House of R - ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3, Episode 8 Reactions | Talk the Thrones

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

Chris Ryan, Mallory Rubin, and Joanna Robinson are excited to give you all of their thoughts on the final episode of ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3! They discuss Rhaenyra’s speech, Ormund’s fate, Ulf’s betrayal, and more! (00:00) Intro (01:25) CR’s recap (03:14) Overall thoughts (06:53) What’s next for Rhaenyra? (19:30) Helaena’s fate (26:19) Daemon and Corlys (31:35) Ormund’s death and his arc (35:16) Hugh and Ulf’s allegiance (40:48) Aegon and Aemond’s reunion (46:52) Alys’s backstory (50:00) Alyn’s loyalty (54:04) Addam and Baela buckling under Rhaenyra’s rule Hosts: Chris Ryan, Mallory Rubin, and Joanna Robinson Producers: Aleya Zenieris, Carlos Chiriboga, Scott Lee, and Jacob Cornett Social: Jomi Adeniran Set Production: Jonathan Ratliff and Gitu Mehra Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Talk the Thrones. I am Chris Ryan. I am joined as always by Joanna Robinson and as well as a woman who is finally done with her needlepoint. It's Mallory Rubin. We are here to break down the finale of the third season of House of the Dragon

a little bit of housekeeping. We are live on YouTube right now. We're live. And if anybody has any questions, you can send them to Mal's email address. If anybody has any questions, you can throw them in the YouTube chat. We're going to try and hit a couple of them

at the end of the episode. Any kind of like, I would say, lore heavy text slash book meaning questions. The places that are House of Art, which is where we are being broadcast audio-wise and on Spotify. And Mal and Joe are going to go deep on this episode

of House of the Dragon and the season of House of the Dragon on Tuesday. Andy and I will talk superficially about it on Monday. And we are going to get into the recap of a thrilling and And crispy finale, right about now. Okay, fair warning.

I only watched this episode once, like most people, but Ormond won, right? That's right. You're ready to go. You're ready to pod live. James Norton right now. The recap. That Agon lives push notification hit Reneiro like a ton of bricks. And she finally takes the safety off of Damon.

Doing so negates the purpose of having Masaria around, although she had served some purposes the previous week, you know what I'm saying? I'm sorry a bad lay. We got to ask. Wow. We got to ask. We're all bad lays go off to Pentos. Agon has reunited with his brother, and that's some heartwarming stuff.

Basically, he turns Amund into his dragon bodyguard, and Alice is not happy about that. We learn a little bit about Alice. We sure do. And some of her concoctions and potions. Bela and Adam are also not happy about the way Reneira has been treating them, basically, as if they were dragon riding Amazon delivery folks. their father Corlis is being held hostage by Ormond, but little G. Wayne and Darren try to parlay with him on the side. All for not because the Battle of Tumpleton begins.

Ulf nearly misses it with a hangover, switches sides to the Greens, switches sides to team fuck you, and then flies off as a solo act. In the battle, Hugh loses cat, Orman loses a fight with a one-armed Northman, and Damon get saved by a pile of burning rubble and Corlis, back in Kingsland.

Reneera has Alan kill a priest and comes home to find another one of Allison's children are dead that keeps happening Reneera gives the camera a reel it is what it is look and closes the window on Helena and this season of the show

so sort of a brief recap there boy look at you are you gonna miss it you're gonna be waiting two years Oh no I'll miss some podcasting about it with you guys I was curious what you thought of the finale that's a good way of talking about whether we'll miss it What did you think of the finale Joe?

I liked it I still, oddly, I'm getting nostalgic for the season two finale, which is something I didn't think I would feel. But like, there's a lot to talk about in this finale. Yes. But I don't know that it went at, like the highs were not as high for me as a season two finale, even though the season two finale left a lot of us going like, what's happening next, you know? It certainly feels like a finale that is an active conversation with season two and unquestionably a response, right? A lot of people felt like the season two finale. It was basically a trailer for season three, two muted, not enough happened.

That, no matter whether you loved this finale and thought it was incredible or didn't work for you, you can't say it was boring. This finale to me is like a cocaine-fueled threesome after a toga party in the bed of a pickup truck when it's raining. There are definitely a few moments. Tell us of your experiences of those. Yeah. Tell us when you experienced that. There was no cocaine. Okay. There are definitely a few moments and a few character beats and scenes where it's like, who did what now?

Right? Yeah. Yeah. But it's memorable. And you can't deny it's memorable. I found this to be very entertaining. And overall, I found it to be propulsive and engaging. There are a couple character decisions that I'll need you guys to help me work through

and I'll need to sit with for a bit. But the action was pretty gripping. And it felt like something the show needed to deliver. We're always monitoring the tip into just style over substance. I don't think this finale tipped in that respect. When you say style over substance, do you mean action over character? or consequence. And I think something that we had talked,

our initial reaction to the episode, we sort of shared this reaction, which was like a lot of it was riding on this character, Roddy the Ruin, the head of the Winter Wolves, the Stark, he's just a key figure

inside of this episode in a way that I don't know that the season did a lot of buildup. Yeah, he was the guy standing next to the teenage dude who killed Kristen. Right.

That's all he was all season. And then he was such like a key player here at the end. And so, you know, what they did all season to build up, Darren and Orman and Gwain and that aspect of Tumbled, I think they really nailed. But then the other parts of it, I think, left something to be desired. Yeah, I thought that the action was done very well.

I thought that given what they were doing with like thousands of either real or computer-generated people and dragons and a town being burned to a crisp and all these like individual characters that were trying to track within all of this chaos. Yes. People not being ornamentally dressed that much differently from one another. So you're kind of like, okay, that's a good guy, bad guy, or it depends on whether you think green, black, who's good and bad. I mean, you're team green, to be clear. Yeah, so it was a tough day for me.

But you love putting children on the front line of battles. It's just a, it's just a move. You know what I mean? Gotta respect it. I thought that if I was going to give a note, I kind of wish more characters in this episode got the Allison treatment. Which is. Oh, interesting. Didn't really appear until like a Cota last minute realizing somewhere cosmically that her daughter had passed.

But otherwise, like, it was sort of agreed upon like, Allison didn't really have a lot to contribute this episode. So we're not going to have a customary check-in with her on the road out of Harron Hall. Yeah. You know? And there were a few characters that I kind of feel like maybe we could have saved that for season four. Like, give me an example. Yeah. Bela.

Like, you know, that was like a really quick check-in with Baila. And it's not like it slowed the episode down. But I was like... On the other hand, I hear what you're saying. On the other hand, I think the fact that Reneera gets like read to filth by both Bela and Helena and also Masari. Like the fact that these younger women are like, hashtag not my monarch. Like, I don't think so. So I think that thematically is rich and set up.

And the idea that like a stranger who Reneera never worked to truly entrust and gendered to her cause like Ulf betrays her, but also an actual literal family member like Bela is like, I'm going to tell you, and Helena, of course, I'm going to just scathingly lay into you about how truly lost you are. I think not only does that help to cement the number of people and the number of forms that Reneer has lost, this is a crossing of the Rubicon episode for Reneer. Sure.

