Amazing analysis of this series here:
I especially like his thoughts on Viserys.
What the heck happened at the end? Who burst into the feast hall?
Nobody burst in, Ser Criston snapped and beat Ser Joffrey to death after the latter suggested they sear an oath to protect their lovers. I wonder if this was the start of a trend in Westrosi wedding traditions. 
It seemed like the hall was suddenly getting too crowded and there were people being disruptive before that happened. I’ll have to watch again.
I kept thinking throughout this episode, essentially all set in one big room with a crowd of people delivering multiple plot threads and exposition, how a master like Robert Altman would have done it. I stopped at ‘differently’ and ‘much better’.
Really enjoyed Matt Smith prowling around like a cranky tiger, and the character and plot development was really interesting, but not feeling performances are being captured and presented to best effect.
It was confusing, understandably, but the fight started the chaos and then guards rushed in.
So when Laenor so openly wept over the dead Joffrey, was that making it obvious to everyone that they were more than just friends? Or was that already widely known?
Almost everyone had cleared out at that point.
It sounded as if some sort of beast had broken in, and I was wondering if someone had “released the tiger”. It really wasn’t very clear at all though.
I don’t understand how they let Ser Cristen was able to leave by himself. You would think that he’d at least be apprehended and questioned. He basically killed the bodyguard of the King Consort.
Most of the last two episodes have been pretty good from my point of view but the very end of this last one failed in a couple of ways—first by not making it clear what the commotion was and second by not showing what actually happens to Cole. Alicent comes upon him about to kill himself then … what? Why is this kept a mystery before a major time jump?
Also if part of the point was to show how poor the security response was, they could have made that clearer too.
I find it interesting how few of the great houses feature in this, and how a lot of power is in their vassel houses. Some are mentioned, but barely feature (Stark, Baratheon), one features (Lannister), and some don’t seem to exist at all (Tyrell, Greyjoy, Tully, Arryn). A lot of the lesser houses rule the land (Hightower, Strong), or are more important (Westerling, Royce), and some we know aint gonna make it (Velaryon).
It’s also not clear to me who is the master of whisperers in this court, I thought that was an important role (like head of the secret service).
One thing Rhaenyra should be doing the first time she gets to be queen, is to execute the loud mouth servants and maesters who blabbed about moon-tea. I would have thought a royal staff a bit more fearful of flaying and head on a spike than that lot.
House Velaryon is still around during GoT times, they just weren’t important enough to make it to the show.
It is still early for one, and we have seen glimpses of the Starks and Baratheons. Hightowers were always one of the richest Houses in the realm (and for that reason more in favor that their Lords, the Tyrells), but during the Game of Thrones era, their head - Lord Leyton Hightower apparently barred himself in the Tower for over a decade (for reasons unknown).
House Strong is a powerful House in this time.
We haven’t seen the Tyrells, Greyjoys, or the Tullys. Amusingly during this time the Lord of the Tullys is Grover Tully, and his grandson is named Elmo Tully, and his great-grandson is Kermit Tully.
As for Arryns, the King’s wife, Aemma, who died of the c-section, was an Arryn.
It was particularly confusing, as this came directly after the conversation about Uncle Creepy just stealing the Princess and making her his wife. As the guards burst in, I was thinking, “Well, I guess that was his plan after all…”
Just poorly executed, unless confusion was what they were going for.
I didn’t understand the motives of the guy who told her about it. He was, I think, the son of the person who replaced Otto Hightower as hand. They didn’t really show why he wanted to undermine Rhaenyra, unless we are just supposed to assume that he, like others, doesn’t want a reigning queen.
I feel like the new Hand is not trustworthy. First off, he sees first-hand that the King is not long for this world, so he needs to have a back-up plan. One consistent theme in the show so far is how the elder leaders in Westeros use their children as pawns in their games of thrones. It could simply be that he doesn’t want to deal with the problems that his predecessor Otto feared; which is defending a female monarch as others try to kill her and take over.
It was insane how far Viserys and Lionel Strong went into High Tide castle with no protection whatsoever. I kept expecting there to be an ambush.
Liked the episode till the last 10 minutes which was a real head scratcher. Not clear why Cristen was enraged to the point of murder or how he would be allowed to simply walk away. And if Viserys is actually dead it seems an odd time to make a big jump. I am really curious as to where the show will end up next episode.
Still overall I have liked the first five episodes. It has never grabbed me like the early seasons of GOT but it has slowly sucked me into the unfolding succession plot.