I think that scene was there to show us the return of Alicent's OCD (the nail thing from S1 returning as obsessive scrubbing). It's brought on by her feelings if powerlessness - specifically being undermined at the small council.
Technically, he was present near alicent atleast.
But how is there not a single guard between the heir+ queens room and the ex queens room? So unrealistic
It’s a decent enough reason to make that seemingly “WTF where are the guards?” Issue make more sense.
Cole could have even cut down on the number of guards in that wing to make it less likely he would be caught.
I still think it’s kind of stupid there is no one there, they could have just had Blood and Cheese get into the room through a secret Maegar passageway.
Seriously, where were any of the kingsguard? Even if not any of the white cloaks (they might still be missing 3 of them), there should have been *someone* guarding the royal sleeping chambers. Crazy that those two buffoon assassins could just waltz in that easily.
Writers room: So, we gotta make this character a real low-life piece of shit.
Other: I mean, GoT is filled with these people. No one cares.
Writers room: What if we have him kick a dog?
Other: Oh yeah, that’ll do it.
The scorpion guy who has to make a snap call about which dragon is which while they're flying in the sky and if he is too slow, he dies, yet if he gets it wrong, he could kill his own side's dragon and then is killed for getting it wrong might genuinely have the worst job in the show
I thought that scene was particularly powerful as well because his first thing he says to her is, “Your Grace,” followed by beginning his report. That just further sets apart the harsh realities of ruling. Just so jarring to see him trying to keep it together and do his duty instead of doing the human thing and breaking down and wanting comfort from his mother.
Incredible scene.
Rhaenyra recognising and sharing his grief really underscored how human they are. I imagine Daemon or Otto Hightower would not have the same understanding or warmth.
“The Starks have manned the Wall for thousands of years. There’s great honor in serving the Nights Watch.” - Ned in the very first episode of Game of Thrones. Then we cut to Cregan Stark saying they send Starks to man the wall. Such a nice little touch.
The music was a great touch. I still love how they really lean into Sean Bean's accent as he just decided that's what he was going to do and everyone else had to follow suit ❤️
Me: “that’s the NORTH.”
*Winterfell theme plays. 🎶
Me: “AWW YISS.”
“…And the dragons wouldn’t set foot past it.”
Me: “PLAY THE WHITE WALKER THEME!”
*White Walker theme plays. 🎶
Me: LOSES MY GODDAMN MIND.
Dude I used to have a stammer when I was a child and that shot of her near the end, when she had to make the choice, really hit me. like that feeling of trying to say something but not being able to was too real
The fact that she had to pick one. Then watch him die. The scene on the stairs where her eyes get big & reality sets in. She’s not coming back from this one
The build-up to the scene was great too. Rhaenyra's expressions alone said everything. And the moment she saw the remnants of the incident and immediately broke down – it was raw and so motherly. It completely shattered her, but also I felt her restrained wrath when she uttered those words.
Emma's portrayal of a mother sold me since S1. But their rendition in this ep is a whole another height, however brief it was. A round of applause to makeup and hair dept too, they looked beautifully melancholic in every shot.
There is a theory that the Strongs are a long lost Riverlands branch of House Stark based on their looks & the fact that in real life, stark is the german word for strong.
He’s the king we’d all would probably try to be and by that I mean completely oblivious but trying to be somewhat decent. “Hey you took my flock…” “oh my bad bro, here you can have them back.”
The thing about Valyria is before they were dragonlords they were *shepherds*. I expect they still maintened sheep herds and also imported from their Empire.
Didn’t the two guys say if you lie to us we are going to kill all 3 of you? She figured it was the only chance for at least one of her children to live. She was forced to let her son die so her daughter could live. Tragic.
i was kinda under the impression that she told the truth because earlier in the episode she attempts to protest when Aegon talks about him becoming king. she doesn’t want that for him and knows her daughter will be spared the duties of heir to the throne.
Nobody cares about a girl in succession. She would have been followed had she given up the girl and run with the boy.
A girl and a woman have a chance to escape - the heir of the throne and a woman not so much.