I have still some notes on just tweeting out the prophecy. I remain a little bit baffled by that, and I'm working through it. However, I think this was an undeniably effective episode and season overall for showing us that Reneera, you know, you said tough episode for you as a member of Team Green. Is it? It's a tougher episode, I think, for people who have been rooting for Reneer and Team Black. Sure, yeah. Murdering the High Septant, even just the grabbing of Baylor's face, the physical violence

there, force-feeding Helena. Both Damon and Reneer and Reneer doing a lot of face gripping inside this episode. Yeah, and a lot of child murder in Tumbledon. Roddy the Ruin, just like, boom, axe to the face to the kid who tapped. his calf. Damon's like, get out of the way, kids, get out of the way, please.

No, you two are going to stay. Trigaris, and they like hustle at the last second, but he was willing to do it. He said it in a low voice. The villain turns mounted. Do you think he missed those kids? Because I'm not sure he did.

They definitely ran. Whether they were still embroiled in flame and brutally murdered, it's entirely possible. My question about the kids is like, Damon has this real moment and said that this real sort of like, what hath we wrought,

like, inside of this battle moment. saving private Ryan. Which is surprising because Damon has seen so much battle. So what was it about this battle that made him feel that way? I'm the only answer I could come up with was the small children involved, I guess. I was actually, I thought maybe it had something to do with being on the wrong side of dragons. You know what I mean? On the ground.

It's like this is what Dragon Civil War really feels like in an enclosed area. Yeah, it's interesting that the perspective and point of view we've gotten before of like what is putting aside something like the bells in Game of Thrones, just inside of House of the Dragon. or as Kristen, because we even got the cut to black and then Damon's fog of war. So Kristen, a non-rider to your point, Chris, as the one who was like, oh my God, and men are like, you know, dust beneath their feet. I thought I was, I agree that Damon read there was complex. I think there are a lot of different things we can identify in it. I think one of it is even an experienced veteran of Dragon War like Damon is like the decimation, shell shock of the dance of the

dragons where this is an unceasing, unrelenting assault. And this is not the last time something like this is going to happen. I think there's also the fact that Damon and Renira gives herself over to this in full in this episode has been the leading voice all war. That this is what we should be doing. Burn them all. And then he has to stand there and look as the women and the children are holding their severed limbs and their charred bodies of loved ones.

I think there's a combination too of like the actual horror and guilt and a little bit of the, no, he hasn't witnessed Renera and her full new garb. wait to talk about drip queen rinerah. I have some moral notes, but it was hot. Yeah. She was like, don't make a monster of me in a very sexy, flirty moment, which was interesting in terms of how these characters pair sexuality and violence. She said it like she was also like bringing me their heads kind of.

For sure, definitely. And then he makes the kind of show of saying to his army, the realm's watching, like let's keep the queen's reputation in mind. I think there's a little bit of, well, fuck, that's done. Like there's no more PR spin you can put on this. Tumbleton is ashes because of... Sure. Sure.

But you were a part of this. Black Allie's response to that being like sounds boring. Exactly. So the culpability of it all, I think, is at play. I just think it's like an interesting time for Dave and Targary to grow a conscience. I mean, yeah. And then he charges forward and continues the battle too, you know? So like the question, maybe that's even more depressing.

It's like, is it too late to grow a conscience? or if you have a moment where your conscience breaks through, but then you plow ahead anyway, like, how fucked are all of us really? Well, that's kind of what happens to Reneer at the end of the episode as well. We're going to talk about this episode, I think, from the perspective of characters. I think that's probably the most useless way, useful way to go do it. Believe in yourself, C.R. I don't live up yet.

We can start with Rineira, who freaks out a little bit at the beginning of the episode and then stoically closes the window on her old self following Helena's death. I liked the fact that this episode had a few ambiguous moments. Sure. I would imagine some of them maybe annoyed you because, for sake of clarity, but there were a couple of moments like, for instance, Orwell's look while Renera is publicly doing her. Like, I have a very important press conference at 8 p.m.

Everybody tuned in. I thought that was really cool. I thought Renira's reaction to the needle point was interesting, as was the needlepoint itself and what it pertends. So let's start with the prophecy. Okay. Just because you want to watch the smoke come out of Mallory's ears. This is not done in the books, I take it.

No, no. So I liked almost every Rainera seen in this episode, genuinely. I thought that Renira is like if we want to start with the positive and come back to the prophecy, the reaction to Egon and Sunfire and that news, just the, what opens the episode. This was such, I would say, overall across character sets, a real reap what you sow episode, right? So Renera, incepted by Alicent,

has put this lie out into the world that Egon is dead, knowing that he's not. Now, they all did think Sunfire was dead, right? Inceptive is like too mild a word to use, Allison's like, here's the party line, use it. And if they ask for a body, we'll just show them a bag of bones, right? Like, yeah. You know, it's just down to the

Snow Fortress level in her mind. That life does die in this episode. Exactly. The fact that that backfires and that specifically the idea that Reneera has been touting, a dragon appeared to me, Adam, and sea smoke in my moment of need

is now a chip that the other side can use, a dragon rose, sunfire rose. And Reneer has to contend with that and work so hard to pull back belief and support was a fascinating place to find the character. And I loved that. I don't know that any, and I think it's shocking to see what happens in the high sephe. With the high sept. I'm excited to talk about that. I don't quite understand Allen's contribution there. I'm eager to hear your thoughts. Reneer just saying the prophecy out loud. It's not in the history books. The show has made a choice that that's okay.

And we have an interview with Ryan Condell is running tomorrow. We did ask them about this. We did. We can get, we can get Condal's take on this for sure in House of Arr. Yes. I was puzzled, as you know, by the mention in the small council meeting. that's like on steroids now after just addressing all of those small folk of King's Landing. I think thematically inside of the show where omens and portents and chosen ones sanctioned by the gods is so central to what all of the characters are doing, particularly Reneira. It is credible to me that Reneer would say, I am Reneer the chosen, right? That this like Reneer, the cruel PR act from the Greens out in the field is something

that she needs to combat by saying, you think you see a sign there. I'm going to tell you with proof to her. no one else has the proof, that this is an inherited status, that this is real. I understand inside the show why the character does that. I have a hard time, like, understanding how then it's not mentioned in fireblood that she did this, given the number of like this person took a shit in this place, stuff that is chronicled. But that's where we are. I do think in terms of performers inside of this show, Emma Darcy, like, that they are one of

the, like, the strongest things that show. Like, unbelievable. They're, like, incredible. And the way in which this opened with tears, vulnerable. And then how that's, you know, hardens into steel and resolve. And that scene, the way that scene was shot between Rainer and Damon when, as you said, she took the safety off and said, you know, go forth and kill and the smirk on Matt Smith's face. Where Damon's like, finally I get to do what I've been begging to do.

And he's like, I've got her. Like, I've been on, I've been in a battle with Masaria for Renera all season. And Viseris is ghost. Yeah. And I won. She's like, fuck Vassaris. Masaria off to Pentos, that's it. And it's Damon time now.

