. I look forward to seeing things ramp up for Aemond. Loved him in this episode, and my opinion of Cole has improved this season, so far.
He's about to lose his head for treason.😅 stupid TV show
Aemond catapulted himself to become my favourite character. The strategic thinking as well as gaining the mandatory points for roasting his useless brother (as well as outright trying to usurp him so that he stops being an idiot), damn.
Aemond did what Daemon never had the balls to do, kill his useless brother.
@@kylemma33 Viserys was not useless. While Aegon is worse than useless, any of his initiatives are outright counterproductive (hang the ratcatchers, intervene in Rook's Rest...).
Bro deserves it after being bullied when he was a child. No wonder he held a grudge when Aegon laughed at him in the brothel.
IVE BEEN WAITING 2 HOURS FOR YOUR REVIEW! MY GOD! THIS EPISODE.
Now that I got the first comment; on with the review! How many times at the end did you go "is that going to be the cliffhanger this week?! Noooooo!" And check the run time for the rest of the episode and are happy there's another 5-15 minutes?
Definitely checked, with 20 or so minutes left, was excited for a battle!
This episode was a trial run for the climactic Battle over the Gods Eye, and they passed with FLYING COLORS
Great episode, always love to see Vhagar in action. But man, Rheynera's team are pretty bad at strategy. When they decided to send a dragon i was almost screaming at the screen "It's obviously a trap !! they must have scorpions in the forest or something". Gotta be honest i wasn't expecting Vhagar but it was an awesome surprise.
I was expecting scorpions as well. Didnt expect to see Aemond and Vhagar. And Aemond clearly saw this fight as an opportunity to severely punish Aegon for his attitude towards him.
Unfortunately, Admiral Ackbar didn't get a seat on that council ;-)
You can see Rhaenys was going to retreat after first Vhagar shows up, but instead she decides to go on a suicide mission. Probably out of regret for not ending it when she had the chance.
I feel so bad for Rhaenyra's council. They were right about everything, this episode proved they were right about everything, this disaster would never have happened if Rhaenyra had just listened to them instead of wasting her time on a completely pointless mission to Kings Landing.
And all these guys ever got in return for their sensible advice, was Rhaenys shutting them down, Rhaenyra accusing them of treason, Baela being a snarky brat, and Corlys then somehow blaming them for the fact that nothing ever got done, even though his own wife was mostly responsible for that.
@@frankvandorp9732 valid arguments. I guess it's more Rhaenyra's fault than her team 😂
I think the idea with Rhaenys going back to fight Vhegar was that she was hoping to do enough damage to Vhegar to give the other dragons a fighting chance and potentially stop the war in its tracks. It’s reasonable for Rhaenys to assume that Aegon and his dragon Sunfyre died, and presuming that Malore doesn’t exist yet in the show that makes Aemond the next king for the Greens as well as their main military asset. Death was all but guaranteed but by this point it’s a very well established part of Rhaenys’ character that she doesn’t fear death. It may sound really streatched but death can come for people of old age in all sorts of ways in Westeros, so what better way was there for Rhaenys to die than fighting to protect her family?
I've seen some people not like Rhaenys decision but the series has given the audience reasons why she did what she did. Her decision wasn't out of left field. There's a lot of reasons that may have motivated her to turning back. It's not Season 8 GoT decisions characters made that were devoid of any logic.
She just saw the king die. Now Aemond was available. If she could kill him, the war effectively ends.
This was her gambit.
13:27 he does wipe the blade. He just does it very quickly and not very good. One of the soldiers near by gives him a rag as he walks away.
I thought so.
I checked the comments just to see if i was misremembering, i was sure he did too
I expected multiple things from this episode and most of them, I got. I didn't, however, expect Dragon Jiu Jitsu mid-air and that was AWESOME!
The way the dragons grapple with each other and try to claw and bite each other for the killing move was fucking BADASS! I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT!
They fight like Eagles fight, which I believe is where they got the inspiration. It looks great because it's probably how creatures like that would fight.
As soon as I saw Sir Cristen cleaning his sword with a rag I thought of Shad. Much good that did. Lol.
Criston does clean the blood off his blade. Watch the scene again shad you’ll see!
Good grief I was invested. I felt for Aegon and Sunfyre, Rheanyes and Meleys and even Aemond and granny Vhagar. Watching dragons rip each other apart was hard to watch. And considering these are CGI beasts, that says a lot
If they wanted to remove they should have done two things.
