House of the Dragon 3x05 Reaction

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I have mostly forgotten what went on in the previous seasons so I don't remember, but was the wording in the dialogue always this oldfashioned? Sometimes it feels unnatural to me here, I don't know. (If Lola and Milena stumble across some of the words here, they better have their dictionaries ready if they ever watch Deadwood...)

Oh and at this point this is a minor grievance compared to all the poor plotlines and character arcs but this show has completely abandoned all pretense of traveling time and distances in Westeros. Characters are hopping around from one location to another and back with a day or two like everyone has access to a teleportation device.

I have a lot of appreciation for this channel and how ya'll have easily discerned the drop in writing quality after season 1, which is most reflected in all the characters' motivation and intelligence as well as the plot contrivances. Unfortunately most viewers have happily slotted themselves into Team Black/Green and cant think rationally beyond these silly factions (which is a win for the marketing team I guess). I do think the actors have salvaged a lot of scenes this season. Matt Smith (Daemon) and James Norton (Ormund) are just so fun to watch on screen being divas. And Tom Glynn-Carney (Aegon) has saved his character from being a poor caricature by sheer charisma on screen.

Regarding Alicent & her sons... I'll say that this is very intentionally a show about inheritances -- who inherites throne, obviously, but also children inheriting their parents' values and grievances. That's why the show started when Alicent & Rhaenyra were children, instead of when they were already adults with children of their own. The past isn't prologue, it's part of the ongoing story: We are supposed to draw a line from Otto's treatment of Alicent to her treatment of her own children. Alicent is both the victim and victimizer. Inheritor and inheritee. ...which is what makes the show's insistence centring Alicent in the narrative feel like such an unforced error. It would have been so natural to move Aegon & Aemond & Helaena into the spotlight and dial back on Alicent's as a story-driver. Maybe it's tough, practically-speaking, to tell Olivia Cooke in S2 that she's a supporting character now. But if Alicent's story is about her marginalization, the amount of screen-time they are giving to that story is a kind of a contradiction. I say this as a book-reader, but it genuinely feels like you can *see* the writers inventing stuff for her to do, live, on-the-fly. I don't know. Game of Thrones told a similar story with Cersei when Joffrey came into the throne, so it clearly doesn't have to be this painful to watch. I think part of the reason it worked there (I'm talking about Thrones S2 & S3) is that there was a lot more story happening around Cersei. They weren't just waging a war; she was clashing Sansa, clashing with Tyrion, clashing with Margaery, clashing with Tywin. Alicent's most common scene partners are her almost non-verbal daughter and Grand Maester Orwyle. Not a lot of intrigue going on there!

Also yes Mysaria is the most useless master of whisperers ever. No info on who is killing the gold cloaks, no info on aegon or aemond, no info on ormund or Daeron. Just pointless

Someone on twitter said that Alicent is like a Black Hole, that sucks the show (and any character that spends a scene with her) of its competence and intelligence, and I can't stop thinking about how correct they were in that assessment of this character. Many people have also shared the same sentiment as you Lola in that Mysaria is truly terrible at her job, they compared her to Varys (The Goat) and how he even knew what Danaerys was getting up to and she was in a whole other country and yet Mysaria can't even tell you what's going on in Flea Bottom, which is supposed to be her own bread and butter, like that's her place and she should know all the people down there and yet nothing, truly useless. I truly dislike Aegon, I also find his scenes to be extremely boring this season except in this episode, this was actually good for his story and I loved Larys speaking truth to him, but I can never root for him ever since it was revealed in S1 that he used to watch kids fight to the death in fighting pits and some of those kids were his own bastard children, like I genuinely feel nothing when he's on screen but this episode did indeed keep me intrigued with his storyline so that's something. Cole is also someone I enjoy, I think he has had a solid character arc throughout all the seasons so far, I don't like him nor do I root for him but I can say he is of the few characters this show has consistently written well and has not completely obliterated.

Alicent showing here that she understands perfectly the politics of a male heir being alive as a challenge to rhaenyra makes her actions even worse. Like what did Daeron ever do to her

Aemond believes Alicent always loved Aegon more and Aegon believes she always loved Aemond more, and in the end she handed both of them over to death... it's very sad

I loveee Cole's speech to Gwayne. I love that he pulled from House Martell's words "unbowed, unbent, unbroken". We know his mother is Dornish, we know he was made to fight against Dorne in his past by nobles his family served, we know he's experienced microaggressions at the hands of Westerosi nobility due to him being half Dornish and common (his first meeting with Gwayne in s2 for example), so it's lovely to see him referencing his MOTHER'S homeland's ruling family to express his small act of rebellion. At this point in history, Dorne is not part of the 7 kingdoms, that only happens through marriage later on, NOT through conquest, Dorne remained unbowed (Baelor and Maekar's mother from AKOTSK is a Martell, and that's the marriage that brought Dorne and the 6 kingdoms together.) I don't like much about this show, but for the most part, Criston's storyline has been peak. It's the only one I can think on without being irritated (Aegon's comes in second place, but I have issues with it. Mainly that they don't spend enough time with him. As an ex-Alicent stan, put her useless looney-tunes ass storyline to the side and give her screentime to someone actually being explored properly, Aegon!) To expand on Alicent, and without spoiling what her arc was SUPPOSED to be, it's funny the position they've put her in. She has tried to escape KL 3 times now, but she fails each time, because in the book, she's in KL . They won't adapt her actual storyline, but they refuse to go completely off course with her, so she's in this weird limbo where she.. doesn't have one? I mean, I'd have preferred her being in a dungeon going through a retrospective, s2 Daemon-esque, journey on all her choices and her grief for Otto and all the complicated feelings that come with that. The man was a pillar in her life, every decision she has made was informed by what he taught her and by the situation HE has put her in, and that's all his death gets?

I finally caught up with House of the Dragon Season 3. I took the time to rewatch everything beforehand, and I'm now up to date. Sadly, I have to say I think the show peaked with 1x08. Season 3 had a really strong start after the weak second half of Season 2, but after that the characters and the dialogue just kind of go nowhere. At some point I even stopped paying close attention to the conversations because it rarely felt like anything meaningful came out of them. They keep bringing up interesting topics like the blockade, political alliances, diplomacy, military strategy and succession, but nothing ever seems to snowball into a bigger conflict. The blockade should force desperate decisions. Political deals should provoke counter-moves. One side should make a move that forces the other side to adapt. Instead, one council discusses a problem, then another council discusses the same problem an episode later, and the overall situation barely changes until they suddenly stand in a different location. It feels like everyone is waiting for the plot to happen instead of causing it. I also hate what they have done with Rhaenyra and Alicent. They used to be way more interesting characters in the show, but it feels like they have lost the motivations that made them compelling. I don't really understand what drives Rhaenyra anymore and I don't understand Alicent's relationship with her children either. They literally could kill both of them and it would make the show better, just because every other character has more depth, motivation and goals. The dragons still look amazing and the production value is incredible. When the writing team would have just spend more time about the dialog and the plot, this could have been truly great, but it is just a big disappointment. Season 4 is supposed to be the final season and right now I wish, they would have compressed the story from Season 2 to 4 into 2 seasons, so it would be over this month. It would probably have been better too, because the plot would be faster. I'm truly missing good tv. Pluribus and Severance have to return fast.