Episode 2: The Rogue Prince

Hello everyone, and welcome to Game of Bros, yet another Game of Thrones podcast. I am your host, Christash, and I'm joined once again by my longtime friend, your friend and mine. I've known him since I was a child. We're gonna be talking about children marrying adults in this episode of the show. My friend in yours your sharp rasta.

Sorry, so your shark keeps trying to do a dragon impersonation and it's not working out for him. So maybe by the end of this run of the show you'll have nailed it. I think so. I'm either that I'm literally just gonna have like no more lighting lung. Yeah, you're throwing, You're throwing, You're just like all your voice box and everything just destroyed.

Would you rather have no voice box or have to have hair that looks like a Targarian wig? Boy? Yeah, I think I would rather have no voice because those Targarian wigs seem really heavy. So on this episode of Game of Brose, we're gonna be talking about the second episode of the first season of HBO's spinoff series House of the Dragon. That episode is titled The Rogue Prince.

That episode aired August twenty eight, twenty twenty two, and this episode is all about the titular rogue prince. Who is that? Who is that man? That mad man, that mad Matt Smith, That Damon Targarian's up to no good. He went on out to Dragonstone and he's looking too.

He's looking to get some dragon eggs and have an air of his own and then kill the king and become the Air and his bloodline will take over the throne. And you know why, ray Narra Targarian don't like that very much, and I don't blame her, and that is that is the crux of the conflict for this episode. But we get a little introduction of somebody new, somebody I'm frankly excited about. I don't know about you, man, but the crab Feeder, bro, what in the fuck are we about to see you with this show? So in the first episode, the king has like a weird sas or something.

The thing with the iron Throne is it's supposed to be an uncomfortable throne so that you don't get angry and let your emotions get the better of you because the throne will cut you. But the real king is meant to not be able to be injured by the throne. Qu Va Sarah's having a wound from the throne on his body, but on the one on the back, we're not sure that's from the throne and its throne, And just like the wound on his hand is from the throne. He keeps getting cut by the throne, is what's going on? I didn't.

I didn't real understand anyway. That's not like like I said, like there's some game of thrones like LORIZI stuff behind Okay, but yeah, the real king the throne is no. The iron throne is meant to be the way it is so that you are a controlled king or queen and you're not flying off the handle because if you do, you fucking stab yourself. So the real king is supposed to be not able to be injured by the iron thrown or get injured by the iron throne. Hence why Vassaris in the first episode has a sore on his back and this episode his hand is screwed up now and he's sticking his hand in Tide of naggots.

He cut it at the end of like episode one, and there's a six there's a sick like a six month or so time jump, right, So right, and then on top of everything else, we have six months. So this episode opens six months after the first episode. Damon basically leaves King's Landing takes over a Dragonstone, which I think is the same place to Narius was hanging out when she came to west Rose. Right, we get to see the Throne Room and the Throne Room and Dragonstone looks very similar some of the CG like, especially if King's Landing looked a little wonky to me. I don't know if I don't think they gave the show as big of a budget well, which is okay, which is okay?

Is it because the dragons look great and like all right, but the dragons have to look great. But I wonder, like, is this that you should have been talking about, where like there's just so much content. These CG houses are like overworked. So it's not necessarily a lack of funds, but it's more like literally just a lack of time on the I don't I think the budget for this show is going into the things that are important, like the CGI dragons, because this is the House of the Dragon show. It's about the Targarians, like they gotta nail.

They're gonna nail anything, Nail the Dragons, and this one had the open, the actual proper opening with the song, which I was into. Okay, I've seen takes of this online now and I feel like we need to kind of mention it. These shows theme song is the Game of Thrones theme song. I'm not I'm not a fan, and I will still you why it evokes a show that I wasn't a fan of and also well yeah, but but again, my overwhelming experience with Game of Thrones it like still is not super positive, and that theme song I do associate with the original run of the show. Why not do something different.

It's not even titled Game of Thrones colon House of the Dragon, It's just House of the Dragon. I think, if you really want to prove to me that we're starting fresh here, that we're trying to put our best foot forward, do you do the same intro? Do a do something that evokes the original invocation of the original even don't even evoke it, just invocated. Just look. Uman Jawadi is amazing.

If you watched Westworld, he's just as amazing there as he's like. I haven't seen the new season though, so I give up Season two so you haven't even seen the last two seasons, so your opinion might not be the one to listen to. I haven't seen the most recent season. Thurs season of the show is not great, granted, but I've heard the most recent season, Season three is a drag. But season three, if season four is good and it redeems how kind of lackluster season three is, season three will just be a season that had to get us to season four.

Not an excuse, but I've we've seen seasons of those shows before, dude. Season seven of Game of Thrones is essentially just getting us to season eight. Like that's the way it felt in a lot of ways, like people who were on boats half the time. You know whatever, bro, I'm I'm into boats. But I really was like kind of taken aback that they used that that that theme song.