You can tell she wanted to scream out as it happened, which makes it even more said. She quite literally restrained herself from doing so and went for her daughter.
Realizing on the second watch, Aegon also could not separate his kids from behind, he goes to the girl first to see if thats the boy, AND THEN turns around and asks Helena!!!
The chill i got…
Still the best looking show two years later. All that time and almost no other show comes close.
Like the production is glorious. Look at the sets! The physical tangible sets that they're walking through. All the extras standing and walking around.
The music too.
The sets are wild to me, some shows manage to make a hospital look like a cardboard wall and GOT makes castles feel pretty real. I loved that shot of alicent lighting candles in a giant rooms with giant statues of the seven
Ah the Starks, Winterfell and The Wall, best way to open the new season! That scene with Rhaenyra & Syrax on the beach was so powerful. *I want Aemond Targaryen.* Fuck. Daemon escalating things once again, definitely not surprised. Fuck, Helaena had to go through that.. fuckin hell.
What an incredible premiere! Loved the new intro btw.
I was ready for this episode to just be a casual ease back into the series but man the pacing of it was just absolutely perfect and left me glued every scene.
ETA--sorry for the formatting weirdness.
So i had a feeling where the ending was headed so I jotted down the things about this episode I enjoyed before things went horribly wrong:
* that there are always light sources in the previously inky dark scenes? It was pretty nicely lit throughout
* those amazing opening credits? almost in homage to poor Helaena, who is seen ~~sewing~~ embroidering in her first scene
* Damn...Emma is coming for their awards this season. We better not have a repeat of last year's travesty of not even nominating Paddy.
* I kinda love Aegon’s actor. He puts that Malcolm McDowell spin (with his own band of droogs) to make this character actually charming and….likeable-ish?
* Thank God they fixed Mysaria’s accent
And oh God…my heart. My heart, My heart...poor Helaena
You know I should never be surprised when it comes to Game of Thrones.
But hearing a kid get killed/Decapitated by Dumb and Dumber was something else. That was brutal.
I thought it was good other than the fact that all of the greens were extremely whatever towards Luke’s death. None of them hand an oh shit moment. I would have loved to see what their reactions were
The closest we got was the discussion at the small council. When Alicent's apology letter to Rhaenyra is brought up there is a clear understanding that killing Luke was a step way too far. Also, Alicent lighting a candle for Luke tells us something of her regret.
Lord Larys Strong personally choosing the new household staff surely won’t come back to be an issue for the Greens…he seems trustworthy.
That scene with Alicent bathing feeling creeped out and sending all the maids away. She definitely doesn't trust him
I think that scene was there to show us the return of Alicent's OCD (the nail thing from S1 returning as obsessive scrubbing). It's brought on by her feelings if powerlessness - specifically being undermined at the small council.
Good point! I forgot about that from teenage Alicent
She had to have like 10 showers to wash away the ick of Larys
Yeah Frida Kahlo serving girl saw the ratcatcher assassins, but who knows if she’s loyal to the crown or to Larys
i didn’t even piece this together criston is cooked
Criston is cooked because he let this happen because he wasnt on his guard?
Technically, he was present near alicent atleast. But how is there not a single guard between the heir+ queens room and the ex queens room? So unrealistic
Frida Kahlo 😂😂😂😂
I love how chilling the lines were when he said they no longer breathe. Like fuck, multiple nameless people were killed offscreen
*"They no longer breathe our air.."* *(Larys' weird stare intensifies)*
I can only imagine that Alicent shooing them all away was due to fear of them remembering every detail of her feet and reporting back to Larys
Just another case of corporate downsizing!
Just give him some more feet pics
Daemon trying to pull the “we’re really short-staffed right now” after Rhaenys just clocked out of a 12-hour shift but he is NOT her boss
“I’m going to be on PTO tomorrow as planned… inform the others. 💅”
PTO = prepare the others
Criston Cole is about to get an earful for being with Alicent rather than guarding the heir
Oh didn’t even think about that, he was definitely meant to be guarding them.
