03:31 Written and directed by women. I have a bad feeling about this.

04:09 The point of Lady Rhea was that she was an obstacle to Daemon’s agenda. Making her a person with a face gives her additional dimension! This is what happens when you let women write and direct stuff!

But seriously, I wonder if Daemon’s gonna whack her in this?

04:22 I like this Vale better than the Other Show.

04:56 I do not consider this woman an inferior alternative to ovisality sheep-fucking. She’d have to be super unpleasant.

But then I also cannot imagine making out with my niece. And I have seven. So maybe Daemon and I just don’t have much in common.

Like basic human decency.

(that one’s mine, in case you were wondering)

05:11 Sheep-fucking jokes are not mean if the women are in on it!

Oh, shit. Littlefinger is from the Vale. And sheep are the most numerous mammals on his estate.

You know he tried it.

05:25 She is being awfully snotty to a man known as a skilled warrior, who also has a pet dragon and almost no moral boundaries.

05:35 Well, he looks like he’s trying to use the Force. And stop feeding him setup lines for a homicide witticism.

05:44 She gets it.

06:01 Oooh, I bet he smells like dragon, that’s how he made the horse freak out! That was rather clever.

This blog does not endorse uxoricide, however clever. Murder is wrong.

08:52 I don’t know that I like Alicent being sincerely opposed to promoting Aegon as the heir. That is basically the goal for a noblewoman, to advance her kids as much as possible. It’s what they are trained to do. It’s how you survive in society.

9:22 On the whole, however, they are doing a good job showing how the feudal monarchial system sets up these sorts of conflicts, regardless of the preferences of the people involved. So they can kind of get away with making Alicent more supportive of Rhaenyra for consumer content.

11:38 This is a nice set, but it’s better suited for Driftmark, the once and future seat of House Velaryon. High Tide was more of a palace Corlys built with the wealth from his voyages, for comfort. This is clearly not a new-built castle with those crumbled walls.

11:52 Canonically, there is no heart tree in the Red Keep’s godswood.

13:54 See, they called it Driftmark, in this scene.

15:49 I like the interplay and power moves going on here. Corlys making Viserys come to him, but he goes to a knee quick to avoid actual insult. Viserys makes him wait before letting him rise, Rhaenys pops in all casual-like, treating him like just a family member, to emphasize her own royal status.

16:20 That line, too. “Even though my place is so awesome, I do like yours.”

16:20 Is “pretenses” the right word? Meeting under happier pretenses suggests to me they should have thought of a more fun cover story. I think they were looking for “circumstances”… I’d make a crack about women writers, but an awful lot of men had to have missed or ignored it, too.

17:47 Buddy, he just said “my heir” referring to the proffered bride. Unless, for once, someone is trying to get Viserys to lock it down and take some steps to ensure Rhaenyra inherits, rather than assuming everything will happen the way he decrees once he is no longer alive to enforce the decree.

19:19 Being proud of your family name is one thing, Corlys, as is the satisfaction of strong-arming the king to get him back for slighting your house, but really, if you want your grandkid on the Iron Throne, letting him call himself Targaryen is the smarter move. Especially when the kid will have a rival in half-uncle, Aegon Targaryen.

19:20 And yeah, I don’t think your Targaryen-born wife is going to back you on this one.

20:54 In case anyone is missing the subtext, “duck” means penis and “goose” is vagina.

21:21 It’s good to have confirmation that the writers did that stuff on purpose.

22:49 I am sorry; his wig looks like yarn.

24:35 I wonder if Cole is going to father her kids, or are they going to hook her up with Harwin Strong? It seems unnecessarily complicated for a TV show.

25:34 Or maybe this is the breakup talk that happened on the eve of her wedding ITB, where in one version, at least, Criston proposes running away, she laughs him off, they fight and she rebounds with Harwin.

28:28 Actually, this is a neat way to syncretize both versions of their fight and proposed relationships.

29:11 “Larger than I”

30:15 I get the impression Alicent is suppressing her wifely instincts and hardening her heart to look at the issue of her husband’s health objectively and politically.

30:38 And now Alicent will be cultivating Criston.

30:53 Not super maternal, is she?

31:39 Ahh. That plot thickens?

32:19 Don’t blurt it out, Criston. She’s fishing and thinks it’s Daemon.

33:28 This is how the Corleones recruit their top thugs. Grab them in a moment like this. Very slick, Ali.

38:00 Time to spend this episode’s dragon budget.

39:10 She still isn’t good at this. She’d rather amuse herself than stroke egos to keep people on her side.

41:43 Larys looks like such a creep. I’m interested to see how they characterize him going forward. He’s kind of opaque in the books, being one the more effective members of the Green faction, but with no account of his motivations or agenda.

42:17 Bet he has himself announced as Lord of Runestone.

44:33 That’s good to give some meaning to the infamous green dress.

47:05 Maybe this dance is supposed to evoke dragon flight, but it just seems silly. Probably better to tell instead of show.

47:52 At least it was short.

50:43 I feel you, Lord Lyonel.

53:07 And we’re getting a personal dimension to Criston’s eventual killing of Joffrey.

57:26 Well, “eventual” didn’t take all that long, did it?

58:01 I foresee more than one scene of Laenor holding that ring and gazing wistfully at it, in the future.

59:55 Just like Don Corleone and Luca Brasi…

1:00:16 “The rat symbolizes pretentiousness!”

This was, I think, a more economical way to handle the whole wedding thing with Cole killing Joffrey, and finding a way to bring together Harwin Strong and Rhaenyra, and also getting the best of both versions of the crucial moment where Criston sours on Rhaenyra. And the brawl breaking out at the wedding while king stands helplessly on the dais is nicely symbolic of how despite his efforts and intentions, he's just creating the conditions for a fight he cannot prevent, control or win.

I think this show is doing a much better job of adaptation than even Game of Thrones did in the beginning. IDK how the story itself will be received by people looking for more action and bloodshed and whatnot, because this is all setting up the playing field, but the execution of the story has been well done.