00:54 Every episode on HBO Max is preceded by an ad for a podcast with the words on screen “Listen to the official audio companion” and a caption stating “(NO AUDIO)”.

3:00 Before I skipped the “previously on” we got Viserys yammering about the prophecy again. So far they haven’t really abused, but it’s dumb, and I think, given the way it HAS been deployed on this show, they are using it as a substitute for character building. The show is not awful, because they are supplementing it with some character development, but I think they are using it as an excuse for motivations. I can’t tell if this is pandering to modern sensibilities, so use the prophecy and Alicent’s misunderstanding Viserys’ dying allusions to it, to partially clear Our Heroines of being power-hungry. Rhaenyra isn’t claiming a throne out of entitlement, she feels like she has to, in order to keep the dream alive, Alicent isn’t trying to usurp her place out of power hunger, she thinks this was what Viserys wanted.

I’m not sure how I feel about that.

7:07 This sweet, loving, supportive good mom Rhaenyra is yet another completely made-up in adaptation character! It’s not a problem, per se. Just making note of it. ITB she was more like a helicopter mom, who was attached to her kids, but not necessarily in any positive way on the page. Given the parallels with Cersei, e.g. passing cuckoo bastard babies off as legit heirs, and being denied power due to sexism, but also horribly unsuited to wield it, one is tempted to also project Cersei’s solipsistic attitude toward her children onto Rhaenyra as well.

That said, I like the parallel with her situation and Lucerys, which the aforementioned prophecy actually gives weight to, since we have not had the opportunity to see Rhaenyra struggling with the mundane burdens of inheriting a throne. She might not have shown the concerns Luke has about Driftmark with regard to the Iron Throne, but she has questioned the prophecy and her role in carrying it on.

15:51 I don’t think this is much of a demonstration of loyalty. Daemon would have been better off calling it a demonstration of ruling or a lesson in leadership. The loyalty of the Kingsguard is not being assured or tested by this challenge, and, in fact, is tacitly being insulted. Now if he were to offer them the chance to stay and swear or refuse and board a boat and head to Kings Landing (the Other Show established, with Gendry, that it is possible to take a rowboat from Dragonstone to Kings Landing). And then after they swear and he sends them off to guard the queen’s delivery room, Jacerys could say “What would you have done if they refused?” And that’s when Caraxes pops up from behind the ridge and Daemon can say “That boat would never have reached the city” if you need to show Daemon’s ruthless side. Or even have one refuse, and show Caraxes burning his boat.

As it is, Daemon is getting the promise of loyalty, but no proof that they mean it. Yes, there is the threat to their lives, but that means you have to follow through and keep an eye on them. What good are bodyguards you have to watch?

16:12 What can they really do to help Rhaenyra? Jump up and down on her belly?

19:35 From the ponytail, I think the third KG approaching might be Ser Erryk.

20:46 THAT is a demonstration of loyalty. Even stealing the words of the Nights Watch vows isn’t really a problem, in the books say that they actually used those vows as an inspiration in founding the Kingsguard.

21:12 She actually looks good with the crown on.

22:20 I find it really amusing that there is a box with markers of all the sigils of major players in the kingdom that they have to get out and open up whenever a war is breaking out.

22:39 That under-lighting effect on the not-so-Painted Table is pretty cool too, especially given how unnecessarily dark the interior scenes in these castles tend to be.

23:08 Rhaenys not bowing, again.

23:36 I think they are getting the hair wrong for Baela and Rhaena. Baela was the active, rambunctious one, and Rhaena was the outwardly quiet & ladylike one. Baela should have the hairdo more suited for physical activity and dragon-riding.

28:16 This is a nice parallel to the second episode, or so, when Otto confronted Daemon on this same bridge, only to have Rhaenyra fly in on Syrax.

