woe is me

Day 4: House Stark

#🏳️‍🌈?

- that first scene in the north did not make me very happy… maybe it’s just me who likes negotiations but i was looking forward to Jace’s World Tour of North/Eastern Westeros and his talks and bargains with the different houses (especially lady jeyne! i guess i can understand why they cut it out but i think when it comes to her there’s material to build an interesting character from, but whatever. another arryn L i guess :(), but what did we get but one (1) scene at the wall for some reason. i mean i like the night’s watch as much as the next person but this just felt like straight up GoT fanservice… like what does the threat beyond the wall have to do with this conflict? they could at least have given us some parley but there was barely anything of that either. cregan stark’s going to be important later so i thought they’d do more to establish him as a character now. but literally the next scene we see jace in he’s back at dragonstone….. ok (tho i guess they could return to the north later? idk we’ll see) (also, i care less for the sara snow subplot but i was sure they would do something with it since they love to go with the juicy stuff like forbidden love and whatnot)

- on that note i expect they’re going the singers’ route with erryk and arryk which i don’t really care for (they need to make me care more for those characters first) but it makes sense

- i’m ashamed of the fact that the alyn reveal made me go “ahh” aloud and my mum (who hasn’t read f&b) went “what???” and i just vaguely waved it off because it’s so annoying when people do that and i try not to but… i was surprised they introduced him so early

- aegon ii keeps being the most entertaining character on the show and he was the highlight to me. thank you for bringing a tinge of comedy. i’d say keep it up, but… well

- this is old discourse but i don’t have much of a problem with them showing alicent being groomed and manipulated in the show which probably makes her seem more sympathetic to viewers (and i can’t help but fall for every instance the lingering and complex feelings between her and rhaenyra that still clearly affect her come up) but now i’d like to see her being more active. i liked her confronting otto but (so far) for the most part she seemed a bit uninvolved and inactive (except for the sex scenes with criston… -_- which i guess are intended to bite them in the ass later which is why it’s continuously brought up, but so far i do not care for it). i just want to see her contributing more of her own i guess. but there’s plenty of time for that in the upcoming episodes, especially now after the death of another child 😔

- i sure hope we get to see more of baela and rhaena. this was only the first episode, i will have hope in my heart

- helaena’s line about being scared of the rats felt like clever foreshadowing when i heard it, except that the blood & cheese thing happened just a few scenes later……. suddenly it didn’t feel so clever anymore, nobody will have forgotten it at that point (the best foreshadowing imo is stuff that you maybe don’t notice at first and only catch on your rewatch)

- THAT DAERON REVEAL LMAOOO i thought they’d written him out which is fine ig but nope. “your son, whom we’ve never mentioned before nor seen you care about, is there.” i can’t believe it actually happened 💀💀💀

- probably what gets me the most excited is the sowing (sorry for the pun, i really mean establishing) of the dragonseeds. was pleased to see addam since i thought he might be another casualty of the narrowing down of characters (even if the scene they introduced him in was a bit of an awkward exposition dump). i immediately took to the actor too, seems fitting to me

- there’s been nothing on nettles so far… saw someone saying they’d written her out but i sort of refuse to believe it. sorry but that’s one casualty that would be unforgivable to me

- some excellent acting moments this episode. especially alicent in that first scene. also otto’s morbid PR parade was as uncomfortable as expected

- the composition of shots, music, and editing - this show is so beautiful sometimes. i mean it’s a high budget production so i guess i shouldn’t expect less, but still. credit where credit is due

- as uncomfortable as it was, i find it interesting that when the obligatory brothel scene happens the one who’s dressed down and vulnerable is aemond. dgmw he’s still the main character and the prostitutes are peripheral, but it still makes a contrast to the five billion brothel scenes in got

- i was wrong earlier btw aegon’s chaotic manchild reign continues to amuse me and i love his interactions with otto

- also the real tragedy is would aegon have been as distraught if jaehaera had been offed instead. probably not. i liked the scene when he brings jaehaerys to the council in the first episode, but immediately thought the point of it (besides establishing jaehaerys as a character before b&c happens) was how he prioritises his son without much thought since that’s the system he’s part of, and thus the cycle continues (since gender is such a major theme of the show). i’m curious to see if they’re going anywhere with the fact that only a daughter remains to him now, and how he deals with it (though i assume aemond’s his heir)

idk if i’ll do this for all the episodes but i think it’s fun to look back at my first impressions lol

- i like how this show tends to focus on internal and interpersonal conflict and i thought it was a good choice to have the battle of the burning mill happen off screen (i mean they’ve got bigger battles to focus on in the future, don’t they). it was quite effective cutting directly to the aftermath showcasing the toll of it all

- slightly unrelated but the blackwood fits were 🤌🤌🤌 (that cape!)

