The Reel Rejects - REJECT RECAP: House of the Dragon 1x6 "The Princess and the Queen" - REVIEW!!

Episode Date: September 26, 2022

SO MANY TWISTS & TURNS! House Of The Dragon Episode 6 Reaction, Recap, Breakdown, & Review covering the ending, Dragons & Dracarys, Laena’s Death by Vhagar scene, Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), Rhanerya (Emma D'Arcy), Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), King Viserys, Aegon, Larys & Lyonel Strong, Ser Criston Cole, Corlys Velaryon, & EVEN MORE. #HouseOfTheDragon #GameOfThrones #HBO #HBOMax #MattSmith #rhaenyratargaryen #daemontargaryen 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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We have so much style under one roof because a friend knows you like options. Drop by or visit us at shanko.com. Shane Company, your friend and jeweler. Hello, listeners of the Reject Nation. We are going to watch House of the Dragon today. If you want to catch our reaction, that is at over at YouTube.com slash the real rejects. and otherwise just stick around and you can listen to us here

with our lovely voices what a lovely day it's a lovely day yeah it's so absorbingly dark yeah yeah

oh my god what a like they're all sorted and twisted and there's so many intersections between personal and political and everything in between and yet this one felt like the most

of all that like Jesus so many twists of the knife so many people burned a lot I don't trust my family anymore yeah keep an eye on jabby Koea you're gonna wake up in a locked room and lit on fire I don't trust any of them

they're always looking out for themselves kill me in a heartbeat if it meant they could gain some power I just try to advise you free of personal gain free of personal self-interest sir oh my goodness

gracious can't trust anyone and you can't make you can't throw anything out there you don't expect somebody to act upon that was depressing a shit

that was that was like so desolate and desperate and yeah and just as tense like they're really good at like once you get started even the chiller scenes are still sort of like your shoulders are up and you're like i don't know i got a bad feeling about this yeah yeah that was really it was really it's like stepping into a void

i i think it's so well constructed there's such a power to the right opening scene i really believe in you've got to nail that opening scene and especially for such a time jump and almost like it just reframes the construction of like those previous episodes you know i once her i think i think it was vince giligan who said there was a some screenwriter once talked about actually i think i heard from dan merle who's who's quoting someone else and i was like oh that's interesting about um which if you're writing a pilot you should um you know write that pilot and then write the second episode and the second episode's your pilot. And I was like, oh, that's actually a really... That is a great revelation. It's a great tip. It's a fantastic tip.

Oh, my God. And then stepping into this, I was like, you know, in some ways, it sort of feels like this was the first episode. Yes. You know, obviously, it wouldn't work as well, and you do need some additional context to really keep up. But in some ways, it does feel like a first episode to a series. and then the other ones

I love how like this comes in the middle of it all and then you have all that other supporting episodes prior to help elevate this episode and it's so strong and I think this show has such a great grasp

on how to handle the in-between with the time jumps because all the strained relationships and all the emotions that have been percolating throughout that have just been boiling

over like you have someone like alicent what i what i love of the parallel that i've drawn with alicent and rinara is like alison's so out to get renair like she's just so out to get her she's been so many times and we've seen alison to send to the the position of queen through power of manipulation you know even though we witnessed it happened in a way where it didn't and seemed like she really wanted it, but her father, you know, manipulated her into doing it to force her to do it. And now that she's here, she has embraced the position of queen. She, she is queen. And more importantly, she's a mother.

And she's a very protective mother. And you got the same thing with Renera. And they both just want to protect their families. they're media families you know they're next of kin and stuff and that's where so much of this mind games comes from and try to take each other down and stuff

but it's like how I always talk about like a big part of plotting is you don't want to just see plot unfold you really want to see what will happen to characters via the plot like what will become of them what will change them

and I loved how like this whole episode Alicent played brilliantly by Olivia Cook like Alicent is just so headstrong and so determined

and just like try to cut through the bullshit and I think that opening scene is so strong of the way they paint the light like you're capturing her from Reneira's perspective

the show has pretty much put you in Rennara's perspective as she is the protagonist of the show and when she gives birth this struggle and then immediately it's this like

foreboding ominous presence of like, what is Allison like now? Yeah. And why does she want to see this baby right now? What's going on? No, she just wants to make sure. She's like, hey, black, yeah, looks nothing like that guy. Go back, try again. I'm not going to recognize his air.