I was not a fan to the point we talked about in the last episode that we said, you know, they wanted to kind of go back to the original Game of Thrones roots, which is why they chose this instead of the longest Night or show that they had shot blood So it's not blood Moon was the title of that show blood Moon? Yeah, at least that was the title it was shot under. Yeah, I'm sure it would have been interesting anyway. My point is like it's not surprising, and I mean I love the song. Everyone loved.

No. I mean it's I mean when you hear when you hear the Dona No, I mean you know what that is, like it's so different, it's intros different, but the song is the same. It's the same. It's not a dude, you could have done something like any any little transformative something. I mean, even a show like Barney Miller changes its theme song.

I mean that shows in the seventies and it changes its own theme song from season to season. Like it's like all the Marvel shows have like like that Avengers like you know, thing at the very beginning. So maybe my real problem is the commodification of Game of Thrones. Okay, well maybe that's what it is. Like I appreciate from a from a standpoint of like we're trying to keep everything like one to one, like this is a Game of Thrones, so like it's a unifying theme and it's a unifying kind of formula that we can use.

Like Okay, so the next Game of Thrones show is going to have the same Game of Thrones music, but a little bit of a different intro. Right, that's now the expectation. I don't like that. I think that this is its own show. It should stand as its own show.

And I think a theme song of a show, yeah, even if you, me and everybody else hits that goddamn skip intro button, somebody spends their time making those intros. Somebody spends the time making those music. And I know Ramanderwatty could have done an amazing theme song for this show that would have been something different and unique, but still hard getting back to the don and the what we expect from the show. That's all I'm saying it to me. Is just a weird choice for a show that I thought would have been trying to do everything in its power to not make me think about the last time I heard that theme song, Because the last time I heard that theme song was listening to the last episode of the final season of that show, and that episode is probably the worst episode of that show, one of the worst episodes of that show.

Who Do We Make the King? Well, you know, people like stories, people like the shows that don't shit the bed right before the show ends. Yeah, that's what people like, and you know what, people like this show seemingly because you know, seems like people stuck around for a second for a second episode. People are still talking about it. Yeah, and you know, we've learned that healthcare in the Westerros consists of just like putting your ship in a bunch of bugs or like having crabs off of you.

Well, so let's talk about a little bit about Prince Admiral Craig is Drahar, otherwise zonas the crab feed It's called the crab Feeder. Crabs. Mister Krabman, send me some crabs. He uh what an interesting character design? Huh was that?

So that's supposed to be him at the end of the episode. Yeah, with the like weird like leather mask on. Yeah, he kind of looks like a character like a from a fighting game, a character from a horror movie. Yeah, it's like it's you know, you mentioned it a little bit and I didn't know where you were going with it, but you said, like Game of Thrones has some weird shit in it. Yeah, like the Whitewalkers, Like yeah, you know, like that's when I think of the crab Feeder, Like, all I'm thinking about is the Knights King, which bad thing to make me think of.

I'm sorry, Like, you know, say what you will about the final episode of the last season of the show, but the way they handled the Knights King, the big bad of the series. Like my hope is with the crab Feeder is he's like a two or three episode or three episode villain, but like they give him enough to do in those two to three episodes that like by the end of you're like, I'm glad that he's gone, but I got enough out of him that I needed, Unlike the Knights King, who was like they teased him for eight seasons and then when he showed up, it was like it was like, well we got a couple like cool battle episodes of him earlier, but yeah, but like for the final Battle, it was a bit everybody has forgotten Hard Home because of how bad everything else is.

Like it's just it's hard for where that character ends up at the end. It's so hard for me to like have any interest in revisiting, you know. It's like it's like the X Files for me, Like if I were to go back and watch Game of Thrones, I probably wouldn't watch the Mythos episodes. Of Game of Thrones where they're focusing on like the myth arc of the Knights King and stuff. I would watch like the more kind of self contained episodes of the Ship because they really, like they really just botched that completely.

And my hope is with a character like the crab Feeder, they have given themselves the opportunity to say, we saw how the Night King turned out. Maybe this crab Feeder is not the villain for the rest of the show. I'm sure he isn't, but he is a He is a threat to Matt Smith, to Damon target Arian, and he's also a threat to Cordless Valerian because because he's actually because they have to team up now to fight him, is what it's kind of sounding like. He's an opportunity for Damon. So so the crux is episode is mister Krabs is basically fucking enough shipping lanes, Correless, this whole thing is shipping lanes, commerce, and he wants his strength is the sea, the sea.

Yeah, and he wants the king to basically sends let him send his navy to go like Crush, not a rebelliable like bas these pirates, they're pirates, I mean they're they're pirates, but because it's in the area of the Free Cities, the king has a mandate where like we don't basically instigate wars, right and and he says, like, who do you think is who do you think is financing the crabs beings like yeah, because he's like, well there's you know, they're not sovereign or whatever. He's like obviously like the free Cities or housing them, um and so uh you know they you know, they even though they maybe found some WMDs, they didn't want to go invade immediately, right like their their their hands are tied.

