A bit of an admission to begin:
- The episode title was actually, “The Green Council.”
- After being an unlikely fanboy of Ladies Love Criston Cole, I’m beyond ready for the dude to croak (no offense to Fabien who has plays the character quite well). Criston… you’ve morphed into a dickhead bully asshole.
- Someone needs to start listening to Helaena. Beast beneath the boards, dumbasses.
- Yes, I was unnoticeably absent last week. If you happened to notice, you are one of the chosen few and thank you for your unwavering allegiance.
Now, where the motherf&*$%g hell is Aegon?
My name is Oz of House Oz and the King is, in fact, dead. A quick shout out to Paddy who played Viserys. Those were some acting chops my man.
And holy shit, what an episode last week. Due to work/life balance issues (of which there is absolutely no balance), I didn’t even get the opp to write it up. But damn it was great.
This one? Not so much although it still ranks up there in the “good enough to devote an hour of my life” category.
We kick it off with a loose-lipped little shit running around telling secrets and considering how kids just pop out and grow in this show, the whole time I’m trying to figure out who this one belongs to. But nope… this is right after the last episode.
Word starts to spread and plotting Otto cues up Order 66. This is where you lock ‘em up or kill them if they won’t bend the knee and/or refuse to be on your side… kinda like American politics.
Into the council chamber and I don’t know half these people but they look important and they are all on board with Otto with the exception of the old white man. A couple of notes here: 1. Alicent was unaware of the plan in place and wasn’t too thrilled. 2. Old white men are typically traditionalists regardless of time and place, fiction or non, modern or medieval. They just are. And there’s a chance you will be too if you are lucky enough to live that long. And let’s be honest… he wasn’t wrong.
That said, bash his head in dammit!! This would have been a glorious time for Westerling to finally finish off the “Westeros Love Machine.” Instead, he hands in the cloak and probably went fishing. Wise move, especially considering what’s coming.
Then it seems like we spend half the episode trying to find the royal idiot. First it’s Otto who sends out Pete and RePete (Eric and Eric, or Arryk and Arryk, or Eerick and Aerick) to find the king who doesn’t want to be king. And then Alicent does the same with Butthole Cole and “you can’t disguise a face like that” Aemond.
*Regarding Aemond: this guy nails this role. I don’t know anything about book Aemond, but to me they could not have done any better casting him.
They visit all the local henhouses and with blonde-headed bastards everywhere, it’s clear that Aegon is putting his Aegs in more than one basket.
Back to Otto and the kneeling game with a few dissenters and one who reeaaalllyyy thought about it before wisely tapping out. Larys catches one(Caswell maybe?) that tries to flee to spread the word which raises a question… why are there no ravens yet? Wouldn’t that be a better idea? Had they not discovered raven mail? Are ravens not yet trainable?
Anyway, he got hanged because Westeros is a nice place to live.
The search for Aegs continues into a cock-fighting pit. Woops, no those are children. Wonderful. Forget the damn child-labor laws in this place. We haven’t even gotten past kids “clawing each other’s eyes out for money” stage. And you say we haven’t progressed.
Anyway, random girl has some info and Aemond tells Butthole Surfer that he would be a better king. That’s not saying much, my dude.
Alicent then visits Rhaenys who is locked up until she rings a bell signaling who she is going to support for the throne.
Otto goes to meet with the White Worm who is hot and neither pale nor wormy. Wait, isn’t that Daemon’s ex? Anyway, she knows where the heathen Targ is and tells Otto not to forget who helped him.
Aegon ends being under a table of candles and throws a temper tantrum because I don’t want your politics and leave my ass alone. Butthole shows up and fights RePete (or is it Pete) and Aemond sacks Aegon for a loss. And for the first time in a while, Cole decides not to kill someone.
Meanwhile, Alicent and Otto discuss Rhaenyra and her family living or dying. If this Aegon thing is the way they are going, it’s actually hard to disagree with Otto because we all know what is about to happen if they are allowed to live.
