In this episode, Liz discusses the House of the Dragon episode titled "Queen's Landing." The episode discusses the various implications of events in the previous episode. Some characters like Rhaenyra and Aemond make decisions that will have consequences down the road. Is Rhaenyra truly secure or is she about to step into a bigger fire that what a dragon can breathe?
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00:01 --> 00:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Westerosi Primer.
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00:47 --> 00:50 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you very much.
01:01 --> 01:07 [SPEAKER_00]: Greetings fellow accolites, welcome to another episode of the Westerosi Primer, my name is Liz.
01:07 --> 01:09 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're new to this podcast, welcome.
01:09 --> 01:12 [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you enjoy this journey of all things Westeros.
01:13 --> 01:19 [SPEAKER_00]: And in this episode, I'll be talking about House of the Dragon episode titled Queen's Landing.
01:20 --> 01:27 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, everyone, as I am recording this episode, I literally just finished watching the episode about
01:28 --> 01:45 [SPEAKER_00]: five minutes or so ago, and I am here hopping on the mic to do my weekly reactions before I get started on my general thoughts and reaction to this week's episode.
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02:23 --> 02:24 [SPEAKER_00]: Can I say before I continue?
02:26 --> 02:44 [SPEAKER_00]: I only just found out about this long after I released the previous episode, but I had a weird sneaking suspicion about that mystery redhead who was with Lord Hytaur.
02:45 --> 02:48 [SPEAKER_00]: But I dismissed it because I was like,
02:49 --> 02:55 [SPEAKER_00]: No, that doesn't make sense, that can't be Deiron because Deiron has silver hair.
02:56 --> 03:00 [SPEAKER_00]: It's very clearly stated in Fire and Blood that he had silver hair.
03:01 --> 03:13 [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, because Deiron and all three of his other siblings also have the silver-y platinum-blon Targaryen hair,
03:14 --> 03:37 [SPEAKER_00]: It heavily gets used as almost like exhibit B for people to say how Reneira's three Valorian sons cannot possibly be laying Norse kids because Allison doesn't actually have that hair color.
03:38 --> 03:39 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet all four of her kids
03:43 --> 03:51 [SPEAKER_00]: How is it that three kids from two volurian, silvery-haired people don't have the hair color?
03:52 --> 03:58 [SPEAKER_00]: And then I find out that, oh, actually, that red hair kid was actually day-run.
03:58 --> 03:59 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm very confused about this.
04:00 --> 04:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Although, if I recall correctly, I may have to rewatch the preview for the next episode again,
04:13 --> 04:17 [SPEAKER_00]: we do see dayeron again, but he actually does have the self-rehears.
04:17 --> 04:23 [SPEAKER_00]: So weirdly enough, somebody I work with at my day job.
04:25 --> 04:30 [SPEAKER_00]: I had a conversation with them the other day about what we thought of the TV show.
04:31 --> 04:32 [SPEAKER_00]: And then later I saw
04:35 --> 04:43 [SPEAKER_00]: a lot of articles and such pointing out that actually this kid is day-run and that heavily confused me.
04:43 --> 04:54 [SPEAKER_00]: So this person that I work with, he actually brought up an interesting idea that maybe the kid had his hair dyed.
04:55 --> 05:01 [SPEAKER_00]: perhaps her security reasons, perhaps as a way to keep himself anonymous.
05:01 --> 05:01 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
05:03 --> 05:18 [SPEAKER_00]: If that was actually the reason why the character had his hair dyed, it's a stupid reason truthfully because the kid has a dragon, how many people in West rose are dragon writers, really.
05:19 --> 05:20 [SPEAKER_00]: That's just my personal opinion.
05:22 --> 05:28 [SPEAKER_00]: Now with that said, let me get to my overall thoughts and general reaction to this week's episode.
05:28 --> 05:34 [SPEAKER_00]: As we all saw, this is a direct continuation of the previous episode.
05:34 --> 05:39 [SPEAKER_00]: We see not exactly the aftermath.
05:39 --> 05:46 [SPEAKER_00]: to a certain degree because in a sense, the battle is still happening as the episode starts.
05:47 --> 05:52 [SPEAKER_00]: We do however see the final parts of the battle, loved happening.
05:52 --> 06:02 [SPEAKER_00]: We see a bunch of dragons flying in the sky, which of course we realize is actually see smoke, remathor and silver wing.
