House of the Dragon 1x09 Full Reaction
Added 2022-11-03 00:20:14 +0000 UTC
Comments
People in this world aren't taught modern morals so she wouldn't know it's "wrong." Obviously, she feels bad about killing her childhood friend and her husband's children and grandchildren (who he loved), but she's also doing what she's been taught (by her father) is the right thing to do. People in this world aren't taught modern morality.
Delmoi (忍者神)
2022-11-05 14:30:28 +0000 UTCYou posted an opinion on a public forum, people are allowed to disagree with that and state their own opinions, I have seen you post numerous times on their videos and I have always heavily disagreed with everything you said but never commented until now and it's only on two posts so not all of them, plus I am not arguing I am simply giving an opinion and pointing out flaws in your logic.
Nyeisha Melvina Clark
2022-11-05 05:07:28 +0000 UTCIt’s almost like every character in this show is conflicting and makes both good and horrible decisions. What a strange concept for people to grasp! I personally have enjoyed the show so much by rooting for neither side. I’m in it for good writing and a compelling story which for the most part this season did an A+ job at. A lot of people just need to hate on something unfortunately
Dante
2022-11-04 18:47:21 +0000 UTCI think you're giving Alicent a huge amount of leeway here and that's okay, if she's your favorite character that's perfectly understandable. Olivia Cooke is playing her beautifully. But there is a huge gulf between marrying the King because your father said so and doing your duty and bearing his kids, to being complicit in murders with Larys and Cole. There is a long road between those two points and Alicent could have stopped anywhere along the way. There is a point where she is married to Viserys and clearly has influence over him, her father is no longer the hand so you can't say he's forcing her to do anything, and Rhaenyra just wants to get along and even suggests they marry their kids. In fact to suggest that she had no choice and was just shoved into this situation is to rob the character of all agency and ambition, which even the show is trying to do apparently. Also, saying that she's forced to work with Larys is a massive stretch lol. She can turn him in whenever she wants, no one is going to believe his word over hers. Hell, she can ask Cole to cut him down any minute and Cole would do it. The point of her association with Larys and Cole is to show that she is a self-righteous hypocrite. She's been telling the whole world that Rhaenyra will kill her and her kids once she has the crown, while fraternizing with murderers herself. She's been crying what an uncontrollable princess Rhaenyra is, while she's raised Aegon. She sneers at the "queer customs" of the Targaryens, then has her kids married to each other.
Arctic_stark
2022-11-04 04:21:31 +0000 UTCSome people are being so weird about this show in the comments. I'm with Lola and Milena - I've really enjoyed both Rhaenerya and Alicent as characters and their relationship. It doesn't mean I agree with everything Alicent does, but I get why she's the person she is and I have a lot of empathy for her. But she's had to convince herself that what she's doing is right, not just in this moment but from the second her father made her go to Viserys. Because that's her role. That's what she's supposed to do, isn't it? Do as her father asks, marry for a better position, let her husband use her for his pleasure whenever he wishes, bear his children, and work to secure better positions for them in turn. Her entire life this has been impressed upon her. It's made her terribly unhappy, but she's convinced herself that doing her proper duty is what matters, is what's right. Because if it isn't what truly matters, isn't what's right and good, then all the pain she has suffered, all the terrible choices she's made in the wake of that pain, would be for nothing. She is trapped in this hole that others made and shoved her into, but all she's done is make it deeper. Far too deep to ever climb out of. So all that's left to her now is to keep digging. You can see it in the partnerships she keeps, like Criston, who clearly frightens her but is also the only one she knows will act on her word over her father's. Or Larys. He killed the Strongs not on her actual command, but just based on some frustrated words, and did so with the intent of implicating her. When he reveals what he did she is horrified because she did not ask him to do that, but she learns quickly that she can't exactly dismiss him. So she's forced to keep working with him, and give him things he wants so that she can try to get something back. She doesn't like Larys, or working with him, and would clearly like not to. But it's too late to turn him away. So, again, she has to keep digging. I think the show is a tragedy, in the end. Whoever ends up 'winning' won't change that. And a pretty key part of tragedies in general involves the characters being instrumental in starting and deepening their personal tragedies. Viserys was a prime example of that, and I think most of the other characters are the same.