Now, can we talk about foot-fetishes? Listen… I’m not one to judge and I’ve always been a “to each their own” type of persuasion. But what is it with feet? I obviously saw the camera pan down to Larys’ crooked foot which was purposeful (ha… you thought I was going “there”). But why? It’s not that feet are necessarily disgusting (although some are for sure). But are they sexual? Feet have a given purpose… you walk on them. Right? Am I missing something? Am I missing out on one of life’s guilty pleasures?
Ok. Sorry. Moving on…
Pete (Erryk maybe) breaks Rhaenys out of the Hilton Garden Inn but loses her in the wild rush to see the new king!!
Alicent does a pretty good job of persuading Aegon into the importance of his role, gives him the dagger, and takes him to the coronation. At first, Aegon has the nerves but eventually seems to embrace his new job. That is until…
Destruction, terror and mayhem! I honestly couldn’t tell how Rhaenys busted into the room but then I remembered Helaena’s words and maybe I’m reading into that completely wrong, but it made sense.
Regardless, Rhaenys could have ended the forthcoming conflict right there, but I also get why she opted not to. Beyond the family connection, it’s ultimately not her conflict to settle. The biggest issue I have is that a bunch of innocent poor people died. And yeah, it’s a fiction and a TV Show, but still. Come on Rhaenys!
Initial Thoughts:
I hate that I didn’t get the chance to write up Episode 8 because damn. And while this one wasn’t the most intriguing, it set up what should be a banger of a finale.
The time jumps, the massive amount of children, the random lords of houses, and the aged-up actors have been quite confusing at times. But I’ll give credit where it’s due… this series has exceeded expectations and I honestly didn’t know if it would.
Kudos to HBO and the showrunners. I’m in. The dragons be flyin and the fire be ragin next week. Just another day in Westeros.
See you all next week for the series finale! And please visit our site often even as the series concludes. We run on a shoestring budget here and have always been fan-centered. Please consider helping us with a donation if you can and as always, thank you so much for clicking on our site. We have a great crew of contributors and we all do it for the love of ASOIAF.
Until then, enjoy your week, press on, do something kind for someone, and may there always be peace in your realm.
Follow Oz on Twitter
Love you Oz. How about you write up last week’s episode after the season ends? Then I’ll have a reason to visit….. you know it makes semse
I LOVE the show. Best show since GoT. Season 1 of HoD MIGHT > Season 1 of GoT ( I know I know, blasphemy).
That being said this episode was a bit of a let down. Maybe because it was “episode 9” and following the masterful ep7 and 8 I was expecting a perfect 11/10 score.
Ewan is killing it as Aemond. Loved him as Osferth in The Last Kingdom. And what a way to show which side she supports with an entrance like that? Kickass Grandma.
Thanks for the laughs, Oz. I have always appreciated your summaries and your video reviews are beyond hilarious.
Aegon ll will forever be The Royal Idiot to me.
Butthole Surfer becomes more intolerable with every episode. He straight up murdered poor old BusyBee but at least he got fling the treason word out before his head met the table.
Aemond is definitely interesting even though he’s a cheap Daemon knock off ( tm random twitter user) . I love the way EM plays him. Educated, protective of his sister, excellent martial skills and a bit psycho all rolled into one. I still see Baby Monk when I look at him which could be influencing my opinion.
Rhaenys is a badass. That is all.
Thanks for your recap, Oz – witty and interesting as always!
I’m (deliberately-unsulledly) curious about next week’s season finale. So far, I haven’t enjoyed this series as much as I would have liked. Still hoping though that the next episode will make me look forward to season 2!