06:03 --> 06:09 [SPEAKER_00]: flying back from around hair and haul to assist with dealing with the pirates.
06:11 --> 06:22 [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, this means that hair and haul will be left undefended and the riverlands as a whole, but that is something that we will be dealing with in a later episode of the season.
06:23 --> 06:33 [SPEAKER_00]: Now we do have a few plot points to discuss, but I will try to discuss them in a group together way.
06:35 --> 06:47 [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, the biggest story line that we see in this episode is of course centered on Reneera heading to King's Landing, but that will be what I will discuss towards the end of the episode.
06:48 --> 06:53 [SPEAKER_00]: So, let me just go over a few notable plot points.
06:55 --> 07:12 [SPEAKER_00]: We see that what's left of House Valorian try to work together to locate Coralus who was last seen in the battle having fallen off the ship during his fight with the pirates.
07:13 --> 07:22 [SPEAKER_00]: But, of course, we eventually do see that they've managed to locate him and he is still alive, so that's good for him and good for the family.
07:23 --> 07:38 [SPEAKER_00]: We see Allen, Adam, and Bala together with him, and they are openly acknowledging each other as being part of a family, even though Adam and Allen are still technically bastards.
07:39 --> 07:49 [SPEAKER_00]: But we do get some sort of a family gathering unite a front type of feeling in this episode, which is nice.
07:49 --> 07:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Good.
07:51 --> 07:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Where that is going to head off to going forward is something that we will have to keep an eye out on.
07:58 --> 08:02 [SPEAKER_00]: One sort of amusing plot line that we got was
08:08 --> 08:23 [SPEAKER_00]: through a twist of circumstance, they were captured by knights and guards who were loyal to Reneera, but then through happenstance with the battle of the Gullit.
08:24 --> 08:36 [SPEAKER_00]: The two of them managed to find one opportunity to escape in the chaos as the guards who have them in their custody wind up confronted by the pirates.
08:36 --> 08:38 [SPEAKER_00]: So that was rather amusing.
08:40 --> 08:45 [SPEAKER_00]: As to what happens next, we will see in a later episode.
08:45 --> 08:55 [SPEAKER_00]: It's really interesting how in the show they basically combined book arena and nettles into one character in the form of reign in the TV show.
08:56 --> 09:11 [SPEAKER_00]: They in essence rewrote nettles storyline to some degree and gave it to Reina because I had discussed this to a certain degree in episode 207 of this podcast.
09:12 --> 09:15 [SPEAKER_00]: But in essence, the character of
09:24 --> 09:31 [SPEAKER_00]: the reason is for something different from what happened with Reina here.
09:32 --> 09:46 [SPEAKER_00]: So in essence they are going to make Reina a suspicious person by Reneera because they all believe that
09:47 --> 10:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Raina as sheep stealers rider created a lot of problems on the battlefield to the extent that Jason probably got killed because of it, which I will be curious to see how they actually have this story line play out because
10:11 --> 10:31 [SPEAKER_00]: It just seems strange to me how Renera would potentially continue believing this because she has known Reina for years and at one point in time Reina was her niece and Reina is now her stepdaughter.
10:31 --> 10:37 [SPEAKER_00]: So I find it hard to believe that she logically would assume that Reina is
10:39 --> 11:03 [SPEAKER_00]: Understandably most of them still don't know that she ended up on sheep stealer, but I'm just saying is that once they find out she's the one on sheep stealer, I just find it hard to believe that she would still be considered a traitor, but I will have to see how that turns out.
11:05 --> 11:12 [SPEAKER_00]: We also followed Allison, who managed to convince Aemon to leave King's Landing with Agar.
11:13 --> 11:21 [SPEAKER_00]: She is trying to hold up her end of the deal with Reneera, which is to make things easier for her to show up and take over.
11:23 --> 11:34 [SPEAKER_00]: She does manage to do it to some degree, although not 100% perfectly, of course, but she does at least manage to fulfill her part of the bargain.
11:35 --> 11:40 [SPEAKER_00]: She does try to help Helena and Jihara escape from King's
11:46 --> 11:53 [SPEAKER_00]: as an example towards anybody who is loyal to Egon.
11:54 --> 11:59 [SPEAKER_00]: They almost escaped, but they wound up being taken back to the red key.
12:00 --> 12:08 [SPEAKER_00]: And now they are, in essence, gas or hostages, depending on how you would interpret the situation.