I thought that the speech made sense for the character, if not for the grander story of Game of Force. Yeah, 100%. So Damon is the warrior and Masaria is the politician, and Renera just believes in herself. Like, Renira's like central preoccupation is this prophecy and this myth about herself, that she is like, I am too pot committed to this

to back off of it in any way. Well, she has to, because, yeah, to your point. And she's like, they don't need to worry, like, I don't need to worry about taxes. I don't want to worry about wheat. I don't worry about worry about, worry about Ormond. I want to worry about what my dad told me was coming and why it's important that I stand in between it. And I think that's, she's like, why is this a secret? Why can't, you know what I mean?

Like, she's like telling her son and her son's just like, cool. Oh, my God. And, like, Joffrey woke up. And it was a tough day to wake up. Yeah. And she's walking around and she's like, why do. I have to keep making these kind of concessions or like taking miscarious advice or Damon's advice.

The only advice that people should take is that you take my word for what's coming and that I'm the one who's prophesized to stop it. And how do you think the crowd really felt about that speech again? I think they were like, what the fuck Talton's on fire? Like, what are we doing here? I think they were like, this doesn't feel sane to me what is happening here. Like Mad, like, Mayore the Cruel is sort of invoked throughout this, especially the way she's murdering septans and all this.

to. They, I don't know, that's her own. We haven't seen Megar on the screen. I'd say some of the illustrations and some of the text. There's a little bit of a comp there. But certainly the fact that we have, Reneer has the armor, like in the dragon wings, the male, right?

If we think about the third episode of the season that we all loved so much, that's seen that conversation before hearing petitions of like everything I put on sends a signal. Should I wear jewelry? No. Right. Oh, the chain. Okay. The sword, no. So this is all deliberate because it's all about

stabbing into the dress and stuff like that. So leaning into the masculine, you know, they're so excited to have a king, I'll give them a king. Like I will be the prince that was promised is what she says. The eye makeup looked to me like, I loved it. It was awesome. Incredible stuff.

Certainly one member of this podcast could pull it off. Big fan. I'm surprised you didn't try it tonight. There's still time for the deep dive. But it was kind of cool because it was like almost like dragon slits. Bleaking Mariscaro, but like fake tears almost. Like blood.

The more you get cut by the throne, the more helpful it is to just draw red gashes on yourself, you know, preemptive cover. But I thought it looked like a little bit of like a dragon slit eye to, you know, be the dragon. The like Vesaris's crown in an episode where she is saying, and we built toward this in the penultimate, but Veseris's philosophy, not for me. The crown I still have to hold as a symbol of legitimate inheritance. So this, you know, this path toward trying to point toward all the aspects of legitimacy. see. We asked this on the deep dive last week, but on the one hand, I find it kind of heartening that Reneer is like, I'm done with saying I have to constantly worry about how my dad would have done this because it's in part his fault that they're in this fucking shit show to begin with.

And hearing her say that was so gratifying to me personally. But then, like, Chris, to go back to what you were saying about, how is Reneira viewing the reality of the job versus her own image versus kind of the task and burden of the prophecy? It's, I don't know, you can make the case. she just went from saying Viseris to just saying, okay, Damon's philosophy. And like casting Masaria aside, as you noted. So the question is like, does Reneira even have a chance? Is there a path to saying, well, what do I believe?

Like, what's my philosophy? Is there room for that with all of these levers and forces and horrible things inside of this stage of the dance of the dragons? When she walks back in and finds Helena's obviously done what she's done, does Reneer know that Alph's turned and Tumbledon's lost? I don't think she would have wait to know that. No. That'll be a season four update.

The Ravens, another bad email for her in a day. Another bad wake-up call. Let's talk about Helena's death briefly. That's a character who I think grew a lot this season. And I thought was performed very well. And especially when you consider much as her story is not really allowed to leave one room.

Yeah. I thought it was operatically staged and well done. what did you make, I guess, of her choice, but also Reneira's reaction to it? I read, this is my favorite part. I mean, not R.P. Helena. I'm not delighted that she's dead. But I think this, the way they laid this out over the season, those of us who read the books sort of knew we were headed here.

And I think they did a really good job of carving out time for Helena and Helena's descent so that we could really feel the impact of it here. I like that we didn't see the fall or the jump or anything like that. that. We saw, you know, her body after the fact. We just saw the empty window. We saw the needlepoint sort of trailing out the window. I thought all of that was really good. I think seeing the neat, like her stitching her own death inside of the needle point. I think that is like beautiful and tragic, of course. And then- And then-

It must have been working on that for a while. For a long one. Like knowing that it was coming. And like the image of Reneira, and we can all debate exactly what's going on there. Again, we talked the condo about this, but that image of Renera and the way in which she, to my view, sort of looks at it, sees an unflattering depiction of herself, you know, stitched by a person that she believes can see the future, she believes in her being a dreamer, and just decides to put it down and close the window and walk away and just say, I refuse to engage with this. I am so far down my rebranding, my new eye makeup, my armor, me, making unhinged speeches in the streets that I can't engage with this at all.

I can't put the brakes on, you know. That's what it felt like to me. Definitely. And I like the way that that evolution we often talk about is like a positive, right? And we'll get to that soon with some butterfly talk. But evolution changed in any form. You're not always like walking forward. And so the idea that across different choices, that thing that Joe outlined is present for

Reneura, the like, I saw counsel, I got impatient when I asked my advice. advisors for advice and they were like, I have nothing to say. Useless. In the sept with the high septin, like that warning from earlier in the season, if you declare war on the faith, it's going to be a problem in the realm. There's not only like a character inside of this season saying that. There's historic precedent. Reneira has decided to do this anyway, to ignore it.

Last episode, just last episode, Reneer was seeking out, oh my God, a dreamer? I do want to look into the future. I do want to know, but I want to hear. that I was chosen. Something that affirms me and my choices. Exactly. So as soon as you're not getting that affirmation, all you can do if you're Reneera, this is what Reneer has decided.

All she can do is decide not to care, to not look. I am going to say that you are right because you know more about this than I do. I watched it and thought she got what she wanted. She saw an image of herself on the throne that she can interpret in a variety of different ways. Yeah. Yeah.

And she had been asking Helena, like, what do you see? What do you see? And this is what she sees. Not only like, is she predicting her own future, but she's predicting some kind of future for Roenir. Now, in the details of the image, there are probably a lot of like little, like, wrinkles in terms of like what that blood coming out of it means. Or like hands and fire. Yeah. Fire and blood? Yeah. I don't. But this was, this was ultimately, I thought, like, an affirmation of Reneer thinks about herself. And she closes the window being like, what's done is done. I think that's a completely valid interpretation. This is part of why it's fun to be able to debate something like this.

Like I think that the idea that she is, I don't think that is based on what Helena says to Reneira. Yes. In the, my favorite scene. Incredible. My favorite scene. Everything that you care about is ugly. You are ugly.

