Girls Gone Canon Cast - House of the Dragon S1E4: King of the Narrow Sea

Episode Date: September 13, 2022

there are no men like daemon targaryen only daemon targaryen SPOILERS: ASOIAF, F&B, KOT7K, TWOIAF, ETC Join us at our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/girlsgonecanon Follow us on Twitter: @GirlsGoneCanon Sound Effects from Pixabay "Night Vigil" & "Big Drumming" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/  

Hello everyone and welcome to Girls Gone Canon Watches House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 4 King of the Narrow Sea. I am one of your hosts Eliana and I am another one of your hosts Chloe. King of the Narrow Sea. Welcome back to house of the dragon the hottest of d the local podcast from us two girls eliana and chloe who are going canon all the time uh spoilers for everything yes up top spoilers for everything we've had a comment or two this week of people asking if we were of people asking if we were spoiler free we are not we talk about all of george rr martin's books all of them sometimes we'll talk about tv shows we like too yes and we are not discussing anything um from any of the leaks because we

haven't read them but after every now and then people will tell me something that they saw in the leaks or whatever of the most recent episode does that makes if that makes sense so that's nothing that's going to spoil you for the rest of like the way the tv show goes because again we don't know them but we have read fire and blood chloe's i don't know how many times i just finished it again i just finished fire and blood in bed the other morning hung over because i couldn't sleep at like 4 a.m this is i don't know four or five six somewhere in that range like in a handful range handful yeah and we are not holding back regarding talking about fire and blood so please if this is not something that you want to hear about if you don't want to know the broad

strokes of what is going to happen to any of these characters or these plot lines, please log off and we'll see you again next time. Maybe come back to see us when things are done or if you decide to read the books. But for us, it's important to be able to discuss the books in full for A, our enjoyment, B, in terms of our analysis that rests upon being able to discuss the story in whole. Yeah, I mean, Fire and Blood,

I love Fire and Blood. I really do like it a lot. It was also I mean, it just is such a good memory, you know, for the East Coast. If you are a George R.R. Martin fan in 2018 on the East Coast, you were there you were outside in a huge fucking line on the way into the theater, about to go get your signed copy of Fire and Blood and listen to George R. R. Martin. I mean, that was an experience. It was fun. And I can't forsake that. Oh, forsake.

The Forsaken. I cannot be the Forsaken here. And House of the Dragon, King of the Narrow Sea, I mean, this episode, every episode, as we keep going forward, each of these episodes has been like little love letters to us. It's been so nice. And if you're not listening to Girls Gone Canon outside of Hot D, please come listen to us. It's been so nice. And if you're not listening to Girls Gone Canon outside

of Hot D, please come listen to us. We are doing the Song of Ice and Fire series chapter by chapter. However, we're doing it with a little twist. If you haven't listened, we are doing point of view character by point of view character. Yes. And by some like, I don't know, kind of twist of fate, we actually have sort of coincided the start of a new POV with the start of this new season. So if you're new to Girls Gone Canon, please check us out. We just started the Bran chapters, I don't know, like two weeks ago. So this week at the time of the release of this episode, we will be putting out a Game of Thrones Bran brand three this coming friday september 16th yeah it's i love brand notably i love my little aegon 3 baby boy the next chapter is intense it is

it's like the vision chapter it's the like i haven't even worked on the outline because it's straight up just the visions like all we're doing is just talking about some trippy shit it's going to be fun and honestly we kept joking it's gonna be a stark contrast from the dragon show but it's not question mark like there's so much prophecy and uh not prophecy but you know like tree visions and uh the weirwood i mean the weirwood in this episode all i could think about was bram and incest You know Bram sees two twins fucking like it's absolutely the same. It's tied together Jamie and Cersei, Rhaenyra

Daemon. I mean. We're talking a bit about that this episode. The Patreon episode this month please please come back. We're working on it. We have not prophesied that yet. Yeah we're working on a prophecy for our Patreon episode of the month and

so over at patreon.com slash girls gone canon we have to shake our little tip jar at you real quick you can come and get some perks right if you want to just throw a little money at us a dollar a month whatever thank you you're so kind you do not have to do that we love to do this but we do love to give perks for our patrons too. So for $5 and up stranger tier and above patrons, you get a bonus episode every month. We assort a medley of episodes over at our Patreon. And those episodes could be something on a song of ice and fire.

Sometimes there'll be on other books that we've read and like, like the Madeline Miller series. Sometimes it'll be specially themed. Last month was mothers of the dragon or milfs of the dragon. Miller series. Sometimes it'll be specially themed. Last month was Mothers of the Dragon, or MILFs of the Dragon, more importantly. Yeah, more importantly. Part one. Part one.

You might get part two this month. We haven't quite gotten to figure out what we're going to talk about, but I know what it is. It'll be talked about. Like, in full. It will be discussed. And of course, something else

that you can get access to on our Patreon, again, shaking the tip jar, is our monthly brunch. Patrons in the thunder tier and above ten dollars and above get access to our discord where there's fun there's activities there's a discussion including i don't know just hanging out and our this month's brunch is going to be this coming sund, September 18th, from 2 to 4pm Eastern Time. But we also have weekly voice discussions as well. Yeah, our friend Maddie is hosting a weekly discussion for Hot D on Fridays at 2pm ET. It's about like an hour and a half, two hours long. She does an amazing little slideshow, some quips. She's pretty funny, Maddiedie but she does some quips and yeah it's all about the banter everybody just chit chats you don't have to be on video but if you want to come

be on video you can handful of people get together to talk about the show and we've had that with other things right we'll probably return to that for his dark materials as well in the future for series three which we'll cover but we also have i mean a couple of our patrons are cooking some other things up they're doing this with another series I can't tell you yet because we don't have a date on it but there is another series in the works that's a beloved TV series I can't wait to talk

about it I actually don't know which one you're talking about because it could be any of them I really could honestly our patrons are so creative they uh I think they just started Desperate Housewives yeah I know I'm so proud because I didn't even do this they did it so i look forward to our brunch sunday the 18th at two to four and of course our weekly i love it our weekly hot d discussions hot discussions it is so fun can't wait for this week's on the king well on king of the narrow sea yeah there's a couple of things you know let's talk

about some of the meta of this episode uh including fire and blood but also in regards to how this episode was created so the director for this episode is in fact a woman it's claire kilner and it shows yeah it shows as um as this twitter user said um this is Vasilisa or Vasilisonka is the at if you want to find them on Twitter. It says, I could tell that this episode of House of the Dragon was directed by a woman because sex scenes were actually good. Yeah, I don't know it's like not always a straightforward clit fat let's fuck it's not like i don't know there's not like one emotion right like when i have sex there are many emotions and i felt that in this episode i mean you have the raunchiness of damon to the tenderness of of the christian coupling like that was tender it was

very interesting and a lot of oh my god a lot of themes there were a lot of themes and we'll discuss it we'll discuss it in a second right i was gripped i mean i mean before we go into it oh my god jesus christ yo this little episode yeah eliana is in my city for house of the Dragon for the first few episodes and, you know, like, other life events. But, like, she's here for a handful of episodes and we have been watching it together, which is so romantic. I love it. But me and her opposite ends of the couch last night just were staring like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. We're like, everyone, shut up.

Shut up. We're watching with, like, two unsullied. Everyone shut up. Shut up. We're watching with like two unsullied. Right? Two people who have never read Fire and Blood and don't know the general gist of the story. They know of A Song of Ice and Fire and they're somewhat blooded into the world though to be fair. Like they're very into the world. Like one of them is my partner right? And he's read all five of the main books and Dunkin' Egg.

Yeah. He's pretty like he gets it he's in and the other your partner's best friend your partner's partner he he also is very into it though he knows the lore he was actually during that episode calling out things that mean you were like oh shit good call let me write that down that's a good question what were they i don't remember but they were like good reactive like made you think kind of moments or made you think about the lore so it makes you think it really keeps you sharp yeah these two gentlemen and last night it was hard though because me and you were on the couch and this is a momentous episode i think for book readers right like for those of

us who have always gone will they won't they did they didn't they like who fucked who a lot of people online were like who will damon fuck and i was like who will reneara fuck that's who i care about who who gets damon fucks everyone apparently yeah damon yeah damon fucks what he wants but who gets the rose you know and we found what oh my god the way they'd all played out a little unexpected but also you know very interesting very interesting so at this point right of the book the book the timeline um you, by next episode, we'll probably see Rhaenyra take the seat as Lady of Dragonstone is something we can anticipate. She's aged up two years in this series, then around like, when all of these things went down in the book, which, you know, we already know that she's aged up. But let's talk about some of the people like

the suitors, right, that Rhaenyra entertainedira entertained so reynira actually visits the trident in 112 and that's when a bunch of stuff happens though this the scene where is this is this storm's end i think storm's end is where we start the episode which was because boram and boram and yeah yeah which also makes sense right because they are loosely, twice through their family tree, they are related. Both through if Ori's Baratheon is in fact... I mean, they're cousins. Yeah, if Ori's Baratheon is

in fact the bastard brother of Aegon, and slash or... and also through the marriage of Aemon Targaryen to Jocelyn Baratheon. So we have the sons of Lord Bracken and Lord Blackwood fought a duel over Rhaenyra, which we saw adapted, which is fun. There's also apparently supposed to be a younger son of House Frey

who asked for her hand and is called Fulfrey. Then in the West, Sir Jason and Sir T fray who asked for her hand and is called fool fray then in the west um sir jason and sir tylen apparently vie for her during a feast at casterly rock we don't get that exactly we see jason i think we're gonna get some of that in the next episode oh how exciting we're gonna you have to stay to the end because the trailer broken down i like to watch the trailer at half speed no one else does which is smart because it gives away everything like everything like the whole episode i know what's happening next episode just from the trailer yeah but i think we're gonna see this adapted to her wedding and we get lord tolia riverrun's sons lord tyrell of highgarden lord oakheart of old oak they weren't in the episode

not yet tarly of horn hill and of course the hand's eldest son sir harwin strong visits her time yeah so so the as you can see the timelines are a little screwy too a little different right by because by this time when rainier is entertaining suitors in fire and blood auto's already been deposed yeah it's a very interesting how they're playing with the timeline and it works i'm watching we're watching rings of power right so yeah that's fun because we don't care about lord of the rings and i'm sorry if you're learning this for the first time i don't mean it in a mean way it's just it didn't happen for us and i'm trying now you i'm married into it i i'm married into the lords of the rings with a ring actually it

was really actually poetic when you think about it but i've married into ring lord and you you know you just have to watch it casually and so we're watching rings of power two three yeah yeah exactly we're married sister wives but uh to only each other and it's weird because like because i don't i mean this timeline's nothing like knowing what they're doing with rings of power no spoilers for those you're not watching at or you want to but like there is timeline changes and it's very adaptive because of the the content they are allowed to adapt is the biggest part which this is what gets me this is what really tickles me gets my gears understanding like what you're allowed to

adapt blah blah blah like that kind of legally all the legal bounds of production and how it like yeah the meta behind how that affects your production because we've learned not necessarily with that but with game of thrones you know they had to adapt in certain ways some of it was production based some of it was book material and source material based. So I find that really interesting, just the who, what and when but this timeline is nothing 30 years is nothing compared to like the 1000s of years they're fucking around with and rings of power, right? Like this is just like, yeah, whatever. And I think all of it's done for a good, adaptive and cohesive storytelling reason. Because a I mean, we have the age up, right?