- they’re making mysaria a much more prominent character than i expected and i am curious to see where they’re taking her relationship to rhaenyra and the blacks (<- modern au band name…..)

- i like short haired criston cole. i like when he’s more proactive. maybe it took introducing gwayne hightower’s sufficiently annoying ass for this to happen, but i’ll take it. at first i thought “oh nooo is this going to some buddy cop b-plot” but then baela showed up and things got interesting. i ended up liking that scene with them in the field with criston taking charge and setting things right

- sometimes they go a bit heavy with the foreshadowing but that scene with corlys and rhaenys was genuinely sad

- actually, sometimes they go more than a bit heavy with the foreshadowing. daemon’s spooky harrenhal vision was pretty cool until it faded away and alys (presumably) appeared. and. well. literally *spooky graveyard ambient sounds* *witchy lady appears* “you will die in this place” *walks away*. is that what you’re giving me? is this what counts for foreshadowing nowadays? just a plain statement of what’s literally to come in the tritest way possible?

- i’m in two minds about the closing rhaenyra+alicent scene. i like how the show is sort of framed around them and it makes sense to add scenes where their relationship is in focus. i was certainly excited to see them interact again after so long. at the same time i was confused - what exactly is the plan here, as in, concretely what does rhaenyra expect alicent to do? i like how she (rightfully) has some amount of faith in her wanting a humane solution, but at the same time how are they supposed to reach a compromise when rhaenyra’s dead set on taking the throne and alicent’s never going to let her son be defeated? and with everything else underway at this point? at first i thought it a pointless endeavour, but i suppose the point of the scene was not the negotiations but rather the fact that they both end up realising the Big Misunderstanding… i don’t know how big of an impact that will have since it’s far too late to do anything about it, but at least the two of them now have the knowledge of what really happened that night (my mum - who i watch these with, which is why i always end up seeing them pretty late since we need to make time to watch them together - pointed out that now alicent has to live with the fact that she misinterpreted viserys’s words… which i reckon might end up being significant, for her as a character if nothing else)(though in the end i don’t know how much it would have changed either way, with otto’s plans already in action)

- this series is really progressing slowly esp in regards to team black. i feel excited whenever something happens that will advance the dragonseeds plotline/daemon’s horror house experience/rhaenyra being stuck at dragonstone but man they really like to give us very little at a time

- but yeeeahhh things are happening slowly but surely. i haven’t been that into daemon’s storyline but i liked his scenes with viserys and also the scene with alys where he gets humbled lol. it’s clear all of it’s been getting to him, to the point of asking this bastard woman (who may or may not have made him experience these visions in the first place) for help. it’s a development i rather like. also her being implied to have a hand in grover tully’s death… what are you playing at

- the scene with alicent and gwayne miiiight have been my favourite. how they almost stumble upon each other and alicent’s awkward attempts to reach out and gwayne’s initial terseness that then softens as they talk about their upbringings and daeron, alicent’s son whom she barely even knows (like her brother!). and gwayne almost-insulting her and then reassuring her that she did her best, god i did not expect to care for their relationship but i do! she barely has anyone she can talk to like that, he’s family after all, so in a way they’re close but almost strangers at the same time

- super interested in seeing larys protect and help aegon knowing he’s his chance to get what he wants (as aemond proved to be unyielding). i hope he starts plotting against aemond, it’s the kind of intrigue i live for

- i was impressed by the scene with steffon darklyn and seasmoke in the giant but still cramped-looking chamber, it really provided a sense of how much of a personal risk and sacrifice comes with claiming (or even just interacting with) a dragon. sometimes it’s easy to forget that when you’re watching the fantasy cgi dragon show where most of the riders just do it naturally, but it would be absolutely terrifying even getting near one as an outsider

- on that note it’s… interesting that the meeting between addam and seasmoke is purely accidental? or at least, that addam isn’t actively trying to claim him. we’ll see how this is followed up on. it hasn’t escaped my notice that they characterised addam more of a risk-taker and alyn more cautious, which i thought was leading up to addam being the one claiming a dragon, so it surprised me how it just seems like he stumbles upon seasmoke (or seasmoke choosing him lmao).