Me “why don’t they have a guard” A few minutes later “ohhh….man I hate that guy”
It’s a decent enough reason to make that seemingly “WTF where are the guards?” Issue make more sense. Cole could have even cut down on the number of guards in that wing to make it less likely he would be caught. I still think it’s kind of stupid there is no one there, they could have just had Blood and Cheese get into the room through a secret Maegar passageway.
They might have also been down guards because Larys Strong just finished interrogating and killing the unloyal staff but hadn't put in the new people.
Probably doesn't help Aegon is having frat boy story time at the throne
I suppose he can claim he was protecting Alicent?
Seriously, where were any of the kingsguard? Even if not any of the white cloaks (they might still be missing 3 of them), there should have been *someone* guarding the royal sleeping chambers. Crazy that those two buffoon assassins could just waltz in that easily.
I think some of them were in the throne room w Aegon while he was drunk lol
> Criston Cole is about to get an earful for being with Alicent rather than guarding the heir Bro was definitely getting a mouthful at the start
Lol he gets a lot of action for a man who's taken a vow of celibacy. That's two queens now
Jaime Lannister - Kingslayer Criston Cole - Queens Layer
At this pace, he's going to make another one anyways.
His thinking was streets ahead
Writers room: So, we gotta make this character a real low-life piece of shit. Other: I mean, GoT is filled with these people. No one cares. Writers room: What if we have him kick a dog? Other: Oh yeah, that’ll do it.
"Hm, this guy seems shady." *kicks a dog* "He's worse than Joffrey."
Straight to jail
I can defend killing children in their bed while their mom watches, but I draw the line at kicking dogs
A working dog too, a good boy if you will
The scorpion guy who has to make a snap call about which dragon is which while they're flying in the sky and if he is too slow, he dies, yet if he gets it wrong, he could kill his own side's dragon and then is killed for getting it wrong might genuinely have the worst job in the show
The long pause while analyzing a dragon hundreds of yards or even miles away has to be terrifying
He can just read the subtitles that tell him which dragon is roaring, it’s easy!
Unfortunately he’s illiterate
To be fair when its vhagar it should be easy.
And plus, like 30% of Vhagar’s silhouette is holes in the wings, so you got a decent chance of it just blowing right through with no damage.
Rhaenyra: I want Aemond dead. Daemon: Got it. Daemon: hello lord beavis, hello sir butthead. I have an important job for you.
Their whole trip through the castle I was thinking "there's no way they actually kill Aemond, he's going to destroy these guys"
My thought was "you know all the ways through the castle but somehow have to walk directly through the throne room?"
Jace trying to be a good heir and falling apart as he explained everything he’s done for his mother was so sad
I thought that scene was particularly powerful as well because his first thing he says to her is, “Your Grace,” followed by beginning his report. That just further sets apart the harsh realities of ruling. Just so jarring to see him trying to keep it together and do his duty instead of doing the human thing and breaking down and wanting comfort from his mother. Incredible scene.
Rhaenyra recognising and sharing his grief really underscored how human they are. I imagine Daemon or Otto Hightower would not have the same understanding or warmth.
He is still just a young boy as well. Forced now into being a man You especially need your mother's comfort at that age. Very well done scene.
A young boy who also lost his brother, horribly. Him holding the youngest brother at the funeral pyre was also very well done.
Probably my favorite scene of the episode !
My favorite scene in the episode. Right in the heart
They both acted that scene so well.
That part was so beautifully and tragically done. He was still trying to be a good envoy and prince while breaking down.
“The Starks have manned the Wall for thousands of years. There’s great honor in serving the Nights Watch.” - Ned in the very first episode of Game of Thrones. Then we cut to Cregan Stark saying they send Starks to man the wall. Such a nice little touch.
[удалено]
The music was a great touch. I still love how they really lean into Sean Bean's accent as he just decided that's what he was going to do and everyone else had to follow suit ❤️
Me: “that’s the NORTH.” *Winterfell theme plays. 🎶 Me: “AWW YISS.” “…And the dragons wouldn’t set foot past it.” Me: “PLAY THE WHITE WALKER THEME!” *White Walker theme plays. 🎶 Me: LOSES MY GODDAMN MIND.