For Alicent and Rhaenyra to even them out, age up, age down. That works great, in my opinion. Yeah, and I think what's most important is the changes that they've made are in order to serve a character-driven story. You're getting a story that has a lot of strong themes, a lot of strong themes a lot of strong character arcs and the decisions that people make make sense for their character they might not make sense in terms of you're like wow that was super illogical but it it works in the context of

people being flawed and also and i think that's that's ultimately what george is interested in exploring that's always what he's all been interested in exploring that human heart in conflict with itself and he to to again cap all that he's quite pleased with this adaptation and thus far not to be like that but like i mean that's also why we cover it the way we do the story because we like the characters and i think david and dan struggled in game of thrones with they adapted to an event basis. David and Dan adapted events and built around the events where Ryan Condal and his great team are adapting characters and they are putting the characters into a story that already exists, to be fair. So and they get to take their own adaptive choices with that. And I really love the way

they're going so far like this episode., look, season five, Game of Thrones, Chloe would be sitting here with you going, how could they do this? Kristen and Rhaenyra. But I watched this last night with you and I was like gleeful. I was like a child on Christmas just to be like, this is what their adaptation,

their take on the story is. That's so cool. Yeah. That's cool. Cause none of it matters. To give them also, also to give a bit of credit, guess to to what happens in the original show and how that's done is uh they have more leeway they do have more leeway with the way that fire and blood is written because it is wishy-washy there's no like one straight account of how everything goes right

and that gives them the ability to do that but again like as you said they are not writing around events writing around characters we don't get by this point in fire and blood a few pages before like some of these quotes that we pulled out the the feast of the greens and the blacks dress would have already happened right like um damon more or less kind of seems to appear in the middle of that feast not dressed according to anybody's themes and then pledged to viscerys and that's because they want the feast to have an emotional way they wanted to have gravitas within the context of the story so they are building up to that they've moved it so that it it pays off yeah and i think that's also condensing the timeline is

smart in this happenstance like in this happenstance like in the trailer we're going to talk about at the end there's some stuff that definitely is all happening at once because i feel like every week i'm sitting here with you. And I'm like, damn, they covered so much without covering all of it. You know what I mean? Like they're cutting out a lot of the bloat, they're choosing, it's weird, because you'd expect you only get these bullet points in the story in the book. And then they're somehow expanding, but also cutting as they go. And I think it's really good. They're choosing what's important and cohesive to them. And there's stuff that like, we'll talk about the Damon in the Weirwood scene

today. And like, that scene is so gorgeous. And I think it was so well done and cohesive and Valyrian. And while it might not be direct word for word from the source material, you get the same feeling, right? Like there's that great passage from Fire and Blood. Princess Rhaenyra was a different matter. Daemon spent long hours in her company, enthralling her with tales of his journeys and battles. He gave her pearls and silks and books in a jade tiara, said once to have belonged to the Empress of Leng, read poems to her, dined with her, hawked with her, sailed with her, entertained her by making mock of the greens at court,

the lickspittles fawning over Alicent and her children. And they go on to say that he praises her beauty and they would race on their dragons. They understood each other in just ways that no one else could understand. And while, no, we're not getting that right now, we might later get it, right? Like we might have a little time for fun of them courting falling in love their wedding and

probably episode what seven or eight but i would guess seven i mean it has to happen by seven yeah or this is it right yeah they're just condensing it all into all of this but you can feel this but still i think yeah you get the it's evoked last night i spent some time reading a passage or two to your your partner uh it was very sweet explaining the how fire and blood is written listen i just want you to know that like lana laner damon raniera their children they all had this beautiful gay weird polycule and i'm open to that in my life aliana i think that's what i feel you know not unlike reina and elissa farman anyways an area who they're erasing from the show what an error yeah i know right i read out to your partner uh the diverging sources

right grand maester run sitters take on what happened, that Prince Daemon left King's Landing and returned to the Stepstones after they fought nothing to be said ever again. And then, of course, Alicent urged Viserys, send him away is the other take. But then Septon, Eustace, and Mushroom have two very different tales.

Eustace gives the less salacious tale and says that Daemon seduced his niece and then claims her maidenhood and then that Arik Cargyle, the Kingsguard, whom we have not been introduced to the twins yet, discovered them, brings them before the king and Rhaenyra says she's in love with her uncle

and is like, please let me marry him. And Viserys would not hear of it and reminds his daughter that, you know, Daemon already has a wife then sends his daughter to her bedrooms and sends his brother away commands them to never speak of what had happened and then the next one is of course Mushroom Mushroom is a slutty mcslut slut yeah I mean that's just I mean that's canon we love him he's my favorite slutty mcslut besides like myself uh But he says Kristen Cole

is who Rhaenyra wanted to give the rose to. But Kristen was true and chased a true knight. And though he was always with her, he had never kissed her nor declared his love. And Daemon tells Rhaenyra, he looks at you and he sees you as the littlest princess,

but I can make you look like the real queen in his eyes. And so Damon gives her kissing lessons and then shows her how to touch a man and bring him pleasure. And of course, I do have to say, Mushroom was like, it involved himself and his huge member. Good for you, Mushroom. And then Damon taught her how to be sexy and suckled at her nipples and all this sexy stuff.

And they'd go dragging back to fucking Blackwater Bay. And he'd take her down to the street of silk to the brothels. I love that they cut a diverging line through this, right? Like they straight up cut through that line and just show like one night of ecstasy out in the streets. And Rhaenyra learning she's alive. like one night of ecstasy out in the streets and Rhaenyra learning she's alive and give give the girl to meet a wife daemon says in the book to his brother who would take her now but then he gets sent into exile um i don't know he comes back but he comes back he's just like the series is infections oh my gosh they just come back. Yep. Absolutely. Well, then the episodes, you know.

Actually starts. Yeah, it starts. Well, first we get the intro sequence, then it starts with the Storms End Cattle Show. And it starts with Lord Dondarrion, who apparently long ago, decades ago, as Rainier calls out, complimented her grandmother, Alysanne's beauty, and therefore mocks his age. And, you know, she kind of mocks a couple of the suitors and Lord Bormin talks about how, like, this is not great. And apparently this Blackwood who shows up,

we don't get a first name. We thought it was Benjacott. Then we were realistic with our timelines. We're like, wait, no, that's not Benjacott. It couldn't be, right? Because Benjacott has to be much younger than Rhaenyenyra like at least probably like half her age or something um because I think that's a core element his immaturity right like his his extreme prodigy as a military commander but also his immaturity and anyway so the leeks apparently had named him as Willem but I don't think I saw

oh yeah I guess it's not Lord Samwell. It's Willem. That's weird. So maybe Samwell exists as a cousin or a brother or an uncle. Who knows? Or he's dead. Yeah, shit happens. As long as we get Bloody Ben.

I think we will. I think we will. He's just like probably, I don't know, too young. Yeah, babby. Or not born yet. Yeah, he's barely born. It's possible he's not born yet. I think we have time jumps still to come, so

fingers crossed for Bloody Ben. Maybe season two. The costuming was very bold and very apparent, so it showed you what their sigils were, the red with the black of the raven. Yeah, yeah. That feels really significant. One thing I'm really appreciating is the

costuming world building. They're really using color and sigils because they have to, they have a lot of characters that they need to introduce in an outside way that the mind will recognize and go, wait a second. We saw that guy last season. Or no, we saw his brother.

No, we saw his cousin. Like the normal person will go, yo, that's so-and-so that must be his brother. Yeah. It might not make sense, but they still will do it. Yeah. And I mean, I think that's, that's enough, right that must be his brother yeah it might not make sense but they still will do it

yeah and i mean i think that's that's enough right that works and also they do call it out right they're like that's lord blackwood and talk about um their their deep ties to the blood of the first men and a little chilling right if you're watching this show as like a newer comer to it and like you're you're like okay blackwoods what are they about what are right? If you're watching this show as a newer comer to it, and you're like, okay, Blackwoods, what are they about? What are they about? And you're watching it, and you're like, damn, these guys are serious. They're about prophecy, because the way that the episode ends is on prophecy. those but i will say that apparently regarding this episode and since we are talking about leaks a little um our friend zaynab uh got to watch the premiere of the episode a week or so a little bit before all the rest of us did um at a special viewing and showing where i believe steve tucson was attending and also saw a trailer for for the season and has had to hold in knowing about kristen cole for weeks knowing that rainiera and kristen cole smash for weeks it was in the trailer yeah and it was

apparently a different scene that they did not put in this episode um that they showed and like cut so that's interesting i mean i that makes sense right you gotta have a lot of b-roll you know reneara in in this scene i mean it's bullshit right like it's utter bullshit and it's interesting because this comes when they're in the godswood later with allison this becomes really important what she went through in the scene and what she put up with but also that she was able to get up with a little bit of sass and attitude, which I love her for. Okay, do not come at me.

However, as the princess of the realm, the realm's delight, we know she doesn't like courtesies. We saw her when she had to choose the Kingsguard. She's like, I really don't want to small talk this shit to death. Her attitude's not great. And she literally walks out

as the Blackwood kid is stabbing the fuck out of the bracken. Very exciting. Because Ryan Condal loves us. Like, he wants us to have good things, and that's why he gave us brackens versus Blackwoods. Yeah. No other adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire has done that yet, so. That's true, that's true. And also, I mean, that is, as we saw, right?

Sighted in fire and blood. I do kind of wonder, wonder like is the scene portrayed that way because had reneara had more of a handle on that scene and been more a stronger ruler that double should have never happened right that's literally you have to appease men as a princess of the realm and as a woman like it's one thing to have to appease people and say yes my lord thank you for coming i appreciate your your loyalty when you're the princess of the realm it's different you have to smile you have to don't you have to say thank you so much my lord you're so smart and stronger than the other guy behind you that i'm also going to say is stronger than the other guy

behind him and i'm also going to say he's stronger than the guy behind him and that's absolutely like what she had to do with all those i guess king guard right like otto wanted and and this is how the king's garters kind of played during robert baratheon's time right it's it's done for a political arrangement as opposed to like the best nights or whatever absolutely like she's not performing she's not doing the pageantry of everything and And that's the focus of this episode. That's a big theme throughout this episode. And in episode three, second of his name, a lot of people discuss the missed opportunity of Rhaenyra not joining that ladies court in regards to that soft power,

getting information about the politicking and winning people's affection. And as you said, right, showing courtesy. And, you know, this scene is a counterpart to that. But again, it's a little bit different because as you're saying, right, it's different how you perform for men when they're asking for your affection.

In our own lives, in our real lives, you have to be careful about that when men are vying for your attention, even if it's unwanted, because you have to be careful in how you turn people down because they might retaliate with violence. That is, that's just the reality, like literally walking down the street. And it's not even just for us at that point. Like for Rhaenyra, you see she had to be nicer so they don't kill each other? Yeah.

Question mark? Like that's a lot to put on a person. It's a lot, right? And so as you were saying, right, you kind of have to stroke their pride as you turn them down. You have to play nice. You have to smile or whatever. Stop giving my secrets away on this podcast. Oh my gosh, I'm sorry.

