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i’ve been out of work since december, the good news is that i'm on a trial contract for ninety days and if i make it to the end then i will have a job (yay!) and get paid retroactively. i'm studying very hard and dedicating all my free time to getting this position but me and my disabled mother are living off her pension until then, and it's not enough to keep us both from being evicted. i've also run out of things to sell... so we really need help.
i hate making these posts since they fill me with so much guilt, despite never receiving hate for them (i thank the universe that i have such wonderful friends) and i don't mean to bother anyone, i know times are hard now but if anyone has the ability to help a random person make it to the end of the month i would be eternally grateful.
“When Rhaenyra declares that she wants Aemond, it's an admission of a possibly shameful desire, and I think that admission is made directly to Daemon. I think it's also an admission of their similarity. She sort of discloses another way in which they actually share a darkness.” — Emma D'Arcy, Inside the Episode | 2.01 "A Son for a Son"
I bore Viserys three Targaryens. But with the last, my last… I wanted him to be a Hightower. In truth, I'm glad I waged that battle, seeing now what came out of our other sons. Perhaps sending Daeron away was my truest act of motherhood.
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“It really is a battle about what it means to be king. It’s honour. It’s honouring the legacy of his people. And it’s not doing a dirty deal with him for some stones in order to give you your liberty. And when you say that to him, you strike a nerve. You strike a nerve, because there is some truth in what you say.”
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) dir. Peter Jackson
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Episode 3: I decided to go back and re-read what I wrote about episode 1 and 2 before posting this and realised this one may be the most negative one, even though I still think it's a better episode than 3x01.
My predominant thought watching it was that it's very ironic to write a politically-centred episode in a story you have thus far depoliticised. It's a conceptual episode about Rhaenyra's struggle as a monarch, that not once broaches the reason for her usurpation.
An example: why exactly does Jeyne Arryn support Rhaenyra? Why does Cregan Stark? These questions should have been answered in season 2 but the show was more interested in making Cregan alluding to the Long Night than it was in establishing the politics of the realm (mainly cause the show is not interested in the fantasy elements than the politic ones). And I venture if you ask any tv show watcher only, their answer will simply be, "well, they swore their oaths" and that's it.
Season 1 certainly makes it unambiguous that Rhaenyra is being usurped for her gender - to the point of making Rhaenys the second claimant at the Council to really drive the point home, but none of it really centred politics after the council discussion in 1x01. Otto's motivations can largely be summed up as him being self-interested with him using Rhaenyra's gender as a convenient tool to usurp the throne and elevate his own family, but at least he cites her gender. Alicent's political motivations are non-existent; you could write an entire analysis of how the show has decentred her ambitions to make the shift from the political to the personal.
Season 3, like season 2, purposefully shifts away from this. That's why the show never mentioned the reason Jeyne Arryn gave for her support or acknowledged her as the only other female ruler in the realm.
As for episode 3 itself, it's hard to watch an episode that is so transparently committed to making Rhaenyra look incompetent that it tramples on any logic, consistency and world-building.
I'll start with the obvious here: the fake Daeron plot. Was it intriguing? No. Did it make logical sense? Not really. I made the point before that because HoTD has to remain faithful to the big plot points of its source material, all these detours have to circle back to their rightful place - except now you have to justify why your characters didn't do something that they never would have had to in the books and which now makes no logical sense (see: Aemond's decision to fly to Harrenhal).
The fake!Daeron arc is a) a waste of time, b) emotionally uninteresting (since Alicent immediately clocks him as not her son), and c) illogical on all counts. The idea that Rhaenyra and Daemon would let an army of 15,000 men go, when Aemond has just flown to meet Cole's host in the Riverlands, and when Aegon and Aemond are still alive to rally behind, makes no sense (and the show doesn't even attempt to explain it either) but the plot demands that they end up at Tumbleton so they have to let them go. It exists only to facilitate this fake!Daeron plot. It would be one thing for Rhaenyra to allow it out of some misguided notion of mercy, but Daemon too? Ultimately, it doesn't even add much to the story - even as an opening salvo to characterise Ormund as some sort of strategic mastermind, it doesn't make much sense because fake!Daeron is immaterial to them taking Tumbleton. If Daeron was the the sole threat to Rhaenyra's rule and the last remaining heir, taking him hostage would be a huge blow and leverage, but with Aemond alive (and Aegon somewhere) it makes no sense.
