Huh, I completely forgot this was coming out today. Lets see if I remember anything from s2 or am lost the whole time.
Ulf griping about not being a lord. IIRC I pointed out that a knighthood was much much too minor a reward for the loyalty of a dragon rider.
Very late seasons GoT lack of scouts / battlefield awareness.
Wow, lots of changes from the source material. I regretted not getting the Battle of the Gullet as the S2 closer, but it made for a great opener even if we had to wait two years. Really well done. I did hate bringing in Sheepstealer and her unexpected rider, and now wondering if we don’t get Nettles at all. The whole Ulf/Addam/Hugh camping trip was a waste of time, setting up future plot twists that don’t really need explanation. And I despise how they’re writing Rhaenyra’s story arc, robbing her of agency, as well as turning Jace into a whiny sulking teenager - took away a lot of emotional resonance from the final moments. So bravo on capturing one of the most brutal conflicts of the Dance so well, but not a fan of some major directions we’re going. Please please please, more Tessarion and treat my magnificent Blue Queen right.
It had to happen when they made her the “hero” of the story, if the rest of the story is going to go anywhere close to the books then the hero can’t be the one making the decisions she does. Great episode to start the season, hope they didn’t blow their entire battle budget on that.
Too true. The only hero in this war is Cregan Stark, and given later events, one can argue Westeros would have been much better served if he’d been less honorable and more power hungry. Bit of a fatal flaw with that House.
Wow, this one landed with such little fanfare that I didn’t even notice it until a few days late. A tiny few posts on an SDMB thread after the opening episode of a game of thrones show is a little shocking.
I think these streaming services are really ruining their cultural impact by releasing things two years apart like they have been in recent years. I started watching the episode and I honestly forgot who a third of the people were or what plot lines were left dangling from the last season. I feel like I need to watch at least the last half of S2 again to refresh myself.
This was definitely meant to be one of the final episodes of season 2 before it got shifted to season 3. It’s weird to start off a season with a big action episode like this.
I don’t have a strong opinion on any of it. I thought the seasnake proving he’s a great sailor / commander over the pirate that has a personal vendetta was a cool scene. I thought it kind of weakens the mystique of dragons to have weapons that can take them out routinely hitting them, which seems like a trend across all of game of thrones. They are terrifying even if they’re vulnerable, but they aren’t the neigh-invincible creatures that earlier seasons of Game of Thrones had lead us to believe. A ballistia attached to an anchor is a pretty cool weapon design, though.
Ok, so Rhaenyra just killed Alicent’s dad. Theoretically she should kill Alicent and Halena as well, but I can’t see that happening. Aemond is going to be saved by Alys and he’ll actually promise her Harrenhall. I don’t know how Ulf is going to get pitched to flip, but with Daemon’s slap I assume that prediction is well on its way to become true.
Supposed to be 4 total seasons. From how S3E2 ended the only real thing to do is go and 4v1 Vhagar and then there’s no real opposition. Sure Cole has a host, but without dragon support at best they could do is an insurgency. So, still gotta be a huge reversal of fortunes.
Both of these episode have been fine, but I’m not getting hyped like I did for S1 or Dunk and Egg.
I’d like to think I have a pretty good idea of who every character is, having read the books as well. That said, I have no idea who the attempted rapist was supposed to be, Lord Jasper the master of law? Just seemed to come out of nowhere. Also, how in the world did Rhys Ifans end up in the black cells? Last we saw him he had been banished and was captured… somewhere. This season has been pretty good so far, though it must be costing a fuck ton. I’m not sure I love Aemond and Daemon as unkillable badasses, this is after all very much not The Witcher.
I don’t mind it. It’s still a fantasy story, and warrior princes with ancient, not-entirely-human ancestry being unstoppable killing machines are a time-honored fantasy trope, from Aragorn and Elric onward.
(And before you say that Martin set out to subvert fantasy tropes… sometimes he did, sometimes he didn’t).
I think my issue was the fight choreography. Just individual soldiers running up to them one by one and dying, nobody even thinking of working together or bringing a damn crossbow to an ambush. Compared to the season 1 battle where Daemon single handedly rushes an entrenched army, at least they shot arrows at him and made him run at them.
So you just lost track of a dragon? Seriously confused how all of that went down. I mean, it’s understandable that no-one knows what Daeron looks like, but they showed Tessarion right there! Big, winged, cobalt blue, breathes fire… how are we not bringing a dragon, one of the most important pieces on the board, immediately to Kings Landing as soon as we capture it from the enemy?
When Vaemon Valeryon loudly and publicly proclaimed Rhaenyra’s sons bastards a few seasons ago, he was rewarded by having his head removed, there on the spot. But they’re holding Corlys’ fate from us until further notice?!?
Not cool, HBO. Not cool.
What was her problem with Corlys’s request anyway? Didn’t have captions on and couldn’t make it out but that seemed like a perfectly reasonable request.
She hemmed and hawed about how it would look bad if she legitimized two bastards when her own sons were (rightfully, but let’s not quibble) accused of being bastards.
Vaemon proclaimed it in front of the entire court (and Daemon), forcing the king’s hand. Corlys’s outburst may have been overheard by some servants, but it wasn’t nearly as public - and besides, Rhaenyra needs Corlys far more than anyone ever needed Vaemon.
In the next scene she passes Baela in the hallway, glancing at her as she does. Baela is Corlys’ granddaughter and heir, now that his son and daughter are dead. She is a dragonrider and a loyal and valuable ally. Rhanyera may have been reluctant to suddenly create two new male heirs likely to push her aside in the line of succession to Driftmark. After all, that was what was done to Rhaneyra herself, heir to the Iron Throne. Corlys’ intentions toward his sons were honorable but Rhaneyra could have asked him how he intended to treat Baela before rejecting his request.
He stated his intentions, he said he was making the older one his heir. That said, Baela had never been his heir to begin with, it was Lucerys and Jacaerys until they died, and I would assume it would have been Joffrey if he wasn’t trying to legitimize the other two.
Dany Daemon kind of forgot about the Iron Fleet dragon.
I imagine keeping the dragon near the dragon rider was considered a bad idea. Specially after what happened with Rhaenys. Also, was that the guy from Balls of Fury at Rhaenyra’s banquet???