I don't think that that is what Helena is stitching, like any sort of validation is what Helena is stitching into the tapestry. I think you are right that Rineer might be so far gone at this point that that is how she chooses to interpret it. And I love that framing, Chris. I think that what's in the foreground and where are all the details is, like, again, kind of a throughline here. What is the character choosing to look at and care about, right? And that tells us a lot about where they are.

Is Reneer just saying, the throne? I'm on it. And I have a sword in my hand. I am exhibiting strength, the strength that everyone told me I needed. Or is she like, fuck, there's a lot of blood running down all of the appendages of my body into the roots of the ground and fabric itself. fire and people dying and dragon screaming. A little bit different tone, but a little bit of the dragon orgy tapestry vibe

with like the human hands and the dragon claws. Sure. Who knows what they're up to behind there. But certainly in an episode where once again the doom of Valeria was invoked multiple times. Reneira, once again, choosing to spin the doom as a positive by saying my family was chosen. The dream, like we escape the doom,

just us among the dragon riders. Damon, part of his big, like, pep talk is a new Valeria. once again, like, cast aside Vassaris's philosophy, but maybe hold on to the harbinger of doom regarding the doom itself. That's not what either Reneer or Damon does in this episode. So if you're looking at that, you're seeing maybe the imagery of the dance of the dragons, but also what is the dance of the dragons? What have we been hearing since the first episode of this series?

The threat of Valeria reborn, the doom, the cataclysm brought into Westeros because of the cost of this dragon war and the characters and what they're doing. Can I tell you something about the Helena death that I, as a book reader, I really enjoy because there's all this ambiguity about, you know, Helena goes out the window and there's all this ambiguity about what happened. Was she pushed? All the sort of stuff like that. Did Masaria do something? And I really like that inside this episode, you know, when Masaria is walking out and Helena's walking in, Masaria does say something to her that some people could interpret as being the reason she jumps. Does she do it with the intention of making her jump? No. Just being like she's never, she says she's never going to let you go. Right. And is that the, is that, was that the decisive thing and the reason why Helena decided, you know, I want to make this needle point come true and jump out the window. But, you know, so you could say Masaria is the reason she jumped out the window.

But either way, it happened while Allison was gone. Alice, the one thing Allison cared about all season was keeping Helena safe. And while she was gone and Rineer said, I'll watch over her. What kind of monster do you think I am? The one thing she cared about went out the window. Is she going to think that Reneira tossed her out the window? She might. You know, we'll see how Allison reacts.

But, like, this butterfly moment is interesting. I united Damon and Corlis in my character list for a specific reason just because they meet on the battlefield, such as it is, at the end of the episode. And I thought it was a cool moment because I think I recognized the two of them sharing a lot more in common than maybe I had not paired the two of them. them together throughout this show until this moment. The second sons of Westeros? Yeah.

And it's been a minute. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I go back to Ormond kind of just being like, I fucking love Corlis is a good dude. You know what I mean? Like everybody kind of like respects

Corlis. I thought the moment when Gwayne's trying to parlay with Damon and Sue for Terms and Coralus cuts in with like an even healthier compromise that sounds incredibly reasonable.

if unlikely to be ever... Not to the high towers, it doesn't. Sure, but... Or to the Tyrells, by the way. But it's like if you just... He's like, the idea that one king has to rule this incredibly diverse, incredibly complicated, historically volatile area

is sort of stupid. You know, like, let's break it up. There were seven kingdoms. How about we just have some regents and some... Are you pro-Cal exit? Like, California should exit. No, I just thought that like that was, you know, of course the first time there's ever a good...

idea on the second season, a third season of the show. It's like a town gets burned to cinder right after it. Something I love on Corliss's front, this episode is when he's like, hey, Damon, we're leaving. Corliss who has sort of walked away from his role. And I think Rainer is right when she's like, Corliss put himself out here vulnerable in the field to get napped. I think she's right about that one.

But the fact that like, you know, Damon was like, Corlis, you're going to keep you manacold. You're essentially my prisoner now. And Corlis is like, guess what? We're leaving. I thought that was a really good moment. I loved that as well. Even just like Ali and Oscar and the background and the idea that we didn't witness any sort of exchange between Corlis and them.

But you understand that they were willing to kind of follow his lead in that moment because he is, he's Corlis Florian. Like he's one of the most fabled figures in the realm. That was great. I thought that Damon just, you know, again, they're all. in at this point, like the chips are on the table, but out of hand rejecting not only Corliss's kind of real-time updated pitch, but didn't consider for a second anything that Gawain came to him with. And like Gawain went and opened with a plan that obviously Damon was never going to accept fun that he got like an Alicent book pitch split up the kingdoms and that that went to

Gawain here. But the fact that Damon just kind of is like, what do you think I want? Yeah, I want all the dead high towers, right? And it's not even like attempting to high. the fact when Coralus challenges him on that front, like there's a path here and it's to peace. Now, one of the through lines across the seasons has been Sin Begets Sin and like this question of, is it too late? And plenty of the characters and maybe plenty of the viewers

would say it is too late. And Damon doesn't have his ability into what is happening in Kings Landing where I think we could say definitively, it is too late. Like, Reneer just ordered the high sept and killed in the sept and then made this address. Yes.

But there's no part of Damon that is open to that appeal. Even when Corliss, a trusted member of their alliance for all of this time, says to him, what if everybody like didn't have to die? Well, I thought that when he says that to him and when he's like, Damon were leaving, Damon surveyed this wreckage that the dragons have left behind and that this battle has left behind. And his solution or his response to it is to start killing everybody he sees in front of him. And that's where Corliss finds him. And Corliss's idea is like, it's over. And now, Damon, you have to remember is the guy who is like, we're not stopping at Tumbledon or Westerners.

Like, I want to go back across the sea. Like, I want a Dorn. I want all this stuff. And it's like, this guy only really has one direction, right? Like, and only really has one speed. And you can use, he could be a useful battering ram as he is when Karexies goes through the door. That's right. I realize that.

That was really good. That was very sick. But, like, he's not a politician and he's not a negotiator. And I just thought there was just a cool, like, kind of yin-yang moment of the episode. I really agree with you. But I guess my question is, are we meant to see what Damon goes through in this episode and think he's going to have a different attitude next time this conversation comes up? Given what he saw here, will Tumpton be his sort of like NOM moment or something like that, you know? I just think that everything else that goes wrong for everybody in this episode negates any lessons learned.

Possibly. Yeah. He also was getting his ass absolutely handed. him by Bull John Roxton, let's just say it. Let's just say it. Damon is one of my favorite warriors in the entire canon, but Bull John was fucking handling him. People are going to have some questions about that, I think. Mallor and I did have a moment because

when John goes for his eye, Mallor and I both had a moment where they're like, are they going to go all the way into this like Amon, Damon, two sides of the same coin thing and like take Damon's eye in this episode? Amon's got the Sapphire. Let's give Damon a ruby. Kind of rounding out the Tumbledon side of things.

I have a ormond who is dead And I feel very confident in that We really got a beat of crispy dead ormond I mean he got first of all stabbed up the ass We also know that if by if there is a heart beating inside of him He doesn't want it to be He's like I smell that He's dead I've smelled so many bad things today

Yeah that's what Chris was saying before we started recording He's like that's the kind of dead body evidence I need to believe a character's dead Yeah Which did you like better him finding Ulf on the privy as a payoff for the, this is disgusting and I can't handle it. The blood. Right.