It's hard to watch the ensuing decisions and inconsistencies, especially when they're so unsubtle. I'm meant to believe that Rhaenyra, a cupbearer since she was a child, who sat in on council meetings for over a decade, is now unaware of a major piece of hunting prohibition despite this concerning the very Kingswood the hunt took place in season 1, just so the show can make a very obvious parallel to Aegon's petition scene last season? (Which this show overrelies on parallels and call-backs too often, at this point.) Or that Rhaenyra (in the episode after) would have to ask a Maester of the influence House Hightower has on the Faith, something any noble heir would have been taught in their lessons? Or, most egregiously, that she apparently would present rats as a dinner for the noble or merchant class as some sort of power move?
The decisions here are so over-the-top that it's hard to take them seriously - moreso if you know the book. There, Rhaenyra makes poor political decisions and becomes unpopular for a multitude of reasons - she is forced to enact an unpopular tax due to the treasury being stolen, the fallout of the war on the smallfolk such as what occurs at Tumbleton stir up justifiable fear and anger which ends up aimed at her, she's unwilling to compromise given all she's lost and she receives poor advice from her advisors who stoke her paranoia which is borne out of betrayal - it's this that leads her to losing her most vital ally: Corlys. She is not, strictly speaking, a good ruler, but not because of sheer incompetence.
There's some changes too: like the Faith being the source of the anti-dragon sentiment, and being openly defiant, as the show is evidently focusing on it as an institution. It could be interesting. Then there's the Corlys/Rhaenyra thing...I said the show should have set this up last season, it didn't and now it's making a change here to do it. Suffice to say, in the books, Rhaenyra alienated Corlys for a different reason, at a different moment, under different circumstances.
In all of this, Rhaenyra's gender is never once remarked on as being the reason for her usurpation. An entire episode of politics that not once reckons with the legal precedent set against her - not a single mention of the Great Council, Rhaenys being passed over, Aegon being the firstborn son. Rhaenyra says she's her father's heir and no one at any point raises the issue that she's her father's female heir. It's a pretty glaring omission by the show.
With regards to Daemon, I do question even was the point of his nearly season-long arc at Harrenal when the character has remained so static. The only difference is that now Daemon can name-drop Daenerys Targaryen into conversation to motivate Rhaenyra.
I also am not sure what to say about the Alicent and Rhaenyra conversations except that the assertion that "Viserys lived in a world of his own construction" is the exact type of faux-deep philosophising I expect from this show at this point. It's up there with the cliché of Alys saying the person who wants the throne least is the one most suited to it last season (a Game of Thrones Season 8 refrain). Viserys did not "live in his own construction", he was just as subject to the duties and expectations of the realm which is why he had two politically-motivated marriages, continued having kids until it killed his wife because he needed a male heir, and why he attempted to court everyone's favour (to his own detriment). Nor was he mentally dissociated (apart from when it came to the effects of his illness) - he was wilfully blind in an attempt to keep the peace. This line is more suited to Helaena than Viserys.
On the other hand, "will you blame me only for what men have done?" is a line so patently ridiculous given all that's happened on screen that there is nothing to be done but to ignore the egregious levels of retcon happening here. If only the hypocrisy was the point, but the show can't even keep to being internally consistent for an hour as not only twenty minutes later, we are reminded that Alicent ruled the realm in all but name. Whatever the scene demands to justify Rhaenyra's continued trust towards her, it gets, so she's given whatever levels of agency the story necessitates.
Also, it's not lost on me that there's no in-world pushback on Alicent or Corlys. The show just presents things that are not internally consistent or which demand some sort of response but they don't want to really reckon with that so they'll have characters say nothing - which is weird, because it could make for good drama (see: Driftmark).
All in all, my thoughts on episode 3 is that it's an episode dedicated to making Rhaenyra seem completely inept, but it's also a bit of a waste of time. I was ambivalent towards the idea of a conceptual episode from the start, if only because in a season of eight episodes where the first two are already lifted from season 2, you don't really have time to make a conceptual episode centred around one character. If they were going to do that, the episode needed to be phenomenal to make up for it but the political machinations are lackluster. Corlys is basically non-existent as Hand apart from his petition to Rhaenyra, and there's no council for Rhaenyra to bounce off and build tension since the show wrote them out. The Daeron plot could be excised completely and nothing changes, and it takes up time the show could have spent introducing you to the actual Daeron and Ormund. I found myself wishing we would check in with Aemond, and on later thought, realising Baela is conveniently relegated to reconnaissance for the second time now.
Episode 4: The best episode for me so far, although it looks like I'm in the minority here. I'd rank it up there with episode 2 personally.