What’s been most detrimental to my viewing pleasure is the very tight focus on (at a stretch) a dozen of characters. Where GoT had many interesting and well-developed ‘side characters’, HotD has remained very narrow so far. Anybody that is not near- or fullblood royalty seems entirely dispensible – the showrunners should IMO be more aware that introducing, then rapidly killing off side characters hinders formation of a rich story where one can emotionally connect with the fictional world depicted. When it’s even hard to just keep track of who makes up the Small Counsel (I had the same experience as you), something is lacking. On a similar note, the thoughtless (and by the creators very much neglected) killing of hundreds of people in the Dragonpit prison break scene will forever bother me. Hopefully, in upcoming seasons, we’ll be offered some commonfolk characters that can provide the hooks to emotionally ground the family-succession story.
Winterry71,
I think someone mentioned it in another thread, but I feel like last episode was the “episode 9”, and these next two are like “twin finales”. This is the finale for the Greens, and 10 will be the finale for the Blacks.
Newbietothegame,
Woah! Didn’t even realize that was him. Yeah, he killed it in The Last Kingdom. First sign of a good actor: Portrays differing characters so well, you don’t even realize it’s the same person.
Oz of Thrones,
Right, I also hadn’t noticed it was the same actor! The scar, the eyepatch and the Targ wig definitely helped, but even more so: Ewan really stepped up his grunting game 🙂
Welcome back, oh Great and Powerful Ozzy! Why is no-one mentioning how Helaena was fangirling over Rhaenys on her dragon (as was I). Also, what Geoffrey M Potato said.
Geoffrey M Potato,
I would definitely consider it but only since you mentioned it. Great name by the way!
“Yes, I was unnoticeably absent last week. If you happened to notice, you are one of the chosen few and thank you for your unwavering allegiance.”
(there used to be a way to quote from someone else’s post; I’ve forgotten how to do it.)
No Oz, it was noticed you were gone. I was afraid that the toils of life beyond these pages had been overmuch for you, and you took an extended break. I have been a fan since you were on that other site, whatever its name was, and followed you here. That was at least, what, twelve or so years ago? So very glad to see you back, exceptionally witty and enthusiastic this week, and so very glad that I am back to follow you and Sue and the rest of this intrepid group and many of the prior fans. I was in a crabass mood at the time I found your post this week and it brightened my mood.
That being said, what an episode. Otto “praises” Viserys the Peaceful, then insults his memory by matter-of-factly ordering Westerling to go and kill Rhaenyra and her whole family. Glad Westerling was smart enough to resign immediately and walk out the door, hopefully straight out the palace gate, but I was surprised they let him. Love Graham McTavish, hope they use him more in season 2.
Oh, raven phone being invented yet. Didn’t know if you were serious, but I had the same question – at about 8.5 minutes in, Otto mentioned sending ravens “to our allies, Riverrun and High Garden.” So, ravens are in some use, maybe only for royalty. What looked like Otto rolling a smoke was him preparing a raven scroll. Didn’t catch that until second viewing.
I remember being annoyed at Varys for using kids to spy and other nefarious deeds, but damn, that was a vast improvement over what’s going on here; at least he fed them candy and cared for them somewhat. The fighting pits here were just feral and gross, and seeing the little blond Aegon child was sad. Erryk eric? is right, Aegon is a spoiled ass, worse than an imbecile, a clueless, uncaring man-child worried only about himself, now with great power that he immediately enjoys. Uh.
Alicent was magnificent at the end. No matter what someone might feel about her allowing the foot thing with Larys, or allowing Aegon to be such a rodent, she cares about her children. Seeing the dragon come towards them, she didn’t run, she ordered Cole to protect Helaena, which he did, to his credit, and she stood in front of Aegon and glared right back at Meleys. Notice that Aegon allowed her to protect him, the ass.
Yes, I will stick around after the season ends. I’m actually looking forward to new seasons. It took until episode 4. Being a Watcher on the Wall makes the time between seasons go way faster.
Question – was that Mysaria’s house burning and do we think she is dead?
Was anyone else as impressed with the music for Aegon’s crowning as I was? The parts they played during the coronation were good, but if you listen to the whole piece, it’s so moving, so beautiful. I played it over and over yesterday. Ramin Djawadi is still doing amazing work, and his music is one of the reasons I started watching HotD.