Such, this is a bullshit baby. Bastard son. And, and, uh, because like, like, Alicent is, is, is, is frustrating at the same time. I'm like, well, she's not wrong. I get you. Yeah, she gets to be, and the thing that this show's got to me to become compassionate for her in an angle, because you don't want to see Rennara taken down, you don't want to see Rennara. Like, that's the thing you don't want as an audience member.

Like, I don't want to see Rennara suffer. And yet, Alicent is not wrong about what her pursuit is of the truth she's trying to expose. Yeah. Because she fears for the life of her. her children dying yeah where that's all according to the rules like she has followed suit and she seems like she's been faithful this entire time like i was wondering you know does she sleeper and maybe the show will unveil that she she does have some fun with someone else on the side but the impression i get is that she abides by the rules yeah that she follows

through and and and and it is like oh it's such it's so well constructed how none of this is is black and white and i love how it's just all like just messed up families everyone just so messed up yeah well you can and you can feel how and why people act the way they do even if it hurts or even if you don't you know want yeah even if you're rooting for one character or another you can't help but see where each one is coming from and i thought like alison has a really great and fascinating journey over this and and all that groundwork they laid really does hold up because, yeah, like, that ending beat where she finds out that, you know, the Sun Strong, whatever that guy's name is with the cane, you know, when she finds out what he...

Laris, there you go, yeah, she finds out what he really did. And you can tell, like, oh, this is probably her moment to cross over to the other side of, like, oh, now I'm in some kind of disastrous circumstance. I didn't ask to be a part of, and I'm now in the game. I feel like part of what you get to watch characters do is either indulge in or abstain the game of thrones. And so now she, like it or not, has been pulled into it despite her best efforts. And it's like those foundations make so much sense when you see, like, her father, that last scene she had with him after putting so much faith in Reneira. And then you see the way they interact now, Allison and Reneera interact.

And it's like, you can tell that deep, deep, deep, deep down there's that wish. of like, you know, there's that bond we used to have. It's somewhere in there, but I just can't trust you anymore. I can't put my faith in you anymore no matter what game you talk. And you can feel the strain of the history of

the characters, but also you can really feel the immediacy, like when she has that scene with Agon, that wild scene with Agon where she like grabs his face and is like, no, like she might try and eliminate you. Like you see the corner she's been pushed into, and I love that one

bit she says because i really felt it for her as much as you know everybody has their opinion when she says that thing of like nobody's i don't have anybody in my corner like nobody is lying on my behalf nobody is is you know at least taking what i have to say seriously and i really felt that for her i was like i get it you know you're in a very thankfulist position and you're pretty much doing it alone you know she is doing it alone yeah like she doesn't have the support of her husband not at all not at all he's like i just want to want to get along that's definitely uh That's definitely the right child. All three, all those kids.

And you feel like... You don't see the black? And I feel like so much... And it creates a fascinating scenario because I'm like, I don't even think King Vezeris would need to do like the full-on letter of the law because everybody, you know, like part of the charm of these shows and part of the truth of the matter is everybody stands on the ceremony, even though everybody knows that to some degree or another, the ceremony is bullshit and built on lies. and yeah i don't know there's there's i lost my train of thought there

ceremony train of lies yeah you know it's it's that thing of oh yeah if viziris had even just i don't know had a straight talk with her i feel like so much trouble could be averted but it's his like staunch adherence to nah i like he he plays the willful ignorance really well because you can tell he knows the truth and you can can also see him creating lies for himself to believe and then pass off his well he has to believe it because if he does if he doesn't believe it that's condemnation for his daughter yeah he has to exile and kill her because it's not like she just gets yeah she doesn't

just get in trouble she's dead yeah and uh at the end of day he does love her so yeah that's uh i love the i love the dejective nature of every every character portrait here because everyone's so retreated and has to live under a guy's like all Allison wants like personally my favorite performance in this episode was Olivia Cook I thought she was very

gripping yeah and because she's so on edge and it's just such a desperation for truth and I do think who's playing where you're gonna Emma Darcy Emma Darcy Darsie fantastic so internal yeah and I love a good I love a good performance where you have to, it's very physical and you have to keep it together.