All the men that listen to this podcast have found me out, Eliana. Oh my god. And especially, you know, especially in public, again, so that they don't try to get back at you later. And so I think there's layers to what's happening here with Rhaenyra's political performance, right? She's not performing her role of like, entertaining them as suitors, right? And also there's the aspect of power when the whole thing of her being air, which is just like, threatens, you know, threatens the laws of gods and men, especially because she's a girl slash young woman. She's in. She has to placate them that much more yeah and she's humiliating them right now and they hate they do not like that she wields power over them and therefore yeah that will come back around

right like and that's not necessarily like she should do the politicking and please the lords and the ladies but at the same time because it's for more than her right like it's one thing if i get annoyed because some dude is like reply guying me all the time like that's one thing because i'm not a fucking princess of the realm in charge of a bunch of people's lives and i don't hope to rule people yeah because i can't even rule myself motherfuckers we definitely see some other aspects in this episode that we'll come back to where bernira is straight up like how could she she never learned like she doesn't have great role models right now left to her it's damon and viserys it's a fine difficult line to tread right how do you raise someone up right and do that political placating as not just like as like you can do it as a king right but

it's a difficult line to tread as a woman because how do you show them, A, yes, of course you have power. You're a wonderful suitor, et cetera. And please don't do that. But also tread it as like, you can't give them too much power because you also have to reestablish that you are going to be the queen and you will have the higher claim

and everything within this alliance. So you can't girl boss without being gas lit yourself. Okay. Because of the gate keeping Eliana, you can't girl boss without being gas lit because of the gate keeping. Absolutely. The gate keeping.

Well, Rhaenyra is getting the fuck out of that gate, right? She goes on this entire ceremony. Realize, realize, realize. So Rhaenyra does go.

She gets on a ship. Yeah. That ship also, you know, gets rocked by her uncle's dragon craxies and then she's protected cared for by kristin i get it it's a metaphor for the rest of the episode davin comes in and rocks the boat that is her sexual awakening in the alleyway absolutely and then that scene right is also like it's at that internet meme with the guy looking over his shoulder at the other woman that's uh kisten cole in the back being like rain here are you okay and rain you're looking over the shoulder at damon's dragon as it flies away yeah it's totally the

looking back meme for sure speaking of looking back we're back at king's landing briefly yeah there's a little counseling happening here there's two kings one crown and then all of a sudden damon comes with his crown yeah it's it's actually like a it it's a beautifully shot scene though like with uh viscerys's head ringed by the window and damon kneeling it's interesting because this happens at the tourney right in the books there's a tourney because this happens at the tourney, right? In the books, there's a tourney, he shows up at the tourney and kneels. So it's a big, like even bigger, but this is fine. Like there's a lot of remixing going on with these kind of scenes. And I love it. And the lighting is gorgeous. The prodigal brothers returned and Corliss is not there, which is notable. And that part of court is notably not there. They're back at the stepstones.

But really, I'm glad they knocked this out at the front because they had a lot of story to tell in between yeah and and it sets it up for how everything else plays out later on but over at another house of the dragon party oh no house party oh my god the series is smashed yeah he's getting drunk but it's like it's sad in a good way i'm like dad drink some water um he's telling Yeah, he's getting drunk, but it's like, it's sad in a good way. I'm like, dad, drink some water. He's telling Damon, he's like, you were always mom's favorite, their mother, Alyssa, which is kind of funny because she's so wild and fierce that it makes sense for him to say, ah, you were mom's favorite. She liked you because Damon is Alyssa stuck in a different body.

Yeah, I could see that for sure for sure and that says a lot about their relationship right like famously eliana and i have no siblings but one another that is why we are sisters but also wives and it makes a lot of sense to me isn't that what siblings it must be i think that's what siblings are i think that's what they're like but this is showing that's what siblings are like they love each other they hate each other but they love each other absolutely and there's that jealousy that pang of jealousy of like one sibling i mean i'm watching a lot of fraser lately so like fraser and niles you know one sibling that has something the other sibling will never have and how that affects their dynamic

familially and yeah yeah also allison has a new dress i love her new dress because it's very much assimilating to look like a targaryen but but also she's not quite able to, right? Like the style is just different. The colors are just off. They don't match. She also has a gold embroidered two-headed dragon on the front, which I love because if you take a look at some of the show costuming from Game of Thrones, you had Rob, Bran, and Sansa did a lot of the two wolf styling and john too but the especially for sansa it's very thematic in that it really reminds you

of like the two kingdoms and also her being the second born and just that thematic happening there so alicent of course has that thematic with the two dragons the two gold-headed dragon is aegon the second we'll also end in episode three at the feast for the conqueror babe they had the two-headed pig ah that's true i think that was actually for two egg two and it also works for helena right because helena is just born babby has been born babby Babi has been made. Cute ass little girl. I love her. But she's the second, you know, the second head of the dragon so far. And the third cometh.

Oh, God. Oh, God. Daemon in reverse. There's also something happening here with something really important to me, which is the necklaces. Rhaenyra has on her Valyrian steel Uncle Daemon necklace, right? Where Alicent is wearing one that has a red gem in the center and it's gold. Again, it is very pretty, but it's totally knockoff Rhaenyra. Yeah.

And I mean, Rhaenyra also goes back to some of her other jewelry later this episode. Rhaenyra was kind of made to look more feminine in these episodes. And there's also a lot of neutral colors playing when it comes to her boy garb later that we'll talk about. But she's been like removed color while Alicent is gaining the reds of House Targaryen. Rhaenyra, in the same way that she feels that her claim is threatened in some aspects,

she is also being like made to look more feminine. She is wearing very peachy tones, a little more pink hues and softer tones, which really show that, like we were saying, that made to make yourself just slightly smaller for the whims of others and egos of others. Kind of, yeah, more girlish too, right?

Absolutely. And younger as well. Nubile. I mean, yeah. Gross. That does seem to be like what they might be. Butubile. I mean, yeah. Gross. That does seem to be what they might be. But also, as you were saying, it also helps with the contrast of the

dress later. Not dress, but the clothes later on. Yes, absolutely. Okay. This is also a food podcast. Food. Oh my god, there was some good food at this party. Lemony, lemony lemon cakes. That caught my eye. It looks just like the game

of thrones lemon cakes exactly like them with the lemon on top so they did want to keep their world building consistent i love that and i actually love the next scene because she goes to talk to her uncle first time in four years so good chat good catching up she's grown since then you know yeah there's this scene where allison kind of tries to cut some of the awkwardness a little or is like oh you know it could be a good idea for viserys to take his brother damon to go see the new tapestries from norvos and cohort which i was very excited about i was like they acknowledge norvos and cohort the free cities and also viserys then laughs at that idea he's like nobody wants to see that or that's the

implication but reynura does seem to like the idea and says that you know i like it and i'll go see it but no one wants to join and she's like fine i'll go look at it alone and goes to sit and allison joins her in sitting over in this like plush chair that they brought out for the party and i liked this scene because it kind of shows that the two girls still kind of have some of those same like bookish interests, right? Even if they're not talking about it, they started out with like these same interests.

Rhaenyra saves face for her and is like, well, I think tapestries are cool. So maybe you don't, father and uncle, but I'll go see them. But she also still snubs her, right? She's like, I'll do it alone without any of you three. And so that's definitely a hit. But at the same time, she sees her father being mean to Alison.

Like that was cruel in a way. Like that was a cut at her. Like, oh, you fucking nerd. Of course you love the tapestries. Oh, you know, women and their tapestries to Damon. First of all, Rhaenyra, no wonder she doesn't like courtesy. That was a rude ass fucking thing for your king to say for the woman that fucks you with your bare ass scabs

out i'd be a little nicer to her maybe and she's very kind she washes his sores for him later like okay viserys maybe just be a little nicer there's also something in viserys having daemon back that makes him a little fiery a little bolder a little confident and it reminds me of aegon 3 getting his viserys back right because he's said to kind of even though he's like 12 so it's okay but like even though he's a kid yeah he's traumatized and a kid which not to say viserys isn't traumatized and obviously living out his fucking 14s again but from his marriage uh but ignoring denara right like they're totally they ignore denara and it said like obviously they're just so happy to be together but that they don't realize the pains

that they kind of inflict on those around them yeah i this series is the ultimate i think embodiment of does not realize pains he is inflicting on other people anyway then we have this beautiful little moment where you know allison and reynera have what seems almost like healing right like and it's been quite some time right they've had time to get used to everything and we saw that there is still a bit of care between them in the previous episode and they talk about marriage and marriage prospects it's kind of like um you know it it seems like a normal teenage talk except for the part where you know people are actually getting married and having babies but then you know rainiera makes a faux pas of like i just don't want to be stuck at home just fucking babies yeah popping out babies and allison kind of looks down like uh it's not that bad well it is right but

she's like a little ashamed about it because that's like what her lot in life has become and and it sucks because she's disclosing that no one sees her anymore as a person but just as the queen and they're discussing their personhood in this but it's okay allison kind of made me think of opal last time in the carriage when she's like oh it's not that bad give me it's not that bad what's the worst that could happen having babies and then she's like oh shit your mom right my bad that woman that used to fuck the guy i'm fucking whoops uh anyway but alicent kind of defends herself in a very small way a subtle way where she kind of says like not all of us get to have adventurous dudes killing each other and battle in front of us for our hand like maybe that is something special to have that magic all i have is viserys laying on top of me pumping in me while i just stare at the ceiling and hope

it ends soon and we see this played out through the episode for both girls of like what their options are and aren't this is a discussion about personhood whether or not it's said explicitly right reyniera isn't there just for everyone knows she's not just there for popping out babies her claim is important her claim does have worth as does the potential of dragons there's martial power there there's the crown whereas for allison i mean she doesn't bring that to the table but she does bring fertility as we see i mean this episode in general with the talk that's to come with Damon at the godswood, and then when they sit, it's kind of like, not just this episode's not just a sexual awakening

for Rhaenyra. But it's also obvious why sexual awakenings in literature and media are always painted this way, right as an awakening to life, because they are it's like showing you there's another way you can feel whether that's in your body out of your body we see it when targaryen's dragon ride right like that's an out-of-body experience just as much as it's an on-body experience whoa well it's very beautiful and poetic and like it's a great way to pair rhaenyra learning that there is life outside these walls and why should she give that away yeah when you can fight for life yeah when you don't have the white walkers as something necessarily to angle against your story you know like yeah game of thrones had it easy they were able to be like look zombies are coming life is

good we should all fuck and this show is like we're rich we should all fuck so it's good to have these moments that bring you back to earth and And you're like, ah, there's reasons to fuck after all besides being rich in this story. Yeah, it's just like fun. People can just enjoy it, right? And then you also, you were talking earlier about the people, the fighting and the duels of people fighting over you and how that's romantic. And you get a little aspect of, you know, this idea of the chivalric romance. People fighting over a woman's honor and things like that. Or for her honor, et cetera.

So nice ties in. Let's talk about the godswood. Let's come back a little to Damon. Yo, that shot was gorgeous. That was cinema. That was cinematic. It was so, I, that shot of the leaves rustling just out of focus and his head tipped up, the light spilling down.

It was gorgeous. And big shoujo breeze. Yes. Yes. And someday Bloodraven and Bran will watch this exact moment in a cave in Game of Thrones season four. And we won't know about it, but it'll happen. We won't know about it.