1. Have a rider plus dragon dedicated to tracking vaghar.
2. Start burning all of the food supplies for vaghar.
Burning tens of thousands of livestock would take a while lol
40:00 I think you just described a better scene than the one we got. After Aemond swoops in and takes down Aegon and his dragon, Rhaenys manages to get away and Aemond doesn't even pursue her but she then turns back to fight him even though she has no chance and she could get away.
I'm genuinely baffled as to why she turned back to begin with
. Right when I'm going to bed. I'll watch it later, but leave a comment now in hopes of helping the algorithm.
Rhaenys having the opportunity to fly off to safety especially after taking down one of their dragons and even getting a few good shots in on the biggest and baddest but deciding to turn around and try to finish the job is how you make a badass character moment within thirty seconds.
She made the critical mistake though of flying low over hard cover, and thus she paid the ultimate price.
Great scene all around.
Book version: She gets ambushed by 2 dragons, realizes she can't flee, so tries to fight them anyway and actually takes down the King before dying like a bad-ass. Show version: Saw the Green's kill each other, instead of immediately flying off and telling Rhaenyra this incredible piece of information, decides to 1 v 1 vhagar for reasons. doesn't take out anyone. dies. yass qween slay. 😂
@@blinkusfishus2052 "Dear internet, today I saw a woman lifting up a bag of groceries and became so enraged I needed to remind everyone I'm a gigantic retard."
@@blinkusfishus2052 exactly
@@blinkusfishus2052 Yeah good way to put it.
This is what you get when you know what you're doing in setting up the characters, stakes and building blocks properly. Tension forms naturally and this episode in particular was very well executed. I would refer to the wedding scene in season 1 as the masterclass in how to build tension, not so much the climax of that scene as it has a few problems but they way they filmed the characters, the shots, the glances, the dialogue. This was somewhat different, the tension coming from uncertainty from established characters, the confusion and then the execution was absolutely brutal. This show sometimes reaches the exceptional in how scenes are executed.
So aemond is getting executed next episode? Bro just roasted the the king in front of hundreds of kingsmen
Ya just watched it, now dying to know what the fallout is. Awesome episode.
Love your enthusiasm, energy and vast knowledge.
If I recall correctly, it's mentioned in the book that Arrax only couldn't outrun Vhagar due to the storm. Larger dragons are less swift and nimble, so I'd wager that Meleys could have escaped Vhagar at Rook's Rest if Rhaenys wanted. In the book, she intentionally stays and fights. In the show, she gets ambushed by Vhagar before she could even attempt an escape (though I'm not sure that the show Rhaenys would have fled either).
The thing I don't understand is why couldn't all 4 Reds go out with their dragons? They are close to Dragon Stone so they aren't leaving it "vulnerable" and it would give the inexperienced riders some experience while making sure they are safe. They could do a lot more damage to the enemy forces very quickly before they have time to retreat and if the Greens did bring a dragon, or in this case 2, the Reds would still (to a degree) have the advantage. It seems like they didn't even consider the possibility and could ONLY send one dragon. Which to me was irritating.
And if their reasoning is that it's too big of a risk to their military strength to send more than one dragon, I'd say it's a BIGGER risk to JUST send one. Idk, am I crazy? Does anyone have a rational rebuttal that I haven't considered? I think it's a good story, but that just didn't make sense to me...
Up to this point, it seems to me that reds are really dumb. Rhaenira goes to King's landing while Sir Crisp is casually taking Westeros piece by piece, and when they finally decide to act, instead of ganging up against the foe like any normal person would, especially when you know they got a bloody dragon the size of a damn castle, they just decided to send only one dragon because what can go wrong? In that instance Vhagar was not even necesarry, it could have been some scorpions hidding in the woods and you lose one dragon for no gain at all. They also lost one experienced dragon (and killed a young one in the process which was not intended anyway) so good luck replacing that.
Oh yeah, and Daemon who is the only one that really knows how to fight is losing his minds defending a dead castle and fails miserably at gathering allies. Cause everyone knows Daemon really sucks at diplomacy, excepting Daemon apparently.
Alys Rivers and the weirwood paste she gives him, the fact that Daemon sleeps in a weird wood bed all that is really important. Just like the fact that she talked about how Harren cut down a grove of weirwood trees to clear the land.. Harrenhal is very connected to Old Gods and weirdwood magic in this universe. The show is leaning heavily into this lore.
