House of the Dragon - S2E08 Post Episode Discussion
House of the Dragon - S2E08 Post Episode Discussion
The season finale! Did you see it ? Post your thoughts here and as usual, lets try to avoid mentions of future events in the timeline.
And as an aside, it's been an honor discussing HotD S2 with everyone. See y'all in 2025 with Dunk and Egg!
(For the last time in 2024) Things I liked / Random Observations
- This was a bizarre finale.
- Game of Thrones used this clever formula of having a great/impactful/explosive penultimate episode and then the finale episode as a palette cleanser and next season setup. This felt more like the latter without the former, and it hurt it.
- I wouldn't call it a letdown, but I can see how the rumors about this being changed from a 10 episode season hurt.
- Season 3 has the potential to be the best ASOIAF television event - this is a great setup for it.
- On a more darker take - I can totally criticize this as a 70 minute trailer for season 3
- I feel like the story was just split between S2 and S3... so did we just get A-Feast-For-Crows/A-Dance-With-Dragons'ed ?
- I didn't expect Otto to be imprisoned.
- I think there's something wrong about Otto being imprisoned - specially with what happens to Otto in F&B.
- This episode had GoT S8 teleporting going on:
- Rhaenyra: Fly to Harrenhal and back.
- Alicent: From the Kingswood to King's Landing and then Dragonstone.
- Alys is now intimately tied to the (future) lore of the series... lets count the easter eggs in that vision
- Brinden Rivers (could this be an cameo from the actor playing him in D&E?)
- The Others/Whitewalkers (just the whitewalkers or the GoT Night's King?)
- A possible vision of the extinction of the dragons?
- I'm shocked we got a Daenerys cameo.
- Kinda related... what the hell was that thing in the godswood ?!?!?!?
- I re-watched with subtitles on:
antlered human😱
- I re-watched with subtitles on:
- A dragon with striking cobalt blue coloring leading a Hightower host. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Prince Daeron Targaryen & Tessarion!
- I am pretty sure that the ending montage had all the leitmofifs of the great houses. Somehow it didn't stick with me?
- The Rhaenyra/Alicent meeting felt like the Sept scene didn't occur ? Is it just me, or did it felt like they were meeting for the first time in the season ?
- I'm sorry, but having Alicent being OK with "a son for a son" as a setup for the fall of King's Landing is fine? did Prince Jaehaerys didn't count?
Going back to the
antlered humanin the godswood... I would have preferred an antlered being as a vision from a certain event in ASOIAF:In a vast river stood a monstrous figure, antlers crowning its massive, muscled form. Shadows deepened as it loomed over a horse-sized black dragon, whose obsidian scales glistened in the dying light. The antlered being roared, eyes aflame with defiance, but the dragon matched it in relentlessness. With a bone-shaking bellow, the giant struck, its immense strength driving into the dragon’s chest. Blood mingled with the river’s waters as the dragon’s life ebbed away, sinking into the depths
I take back my comment about the teleporting:
This part of the map puts things into perspective...
Yes. None of these places are far apart as the dragon flies. Still took her envoy 3 episodes to reach Harrenhall.
The thing that I think is still a little fast is the ships from Dragonstone/Driftmark to King's Landing. They seem to take a couple of hour's and never get noticed.
That's obviously Robert caving in Rhaegar's chest at the Trident. I don't see how that would serve this story.
Spotting a Greenman on the coast of the God's Eye lake who seems to have been in league with Alys raises far more questions IMHO.
@dornad
It was one of the Green Men from the Isle of Faces.
- This was a bizarre finale.
It was an odd episode. I was enjoying it much as I'd enjoyed all season but it needed an event, a climax.
I think the shot of Aemond atop Vhagar outside of Shark Point was a complete underselling of what he had done. In the moment I wasn't sure if that was what he had done, or one of the new dragon riders. Was it somewhere important? I didn't know until Jace told Ulf. Should have been a sequence, and I'd have replaced last week's joyride if money was the issue.
Seems like they felt the sowing last week was their "Episode 9" moment, and this was the "positioning for next season" episode, but with only 8 episodes I don't think it worked. At least let Rhena...
plot twist
...get immolated by Sheepstealer, with Nettles saying "Hands-off my dragon - Dracarys!".
Not a fan of Nettles being erased.
Permanently Deleted
I have no problem with Daemon exploring his personality through visions. I think it gave some compelling scenes, but I do think the season overall was left dangling. It needed to go a little further into the story, like another 2 episode worth.
I think there's a number of book readers going "get to the good bits", but it also sometimes sounds like "hurry up and die" to certain characters. If they are good characters, I've got no problem spending some time with them first. That will mean material will be added from what's in the books.
On the whole I thought Daemon at harenhall was good, maybe a bit too long, but good.
So was Alicent privy to what’s his face’s plan for Aegon?
It looked like Alicent was sincere about accepting Rhaenyra's conditions.
IIRC Larys' scheme to spirit Aegon out of King's Landing is straight out of F&B - it doesn't look like she's privy to it. But who really knows...
S2E8 analysis/reaction videos:
- Emergency Awesome - full breakdown and easter eggs
- Sean TankTop - bar scene reactions
- I'm not seeing an explanation video from Alt-Shift-X yet, so I'll just leave a link to their HotD playlist instead, which includes their S2E8 live Q&A discussion (4 hours) and will include their analysis video if and when they post one
For a season that was primarily about characters wavering and not making decisions, this season sure wavered and didn't make a lot of decisions. Really riveting TV.
My thoughts on the finale
Episode looked more mid season filler, before the action starts.