And the entire the entire kind of conflict of the episode is does the King marry Coreless Valerian's daughter or does he marry the daughter of Sir Otto High Tower his hand because if he doesn't marry Coreless Valerian's daughter, the problem is he won't have Coreless Valarian in his pocket forever. Yeah, so let's remind him it. So basically King tells Coreless like he actually bucks up and shows some strength and says, I'm not going to do this. I'm hain't trying to handle this diplomatically. So like Coreless is like, okay, the king kind of owes me one, let's unite our houses.

Even though Corliss's wife is the king's cousin the queen who never was right, meaning his daughter would be like his second cousin. I don't know. I mean, Tarkarian's fucked each other all the time, but it wasn't unusual. But they were related, and we hadn't seen the daughter yet, so we kind of didn't know who she was, how old she was, how old she was almost feeling like the key phrase here, yeah, because we knew like the king, uh, you know, I could go younger, but we didn't know how young. So Corlis wants to marry off his daughter to say, okay, if I can't get like people fighting for me at least, like I know, I'm basically guaranteed potentially lying to the throne or at least like my influence in the court, And he pitches the key on marrying his daughter, and actually everyone in the court, even like Otto is basically like yeah, like do it, like if you can better when she's fourteen, like she's twelve now, she'll be fourteen in two years like that in this universe it's and then introduced to Lena, and we have the world's most awkward date um scene.

It's a fifty year old man with a twelve year old child in a dreadlock wig. Oh and her wig is that this is this is where, this is where the rubber makes the road baby, because this is where which we kicked the wig. We kicked the wig game into high gear here. I would have just hired a naturally blonde actress for that role, like, because that wig was distractingly bad. I don't understand.

I don't like it would show that looks as good as this show and with a high of a budget is this show? Like God lays like I was just distracted because the whole scene so jarring because ay, she's much younger than you're expecting, because you don't know what Howel's right? Which is which is which is the intent of the of the main that's the intention is to be like, oh my god, like no, no, no, please, no, and and the sarious like you can tell it doesn't really want to do this, but like, yes, at least, but he understands the he understands the political machinations behind it. Yeah, and he has to this humor and he does ask what everyone's basically like, yeah, it's like a little weird, but like long term, it makes sense, and like she don't she give you an air and people are expecting because he even says it's only been six months, like, well, people expect you to kind of like pump out babies, bro, And so then so this is weird.

He's walking with this like twelve year old who's also his cousin and also her Wig. Dude, I was just like, what that was? I said to that's actually how we spread this podcast, I said to a snapchat with how horrible her Wig was. Yeah, you're like, let's do a podcast one. Well, I mean again, you know, like I guess I have a hard time really understanding how during the dailies somebody saw that and when yeah, this is great, Like I don't, I don't know, like I appreciate them trying to, like we said in the last episode, like Hugh closer to the myth the mythos of those characters of the Targarians, and like the expectation.

But boy, boy, boy boy, boy, boy boy boy, this was just this scene needed to exist because we needed to understand how awful this is and how kind of utilitarian and tactical, cordless Valerian can be but put his own child. I get the distinct I get the distinct feeling somebody, somebody by the name of jam And Targarian is going to end up marrying her. But that's just that's just me. That's just me, Like I think it. I think that's where we're headed.

I think that's what makes sense. But because I think, but they show but they always show Vasaris. They show damon As doing what Vasaras won't. And so that's why I say that, because like the Sarah's was and by the end of this episode we find out clearly not on board with that. But yeah, like it's a really weird scene, but it's meant to be weird.

But I'm it's just like it's, yeah, the thing with the wig is taking away from the weirdness of the scene and making it weird in a different way. It's like it's it takes it surreal. It's the whole thing is just bizarre. Yeah. But yeah, So the essentially the conflict of the episode is who does the king marry?

And by picking who he's marrying, and it's going to set into motion other people making decisions about their their loyalty to him. I mean yeah, I mean because at the end episode he basically he says I'm going to marry someone, and was like, oh, okay, he's gonna marry Isildum. And then he's like, I'm gonna marry Alison, which also now I understand marriage back then was you didn't like date for ages or whatever, but usually like you're the person would know you're getting married. So it's like Les, you gotta have to. I know she will, he's the king.

But it's a little weird, right, you know, you don't displease your king because it's like that's that's actually we've seen this Saras and that's not really like a move he would do, right, very is he is? He a wet rag? Nah? He's he doesn't want to be what that noises my ringtone that you just mean? Yeah, he's like over there.

I feel like he would have at least discussed it with Alison, right, he would have just been like, oh, this is like a thoughtful king, right, not not the kind of guy that like is he's doing like the Lebron James equivalent of like this is who I'm deciding? Like yeah, like yeah, because like what it like that was Okay, let's just call it what it is. It's a very thematic scene. It exists, like but like but but but like, did anybody actually think he was gonna marry Lana Valerian? Like that's the problem.