The fight was insane. Dragons fight like eagles that breath fire. It was instane to watch. Awe inspiring
Super minor nitpick.
Giant dragon is able to be super stealthy behind a cliff, time an attack, and catch another flying enemy in one fell swoop.
It's not just a giant dragon, it's also old and experienced, the only dragon that can match her survival ability is cyrax , and boy oh boy they're gonna meet very soon
@@afroahmed3989 Oh sorry.
Let me go add one of the OLDEST and SLOWEST. That'll help.
@@davidwhidden9337 that's exactly why , slow is smooth and smooth is fast
@@afroahmed3989 My dude.
Giant dragons are not "quiet". Dragons have insane hearing.
There's no way the old, slowest, giant dragon, went unnoticed by another dragon.
"Smooth" means nothing.
@@davidwhidden9337 so fk all those videos of birds of prey attacking small birds in the sky and animals with keen sense of hearing right , have you ever watched animal planet?
. 29:20 When she killed all those innocent people. I had a thought. It would have been cool to show, the dragon reacted to her emotions and she lost control. So it was angry for her and went straight for the cause of her anger. Then when it burst through killing all those people her emotions would have definitely changed, and the target of her pain. It would have helped.
Aegon was too lazy to learn Valyrian, but stubborn enough to teach his dragon English. Love this mf
Good to know I am not the only one appreciating how they're building it up. They are giving the story room to breathe which is rare thing these days and people tend to forget that this is a story-driven show with action, not an action show with story. If you need action to stimulate your TikTok brain you can just continue to watch modern Disney movies.
But this is just building up so much, I really felt tense as I could feel that everything was about to explode. And it honestly still hasn't worn off for me. It was just the beginning.
Great review!
BUT WHAT ABOUT DRAGONS?!?!?!
I can't wait to see the episode and I don't care if anything was "spoiled" for me. This is the mark of a show I am interested in seeing, mostly because I know it will be at minimum watchable, and at maximum, a great piece of storytelling within the medium of "series". Good stuff. If only all series could have this level of dedication to craft.
Thanks for review- agree with a lot, BUT didn't understand the last move of Vhaegar - HOW Rhaenys lost sight of him in such a manner and how IT was able to hide this way? - I understand that this is the same move, which it did with young prince, BUT it was in clouds and prince didn't have Rhaenyses experience to make such a mistake.
AND when Vhaegar crash-landed - it is probable that it hurt it's legs - thats a crucial point for an ability to fly - SO - those two moments in such a fast battle is problematic for me - Do U have thoughts?
The battlefield was smoky and Rhaenys circled back to the battlefield. We see Vhaegar running on the ground. It’s easy to have Aemond reposition himself behind the castle under the cliff. As for Vhagar getting hurt, she is an old and seasoned war dragon, having been born before the conquest. The last dragon not raised and trained in Westeros, the blood of the Valyrian Freehold runs strong in her. I’m sure her legs could’ve taken that punishment.
It is well established in the story that while Vhagar is by far the biggest and strongest, the younger and smaller dragons are much faster. Meleys was actually supposedly the fastest one. Rhaenys could have escaped, right after Aegon fell. All she had to do hold course and was fly away. Instead she chose to turn back and attack, because she was a baller.
Cole didn't find Aemond standing over Aegon with his sword drawn. He was approaching him, yes, with his sword drawn (presumably because he just landed on a battlefield). As he was approaching the king he began to sheathe his sword. That's when Cole called to him and made him freeze in the middle of the movement. Then he sheathed his sword, crouched down and picked up the dagger - which was just laying there on the ground, it's not like he looted the king's body. Though I agree Aemond delaying and then hurling a fireball into the melee definitely looked like he was trying to get rid of his brother.
And as others have pointed out, Cole most definitely wiped his sword after the execution.
I thought it was because she was just going to leave all those people she came to help on the ground fight and that would make them lose faith or not be as loyal to the fight if she just fled. So she chose to face her fate and fight to the end just like they were and show that they were in the fight till the end. I mean if word spreads that one dragon took on 2 and beat one and wounded the other that might actually increase moral even if that fight is lost.
I love it when Shad predicts the future accurately.