30:19 Otto’s words here were in the narration in the books, as the Black council contemplated the odds against them. This is a good use of book narration in a character’s mouth. Much better than, say, Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson adapting the appendices of Dune into House Atreides, discussing Pardot Kynes’ acceptance by the Fremen.

32:40 This is twice now that Otto has been under the eye of a dragon from Team Black and the rider has chosen not to roast him. While either choice can be defended on its own from a Watsonian standpoint, from a Doylist perspective, it might start looking like contrivances to keep one of the better performances on the show for as long as possible, and prevent the conflict from ending too abruptly. It’s hard to see the faces of the Kingsguard, but I suspect Criston Cole was the one who loosened his sword in the scabbard, and killing him and Otto right here and now would have been a significant event. ITB, the Grand Maester came without Otto, and he was the one whose badge of office Rhaenyra removed, throwing him in the dungeon, IIRC. But then, I can see respect for envoys still being a thing this early in the conflict.

33:29 This is all very reasonable, and original, questions from Rhaenyra.

33:51 Rhaenys, again, not being super deferential

35:56 That felt really weird. I would not have assumed Daemon was told, since Viserys specified this was a secret passed down from king to heir, and Daemon was never Viserys’ heir, as Rhaenyra was born before he took the throne. Setting aside the whole question about whether it is ever appropriate to choke a woman, much less your wife, I don’t see where grabbing her throat was called for either. It’s like they are suddenly determined to make Daemon the villain of the piece, when he was marginally more sympathetic than Rhaenyra ITB.

44:21 I am not sure about all these small changes, but one point is that they provide actual reasons to root for Rhaenyra, and give a reason for the support of the Velaryons, even though Corlys had decided to get out of the game. Because, canonically, the problem with the game of thrones is that you can’t quit, or even stand aside, it will suck you in no matter what, and people who can’t or don’t want to play, are still affected by the outcome.

46:30 Bye bye, Luke.

49:05 Are we supposed to know which dragon this is? It looks like the Cannibal, but it’s dark enough that it could be any color.

50:27 It does seem a bit doubtful that Luke never noticed Vhagar flying in. But Storm’s End looks impressive.

58:24 And this is another change. That Vhagar and Arrax are disobeying their riders turns this incident into a case of taunting that got out of control, as opposed to the ITB version, where Aemond is just a psychotic asshole who hunts down and murders as envoy, giving the lie to his claim that he was happy to sacrifice an eye to claim Vhagar. The shots of him laughing and taunting Luke as he chases him, really reinforce the psycho thing, if you know how this is ending, but if, in fact, it is the result of the dragons going off the hook and fighting on their own, then his demeanor is more appropriate to the mere (still irresponsible and dangerous, even criminally so) taunting that might have actually been his true intent.

That being said, ITB it was explicitly the effects of the storm that prevented the smaller and much faster Arrax from outdistancing Vhagar. If Luke and Arrax are able to get altitude and get above the winds and rain, getting away should be easy for them.

58:50 And absolutely no one will believe that Aemond did not intend to kill the boy who cost him his eye.

So that was a dramatic way to end the season, but I'm not sure it was a good idea breaking up the flow of the story like that. We'll have to see in Season Two.

Overall, my first impression of the season is that it did a good job, and improved on Martin's weakest work in the whole Ice & Fire setting. The book conflict was portrayed at a certain removed perspective, and the purpose of the story is to explain how certain things in Westeros came to be that way, such as the decline of the dragon-power of the Targaryens and to demonstrate why a war involving dragons is horrible to contemplate and something to worry about if GRRM gets off his ass and writes the next books Daenerys ever returns to Westeros. It sets up why the people of Westeros might reject her return and how something like her actions in Kings Landing on the Other Show might come to pass (though hopefully better plotted). With that kind of purpose and storytelling style, it is hard to care about the characters themselves, because the books are mostly about a bunch of greedy assholes ordering wars and massacres against other greedy assholes.