Like there's not a there's not a moment in my mind where we think that. But the reactions of the characters I did appreciate because Carlos Valarian is proper pissed. He's pissed, and then and Elison like a thing I think they are because then that's as the whole other because actually in the episode, Alison gives him advice, seeing advice because they do have had this weird friendship where she kind of helps him get closer to his daughter since his wife died, and so they actually start amending things and they're committing better now that this is happening, Like now We'renara is going to feel betrayed. We don't really know where that's gonna go U. But like yeah, because she has a big scene earlier where she because oh, let's let's also remind so Damon isn't in much this episode, but like you find out he steals in dragon agument for the original King's heir.

Interesting performance by her. I don't know what they're doing. M shades of the Peter Dinklage's prostitute character from the last for the last show. They're just like, yo, we want an attractive person who can't really act. Yeah, well they got it last time too, So you know, I don't want to speak ill of people's acting abilities, but like, yeah, no, I for me.

For me, the fact that Matt Smith is not in this episode very much is a shame. I know, he's not the main character of the show, and that's fine, and that that in and of itself is a shame. But when that the scene between him and Rainia on that bridge a Dragonstone is fantastic. So what you were talking about, Matt Smith goes to Dragonstone, he steals a dragon egg because he wants to have a kid. Having a dragon's egg in the cradle with the kid is Targarian tradition.

And so he's fucking with the king because he's taking like the king's son, right, Yeah, not right. He's like, you know, she's gonna be pregnant eventually, we want the egg now, and it's like maybe when she's pregnant, then you can have the egg because you know, again he's trying to call the king's bluff, and the King tells Rainira not to go interfere. He sends auto high tower, and look the way the scene is set up, you expect that the moment that dragon shows up, he's going to charboil those dudes on the bridge and they're not coming back. And then you get this great shot of Rainiera coming through the clouds and coming up on her dragon, and it's fantastic, and it undercuts your expectation because in the first season to the show, or the first iteration of the show, that scene.

We've seen that scene before with Dick and Tarley and where they get roasted. I mean you've seen. Yeah, that's what your expectation is. As Matt Smith is going to go Dracaris roast Reese. Iphen's tough shit, He's gone here.

The dance with dragons begins. Rainiera pro prolongs our wait for the Dance of dragons. This is a moment where instead of zigging, they zagged. Because again, nine times out of ten, this scenario goes poorly. Everybody on that bridge is dead.

But she shows up and diffuses it. I will say, though, it did seem like, I don't Paul Hollard, but tactically to go to Dragonstone knowing he has a dragon without and you know, he's like a bit unhinged, it seems like a suicide mission. That's the way I interpreted it. Is like it's a suicide he, like Reese Iphen's Auto High Tower, doesn't expect to come back from Dragonstone, was my interpretation. I'm just saying, like, why wouldn't they take a dragon writer with that like that, just because then because then they might take the dragon from them and have two dragons.

I guess so, but it just seems like remember what up into the Night King with his dragon? I understand that, but it's kind of like it's deterrence, right, if you have two dragons, you're less likely to start roasting, because yeah, but then if you bring two dragons, one of them gets hit by a boat that they didn't see, because we're gonna have so many opportunities to clown on the original show while doing this. But I mean, like I said, it worked for dramatic effect and impact, but like when you think about it, like, oh yeah, I know you go there without a dragon that doesn't and again like that, again, that kind of goes back to what we talked about with the first episode, where there are just some things that are presented for thematic effect that don't really work and or serve the narrative in a smart way.

It's like, if you think about it too hard or even like think about it from a plot and storytelling standpoint, there are easier ways to do that, and they're easier ways to get there that aren't as clunky and kind of on the nose. Yeah, because it's like, Okay, Ranera has to show up because like it just has to write. But like they they do a sufficient amount of time, they do spend a sufficient amount of time rash up the tension. So I appreciated that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, it didn't feel like there was some tension there for the first time and almost the entirety of this show's run.

There, I was like, this is some genuine tension here, and we had that Kristin Cole king. Well, it's also because we get interested Kristin Cole character who beat Damon before jousting. He's like the king's official guard basically, well, well, there's there's the scene where Rainiera's first job as the new heir is to pick the head of the King's Guard because Matt Smith Damon was the head of the King's Guard and he left, and so she is brought in and it's that moment where you realize that she she's smarter than everybody else because they, you know, Graham mc tavish brings all these guys into the courtyard and he's like, oh, this guy won this tournament, and this guy won this tournament. This guy won this tournament.

She just turns him and goes, I want someone with fighting experience, because if he's going to protect the king, I don't want him to know how to joust. I want him to know how to kill someone and what it feels like to kill someone and be okay with it. And not saying that people who are jousting aren't, but they're there athletes in a lot of ways. And so like that, I appreciate that this show is like, let's show you instead of telling you how how smart and tactically sound Rainiro is and will become. Let's show you.

And I felt like that was a really smart, well done scene. And then you get the payoff of the scene later on, like you said with Kristin Cole, who turns out to be Yeah, he's the guy who took down Matt Smith at the end of the first episode in the jousting tournament. He shows up again here and he's like, Hey, remember when I whoop at their ass. That's kind of why I thought the Dragon would have killed him, because I like, it'd be really weird to have this hubbub about this character just to like immediately kill him right well, and again I mean the moment. I mean, you know, as much tension as there is as soon as Rainiro shows up, you know, nothing is going dap, you know.