For those of you that are Matt Smith fans, if you've watched Doctor Who series five and six and 7.5 or 7A, I guess, depending on how you want to name it. Listen, Eliana. But Matt Smith's wig is doing a total Matt Smith wig thing. The bang being flipped out at that moment. It was so funny. It just has this total like this is just the doctor if he bleached his hair. That is.

Yeah, exactly. You've seen the photos. But nonetheless, it was still gorgeous. Like it was still gorgeous. Like it was, it made me audibly gasp just because I loved it. And I mean, a lot of people are like, why is there a Weirwood? There could have been one. Who the fuck knows?

George isn't specific, so they can play with it. But like also, who cares? Because it's giving gorgeous scenes. Like I don't even care anymore. I love it. It's fun. I do love the theory that our friend Yogi has put forward over at our Discord that Egan 2 is going to cut it down probably when the North betrays him. He's going to be like, fuck the Northerners.

It's good to give him like a little bit of a personality because otherwise he's just like, meh. Yeah. I like him being evil. I mean, who knows? You know, he's just a baby right now. Babies don't have personality. Well, I've heard that some do, but I really don't know. The coin is still flipping, Eliana. just kidding that was a joke they're all squishy

reynira wonders why demon has returned but they have this conversation in delirium and then reynira complains about this whole thing and being sold off and has to remind her uncle that uh yeah i guess for you marriage is only like political for men the marriage is only like political. For men, marriage is just a political arrangement. Whereas for women, it is a death sentence. And reminds him again that, and everyone, that her mother was forced to keep popping out babies until it killed her. And then there's these wonderful lines that I think, you know, they really tie in well

with the rest of what will happen with her story. And they're really sad because of that, where Damon tells her, you cannot live your life in fear or you will forsake the best parts of it she says i have no desire to live in fear only solitude um except the first part was in i'm pretty sure valerian and as was the first part of the second sentence but i don't speak valerian that's okay it's okay i'm proud of you for speaking what you can even if it's not valyrian i can speak quite a few languages but not valyrian uh yeah not valyrian i can't either it's okay i'm just kidding it's true if you want to hear people speak valyrian on their podcast please go check

out the learned hands podcast where our friend mary is learning and um has been doing you know both clint and mary doing fantastic analysis of the series so yes check them out some of the best i love this because of the obvious i have no desire to live in fear only solitude i mean that's what she becomes a fortress of herself eventually trusting no one pushing everyone away and her saying like last night when she said the words i have no desire to live in fear i was like jaw open i was like yo because i was so sad because flash forward to her son's dying one by one until it's just her and agan's by her side and she thinks viserys is long gone and all the betrayals one by one watching from the window that same window watching out at the dragon pit probably

from where alice ann is holding helena right now watching the dragon pit watching as people mob their way there destroy the dragons and then her having to run having to sell her crown and so and as you said right like watching as the dragon pit dragon pit is like torn down because she she tries to keep her sons closer she tries to keep her children closer as as they start dying because at that point she's she has something to fear for right she doesn't want solitude she she wants love which is understandable that's such a big part of all these books and not wanting to live in fear and she as you said lives in fear of that betrayal and betrayal from damon right that's a big part on which the story turns and it's interesting to say that she doesn't want to live in fear and that warning about it because that does tie in with miseria

damon in this episode starts that fear he's always leaving her that's true no one's here for her yeah no wonder she has like she's abandon abandonment issues. Insecure attachment style. Absolutely. She has a fucking abandonment issues and trauma from her fucking, you know, mom dying from being bred and. And her dad marrying her best friend. Yeah. And her best friend having to switch her allegiances to her dad.

I mean, every time Damon takes off on his dragon and she has just been stuck there. Mm hmm. And then this this episode episode he leaves her yeah that that had as exciting and exhilarating as it all was and then just all of a sudden high and dry it's just sad because i am coming at this very impartially this season because i'm loving the complexity they're bestowing on everyone but i'm really loving what they did with raniera in this episode yeah because she's flawed she is kind of a bratty mcbrat brat and i love her to pieces because she's a fucking brass

rich spoiled brat but she's also like intensely complex yeah a complex rich spoiled brat my favorite kind watch succession oh my god but i mean she might be all those things but also what she's doing it just feels a lot like what a lot of teenagers do all the time yeah it's a rebellion except for the part where it's with their uncle yeah that's the one thing that's different that's the one thing that is that does separate us from yeah I too had a rebellion Mikhail Sapochnik at the end of the episode in the inside the episode is talking about he's's like, yeah, you know, this is abuse and we thought

that this would be important to explore, but we also like, I don't know, we just had to be like, they're Targaryens and kind of, he doesn't say they gave up, but I was kind of like, I don't know, they're Targaryens, so we just had to go with it. It's complex. It's very complex. Miguel gets it. It's complex just like the family

tree. That's not complex. It's a circle. complex just like the family tree that's not complex it's a circle it's a wreath a dream catcher so we hit a small council meeting and ranira six years later has a seat amazing and thailand is now the master of ships because you know corliss is not there he's still a little salty hey sorry i put that on purpose um oh my god so as we as we see i think otto seems to have like some little birds messengers telling him intelligence for example like this time it's about corlees might be trying to wed lena to the sea lord of bravos it was like oh my god they mentioned the sea lord of bravos sea lord of bravos next you're gonna tell me there's a lemon tree in his backyard fuck oh my god if they do that i mean they showed us

fucking lemons this episode anything can happen it's anyone's game of thrones eliana this is great setup for damon to then murder the sea lord of bravos right in the next episode can't wait it has to be next episode ish i'm guessing or off screen but yeah unless i mean what if all that was just made up or not even real right like because auto's silly yeah it was probably real it's probably we're gonna see driftmark more i think next episode a couple times so it makes sense in the royal bed chambers baby helena is crying and allison is struggling to soothe her in front of a giant window eliana do you know why this might be sad because i would like to tell you why this might be sad um i do because you already

told me well it's because since you asked i will tell you eliana i know you really want me to tell you please tell me chloe should have led with that energy i'm not playing the stream i'm like yeah chloe of course we're best friends you told me oh she tells me the truth i'm like, yeah, Chloe, of course, we're best friends, you told me. She tells me the truth. I'm like, Allison and Rhaenyra. Oh my god. Helena's crying, Allison struggles to soothe her, and they're in front of this huge fucking giant window, which of course, Helena will jump

out of a giant window later to her death. It's gonna be really fucking sad. That's horrible, so thanks for the reminder. Lots of nice, subtle foreshadowing going on. Rhaenyra heads heads to bed she says good night to kristen cult night night kristen and someone left her some goody goodies yeah there's like a knapsack uh the drawstring guy with the random ass clothes especially a beanie uh i just thought that was funny i don't look good in beanies i think i do yeah you're a beanie

person i'm not i'm not really a hat person but i will be for you so also also on the note it is it's a map which by the way it's seems as though the instructions are written valerian which is how you know it's damon oh that's so smart though because i mean i was thinking like what if she just gets to her fucking room and someone else got there first? I mean, this could be damning, but Valerian is sneaky. That's very sneaky. Very Damon. She escapes through a secret tunnel, right?

Which is, yo, we got to see it. It's got fantastic music. Another variation. Yeah, another variation of the Rainier theme, which I was very excited. I love the song in the back. I can't wait till we get this soundtrack. I'm like, I can't wait till the end of the season. I need it now.

I listen to the Targaryen theme too much now. All the themes from all of Game of Thrones. Thank you, great, great, great, and uncle, cousin, Maegor, for making these tunnels. I'm very sorry, though, because, you know, to all the people that died because they're buried in it and are buried but our friend maddie who's running the hot tea discussion weekly made a great point is this the passage that blood and cheese will come through since damon obviously knows where it is and it goes straight to the streets that's true i also i imagine there's a lot of branching ones so i don't know if it's this one exactly because why would they go to

rainiera's room yeah i mean it won't be her room then oh okay yeah but yeah in general yes absolutely that passage oh it'll be interesting if we see them skulking past the skull of bellarian which we do see rainiera do disguised in boys clothing, but specifically like much lower class boys clothing. This is like, what if we took season eight Arya and blended it with a Game of Thrones Arya? And I really love that. And Cersei. And Cersei.

Yeah, it's a good, ooh, it's a weird. From the books. From the books. Especially her skulking about by Balerion's skull, the dragon skulls in general. But Rhaenyra comes to the end of the tunnel where damon is yeah and we go out to the street of silk which they don't say that's what it is but that's what it is yeah i mean i'm not worried it is what it is you guys we're on the street of

silk and if we don't go here i mean yeah we'll go to the eels you know oh my gosh we'll go to the eels so lord flea bottom as if you'll all remember damon is also called which they i don't think they bring that up either in in the show so far lord flea bottom gives rainiera you know a guided tour through the city and then someone um as brushing pastor says like move out of the way boy and then she's like so excited she's like he called me boy yep it's just a me boy. Yep. It's just Aria's plot. And here we are. You know, it's great. Actually, there's so many good moments of someone calling her boy.

I'm like waiting for them to call her Ari. It's very fun. And there's fire mages and fire dancers and maybe even fiery drink. It's very fancy. We even pass a magey. Or is it Maggie? Is it a frog? Oh, ribbit ribbit. Oh, rib ribbit ribbit do you wish to know your death

child we don't see her stop but it makes me wonder if she thought about stopping or if she did stop and we just don't know i just realized is the whole maggie the frog thing like a joke about like finding out when you croak i have to leave this podcast. This is the last episode of Girls Gone Canon. I can't believe you finally have figured out the last mystery. And since you've unraveled this, we can end the podcast. Thank you so much for listening, you guys. Have a great... I'm just kidding.

But that's actually brilliant. It's probably the funniest thing you've ever said, which is why I couldn't laugh because I was almost brought to tears. You're like, I can't get rid of this. It is very Rhaenyra, Daemon, Rhaenyra, Criston, and Jaime Cersei, right? There's a passage from Jaime 2 in A Storm of Swords.

He remembered that night as if it were yesterday. They spent it in an old inn on Eel Alley, well away from watchful eyes. Cersei had come to him dressed as a simple serving, as a simple serving wench, which somehow excited him all the

more jamie had never seen her more passionate every time he went to sleep she woke him again uh of course my favorite line by morning casterly rocks seemed a small price to pay to be near her always he gave his consent and cersei promised to do the rest. So again, not unlike Rhaenyra and Criston, right? That she condemns him to the Kingsguard. But also, you know, there's a little bit of that Daemon and her in there. Especially that when they were kids, Cersei and Jaime, Cersei would wear boys clothes and switch with him for funsies and sneak out with swords. Yes. And from that, you know, Lauren, there's other, there's,

what if your life gave you power over it yep right what if what if cersei was given power and reynira can see what that life looks like especially as she looks at her uncle part of you know what life outside the palace looks like though is uh reynira tries to take some food from from a vendor and then is reminded by... Daemon. Daemon, who's roleplaying now, that people have to pay for food outside of the palace, which I thought was a great little detail, right? Because she's just used to being able to get and take whatever she wants.

And that is what she wants, right? She wants to be able to take whatever she wants. That's what Daemon promises her the brothel is. But there are rules. There are rules. And all of this matters, right? When it comes to the power of perception and performance. And Daemon knows the rules.