12:22 --> 12:27 [SPEAKER_00]: We do get a scene where we follow Amen back to the Riverlands.
12:28 --> 12:40 [SPEAKER_00]: He basically parallels exactly what Damon did last season, except that he actually kills the strongs instead of just taking over.
12:41 --> 12:56 [SPEAKER_00]: And he gets stabbed during the fighting and now he's left to the tender mercies of the one and only member of how strong left alive in the castle, which is of course the mysterious Alice Rivers.
12:56 --> 13:14 [SPEAKER_00]: It's really interesting to see that the creators openly point out how the way these scenes with Aement are written is intentionally meant for the audience to see a very direct comparison to his uncle because
13:15 --> 13:24 [SPEAKER_00]: In a lot of ways, the two characters are very similar to each other, and yet they're still somehow very different from each other.
13:25 --> 13:36 [SPEAKER_00]: This is actually something I've discussed back in season one of this podcast, which included my reactions to the previous season of House of the Dragon.
13:37 --> 13:47 [SPEAKER_00]: It's very intentional and it is something that I actually pointed out back then and the show runner and the writing team basically confirm that is the case.
13:48 --> 13:49 [SPEAKER_00]: It's pretty obvious.
13:49 --> 13:50 [SPEAKER_00]: They are very similar to each other.
13:52 --> 13:54 [SPEAKER_00]: The fact that the two actors have
13:55 --> 14:12 [SPEAKER_00]: A superficial, similar look as each other, especially when they put on the wig and the costumes, they are very similar looking to each other, which is intentional for the audience to see the parallels between the two.
14:13 --> 14:17 [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, Aimond is very eager to confront his uncle, which is
14:17 --> 14:27 [SPEAKER_00]: Always fascinating to me because we have never actually seen the two characters interact much with each other in Correvious episodes before all of this.
14:29 --> 14:32 [SPEAKER_00]: I will certainly be very curious to see how that turns out.
14:33 --> 14:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Speaking of Damon, when we catch up to him in this episode, we see him celebrating the victory against the Lannisters in the Riverlands.
14:43 --> 14:50 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a bit of a lighthearted scene, which, of course, makes perfect sense because they are celebrating a great victory.
14:51 --> 15:02 [SPEAKER_00]: And then of course he gets the message about what happened to Jace and he tells everyone that they need to pack up and head towards King's Landing.
15:03 --> 15:14 [SPEAKER_00]: Meanwhile he will be flying back to Dragonstone to talk to Reneera and get everybody together so they can head over to take over
15:20 --> 15:31 [SPEAKER_00]: So now that I've already covered the other story lines of note, now I will get into the heart of this particular episode, which is of course Reneera.
15:32 --> 15:35 [SPEAKER_00]: Reneera is not
15:35 --> 15:36 [SPEAKER_00]: doing very well.
15:37 --> 15:40 [SPEAKER_00]: And who can really blame her?
15:40 --> 15:46 [SPEAKER_00]: If you really think about it, this is the third child she has lost.
15:47 --> 15:50 [SPEAKER_00]: All so she can end up on the Iron Throne.
15:51 --> 15:56 [SPEAKER_00]: She had miscarriage of a baby back in the first season,
15:58 --> 16:02 [SPEAKER_00]: it was going to be a daughter, her only daughter, in fact.
16:03 --> 16:17 [SPEAKER_00]: And then very shortly after that, she loses her son, Luceres, and then now she loses her oldest child, Jace.
16:18 --> 16:19 [SPEAKER_00]: It's just one
16:23 --> 16:33 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not surprising that she goes back into a very depressive state because she's lost another child.
16:33 --> 16:39 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a painful thing to be a parent and then you lose a child.
16:40 --> 16:48 [SPEAKER_00]: And as Emma pointed out in there behind the scenes interview,
16:49 --> 17:00 [SPEAKER_00]: For Reneera, she never had a chance really to do much to defend her children in a stronger way.
17:01 --> 17:03 [SPEAKER_00]: She of course does defend her children.
17:03 --> 17:10 [SPEAKER_00]: She has defended her children several times through the show that we've seen in previous episodes.
17:11 --> 17:34 [SPEAKER_00]: It's just that this battle was a way for her to not just prove herself as a queen as a leader willing to fight for her throne, but also she's a parent taking a position of fighting so that her children don't have to do the fighting.