Severed arm blunts hurting into his mouth with the chip teeth. What did he say? That's a good Northern fucking or something like that? Proper Northern fucking. Proper northern fucking from the north. Big bad of the season and in so much as he is that he did his job.

He put in a good shift. James Norton was great. 10 of 10. Honestly. I think maybe was broadcasting his imminent demise a little hardcore in the last couple of episodes. Like, I didn't see a future for him, per se. We were wondering a little bit. Yeah. He was just so good that we were like, maybe they'll just keep him around. I mean, Ormond

does canonically die at Tumbledon, but we thought maybe James Orton was so good that he would stick around, but no. I will miss this performance, which I thought was absolutely wonderful and entertaining every second he was on the show. No question. And all of the Ormond, Darren, Gawain scenes were great. All of them. And they really, I think that and Helena were the two. And they really, I think that and Helena were the two areas in which I think they really nailed it this season. Yeah, really great. Even like the little, because a lot of Ormond's work in this episode is to be like a complete lunatic, you know, walking around, running around Tumbledon, shouting for Ulf. Yeah. The moment where like they're bringing the human child child shields up to the battlements and like a townsperson who clearly

reeks gets too close to him. And he's like, get away from me. Like a lot. He's like doing a lot of really elevated height and stuff in this episode. But even still we got these beats like when he knighted Darren. And Darren and going in are like, can you like sub in? I'd rather this be you, you know, exchanging looks with each other. There was, from a very fucked up abusive, manipulative character,

a look of, I thought, genuine, like, pride when he knighted Darren. And then the look of abject shock and betrayal when he found out that Gwain and Darren had presented peace terms and gone behind his back. Like, little moments like that, what James Norton was conveying with his face. So good.

He conveyed some other things with his face. He should. He shored up his ass and a dragon light. Really good. I thought the fact that Ormond, so all season long we talked about Ormond as this like superior strategist, right? A tactician who was thinking ahead, even to the point where some of his closest allies, Gawain and Darren, are like, what's this guy up to? What's the piece on the board? He's so far ahead that the people he's working with don't even know. The fact that Ormond then is undone by making the exact same mistake, the exact same mistake that Damon and Ranera make, which is treating off like shit. thinking that he had won him because Ulf wanted to follow. Like he knew that he was saying, I'm going to give you a castle, I'm going to give you ale, I'm going to give you the things you want because they won't. And he just like lost his shit and lost his patience and beat Ulf in the street.

Yeah, just like Damon did. Of course, yes, obviously. Do you think he could have kept his stuff together if there hadn't been like an outhouse moment? Do you think like if it hadn't smelled so horrible, he could have to lit on it? I think that old had been hungover. Hung over. Yeah. Actively hammered, I think.

Going into the Tumbledon kitchens to, like, be like, Damon Targaryen is a bitch. Yeah. It was so unbelievable stuff for Wolf. Yeah. Well, let's do, let's do, oh my God. And I will pair him with Hugh here. Great.

He's like, please don't involve me in this. Olf's betrayal is something of a double betrayal. Sure. Absolutely. I think I was under the impression that this was going to be a, you know, that first swooping move back towards the troops aligned with the blacks. and burning them up, I was like, okay. And then he does a big U-turn.

He's like, fuck all of you. And he's like, fuck all of you, which would obviously signal that he is comfortable as an independent operator. I don't know, the two guys from the tavern were with him when they cut up the dragon valet attendant.

Yeah. Is that like a sleep-it-off and be like, uh-oh, what did I do? Is that... I mean, I don't know how much we can go into it without book spoilers in terms of like Ulf's... trajectory.

trajectory from here. This is an update from the book. In the book, he just betrays the blacks, but for him to sort of burn bridges and corpses on both sides is a really interesting place to find him. And Hugh's involvement here is also a change from the books and is kind of interesting, but RIP Kat, I didn't think you were going to make it and you didn't. That was one of the other moments of ambiguity, or at least moments that I enjoyed in this episode was Damon seeing Hugh. Yeah, a couple times. the courtyard. And whether that's just Damon being like, oh, shit, he's really not on his dragon where he's supposed to be.

Or him being like, oh, this guy has, there's more to this guy. I didn't really think about like what was driving him. Even just when Hugh arrives on Vermethor, Damon's like, Vermethor is supposed to be in Kings Landing. Like he was assigned to be there. Now, the fact that Damon and Reniro, Reniro, who in this season has a scene with Hugh, like we're not, oh, what do they know? she and Hugh have a conversation about how his wife is in Tumpleton, right? He's like, send me because I won't get tired of watching.

So this is known. The fact that it doesn't like occur to them that he might not want to just stamp pat on guard duty in Kings Landing while the city, the town that his wife is in is being attacked by their army is the kind of hubris that continues to manifest for them in many forms.

Now again, Ormond has his version of that, those parallels for character who like positions himself as superior to also just like, It was until it smelled bad. I mean, you're right. His grip on branding, arise, Sir Darren the Daring to get another nighting inside of the season, another sham of a nighting ceremony for him to say, I've made you king. But now kneel and take this vow of how you're going to serve me, Ormond, was pretty fantastic. Really great, really great.

So like, and then when he sees him running through the town calling Kat's name, I think he's like, oh, shit. like, oh my God. And that'll have to be something that they think about moving forward. Ulf, I mean, the team for Ulf is like Team Ulf, right? Ulf, the dragon lord, the way that he's styling himself throughout the episode,

Great Helmet. Was it? Yeah. I loved it. Demented, but, you know, he's really going forward and you can really only ever say that about Ulf. I mean, he couldn't wait too embarrassed Damon and Reniro by talking shit about them.

He genuinely just like fell asleep taking a dump. There's a long, like it's a crowded field of famous shit moments in Game of Thrones. You know where this is rank. It's not going to, it's not Tywin Terium. Does it pass diarrhea dunk? It's something for us to think about over the next few days. Incredible place for him to be found. Truly what I will be thinking about over the next few days.

I'm going to noodle on in a bit. You know what? I know you will. We'll be returning to that in the deep dive. Full power and get coming. You know, no, Ormond recruits. He cruded him. He courted him. He wooed him. Whatever made him think that he could do exactly the thing to Ulf? I'm going to just tell you your tool. I'm going to tell you you you have no worth. I'm going to shout it in front of everyone. And that that would be okay.

Yeah. Like what, why? Because he was impaired by the stench of the outhouse. I mean, it really, it's a kid. It's an Achilles heel truly. It really paid off. The little details of what Ulf and Hugh were charged to do are very interesting to me, at least in terms of watching Dragon Warfare play out in this show. Because sit by the town with your dragon and just watch as a deterrent. But even if Hugh had been sent by Renira, like, oh, you have a personal vested interest in what's happening in Templeton. So you go with Damon and, like, perform. provide air cover or whatever.

