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So is the show just doing their own thing now at this point? Was George not involved as he was in season 1?

Season 1 was slow but well paced, and incredibly efficient with it's more quiet scenes in terms of the information they provided on both the characters and the world. THAT is slow done right. Season 2's problem isn't that it's slow. It's that in its quieter scenes, NOTHING happens a lot of the time. Rhaenyra's council had the same conversation like five times. And no matter how many times the show conveys "okay THIS is what's going to send Rhaenyra to war", in the next episode Rhaenyra's back to doing everything she can to do nothing. Luke's death didn't matter. S2 Episode 3's ending didn't matter. Rhaenrya is only finally talked into waging war by Corlys in Episode 8. Including Episode 10 last season, Rhaenyra has spent NINE EPISODES sitting around. Rhaenys going to Rook's Rest was reactive and Vermithor and Silverwing being claimed was a fortunate exception. There's a difference between 'slow' and repetitive filler. I love slow. I love the earlier seasons of GoT WAY more than the later ones despite the later ones having way more action.

Dumb and dumber( dave and dan) made one season with a 1000 pages of dialog and cut alot out of what could have been 150-200 episodes or more with the main story. They fucked up the main story so so bad. Condel has nothing to work with or very little in terms of character development. But I don't think they can do the rest of the story in 16 episodes I don't want it rushed 24 episodes is what they need to end it correctly. Like you said where do they want to end it?

Hell yeah, this is a Lord Strong appreciation post

It felt like the episode where they move all the pieces on the board so that they can pay it off the following episode... Only weve got to wait a year (or 2) for the pay off, so theyll have to remind everyone what's going on in like 10 minutes at the start of next season

I think it speaks for itself that the worst thing about the season is that we will have to wait for next season to see where it leads to. Future people won't have this problem anymore being able to binge watch it all as they please. So really it's not a big deal.

I couldn't buy Alicent's motivations for meeting with Rhaenyra and her giving up Aegon in the end. I felt Alicent was finally finding her freedom from all her duties, so why not just run away without giving Rhaenyra so much advantage? If she truly cared about the destruction and the smallfolk, they should have shown her having genuine concerns and empathy towards them. We have mostly just seen her being concerned about the smallfolk rioting or her being afraid of them. I really wish we could have a dialogue scene with Alicent and Aegon after Aegon fell. He even called for her from his bed as Alicent left the room. I would want to know what Alicent thinks of him now, whether it is pity or more resentment. If their relationship got even worse now, or if Alicent finds him more hopeless, that could help push her to finally give him up to Rhaenyra for the greater peace. Otherwise, there's no way I'd buy that she'd give him up. I definitely wouldn't buy that she wanted to meet Rhaenyra because she still sees her as a close friend. I've had a friend breakup with my best friend because of some very complicated issues. But after years, you move on. If HOTD wants to be realistic, that's what happens with old friends. At some point, you care more about the people close to you now than of the people who were close to you in the past. Even if she despises her sons, I don't buy that she'd let them die (except Aemon, he should expect consequences of his own actions to bite him back at this point).

I don't think it was terrible it was just incredibly anti climactic. It feels like they've made 10 episodes scrapped the last two and just left it at episode 8. It really feels like we should have more episodes to come for this season .

Spoiler Alert: No

HoTD Season 2 is like Quantum of Solace: A promising follow up that, while it has its strengths, was hampered by production issues and a major writer’s strike.

I'm pretty sure that, if Season 3 shapes up to be great, people will come back to S2 and admire it for what it does. Something similar happened to Halo 2 when Halo 3 came out, and I'm sure it'll be something similar.

I think that the first season of hotd was one of the best seasons of television ever, and by comparison this season was disappointing for most people. Imo, this show has some of the best acting I've ever seen, top to bottom and that is still on display in season 2. As others have said, this season felt a little incomplete, like they cut some episodes or story beats somewhere, but I would still consider this excellent television. If you consider season 1 a 9.5/10 or a 10/10, then I would consider season 2 to be a 7/10. I think that it is especially good compared to the rest of the television landscape in 2024. I would absolutely consider it the best show this year.

Bloody awful

Nobody ever said “tree-archy”

I have no issues with the pacing. The season has spent 4 episodes after Rooks Rest doing buildup with no release. I have all this pent up tension that won't be here anymore in two years. Whenever the next battle does take place, it won't be as emotional as it would have been in this season. The issue is with a lack of another episode and not the pacing.

Otto could have been with the army marching from Oldtown instead hanging out in a cell somewhere. But I suppose we will get Daeron as a perspective there next season, and we need Otto in King's Landing when it falls to Rhaenyra if they're sticking to what happens in F&B. Edit: I actually think we should have had Otto treating with the Triarchy, as it was his plan in the book, and we could've had some more Otto goodness throughout this season.