There's a truth underneath the surface, but you can't let on. Like that whole beautiful shot where she's, it's the afterbirth situation she's got going on and she's trying to walk through the halls and demonstrate character and strength and be protective of her newborn. and she's got to like just not let the trail of blood but also not look like she's suffering here and has to has to be strong and and every scene she has there's so much going on underneath her dialogue there's and the the reactions that she's having towards um oh my god totally blank on his name there's a lot of names here people what is the name of the the husband who's oh laner laynor um like every moment with laynor and then or has just escaped into a life of just he's just it's just pure escapism for the guy debauchery having fun messing around party he's like a college kid who can't get in touch with his emotions you know yeah like a dude who just went through the worst heartbreak fight man yeah it's like i love that the last episode was that that dreadful wedding moment where they where everything fell apart for them and truths truths have been coming out like people know the truth the note but it's just not public knowledge right now and or something that we can't

no one can just talk about then you you're you catch up to here and you watch how everyone's changed since that moment in time like christin is so angry like he was such a sweetheart he was so sweet he was like the gentlest spirit and then here he's so alicent and wants revenge like you said playing the long game it it doesn't even it's like he doesn't the strikeman's a character who's who would say i i'm seeking revenge but it's going to be coming out in all the most bitter envious ways possible oh yeah and that whole taunting and using the children as a way to ring out the truth uh from oh my god from uh harwin harwin harwin strong break bones yeah from harwin was was such a powerful scene because it's they're using the kids are the truth to the

whole situation yeah and and nothing is more um evokes something so primal and nothing speaks more volumes of truth than than the defense of nature one too you get to watch him play a mirror almost to like moments he's had in the past it's like he has that moment with alison where he's just like the guilt is too much i need to say something you know like he reveals himself and he basically lures harwin into the same kind of situation and then combines it with his little wedding display it's just like Yeah, man, you know, now you know how I feel, you know, break it and wail on me for a minute. And then, yeah, expose yourself, like play right into my trap. And then Damon is a character who, you know, when you meet this character, he's someone who, who seemed to want it all.

Like, he wanted it all. And he's hidden away from a lot of those desires now. It's obviously there, but it's, it's brutal, like this coldness has been. brood over him which is also allowed again for this great fleshing out of character of you know it's it's kind of like those movies where you got that that bad ass past character who kind of like uh i don't know i don't know why this is the one that comes to mind it's not the best representation but decently apt uh bob oed kirkin no fucking nobody okay as the kind of character is like i got a badass past and yeah i've had to push it away

and I like my family yeah but there's there is this other urge inside of me but I have to hide from it and even though he hides from it it's it's led to would look like a relationship where he actually did love her sure and and the that ugliness still managed to to give me a word John to emerge and yeah sure resurface trying I don't think of a word. It's like grows like a virus. Seeped back. Yeah, yeah.

I guess that works. Like the seep back and it relapsed into it. The ugliness will overtakes a situation again and then led to the death of her. In a way that was so emotional because I really liked her and she was the one with the most heart, the mom. I was going to say this is the episode where the two characters who demonstrated the most like genuine either hearts or just like. non-self-interested honor both got flamed yeah in this episode everyone's so many like little fingers here i know everyone's an amateur little finger everyone's an amateur little finger all this like plotting against each other because yeah you have this strong it's interesting how you

have um who was the okay there's lionel there's laris and who's the dad uh the hand Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Where is he? Fine. No, no, no, no, no, it is Lionel. Lionel. Harwin is the city watch. And then, yeah, Laris is the conniving.

Because Lionel seems to uphold the most integrity. And then you have Harwin, who doesn't seem like a bad guy. It doesn't like a bad guy at all. But he does not follow through with the rules and is committing an act that could lead to some terrible things. And you got Lawrence, who's just like, sneezy and connivy. Yeah, yeah. Sneasy. Sleasy.

Sleazy. He's slimy. Yeah. And it just hit me that that's the conversation that Viceris has with Lionel, like a few episodes back when he steps up to him. And Vesius is all drunk. He's like, I bet you want to marry my daughter off to Sir, breakbones, your son, blah, blah, blah. And he's like, fancy idea, but no, sir. And sure enough, it essentially happened, even though it's not really.

of his design, and then it leads to his death. Like, that's a great portent, like great ironic foreshadowing. Yeah. Ugh. But, yeah, I feel like what they do with Damon is fascinating because you expect such a... You expect him to be almost like a Joffrey at the outset

just because he has this sort of wild and... That's Agon. Soon enough, yeah. But I don't know. He comes in with this very sort of almost... amoral, just like, I don't know, he could do anything in any time, kind of feral energy. And now to watch him as he is kind of like the most simmered down version of that. And you're like, you can tell that that impulsive guy is still in there. But as you would, yeah, contemplate, just like