And he's able to break some of them the way he does and get away with it. Because he knows how to skirt around them. And he knows about the power of performance. That's why there's all those people loyal to him amongst the gold cloaks. And Viserys does not. There's something really obvious in that when she tries to toy with Daemon here about the food, she runs and tries to play

and that starts off all the running and all the fun stuff going on. But then with Kristen- Is that fun stuff? I guess. It was fun for a moment for her. But then for Kristen, he plays along, where Damon doesn't quite play along. And this also kind of goes to, like, the courtesies at the front of the episode, right?

That she does not quite bestow all courtesies upon those men. She doesn't know better, even here. Damon is teaching her how to rule better than Viserys is. Yeah. Like, way better. Absolutely. Because Viserys will tell her you know people care right but doesn't really show her what the consequences are of people and because as you

viserys doesn't do it by example every episode we've all been like viserys why the fuck are you yelling at your daughter in front of all of these people perception matters and it's like okay we'll show her that it matters yeah Yeah, master that performance. Speaking of the performance of power, we see Viserys in the vulnerable moment as we head back to the bedchambers, right? His infections are spreading. Yeah, Alicent sends people out and then she takes care of him, which is a very generous scene to watch, right? Like she's very caring and tender with him. And we cut from that and this very, you know, intimate scene of them doing this as married couple back to the Street of Silk,

where there's a mummert show critiquing Rhaenyra's claim as Viserys's daughter and as heir. Yeah, as our friend Lo has pointed out, there's a lot going on in this episode regarding gender, sexuality, and power. But I think there's something here regarding gender also in performance, right? That's such a big part of, and power, but I think there's something here regarding gender also in performance, right? That's such a big part of, in general,

I think, fire and blood, but also this episode as well, right? As Rhaenyra seems to want to cross those gender lines, wants to be able to flout the roles that are attached to girl and to woman, and to have the autonomy that comes with being a boy or even a man. And her claim is being questioned here because, you know, as we said last episode, only some people are so brilliant as to be born with cocks, right?

And so Rhaenyra was not so talented as to be born with one, and therefore people doubt her ability and her claim to be a leader and to take the Iron Throne. And it's kind of funny because you have the scene where Rhaenyra is then dressed as a boy, hoping to be a ruler, learning that all these other people also hold those same ideas that rulers should be male. And she's flouting those gender roles in a couple different ways currently right now within the crowd showing that oh yeah i can perform this role too but then also on stage you have the performers themselves right it's clear that they're doing it in the tradition of you know the way theater was performed during like medieval or even like early modern times etc during

shakespeare's time you'd expect all the performers to be male, right? So you have these male performers dressed as and performing as women, like especially with Alison, right? And then you have then these male performers pretending to have cocks, they pull them out to demonstrate that, so this hyper-sexualizing of them and masculinity, but then also having to show it on display it on stage, the displaying of masculinity. And then you have these male performers then playing as the female Rhaenyra, who is then playing at a man's role in a couple of different ways. So it's like, this recursivity of the performance of gender and the blurring of the lines of it.

That was some inception. Right, right. It is. We have to go deeper. We have to go deeper. We have to go deeper. There was a lot going on there, especially in that, like, Rhaenyra, she was a little cocky. Hey! There's that talent. I'm so sorry. Don't be sorry.

She was being cocky, though. Like, she was being cocky in manners of the sense, many manners of the sense. But especially that she's, like, sitting there, she she like boos along it was very the me whenever otto comes on screen same but she was booing along and damon's like okay you might want to chill with the hubris because you know these are the people you need yeah to vote for you and not vote but you know like with their lives and swords under your dragon fire. These are the people that make or break your reign in some manners. Like the dragon pit.

Like the dragon pit, yeah. I mean, these same people that she's booing for their opinions on the succession are the same people that will stab the fuck out of her family's reign. Out of the house of the dragon. I mean, they will bring the house of the dragon down. So there was something interesting going on. In that of her kind of ignoring it. Or pushing it aside. And not understanding it.

Because she's never had to. It's only ever mattered what Allison thought. Or Otto thought. Or what Corlys thought. Or Lionel. She's never thought other people might also have opinions. On whether or not she can rule. She's been very sheltered in that aspect. V the series hasn't exposed her to all of that and also

maybe he should have yeah i agree he should have he should be training her for all that but also i guess he's afraid of her safety and things like that too which um would make sense to me if we're playing this as a domestic drama like a familial drama but also then you have her being like what the what the people want is of no consequence a little echo of last episode where kristen's like they'll have no choice but to and i mean it's just like that time selena meyer on veep is like i wish they just assassinate me we go back to the bed chambers alicent's this time and one of her maids or ladies in waiting shows up and is like hey your husband wants to put his cock in you it is hard it's a booty call this is it like you gotta come now so he can come now yeah she's all like oh it's late and

the maid's like yeah and the unspoken point is that's the point. Like you still. What do you think? Like, why do you think he's calling you at this time? Yeah. So come to your job. Do your duty. And of course, we get something really brilliant in that it's juxtaposed against the street of silk in the bed chambers. Right.

You see naked people and things are. I mean, it's great because it devolves from sexy to overbearing fast. Like for Rhaenyra, you're getting overwhelmed too. Very sensory overload. Yeah, that's true. And Alicent is clothed while Viserys performs intercourse in her. There's something great in the contrast of like episode one when Rhaenyra lands on her dragon and Alicent is like, no, I shan't fly. And Rhaenyra's like, oh, flying's great.

You can go anywhere. But at the same time, you have the dragon being ushered back into the pit. Put it away. Put that fire away, ladies. Daemon and Rhaenyra enter a brothel and he takes her beanie off. He un-beanies her as they walk past a bunch of people

in various states of sex. Yeah, that's not the bean she wanted. Wrong bean. This bean shamed us all anyways some of the people are looking at her probably because you know they don't have bleach in that time so they're all like yo that's that's a targaryen that's one of them it's pretty obvious which one it is because there's so few and daemon explains the brothel as a place where it's where people come to take what they want

and then as Damon holds his head close to Rhaenyra she closes the distance with a kiss and then there's this discussion this sort of voiceover as Alicent's hands are then grasped facing one another the hands are interestingly facing one another

contrasted with Rhaenyra's uncle's putting his over contrasted with Damon's putting his over Rhaenyra's during a fit of passion but the lines of marriage is a duty yes but that doesn't stop us from doing what we want fucking who we want there's something great about the hands right that alice and viserys have entered this contract and they knew ish what they were getting into with one another one of them might have known more in some aspects as he's the king daemon's is overpowering renera's and we see the power play change as she takes that kiss and she initiates and pushes forward they make out daemon undresses her and does some foreplay or whatever

viserys doesn't so i mean very contrast oh my god i asked him one foreplay from viserys with his little finger sockets. So then he leaves her. Daemon leaves her. Yes, and then inside the episode, the director, Claire Kilner, talks about it and talks about how, you know, Daemon doesn't know how to deal with this, right? He's turned off to an extent because Rhaenyra isn't, like, shocked or, like, trolled by whatever he's doing.

She's excited by everything that's going on. This freedom. And when that happens, Kilner says when that happens, he has nothing and he basically can't handle not being in charge or in control. When you look at it, even from that angle, you realize this is just every day for Daemon and it's lost its flavor. It's lost its spice. You know, getting exiled to fight in the Stepstones was exciting for him. That was his Street of Silk, right? Yes.

And Rhaenyra is so excited by it. He almost wanted her to look at it and be like, this is pathetic, Daemon. What you're doing is pathetic. And she didn't. I don't know. Her youth and eagerness is so attractive to him, but also unbreakable. Almost Lyanna-esque, I guess, in some ways and very you know aria has that fierce quality to her but very um it's like he wants to both devour it but when he realizes that

devouring it would make him sick then he's like no gross puke it up yeah yeah i mean i guess he doesn't want to be the one to break all of the trust, right, within the family and realizes that's what it would do. It still happens anyways, right? There's a part of me that also kind of wonders, is Damon's fixation on Rhaenyra? Part of it is he just does feel like she gets him in some ways, as we've seen in previous episodes. But there's another aspect in which is, does he see her a little bit like um the relationship between robert and ned oh robert seemed to also be fixated on this idea of wedding liana not because he was that into her maybe maybe not but it obviously didn't quite see her for who she is damon sees i think rain

nearer for who she is but robert saw liana as a way to be part of Ned's family. And is Daemon seeing Rhaenyra Trinxon as like an extension or something as Viserys? Of his love. Yeah, another way to get Viserys' love and attention. But also- To secure it. But that's not the only way, right? Again, part of it is he is into his niece. There's something in what you said.

You know, last week I cut something from this episode that you wanted me to cut it first, but I think I should have kept it. And it's that, you know, Viserys, even in this episode, he says at one point that he has come to care for Alicent because she was there for him when no one else was, when he was grieving, which is true.

She was also there when no one else was. So it becomes a matter of, did he really marry her for love? Because for whose love? She's not in love, poor girl. It wasn't really love. It was for attention. And that is something we see.

People love attention. They love being loved. I mean, who doesn't love being loved? I love being loved. I love you. I love loving you. Aw, me too. Buddy.

We're here, we're here. Buddy. Buddy. Aw, me too. Buddy. We're here. We're here. Buddy. Buddy. Buddy. Buddy wives. We're buddy wives. Oh my god. Oh my fuck.

Rhaenyra, when he shows up, he is the hottest thing on the block. I mean, that's true too. But in and out of universe. But for Rhaenyra especially, like, she's like, Uncle Daemon, Dragonrider Uncle Daemon, the only man that's ever given me attention and cool things. He's the cool fucking uncle. And he loves that. He loves, like you said, in a familial way, he loves being needed and loved and wanted

in ways that he's never felt or he doesn't constantly feel. It feels almost, you know, like, what's the word when you love someone? Unconditional. Yeah. It feels almost unconditional in a way or what he fucked up at least thinks is unconditional there's something about that like he wants to be loved and rainier is there yeah just like alice yeah rainier makes him feel a little less lonely in the world and that's the same for how rainier feels about him they're thrown together you've

said this a couple of times already throughout the previous episodes they're thrown together because they're so isolated from everyone else, right? Everyone pushes them into one another's arms. And like, I do think that in a way, the idea of Rhaenyra having to marry off, Daemon knows that's happening, obviously, because she's told him, they're trying to fucking marry me off and sell me off, uncle. In a way, I think that's why he chases her down the street and lets everyone fucking see her because letting her be seen ruins her and he knows everybody here like everyone knows who he is

and he knows everyone it's not as you said hard to piece together that's reneara targaryen you can bring a couple of lysine girls over to the pillow houses but like that's a straight up a targaryen she has the blood of valeria in her veins you can see it straight up looking at her he doesn't want anyone else to have her he wants to be the one to ruin her he wants her to be his he doesn't want her to leave him like everyone else has done just like she doesn't want him to leave her like everyone else has done that's true their abandonment issues are big aliana they are they are and then i i remember discussing this what in the first episode now now that we're

talking about desire and this like kind of like philosophical sense i'm wondering to an extent is there an aspect in which reyniera's desire for her uncle is this sort of like lacanian thing in which she desires her uncle because she desires to be someone who has freedom what he has yes the desire to you know in this copulation become one with him and become someone who has freedom over her body over her future and wherever she goes right the desire is to be him not be with him because he is like a shithead as we know he's a total shit ass but also like at least not a shithand exactly and he And he's authentically him. Yes. Like, however you feel about Damon Targaryen, he's Damon Targaryen.

