The Reel Rejects - REJECT RECAP: House of the Dragon 1x4 "King of the Narrow Sea" REVIEW!

Episode Date: September 12, 2022

DAEMON & RHAENYRA?!? House Of The Dragon Ep 4 "King of the Narrow Sea" Reaction, Recap, Breakdown, & Full Review as Rhaenrya Targaryen's maidenhood is called into question after a night of debauchery with Daemon, King Viserys continues to struggle with his crumbling family legacy, Otto Hightower receives some bad news & SO MUCH MORE. #HouseOfTheDragon #GameOfThrones #HBO #HBOMax #MattSmith Become A Super Sexy Reject For Full-Length T.V. & Movie Reactions + HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Watch Alongs! https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Support The Channel By Checking Out Our High-Quality Merch: http://shopzeroedition.com/collections/reel-rejects-merch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-reel-rejects/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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What's going on there? Listeners, the Rejection. We're going to watch House of the Dragon episode four. If you guys want to check out our reaction, it's up on YouTube.com slash Real Rejects. But if you want to just hear our thoughts, stick around. It's why it's a podcast on a visual medium. All right, let's get to it. Yeah. All right.

So this show's awesome. This is a terrific piece of television. Yeah. like we're back that damn this is bold as it's like the characters it's i love how they're doing the time jumps because it's not just so plot driven it's so it's like so wildly character driven you just watch out how these people just change over time and you just got such different sides of everyone it i felt like so many different directors influences in this like tonal wise like there were parts of it that reminded me of Alex Garland who did stuff like Ex Machina annihilation

and then there are elements of it that also kind of remind me of Ariaster who did films like Hereditary and Mitzamar and I would also say like a tinge of Lars von Trier that sexual twistedness yeah yeah where you know like I know the the the the the the religion and deities that these guys worship is not like Christianity, but like we grew up Catholic, we're like sexual things. Lust are very, very much they're frowned upon.

They're not looked, they're not look kindly upon. Shame. Just the thoughts. Shame. And it was, it was a fascinating look at it. We're like Game of Thrones.

It's kind of just like the world of it. It just inhabits it. And then I did think it was actually kind of interesting that when they did go to the brothel And that's like the, the seedy underbelly of this world that was just so much people had given into their desires, given into their bodily wants and such. Ultimate hedonism. And how it was captured in like a dark, cringy way. Well, yeah, it feels like you're watching like a, like a witch movie or something like that. Because, yeah, it's like all these long shots.

A little Robert Eggers in here, too. Yeah, because you're looking through fire and everything's lit by fire. you have that sort of dancing strobing but also very dim light just associates you with shadowy deeds and yeah you're going through these narrow winding streets and in through corridors and you're watching a show and then you're in the pleasure house and yeah like it feels very carnal it's so much of uh yeah it's a good word for a carnal um it so much of it seemed to be dealing with uh the themes of when our desires have great consequences You know, because so much of the time, you know, especially with a character like Renera, a lot of these characters, too, you know, it's not only the consequences, but how our desires of what we want to conflict so much with the reality of what we have and how that makes us feel. You know, like when it is cutting back and forth between like this, this lustful situation, because they didn't actually, like, go all the way, right? If I read that scene correctly. Damon yeah yeah that's why she still needed more yeah yeah exactly yeah they didn't go all the way so they they went a further they went enough they went enough they went enough to it was like oh my god

he definitely broke some firsts yeah uh so they they went they went enough but um because like when they're cutting to there and then you're even cutting to alicent and there's so much about you know how alicent is serving her role and she's just like surrendering her body shouldn't be very careful my words here because YouTube sucks like surrendering her body to the situation

and you see that she is just not about it not there but it's it's what she has to do and it's like she's a young woman and I'm sure she would probably desire some hot young stunt she's like a love at the pleasure house

yeah I'm sure she would but this is what she has to do and then you're watching how you know like alicent is doing what she has to do clearly not happy and then you watch renara giving into some desires and she's enjoying it right yeah it's like a it's like i know the actress millie alcoq is is not a teenager um but i'm so used to her for being like a teenager yeah i was like oh yeah i have to like work my brain around it because i'm like especially when she's doing certain scenes that, yeah, it's just, she's not a teenager.