cosmotron
2022-11-04 02:50:42 +0000 UTCYes. GoT is clearly the superior show seeing how HoD wouldn't even exist without it. And I'm not just talking about the source material. I'm talking about all the sets, costumes, and assets which were created for GoT and recycled for HoD. Nobody finds it odd how King's Landing had such a realistic depiction in GoT (streets, houses, shops, attractions, etc) but in HoD all we're shown are only 4 or 5 rooms...
Orr Malus
2022-11-03 22:55:47 +0000 UTCAegon was crowned in the Dragonpit in the book as well lol The dragonpit holds way more people than the sept. 80,000 seated. King Jaehaerys was cremated there. His mother was married there. Targaryens use the dragonpit for big ceremonies like that.
Wanda Did Nothing Wrong
2022-11-03 22:01:17 +0000 UTCok? do you have to answe to all my comments? i'm not going to fight over different opinions on a show. have a good night 😙
sand_fl
2022-11-03 19:41:53 +0000 UTCThe difference between Alicent and Daemon is that Daemon has never pretended to be anything else, he doesn’t sit on a high horse and judge everyone for their low morals and then turns around and does the exact same thing. He doesn’t preach about “Honor and Decency” and then becomes complicit in murders and in this episode even signs off on a murder (she allowed Larys to try and kill Mysaria). Daemon has ALWAYS been honest about who he is, Alicent is just a hypocrite. I wouldn’t even mind her if she was at least honest with herself. Plus Alicents also a groomer since she raised her daughter to be a child bride of her son. In all actuality everyone in this society are groomers, they were marrying girls off at the age of 12, it’s the society they live in, calling Daemon a groomer isn’t the flex you think it is, and neither is wife killer considering Daemon never gave a fuck about Rhea, to him she was nothing more than an obstacle, now if he had killed Laena, then you would have had a leg to stand on, considering he actually cared about her. Rhea wasn’t his wife in any shape of the word except on paper. And technically not even that because a marriage is not valid unless you consummate it in this society and they never did.
Nyeisha Melvina Clark
2022-11-03 19:38:08 +0000 UTCBecause even GOT didn’t start out trash but gradually got to that point over time, and people still very well remembers that and doesn’t want this show to go down that same path, this scene is just a reminder for most that there is a very real possibility that this show can severely downgrade and people are expressing their fear and dissatisfaction in hopes that at least this time, the writers actually hears it. There’s nothing wrong with people giving their honest criticisms.
Nyeisha Melvina Clark
2022-11-03 19:27:22 +0000 UTCIt was stupid considering the only reason the writers even had Rhaenys at the coronation was for that particular scene. Also the fact that logically the coronation shouldn’t even be at the dragonpit but the Sept. They also changed it to the Dragonpit just for this scene to occur, like I said it’s “spectacle over logic” thinking and writing which is never a smart thing to do.
Nyeisha Melvina Clark
2022-11-03 19:22:16 +0000 UTCFor however much difficulty it might've taken HotD writers, GoT still has the better first season. And characters that are at least likeable.
A
2022-11-03 18:59:46 +0000 UTCThis show is absolutely NOT easy to write. I can say with absolute confidence that this was probably one of the most challenging first seasons of any show to write and pace with how much time they had to cover and what little source material they had to go off of for this period in the book. I guarantee this season was much harder to write than the first season of GoT
Dante
2022-11-03 18:29:29 +0000 UTCMeh. The ending scene definitely had its issues but it's been so overblown by this fandom. The episode was still very solid overall. Easily a 7 or 8/10 when so many people act like it's somehow on the same level as GoT season 8 lmfao
Dante
2022-11-03 18:26:46 +0000 UTCCompletely unintentional, but I haven't seen the last two episodes of HotD so this was a nice reminder. Will watch with the full reactions later this week :)
Camzeee
2022-11-03 16:00:10 +0000 UTCI do. Fuck them dragons.