- are…. they giving rhaena sheepstealer? is this what’s happening? as much as i love that they’re actually doing something with her i am not exactly pleased lol. rhaena is a targaryen princess, everyone expects her to claim a dragon. it’s nothing like a common girl from nowhere who uses her understanding and cleverness to bond with a dragon in spite of what everyone else would expect (especially important since the other two lowborn dragonseeds turn traitors - though it seems they are setting them up to be more sympathetic and relatable instead of just reducing them to bad guys)

Last of all, Margaery brought her before the wizened white-haired doll of a woman at the head of the table. “I am honored to present my grandmother the Lady Olenna, widow to the late Luthor Tyrell, Lord of Highgarden, whose memory is a comfort to us all.”

The old woman smelled of rosewater. Why, she’s just the littlest bit of a thing. There was nothing the least bit thorny about her. “Kiss me, child,” Lady Olenna said, tugging at Sansa’s wrist with a soft spotted hand. “It is so kind of you to sup with me and my foolish flock of hens.” – Sansa I, A Storm of Swords

wow I haven’t done any asoiaf stuff in a while huh?

Mance Rayder, for an asoiaf exchange.

“She is the widow of a Dothraki khal, a mother of dragons and a sacker of cities, Aegon the Conqueror with teats.” 👑🐉

- that first scene in the north did not make me very happy… maybe it’s just me who likes negotiations but i was looking forward to Jace’s World Tour of North/Eastern Westeros and his talks and bargains with the different houses (especially lady jeyne! i guess i can understand why they cut it out but i think when it comes to her there’s material to build an interesting character from, but whatever. another arryn L i guess :(), but what did we get but one (1) scene at the wall for some reason. i mean i like the night’s watch as much as the next person but this just felt like straight up GoT fanservice… like what does the threat beyond the wall have to do with this conflict? they could at least have given us some parley but there was barely anything of that either. cregan stark’s going to be important later so i thought they’d do more to establish him as a character now. but literally the next scene we see jace in he’s back at dragonstone….. ok (tho i guess they could return to the north later? idk we’ll see) (also, i care less for the sara snow subplot but i was sure they would do something with it since they love to go with the juicy stuff like forbidden love and whatnot)

- on that note i expect they’re going the singers’ route with erryk and arryk which i don’t really care for (they need to make me care more for those characters first) but it makes sense

- i’m ashamed of the fact that the alyn reveal made me go “ahh” aloud and my mum (who hasn’t read f&b) went “what???” and i just vaguely waved it off because it’s so annoying when people do that and i try not to but… i was surprised they introduced him so early

- aegon ii keeps being the most entertaining character on the show and he was the highlight to me. thank you for bringing a tinge of comedy. i’d say keep it up, but… well

- this is old discourse but i don’t have much of a problem with them showing alicent being groomed and manipulated in the show which probably makes her seem more sympathetic to viewers (and i can’t help but fall for every instance the lingering and complex feelings between her and rhaenyra that still clearly affect her come up) but now i’d like to see her being more active. i liked her confronting otto but (so far) for the most part she seemed a bit uninvolved and inactive (except for the sex scenes with criston… -_- which i guess are intended to bite them in the ass later which is why it’s continuously brought up, but so far i do not care for it). i just want to see her contributing more of her own i guess. but there’s plenty of time for that in the upcoming episodes, especially now after the death of another child 😔

- i sure hope we get to see more of baela and rhaena. this was only the first episode, i will have hope in my heart

- helaena’s line about being scared of the rats felt like clever foreshadowing when i heard it, except that the blood & cheese thing happened just a few scenes later……. suddenly it didn’t feel so clever anymore, nobody will have forgotten it at that point (the best foreshadowing imo is stuff that you maybe don’t notice at first and only catch on your rewatch)