And that's and that again, like that's where we don't have like I guarantee you if you know Game of Thrones mythology, you probably realize that there was zero tension in that scene because these characters histories are being told to us, but people already know them because this is right the books Fire and Blood. So like again, if you know this, you know that there's no tension in that scene. So we're coming at this as two people who don't have familiarity with this source material, which is nice because again, if we did this, our interpretation to the scene would probably be vastly different, and you do. And the interesting thing with the method scene is like the sort of relationship of closest that's hinted at the first eupisode between Rania and Damon is kind of like emphasize even though like Damon is on one basically and just kind of completely on the warpath.

He wants to be the Air. He thinks he's the rightful heir and and you know he doesn't not have a claim. And you could argue like he has a chance he could kill Raniera and become the Air, but like he does in his fucked up way, he loves her and like he respects her and vice versa. So like that's what I'm saying. He's not a traditional like I'm just gonna kill everything type of villain.

Um like like he has he has lines he won't cross, right, there is a level of grade his character that is that it's a it's appreciative, I appre shape that is someone who watches a lot of stuff like you do. Because it's a nuanced villain. It's not just like he's a bad guy. It's like he is a villain, but at the same time you can understand why he's doing what he's doing. He doesn't want to be left out of the succession.

And when that's all you I mean, look, you know the rich and the powerful in these universes, like they have all this money and wealth and stuff, but ultimately all they care about his power, and like that is all that matters to him, Like he could have all the money in the world, but all he cares about is whether or not he's king. And it's a singularly focused character, but I like that they bring a lot of nuance to it because, again, Ryan Condall, these first two episodes have been pretty good, pretty sound for the most part, narratively at least from like a making sense from scene to scene. They kind of hang together. I mean, later in that original run of the show, that show stopped making sense from scene to scene, it stopped making narrative sense, it stopped following a narrative through line.

And that's again one of the problems. And it's nice to see Ryan Condall saying, this is what we're doing, this is how we're doing it. You see the path that we're taking. Maybe you don't know exactly where it goes, but you're willing to take the journey with me because you trust that I am willing to give you something interesting to watch, not just a generic bad guy. Yeah, and that actually leads.

So he's obviously pissed because he's an egg. And then Chorreliss is pissed because of the thing we spoke about where he chooses Allison the sparcial is Allison instead of Lena, and so Chorliss goes to Damon to say, hey, Damon, basically you go like, fuck up crab man. And so it seems like the way I'm reading this is like the conflict. Actually it's not Damon attacking the king. It's my guess is like Damon's such a going to start like potentially a war or something, trying to sort of clean up Chorliss his mess without sanctioning and Vasari's mess in a lot of ways.

Yeah, well, the Sarissa, he's trying to approach it by diplomatic means. We haven't seen what that entails yet, right, But imagine if you're a person in that universe and you're watching Damon Targarian deal with the crab Feeder and kill him and protect you, and Vissariis is just seemingly sitting there, who are you going to side? Exactly what I'm saying, Like, that's one way I could go, or it could go where he just like like just starts conflict. Actually a lot of people die and he doesn't actually even solve the problem. Right, we don't know, but I think for me, like my big takeaway from this episode is like I'm intrigued by whatever the crab Feeder is.

Yeah, I don't really we really don't know what his deal is, right, always see like crucifying people on like Driftwood and then crabs reading him. Yeah, it's and you know what, like I'm excited for that because I don't know where this is going. I don't know what this character is. And the wrap around, because essentially the crab Feeder is the wrap around of this episode. You see him at the beginning, you see him at the end.

It's he's strange looking and kind of like a stark contrast to everything you've seen so far in this show, because everything you've seen has been rather high and proper and clean for as clean as this show and universe can get. And then you see, yeah, you see people being a serrated on the beach front by these we like just weird shapes. Really like I did not know what was going on the first time I saw the beginning of this episode, it was like made me feel the same way some of those Night King early on scenes where it's like, what is happening in this show? Sudden like obviously, like is happening, but like not explain and it's not explained like here, it's a little less like supernaturally weird.

I don't think the crab feed has anything supernatural to do with him. Maybe he does, but I'm on board for wherever they go with that story. Probably takes him a while to like kill his enemies though, right he's like, Okay, I beat you guys. I gotta He's kind of like he kind of like the Bolton's right from the first for them, the first iteration, like the flayed man. It's kind of like that.

Yeah. Yeah, But I hope it. I hope it's handled better than Ruce Bolton was and Ramsey was well, I mean he didn't have shareholders back then, because his process doesn't scale. You know, wow, get out of here. It's in your crab feeders, it's crab Feeders Incorporated.