The show is clearly trying to correct that, but given the weight and extent of horrible things that are going to be done by the protagonists or set in motion by their choices, I don't know how practicable that may be. Also, the time jumps effectively introduce all new characters, so rather than 10 episodes in which to make Alicent, Rhaenyra and their sons sympathetic, they really only have 5 or even 2. Unlike Rings of Power, they don't seem to be assuming characters are in stasis over long periods of time. To judge Rhaenyra as the feckless princess we see Milly Alcock playing, who juggles lovers and doesn't care about the political ramifications of her public actions doesn't exactly make sense, but those incidents do inform her character and development. Emma d'Arcy's Rhaenyra is having to live with the consequences of young Rhaenyra's actions.

I know one of the co-showrunners left the show. I don't know how or where in the filming they were when he did leave, so I don't know if there was a creative change of direction at some point during the season, but if they are trying to present Rhaenyra as a potential responsible monarch doing her best, they really undercut it with her actions as a teen. The one time she really acted according to the dictates of duty was in agreeing to marry Laenor, but it came on the heels of her completely irresponsible seduction of, and affair with, a Kingsguard knight, and continued with the sham nature of her marriage, and misappropriating the inheritance of her in-laws in order to uphold the lie. A lie we see has now trapped the mostly-sympathetic Velaryons into serving their cause, partially out of love for their adoptive grandsons. These sudden indications of the prophecy driving her ambition for the throne, and her receptivity toward Alicent's efforts to repair their relationship, as well as those same efforts on Alicent's part, seem confusing. Are they a course correction coming too little, too late? And Alicent wants to be friends, all while driving hard to put the completely reprehensible and unworthy Aegon on the throne, so it looks either like someone desperate to stay in the good graces of a Queen she has alienated by producing competing claims for her throne and actively working against politically at least since the Queen's first marriage, or else like someone who wants to have her cake and eat it, to take Rhaenyra's inheritance and crown, and not have Rhaenyra be mad about it. "I'm swiping all your stuff/stealing your election, but can't we be friends?" is a rather lame effort to make nice.

And on top of this, they are playing it like the inciting incidents are accidents and misunderstandings. We're going to have to wait and see how it plays out. A tragedy that no one really wanted to happen, that comes about through misunderstandings and by the nature of power is a good potential story, but I am concerned they are not going to commit to it when they need to, that they might still try to equivocate, to make the characters more likable or sympathetic. And it seems like either the writing or the perception of events on TV shows leans to the black and white, hero or villain, no ambiguity. So there are going to be people saying Rhaenyra has the right to seek revenge, vs #Aemonddidnothingwrong crowd. At this point, looking forward to the final duel of Aemond, given the portrayal of his opponent in this episode, it seems like he's going to be the tragic hero saving the realm from the villain, rather than the opposite portrayal one could take from the books or the more objective two assholes taking each other down. Everyone's got a bit of asshole in them on the show, and I can't say whether they are doing a good job of humanizing the assholes, or if they are just trying to clear them of blame and are afraid to commit to writing a show about assholes. Some of the best prestige TV shows were not afraid of this, but the Other Show definitely was. They whitewashed morally ambiguous characters (Tyrion & Jon Snow), rationalized the evil of villains (every other Lannister) and rather than deal with a good or well-intentioned character doing questionable things, made them do full villain turns (Daenerys, Stannis).

This is a pretty well-executed, even in many ways, an improvement on the source material. It's far and away the best of the current/recent fantasy adaptations out there, from LotR:RoP to Wheel of Time, and IMO, the Other Show, even the good seasons, and better than anything I've seen of the Disney Star Wars and MCU shows, to boot. But it's not really an ongoing series. There is a certain amount of material and a definite end point to the story**, so it's not so much a serialized drama as a finished story still in progress and as much, a full appreciation will have to wait until the end.

** for my money, I think you could get maybe two more seasons out of it. Another one about the initial stages of the war and a third with the wind-down and aftermath.