I didn't think it was possible, but we finally saw a more badass ascent to the Iron Throne than the one Tywin gave to Joffrey way back when Thrones was good.
Being, as usual, the post that discusses everything up through the end of the episode, but leaving book spoilers for the companion post.
For the past several episodes I've just dove directly into the character bits, but I have a couple of things to say up front that don't really fit into any section.
First of all, much is made of the change in decor at the Red Keep, which would perhaps be more impactful if CERTAIN PREVIOUS SAPOCHACK DIRECTORS HAD BOTHERED TO LIGHT THEIR FUCKING SETS, but still, good enough effort here. Still, memo to HBO: underexposed film is very hard to make look good in a digital format. Get in touch with the guys who had to remaster The Godfather DVDs if you're going to keep doing this. It's a leap ahead of what Sapochack was capable of in that you can at least SEE WHAT'S FUCKING GOING ON but seriously - when you underexpose the film like this and then transfer it to a digital format like MPEG-2, you get a lot of noise in the shadows. This is particularly noticeable in Viserys's death scene, annoyingly. Still, it's a marked improvement over Sapochnik's "shoot it normally and then filter it all to hell" approach.
Secondly, and again on the set design: when Daemon and Rhaenyra first enter Viserys's chambers, they pass the giant Warhammer terrain he's been working on all his life. It appears to me that there's a cup left on the model, and that cup is emitting steam, indicating that someone had just set it down. And yet in the very same shot, the camera pans past an obvious cobweb. The cut is front-and-center at the start of the shot, so this can't be a Starbucks mistake. Or is it not a cup, but a working smokestack or something? As symbolism goes, it works, it's like the "hotel room" sequence at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey, commentary on the briefness of life - he was just here and now he's gone - or as Corlys put it, last episode, "this brief, mortal life." It doesn't make narrative sense, and yet I liked it anyway.
Vaemond Velaryon
Fucked around and found out. But it must be said, very few characters get to choose the manner of their departure, and Vaemond went out exactly how he meant to.
Ser Arryk (or is it Erryk?)
Is mistaken for the other one. This is the show telling you that there are twins in the Kingsguard. They really did a good job with that. Also, does Arryk/Erryk translate well in spoken word? Did non-book people understand anything about that exchange?
Ser Aren't You Dead Yet?
Look, I know this is Book Spoiler Territory, but Ser Harrold Westerling's long dead in the book. What is the point of having Criston Cole in this show if...
Sigh.
Prince Wincest (Prince Daemon)
Weirdly the show decided to skip over Viserys getting annoyed about Daemon and Rhaenyra marrying. I guess a random hunt in Episode 3 was more important. Eh, probably was.
So Daemon definitely doesn't have greyscale, right? I mean, because marginally better filters were used in the recap of the previous episode at the start of this one than were used in that episode, we got a better look at his torso. So what was the point of giving the Crabfeeder greyscale? Hello? Bueller? Bueller?
Princess Double Standard (Crown Princess Rhaenyra)
Aaaaaaw, she and Alicent get to reconcile a bit before everything goes to shit. I actually like the idea that these two have nothing against each other personally, it's their kids (and in Alicent's case, her father) who are going to cause all the problems. Well, and Daemon. Hee hee. (Note for the spoiler post, I now think this season's going to end a bit later than I originally thought.)
Baela Targaryen
The actual heir to Driftmark (under Viserys's cognatic methodology, at any rate), being the eldest trueborn child of Laena Velaryon. Dear Old Daddy Daemon doesn't give two shits about her claim though. I guess because he has to keep up the official fiction that Lucerys is Laenor's kid, because if he doesn't, he's accusing his current wife of treason.
The Other One (Rhaena Targaryen)
Exists. Is now set up to be the heir to Driftmark because Baela got betrothed to Jacerys and is in line to be Queen Consort of the Seven Kingdoms.
Prince Jake (Jacerys Velaryon)
Betrothed to Baela as of this episode. (Note for the spoiler post on his bethrothal.) Not as good at speaking Valyrian as Rhaenyra was at his age (a mere seven episodes ago). And that's about it because he basically exists to be "a bastard and therefore unsuited to sit the throne (not that that stopped Henry VII*)". That said, he wins points for, um, not being a psychotic rapist. So yay.
*Not a bastard, but descended from one (his only link to Edward III is through his great-grandfather John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, one of Henry IV's bastard half-brothers, who was legitimized but barred from the succession).
Prince Luke (Lucerys Velaryon)
This is maddening. Over on Team Green, Aegon (the eldest son)'s actor is shorter than Aemond's. Over here, Luke is shorter than Jace, but this episode deals with Luke's claim to Driftmark because Jace is in line to be King.