Crab Feeders Inc. We feed all your crabs. We we actually figured out we just outsourced the crab eating to like, you know, uh, to our to our operations in SS. So he's called the crab Feeder because he feeds dead bodies to the crabs, which is a pretty cool that's a pretty cool name. Like, yeah, you know, I don't know, I think the design's interesting.

You know, I kind of have my reservations about this show doing something like that again, given how poorly they landed it last time. But hey, they also have four or five episodes and that's it, Like, that's that's all I kind of need from something like this. I don't need them to resolve at three seasons from now, Like no, no, no, I don't, we don't. Crab crab Man doesn't need that much. No, I don't think this show needs that period.

If Matt Smith is that, then cool, you know what I mean, Like, then that makes perfect sense. And Matt also in the scene with Corolos matched also the thing where like Corlis is kind of talking sho about the king and he was like, hey, like I could basically talk to you about the king, but you can't. So That's why I'm saying he does have this like his family, there's a lie he won't cross right, I mean, will he crossed it later maybe, but above all family, we do see he will basically do everything, but that final thing, like it's I don't I don't ever think he would stab this Sarah. No, you would figuratively do it, but he would not literally, right, And I mean you see that in the scene towards the end of the scene between Rainera and Damon where she goes, You're gonna have to kill me to become the air, Like you don't have a choice.

You have to, like your options are not be the air or be the air, but the only way to become the error is to kill me and do it. Do it? Then he and he gives her the egg, which kind of says like here, right, I can't call my bluff. Yeah you can't. I can't.

You're right, and I'm not going to at least not right now. Maybe we'll get there may And I hope that, like we do get there, I hope that Matt Smith becomes more unhinged. Yeah, just goes. He's already like where we are now, Like I said in the first episode, like his character seems like it's from a different show and like it's rained in a lot more here, because again, we don't see him as much, but he's just like mustache whirling villain in that first episode, and now it's like it's kind of there still, but we don't see him as much. I don't know, you know, maybe it's a less is more type thing.

If they did a whole episode with him, maybe I'd be like, never mind, Maybe it was better when he was just used sparingly. Even his conversation with his horrible actress lover, like he is like surprisingly reserved, Like I was like, oh, like you know, she's like being open with you. It's very much he's more rained in than the first episode. I was like, I was like, the character first episode feel like we just i mean, obviously he does care about her, but like you feel like we just like kill someone for just even talking to do it where he's just like okay, like fair like right, like you're right, Like yeah, I don't know, you know. When we talk about this show, ultimately, it does come down to like the strength of the performances, because yeah, the cgi is great, the set direction is great, and the set design is great, but this show really like lives and breeds off of the performances of the actors because they're being asked to do a lot.

They're being given plenty of dialogue scenes. And you know, I was reading I read the AV Club's review of this episode, and they were like, it's just a talking Like it's so boring and it's a bunch of talking. And like I said, and we said to talk about this last episode, like, is it due to budge of two reasons? It's intentional? Is it both?

I think, yeah, I will have a better idea once the I think we'll know more when the first season's over, only because like I think what it is is they're setting it up, and I think they're I think they're doing their due diligence and really laying the groundwork for whatever the conflict is going to be as the season progresses. And I think by starting out a little slow and maybe taking your time, is it going to lose some people early on? Sure, but I hope I believe the payoff will be work. Yeah, I agree, And I think this was all like I feel like the first episodes are comparable and quality to me. Both were great I'm all in.

The one thing I said it was, we still don't really have the view of like outside of the king, right, and maybe we won't get it, And yeah, it's I find it interesting because the whole thing, the whole show is concerned with like who rules, and it is a little weird to not know like what it's like on the other side of that. But it's not like the end of the world. It is something I would like to see more of. I don't need ten different out stories, but it'd be interesting to see a little bit, like I still want to know what the people think. Right, we haven't really expanded the we haven't expect We've expanded the world by one character in this episode, which I'm like totally cool with because I feel like in the second and third episodes of the first season the show was like we're getting like thirty characters each episode, like we're expanding the net, and it's almost like it's almost like it's like pulling off a band aid, right, either you do it slow and kind of gradually you're just like fuck it, we're introducing everybody, like all right, like okay, because they're just thirty characters.

In the first episode, of that show, like not even exaggerating, Like thirty goddamn characters are introduced in that first episode of Game of Thrones and you don't even know who's important yet, right, Like you have an inkling of an idea and then it turns out, oh, all but like one of them make it to the end of the show. All but two of them make it to the end of the show. Yeah, and like, yeah, I do expect this to be a smaller, just coredcast of character, right, which is I'm if I'm just saying, like there's a conflict in among the Targarian household, Like it has to be small almost on the face of it, because it's not about the Targarians and really someone else. It's about them in fighting and ending their own like brain.

Yeah, well, although from what we understand the game with us, actually it's the infighting doesn't really cause issues. It's really just the mad King just literally just goes crazy, right, So in spite of all of their fighting, it doesn't matter anyways. Yeah, so there is some but because of the fighting, but because of the fighting, the mad King is that king though, so yeah, you know it does. It is part and parcel of the conflict here that he ends up being the king. Yeah, maybe there was a better candidate or something, right, which again, like that's my that's my hope.