- THAT DAERON REVEAL LMAOOO i thought they’d written him out which is fine ig but nope. “your son, whom we’ve never mentioned before nor seen you care about, is there.” i can’t believe it actually happened 💀💀💀

- probably what gets me the most excited is the sowing (sorry for the pun, i really mean establishing) of the dragonseeds. was pleased to see addam since i thought he might be another casualty of the narrowing down of characters (even if the scene they introduced him in was a bit of an awkward exposition dump). i immediately took to the actor too, seems fitting to me

- there’s been nothing on nettles so far… saw someone saying they’d written her out but i sort of refuse to believe it. sorry but that’s one casualty that would be unforgivable to me

- some excellent acting moments this episode. especially alicent in that first scene. also otto’s morbid PR parade was as uncomfortable as expected

- the composition of shots, music, and editing - this show is so beautiful sometimes. i mean it’s a high budget production so i guess i shouldn’t expect less, but still. credit where credit is due

- as uncomfortable as it was, i find it interesting that when the obligatory brothel scene happens the one who’s dressed down and vulnerable is aemond. dgmw he’s still the main character and the prostitutes are peripheral, but it still makes a contrast to the five billion brothel scenes in got

- i was wrong earlier btw aegon’s chaotic manchild reign continues to amuse me and i love his interactions with otto

- also the real tragedy is would aegon have been as distraught if jaehaera had been offed instead. probably not. i liked the scene when he brings jaehaerys to the council in the first episode, but immediately thought the point of it (besides establishing jaehaerys as a character before b&c happens) was how he prioritises his son without much thought since that’s the system he’s part of, and thus the cycle continues (since gender is such a major theme of the show). i’m curious to see if they’re going anywhere with the fact that only a daughter remains to him now, and how he deals with it (though i assume aemond’s his heir)

idk if i’ll do this for all the episodes but i think it’s fun to look back at my first impressions lol

- i like how this show tends to focus on internal and interpersonal conflict and i thought it was a good choice to have the battle of the burning mill happen off screen (i mean they’ve got bigger battles to focus on in the future, don’t they). it was quite effective cutting directly to the aftermath showcasing the toll of it all

- slightly unrelated but the blackwood fits were 🤌🤌🤌 (that cape!)

- they’re making mysaria a much more prominent character than i expected and i am curious to see where they’re taking her relationship to rhaenyra and the blacks (<- modern au band name…..)

- i like short haired criston cole. i like when he’s more proactive. maybe it took introducing gwayne hightower’s sufficiently annoying ass for this to happen, but i’ll take it. at first i thought “oh nooo is this going to some buddy cop b-plot” but then baela showed up and things got interesting. i ended up liking that scene with them in the field with criston taking charge and setting things right

- sometimes they go a bit heavy with the foreshadowing but that scene with corlys and rhaenys was genuinely sad

- actually, sometimes they go more than a bit heavy with the foreshadowing. daemon’s spooky harrenhal vision was pretty cool until it faded away and alys (presumably) appeared. and. well. literally *spooky graveyard ambient sounds* *witchy lady appears* “you will die in this place” *walks away*. is that what you’re giving me? is this what counts for foreshadowing nowadays? just a plain statement of what’s literally to come in the tritest way possible?

- i’m in two minds about the closing rhaenyra+alicent scene. i like how the show is sort of framed around them and it makes sense to add scenes where their relationship is in focus. i was certainly excited to see them interact again after so long. at the same time i was confused - what exactly is the plan here, as in, concretely what does rhaenyra expect alicent to do? i like how she (rightfully) has some amount of faith in her wanting a humane solution, but at the same time how are they supposed to reach a compromise when rhaenyra’s dead set on taking the throne and alicent’s never going to let her son be defeated? and with everything else underway at this point? at first i thought it a pointless endeavour, but i suppose the point of the scene was not the negotiations but rather the fact that they both end up realising the Big Misunderstanding… i don’t know how big of an impact that will have since it’s far too late to do anything about it, but at least the two of them now have the knowledge of what really happened that night (my mum - who i watch these with, which is why i always end up seeing them pretty late since we need to make time to watch them together - pointed out that now alicent has to live with the fact that she misinterpreted viserys’s words… which i reckon might end up being significant, for her as a character if nothing else)(though in the end i don’t know how much it would have changed either way, with otto’s plans already in action)

Riders and their Dragons