Can someone please explain me something? Why is that dream of Aegon a secret? I can't for the life of me figure why would someone want to keep secret a prophecy that basically says that if your bloodline ends and Targaryens are gone the whole world is going to hell in a handbaschet. It should be screamed from the top of every temple because it adds legitimacy to the Targayen bloodline.
As someone who was getting deeply invested again, I was thrown off by a couple of things in Ep 4.
First is that there was no thought given AT ALL to sending a couple of dragons instead of one to their final mainland keep within reach of Dragonstone. Why send one? Ensuring Cole's death would have been a huge win, and a single dragon couldn't have chased loose ends through thick forests. Sending a single dragon meant anything could have happened... which did.
Second was the way the show tried to pull off the same stunt that it used in the finale of Season 1 - the (post-engagement) ambush by a sluggish but enormously powerful dragon. It was a close shave in the original season, given that if Luke had flown in a straight line through the clouds he could have outpaced the bulkier one, and it was fairly absurd that the sluggish dragon could perfectly catch its prey with zero visibility on an intercept course. But in this episode, it was far worse. The combat and injuries were generally fine, and the close, exhausting escape of the princess from the initial airborne scuffle was believable. But the idea that the HUGE dragon could have done the same intercept snatch, in clear skies, from an incredibly small approach angle (vector being from sea level up a short cliff), and UPWARD (i.e. fighting gravity) without having entered a very steep (and very visible on the broad horizon) initial dive first... pulled me fully out of the series. I'm hoping they can pull me back in, but having a plot-convenience dragon is not looking great so far.
I'm not complaining about the outcomes - the story did a great job of building up the stakes and the outcome could have remained the same. The path to that outcome felt contrived, and now this massive, slow powerhouse of a dragon that symbolized inevitable, creeping ruin has been used not once but twice in the role of an agile assassin. Even if you want to talk wingspan - that isn't going to give that thing better speed on an upward trajectory - straight ahead or down, perhaps. Anyone trying to outpace that thing should be heading upwards.
That dragon fight scene was amazing! I was literally on the edge of my seat watching it! 👍👍
I think you need to rewatch the episode Shad, Sir Cole definitely does wipe his sword after he beheaded the rebel lord and I was actually very impressed that they put that in, so you are judging off a missed part, however I thought this episode was very good and had me holding my breath the moment I saw them saddling up the dragons, I knew carnage was sure to follow! Also, I'm loving the shots from the perspective of a dragon rider and the way they had the dragons lock talons, while trying to kill one another before they both hit the ground, it is exactly what I pictured back when they talked about the dance of dragons in GOT, which is how some birds of prey fight, so it makes sense that dragons would fight similarly!
That scene of Aegon cuddling Sunfyre, though... and them both smiling... 😢
After last week, my actual predicition was that Aemond would hold back from backing up his brother at a crucial moment. I didn't expect to be right, or it to come so soon. I very much got the feeling of the same thing, though not for the same reasons, as L&O/Cop shows have when an honest cop turns in a corrupt one, and a bunch of other cops have the attitude of 'if your ever in danger/trouble', we will deliberatly be slow to respond'. What I didn't expect as for Aemond to take it further and directly go for the kill. However, I am not sure Aeomnd will try what Shad suggests. The 'I missed her and hit my brother' line, cos that admits he screwed up/was incompetant. Not Aemond's style at all. I think rather he will go to one of the extremes. he will either claim utter innocence, essentially that he had no part in it 'don't beleive your lieing eyes', or more to the point, anyone on the ground who actually saw what happened will have to think twice about standing up and telling the truth, cos if they do, they just made themselves a huge target for the one eye'd loonie who they just saw deep fry his own brother! Or, go the opposite and admit it. Yeah, I killed him. He was a moron. He'd never have won this war or been a capable king. Who wants to disagree?
The look on his face as he holds back on the ground though. You could see the built up venom, (somewhat rightfully), it was a lovely moment.
41:05 Another reason I thought of was: Imagine for a second that Rhaenys had won. The war would have been over at that very moment, Aegon with Sunfyre and Aemond with Vhagar would've been dealt with. The only other dragons that the Greens have are Tessarion with Daeron (King Aegon's youngest brother who as only been mentioned twice on this show), who is all the way down at Old Town in the reach and Dreamfyre whose rider Halaena is not only traumatized but also clearly never was a fighter... Criston Cole and his army would be crushed then and there, King's Landing would be taken and the Black's would have won, no questions asked.