Yeah. She's like, actually in her 20s, all right, okay. Yeah, my mind has to kind of catch up a little bit because I'm so used to seeing her in the frame. It's okay. That discomfort is a good thing. It's a good thing. Yeah. It's a good thing.

Yeah. Otherwise, I don't know if I want to watch this. Yeah, this seems unethical. An actor, she's a teenager. How is this on the most popular network on television? Yeah. But, yeah, as she's given in her desires, that how she suffers, the consequence. is for it, or as Allison, you know, does it, but either way, it's, it leads to a life of

suppressing what we really want and being ultimately unhappy for it in the service of duty and honor, you know. And having your autonomy in that side of your life basically removed in the interests of, yeah, your political, yeah, uh, worth or, you know, yeah, whatever you are to the king and all that sort of other stuff that takes hold. Like, it's funny that people don't do on this show so much for like being woke because like so much of this is about and they say it multiple times like she was a young man

no one would care like she could go out and do whatever she wants you know in the pleasure house or with anybody with a family member whoever but because you're a woman and in the position you are yeah it's like people are gunning for you and you can't live you know you can't get out there and live

no I mean maybe they don't gun for being woke because of the fact that she's just a well-ridden character and the world that in happen since mainly a lot of men you know and so yeah i think that you know what we saw ronaira go through in this episode was so fascinating like when she started a like just a i i just admire the writing so much like when she's talking to alison and she gets into like she's been caught mode but she has to lie her way out of it she's such gone her

like your grace sister you know saying things i'm like she doesn't she doesn't talk like this man That's not if she talks She doesn't resort to this You only just started to mend this bridge Just getting desperate And then watching her lie With such conviction Is not something that in the past

You feel like you've got to know these people Remarkably well Despite even the time jumps Despite the time jumps Despite that it's only been four episodes You feel like you really know these people which is such a testament to the show so to see her lie

is like oh I'm not I'm not I'm not that's not the renner I know I know her for being the one who says the uncomfortable truths all the time it stands up for what she really wants and thinks you know so to see her be put in that position

and almost like borderline submissive to a situation it's I don't know I got a process this episode I don't want to just repeat the word uncomfortable. It kind of aches. You know, it's a little bit of an achy feeling I'm noticing in my heart.

Like, it's sort of like twisting it. Well, yeah, because there's so much, they have a great, I think, blend of, you know, you're there for part of it. You see, you know, this sort of, I don't know, it comes from multiple perspectives because, you know, as you're, I love the intercutting and the contrast they draw in that scene. Because at first I was like, oh, it was kind of random. We just cut back to Allison. but then the more times they do that you see yeah that contrast and it's like you're there and in parts with rinera you know some of you is like yeah get out there like you know go see the city like you know you live this life concerned with things inside the walls of you know

your your castle home but like really go see what life is like and yeah you know you go enjoy some earthly pleasures it's a very human thing but then to then realize that like okay A, it's happening with her uncle, and then B, I don't know what if he actually, like, they seem to have a real rapport, but then you're like, well, is he just trying to use her to get under Vesaris's skin? And then, you know, you have the bit where Alicent and Reneira kind of break the ice again after so long, realizing that they're both subject to this system and both unhappy in various ways because of it. And then watching as that is effectively kind of called into question and destroyed. and then you have like Otto Hightower who we've come to this point of being like, I don't really like or trust this guy,

I love watching him, and I love Risa Fons's performance. And then in this episode, you have him in arguably the most sympathetic and he's clearly acting, or it would seem, the performance suggests he's acting out of integrity, at least in this isolated moment. So it takes all these things you know about characters

and all these ways you feel about them, and it really plays on and forces them in uncomfortable positions. And I feel like, you know, especially in the puritanical world of the United States you know there's a certain amount of like shame surrounded any

sexual conversation and so to see that rightfully so as dirty you should be ashamed you're going to hell every sperm is sacred but like that's already such a kind of angsty faculty of life and then you

dump all these politics and yeah the warring perspectives and the idea of like it doesn't really matter what the truth is it just matters how people perceive it and you get the whole thing with the play and you already know this mounting weight of like the people my dad's counsel have their perceptions of me and they don't want me on the throne and it seems like the common folk don't and yeah it just draws this really painful situation where yeah all you want is relief and the characters seem to express this longing for relief especially ronera like i'd love to be just without the constraints of my duty and my mantle and these things that have been thrust upon me and the episode never gives you a moment to breathe because yeah the whole time you are just kind of tense. No, my shoulders started hurt. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I had this like tension just kick right in