Here's like, what's really exciting here for me about this show is I don't know where this is going, and I don't want to know. Like I don't want to go and read up because I want to be genuinely surprised. Because where this story is going is already been written and determined, and you can go read it right now if you want. I'm just not going to. I just don't want to.

Unlike, unlike Game of Thrones, the way it ended being unknown to everybody, which in and of itself is like it's a weird problem that we didn't really discuss and I don't think so that's the thing. This show doesn't have that problem. It never will. I like, you know what, that's amazing Like that, I'm more excited about that than anything else. Really, Like they don't have to.

They're not gonna sit and go, well, we don't know how this ends. So, uh, well, George, what do you think about this ending? Yeah? Okay, And George, like I said, R. Martin is more involved in this at least I mean, who knows for the few seasons than he was less than the Game of Thrones, he's involved right now.

Yeah, Like he's active because he doesn't want to write, so he's like, I'll produce instead. To be fair, if everybody was telling you to write, would you want to write? No? I mean because ultimately, like the ending he makes for Game of Thrones, I don't think the end points gonna be different how you get there's gonna be probably a little bit more nuanced and whatever. So he's probably just like I'd rather, you know, be a TV.

I hope, I hope, I hope the ending is different because of the ending is different. Like ladies, it's but what are they gonna But here's the thing, like, yeah, he signed off for the ending, but what is he gonna do at that point? Like that maybe they're so far it's like it's like it's like saying, like I've made this cake, but inside of the cake, I have arsenic But how do we want to decorate the outside? Like you know what I mean, Like like at some point it's like, well, what can I do? Like maybe he spends one of the books like just about like Denaries's kind of decline.

Instead of like one or two episodes, you get like a whole book or something, literally one or two episodes. Literally one or two episodes of the show deep dismantles the main character of the show in two episodes. That is unconscionable, dude, Like, I still like I almost feel like House of the Dragon is like a big we're sorry to the Targarian family's storyline in general, because of all the characters that they did dirty in the first iteration of the show, isn't it the nearest that's done the dirtiest? Is it not? Is it not?

Yeah? Right? Because like she's ostensibly like I mean, not that she's perfect and she doesn't have a bit of a temperance stuff, but like generally, like she generally wants like quote quote good things. She is the good She is the Targarian who breaks the mold. That's what she's set up as.

And then at the end of like not just kidding, she actually is crazy. It's like, wait, wait what what you said? She wasn't for seven seasons? Yeah, seven seasons in ten episodes you said she was fine? Yeah, you like like she's cool, Like she's cool, she's just like so to quote Tyler the creator, So that was a fucking lie.

Yeah, it's it's yeah, like again, like you know, I'm I'm already glad that this show has said, like you know where this is gonna go, So we can't do anything about that, but let's tell an interesting story in between then and now. But the Game of Thrones, the original show didn't have that. It had it could have done whatever it wanted, and that's what it did. And like again, like the Targarians like that, that's I'm surprised that cares so much about the Targarians given where this Garian story goes. Because the target, we know how the Targarian bloodline ends, and it sucks on ice and the John snows the John snow, yeah, John, he's the last target.

That's it. But like he's not a Targariant. Also if the show explores his because thematically, otherwise it would have given away the fact that he was a tar Yeah okay, John stows up. Why is your hair blonde? Bro?

No that I'm like, Leanna doesn't need to be blond. Well, but and and the and I I think I think again, like the Targart where I'm like I said, I'm surprised I care about this this show in a lot of ways because of how poorly the Targarian story ends, because it is the target. The Targarian story is. The final season of the final two episodes of Game of Thrones is the conclusion of the Targarian story, almost exclusively, And yeah, I shuddered to think about revisiting those episodes watching Denares blow up King's landing, like just like like you know what you know, It's like feels like such a weird it feels like such a weird ending for where this story is right now. But I'm trying to like forget so that I can care about these characters, because these characters are Denis's ancestors, Like, you know, these are the people that Denarius is talking about when she's talking about the assholes going crazy, like it's talking about Damon Dargarian and everybody liked.

So it's like it's I guess it's like she's trying to bring it back to like when Desiris and like I guess Jaharis were like, which is the way her character is written up until the end of the show. So I like that we're seeing the time being given to the characters to build those characters up, but I want more Matt Smith. I my guess is we're going to be getting a good chunk of him coming up, and and you know what effort as little as we're probably going to get more of her because I think we're probably what two or three episodes away from it swapping over. Millie Alcock is amazing in this episode. She she's I was actually thinking, I was like, she could have been really annoying, but like really precocious, and just like the actress is like like Matt Smith might be doing the most interesting magnetic thing, but I think of like the purely dramatic work, she might be the most impressive.

She is. She again, like we mentioned in the last episode, she's in her early twenties, but she's portraying a character who's almost almost a decade younger than her. So that gravitas that an adult actor brings to the child teenager role I think is really important because what she is portraying is kind of this stoic, tactical leader, which is not a female character that we've really seen on this show before. Even Denares, like we mentioned, was kind of motivated by emotion and that's where the character ended up. I guess you could say Sansa.