Again, this might go back to what you're saying with the chance Rhaenys had to end the war outright in S1E9 but didn't take and now when she has the chance to end this war, she is like "I will do it or die trying". Which is also what her facial expression says to me when we get that shot of her strapping in and saying "Angos Meleys" for the second time (High Valyrian sounds so damn cool)
Can we just appreciate a proper representation of battle in Westeros. Of people actually stayin inside the castle and manning the battlements.
It’s incredible how dragons are viewed as unstoppable forces of death and destruction. But when they are pitted against each other, they can seem completely helpless. The bigger dragon basically wins the moment it gets a hold of the other, of if they’re similar in size, it’s whoever lands the first hit.
That is basically what happens 99% of the time in the animal kingdom when 2 animals of the same species fight for dominance...
Well, Cole has already taken many castles, and no dragon has ever been there. Baela and Rhaenys returned from scouting missions several times, infroming that no dragon movement was happening, on top of mentioning the protection of King's Landing. At this point it was a fair assumption to make that Vhagar is grounded, and they told the audience several times about that, so I see no reason for them to say it again. Especially with the Black Council who have been dying to send dragons out, they wouldn't exercise any caution. Cole and Aemond have outsmarted them, and their plan was not only good, but also much better than in the book (they had Aegon there on purpose, and this is super dumb, to risk the king like that. Good propaganda though). But then, of course, Aegon screws it all up.
Brilliant episode, some great character work & dialogue plus the best dragon fight ever filmed for tv. Still prefer s1 ep8 but this was right up there. Loved the council scene, Aemond checking Aegon in High Valyrian so the other counsellors couldn't understand was a great touch the Aegon/Larys & Alicent interactions were very good. Larys is being honest in that scene, Harrenhal is too big for it's own good (intentionally, the guy that built it wanted the biggest castle on the continent as his legacy) it cost so much to maintain & run it puts massive financial strain on anyone that holds it, it also allegedly cursed & every house that holds it ends up having some massive tragedy or misfortune. The woman Daemon meets is Alice Rivers aka The Witch Queen of Harrenhal, she's gonna be important later on.
Loved the battle, the tactics made sense & the cgj was mostly very good, a couple of the "dashboard" shots looked a bit janky/not Integrated so well but mostly no issues & more importantly everything felt earned from a plot/character perspective.
Still disagree that it's as well written as early Thrones but it's not that far behind, they need to stop with the random lore changes that don't add anything tho, really bugging me because it's not like last season where changing Viserys made him a way better & more empathetic character, it's small things thst aren't adding anything to the story or characters
I felt so much for the dragons in this episode, which is a testament to the sound designers and the animators, it was brutal and visceral. Listening to Sunfyres agonising whimpers as it tries to limp away from the attack by Meleys.
People always go on about Representation of screen, But I felt more kinship to the pain of that young dragon than any human character in the episode.
Love the comparisons to the Acolyte, these are the only two shows I am watching right now and the contrast is huge between them.
Yea I was so happy to finally see Rooks Rest done onscreen and it didn’t let me down ! It became my favorite moment in house of the dragon instantly ! But battle of above the gods eye is my favorite from fire and blood ! So if they give that the same treatment ! I will be a happy man ! 🙌
My God this show is soo fucking Epic I mean holy shit as soon as the music plays in the beginning I'm locked in the writing is phenomenal the acting is even better sets are amazing this is true storytelling watching this compared to The Acolyte which has the same budget is absolutely disgraceful and disgusting 😅.
I think rhaenys had a thought of aegon, aemond, vhagar, and cole are RIGHT THERE, she can cripple the greens and effectively end this war in one shot. So in my mind it justifies the risk
The rule of cool is powerful when done correctly. Really enjoyed this episode.
It probably is the best episode so far. But I was little disappointed with the dragon battle. I feel it was better in the books, with Aegon being in on the plan and he and Aemond both attacking Rhaenys together.
And the betrayal plot hole 😅😅 bro we just watched you roast the king and his dragon.
Given how the source material is written by Green biased maesters, it makes sense they would try to rewrite the events in a more flattering way. For the common foot soldier it must have looked something like what is written in Fire and Blood.
"I did not know you shared your lord husband's love... for the histories." Speaking of subtleties.
