TV: House of the Dragon on HBO (please use spoiler tags when necessary)

[RobBrown4PM]

This puzzled me, too. Since their fight in the cave, Aemond looked like he aged a dozen years and Lucerys only a couple. My guess is that they wanted to cast an adult as Aemond so they wouldn't have to re-cast him down the road and wanted Lucerys to look like no match for him in maturity, but it was hard to believe that they were the same two characters. If they were set on that actor for Aemond, and I don't mind if they were, they could've gotten an older one for Lucerys who still looked boyish and scrawny, IMO.

Aemond is 18-20 years old at the moment.

Lucerys is 14.

Ewan is 25.

Elliot is 16.

The actors look their characters ages.

 

[RobBrown4PM]

Agreed. Then I think Rooks Rest sometime early in the first half to really up the ante on finding dragon seed. Ep 9 gets the Gullet, 10 the fall Kings Landing, execution of Otto etc.

Season 3 is simply War Crimes of Westeros, Ep 9 as Gods Eye, 10 as Storming of the Dragon Pit+ 2nd Tumbleton[

Yeah, Rook's Rest probably happens Ep. 2-3. Rhaeny's get's her moment. Aegon becomes even more feeble. Gullet is definitley later in the season, probably 9. And yeah, they probably end with the blacks taking KL.

Season 3 starts off with Celtigar implementing his swath of taxes. And then the small folk implementing their 'Diiiiiick' tax upon Celtigar by mid season.

 

[Osprey]

Aemond is 18-20 years old at the moment.

Lucerys is 14.

The actors look their characters ages.

Aemond looks quite a bit older than 18-20. Also, he and Lucerys looked less than 4-6 years apart when they were younger.

 

[JackSlater]

Book reader musings about season 2:

Spoiler: Major Book plot points

Jace's trip to Winterfell, off-screen like the book or do we get some serious character development and Cregan Stark cast and introduced as a mentor? I'd love to see it but how do you put a character with that gravitas on the shelf for essentially two seasons afterwards.

When do Blood and Cheese strike?

Battle of Rook's Rest as an "Oh shit" cinematic moment early in the season, battle of the gullet at the end?

Spoiler

They should do more to develop Cregan Stark assuming that the Hour of the Wolf takes place during the run of this series, even though there are challenges as you noted in introducing him and then having to wait for a few seasons. Maybe they can show the Northmen withstanding a dragon attack or something down the road just to keep them in mind for viewers.

I'm very curious to see what they do with Blood and Cheese. I suppose they will go all out and show it based on what they have shown so far. Does feel like an episode 1 plot.

 

[4thline]

Aemond looks quite a bit older than 18-20. Also, he and Lucerys looked less than 4-6 years apart when they were younger.

Eh, an eye patch, Targaryan flow, and dressing like a warlord in waiting will do that to you. When he lost the eye he was a baby faced child, dragonless, and the butt of jokes from the other 3 boys. They've explicitly detailed his commitment and work ethic in contrast to Aegon, that kind of personal development plus a generally more "severe" character would naturally contribute to being an older looking dude, not your average teenager. Throw pre and post puberty in the mix and it's easily buyable

 

[HanSolo]

I cant stand the kid with the eye patch, the actor's performance was fine but why the hell did they cast a 25 year old to play as a 16 year old.
he was the only one that looks out of place after they grew up

Well. It's not unusual for Thrones casting. Think back to how old Robb, Jon, and Theon looked at the beginning of Game of Thrones. All 3 of them were supposed to be around 14 years old being played by 20-22 year Olds.

 

[HanSolo]

Took a little longer to watch cause the SO was unavailable to watch on Sunday and she insists on watching together. Unfortunately two big moments were spoiled for me early cause I have a bad habit of killing time with Twitter and I didn't realize the episode leaked. So I'll start with that. I'll leave spoiler tags since it's only technically been two days.

Spoiler

Man twitter was having a collective meltdown over the Daemon choke and Aemond killing Lucerys being an accident.

First, yeah what Daemon did was uncomfortable but I think too many fans were expecting him to be placated by his marriage to Rhaenyra but those same people forget that Rhaenyra wants the pair of them to be fire and fury. He just found out his brother died, thinks he was murdered, and his wife's throne got usurped by traitors. How anyone now familiar with Daemon at this point is surprised that Daemon got heated to the point of undermining his Queen wife and everything else is really quite confusing to me. Like yeah him lashing out at Rhaenyra the way he did was crazy but who is sitting here expecting Daemon to be Ned Stark? He can act uncouth and still be fiercely devoted to Rhaenyra.