Joffrey Velaryon
Ser Not-Appearing-In-This-Episode
The Incest Babies (Aegon the Younger and Viserys)
Erm... see the spoiler post. Sorry, can't say much here, other than "are you sure there's not going to be another time skip?"
Also, given how the episode ends, I guess the entire Dance of the Dragons could have been avoided if the Targs/GRRM had been a bit more original in naming their sons/characters.
Ser Criston Cole
I guess the primary argument for compressing 20 years into a single season was so that this ponce doesn't completely fade from memory during the second decade. We've reached this point, so it's no longer a book spoiler, but please observe how he's had sweet fuck all to do between his falling out with Rhaenyra and the King's death.
Rasputin (Ser Otto Hightower)
Wow, I really hate this guy. At no point during this episode does he do anything that aligns with the King's interests, except show up to dinner. What a tit. Imagine an alternate universe where Viserys's last act as King was not to have dinner, but to fire Rasputin and install Prince Wincest as Hand.
Ser Not-Appearing-In-This-Episode II (Prince Daeron)
No, it wasn't necessary to introduce all the characters before things go to shit. Why would you think otherwise?
The Most Anime Character in Live-Action TV Ever One-Eyed Daemon (Prince Aemond)
First off, tooting my own horn because that sobriquet is a glorious triple entendre. First, "Aemond One-Eye" is Aemond's in-universe sobriquet. Second, he's such a Daemon clone it's obvious. And third, taking "daemon" as the archaic form of "demon," you have a play on "One-Winged Angel" because come on, if you have a psychopathic long-white-haired pretty boy (who's definitely his mother's favorite!), I'm going to make the comparison.
Aemond is without a doubt my favorite of the next generation of Targ kids, mostly because he's the only one with a personality beyond "pervert" or "plot device" (bless the Velaryon boys, they're trying with the limited material they have). Brilliant casting here, well done.
Oh, oops, there actually is one difference between D-in-front and D-in-back (other than the eye) and that's that D-in-back doesn't give a shit about tourneys. See? Totally different characters!
Princess Drusilla (Princess Halaena)
Covers her ears for a good 20 seconds after Vaemond gets his "fucked around and found out" medal.
Prince Jerkoff (Prince Aegon the Elder)
Taking lessons from the Draco Malfoy School of Bullying, I see. Also, a rapist.
Seriously, House Hightower would do much better to bump this asshole off and let Aemond be the claimant. Yes he's a psychopath, but he'd be so much more entertaining.
World's Worst Mum (Queen Alicent)
Gets a surprising compliment for caring for the ailing Joeserys. Great, but you've fucked up raising his kids to a tremendous degree.
King Joeserys Targarybiden (King Viserys)
Asks didn't we win that Stepstones war years ago? Yeah, that's been the weakest story line this season. "Yup, the Stepstones are rebelling again. Again." Blah.
Is he dead? I assume he's dead, but you cut to the credits when he stopped breathing, so that might have just been AN ARTISTIC DECISION you self-absorbed lunatics. (Yeah, this is my biggest criticism of the episode, so you can tell it's good.)
Speaking of actual artistic decisions, I love the fact that Viserys's deformities sync up with the seating arrangements at dinner. The King has lost his left arm - Rhaenyra sits on his left, and her side is the weaker, militarily (although they have the Velaryon fleet and more dragons NOT THAT THE SHOW'S DONE THE MATH ON THIS YET, most lords are probably going to side with the Greens simply to keep a man on the throne and the women in the kitchen). Meanwhile his face is all rotted away on the right side, the side the Greens are on - including his eye, he literally cannot see what a threat they are to his plan to have Rhaenyra succeed him.
As somebody else pointed out on the interwebs, this works the other way too, with Rhaenyra only seeing the good, undamaged side of him right up until the very end, while Alicent has to look at the broken side of his face. They cared! They actually put thought and care into stuff like this... which is why it infuriates me when they relegate key other things (Arryk/Erryk, for example) to friggin' easter eggs.
On the other hand, they clearly haven't made up their mind about how much of his arm he's lost. Here we see that it's been amputated just below the elbow, whereas (for example) in the scene in Episode 6 where Rhaenyra presented him with the newborn Joffrey, his sleeve is clearly empty above the elbow (because they didn't, you know, actually cut off Paddy Considine's arm for this). Not that it matters now.
Miguel Sapochack
You tit. Trying to turn the c-section in Episode 1 into a commentary on the constitutional abomination that was Roe v. Wade (a case that was overturned long after that scene was filmed), only to turn around and have a scene where a woman forces another woman to take a contraceptive. So glad your hack ass got canned, because you're the worst thing about this show by a country mile. Get the fuck out of here and take your "artistic" filters with you.
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