Broken down to my bare obsession

on the subject of good and interesting character arcs, I have particularly enjoyed Aegon’s, particularly how it is contextualized by Larys’ “the reason you suck” speech. Aegon’s journey is on becoming a great man, not a good man; becoming a man of principle, if not of morality. It makes for a really interesting watch, because as a person this guy still sucks, but unfortunately the worst guy you know is now willing to not only develop perspective, but to work hard to achieve his dreams.

I think the show did Rhaenyra right. Helaena clocked her so well, because Helaena zeroed in on a core truth about Rhaenyra— she pretended to give a fuck about the bugs, the same way she pretended to give a fuck about the people. Because she wants to be SEEN as just and peaceful. Optics matter(ed) the most to her; mind you not in a politically advantageous capacity, like Otto. But in the capacity that serves her own self mythology. More than any real ethical concern for the people around her, the only true philosophy Rhaenyra has consistently espoused is her divine right, and the entitlement she has to that right. Most of her incompetence, beyond where she is cajoled by people who have ther own agendas, is born beyond her nose; she really cannot see reality beyond herself. Reality bends to her, because she is Chosen.

My last annoyed HOTD hot take.

Also another rant on my end about Harrenhal. How is it possible that Daemon had a stronger relationship with that location than Aemond currently does? How is it possible that Daemon had a more interesting relationship with Alys than Aemond currently does? I mean I know how. I mentioned last season that the primary weakness about the Harrenhal storyline was that Daemon’s hauntings and visions had little to do with the location itself, or with the characters he encountered there. You did see a weird friendship build between Daemon and Alys, and a banter between Daemon and Simon, but neither really informed the other, and certainly neither actually informed Daemon’s experiences at THEIR ancestral seat. These characters and relationships were isolated. You really never got any understanding of Simon and Alys’s dynamic, how Harrenhal impacted them as individuals or as a family. Which is insane, considering that House Strong has been thematically haunting the edges of this inter-personal political drama.

this show has lost the plot. Guys I LOVE HOTD, i rewatch it for fun all the fucking time but the narrative beats it chooses to prioritize are so fucking bizarre. The reason the first season and parts of the second season were watchable was BECAUSE there was more or less a foundation of a family at war at itself. A nice blend of the interpersonal and the political, but there’s NONE of that this season, and the parts that could have been interesting come off hollow as fuck because there is no movement!