settling down and getting fat. And then also, you know, I love the unspoken notes. Like, I feel like so much of his actual character is never in the dialogue. Because, like, their connection kind have fascinated me there like it and and to draw contrast from like the first episode where it's like the serious has the back and forth with himself about like what do i do do i cut the baby out does the mom like you know uh and then to watch damon have to go through that here but it felt so different and it does feel like he cares and just can't communicate that truly yeah like and uh yeah like the way he he stumbles to the beach just in time to watch her you know be incinerated with their unborn child like i didn't even know her that and it's gave me so emotional it was such a

powerful moment i was tearing up at at that moment it's so powerful it like there's something very uh connective and and i think relatable of that feeling of like i'm asking your own pet to murder you yeah put you out of your like this is the way i got to go out like she she said she said when she died how'd she say she wanted to die was a battlefield or by fire i figure if she's a dragon rider's dragon rider's death yeah yeah and and just like the way they animated the dragon in that moment of just this like i don't you could feel what the dragon's thinking like i don't understand no i can't you're the only person i answer to you're my bonded writer i can't do that yeah yeah and and she's just pleading for it to happen damon i feel like the new trope of damon is he's going to have a wife or something that's thing who shows up one episode you're like yeah i really like you you're interested oh no you're dead now yeah you're gone but like it was so heartbreaking because yeah they they have that whole debate which felt very real of like no i i want you know i want our newton next child to be born

you know in the house of my father i want the kids to grow up there i want them to to know their birthright and now like all of that goes up in flames like literally yeah it's it's heart is heartbreaking and it also i don't know and she also knows him well yeah like like you can pick he's he's he's defensive because she's she's prodding at truths you know uh of this guy who who is he's denying what he really wants but then he indulges himself with reading about the legacy dragon writers and stuff the the the kind you know he fancied himself to to to ascend to yeah and he it blocks it because it and you kind of get it because you know like back home it's a fucking nightmare what's going on this whole this whole business is is such a horrible situation for everyone no

matter what rung of the ladder you're on yeah that's the main lesson i learned from this show is never be involved in ruling and state craft because it's just going to destroy your life and your morality and your morale yeah and what i really liking about this show especially with like historical fantasy pieces it's usually like good versus evil or there's an outside force that threatens our main characters or uh you know and and in some ways uh like like even with the crab king crab king crab feeder crab king is sponge bob uh with the crab feeder um with the crab feeder at the offset it was seeming for people who haven't read the book it was seeming like okay this is the big bad or something like this is the this is the threat to targaryens uh and and no they they do away

with that and again the threat is everything internal everything is like it's the thing that is going to bring a crumbling to the legacy is not and maybe i'm wrong with it the way the show seems to be painting is that it's going to be all within and not not because people attacked them we're like we're taking king's landing yeah yeah no it's all just lies and truths placed in in inopportune and opportune places. Yeah. You're just watching, yeah, as lies get worse and truths come

at inappropriate or not inappropriate, I guess there's never a bad time for truth, but yeah, over like horrifically inopportune moments. And it's, it's really the journey that I'm, again, what I brought up at the beginning of this talk was like the plot is so interesting

to unfold, but I'm so intrigued to see like what dark depths are characters like alicent and ronara are going to descend to as the more this goes on i'm so worried about both because that's the thing with alicent like as disturbed as she is by the revelation of the truth of what happened to the strongs and it's and i like the symbolism of that strong but but the but the how disturbed she was by that revelation you're like well it's only going to get worse for you know you're going to have to do worse it's yeah you're going to be happy to learn about

of information. You're going to turn into Lady Macbeth because, I mean, now you've got blood on your own hands and now you can't, you know, cling to the fact that you've always tried to do everything by the book and stand on the ceremonies. And you have, I forgot out his name again

I'm sorry, what's the husband's name? Lainor? Lainor. With Lainor, I worry about the way he behaves because he seems to lack such because as much has been like I'm committed

I've done everything for my 10 year plan I'm oh there seems to be this he's going to slip up and he's going to get himself caught and exposed and you know yeah he doesn't seem like he lays low or does anything

with any level of secrecy yeah there's a bit of this childish quality to him yeah yeah that remains yeah he he kind of has an entitled sort of obliviousness not like a devious um

borderline maniacal nature in the way of how Damon is. No, quite the opposite. You're like, no, you're going to, like, slip up and do something that's going to get you all in trouble. You're going to get caught. You're not helping the situation.

And it's not, this isn't a gripe, but I do want to ring both their necks. Like, guys, you, there must have been a way for you guys at least have one child together. You had to know this was going to turn into a complete disaster. I thought that's what they were going to do.

