3:24 Skipped “Previously on … “ I’m flying without a net, bitches!

5:09 Intro, too!

7:45 That was a good funeral scene. I could do without the made-up customs (eventually that pile of coffins just off the pier is going to be a navigational hazard), and the attempt to shoehorn in source material references like the bit about the Merling King (he’s not an actual god anyone worships or pays attention to, just a legend. The Velaryons worship the Seven, and anyway, they came to Westeros only a few centuries ago, thousands of years after anyone who would have venerated the Merling King would have been dead and forgotten, as the septons rewrote Westeros’ history to reflect their own religion), but they used shots to show characterization, like Aegon being bored and unable to hide it, Daemon’s inability to refrain from being inappropriate, Otto being back in as Hand.

8:52 These little touches showing how Rhaenyra’s adulterous conception of her children is harmful to them, even if it’s not the same as the Joffrey-Cersei thing, are good, too.

10:55 Like, Jace has suffered the exact same loss as Baela and Rhaena, but he can’t say it or express it, because his parents are selfish assholes. This screwing around with societal rules is not harmless and fun and the idea that Rhaenyra, Harwin and Laenor could do whatever they want and it’s None of Society’s Business is clearly not as simple as people think.

11:41 Corlys is caught in a dilemma between the need to get his grandson invested in the idea of promotions in a system where power comes about through inheritance, and the realization that his grandson loves his family enough to have no ambition for power and position at the cost of their deaths.

I give him props for not caring that his grandsons are basically adoptive, for all intents and purposes, and not an actual extension of his bloodline. My own headcanon was that the betrothals of Jace & Luke to Baela & Rhaena was the Velaryons’ price for turning a blind eye to Rhaenyra cuckolding their son, and a way to ensure that her sons’ heirs, at least, would be the biological descendants of Corlys & Rhaenys.

12:37 And politics are just dumping all over Jace. He’s lost his father, but “his” grandmother isn’t comforting him the way she is her other grandchildren who have lost a parent. And Aemond maybe would have liked to make an overture, but their moms are enemies, so what would be the point?

13:41 Corlys seems more on board with his daughter-in-law giving him cuckoo grandsons, than with his son having a boyfriend.

14:32 The parallel of Viserys & Daemon both losing a wife in childbirth, leaving adolescent daughters, had not occurred to me. Viserys, of course, is trying to mend fences, and have everyone get along, so it will be interesting to see what Daemon does, and how he will take the eventual end of this particular plotline.

15:54 Rhaenrya Targaryen’s latest submission in the Mother of the Year contest… Kids are an inconvenience at the moment, so she sends them to bed.

17:43 Vhagar taming time.

18:38 They are both right. Daemon is selfish, and he wanted to stay in Pentos, despite Laena’s desire to return home… but it really seems like Daemon is not so much indulging himself as avoiding the court of Westeros the way an alcoholic avoids the bar his brother owns. And the description of the Free Cities from the books suggests that they are more advanced than Westeros. They feel like Renaissance cities, where Westeros is firmly in the Medieval levels of tech and social development. So Corlys is probably right that Rhaenys is only looking to place blame. Between GoT and LotR:RoP, I really miss dialogue in fantasy shows where both parties can be right in their own way, with different emotional truths, instead of simply giving voice to the writers’ perspective.

21:30 It kind of supports Corlys’ position, that Rhaenys, a Targaryen, wants the Velaryon estates to go to true-blooded Velaryons.

23:33 No, Daemon, I don’t think she’s accusing you of specific depravity, I think she is saying she wants someone on Team Rhaenyra capable of counter-depravity, especially since this scene began with her talking about how useless Laenor is, then a segue into their lack of a sex life.

27:27 I don’t know what the point of that sex scene was. Didn’t really tell us anything, and I doubt the people who watch the show for that sort of thing got anything out of it, given the Battle of Winterfell level of visibility.

27:46 If I did not know what’s coming, I don’t think I would have realized this is Aemond.

28:31 No idea why Aemond just said “Fuck”.

28:59 Ah. Not a hill. It’s Vhagar.

32:20 I knew Vhagar was going to kick up dirt from the dune. Just like Caraxes with the water last episode last week. Why do these dragons like bumping the surface when they fly?

34:18 Hah, Laena got replaced as both dragonrider and sexual partner at the same time.

35:50 They made this fight more even-handed as well. The book version has Rhaenyra’s kids jump Aemond for no real reason. Bringing Rhaena in gives her a legitimate grievance and then Aemond assaulting their cousins makes the boy’s attack on him more defensible.

41:33 And that’s where Alicent crosses the line from good-faith actor, making the best of the situation in which she was thrust by others. Even her phrasing “I will have one of her sons’ eyes in return,” makes it clear this is not about punishment or justice, but that she sees this as just another skirmish in her war with Rhaenyra, and does not even see the boys as people but as possessions of Rhaenyra to damage or take from her.

42:16 Overplayed your hand there, Ali.

43:30 This monologue would be more sympathetic without the preceding spite.

43:47 For the record, Alicent has just committed a capital crime, and Criston is not far behind in laying hands on Daemon. Each case of violence in this affair was between a lower-ranking green and a higher-ranking black. If you are going to buy into the system, Alicent and Aemond are both in the wrong. Daemon is of royal blood, and Alicent was attacking the heir to the Iron Throne. Cole intervening on Alicent’s side makes him an accomplice to treason.

45:45 We’ll know what Otto is thinking by what Alicent says. If she defends her actions, he’s going to give her a massive dressing down. But if she’s all defeated and apologetic, he’s going to actually be supportive and say something like “It’s good to see you’ve come around on Rhaenyra, let’s team up.”

46:20 Gonna be door #2

46:44 He sounds like Robert the Bruce’s father from Braveheart. “Now you know what it means to hate. Now you’re ready to be a king.”

48:06 I wonder if that was supposed to be the same knife that was almost used to kill Bran on the other show? It had a similar shape, with the pointy handle, and now the maester has just said it was Valyrian steel. And it cut a mother who was defending her son.

48:15 Laenor’s all “What’d I miss?”

50:14 I don’t think this adds much, other than to try to make Rhaenyra a little more sympathetic with her good-ally status.

52:39 You see her thinking “the little brat took my daughter’s dragon.” She’s coming around to Corlys’ position vis a vis team Daemon.

52:42 Oops, it’s Rhaenyra. I should have realized, since Rhaenys was looking through a window.

53:10 And we cut from Larys creeping up on Alicent on the ship, to Daemon approaching Rhaenyra on the battlement.

53:44 Rhaenyra likes making alliances with metaphor codes.

54:10 Alicent is like “What have I unleased?”

57:24 “I will not be a tyrant and rule through terror” says the woman whose dynasty is founded on a lie currently being defended by her father’s tyrannical threat to mutilate anyone who questions the lie.

57:28 Okay, who was that guy Daemon killed?

59:05 Really shitty how the Velaryons get treated by Daemon and Rhaenyra, considering how they’ve supported them, or at least, Daemon, from day one.

1:00:53 Well, that was a twist. Laenor’s kind of a shit, too. That adds all kinds of layers to Daemon’s comment about places across the Narrow Sea not caring what a man’s name is or telling Rhaenyra to give Laenor this kindness. Everything works out splendidly once again for Rhaenyra, Laenor, the guys they are doing … and meanwhile, their parents and kids end up in this warped and fictitious family.

You can humanize the rather awful people in this story, but you can’t make them good guys.