Man, I’m going to miss Paddy Considine. What a terrific job he did as Viserys. Of course my husband is like, he better have a big ass funeral next week or I’m gonna be mad. Adult Aemond seems like a really good actor. I feel bad for Jace and Luke. Of course Alicent is going to misinterpret Viserys’ final words (they were meant for Rhanerya). Hope Corlys is ok.
Post by Father of Dragons on Oct 10, 2022 22:47:20 GMT
Yeah I thought that was pretty great.
Fantastic final performance from Paddy Considine, I'll miss him so much. I think GRRM a few weeks ago described the character as having a "tragic majesty" or something along those lines, which is such a prefect summary of his portrayal, especially in this episode. There's just something about characters walking into the throne room with big majestic Ramin Djawadi scores that just appeals to me on another level. When the music swelled as he looked at Rhaenyra? Incredible. When he looked up to see Daemon (who had avoided looking at him in the eye earlier) handing him the crown? Phenomenal. Move over Alicent, new favourite entrance scene just dropped.
Aemond had only 3-4 lines but I swear he had such an unnerving presence in every scene. I knew for a fact that Jace and Luke would be fine in this episode but I was still so worried for them whenever the camera lingered on him. Plus I love his obvious fanboying over Daemon ("Wow when you're the king's brother you can commit all the crimes you like!"). Solid casting, can't wait to see more.
Also glad to see Rhaenys finally get more attention, both from the characters and the writers.
And lastly, after ~7 episodes of nonstop scheming Otto finally did a nice thing when he encouraged Helaena after her speech. He clearly doesn't think highly of Aegon (which is fair enough) and sees Alicent and Aemond as tools for his plans so it's nice to see he's capable of showing love to some of his family.
Post by 7timesdamnedshewolf on Oct 11, 2022 11:25:42 GMT
i know there are a lot of targ stans and book readers upset by that misunderstanding in the final scene and really any humanization for alicent, but i am very onboard with it. book!alicent is basically just a 1-dimensional wicked stepmother which is so boring since we know grrm is capable of more than that. show!ali is more a catelyn/marg/cersei hybrid which makes for a more well-rounded character. imo the best thing the show did was making her and rhaenyra closer in age to make this rivalry a tragic break-up story rather than just two women who hate each other. in the text it's clear that all the toasts were fake and/or insulting with only viserys being fooled. here, rhaenyra and alicent were sincere and it was just their sons who could not let shit go and behave.
i was def not expecting another almost reconciliation after 1.04, but gotdamn.
and yes, gods, dying viserys reaching out with a hand and gasping out "my love" with his final breaths, as if he could see aemma waiting for him on the other side. that grisly childbed death scene in the pilot was the very opposite of gratuitous. with book viserys there is no clear reason for him to keep rhaenyra as heir after he has sons besides just laziness and being a dope, but show!viserys's overriding motivation is his love for his first wife and the lingering grief/guilt over her death.
i wasn't sure where to put this but for anyone else who was a veteran of the glee fandom, i feel like this alicent fanvid set to kurt hummel's version of rose's turn perfectly encapusates the character. i need to watch it 100 times.
btw, for my fellow last kingdom fans new aemond is the bastard warrior monk osferth and new helaena was athelflaed's daughter in the final season.
I saw someone point out that Jace looks like book!Jon's description with the brown hair, long face, and looking more like a teen than Kitten ever did on GoT. Which fits since he feels like the closest this story has to a Stark hero. Being thin-skinned about his honor/bastardy and his lady is very Stark-like. Think Ned almost killing Littlefinger in the street, book!Jon twice attacking Alliser Thorne, show!Robb being held back by Cat as Walder Frey insulted Talisa, etc. Daddy Harwin was the same attacking Criston and trying to defend his secret sons in the practice yard. As he told his father "You have your honor and I have mine". Only problem is his sons inherited his Strong blood/hair without all his literal strength and bulk, so they are no longer a match for Aemond even if they and their girls still outnumber him. (Blink and you'll miss it background moment, but Baela was ready to throw down again once the boys started fighting and Rhaena had to stop her.)