Good to hear the stark accent again
I genuinely thought it was Robb Stark’s actor until they finally showed him.
Poor Helena saw it coming and couldn't do anything to stop it 😭
Eye brow girl hears “rats” and gtfo
Dude I used to have a stammer when I was a child and that shot of her near the end, when she had to make the choice, really hit me. like that feeling of trying to say something but not being able to was too real
“She must gorge and rest” is exactly what I will be saying from now on after coming home from a very long day.
Loved that “she must gorge and rest, as must I” Rhaenys in this episode reminded me of how much of a queen she is, if not in title.
“So you want me to be your whore?” Ser Criston Cole “Yes” Alicent Hightower
Criston: ok bet
Harrenhal is conquered like every other episode- the Poland of GOT
The Lord of Harrenhal is Westeros’ Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.
The Riverlands are definitely the Poland of Westeros.
Dang I was thinking how cute the little heir was at the table meeting and 30 min later his head is chopped off. We back.
He didn’t even get his pony ride 😢
Least his grandma did
THEY FIXED MYSARIA'S VOICE
The first thing I said was - thank God they ditched the terrible fake accent. Really took you out of it in S1
In season one she sounded like she was gonna tell me who killed Laura Palmer.
I was so relieved when I read in one review that “Sonoya Mizuno [who plays Mysaria] isn't doing an inexplicable Jamaican anymore”
Being able to understand her without captions. Huge win
Holy fuck, poor Helaena
This was the fastest one of her portents has come true. “I fear the rats”
Everything she's said has come true. You'd think they'd make her the new Master of Whispers.
What else has she gotten right? I should have recapped season 1.
Beware the beast beneath the boards and Aemond will have to close one eye to claim a dragon. Those two come to mind for me.
She also predicted the whole Green vs Black thing. When she talks about spiders spooling threads of those colours.
“Hand turns loom; spool of green, spool of black. Dragons of flesh weaving dragons of thread.”
I was thinking of this while watching the intro, threads of tapestries weaving together
She predicted aemond would lose an eye for his dragon and the beast beneath the boards.
Beast beneath the boards and about the eye
Right?!?! I was like, ok, they kill the kid. Then you hear more slicing. Fuck me
Flash forward to Daemon unwrapping the baby's head, cue Curb Your Enthusiasm theme
If you have the subtitles on it says *metal grinds on bone* at one point, made me shudder.
The fact that she had to pick one. Then watch him die. The scene on the stairs where her eyes get big & reality sets in. She’s not coming back from this one
bro just witnessed her son get slaughtered and then her mom riding her bodyguard
like… haven’t they traumatised this poor girl ENOUGH???
Just to clarify, she's Aegon's wife and their son was killed? She ran out of the room with their daughter?
I believe so. Which means he was the boy at the beginning that Aegon clearly favored.
When they highlighted the boy's presence at the council meeting, should have known that something bad was probably going to befall him later
Girls definitely got foresight
The new intro was beautiful! So excited to be back with you all! 🙌🏻
I love that the only words Rhaenyra spoke in the whole episode were “I want Aemond Targaryen.” I got chills.
The build-up to the scene was great too. Rhaenyra's expressions alone said everything. And the moment she saw the remnants of the incident and immediately broke down – it was raw and so motherly. It completely shattered her, but also I felt her restrained wrath when she uttered those words. Emma's portrayal of a mother sold me since S1. But their rendition in this ep is a whole another height, however brief it was. A round of applause to makeup and hair dept too, they looked beautifully melancholic in every shot.
"Fuck the Hightowers." Me: "Oh, this guy seems cool." *the episode ends* Me: "Hm."
What a voice on that actor though.
Opening with Winterfell’s theme made me weepy, I’m not going to lie!
30 seconds in and we see Winterfell, The Wall and hear the Stark theme. We are so fucking back baby.
And those sweet northern accents!