There's a lot I liked in episode 4. I liked the logistics of an army having to quarter its men and how that ends up impacting the smallfolk or lesser merchants. I liked the introduction to Daeron and his relationship with Ormund. In terms of Ormund.. he's perhaps a bit of a theatrical villain? But the show needs an antagonist with Otto out of the picture and since it won't let that be Alicent, it may as well be Ormund, and he's more interesting to watch at least.
One issue I do have is fake!Daeron being passed off as a blonde when Daeron is a brunette which implies no one knows what Daeron looks like and makes no sense. This is a world where the appearance of the royal family is a matter of record and public scrutiny, doubly so during a time when Rhaenyra's own sons legitimacy is being called into question because of their appearance. I have to then either assume real Daeron is actually blonde, otherwise Ormund risked a lot making fake!Daeron blonde, especially when Alicent had apparently seen him in the past five years.
The writing for those within in the Red Keep is the weakest. Mysaria offers that Rhaenyra make someone her Hand as a scapegoat...as if the actions of the Hand don't reflect on the one who appointed them? Okay, sure. But also, I do have to laugh that it took appointing someone to reach the conclusion that to get money you need taxes. Did everyone forget how a central government works? Or duties on land? It reminds me of the Kingswood scene last episode where Rhaenyra supposedly is unaware of the royal forest law (which apparently the supposed starving smallfolk still want to abide by. Because it makes sense that a starving populace doesn't want to hunt stag or boar. Right.)
On that note, Corlys simply deciding to dip as Hand is..odd and seems like just a way to make screen-time for Alyn, because simply leaving him in his stead makes little sense. It's strange that the show has decided to sideline him so much this and the previous season, given that he's one of the more important players in the book all the way to the end of the Dance, in favour of Alyn of all people.
I liked the Aegon/Larys stuff. The Sunfyre thing is still such an obvious misdirect, but I think actually seeing a "dead" Sunfyre at least makes it more believable. I like the Cole/Gwayne stuff, although it's weird to have another episode with absolutely zero Aemond - we're halfway through the season now.
I like Lady Jeyne. That's all I have to say. It's nice to see a female character act imperious and have a spine. I liked her interaction with Daemon, although it's weird they didn't have her hint towards Daemon that his daughter is here, or tell him outright given the consequences of shielding her. Instead, it's Daemon's turn with a disobedient dragon that takes him to Sheepstealer's lair. I mean, sure. I will say it's hilarious to send Daemon to the Vale for gold, and the amount of gold to be...two small sacks that he can attach to his saddle.
I can't help but find Rhaena and Daemon's scene to be a highlight, but it's a good example of how this show's adaptational changes are a double-edged sword. Swapping Nettles for Rhaena makes for a more emotionally compelling story, but it means doing away with the social commentary completely; ultimately Rhaena and Nettles are not interchangeable characters just because they may both be Daemon's daughters (depending on what you believe). That creates issues, in particular how to justify Rhaenyra turning on her daughter, which means that Rhaena is both given the Nettles arc and the betrayal arc that Nettles never had in the book to make it work. It makes for a far more complex situation, that's for sure, although it also means Rhaenyra blaming a random dragon for her son's death more than the people who actually killed him.
There's quite a bit of set-up in this episode all which I enjoyed: Ormund telling Daeron of the importance of keeping a grip on their men, Ulf's warning about the smallfolk to Rhaenyra, Mysaria clearly preparing to capitalise on Daemon's betrayal. Rhaena and Sheepstealer.
Watching this episode I understood what one reviewer meant when they said Alicent's is mainly there for give Rhaenyra advice - hopefully Helaena's pregnancy changes that. Helaena meanwhile has about as much screen time thus far as she had in season 2, less even, and just as much interiority. With all these Alicent, Rhaenyra and Helaena scenes, it might actually be more interesting to have Rhaenyra interact with her sister, or Mysaria with Alicent given the risk she poses to her in being able to influence Rhaenyra.
Finishing episode 4 has made me realise how little effect Jace's death has had on Rhaenyra with regards to influencing her decisions - like Helaena getting over Blood & Cheese in the span of an episode, it's had no impact on her mindset, her relationships or her decision making, apart from where it concerns finding Sheepstealer's rider. And there's no mention of Aegon and Viserys, which is odd because just this episode Rhaenyra was asking Alicent if it pained to send her child away when she has sent away two she doesn't even remark on. At this point, I'll wager they're going to remain written out until the season 4 finale.
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