right by the sides of my neck. Yeah. It was just kicking in just so hard. I'm like, I'm not enjoying this, but I can't stop watching. Yeah, and it's weird because it's like I, and you get conflicted even in moments like, or I did, where I like, I love

the back and forth that Millie Alcock and Matt Smith have, and I love especially when they're speaking, it's old Valerian, right? When they're speaking to each other in that way. And during that sequence, I was like, yeah, you don't go. Until they actually, you know, turn toward each other in the pleasure house, you know, you're like, yeah, I kind of like it when they hang out.

They should spend more time to get, like, you kind of feel that rush of, you know, freedom through that. And I'm like, I like both these guys. And I like Damon the most when he's hanging with Renier. And then, yeah, it twists it in a place we've been in Game of Thrones. you know lower before but yeah into something that is just so uncomfortable and strange and and you know he says that thing about like well you know why not me why not somebody who she knows and who is you know of royal blood and you're like I guess for the time that's an argument but ugh like yeah it just it

it I think it plays on the fundamental thing that we've all been through of you sneak out you get some fun in you experience a little bit of the world that's hitherto been kind of kept from you and there is that rush and catharsis but also the immediate plunge back into consequences as you know the people who are above you or who see more of the picture than you do or have access to more of the picture than you do then come and and you know reprimand and or shame you for whatever it is and then you you know multiply that pile to crazy state craft iron throne circumstances and politics and stuff like that's all it is that's the game of thrones right there yeah it's a fascinating emotional interplay this episode good for uh good for Kristen though

good for Sir Kristen this is like the the one guy who's kind of all right well yeah man I think that's why they I think they do a good job at flushing that out that it's because it could have it could have just been that that feeling of exploring the sexual desires is a dark dark thing, but it shows something kind of sweet and beautiful between the two of them. Something that felt like they really are connected and there is a genuine romance between them.

And I think the show has done a good job on building up both. This is stuff that's been percolating throughout the years for these characters, us a few episodes, but years for them right from the first moment that you see in that first episode of Matt Smith puts the necklace around Rainer. It was like, is there something like?

I can't tell them maybe. I suppose so. well now you look back and you're like oh maybe yeah and then they're kind of and they bring it back at the beginning with the necklace too and it's so much about giving it i feel like that's probably what damon wanted was to put up the card out there of let me marry her like it's already gone to this point but then he wasn't even going all the way there so he even felt conflicted about it as well like he kept pulling away and at first i thought it was just like act of like come get me and then it wasn't and he just straight up abandoned her yeah and you could tell that he was in his own head about the whole thing too like i don't really know what damon's purpose for returning is that's part of the complexity of his character is that tug and pool of being and that's what's so great about all these characters is there's so many different things of what they all no one's one note he he wants more he wants power but he also wants connection he also wants family with the with the people

he's also combative with you know there's so many things happening i think going off of where the three episodes prior were building what i love about it is it seemed like the crumble would happen externally from a war or some shit like that but really what's causing everything to crumble is all within the castle and all within the family all the people with who are living in the high tower you know those are all that's where everything is starting to um it's like form and like like there's like a virus of insidious feelings just taken over and then seeping through everyone because everyone has desires and everyone has wants and needs and and they all have a certain direction they want to take so yeah it's kind of cool watching like renurping sort of like having to accept

the position season and willing to go through with the marriage but you know feeling that needs also protect her reputation as well it it was a really really like messed up episode i loved it yeah i loved i loved i love i love the uncomfortableness because when they are going through the city i'm like oh it's kind of like a jasmine thing and then when they're seeing the play i'm like oh it must be about just trying to convince agon to him like hey you're probably better off with agon taking the throne you know i i thought that's where the conversation was headed was them debating about it i didn't think it was going into this other this this very different direction and uh with auto was that was great that was that was excellent like they i know how to mess with you because

you've come and wanted him to get exposed and he did his job the way he was supposed to well that's the thing too is i think that contributes to that harsh feeling the episode gives you as you're like as much as you want him to be exposed it's still pangs when you're like ah but this isn't actually in this isolated situation the right thing isn't happening for everybody well he wasn't fired from being the hand

for lying yeah it was because of the thing Rainerah put out there yeah oh you wait so long right now you knew you knew this whole time and then she would dish that out to save her ass

yeah so I'm like me you pulled the cart at the right time. Well, that's the other thing I think they're really good at, and they're good at drawing characters in a way where you can, no one is ever 100% one thing, and that makes for compelling drama and mystery, but they're good at generally kind of depicting the characters who are calculating and who have very long-term view versus characters who, like, I love Damon partly because you always have to wonder, like, I don't know if he really does have an in-advance plan half the time.