Dragons aren't surgical. Like, Hughes' advantage of being a dragon rider would not really have a saved cat, per se. You and Torn and Sabbath Afray, I'll agree. And I think that that is something that is kind of fascinating about watching this happen, where it's like, oh, you can have all these dragon plans. But when you get to, like, I need to get a specific person out of a town, then we don't really... That's why he tried to just duck in there and get her and duck out. Yeah, but she didn't want to go.

And this is why the bullshit farckel never going to work for even a second, even though we all diluted ourselves, we being the members of Team Black into thinking that it could. We'll just root them out house by house. We're just going to go door to door and find all 15,000 high-dower soldiers and never have to use our imprecise weapon of mass destruction, dragon fire on the wall of small children. Which was also like when Damon gets off of Karexies, you know what I mean? And now we stopped.

He burned the door and then he went back to the horse. He tried. Let's talk about other dragon riders. Great. Agan and Aman In a scene that felt New to me. I'm alive.

I mean, Tom Glingarty's delivery of that line is like One of the best things that's ever happened. Yeah. It felt a little odd. It was awesome, but it felt a little odd. But like him just being like, and here I am in Harenhall, nobody heard me fly up here. Nobody heard me like kind of...

I think he did. Okay. That's why Amon goes out there. Awoken by Dragon Wings and maybe first... I thought it was a Vagar. I was like, fuck, it's sunfire. It's my, no longer dead for a second. Yeah.

Well, he wasn't fucking his mom, so that was your first son. That's a good clue. That's true. But I guess I wanted to talk about, well, how did Agon know where Ayn was? It's just now everybody knows he's at Aeronall, right? I think it's been out and about there, right? They've kind of moved in and out because when Agonne was trying to march out of Rook's he was like, he's been sighted in Vigar's been cited in Wendish Town.

So, you know, Riverlands. gossip? Then Allison is the one, though, aided by, obviously, Helena to tell Vernier, like, no, he actually is still at Heron Hall, even though, like, other people think he's off. Or Hagar? Maybe he just flew for the giant burn marks that Vagar left behind, which Vagar did leave. Who knows? Is this his 20th stop?

Did he go to Fair Market? Did he go to Wendish Town? Or did he hit Harenhall first? And he's just, like, really efficient. Do you think we were robbed of him checking in on the veil and what Lady Jane Aaron would have thought? That would be very funny. Oh, I would love to see those two in a scene together.

Obviously, you know, you know, you know, you know, You know, his way of forgiving his brother is to bring him into indentured servitude as, like, his security guard now. Well, the way they were talking about it inside the episode was that Aman has a choice here to choose between Alice and Agon. And what will, like, this is presented as sort of a cliffhanger of the season is like, what will Aman decide? Oh, I thought it was like you can die or you can work for me. Yeah, but also his betrothes is a scary witch. So I don't know how. This is not book stuff.

So I'm not getting. But he does not meet Alice. He was just like, who's that? Your betrose? Yeah. What? I thought that this... He doesn't know she's an immortal way.

I know. She didn't get the incredible... The backstory that we got. This was a good example of a scene where I was like, a lot when it started happening because this is not an interaction in the book. And I was shocked. Though Joe and I have been talking in the spoiler section on the deep dive about how, like, this real central focus for both of those characters, their obsession with each other.

We were kind of like, how are they going to pay this off? if there's not a scene coming between them at the end of the season. And then sure enough, lo and behold, there was. I think the fact that this is something that we talked about with Condal on the interview, check it out. The fact that like, Agon's whereabouts, we talked about this across the season with Rook's rest, that, like, we knew Sunfire was there. Sunfire arises and burns the mutants. But, like, Agon being there was not a book thing. Putting him in places where we didn't know he was, there is enough just missing, like, where is Egon in this stretch of the story to do stuff.

like this and have it feel credible, I think. I think more importantly from like a TV storytelling point of view, and this is something that the people who work on the show have been talking about for seasons, it's like because of the, you know, very brief way in which the story is told in fire and blood, and because it can be dramatically interesting in a book to be like, a character has disappeared and then they reappear. But if you've got Matt Smith on your show, you're going to have to say, he was at Harren Hall doing this this whole season.

That's what he's doing. What was Tom Gling Carney doing? Like, Tom Glingarty could have been absent this entire. higher season and book readers would have been like, yep, yep. But as TV viewers, who would have been like, where's they gone? And I think because they didn't make that choice, as TV viewers now, we're sitting here saying, is he the MVP of the season? Like, he's at least in the running.

He would get down ballad votes. Like, he was such a, I thought, compelling performer to watch. Ormond. He would be the betting favorite for me. I mean, I think he's incredible this season. I think I would say that he was the MVP of the season. Him or Orman, maybe. I don't know.

Maybe Darren? Maybe Gawain. It's shockingly a member of Team Green. I don't know how we wound up here, but it's either Ormond or Darren for me. Yeah. They're all wonderful. I'm having a harder time.

So Riley and I were talking about this. Please read Riley's great coverage on the ringer.com. What a great website. But Riley and I were talking about like, I feel like with Agon, they leaned for me just a little too hard into what a piece of shit he was in season one for me to like really enjoy this.

Like he could have been like just like a shitty fuck boy in season one, but they're like, sexual assault, child fighting. And I was just sort of like, Then it's like hard for me to really enjoy this sort of like rise that he's having. But we're going to balance that out with a lot of child murder and murder of men of the cloth from Team Black. So the scales are over there. I, in addition to that, I think, like one of the undeniable aspects of Egan in the last couple episodes from his, you know, Mad King reaction to Burning the Mutants to the way that what he's saying, the plan he lays out here,

he's certainly not being positioned as like a moral, like a paragon of virtue compared to Renira. We're in a place where all of these characters are. Whether Amon chooses to go with Agon or chooses to stay with Alice or what, I think just the fact that we watch him fall to his knees and show remorse. And we've talked about this with Amin the whole time, the fact that like with Luke he was able to express remorse, but then just fell back into his bad habits and hideous ways and harmful behavior. It's like he's showing remorse here in a way that I buy Parent Hall therapy. It works. Will he stay in that place? Or will he stay in that place? Or will, another poll proved superior. I think the fact that, like, even though we don't know what choice he's going to make, we still get another Damon-A-Mand comp is, you know, purposeful and I think effective. Like, in Harenhall, in the Great Hall, Reneira flew in and challenged Damon in the season two finale to, like, finally make his decision.

And he pledged his fealty to her. So to get a version of that without as much clarity from Ament with Egan here. He wasn't fucking Alice at the time. He missed out, it seems. I have a question for you as a non-book reader. This is all new to us, but like, how did the Alice backstory moment work for you? Very cool. Yeah.

I mean, it paid off the What's Up with Alice stuff for two seasons. And Gail Rankin's great. I thought it explained a little bit of her tortured nature when it comes to, like, Heron Hall, wanting Heron Hall, but hating Heron Hall, this idea that this is what's keeping her alive, but also her prison. I thought it was just really well. done. And, you know, within the realm of, like, I got a little bored of, like, Amon's dreams and, like, the darkness of Harron Hall and what are you guys doing here? And I loved when Allison came that they, like, just didn't know how to be with a third person.