Jake Hey
2022-11-03 11:53:13 +0000 UTCGoT's formula to get people invested in the show was to have ~3 different types of stories run concomitantly: rise to power story (Daenerys), world-ending threat story (John Snow), and power-grab story (Iron Throne). Clever methodology but very expensive production-wise. HoD's formula is to be a Spanish telenovela with all the sets and costumes from GoT. Cheap, easy to write, and incredibly effective at getting the audience invested. Just a second of rational thought would reveal the absurdity of the plot. Look at Aemond, he's unironically like a villain from Austin Powers. It's glorious. Everything's so goofy I love it.
Orr Malus
2022-11-03 08:59:23 +0000 UTC@AKSHAR PATEL yeah, i know, and it's not like i don't like some characters from team black. i love rhaenyra. i just find the characters from team green way more fascinating to watch.
sand_fl
2022-11-03 08:36:56 +0000 UTCThe ending was not stupid at all considering she had to escape and no viewer cares about the common folk.
AKSHAR PATEL
2022-11-03 05:47:13 +0000 UTCYou are in the minority because majority of people prefer Blacks to Greens.
AKSHAR PATEL
2022-11-03 05:42:18 +0000 UTCExactly this. Alicent spent episodes 6, 7 and 8 antagonizing Rhaenyra, turning down marriage proposals to unite their houses, tried to steal her kids birthrights by conspiring with Vaemond, and would beat it into Aegons head (literally) that he needs to be king or Rhaenyra will have them killed once she is Queen. And then its Episode 9 and Alicent is stunned to discover a plot to put Aegon on the throne. She is also complicit in the murders of Lyonel and Harwin, and has now helped cover for Cole's two murders as well. Her characterization is all over the place.
Arctic_stark
2022-11-03 04:39:49 +0000 UTCalso, not to be that person but for all the people giving shit to alicent... i hope you have the same energy towards daemon, a character who's actually a piece of shit who has murdered his first wife and groomed his 15 year old niece i get that matt smith is charming and all, but i can't believe people are choosing to ignore that and just love him because he's cool
sand_fl
2022-11-03 03:57:23 +0000 UTCWell, that's your opinion. I prefer this Alicent to the book one. To each their own 🤷🏻♀️ I like the greens because they're way more interesting to me, not because I want Aegon to be king. I'm just watching and enjoying the parts I like and suffering the parts I don't. Nothing less and nothing more.
sand_fl
2022-11-03 03:51:09 +0000 UTCI don't understand how people can still support the Greens. I know Alicent is likeable and not the worst person in the world but still...she's choosing to believe what she wants to believe... she knows deep inside that Viserys would never back down from his choice to make Rhaenyra heir. She is also aware that Aegon is a fucking psychopath so... is she just like her father??? She only wants the power for herself and her family??. It seems that way to me
DrLAING
2022-11-03 03:39:26 +0000 UTCHonestly yes, that ending was really stupid, and considering that the only reason it was put in there was because one of the writers just thought it would look cool makes it even worse. That kind of "spectacle over logic" thinking is exactly what turned people off of GOT in the last season and I reaaallllyyy don't want this show to have the same fate, but the scene got A LOT of backlash with people calling it stupid, that and the ridiculously unnecessary foot scene, so hopefully the writers take notes on this for season 2, but with their interviews that have been coming out lately, I gotta say I am a little scared. Also Rhaenys wasn't even at the coronation in the book so they really didn't even have to do this. Also this episode does a HUGE disservice to Alicent's character by making her a lot more stupid than what she actually is, she herself have been telling Aegon that everyone knows he will be King one day and has heard endless lectures from her father that Aegon will be King and to prepare him to rule yet is now shocked and dismayed that he has been planning to put him on the throne this entire time??? Make it make sense. Also it takes Rhaenys telling her about herself for her to realize she was just being used by her father this entire time??? Although I do like adding inner conflict within characters and making them more nuanced, I gotta say that I much prefer book Alicent at this point to show Alicent, book Alicent legit controlled that Council meeting instead of just sitting there looking like a deer caught in the headlights. Also this particular inner conflict in my personal opinion comes at the price of Alicent's intelligence, which is unfortunate.