17:36 --> 17:43 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's not what happened her own son basically went behind her back to prevent her from fighting.
17:44 --> 17:49 [SPEAKER_00]: So he goes out and doesn't and he dies for it.
17:51 --> 18:09 [SPEAKER_00]: And that is not something that's easy for her to take, and she does get very depressed until Damon comes back and forces her to wake up from her grief, vague arm, and Amin have left the capital in essence undefended by
18:10 --> 18:20 [SPEAKER_00]: a dragon means this is the moment for Reneera to get there and take the throne back.
18:21 --> 18:33 [SPEAKER_00]: The episode, of course, ends with Reneera, Damon, with Alt and Hugh escorting her back to King's Landing and into the Red Keep.
18:34 --> 18:51 [SPEAKER_00]: There is a mix of some people who do surrender pretty peacefully because Allison was able to convince them earlier, but of course there is some resistance because naturally not everybody necessarily agrees with.
18:52 --> 18:59 [SPEAKER_00]: The idea that Reneera should be queen and Aegon is still the king as far as they're concerned.
19:00 --> 19:09 [SPEAKER_00]: And also as far as they are concerned, Aiman is the regent when Aegon is indisposed.
19:10 --> 19:23 [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, it's a very mixed situation amongst everybody in King's Landing and in the right keep over what's right, what's wrong, what is treason, what is not treason.
19:24 --> 19:31 [SPEAKER_00]: But of course, they do take over as Allison agreed to let Reneera do.
19:32 --> 19:52 [SPEAKER_00]: and it's also very fascinating that they start things off with executions, but of course, not just ordinary executions, two of the most ardent people to put egg on on the throne, get killed, of course.
19:52 --> 19:58 [SPEAKER_00]: You have Jasper Wild who sexually assaulted Allison, she gets saved,
20:01 --> 20:26 [SPEAKER_00]: And of course, because he is a sexual assault or he does get executed as well as being a very ardent egg on backer, but the one person who I think a lot of people would feel is the most satisfactory death is, of course, auto-high tower because out of all the characters on
20:29 --> 20:46 [SPEAKER_00]: a whole lot of this craziness is auto, his own ambitions to have his bloodline be on the iron throne instigated quite a lot of the conflict.
20:46 --> 20:55 [SPEAKER_00]: He's the one who got his daughter to end up becoming the Sarah's second wife.
20:55 --> 21:09 [SPEAKER_00]: And she ends up giving birth to a whole bunch of children, including sons, which is also interesting, given that the whole reason why
21:10 --> 21:24 [SPEAKER_00]: Reneera was even the heir, was because Otto was the one to convince Viserys and the first place to name his daughter, the heir to the Iron Throne instead of having Damon become the heir.
21:25 --> 21:30 [SPEAKER_00]: And then once Reneera becomes the heir, he turns around and proceeds to have
21:31 --> 21:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Allison put in a position to make his family become the ones on the Iron Throne eventually and also having access to dragons.
21:42 --> 21:53 [SPEAKER_00]: He had been scheming to have Reneera become almost a place holder to prevent Damon from becoming the future king.
21:53 --> 21:55 [SPEAKER_00]: The whole thing backfires on him to a
22:01 --> 22:06 [SPEAKER_00]: changing who becomes the air after Egon is born.
22:07 --> 22:21 [SPEAKER_00]: When you really think about it, this whole situation has been started by a lot of very greedy people who treat other people as chess pieces and
22:27 --> 22:40 [SPEAKER_00]: all because some people are greedy for power and some people are just very ignorant and naive and don't think a head as far as they should.
22:41 --> 22:43 [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, it remains to be seen how
22:45 --> 23:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Reneira's reign will turn out as we see that the start of her reign as Queen is not starting off as peaceful as it really could have been, but we will see how she turns out as the one sitting on the throne and having to handle a variety of problems.
23:09 --> 23:18 [SPEAKER_00]: that she ends up having to deal with all because of how Egon and his small council handled things.
23:19 --> 23:27 [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, so this is going to be a pretty short episode so that we'll be everything for this week's episode.
23:28 --> 23:37 [SPEAKER_00]: So tune in next time as we continue with the current season of House of the Dragon.
23:37 --> 23:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening.
23:39 --> 23:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Valar Morgoulis.
24:19 --> 24:20 [SPEAKER_00]: What did you think of this episode?
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