I thought that's what they were going to, I think, that's what I was like, wait, you got to have a kid. I guess they can just force it to happen. Oh, sure. I mean, I'm sure there are plenty of, you know, throughout history, there are probably plenty of men who are forced into, you know, heteros marriages and had kids. You know, it's definitely possible.

But, yeah, I'm like, I'm sitting here going, man, I feel like you guys could have been a little smarter about this. Like, I feel like you could, again, have a couple bastards, but get one. Yeah, they just need one. Because also, too, like, you know, nope, you're in the position where it's, Like, of course people are going to notice, unfortunately, because, you know, you are of such different lineage. Yeah, there's a whole plot line about it. I mean, myself, and I read.

Is there really? That's good. That's what they probably drew inspiration for. A big part. That's why it's so funny. Yeah. Have you seen that movie? Not in its entirety.

No, I've seen a couple of the very, very well-known moments. His wife cheats on him in the beginning with a black guy. I don't know. It gives birth to, like, triplets who are all, like, completely black. And he just doesn't register. Like, that's not his kids. Of course. Yes, yes, yes.

Of course. I like, come on. It's so obvious. Like, they don't look at all that. That's going to be the problem. It's the biggest dead giveaway. I was like, yeah. It would give me one thing if they were white and maybe you could get away.

with some bullshit, but the fact that the eyes look off or something but I'm like, no, no, I mean, there's a whole other aspect to this that we are not talking about. Yeah, mixed race babies are are, yeah, you could, they're mixed race babies, you can tell when that's happened.

I'm surprised I don't even say that in the show. I know. I'm like, maybe in the book, I don't know if in the book if the characters are black folks. Yeah, is there like another word for, black people back then i don't know that's not a racist word but an actual like historical

word or something yeah yeah some george r marvin word african they don't call them white people you know they call like valerians yeah so but anyway yeah i i would be i'm surprised i don't no one's bringing up the skin tone i'm like that's the biggest dead giveaway guys i mean yeah they have that whole horse horses conversation and even that right right like I was like, dude, Vaseras, I appreciate you. And we probably didn't know as much about animals at the time, but it's not quite the same. You know, like, yeah, like, you can have a cat, give a litter, and all the little cats are different colors and shit.

But, like, I don't know, it's a little different when you've got two humans and you do your little gene splicing tic-tac-toe. There's a skit to be made about this whole discussion. James Corden, bring it on. Do it. Make it happen, Corden. Get a wig and some costumes and do it. But yeah, man, this is like... Rainier is just so white that it overshadowed.

Yeah, the Dominion. That's why they have brunette hair. Yeah, and brown eyes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like, hazel. It's canceling it out is what's happening. Straight brown hair. That's, I guess the dentist giveaway is they're both so blonde. Yeah.

And neither of their kids have any lightness to their hair. They're both really blonde. Like, that's their nests. and it's so true and it seems like in the Targaryen clan you know the blonde hair genes are usually blonde is a recessive gene

scientifically but in the Targary and the Valerral Valerian you know lineage seems pretty dominant yeah yeah well I mean even Allison is she's a High Tower right Allison High Tower

yeah and she's Brunette and her kids are way blonde yeah they don't even like dirty blonde they are just as blonde as they're i know beacon of light right there like you've got so much working against you guys and at least even if you weren't smart on the first kid at least by the second one be like we need a blonde baby at least a blonde baby it would be nice if the baby was also a mixed race racial background because then that would be the yeah i could totally like i've seen it where like we we know um the henry's yeah

you know like everyone kind of had like they they were all like dark all of skin brown hair brown eyes and then there's david who was like pale the shit and like blue eyes yeah i don't know this happened but hey somewhere in the dadics but three in a row with these three in a row they all look pretty similar to each other yeah that's why that's why uh damon's just like blunt sarcasm line no that was so like as the king pointed out how it looks a lot like harwin stras is so funny yeah it's like yeah you don't they do oh it hurts so bad even the kids can pick up on it even damon knows it he ain't been back in forever yeah oh that's that's the thing i don't know that that's that's the fascinating part is yeah watching all

of this structure and then watching everybody talk the truth underneath it yeah man well yeah it's a great shit um you talk forever about this thank you all for being here um be sure to uh leave your thoughts down below and let's send this would shout out some patrons thank you all Zachary Barker, you're sharper. Irfan Chowduri, you're re my type. I, you're cool, I like you. Takiwaki-mucky. Ian Neal, Simons, California, sweet.

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