He's never someone else. Yeah, that's true. There's no man like him. Only him. Oh, my God. Actually, kind of. I mean, there are no men like him. There are only him.

And he's- Super 93 Jamie, as you said. Exactly. Same person. Corporate wanted you to find the difference. They're the same people. Not only is he always him, like, you get to even the later points in the story with the Rosby Stokeforth stuff.

Like he straight up says to her, fuck him. Fuck him, Rhaenyra. Who cares? And somebody else, Corlys, says, don't fuck him. And she goes, huh, but what if? And that gets in the back of her head because, well, you know. Fear. Fear.

She starts to live in fear. Yeah. You never want to do that. Rhaenyra chases after Daemon in the alleyway, and a boy goes to rat on them. And speaking of rats, Alicent sees one as she stares at the bed canopy, post-copulation.

That's a sign, that's a metaphor, it's a sign and a portent, I would say. It's important. A sign and important. We saw Harwin in the alley, and so, okay. Yeah, that's interesting. To fangirl out together, Sign and important. We saw Harwin in the alley. And so, okay. To fangirl out together before we, you know, keep talking about gender and analysis and all these things we like. We were so hyped about this episode.

We were sitting on the couch like, what's going to happen? And when she walks up to Harwin and Harwin's like, take care, boy. Next time you won't be as lucky because next time, you know, they're going to fuck and he's going to plant a bastard in her. A dozen, if you will. He loves her fire in us. He loves that shit. He's so into it. Tormund style, people have pointed out. What if he's the Tormund, you know, or the Targaryen girl?

I've said that too often. Yeah. But back to those Arya vibes. Take care, boy. Very pronounced. But were we not in shock when she didn't go with him? That was... Because the story goes

however it happened, whether Kristen or Daemon said no, spurned her, whatever happened. However that happened, she meets Harwin. And this was very different. I liked it. It was, yeah, it was pretty good. It was pretty good. And she'll remember that. She'll remember that he did her a solid and that he's gonna do her solid.

Oh my god. And also there's quite a bit, as we'll discuss later in this episode, that speaks to how Harwin probably meets his fate. There is. But back to the bedchambers for real now. We're staying in the bedchambers for a sec. Rhaenyra walks past Kristen as she goes home, right? And he's worried because he's like, I literally

just saw her. How the fuck did this happen? And she slams the door. She's kind of upset. Very teenager slamming the door shit. Also a little drunk. Yeah, that too. A lot of things. And he's like, should I tell the Lord Commander? And she like, panicked, opens the door and goes, no.

And then she grabs his helmet and taunts him or teases him and then you know as they're playing this game eventually she locks the door isolating him in there with just her and and then she kisses him and she starts to like disrobe and he tells her to stop but she keeps going eventually undressing him he doesn't use physical physicality to stop her but well this is this is a complex scene yeah they undress they have sex raniera removes her clothes last her boy's clothing last insane scene i was i mean we were just like sitting there jaws open like what what's happening oh my god they're having the sex you know again he's having sex i'm'm not really into Kristen Cole physically. Like his face isn't for me.

He's just not my type type. You know, I respect him. Yeah. Great physique. Good scene. Good, good sex scene. You guys, you all did great. I like the tastefulness of it.

I love that it was from the window kind of blurred out here and there, but then in focus. I love from the window to his balls. Thank you, Eliana. Some great metaphorical gender shit going on, right? From the window to his balls. From the window to his balls. Thank you, Eliana. Can you switch right down his balls? Okay. Some great metaphorical gender shit going on, right? With her being the last to disrobe and her tenderly removing his armor and literally, you know, getting inside of his armor, getting, taking that armor off. It's very tender and loving.

I wonder if this is what Cersei and Jaime's first time making love was like at the Eel Inn, the Inn of Eels, as we discussed earlier. I mean, I imagine when they met in secret to make love, her in serving clothes or boys clothes, him in armor. It's very tender, though. I was very surprised at the tenderness and it answered a lot of questions for me immediately of like ways I think they're going to adapt certain things in the series that we'll talk about. Yeah, absolutely. It really clarifies how some of this drama goes. Yeah, and why the emotions run so hot, if this is the way that it went down. And of course, you know, like when we were watching the episode,

I was kind of a, I was a little uncomfortable with the way that they first portrayed it. And not like, I was uncomfortable because it didn't seem like kristen was consenting necessarily at first we are told behind the scenes that he does want it right and it's it's a very complex scene because you get a lot of the way that intersectionality of identity functions right in the rest of society, in most of society, Rhaenyra would probably be expected to yield and would hold less power. But Kristen Cole, as a Kingsguard, as someone who serves her, Rhaenyra holds power over him. We talk about, will the people have a choice? Will they not? And is the choice then removed when you have that

difference in power in their relationship with him as her employee there's definitely something discomforting especially like and some of that is on i think intentional direction i mean we are supposed to feel yeah a little uncomfortable because in the last episode like we said they sit there and she goes do you think they'll accept me as queen, Sir Kristen? And he goes, they'll have to. Yes. Now that said, I mean, he could have made a bigger deal out of it. The last episode, I think they could have done more to build up their relationship. We talked about some of the time difference that were, you know, going on a six year here, time jump in totality. I just felt in the last episode,

after two years of being her sworn sword, didn't seem very, I don't know, the closeness wasn't there. It still seemed very professional, Kurt, et cetera. This episode, I totally felt that they did a much better job of directing them and you could sense the closeness. So I do think that it was more duty sitting between them than that i think he did want her uh but it was still power wise it wasn't in balance and it was uncomfortable and you're supposed to sit there and go oh shit this is a problem for you kristen yeah because like can he

say no can he not i mean yes and no right like look at allison yeah i mean that's that's exactly juxtaposed for a reason like that all Allison also cannot say no at 2 a.m. She's called to the king's quarters to fuck him. At the owl of the hour. At the hour of the bat. At the bat of the night. Whatever hour. Batman.

Yeah, hour of the wolf, maybe. And here's Rhaenyra coming in at the hour of the wolf. And Kristen Cole is also called upon for his duty to serve. Yeah, to serve. And we do, there is a physicality in his performance that shows that he does, in fact, want it, right? Like that he is enthusiastic about the sex, but power is part of it. And power is a big part of this story.

And that's why I don't want to like just shove that away. And we do want to bring that into the conversation. Even when she climbs on top of him, when she rides him like a dragon i mean i mean that's the yeah exactly and then like that's that's the same as like how viserys was on top of allison right and she's she's gonna be the queen she's put him in this position not just physically in that one but also she's the one who gave him this job right as a king's guard she is the reason why he cannot wed or hold any wives he threw his hat it's a complex king's guard. She is the reason why he cannot wed or hold any wives. He threw his hat.

It's a complex moment. He threw his hat in the ring. And he does, as you said, have feelings for her. We see it in this episode. He protects her. They exchange knowing glances. And there's something that does work in this with their relationship to an extent.

And that, yeah, they're getting physically naked with one another, vulnerable, as she removes his armor, right? There's obviously those Ares Okard things with the cloak. She's removing, he's taking his guard down. And she has, in a way, always had her guard down around him, right? Because he's had to see her in her moments of vulnerability and weakness, physically and emotionally.

And she doesn't really show that to anyone else, not even Daemon. I mean, it's professional up until that point until you mix pleasure oh yeah that's true with with the suffering the pain which and we end the scene in the hands chambers with a messenger arriving before we also go to mix pain and pleasure with damon's hangover with mazaria he awakens to her caring for him who knows how he stumbled back here she tells him pay your way out and she accepts coins back from this little messenger that we just saw in the hands chamber seems to be an otto's employee and there's a little back and forth there's an interesting shade to add to this that miss aria can no longer fully only trust dam Damon obviously is making networking connections on the outside just

to protect herself. Yeah and she impresses upon Damon that she isn't just a common sex worker right? Obviously she's not she's also a politician as we're seeing. Otto then looks very constipated as he waits to deliver his very exciting news. He's he's got a lot of complex feelings about this he does he's like oh i'm so excited to deliver this for this news to reach Viserys but i'm also i don't want it to be me but he's so excited about it and i mean part of it as they explain in the inside the scenes it's as we can kind of see in the last scene of this episode or the last scenes he does care about Viserys but also he's a little too excited he knocks and goes into Viserys's room it's real early yeah he tattles on Rhaenyra and is like she did unseemly things people saw her and Daemon in a pleasure den coupling and Alicent

Alicent is overhearing from behind a screen and Viserys takes the news really poorly. He threatens Otto, insults him. Yeah, and then as we all know, right, he later sacks him. But the way that he takes it out on Otto, right, reminds me a little bit of Daemon. You get a parallel with how Daemon took out his anchor on the messenger. The previous episode, Viserys is doing the same thing here too with the messenger being Otto, but maybe you shouldn't have been so excited about it, Otto.

Maybe you should have just kept things to yourself. Anyways, again, Alicent watches from behind the screen. We get Alicent watching, and then we flash over to Criston coming to Rhaenyra and saying, The queen. Criston tells Rhaenyra the queen summoned her, and off Rhaenyra goes to the queen. Yeah, I love this detail of she's got this loose hair. She's a loose woman now. Welcome, R now welcome rainier my hair is also loose i i loved that kristin puts the conflict in his sentence he says princess i have a message from the queen said the thing we get girl talk in the godswood

oh my god how much for the tickets i haven't seen them in so long i would love to go to no they're not no girl talk's over but girl talk is performing in the godswood oh my god this is so 110 ac this is the party that they're going to um this is the i mean this is the house of the dragon remix if you think about allison confronts rainier about the allegations and then specifies about the uncle part where she's like i don't know what you mean she's like, we just went into the city for fun. And Allison's like, okay, what about the brothel? That's fun. Riener's like, we didn't do

anything at any of these sex shows. And then she says in this really dejected way, and then Damon sank into his cups and abandoned me for some whore. I should have known better. And I was like, interesting how things might play out later on. Oh! Damon abandoning her for someone else. Yeah. In a different way. But I mean, he! Damon abandoning her for someone else.

Yeah. In a different way. But I mean, he didn't really abandon her for someone else in that time. He was kind of like repulsed by her, I guess. I really liked that she used that because she knows what happened. Not to that extent. She doesn't understand what's wrong with Damon. She's young.

She has no experience in life and romance and sex. Damon did sink into his cups and woke up in Misaria in her home. And she's not wrong there. But at the same time, it is not necessarily the truth. Yeah. It's not the truth. The truth is she couldn't keep up with him and he disappeared. She would have kept going all night with him if he would let her.