Yeah. Nice. That is what she said. I, that, um, sorry. I can't help that. I mean, you literally can't help me. I know. I'm sorry. Learn that over 10 years. I can't remember what I was saying. She was cool. Honestly, it doesn't matter what you were saying. Love that for her. Or I'm really sorry for her.

Yeah, dead son. Terrible, terrible to hear that. More of heightens the Melisandra comp in terms of just like the clarity of this long life. The question of magic and like the cost, obviously different circumstances. And Melisandra is like pledged to a religious faction,

which is different for Alice. But I did like hearing her talk about and I mean, obviously, drastic tonal shift here. In an episode where Helena kills herself, like hearing what Alice says here, I wanted to go with him with her son, right, that she tried to kill herself and couldn't

and realize then that the price she had to pay. We always talk about this. This is something we love to talk about with like, what is the cost and price of magic? I really like when stories show us that. This is a horrific version of it. It drives me crazy when they don't. There should always be a cost. It shouldn't matter that John Snowk get back from the day.

And also, in terms of now some of the magic Alice is seeking now. Yeah. What do you guys read based on, through the lens of this history? Does she want dragons of her own because she wants vengeance against the Targaryens who burned Harenhor's castle and killed her son, a strength to match their strengths? Or is it because she's seeking a way out and she thinks based on this history that Dragon Flame is the only exit?

That's an interesting question. I don't have a clue. Did it die that way? Yeah. Oh, I thought she was trying to... I think that's in the mix here based on the way we hear her talk about. Well, yeah. To be a writer.

But I don't, I feel like if she had wanted to get torched by a dragon, she could have provoked, you know, Karaqse's into doing that. Bairn-Burme? Yeah. That could have happened. I think it's, I don't ever want to be that vulnerable again. So I will arm myself with my own army of. Also, she's been putting a lot of work. It's like, Bull Durham.

Like, you know, she gets these prospects in Harenhall. Sometimes you win, sometimes it loose. But she's like, she's just like, you know, I'm just like, it's a long season. I got this guy here. He's dreaming.

I'm his mom. I'm not his mom. Yeah. And then I got my underwear. The cock. Let him go to show. Yeah. It's getting a little late.

Let's run through a couple of characters quickly. Alan was the one who jumped out just because he jumped a sword into the high priest of the seven. Does this track for you guys? What we saw from Allen in the sex? Okay. So here's my argument for it. Yeah. This question of legitimacy that, like,

Corliss has been, that his father has basically made the central preoccupation of his illegitimate children's life, the idea that their queen is going to do something that their father neglected to do, which is give them the last name and, you know, legitimize them. Yeah. He gets it just in a roundabout way by becoming this trusted. When she says you have the blood of Ovalieria and you, that's her acknowledging to a certain degree, you know, and her just utilizing demon language to sort of get him to do

what she needs him to do. Does this track for the Allen we know from this show so far, and our understanding of him from the book? I would say no, but I do think it's a compelling storyline of Alan, this quite stalwart young man, to sort of dedicate himself

to a monarch, be sort of whispered in the ear, have his brother say like, hey man, this is a dark path, let's not do this. And for Alan to to watch us watch her sort of corrupt Alan

I think is very powerful. I think Alan also sees like he's like in touching distance I could be with Bala I could be Baila's gonna love this

Hand of the King I could be something like really important in the court here yeah like I have a really good thing coming considering where I was

at the beginning of season two or something like that and yes is it an extreme expression of that belief in Reneiro or that that desire for legitimacy, for sure. But it's his choice and his hand that does it

rather than waiting for his father or his... Yeah, for sure. To get like this paperwork sign so that it's like, you're cool now. 100%. On the other hand, I do always like to track like he who swings a sentence must swing the sword, who says a sentence must swing the sword.

And the fact that she, she said early in the episode, like, you go handle the Tumbleton. Once you do, I will kill Aegon personally. When it comes to the septon, she's like, Alan, you do it. And I don't know if that was just a test of his loyalty or whatever, but just sort of like, why don't you do it right here?

Or she's still squeamish from like not executing Hightower, Otto. But when you're squeamish in the Thrones universe, for me, I would say let's not have our monarchs or our leaders kill people. But like in the throne's universe, if you say someone should die, you should be the one to do it if you believe the Ned Stark of it. I think it's also with Alan, first of all, I thought just the kind of inverting the positions that Adam and Alan are in. You know, like if we think of the awkward dinner scene earlier in the season,

the look on Alan's face when Adam was so like, almost like worshipful toward Renera. And he had reasons, right? He's a dragon rider now. And Alan was like, what the fuck, man? To see that flipped where Adam was like, did you know this? Did you know that she has Bala confined? And Alan, who has had this, like, romantic interlude with Bela that Adam would die for.

It's like, I don't really give a shit about that. I'm focused on this other thing. The once in future king, once in future Lord of the Tides language, very interesting, obviously. I thought that the Valeria, the You're the Blood of a Valeria whisper from Renera was very clarifying as well.

I think on the one hand, keeping that where it is right before the thrust of the sword makes sense because that's such a massive thing for Alan to do. On the other hand, if something like that had happened before his scene with the Valerian soldiers

or with Adam might have helped a little bit. Mostly I think it's interesting and effective as a way in this series that constantly is reminding us of the corrosive effect of proximity to power, that that doesn't end at the monarch, right? Alan was like, I'm not interested in matters of the court a handful of episodes ago and now look. More importantly, what was with the accent on that Valerian guy? Had some questions for you about this. I just had some question. Bela and Adam. Yeah. What takeaways from this episode? I didn't have like a huge rundown for them other than they're obviously buckling under Rainer's rule.

I think Bayla's thesis statement of like you keep people around and you need them and as soon as you don't, you have no use for them. You know, this is something that Mal and I, all of us have been talking about all season, is sort of the mismanagement of your people and sort of like how a little kindness can go a long way. But for Bayla to say that right before Renera just kicks Masaria out of the continent because she is no longer used to her. But knows way too much to be close by. jumped right off that wagon and no one fucking noticed, unbelievable. Masaria never takes her ride over to Esos that she's supposed to take. That's just not something she likes to do.

As book readers, we'll talk about this in the book spoiler section on the deep dive, but this seems to be a very interesting breadcrumb trail for book readers. It's getting the theory brain going. It would be a new thing that Masaria is here. And her watching her near our way. It's just a very interesting. Strong theories about this. I think on the Bayla Adam front, like the other thing is just when we think about the

Dragon Math, which is so central in this episode many times again, it was like Sixth Draggats, Sixth Dragons. Well, Ulf is just Team Ulf now. He's not Team Black anymore. And Bela and Adam, like, they are, but how do they feel about it? How do they feel right now about Renira, her cause? They haven't even heard about what happened at Tumbleton. So it's like, you have this arsenal, but how is that going? That's also... What state is Hew in after holding his dead wife or his arms? If I had to make a prediction without being a book reader, I would just imagine that not. Targ Dragon Writers will be under incredible scrutiny by Runehra.