Nyeisha Melvina Clark
2022-11-03 03:39:21 +0000 UTCHonestly the episode just showed that not only is Alicent a HUGE hypocrite, she's also dumb as hell to not know that of course her father was planning this all along. She really has become such a boring character, as opposed to her book counterpart which was cunning and conniving and actually commanded the men around her, majority of the dance was her doing, the writers decided to just make her a dumb victim who can't even realize she's being played without someone else spelling it out for her. It's actually sad, the only person on the greens side even remotely worthy of rooting for is Haleana, everyone else is hot garbage.
Nyeisha Melvina Clark
2022-11-03 03:17:43 +0000 UTCI lost a lot of respect for Alicent in this episode. I always thought she was a hypocrite. She took out her anger at her unhappy life on Rhaenyra, yet it was her father who put her in this situation. But I thought she was aware from the beginning that her father was just using her. But apparently she has only become aware of this now after 20 years? She wasn't aware that Otto was planning to put Aegon on the throne? Are you serious? Now she just looks stupid in my eyes.
Namikaza
2022-11-03 03:06:33 +0000 UTCI mean yes boohoo all the innocent people, but Meleys was very purposely being held hostage, so I’m fairly sure that the only way out was up. It’s why the guards were trying to shut the doors, they all had orders not to let her out.
Wanda Did Nothing Wrong
2022-11-03 01:48:36 +0000 UTCYou have to remember, kinslaying is one of the biggest crimes you can commit in Westeros and a huge sin in the eyes of the old god and the new. You can't just casually burn an entire branch of your own family, which includes the Dowager queen and the Hand. The best case situation for Rhaenys if she did that was lifelong exile. I do agree that fan service of killing a whole bunch of people was really stupid and reeked of GOT S8 writing. The most generous way I can explain that is Rhaenys had no other way to escape from there and had to burst out. But I am being very generous lol. Also Alicent is a ridiculously horrible mother who has enabled her criminal son while gaslighting his victims, and a half-decent conversation in a carriage doesn't change that. She has been abusive towards Aegon from the beginning and turned him against his half-sister and her children, when there has been zero evidence that Rhaenyra meant any harm to Aegon and Aemond. (I agree about Olivia's performance though, she has been spectacular, even more so in Episode 7).
Arctic_stark
2022-11-03 01:48:01 +0000 UTCSo glad to see my girl Alicent again. She's always suffering but I love ger either way. Still not over how stupid that last scene was just for fan service 💀 rhaenys just killed probably more than a hundred incoocents just to give the greens the stink eye... she should have killed Aegon and be done with it. This episode made me love Alicent even more, nothing new under the sun. I love how they portray a mother's love here. One episode ago she was telling the fucker he's no son of hers but at the end of the day he is and as much as a piece of shit he is he is her son and she has no choice but to love him and try to protect him from harm. Otto as insufferable as ever and Criston as stupid as ever too. When I say I like the greens I'm honestly just saying that I love Alicent, Aemond and Helaena to be fair. PS: I do like Rhaenys but I think she's a hypocrite for all the things she said to Alicent when at the end of the day she's exactly the same and only ever does what her husband wants. She may be more spoken about it but at the end of the day she ends up doing what Corlys wants. This episode was excellent again in terms of acting. If Olivia doesn't get at least an emmy nomination I will punch someone.
sand_fl
2022-11-03 00:44:21 +0000 UTC