I think many of the viewers had to battle with Daemon's recovery as much as he had to, wanting him to be the generic warlord rather than becoming the emotional and physical boost to his Queen. They would say it's boring, that nothing happens, and would go on to list a bunch of things that happened but for which they do not care because they aren't dragons, battles, or executions. I think the show is doing a great job telling the story it wants to tell. Viewers are like bad editors trying to change it to be their story.

*”…you will be swallowed by the EYE of the god, never to be seen again.”* That would have been a more interesting & slightly ambiguous reading of Daemon’s future by Haelena. 😁

So refreshing to get an opinion that’s not just bashing the writers. Looking at you, hotd subreddit….

I thought the field of dead dragons might be a glimpse of the aftermath of Second Tumbleton.

I quite like this season as a whole and I wholeheartedly agree with the criticisms. I don't know which kind of constraints they were working under, but some scenes could've been better rearranged and some storylines should've been compressed in favor of giving us more scenes better some characters like Corlys and Rhaenyra.

I’m getting really sick of the darker, more vicious aspects of the Dance being brushed aside so Sara Hess can double down on her Rhaenyra/Alicent angst. Like… It’s over, there is no chance they can ever go back to the way things were. Alicent’s grandchild was butchered, as was Rhaenyra’s own son. Why is that not more of an issue? Alicent spent years abusing Rhaenyra, and poisoning her own children against Rhaenyra’s. And all her self-defeating schemes, her resentment, her bitterness, it played a part in the events which led to little Lucerys’s violent death. Rhaenyra should be *furious* with her. Friendship be damned. Alicent’s characterization is a mess at this point, and Rhaenyra even entertaining the notion of working things out with her is absurd. The Dance is a dynastic collapse, a civil war between members of the same family. Not a sappy, tragic tale of two sad girls pitted against one another.

The subtitle for the green man was HILARIOUS and took me fully out for a full 60 seconds.

Bro there is more pages they barely even crossed 16 😂 wtf how they got George and still fuck up how they have the book and still use their own ideas they changing the plot the events the stories and actions actually this is the truth

You think the show is showing us the TRUTH OF THR WAR OR THEIR OWN IDEAS I think they minimized the truth and telling their own truths which in the end is a lie a deception a manipulation a twisted version of events they think they can do better than George rr Martin this is why they disrespecting him by not telling HIS STORY but their own

I feel like I'm one of the few people not really angry about very much going on with this show. I always think there are things that could have been handled better but my husband who never cared for GoT absolutely adores this show and loves discussing it with me in detail like I normally have to do online with people. He's really bought into the characters, their motivations, etc. Not every episode is a 10/10 but I'm overall happy with it

This season felt like a filler episode, like one of the later The Walking Dead seasons which made me give up on the show completley. I'm just really disappointed at how little happened in these 8 episodes.

None of these things are in fire and blood why are the show destroying cannon for their own myths and I understand there would be changes but this is just changing george whole story they completely idiotic for destroying the lore, cannon for this bull shit

I think the problem i have is they keep inserting nuance. People can be power hungry. Things can happen without being a conspiracy. People cannot go in and out of a war zone like that

We really needed an episode 9 & 10.

To me, the episode was perfect. Too bad I'll have to wait 2 years to see 9 and 10 lol 🤷‍♀ (it's basically been confirmed during their last podcast that 3x01 will be what should have been at the end of s2, had Warner Bros not fumbled everything)

I mostly loved it. It was far better than it could've been, with the season being shortened. They did the best they could considering that restriction. The remaining big players were fleshed out more. Daemon finally discovered a purpose in life, something which, as the spare heir, he'd never had before, and it wasn't remotely what he expected it to be (that aimlessness was always at the core of his problems, I think, especially once he was removed from succession), and he managed to stare his own death in the face and emerge from it stronger. The final scenes of all the players moving to take their places on the chessboard was pretty masterful. It was the perfectly natural point to end a chapter and season, ready to start a new chapter in the next. A huge amount of the people complaining seem concerned with spectacle rather than story, though not everyone, and I'm completely the other way. We had the spectacle - that battle was astounding - and it happened at the right point. Racing through to shoehorn another battle into a truncated series would've have been a mistake. Cutting the season short was the biggest mistake, but the writers and showrunners did what they could with it. Here's hoping the next season gets the episodes it needs.

The problem was not the lack of battles or action and excitement. It was for example alicents character assasination and other small( but really bad) mistakes that make no sense. I still think that the outrage is unwarranted and the season was alright but it does leave a bad taste in my mouth in a way.