Great review Shad , but the bigger the dragon the slower it is. Meleys was one of the fastest dragons according to Fire&Blood. Vargas is bigger & stronger but slower & less agile. The weather is the only reason that vagar was able to catch Luke over storms end.
OH it's coming! , the battle under God's Eye is definitely happening, i just hope it happens this season
No way we won't get god's until final season.
@@Damon-xf4kt That depends on how long this show is gonna last , people are already crying about it on Twitter cause it hurts their fefes
@@afroahmed3989 4 seasons.
I can't wait 2 c Aemond screem like a bitch when Daemon shoves Dark sister in his 1 good eye.
No way god's eye happens this season there's so many other big events we have to get to first.
SPOILERS
I think rhaenyra taking king's landing will be the finale, now if the follow the book the gullet will probably be the only other big battle before then however I've seen a lot of people say that they changed the order and the gullet will be next season which doesn't really make much sense. I'm hoping the gullet will be episode 7 this season keeping in the tradition of GOT and having something really big in the 2nd last episode
The dragon fell to the floor, breaking it...
So very foreshadowing!
Alicent misinterpreting Viserys last breath didn't really affect the outcome. Otto+Criston had already been plotting usurping the throne from Rheynera.
According to the behind the scenes, they choreographed the dragon fight after how real birds of prey fight each other.
on your point at 26-with rhenyra beeing gone, one thing i think they have done really well to put on top of that is
that even i as a viewer found myself asking where the fuk she has been as everything has unfolded.
like even if we have been shown that she was in kingslanding and she has been doing other stuff, they have showed so many times when her council are sitting alone or she is not there
or she is there but for a moment with an excuse as to why she was not there before and stuff, (they have shown her absense from the counsil ALOT,)
that i find myself asking where the hell she has been all this time solidly cuz i feels like i have seen her counsel more without her then with her, and the few times she has been there she has been pissed off or mad that the council want to take action and do something rather then nothing, (one of the reasons i think we find them bicering and beeing undeceive when we see then this Episode,
I think they assumed they could have had a dragon. That is why they said it was too dangerous and why they sent Melys, as she is the biggest dragon (they have a rider for) that they have.
That's a chonky sword! :)
Every episode this season has been so impactful. What a bombastic and emotional battle sequence. I was blown away and had tears in my eyes. I hope this series has at least a couple more seasons because WOW.
I wonder if they left Aegon's other son out of the show to amp up the stakes for Aemond if Aegon gets killed.
HotD is better thus far for me than GoT. You can really spot the difference with them working with an already completed story as the source material. GRRM has his fingerprints all over these episodes as well. What a work of art episode 4 was.
I like how the producers studied how birds of prey fight in midair in real life for inspiration behind what dragons might have done fighting while in flight as well.
Have you made a video of how a medieval battle with dragons would be like (at least 1 or 2 on each side)
I enjoy your reviews
I think that would be a crazy cool concept. Like how would you make formations so that it would minimize the damage a Dragon could do in a fire breath pass. And how the armies would HAVE to bring anti-Dragon ballista in order to be able to combat them other than with another Dragon. I'm sure they would invent something like that it they had a need. But ya, that would be an awesome idea 👍
@@hapakidyo Exactly! Formations, strategy, etc. I would like to see Shad's perspective
The most important question of all at 34:00. What about the dragons!? We can't forget about the dragons people.
Aegon's Valyrian might be piss-poor but he was at least stubborn enough to make sure Sunfyre understands Common.
I don't think Rhaenys decision of attack Aemond a second time was just a "i'm tired of all of this". She was just watched Aemond trying to kill his own brother, knowing that this is the guy that killed Luke and probably will be assuming the throne if Aegon dies.
After Vhagar appeared on the battlefield, it made no sense to stay especially so after she had grounded him. She and Meleys had a head start if they wanted to flee. I mean from the beginning of the war the plan was to have multiple dragons take on Vhagar. She didn't even try to escape. If they would have shown decent wing damage then I could have bought fleeing not being an option, but they didn't. Meleys's wings seemed fine. she wasnt a tiny dragon like Luke's. It's also strange to me that the biggest dragon seems to keep relying on surprise attacks.
They should've had Vhagar get back up, starting a pursuit. Then cut to a shot of Rhaenys (looking messed up) seeing Vhagar in pursuit then looking over Meleys, showing her dragon is wounded all over (having fought with two dragons) leaving no chance of out running Vhagar. Rhaenys and Meleys lock eyes seemingly both making the decision to go down swinging. They turn back, facing head on with Vhagar then the scene goes down like it did in the show.