Interesting. We have some questions from the audience. I wanted to ask really quickly if you had something in mind, what was a season three highlight for you and what was one thing you might say you were a little disappointed by? We can actually keep it to highlight. Let's leave with positivity. I just think that Darren stuff was done so. We didn't talk about Darren.

Yeah. Like, Darren, where is he? Yeah? I don't know. Is that clarifying? Is that his... Desirian? Did not get to be deployed in this battle. But yeah, I think that. The Darren Orman and then eventually Gwain stuff was enormously... Like, every time they cut to Tumbleton and I wasn't like, ugh, I was like, oh, I'm excited to go to Tumpleton was not something I would have expected for the season, despite my love for James Norton. So I think they smashed that.

Yeah, I agree. It's Team Green, which is just... just, man, boy, like Ormond, Darren, Gawain, those were my favorite scenes. Egon and Laris, always a delight. Thailand. Thailand looked great in the sweaty shirt. Those scenes were just so consistently good and entertaining. I did think that the bulk of the Reneer scenes this season were really gripping and mesmerizing. And Emma Darcy's, from a story perspective, but Emma Darcy's performances, as we already said today, was just unbelievable.

And so those were really compelling, too. I think if you did want to hit a what didn't quite measure up, it's kind of what we opened with, which is just, even more broadly than that, this cluster of characters who just didn't get enough screen time for us to totally like... Black Allie got a line. Yeah.

And I should say, sounds boring. Not killing the women and children. Sounds boring. The shot of her on horseback, like firing arrows, incredible. Very cool. But yeah, Black Alley, Oscar Tully and Roddy the Ruin, like if they had had two more episodes,

I'd like to believe that they could have given us some like... You know, we know you never fuck to bear, like some sort of fireside chat on the campaign. I really enjoyed two parts of the season that really stood out to me. One was the third episode, which was shot from the nearest POV. I wish the show had done more of stuff like that. I wish the show would dedicate more episodes largely to a character doing stuff and moving and negotiating, like, a scene after a scene after a scene with, like, cause and effect. I also really loved the Agon, Laris,

Thailand and Laris especially because it felt like Old School Thrones to me where these characters were out on the road changing over the course of a season. I think if I had any disappointment, it would be there were a couple of kinds of conversation that I felt like happened 11 times. Yes.

And I was like, I got it. And like do this again when something has changed rather than like we're kind of reiterating. like, I don't like this. Well, it's too bad. You know, like over and over. That was what I bumped on so hard in episode six. I do think seven and eight pushed beyond that into more like forward momentum.

But I felt that like three quarters of the way through the season for sure. I think the other thing that the season nailed was the dragon stuff. It was fucking awesome. Like it was just amazing. It's probably as good as you could make it. It's just like the show as a story, as a text would work no matter what. But the show is a visual spectacle. if the dragon stuff isn't where it is.

It's like a calamity. So I don't know. I mean, I'm so looking forward to that aspect of season four, in addition to obviously being with all of our problematic faves who keep doing terrible things to each other. HOTD season four right into presidential election, right? Chill vibes. Okay, I have a couple of questions here from our watchers, listeners.

And this actually hits a question I wanted to ask you guys. happened with the three dragons at the end of the episode. Was anybody riding Caraxies and Vermethor? So, Caraxies is Damon. Vermethor would be Hugh, who's holding his... So it's, it's, it's, cheroxies chasing Silver Wing and then Vermethor flying in behind the two of them. And... A little plume of flame from Caraxies towards Silver Wing. So dragons... What's on Vermithor's mind? Because Vermithor and Silverwing are, like a bonded pair for life. Mated? Is that what they are? It was a little head nuzzle a couple weeks ago. Well, I didn't know. So do dragons have to mate to make eggs?

We're going to send you some readings from Septim Barth that are going to blow your fucking eye. But also some fan-fanged. But isn't it like, it's not like crocodiles where they're just like, whoops, I dropped some eggs. I don't know. Dreamfire. I've said questions about that. I actually don't know the answer to that. Oh, man.

I'm thinking of a sweet dreamy dreamfire this episode. I need to focus. Why were the three dragons, two of which don't have riders, one was blown smoke at the other? Like, what was happening there? Well, I mean, we're one episode removed from all of the dragons attacking each other amid the carnage and the chaos. So they're going to take action. The question is, are there riders guiding their acts? action or are their instincts and their own emotion guiding the action.

I would say in a Tumbledon battle sequence that I thought was pretty great and cool, that like seven second stretch of the dragons flying after each other didn't necessarily clearly convey that. But again, we see Keraxis blowing flame and we do a Vermethor is like, Vermethor is an unknown quantity. I think that's what it's supposed to tell us is like. Silverwing, what side is Vermeuvre? Is Vermeighthor going to help Keroxies?

It's like fucked up or protects silver sides. Caraxis is like, you fucked up, I got to torch you. What is Vermeth War going to do? Indeed. Dun, da, dun. Bronze Fury. Big Cahuna 216 asked for the crew, who is your Dion Waiters in season three. Oh, man.

Great question. Is it Ulf? I think it's Roddy. Roddy, yeah. I wish he had some more screen time, but I really enjoyed his attitude about life. Can't fucking wait. You know what? Torn Mandarly.

Oh, that's a good. Those are both great picks. Sabbath, Frey, like, wishes that she were a nominee. All the cats. I miss the cats in the last few episodes. Yeah, Torin's a good one. Those are good picks. I think those are the two contenders.

Did you have a Dragon MVP for the season, Mel? Oh, I think it has to be Sunfire at the end of the day. It's one of the most iconic moments in the history of the... Is it? Last week? Yeah. I thought so. Oh, no, I was asking, like, is it no...

Oh, I don't know. I would go sheepstealer. Sheepie was great. Sunfire really landed a big hit. Correct. Dreamfire or Tatarian, I don't know. The Blue Queen. I was expecting a little more involvement from Tissarian than we got.

Where did Tessarian go? Just still chained in the step. Darren was trying to like, great questions. Great questions. We'll talk about this, I guess, more on the deep dive. But I will say, Gwain saying my boy to Darren really got me in this episode. Really dead. We should wrap it up there.

So you guys still have energy for Tuesday. Tuesday's House of Ours, Deep Dive into the Season. finale. And Monday, check out the Brian Condole interview. Yeah, and Monday, Andy and I will talk about this on the watch. Heck yeah. Thank you so much for listening or watching or both this season. We really appreciate it. It's always a fun show to do.

Thanks to everybody worked on the show, Arjuna and the whole crew. Squad. Alia. Carlos, Jacob, Scott, Jomey. Oh, he did an order. Sheepstealer. Yeah. Chiefs. Sheepstealer crushing it. Thank you, too. For your knowledge.

You're listening. Thanks to you, man. It's such a lot. Will you do, we'll be back for season two of a Night of the Seven Kingdom? So you ready to commit right now on the public record? I'm not. I can't. I mean, I am, but this is like the one free agency.

Like, I go on a year-to-year contract with House of War. We never know. We'll see what the terms are. You know? You love that show. You'll be back. Talk to you guys soon. Take care.

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