That's true. And I don't know. It's interesting she chose that lie to die on and also because it's a lie that can't really be corroborated obviously and that is a first little just a cute little white lie between friends uh and allison really wants to know like that raniera didn't do anything and not with damon and raniera's like no i promise i didn't do anything with damon she swears that she's still a maiden on her mother's memory or something like that right she more or less swears

to that and i was like dang but i mean like you know maybe she feels like alicent doesn't care that much about her mother's memory um but anyways i couldn't figure out why i mean alicent is like very concerned about reneara here then alicson kind of like plays this guilt trip card of how hard both Viserys and she have been working to get a good match for Rhaenyra and that Rhaenyra can't just show up to it and she says like in this brilliantly disgusted way, Sully. Oh my god, she's such a prude in this scene. I love her so much. It was funny as hell. I like can't relate to her but like in that aspect there's a couple of things going on here right? These are the friends with different morals or values but anyways. They're both starting to

like manipulate one another a little. Just very lightly on the edges here but they're both lying to one another a little bit and hiding the truth of their feelings though at the same time there is this line Rhaenyra calls her the queen and it goes back to earlier when Alicent was like sometimes I don't feel like I'm Lady Alicent anymore. Like people just see me as the queen. And she says it

in this hushed voice. Because the queen has like this ominous connotation because most of them fucking die in childbirth. She calls her the queen and she's not being facetious. She's not she means it because she knows that hearing that piece of respect means something to Alicent. They both very clearly still care about the other and are treading on eggshells. You know, Rhaenyra lies. She doesn't fuck Daemon. She fucks Kristen. And this is totally the crux.

This is the turning point. This is the downfall in their relationship. And this scene did two things for me. Kristen will tell Alicent the truth. That's where she's going to learn. She'll know that Kristen and Rhaenyra fucked, right? That's part one of what it did for me. Kristen will tell Allison the truth. That's where she's going to learn. She'll know that Kristen and Rhaenyra fucked, right? That's part one of what it did for me, Eliana, because two, she's going to fuck Kristen Cole. She's repressed sexually. We just saw that. That girl has never had an orgasm in her life. Kristen Cole is going to give her a sweet orgasm. Good for her, I think. But like, she's totally repressed sexually. And we see that, that she's

like, oh my god, a brothel? Rhaenyra, a brothel? She's like drinking? She's like, my God, on a school night, Rhaenyra? She's like, you had sex for not procreation? Rhaenyra, that is against what the seven gods have taught all of us individually. Kristen and her are like both gonna be brokenhearted because we can see even from the trailer

in the weeks ahead, they're both pissed about her marrying Laenor. Kristen and Alicent are going to get mad when she then marries Damon, who they both are probably like, no, please don't ever talk to that man. He has a bad influence on you good Rhaenyra. She's like, good. Yeah, I mean, I think that they will in a way also be pushing to each other's arms through. They're both going to feel betrayed, right? Alicent, he still feels like R reynira is her best friend and that that trust has been broken but i kind of wondered like does we see reynira can sometimes be good at faking right like she she played allison in the first episode regarding

the knowledge about nymeria maybe i mean reynira feels that trust was already broken between them because it turns out her best friend was hanging out with her dad and then got married to her dad but i think they're rebounding with each other right like the way that this scene is played allison is a prude but there's something in her disbelief of what reyniera has done and about her maidenhead that feels almost like a hurt jilted lover right like a you didn't even wait two weeks before you fucked someone else kind of thing right and it would be like in a way two of renera's lovers finding comfort in one another that is how it feels like they both are patching up their broken heart from their youthful romance together all three of them they They're rebounding. Yeah, they're rebounding. That's perfect.

And, you know, destroying the whole realm because of it. Yeah. We head to the throne room again. As we began the episode, we end it for Daemon here. This time it's empty and he's thrown into the room. He's wearing white, Viserys, in his super goth, hot topic, core Targaryen outfit. Viserys kicks his brother and accuses Daemon of defiling Rhaenyra. And Daemon's like, who cares cares we used to fuck through brothels and he says who gives a fuck what some lord thinks

you are the dragon your word is truth and law viserys threatens to disinherit raniera like he did to damon and damon says give her to me you know let me wife that girl up like our house think about agan i could have two wives and then he's like relatives yeah who are relatives and he's he's like we're the house of the dragon brother we can do whatever the fuck we want and viserys is like you only think about the throne and he says you need to go back to your fucking wife and damon says as you wish brother and i'm like oh he said he loves him because that's that's like in the princess bride as you wish yeah it's princess bride exactly he loves his brother

targs it's fine i mean honestly i'm surprised we haven't seen it yet i'm not joking it happened in one of my games last night actually oh my god i married reina to agan in one of my ck2 agot games and i have to tell you they both were gay oh okay brilliant because i was like i'm surprised you won't see we wouldn't see something like i don't know reina and alice in something you know like or why not spice it up i mean why not you could always bring a strong third into the mix i agreed that but the way that everything went down in the throne room you know i thought that was interesting because damon doesn't deny visiserys's allegations. He lets Viserys think what he wants of what happened in that brothel, even though this time we as the audience actually saw what

happened, right? We saw that it was a half-truth in a way, what Viserys was told. Because Daemon did in a way kind of defile Rhaenyra in terms of, you know, reputation and like even her being there engaging in some sort of sexual activity even if it's not intercourse that's something other lords will take seriously they don't give a fuck they want someone who's pure and innocent right that's allegedly what men want but it is reminiscent of episode one where viserys is told by otto that damon said that line about an air for a day we don't see what happens right but we can kind of put things together from how this goes down in this episode that how the bit about the brothel got mangled that it seems likely that daemon's speech

was also pretty mangled too and both of those parallel each other it's always like in the privacy of the throne room right yeah and but also like what he did it's funny because my god poor puppy boy poor daemon targaryen my poor who are you my poor baby meow meow um listen i noted damon targaryen lover yeah actually though wow no that's who you are now oh and who had a better story than chloe the broken but i mean there's something i mean yes damon could have done a lot worse things on this brothel journey sure i mean he was actually a responsible uncle as far as uncles who want to fuck their nieces go. You know, like he didn't, first of all.

He did also abandon her in Flea Bottom. That's a little dangerous. But sometimes you gotta let kids work their way up from the bottom. Anyways. He could have left her her beanie. Oh, that's true. This bean shames us all.

This beanie shames us all. That's a beanie. Oh, beanie babies. This beanie shames us all. Oh, you should make that. I don't know. That's a beanie. Oh, beanie babies. This beanie shames us all with GGC on it. You should make that. I don't know, there's something interesting that it wasn't horribly intended, same with the air for a day speech, but the fact that they

were both very public events that multiple people saw. Viserys is like, dude, I know we're the blood of the dragon, but we're trying to lie to the people and tell them that we're just like them, but with dragons. We're just like you guys, but with dragons. You can't just be out there fucking your niece in the brothels.

And Daemon's like, we don't need to do that. Yeah, exactly. We have dragons. It's the old way versus the new way. Yeah, we don't have to act like we're like them. Daemon's even more like them, right? Because he's out there. Like them.

He's out there amongst them, talking to them. Well, these people are talking in the Warhammer room. It's Alicent and Viserys. And Alicent says, you know, it's not in Rhaynier's nature to be deceitful but daemon is and goes like how often does he speak the pure truth and i am i guess a daemon defender and i'm like i for one have never heard daemon tell a lie there are no men like him only him i literally i don't know if i've heard him tell a lie i don't think so he's again very authentic he isn't a liar uh allison is like his lies are meant to reduce you when it's really

i guess renero's lies i'm like isn't that just what you're doing as you cut off your fingers reducing parts of anyways viserys doesn't believe that renero is innocent though and says the blood of the dragon is chaotic which is the biggest truest statement i've ever heard in this show chaotic energy yep and alicent believes renero when she tells her she's still a maiden and if there's one thing that alicent can't abide it's lies about purity and maidenhood she's like no renera's maidenhood is for me i only cheated on her because i got married to her dad renera is then escorted back to her dad's chambers by the Kingsguard. And the Prophecy Dagger is in the fire. And it was Aegon's before, and then also Aenar's even before, and further back, who knows.

I'm kind of wondering, is the spell only very, very visible and readable when it's heated, right? Is it like a scratch and sniff, but you put it in the fire instead? No, I think that's a good point, because we talk, I mean, look at the twin swords, look at Oathkeeper and look at Widow's Wail and see like, you know, the people that did the spells this time, they weren't quite as good, didn't have all the resources as those of Valyria, you know, and those kind of metal workers and Valyrian steel workers. And those kind of metal workers and Valyrian steel workers, I think that's not too far out of stretch to say they literally put a spell, imbibed spells, because they do. When they make them, they put spells in them. I wonder if there are some other swords we should put in the fire soon. Like ice. That would be interesting. I wonder what ice says.

That actually would be really interesting. Well, I guess it's torn apart now. Well, when you put it back in the fire and reforge it i mean those are that's a theory people have had well well we it's foreshadowing splitting the split yeah it's it's about the north and the south anyways so anyways um on that prophecy dagger it says from my blood come the prince that was promised and his will be the song of ice and fire viseri says this burden's larger than the throne or them or her desires jaharis would have disinherited you he says which is true because look at sarah absolutely look at visera rip the truth doesn't matter raniera only perception

eliana in the background throwing her hands in the air yo perception the themes raniera is pretty pissed about this speech. She says, Were I born a man, I could bed whomever I wanted. I could father a dozen bastards. And no one in your court would blink an eye. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, they might blink a couple

eyes. There are a couple eyes that may blink. We're gonna find that out. And it's not, you know, thankfully it's not a dozen. It's like a just a couple. A few. She's got a point right no one they let it happen with aegon the fourth if you just keep acting like it's not happening everyone will believe you too dad or just you know they're allowed to own it right aegon the fourth was allowed to fucking own it and flaunted his bastards up well he flaunts linearly he flaunts a lot of things but um in the future and then that leads to a war too but whatever yolo to be fair up until this point no bastards Well, he flaunts linearly. He flaunts a lot of things. In the future.

And then that leads to a war too, but whatever. YOLO. To be fair, up until this point, no, bastards weren't really accepted in the Targaryen court like that. Like their own bastards. They didn't have bastards up till now. Or the Baratheons. Yeah, but I mean, that's different. He was legitimized by Aegon.

Aenys didn't have bastards. His children didn't bring bastards to court. Aenys is rumored to be a bastard as well. Well, that's different, though. That's different. That's different. But I will say that's what this language really does for me. Because for those of you that haven't listened to Milfs of the Dragon, you need to over at our Patreon, patreon.com slash girls gone canon.

If you go listen to that episode part one, you'll hear that we theorize about Rhaenys having her own handsome men at court that she liked. And possibly the fact that Aenys wasn't a lot like Aegon. And that doesn't necessarily mean that he's a bastard, but he could have been a bastard. And wouldn't it be so funny if Rhaenys' line, the mother of the dragon in totality, is fake. Like, it's just her. It's all based on her. She's the blood of the dragon.

Everyone in this story that we have to date is the blood of Rhaenys, not the blood of necessarily only Aegon. Yeah. It does say from my blood, right? It doesn't say from my line. It says from my blood. From my line. It says from my blood. From my blood. Which to me seems a little pointed considering that Ned confirms to Catelyn not that Jon is his son. Says Jon is... He is of my blood.

Yes, he is of my blood. So I mean, it could be. It could be. Anyways. So Viserys refuses to name Aegon Ayr because of so further division. You know, as though everything else hasn't already... Viserys, you're doing a terrible job. You're doing a bad job.

Viserys then decides that Rhaenyra will lead Laenor for all of this, recombining the strength of their houses. And it actually, this moment reminds me a little of Robb telling Edmure that Edmure must wed, one of the Freys, to, oh, you know, make up for the mistake of Robb marrying someone else, just like Viserys did. To, oh, you know, make up for the mistake of Rob marrying someone else. Just like Viserys did. But also a bit, it also reminds me a little bit of a Hofstra wedding. Lies to Jon Arryn, which that revelation comes out around the same time as Rob forcing Edmure to do this.