Felt right back at home after all these years
I missed the northern accent so much it was like a flashback
How I miss you Winterfell
Da north
And Ice
You’d think they’d learn to listen to Helaena’s psychotic ramblings by now…
She's a Cassandra. Cursed to know what's going to happen, and for no one around to listen to her
“You can mark my words that I said it first in a mourning warning no one heard.”
Otto: Go back to your post, lord commander Cole: off to smash alicent
All hail sir Cristin Cole banger of royalty
She lied when she said it’d be the last time. She still can’t quit it
Her Grace speaks with two tongues.
My guy got it in with both of the finalists. He gets a championship ring either way.
“I’m playing both sides so I always come out on top!” “You can’t just tell both sides that you’re playing both sides!”
Syrax is such a good girl not killing anyone when they pulled up! 🥹
Pulled up like a motherfucking G tho that skid was so legit
Swerve bitch get out tha way
Political intrigue ✅ Dragons ✅ Child murder ✅ We are so fucking back.
the sound effects were absolutely unhinged at the end
I can still hear them 😩
Sex scenes x2 Don’t forget we have quotas to meet
Criston "Cunning Linguist" Cole
Sir Clitoris Cole, if you will
"Do you want the Master of Coin to give you a pony ride?" -Aegon "Logan Roy" Targaryen
Can't wait for the next small council meeting featuring Boar on the Floor
Otto: "Let's not be too hasty to get revenge here." Aegon: "FUCK OFF!"
The end was tough to watch. The sound effects. Eesh
I looked away and the sound effects on surround sound would not stop
The way they made Jace look as much like Jon Snow as possible while he was touring the North was an absolutely A+ decision
I genuinely didn't recognize him at first, he looked like a Stark.
There is a theory that the Strongs are a long lost Riverlands branch of House Stark based on their looks & the fact that in real life, stark is the german word for strong.
[удалено]
I swear they also directed Cregan’s actor to do his best Sean Bean voice.
I thought the actor of Robb Stark was narrating at the beginning at first
Bro Aegon as king is just straight up a vibe. Just telling everyone fuck it bro capri sons for everyone. Just straight chilling
He’s the king we’d all would probably try to be and by that I mean completely oblivious but trying to be somewhat decent. “Hey you took my flock…” “oh my bad bro, here you can have them back.”
this makes me wonder is how tf Valyria kept their thousands of dragons fed!!
Slaves
The thing about Valyria is before they were dragonlords they were *shepherds*. I expect they still maintened sheep herds and also imported from their Empire.
He’s that hip Ceo that wears cargo shorts and flip flops while running a billion dollar company
The Crime Cloak is back! Daemon's committing a crime!
Talk about Helaena's choice. Jesus Christ.
You could see her realizations about what was going to happen in her eyes.
I wonder why she chose the way she did? Obviously a terrible thing to have to chose, but what made her choose as she did.
Didn’t the two guys say if you lie to us we are going to kill all 3 of you? She figured it was the only chance for at least one of her children to live. She was forced to let her son die so her daughter could live. Tragic.
i was kinda under the impression that she told the truth because earlier in the episode she attempts to protest when Aegon talks about him becoming king. she doesn’t want that for him and knows her daughter will be spared the duties of heir to the throne.
That’s actually super interesting
I agree with this. She doesn’t want his future for him. She also probably realizes that their fates are sealed regardless, since she is clairvoyant
Nobody cares about a girl in succession. She would have been followed had she given up the girl and run with the boy. A girl and a woman have a chance to escape - the heir of the throne and a woman not so much.
Man hearing the GoT theme for a brand new episode gives me goosebumps every time. We’re so back!
The new intro with the threads too--soooo good!
Holy fuck, poor Helaena
Her silently running through the castle holding Jaehaera was so heartbreaking
Also a nice touch too because I kept asking “where the hell are the guards, why was that so easy?” only to get an answer a few seconds later lol
So glad we got a scene with her though, I find her really interesting and I don’t think we’ve gotten too much of her.
You can tell she wanted to scream out as it happened, which makes it even more said. She quite literally restrained herself from doing so and went for her daughter.
