1x09 Discussion Thread

Gonna be honest, bit of a weird one. At times it felt underwhelming, then later overwhelming. Lots of strange choices overall.

Underwhelming
For an episode called The Green Council they really didn’t linger long on the actual council meeting. It’s a pretty huge part of the story so I feel a bit disappointed that it went by so quickly. And I dunno, I could totally believe based on his characterisation thus far that Criston would deliberately kill Beesbury here, so having it be because he’s just some dumb hot-headed brute who accidentally slammed an old man’s head on the table just feels… uninteresting. I suppose they have focused on those attendance balls a lot, but still.

And the standoff between Criston and Westerling came across a bit limp to me - quickly defused before Westerling just decides to leave unchallenged. Speaking of which that aspect kinda undercuts Barristan’s similar moment later. It’s such a big thing for the Lord Commander to resign, but giving it a precedence here makes Barristan’s moment less powerful. It feels to me like it’s a byproduct of having Graham McTavish in the role, rather than something they always had planned for the character - he is in the main cast after all.

Overwhelming
I thought after a pretty so-so episode that ending it with Aegon realising and embracing that he wants to be King was good, and it was a powerful moment, but then they crank it up to 11 with Rhaenys crashing through the floor. And then it’s yet another standoff that ends with both parties completely fine! I’m not gonna rag on Rhaenys for not ending the war before it began because the character is of course not omniscient, but this is two instances this episode of the writers inventing really tense situations but not doing anything with them. I think that relating Alicent’s protection of her children to Rhaenys’s “inability” (not her fault ofc) to protect hers is interesting and a good enough reason for me to explain her leaving without a fight, but it’s still such a weird decision in the first place.

I will say it’s frustrating to see a fair level of criticism this scene is getting be revolving round “Where did she get the armour??” or “Why does she not care about all the peasants??” I mean come on. I don’t want to harp on other people’s criticisms but this stuff just feels like nitpicking. To me there are far bigger issues in this episode regarding tone and pacing rather than these tiny things.

Whelming
Other stuff I liked and didn’t:

• I feel like Matthew Needham’s performance as Larys was creepy enough as is; giving him a foot fetish just feels unnecessary. Such a strange needless choice.
• Having a not insignificant part of the episode being two separate hunts for Aegon (where the outcomes are basically the same) came across as stretching the material to me. They did the same last episode, but I didn’t find this as engaging. I think it’s a consequence of only focusing on the Greens and omitting half the cast, which otherwise I thought was a good idea.
• I liked Mysaria having more to do though it feels a bit contrived.
• Music is great as always, and they did a great job this episode in particular at giving the music and the visuals their time to shine. And what a great idea to have the trumpets playing The King's Arrival! Honestly before Meleys wrecks the place I think that sequence is pretty perfect.
  

Overall, not my favourite. It’s a shame that parts of this felt very fumbled to me. I hope next episode is better, and if they’re ending the season where I think they are, I don’t think I’ll be as disappointed next week.


I need to learn a thing or two about brevity

larys has a foot fetish and alicent lets him jack off in front of her was one of the leaked spoilers, and the one i least wanted to believe. i'm not entirely comfortable with giving the creepy clubfoot a foot fetish, so i'll just pretend that was just as far as alicent was willing to strip for him and him wanting to jerk off in front of her was the kind of creepiness any able-bodied man could have. (not that a foot fetish is inherently grosser than just masturbating in front of someone. that's obvs the real violation. i just mean that "oh, the cripple is sexually aroused just by feet" is certainly a choice and one i don't really like.)

oh, all women are like the mother above and should be spoken of with reverence, criston? except for that spoiled cunt who rejected his marriage-in-exile proposal, i guess. you just know his born-again turn is down to alicent. i imagine they spend their free time together in seven-pointed bible study. and that larys would be disgusted by such pastime just as criston would be murderously offended by larys's treatment of alicent.

ser harrold's departure was definitely reminiscent of ser barristan's, though barry was fired rather than resigning of his own accord. it was just the quiet retirement the lannisters had planned for him that he rejected. but it was weird that otto just let him go after saying the doors would remain closed and arresting all those other people, servants and lords. esp since joff did send men after barry to try to stop him leaving the city.

after softening on otto last week with his smile to helaena and silly little clap, he just had to prove again that he is the worst. the jumping right to killing all of team rhaenyra didn't surprise me, but that he's been plotting with ser tyland and lord wylde behind ali's back kinda did. even if she were on board with murder first, she could still be offended by that lack of respect. after all these years he still sees her as no more than his little girl, and after she finally stands up to him, he pulls out the beloved dead mother card to get under her skin again and remind her of her sex. (as cersei would say "even a queen is still just a woman, after all.") that "our hearts were never one" line was all over the trailers and i'm so glad it came in the context of alicent to otto.

also, how did otto really think the kg could "cleanly and quietly" kill team rhaenyra when they have dragons on dragonstone, not to mention their own guards and daemon being an experienced warrior himself. this is just like in ep 2 when he acted surprised to find himself threatened by caraxes.

Larys Strongs masterplan goes something like be creepy sneak spy -> Kill family -> become lord of Harrenhal -> masturbate to feet -> profit?





I don't get why people aren't seeing this as part of a greater story, or worse, assuming they know all the angles when the book itself is explicitly written with historical biases, embellishments and third hand accounts.

I think another reason this episode felt underwhelming is because we're so used to episode 9 of GoT being the "big" one. It was fine, but not the strongest.

I LOL at the foot fetish thing, I'm sorry. I didn't read spoilers so it felt so random to me.