Rhaenys slaughter of the commoner smallfolk of Kings Landings is going to be a setup for a massive plot and revolt later in the series. Rhaenys actions in S1 E9 is going to have massive horrible conquences for House Targaryen and their Dragons.
13:27 if you watch really close Ser Coles squire asks for his blade. But ser cole rejects him and put his sword away with minimal cleaning. Id also imagine cole would later clean his sword later and not during his epic speech
Meleys is the fastest dragon in Westeros. She 100% could of got away. She succeeded at taking out the king and his dragon. Not to mention, hundreds of enemy soldiers. The risk-reward wasnt worth reengaging
Small nitpick, Meleys (red dragon) is the fastest Targaryen dragon so even if Rhaenys fled back to Dragonstone early, Vhagar would not have been able to catch her. One minor problem i did have with the fight sequence is that they never quite showcased Meleys' speed and or quick relfexes to try and overcome Vhagar when the two clashed. Outcome was still expected since bigger dragon = winner.
Yeah, but she literally flew in from across the bay. It wouldn't have been a very long chase and Vhaegar likely would have done some damage by the time the other dragons got activated.
Such a fantastic episode! I always look forward to oyur breakdown the next day :)
Sometimes I wish I did not know the book and thus how this ends. A predictable and realistic ending (for a fantasy world) but in some ways unsatisfying. Personally I look forward to the “hour of the wolf”. Hopefully it does not get cut.
If they changed this battle they will probably cut the hour of the wolf
@@verihimthered2418 eh, I don’t know. “The hour of the Wolf” is like the epilog of the “Dance of Dragons”. Plus it gives some very satisfying conclusions to certain……….. weasels? It also shows very well who and what northerners are all about. I hope they keep it, but time will tell. One thing is for sure they need a bigger man to play Lord of Winterfel.
After 3 full episodes of board-setting, it was about fuckin time
Meleys crashing the throne room party was added in the show for the cool scene, you can stop referencing it when you talk about the character consistency.
Old Valyrian is like Latin lol. Trust everyone at the small council knew as much as Aegon lol. And trust the Sept knew what Aemond said lol.
I was literally on the edge of my seat and realised I was all tensed up. Enthralling tele with characters you actually give a shit about. It truly was a Dance of Dragons
Loving seeing the Blackwoods and brackens on screen, this was a great episode with such a big payoff disney need to look at this and take a few notes😂
Meleys is stated in the book to be one of, if not the fastest ridden dragons. It was her greatest advantage over the other dragons. This isn't specifically shown in the show though. And they definitely should have sent a wingman with Rhaenys, if for no other reason than to get some battle experience, because even Rhaenyra doesn't have battle experience.
I think it was Rhaenys' guilt over not killing the greens at the coronation that made her go back and face Vhagar which redeems her character for me, I forgive her and now appreciate her character.
I can't wait for the scene with the mom
You'll get alittle uncomfortable 🙃
But Cristin Cole gets a nice scene of cleaning his sword
Man i really do hate seeing dragons die in these shows. They build them up as being so important, interlinked with the rider and hard to hatch that I really do feel for when they die. Regardless it is cool to see a dragon fight.
I don’t have any issue with the Blacks not asking about Cole having a dragon with them, because the army has been taking castles all through the Riverlands, never with any report of a dragon aiding Cole. While the tactic is smart to use at Rook’s Rest, of course, the Blacks think they know how Cole has been operating.
questions i don't have when I watch this series: Where did the money go?
@44:20 nice catch! We know Aemon can read the inscription on the dagger.
I jumped off my bed in the last scene.. was so good
Also Cole did clean his blade, the soldier gave him a cloth and he wiped it
All the tullys are named after Sesame Street characters. Like Oscar who was standing in for Grover
R.I.P. Rhaenys Targaryen and Dragon Meleys, the Queen Who Never Was and the Red Queen respectively.
Meleys had a cool dragon design, NGL.
I like Jacaerys/Jace as well. Him and Luke.
My favorite character from the Green side is Helaena, because after watching the history and lore for her, I felt sorry for her the most, and I liked her even better when the show runners decided to make her autistic, since I can relate with being on the spectrum.
How many people checked the runtime and were so happy there was a decent amount of time left!??! 😂