Then the accidental killing of Lucerys by Aemond, my God people were acting like it ruins the whole season. Like oh it kills Aemond's character, oh the whole Dance of the Dragons was a ridiculous consequence of accidents and misunderstandings. Like yeah, just how plenty of wars started in real history? And as for Aemond accidentally killing Lucerys ruining his character I actually way prefer the writer's decision here, and apparently GRRM does too if it wasn't his idea. If Aemond just went to Storm's End to kill Lucerys as a wild card psycho, that would make a lot more of a one dimensional force of nature villain, and one that isn't very interesting. What we got instead is the guy who presents himself as the most dangerous of the Greens, who despite all that, is still a spiteful child who took the opportunity to treat with the Baratheons to f*** with Lucerys, something that is already established as something he likes to do. Can it be said that if he knows the consequences of killing Lucerys, he shouldn't have flown Vhagar after him? Yeah. But is it weird that a teenage boy with a vendetta against a family member on a perpetual power trip that he tamed the world's most dangerous dragon would do something reckless despite knowing the consequences? Now we get to see that he knows he f***ed up. Now he knows he started a war. Maybe even felt a little badly that he inadvertently murdered kin. This can set up a number of ways his character can develop in response to this event, and it will start with him having to tell Alicent or Otto what he did. I find that way more intriguing than him doing it on purpose and strutting his way up to Alicent and saying "yeah I killed Lucerys. We get the first win. Deal with it." Now he has to eat shit in front of his mother and face her disappointment and it's way more interesting to see what effect that has on him.

Long of way of saying: the people having a meltdown about the accidental kill are beyond absurd.

I've seen others talk about it and yeah the visceral way they did not hold back from showing the miscarriage was a bit over the top but it's another case where I agree with the showrunners' rationale for the way they shot the scene. Rhaenyra's whole world got turned upside down and found herself in the moment where she had to step in and take charge and she had to have a battle with her own body while the rest of the blacks were gearing up for a war she was hoping to prevent. I think the gruesome way it ended is illustrative of how ugly her war to be will turn out. Which is to say I don't think it was an artistic choice entirely without merit.

And last little spoiler thing but I'm not seeing anyone discuss it unless I missed something. I really really like the way they brought Rhaenys and Corlys' storyline full circle with this episode. In the beginning I found the Velaryons just a touch annoying and unnecessary but having Rhaenys really carry the conflict of "can the Velaryons continue supporting Rhaenyra" and have it come to a head with her recognizing that Rhaenyra could be a good monarch in the right circumstances was really well done. And the big turning point was Rhaenys recognizing that Rhaenyra was trying to do all she could to maintain peace. Now that Lucerys is dead, I mean. The Velaryons already pledged themselves and they may know Lucerys isn't really their kin but he carries their name and he was betrothed to one of the Velaryon daughters. I'm betting the Velaryons will be very fired up to go to war against the Greens now.

All right. Word salad about the episode is done. All in all I think that was a very strong season. Certainly the best medieval fantasy show since its predecessor and definitely in the tier of the top shows on today. I'd still say it probably just misses the mark of GOT S1-4 but I'd comfortably place it above the remaining four seasons of Thrones. There are some writing and directorial flaws here and there that hold it back but there's far more strengths than weaknesses. If I had to grade it I'd say S1 is a very strong 8.5/10. The cast, the writing, the production quality (for the most part) were really high level and at the end of the day, it's the first show since Game of Thrones that would get me excited for airing days. I'm hoping with two years until the next season that they take some time to grow the scope of Westeros and its characters again and they take their time with the war to come. But I do have to say they did a great job with the new characters. It was easy, in the beginning to bemoan the lack of wit masters like Tyrion, Varys, Littlefinger, Bronn, and Cersei, but I really came to love watching Viserys (especially, what a standout character), Daemon, Rhaenyra, Alicent, Otto, and Rhaenys. House of the Dragon was never going to exceed the peak of Game of Thrones, but I'm really pleased with how close they came and that these show runners remembered what made Thrones great in the first place. It's sad that many feel this was too soap opera-y and boring but what can you do? From my couch, I call House of the Dragon a resounding success.

 

[max21]

I thought it was very interesting and fitting how the Dragons went against their riders commands and fought each other, thought that was really cool. Aemond killing Lucerys purposefully in revenge would have been too fitting. It adds a whole different dynamic to the story now, I enjoyed the hell out of this season and pretty pissed we have to wait another 2 years for the next lol

 

[Arthur Morgan]

This puzzled me, too. Since their fight in the cave, Aemond looked like he aged a dozen years and Lucerys only a couple. My guess is that they wanted to cast an adult as Aemond so they wouldn't have to re-cast him down the road and wanted Lucerys to look like no match for him in maturity, but it was hard to believe that they were the same two characters. If they were set on that actor for Aemond, and I don't mind if they were, they could've gotten an older one for Lucerys who still looked boyish and scrawny, IMO.