I feel like he just does stuff on compulsion and because he is so minded towards these things. Obviously, they have political cunning and ramifications to them. But, yeah, they're good at drawing those different boundaries between, yeah, the very conniving characters versus the just super-impulsive characters. And I feel like you can kind of see that intersection with Reneura especially.

Well, I think also with Vassaris, that speech that he gave to Otto at the end, it seemed like it was a thing that he always kind of knew. Sure. you know you probably he's a lot of these people tend to go into denial about shit and like they have to really suck it up in order to especially breaking like yeah for visceris who's constantly like i'm just trying not to get everyone killed just trying to keep him happy okay trying to keep things not not everyone protesting all the time

like like i know everyone's self-interested all right i get it nothing we could do i sympathize for the guy sure a lot of the ways you know um because he's a great character there's so many people just getting used and tossed around and abused like alicent uh used the play he she played the king but she was also being kind of like hoored out by her father you know and so in that moment of when when they're having their intermingling at night i'm like well you know they're married and i know she's not into she's not doing anything bad right now it's uncomfortable it's hell of watch because she's so doesn't just do it because she has to but you know he was under the impression too that she was actually like

really in love with him and stuff and then it's just every you're just we're watching this viscera's guy just get like so hurt because you can tell there's so much love in this guy's hard like oh my wife doesn't really love me she was just using me and then after my mother wife who really did love me died in a terrible tragic death where my son died my own daughter i'm trying to keep this shit in order and actually banging my brother and now i'm like this is so all over the place you're watching this dude just deterior yeah not only that but my daughter refuses to let me help her because he seems still like committed to having her be the air

and it's like, oh, you're not helping me, man. Yeah, whoa. He's a great character too, like props to Patty Considine because I feel like it would be easy to make a character like this feel just like a dope but especially for... He's aware of a lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I feel like we've had Kings

similar, at least briefly, in other Game of Thrones seasons where you're like, ah yeah this guy's not made for this world at all um and and vizeras while there is a lot about him where i'm like yeah i mean you're not going to be the most sung about targary and king like yeah the the complexity with which they draw his pitfalls as a character versus the moments of strength i think are really compelling and and everybody it's testament to the casting everybody and and him as well like there's so much in the faces and so much in the performances along with the great

writing that like yeah i just can't take my eyes off and renaro is going to be marrying um the son of orlis who is the that is the husband of what not it's not rindero ranares rainis raines something like that yeah because i've been wondering where she's been and and having them have seen together again it's like oh damn them getting married it just it shows like rinera is not When in that argument that she was having with Rainis. Yeah, clearly. Yeah, oh, and I mean, imagine what they're going to have to talk about when she gets there. Yeah, I love it.

It's so messed up. I enjoy it so much. It's rich. It's dark but rich. It's like a, it's like a 97% dark chocolate. Because like the first three episodes were like, there were some real like horror, especially the first episode, a truly horrific birthing scene.

But for the most part, the show has been like dark messed up and fun. Yeah. And this was not... You get the crab feeder stuff. Yeah. You're like, I'm just entertaining, bro. This is so entertaining. And this episode was so dread heavy.

Yeah. And so much of a build in a way that felt more play-like. Like a play. Yeah. And then, you know, some extravagant, expensive TV show. It was very, very, very beyond intimate and not indulgent in, because sometimes, you know, with these shows, we need to do the fun stuff. And then hear him like, that was really sort of a twisted purpose this time.

