Being the up-through-the-end-of-this-episode spoiler. Future spoilers are, as always, in the companion post. Except in one notable instance where the show spoiled it for you (it's that thing Princess Bug-Collector said).
I need to recant a previous criticism. Miguel Sapochnik does in fact know how to light a scene. The single take of Rhaenyra climbing the stairs to Alicent's quarters is proof of this. It just makes his refusal to do so elsewhere in the episode almost as frustrating as the wokeshit nonsense he and his actors spew in the behind-the-scenes interviews and featurettes.
Otto Hightower
Credited, but doesn't appear. Shame. He's an ambitious twat, but he's one of my favorite characters to watch. (I wonder how badly they're going to age him up given what they did to Viserys and Lyonel Strong.)
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen
Spends the episode leaking milk and thinking "gosh, maybe I should have boinked a guy with blond hair." As it happens, a guy with blond hair she's known to like just got back on the market.
Prince Daemon Targaryen
That's two wives dead, Daemon. Would you like to try for three?
Daemon's daughters (Baela and Rhaena)
Exist. One has a dragon. The other does not. This is the extent of their characterization. Which is fair enough because (right now, at least) they're primarily here to show you what the offspring of a Targaryen-Velaryon pairing is supposed to look like.
Laena Velaryon
Apparently it is common practice for women to die in childbirth. Apparently it is also common practice for the attending physicians/nurses/random peasants to let a woman in labor get up and wander out of the room and down to the beach.
Sure.
Princes Jacaerys "Jace" and Lucerys "Luke" "Velaryon"
I admit, I was a bit skeptical about how the whole "strong boys" thing was going to be handled given the race-lifting of Corlys Velaryon. (To delve briefly into the book, it's marginally more plausible there that Rhaenyra's kids are Laenor's because Laenor's mother (Rhaenys) inherited her (Baratheon) mother's dark hair, and as we know from Thrones, "the seed is strong.") Having Laena's children look exactly like her and Laenor's children look not at all like him drove the point home quite well, I must say.
As always with child actors, expect little so as not to be disappointed, but these kids did adequately (read: light-years ahead of Bran in Thrones season 1).
Prince Aegon "Jerkoff" Targaryen
GOD DAMMIT WHERE ARE THE TITS IN THIS SHOW?
(This. Is. A. Joke.)
(Ahem) anyway, they got the two important Aegon character traits down: he's a sexual nutcase (thanks George), and he doesn't really want to usurp his half-sister. So good on that. Not so much of a dick to his nephews as one might expect, and I was surprised to see him join in on the pig prank against Aemond.
Prince Aemond Targaryen
Doesn't have a dragon. Wants a dragon. "Will have to close an eye" to get one. Subtle. (Slightly more subtle... eh, no, I'll save that for the spoiler post.)
Princess Helaena "Drusilla" Targaryen
Exists. Likes bugs and uttering not-so-cryptic nonsense.
Queen Alicent Hightower
Has turned into her father. Gets under Viserys's skin when she asks how he knows the one horse coupled with the other (long story) and makes me wonder whether she's been entirely faithful to him. Seems to be back to wearing blue because Miguel Sapochnik refuses to light a scene properly. So I'm glad they made a big deal about the green dress, /sarc.
King Viserys Targarybiden
(Two can play this game, guys. Come on, "incompetent decrepit king presides over the ruination of his realm" is a tad too on-the-nose even for a series with Meeraq in it.) Viserys is just a bad king. Sorry. He inherited greatness from his grandfather, everything was all nice and set up, nobody question his succession. Now he has a legitimate son and an extremely wayward daughter. Do what's best for the realm, Joe. Do it now, before the makeup people start winning awards making you look absolutely gnarly.
Lord Larys "Clubfoot" Strong
Did... did he just proposition the Queen? Yes, yes, the kinslaying is bad and all that but it sure sounds like the dude just propositioned the Queen.
Lord Lyonel Strong
RIP, my dude. You were the only guy more concerned with serving the realm than serving yourself.
Ser Harwin Strong
Existed. The end.
In total - HotD so far
It's leagues ahead of the back half of Game of Thrones, which is I guess all that matters for the moment. But is it actually good? Uh... nyos. It has individual good scenes. It has good performances and, when we can see what's happening (which is too rare) the direction is competent and the sets and costumes look lovely. The writing...
They've taken an in-universe history book with unreliable sources and turned it into "storytelling by vignette." Which is not how they did Thrones and is not how they're going to do Season 2, I presume, but they have 20 years of history to cover in 10 episodes (for some reason - I maintain that this show is moving too fast), so they have to do it like this. Or at least, somewhat like this.
What this season most reminds me of is the first season of Babylon 5. Throwaway scenes and lines end up being important later. Thing is, Season 1 of Babylon 5 (henceforth "Signs and Portents") isn't actually all that good until you've seen the show all the way through. The standalone episodes tend to be mediocre at best. Signs and Portents is a testament to JMS's ridiculous self-assurance that he'd get subsequent seasons and all the little hints he was throwing out would be paid off.
The point is, it demands to be rewatched in order to get the most out of it. Harwin Strong is barely introduced before the plot lurches forward, he's suddenly spawned some bastards - oops, he's dead.
The ten-year time skip crystalized this for me. You set up half the plot, then you jumped forward, then you explained the other half of the plot. This is closer to "tell, don't show" than "show, don't tell." And I'm not required to like it.
Here's another example: Laena Velaryon. She exists to mildly piss off Corlys when Viserys chooses to not marry her, and then to take Daemon off the board for a few years. But the show can make these barely-characters interesting when they want to (see Strong, Lyonel).
Oh well.
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