I think the cutting of the 2 episodes hurt the pacing of this season. I think they could have done without the Rhaenyra & Alicent secret meetup scenes. They didn’t really add much to the story. Overall I liked the season 6.5/10. I can’t wait for battle of the Gullet, Tumbleton 1&2, and Aemond v Daemon above the Gods Eye. GRRM is my favorite author and I love the world that he has created for these books/shows. Big fan of your writing channel happy I found this channel too.

The problem with this finale is that there is no climax. It is build up after build up with no pay off. It doesnt feel like a finale. It would be a fine episode if it wasnt the last of the season

Harrenhal was Chekhov's Gun that never ended up being taken off the wall & fired

I think what your point about Martin's writing being more focused on character ignores is that those battle scenes often served to further develop a character. It's rarely about the battle itself but about how a character's arc comes to a dramatic crossroads where they will have to make decisions that will irrevocably change their trajectory. That's what's missing in this season of HotD to me.

“NO” is the answer

4 seasons. Not 5

I think Alicent's arc this season was infuriating, l think it destroyed her character. I don't believe she would have just given her son so easily. To me it's like bad fiction for team black!

I liked the whole season. Really enjoyable.

Book spoilers : ***** **** *** ** * I'm afraid they chooses to end the show on the Hour of the Wolf. It will be somewhat satisfying from a TV Show perspective. It's spectacular, it's dramatic, dense, and it closes the main remaining arcs. But to me, the story ends not far after, when it drafts the real long terms consequences of the Dance. It ends with the first years of Aegon III's reign, the special bound they have with Lord Tyland, it ends with the death of Lord Corlys and the feud between Uwind and Alyn. It ends with the real aftermath. Not only the political, spiritual, symbolic and sociologic end of the dragon (it would be a scope too big to cover as a conclusion. Too much to unpack.) But the way the main survivors of this conflict deals with the consequences the first years after the dance. But first, I doubt it's the way the show runners wants to show things up. They seems really focused on internal / psychological drama and eventually spectacular scenes when the budget allows it, more than a sociological tale about power(s). And even without this artistic variable (or call it vision), I'm afraid most of the people (who complained about the lack of depth and consequences of GoT ending still) wouldn't be interested with such futher developpements, (let's call it the 5th season) and would be quick to judge it as the season produced for fan service and marketing reasons, more than a real philosophical and reflective conclusion. I may seems bitter, but truly speaking, it doesn't really matter : This ending exists already. It's in the book. The show can do whatever they want, they will not make the actual Fire and Blood story disapear. Which is more comforting when we think about the possibility we will never have the conclusion of ASOIAF (or even if it's published one day, perhaps I will die tomorrow and miss it. Life is short, enjoy it. Speaking like a chinese cake, sorry) and so, more comforting than the GoT experience. Even if HotD also eventually fails to find a good ending.

Great video.

It was no finale, just another epsiode

Rings of Power?... oh dang that was a true clusterf*ck. But HOD has been great and appreciate your input without spoilers

The greatest issue of this season is that Directors are dealing with This World As if it is LORT Or another fantasy world. Ignoring the dark political side. Dragons are important but politics and character motives are more important in GOT world and HOTD olso They ruined it

Men bad. Women perfect. If only women were president.

Yes, the dragon show is more about emotions and politics and the human heart at war with itself, but it's also the dragon show. It's set in a late medieval fantasy time because we want to see swordfights. Focusing all on character work would be more excusable if it was... better. Even if this was an 8th episode of a 10 episode season that got cut bc of the writers' strike, this would still be an exceptionally weak 8th ep. This was a weird time to finally start focusing on Tyland. He's being focused on for a reason, yes, but this was a useless time to start. We really didn't need 3 minutes of mud wrestling, and his politicking scenes with the pirates are so fucking slow. It seems like they're doing the "bland white man woos excengric woman by being the first bland white man she's seen" trope and ai can't stand it, it's so dumb. We also didn't need 4 short scenes of Rhaena hiking in the Vale, 1 longer scene wheree we start with Rhaena being tired and starving and the actress actually gets to act would get the job done. A season that's this slow cannot afford to waste this much time. We don't actually see much of Baela. She's way more important than they're letting her be- we don't really know anything about her motivations or conflicts. It's bizzare that we still know nothing. I'll always take issue that we rarely get any moments to see the dragons interacting with each other- because some dragons are going to fight each other, the tragedy of them being glorified fighting dogs pitted against one another could be deeper if they actually showed relationships between the dragons and not just between dragons and people. It is insane that Seasmoke choosing a rider doesn't force the conversation about Laenor between Corlys and Rhaenyra by now. I like that Alan gets in Corly's face in this ep, I would love to see him and Adam arguing about their different levels of respect towards Corlys. Alicent asking Rhaenyra to come away with her was just brushed off, not just by the characters but by the scene- getting the courage to even ask would have been huge for Alicent, but it's just a throwaway line with no discernible impact on the conversation. I can't really justify why I think this, but: this scene was just so flat. And then, there's Daemon. SPOILERS: . . . . . Idk why they're de-clawing him so much, making him a sympathetic good guy. It seems like they're ramping up to have Rhaenyra be the corrupt bad guy who goes mad with power and Daemon the this disillusioned man of honor, and honestly I hate that. I hate that they're going to make another season 8 Daenerys and make Daemon into Jaime, despite that he'll never truly take responsibility for treating the world like his playthings. He doesn't even show any guilt about Willem, a guy he should probably like, who he killed as a tool for doing what he asked him to do. Daemon is still a horrible person after Harrenhal.