Yeah. A real twisted purpose. Oh, yeah. And, I mean, that was a funny thing they said before the season. Like, we're not going to do as many gratuitous. love making scenes and this episode certainly has a lot of flesh on display but it does feel more like it is there for a direct purpose than just being like we're hboed we can uh well yeah i mean i think i think it just finally clicked with me now way late in this conversation of

it does admit that feeling of like you know if if people are participating in such group activities there's nothing technically wrong with that uh it's it's really the fact that through her perspective you know through the position she's in it's wrong for her to be there yeah you know um and so far beyond anything that she's usually subject yeah i can't say no to this that this is not going to lead to something good yeah so yeah i liked it it it felt like threatening one too like really great use of both music and sound design because especially during that sequence where they're out in the city

and they're headed with the pleasure house, there's that passage where the music even gives way to just this like unsettling, harsh ringing tone that just gets louder and louder and louder as this is all happening. And that really kind of struck

me on like a, I don't know, deep down sort of primordial level and it does feel like that kind of haze, that comes on when you are in a risky situation like that, and you are kind of losing innocence, and you are sort of in between the margins of acceptability and danger and all sorts of stuff.

Like it really, as much as like what's on the page and what is acted is really effective, they're also really good at transporting you in a tonal sensory way without, yeah, needing to be like, whoa, hey, you know, like this episode is so human in so many ways and that's partly what I think, makes it feel so harsh and so conflicting because it is all in there.

You don't need a dragon or a zombie creature or a big battle or something to hit that. You know, you just need the real margins of humanity and then multiply it by the time and place that we're in. Yeah. All right, guys. Well, what do you think of the episode? Leave your thoughts down below. subscribe and leave a like

and he'll lend this with a Patreon Anisa Olivia Nice we are typing in what your name means Oh here we go Here we go Oh my God

This is too long Yeah man Who wants to read all that Novel about Anisa All right thanks for being here We love you All right here we go Cool

Anisa beautiful girl can attest sometimes crazy but fun as hell to be around so true one time I saw her rob a bunch of homeless children

yeah they had it coming admittedly it was like what are you doing but surprisingly led to a lot of laughter it was crazy but it was fun as hell loves attention she vlogged the whole you can look it up it's amazing selling copies surprisingly

sounds offensive but actually really funny. You've got to see it. Rides the line. Shy at times. Oh, yeah, totally. I mean, approaching those homeless kids took a little bit of courage.

It took like an hour, yeah. It's not easy talking to homeless kids. No. You know. I relate to the homeless kids. I just don't understand like what that is. Very sweet, but can be mean

when she has to be. Yeah, like when she's shaking down homeless kids. Yeah, I mean, but, you know, mean when she has to be. And frankly, you got to do it for the abuse. incredibly sexy oh yeah oh my god yeah those homeless kids

were Thurston loyal and intelligent her body is to die for so many of them broke puberty that day she is booty delicious oh dude the boot wow the boot scoot

the hemisphere it encompasses oh yeah is so just perfect circumference goes through the imagine a line and you put the pencil in the paper Wormhole. Dude, flat circle.

Every guy seems to be drawn to her, and not just because of her amazing assettes. She's more than just her butt. That's for sure, man. She's got a bit of a brain. But the butt is a strong detail. She can be feisty. Oh, yeah, total bitch at times. But man, so hot.

God, Anisa. Oh, dude. Be a feisty as you want to be. You can get away with that, Anisa, because you're so booty-lisht. but that's one of the many reasons why you will love her because she's not actually a bitch yeah it's true because she's easy to talk to she's funny she's honest and has a beautiful smile and a big heart again huge ass definitely someone you don't want to lose that's true we have to lose that ass we don't want to lose her she's a tough warrior woman who is also hilarious

authentic and just so natural. You know, I'm going to ask for a better friend that is. So natural. So natural. Oh, natural. I'm just like, that's the word to describe it. No preservatives. Natural. No processed foods. People are always like, natural in what way?

I'm like, you know what I mean. Yeah, natural. 100% organic. And they're always like, you need to elaborate more. Repeating the word natural does not tell me more about what anisa is natural at or in. or about i'm like look here's how i would describe it natural natural it's in her nature and frankly that's why she had to step in and be at those homeless kids because they just kept asking too many questions yeah yeah it just got on the way and she just naturally stepped in and dealt with

it took care of those homeless kids that's right those homeless kids never really got their due that day into the ass thanks nisa Give me bread I think I just walk around with bread on me I think this is all of your twist right now What century are we in Someone's in a comment I'm a homeless kid

You don't have a phone you homeless kid What are you at the library right now what's going on YouTube account you're smarter You should be out there making a living If you're capable of this Thank you.