And not unlike what we'll get with Moontea later coming from that result. Exactly. Rhaenyra's like, sure, I will do my duty and wed and wed laner but you need to do yours as king and deal with fucking otto hightower finally oh man that was you know if there was something we were yelling more about than that oh my god it's everything we've been saying to him like viserys you need to do your job and in doing his job otto hightower gets to lose his job lose your job lose your job lose your job um the series recounts actually it's a great firing because he's like my father was the hand to jaharis not unlike you and he's like kind of implies a little bit he's

like you know he died of a burst belly which no one had ever fucking heard of, Otto. So what really is a burst belly? Wonder if it has anything to do with Otto Hightower. And he basically just implies, like, you have it out for me and my family, don't you, Otto, you upjumping asshole. Do you actually think Otto? No, but I definitely got the impression that Viserys was, like, implying Otto is a big part of Targaryen downfall. Like, hmm, kind of seems like you might be behind a lot of this horror in my life Otto absolutely absolutely regarding Otto um he is up jumped right like and that's what it's the one good thing this series has done and he's doing it for all the wrong reasons

we get these lines of you know he he finally figures it out years later years and two fucking kids later she was a calculated distraction i only now realize how well calculated what do you mean only now only now you didn't you thought she like legit liked you this whole time anyways that is a big betrayal i mean for him to realize like oh shit i was getting played and i didn't notice because i only had enough blood for my dick at the time will it sour the relationship between theiserys and Alicent though? Maybe. Otto has this line,

a loyal hand must tell his king a discomforting truth from time to time. Literally never seen Otto do this. Mostly lies. He had a lot of chances to do that the second episode and he didn't, right? His judgment was compromised as Viserys said. And so Otto is fired. Woo! No benefits.

No benefits of the doubt, especially. Let's go back to Rhaenyra's bedchambers. Yep. There's a knock and she says, come, just like her father does when he tells people to come inside. Not like that, sorry. That was not intentional.

You have to be distinct about this, Eliana. That was literally not intentional. Maester Melos delivers some moon tea, though he doesn't say that exact name. He just calls it the tea. And turns out, interestingly, Rhaenyra doesn't know what any of this is. Viserys sent it for her to, as it says, rid her of any unwanted consequences. Yeah, I mean, like, that is a lot of what this episode is about, right? Like, having power, having autonomy. And part of,

you know, when you're exerting power over other people, right? Not just the power over your own body because like people should have that. And that's kind of what's going on here, except not really because her father's like, you're not allowed to have kids out of wedlock. And, you know, we, again, we don't know if Kristen Cole committed treason like that. But anyways, inserting power over others is kind of having unwanted consequences.

That's what it means to be able to do that. It means taking away the autonomy of other people. And Viserys wants to avoid the unwanted consequences of, I mean, kind of having to deal with his family. He's doing a terrible job of it. Yeah, instead of dealing with his family, he thought it would just go away by marrying his daughter's best friend and having children with her. Anyways, you have made like about 75%, maybe maybe 80 of the problems in your family right now maybe your unwanted consequences need moon tea for real though for real i thought it was really interesting that viserys hostra tolgarian sent first of his name sent uh moon tea to his daughter

and also that he trusted maester Melos to deliver it. I know a lot of people have theories that maybe it wasn't him that sent it. It was him. There's no reason to complicate this. He also trusted Maester Melos to send this, which means Melos knows that Rhaenyra had some sort of something going on where she might want Moontea. There's been a lot of chitchat about like a Maester conspiracies in general, maybe the maesters have it out for the Targs, yada yada, which who's to say probably who doesn't. But I don't think that's a part of this. I think Melos in general is just like ineffective. And it's interesting. He's more interesting politically to me than he is in medicine, like Gildane in Fire and Blood. When Viserys loses the two fingers in the timeline in

Fire and Blood, Gerardus, Rhaenyra's Dragonstone maester, shows up, amputates his fingers, saves his life. Melos was just not as good. Like Gildane says, Melos liked leeching and Gerardus liked potions. And I thought he was smarter for liking the potions. And his leeching, Melos' leeching, didn't do so great. So politically smart, medically not. Gildane actually takes something else interesting from Melos' writings, that he thinks Viserys lights the fire at Harrenhal. Melos is the only person, so- And us.

And us, and me. Yeah, especially me. We think that Viserys lights the fire so with these things combined that Melos was trusted to bring Moon tea to Rhaenyra especially in terms of her possibly having a bastard and the fact that she then goes on to birth three bastards in the next few years and him sending the moon tea I mean it pretty much really solidifies that Viserys lights the fire at harren hall to get rid of the strongs to remove the evidence like right here he's showing he wants

to be able to remove the evidence of her dalliances he's not above it i think he'll also remove it with fire too for viserys logic just goes out the window right i mean also in general that's why yeah he was allison but also especially with rainier that's why he- Teenage daughters. That's why, yeah, he weds Allison. But also, especially with Rhaenyra. That's why he does all this shit with Daemon. That's why he's like, I will take their eyes out. Which I love the delivery of that. It's so silly. I agree. I think some of the Maester stuff is next.

Is more of like prompted by the violence after the Targaryen Civil War. After the dance. And also, I think they're just combining some of the stuff with Melos, right? I know people have discussed, you know, like, do other women in Westeros have the same access, right? Like you're talking about the power and autonomy over bodies that Rhaenyra does with this. And I would say, arguably, right, as we saw within the context of the main books, there are actually like a lot of folk remedies and a lot of other people, especially like

the village women, know about the herbs that can be used for abortion. Them making abortificants, though, for example, like it's so that it's on speed dial that right here Mellos has had it dished up ready in a crystal glass for like, hey, babe, here you go, versus those women out of necessity have learned that they can create it from these herbs that their mothers or their relatives or friends have passed down. That's interesting. Or like Mazaria, right? Yeah. Yeah. But that is interesting with Melos who, again, I think they're combining because there was another Grand Maester before who died. Runciter. Yeah. And then they like, just like, they just have him. But yes, agreed. Viserys lights his fire. But this is like, he would be

here during this time in the book yeah no no i agree he would he would this is amelis's time but like that's why we're seeing you know he does also know how to he's the one who cuts the fingers right oh you know we won't get those fires till a bit later so let's talk about later right that's the end of the episode let's talk about next time on dragon balls not dragon ball z just dragon balls because this is about targaryens having sex so i slow-moed the trailer because you people out there love your leaks and i just love to slow-mo a trailer 0.5 press that crap on play you can find out so much so house valerian and targaryen join their strength there's a fight at the wedding um wow it's insane it's very wild so

first off in the beginning of the trailer the lannisters come in looking super serious jason is at the front looking very haughty and very aggressive kristin has a shot where he's stepping out taking his sword out to take care of something which seems like it's for alicent and they're in front of the orgy Valyrian scroll. One of the many. And we flash. It's very clever editing. The way it's edited is that we immediately flash to what looks like Joffrey Landmouth dying on the ground, possibly during the wedding.

It looks like, which is a good way to do it. I think like to blend some events together, but fucked up that you're killing Lainer's boyfriend at his wedding. Anyways. Or yeah. Or it's just like him getting i don't know beaten up and then we're getting a misdirection misdirection maybe well

either way the misdirect is big right like it's definitely a misdirect because yeah it took me two watches to be like oh shit wait that's not kristin uh it's a different weapon it's a completely different weapon and angle. But we do get, after the flash of Joffrey Lawnmouth probably beating the shit out of him on the ground, maybe dying, this is horrible, to Laenor at the table, at the head table at the dais,

getting the shit beat out of him, too. By someone that looks like they're in Lannister colors and the red and yellow. Also Gaston, when you think about it. Do with that what you will. But also some other guy in dark clothing, kind of like holding him down, kind of beating his head against the table.

I'm like, what? This is the worst wedding ever. Unless they're Dothraki. Yeah, maybe. I mean, well, where's the death? So they did a great job of editing only the fantastical, beautiful wedding things into all the trailers before now.

Yeah. Because this is the first time we're seeing this wedding portrayed in this light, in a negative light. It's messy. Yeah. Corliss is watching the mess. I can't tell if he wants to jump in and fix it and stop them or if he's yelling or what. But he's watching, standing up on the dais. Harwin gets in on it and he punches what looks like some sort of guard.

It was great he looks happy too like if you're not happy for him don't worry he's happy enough for himself and then we flash out do a little different world you see damon a shot of damon in the veil great catch great catch on your part and this next part right after damon in the veil if you slow down the trailer and watch there is a person on a horse who gets thrown from the back of the horse the horse and them go backwards and crushes the person and that person was raya royce rip to raya royce you're dead in the trailer already i can't believe we see it in the trailer and no confirmation that damon did it so take that off your list haters yeah i'm starting

to think like i think we're gonna find out that he didn't yeah and finally alicent gets yelled at by her dad possibly also yelled at in the rain by him or viserys so maybe something to what you were saying her and viserys having some troubles uh and i will point out the one big positive in the entire trailer was melees and vegar and it is melees because it doesn't have that weird fin that Caraxes has. Nice and red and amazing. The Red Queen and Vhagar. We've seen Vhagar already a little bit in the shots here. Look like Vhagar. It does not look like Seasmoke. So we're going to get Lena and we're going to get Rhaenys on their dragons. I'm pretty sure. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's them. I'm pretty sure it's Vhagar. I mean, like the colors just don't seem. The chest looks like Vhagar too. It looks like Vhagar. I mean, like, the colors just don't seem... The chest looks like Vhagar, too. It looks like Vhagar.

So, very excited. Very excited to finally get the other Valyrian dragons. I mean, listen, that's kind of the fun part of the show. Like, obviously, we're here for the drama. Here for all the drama. Yep. But especially here for that drama. Absolutely.

The dragon drama. Absolutely. The dancing. I mean, there's's gonna be dancing i think next episode and drama and drama a wedding someone's gonna die of fun oh my god okay well thank you so much for listening this week to girls gone canon we have had a blast with you indeed and of course uh you know if you have any thoughts about anything that we've said, please feel free to send us a tweet or

a DM. You can find us on social media at twitter.com slash girlsgonecanon, that's C-A-N-O-N or you can always send us an email at girlsgonecanon at gmail.com Feel free to give us a like and subscribe depending on what platform you're listening to. Leave a review. Eliana loves

those. They're fun. We got a couple fun ones recently embracing the spoilery nature of the podcast which i love you can check us out on those platforms near you your favorite like spotify google play apple podcasts stitcher acast iheart radio pandora you name it we might be on audible we are on audible yeah i saw we got a uh like a rating on it recently oh we're on audible yeah we are audible and amazon too amazon has podcasts i guess now so we're there too word word yeah yeah and we are also always on patreon you can find us on patreon.com slash girls gone canon where where patrons in the stranger tier and above get access to bonus episodes if this was not enough for you yeah and of course patrons in the thunder tier and above have lifetime access to our discord server our private server and also access to weekly discussion events like our house

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Oh, that's weird. Yeah, I was like, she's waiting for something for me. And I don't know what it is. Goodbye, everyone. We'll see you next week for Hot D5. Woo! 1E5. Woo!

Goodbye. Goodbye.