I'm just gonna start by saying that I am genuinely glad that your experience with this season has been so positive. Sincerely. I want to love it as much. But I have substantial issues with this season. Agreed that character drama is the heart of the story, but to me that IS where this season dropped the ball (also watering down the political complexity of the succession crisis but I don't have it in me to get into that right now). I don't care that we didn't get big battles. The pacing being off was also understandable, even if they certainly could've handled it better. But it is still character relationships that I think this season fails at. These characters are undeniably more fleshed out than their F&B counterparts, but this is still incredibly lackluster character/relationship writing for a story overflowing with interesting dynamics and entanglements to tap into. A good example of wasted potential is, like you mentioned, how come Laenor's "murder" never comes up with Corlys? Especially after losing Rhaenys when he was feeling some resentment towards Rhaenyra? But also. --> How does Corlys feel about both his wife and his heir/grandson being taken away by the same little shit? Does it make this far more personal now, as opposed to his previous perspective that was more rooted in legacy/posterity? --> How come the murder of Luke doesn't come up with Aemond as Aegon rages in his grief for the butchering of his son? Why is Aemond's indirect culpability not the biggest catalyst for how catastrophically the brothers' relationship breaks apart this season? And where are the building blocks that take us from Aemond of S1 finale to barbecue-my-brother-along-with-a-fully-grown-dragon-that-we-really-need plus some villages off screen Aemond? --> How do we get "a son for a son" from Rhaenyra without mention of B&C? Where's Rhaenyra's distress and horror from when she found out that an innocent little boy lost his life in payment for Luke? Did she rationalize it away because it too must've been divinely ordained? Is she starting to believe that the actions of others taken in her name can be retroactively cleansed because of the divinity of her cause? If so, fascinating! I would've loved to explore that and how it might change the way she thinks of and interacts with the members of her faction. --> And where is Alicent's ... anything, literally any realistic reaction to hearing "a son for a son" as though she didn't have to parade a toddler with a sewn head? As though Haelena hadn't been made to pick out her little boy for slaughter. Where is her incredulity at the idea that her grandson's murder seemingly weighs nothing in Rhaenyra's scale? --> And speaking of Haelena, regardless of what form her connection with Alys/visions takes, does she have feelings towards the murderer of her child as she enlightens him to his purpose? Does she think of Daemon as the blade rather than the hand? That it was fate anyways and he an instrument? Or did his choice bring that fate to fruition? Anything? Or is she detached from all present emotions like we saw with Bran? If so, since when? --> Seriously, how can the deaths of Luke and Jaehaerys matter *this little* to the character relationships and the narrative as a whole? Those babies should be *haunting* damn near every major relationship. I could go on forever but, I think I've been a debbie downer for long enough already. I really don't enjoy feeling this down about one of my favorite stories. I guess I'm just hoping with more time and distance from this season some of my excitement and enjoyment will return. Right now, I'm just baffled honestly.

I keep hearing that the story was either too subtle or not subtle enough. Never an in-between, and no one seems to want to take the story as it is. It's very hard to enjoy a narrative if you are constantly trying to rewrite it as you're taking it in. This show wasn't perfect, but I think it was the best GOT we've gotten since season 1 of the original series. The books and the show seem to shy away from giving any definitive answer about the magic or even characters' deeper motivations, and they edge the audience so much that even today, after a whole show and with one more book to go, we're still not sure about major plot points or the overall direction of major characters. With one more book to go, it's frustrating that there are still so many questions about what is actually going on. I appreciate this show's willingness to just commit to a direction, to be literal about what it is and where it's going and not leave us hanging off a cliff for eight seasons. Subtlety is great, but after a while, it gets boring because the story refuses to commit in order to keep you on the edge of your seat, then it just becomes an overused cheap trick. The subtlety that this show does indulge in has more to do with character action and dialog, leaving us to wonder about the deeper meanings behind the action they take or what they choose to reveal to one another. That is the actual 'game' of the game of thrones. Why did they do this, and what will they do next? It's like a soap opera in a medieval setting, and to me anyway, that's what makes it so compelling. I think the show deserves far more credit than its getting from it's overthinking/analyzing fans.