Should have chosen someone closer to his actual aged about 15 years compared to everyone else aging like 4

Well. It's not unusual for Thrones casting. Think back to how old Robb, Jon, and Theon looked at the beginning of Game of Thrones. All 3 of them were supposed to be around 14 years old being played by 20-22 year Olds.

yeah but that was different, there were no time jumps in GoT. if they started off with Aemond as that 25 year old then there would be no issue. but he aged way too much compared to everyone else

 

[JohnC]

To be fair, GOT did a very poor job showing the passage of time. We all know how bad it was in the last two seasons, but I just finished a rewatch and the earlier seasons were pretty miserable at it too.

 

[Osprey]

Eh, an eye patch, Targaryan flow, and dressing like a warlord in waiting will do that to you. When he lost the eye he was a baby faced child, dragonless, and the butt of jokes from the other 3 boys. They've explicitly detailed his commitment and work ethic in contrast to Aegon, that kind of personal development plus a generally more "severe" character would naturally contribute to being an older looking dude, not your average teenager. Throw pre and post puberty in the mix and it's easily buyable

If those things are enough to make a person look 6 years older, then casting someone who was already 6 years older than his character wasn't necessary and only makes the character look 12 years older. I'm not saying that they shouldn't have cast him, though, just that it would've been easier for me to reconcile if Lucerys looked a little older, himself.

 

[4thline]

If those things are enough to make a person look 6 years older, then casting someone who was already 6 years older than his character wasn't necessary and only makes the character look 12 years older. I'm not saying that they shouldn't have cast him, though, just that it would've been easier for me to reconcile if Lucerys looked a little older, himself.

Those things explain Aemond being an older looking teenager than most. Men from 16 to 22 have a wide range of physical maturity. By no means does every high school senior look like that, but some do. Give him less severe haircut and a gd smile on his face and he looks no older than Finn Jones playing a 16 year old Loras, Keery/Heaton playing the older boys on Stranger Things, etc. The whole point is that within the context of the series, Aemond is not only a man grown at 16, but a particulary badass one. A particularly mature/developed 16/17 year old is going to have pretty wide gap on a given 12/13 year old. Draft ready junior that's going to play in the big league next season vs. a Bantam.

 

[MadDevil]

It's possible someone else poisoned the drink without her knowledge.

The first time the drink was given to the princess the Doc mentioned how there would be dire consequences if not brewed correctly so he did it himself.

The complicating factor to me is that Alicent's handmaiden also works for the White Worm, so would she slip some poison in unbeknownst to Alicent? Or on the flip side if Alicent did want her poisoned, what if her handmaiden didn't poison her but kept her alive as a witness to Aegon's misdeeds for the White Worm to use as potential leverage?

Personally I think it's probably just as was shown, they gave her gold and moon tea and she then disappeared somewhere far away.

 

[GKJ]

Just saying

 

[trojansoilers]

Just saying

View attachment 598983

Anyone who's married knows this look from a woman usually means you f-ed up BADLY

 

[JimmyApples]

Emma D’Arcy did grow on me by the end of the finale, but boy do I ever miss Milly.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Emma D’Arcy did grow on me by the end of the finale, but boy do I ever miss Milly.

Same.

 

[Jussi]

To be fair, GOT did a very poor job showing the passage of time. We all know how bad it was in the last two seasons, but I just finished a rewatch and the earlier seasons were pretty miserable at it too.

GOT used the Fast Travel function a lot.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

Just saying

View attachment 598983

All I see is Grey Worm in the background going "me sundae."

 

[JohnC]

Grey Worm was low key the worst. Honestly, I had a hard time caring about any of the Essos faction of GoT knowing how it all turns out in the end.

 

[Allens Five Hole]

Grey Worm was a great concept at the start. By the end of the show he was atrocious. There was absolutely zero need to turn him into any type of influential character - just keep him as he was.

 

[Blender]

Emma D’Arcy did grow on me by the end of the finale, but boy do I ever miss Milly.

Emma D'Arcy was very good, but Milly Alcock was great. Part of that could be that Alcock was given a wider range to work with though.

 

[Rob]

Just read that season two isn’t expected to be out until 2024.

 

[Hasbro]

Just saying

View attachment 598983

 

[RobBrown4PM]

Grey Worm was low key the worst. Honestly, I had a hard time caring about any of the Essos faction of GoT knowing how it all turns out in the end.

The books do the Essos stuff soooooooo much better.

The books do ALOT of stuff sooooo much better, including the Unsullied.