other observations:
viserys's grand entrance mirrors alicent's big entrance with the green dress in ep 5. she interrupted him just as he interrupted rhaenyra. and she was lined up in the doorway directly in front of the throne which viserys/rhaenyra were sitting in front of, just as viserys here went for the throne which otto had claimed. that was her first trying to assert herself and this was viserys's final time reasserting his power. but the scene ends with alicent closer to the throne than rhaenyra after she rushes to help viserys to his feet, foreshadowing that this was too little too late and the greens will be back in position as soon as viserys is gone.
viserys i and maester aemon both died speaking of a king named aegon and dreams.
if i'm not mistaken rhaenys gave team rhaenyra a quick nod and smile before speaking her piece, so maybe she does believe rhaenyra's technical truth about not killing laenor, while still having plenty of reason for resentment about rhaenyra/daemon's hasty remarriage.
look how giddy daemon was after harvesting those dragon eggs for his babies! he hasn't looked that happy since he prematurely thought he'd beaten criston in their fight in the pilot.
Ned always said that the man who passes the sentence should swing the blade, though he never took any joy in the duty. But I would, oh, yes.
Post by Father of Dragons on Oct 14, 2022 18:56:36 GMT
One aspect I loved about Visery's entrance is that the music that plays when he ascends the throne is part of a piece from GoT, appropriately called The King's Arrival. But it actually goes a lot further than that - the music that plays during Viserys' entrance is a different version of the music that played in episode 1 during Aemma's death - and in fact there's also another version during the dinner scene when Viserys is looking around at his family before retiring, when the music goes from diegetic to non-diegetic. I'm such a sucker for musical continuity, and being honest I thought HotD was a bit lacking in that so far - but this episode has undone that worry incredibly.
Speaking of which I keep going back to that scene and catch new things each time:
Helaena is oblivious to Aemond's "subtle" insults and almost applauds after his toast
Daemon is always out of focus during the toast but his body language is very telling; he reaches for his drink when everyone else is fixed on Aemond; he looks bored throughout.
Aemond doesn't spill a drop of his drink after Jace hits him
As mentioned above Rhaena is holding back Baela (looks like she went after Aegon during the fight)
Otto is visibly nervous when Daemon walks between Aemond and the boys
I love that they didn't draw attention to any of these, it's so much more rewarding. Definitely my favourite episode so far.
Helaena is oblivious to Aemond's "subtle" insults and almost applauds after his toast
Daemon is always out of focus during the toast but his body language is very telling; he reaches for his drink when everyone else is fixed on Aemond; he looks bored throughout.
Aemond doesn't spill a drop of his drink after Jace hits him
As mentioned above Rhaena is holding back Baela (looks like she went after Aegon during the fight)
Otto is visibly nervous when Daemon walks between Aemond and the boys
I love that they didn't draw attention to any of these, it's so much more rewarding. Definitely my favourite episode so far.
lol, yes, just as she was the only green happy to see viserys in the throne room, i believe.
apparently daemon was meant to give a dinner speech too but they ending up cutting it bc he wordlessly showed his love for viserys in the throne room. him helping viserys up the steps was scripted but the crown falling off was not and matt smith just rolled with it.which seems amazing since it's such a perfect parallel to ep 4 when daemon gave up his dinky crown. that time he did want to reconcile with his family but it also a choreographed show of humility where he got to swagger in crowned and make clear viserys owed the gift of the stepstones to him. this time it was purely genuine and the last chance for daemon to take the place he'd always wanted at his brother's side, and be more trusted than otto.
i just realized baela going for big eggo is foreshadowing for her own big moment at the end of the war.
otto's reactions were great throughout that scene like his wtf looks when alicent tries to make nice with rhaenyra, first reacting to her saying "you'll make a fine queen" and then later when she tries to stop rhaenyra leaving after kidfight round two. like "really you're backsliding now, after all these trying to destroy her? i felt sure we were done with this shit after you went at her with a knife." but his weird little golf clap was the best, i think that bit was just the actors having fun.
agreed, def best ep yet. i could rewatch the throne room and dinner scenes for a while.
Ned always said that the man who passes the sentence should swing the blade, though he never took any joy in the duty. But I would, oh, yes.