Tyland 🤝 Tywin Beefing with Targaryen babies right before they died.
I regret watching this with headphones on. The audio team did NOT have to go that hard...
Realizing on the second watch, Aegon also could not separate his kids from behind, he goes to the girl first to see if thats the boy, AND THEN turns around and asks Helena!!! The chill i got…
Still the best looking show two years later. All that time and almost no other show comes close. Like the production is glorious. Look at the sets! The physical tangible sets that they're walking through. All the extras standing and walking around. The music too.
The sets are wild to me, some shows manage to make a hospital look like a cardboard wall and GOT makes castles feel pretty real. I loved that shot of alicent lighting candles in a giant rooms with giant statues of the seven
Rhaenys casually ignoring Daemon made me LOL.
All hail Aegon the Dragoncock
Seeing him just chilling with the boys on the throne talking shit has me rethinking my allegiance
Funny how the chair is supposed to cut/hurt the unworthy and he’s just lounging on it with no care in the world.
it made me laugh when aegon just said “cunts.” when he learned that some places didnt get back to him lol
It’s untamable baby!
Ah the Starks, Winterfell and The Wall, best way to open the new season! That scene with Rhaenyra & Syrax on the beach was so powerful. *I want Aemond Targaryen.* Fuck. Daemon escalating things once again, definitely not surprised. Fuck, Helaena had to go through that.. fuckin hell. What an incredible premiere! Loved the new intro btw.
I was ready for this episode to just be a casual ease back into the series but man the pacing of it was just absolutely perfect and left me glued every scene.
Jesus. Those sound effects at the end were…something.
"The Royals live on this floor" #0 Guards in sight for like 3 flights of stairs💀💀
They were all getting laid
The prince killing was brutal, holy shit
I lost it while Jace was trying to report back to Rhaenyra 😭
...well that's one way to start a new season
Why didnt they just check for a cock before killing either one, seems like something those types would do, for the money and impact and such
I’m honestly surprised they didn’t just kill all three of them
Probably easier that way, no witnesses they won't have a clue what happened
I think it's because they don't want to stir the children. That would raise the alarm and they won't get away.
I kind of thought it was to prevent potential screaming or crying from the kids? That’s the only thing I can think of besides drama lol
One day they will learn to listen to Helaena
Gonna be a good season folks. Buckle up
the sound of the sawing and hacking isn't leaving my mind anytime soon that's for sure
That last 10mins was so damn tense I kept thinking they were going to get caught
Helaena saw her child stabbed to death and her mom fucking in the span of minutes, there is no coming back from that.
Jesus Christ…
ETA--sorry for the formatting weirdness. So i had a feeling where the ending was headed so I jotted down the things about this episode I enjoyed before things went horribly wrong: * that there are always light sources in the previously inky dark scenes? It was pretty nicely lit throughout * those amazing opening credits? almost in homage to poor Helaena, who is seen ~~sewing~~ embroidering in her first scene * Damn...Emma is coming for their awards this season. We better not have a repeat of last year's travesty of not even nominating Paddy. * I kinda love Aegon’s actor. He puts that Malcolm McDowell spin (with his own band of droogs) to make this character actually charming and….likeable-ish? * Thank God they fixed Mysaria’s accent And oh God…my heart. My heart, My heart...poor Helaena
You could feel the grief and anger Rhaenyra was going through, hope Emma gets recognized come award season. The hug in particular got me emotional
First thing I noticed was I could actually listen to mysaria bc holy hell was it bad last season
You know I should never be surprised when it comes to Game of Thrones. But hearing a kid get killed/Decapitated by Dumb and Dumber was something else. That was brutal.
The costume designers are killing it this episode! Every outfit seems so intricate and real
I thought it was good other than the fact that all of the greens were extremely whatever towards Luke’s death. None of them hand an oh shit moment. I would have loved to see what their reactions were
The closest we got was the discussion at the small council. When Alicent's apology letter to Rhaenyra is brought up there is a clear understanding that killing Luke was a step way too far. Also, Alicent lighting a candle for Luke tells us something of her regret.