But like this character is starting here, like Millie Alcox, Rainera is already tactically sound from like this episode. We're gonna see what this because I guess it is also her lover or whatever now that Allison is going to be I guess engaged to her or I guess her stepmom. Yes, like her friend is her possible lover is now her stepmom, which I think I've seen that movie, and you know what, I don't know if there will be there will probably conflict that stems from that. It'll be interesting. I'll be excited to watch that.

But and also that means like she could potentially I'm assuming, has it the kid that's the takes the air ship. Not that Rainer really wanted it, but it'll take the whatever that he's more of a put upon ye see. And it seems like begrudgingly the king made her his air but again she has she's she's slowly proving herself to be a competent air beyond. I mean again, you see the thing with her picking the King's guard. You see her showing up and preventing bloodshed between Damon and Auto high Tower.

So I you know, I maybe she's verging on a little too omnipresent, too good, like not flawed at all. But yeah, I'm okay. You know what if if if they bring that to the adult version of her character here in an episode or two, I'm okay with it. Set that stage. Give me an idea that like she is as tactically sound as she says she is.

My guess is the Alpha thing is going to kind of knock her off, like her game, her game, like she's gonna I don't know, we'll see. I mean we'll see, I guess. Um. Yeah, episode in a week. So episode two, Episode two is pretty good.

Yeah, I mean so far, so good, no complaints, Like this is these episodes are I qualified just as good as any of like maybe not the best episodes of Game of Thrones, but just as good as like when Game of Thrones is good, like you'd say, like this is it. Yeah, this is a pretty good show. And you know what I'm not missing from this show that was so present in that first season the original show. I'm so glad that this show is not like throwing tits and assid us like crazy and just like that that was so it was so unneeded, Like it became a joke later in the show, you know, like people were making jokes about like, hey, how money tits and ass are and Lord of the Rings none because it doesn't need it, Like and I'm not saying Game of Thrones needed it, but like the first season of that show, Like I think there's a lot more tits and assid in that than you even remember, Like it's it's prolific how much there is, and it was all it was all females.

It wasn't like it wasn't that like there were dudes hanging brand Like it was primarily full frontal brain. I haven't heard it that hanging brain. Like there were not as many. There was like that whole backlash at the show, like is this show like doing too much with is it like excessive with the female nudity because they never represented male nudity into like way later into the show. I think the first time they really represented male nudity was that the first seasons or the fourth seasons, like first or second episode where Pedro Pascal's like, you know, bisexual, no, but he was with the it was with a woman and a man you remember that very early on, and it was like his introduction scene was like he was like, yeah, like something to that effect.

I'll be big more money off of I'll be making more money off of another franchise than you'll ever believe. Also, Wild Pedro Pascal probably had like the most prolific career out of anyone from Game of Thrones like post Thrones, like like Sean beat was already quite famous, but like most main actors have like good careers. But he, like, I don't know his agent, do they do they? Has anybody really escaped the orbit of Game of Thrones in a substantive way yet? Richard Mannen's does the TV shows.

He's in the Eternals. Kid Herrings was in the Eternals. You need Black Night? Uh the Eternals remember that movie? I don't.

Yeah, where were they when Thanos was fighting? Oh they had to write a little scene about that. Yeah, of course convenient. Man. I'm I'm sorry, but like I'm I'm I'm I think I'm marveled out, man, Like i think I've gotten there now.

I think I'm right back to where i was in like twenty ten, The New Black Panther. He does, did you see the last two Marvel movies or I didn't see Thora Love and Thunder, but I saw A Doctor Strange and it was not good. I thought you liked it was okay, Yeah, but I've watched it twice since and I don't like it as much as I did. Oh okay, yeah, I liked it, but Thorae was solid. Anyway, we're on a path here with this show that I am excited to be on, as I think you are as well.

I think you're I think as you've said, I think we're both excited to be on this journey with the show, and that the show is doing something a little different. Um, you know what. Actually, before we end, I did want to talk about one specific scene. What did you think of the scene between the Queen who wasn't and Rainia between eve Best and Millialcock. It's interesting because it's like you can tell she doesn't really want to pimp out her daughter, but like she's will she's played the game, yeah, and she lost and she lost, Like she's she is a loser in the Game of Thrones.

Like that's the way her character is being, you know, painted she she does have this like resentment about notings over which ye understandable, but like after at a certain point you gotta be like, all right, chicks up. But that's why she's like, well, at least my daughter, you know, gets involved in Like it may not be me personally, but like my direct descendants, right, we get. But you can tell she is, she's down to do it. It's definitely not her ideas. Definitely Chorless is one who's pushing, right.

But I like that scene between her and Millialcock. I mean, you know, it is a little on the nose. You know, they're talking about you know, well, you're a woman. Because you're a woman, you have no power and you know, and you know, even though you want to say you have hour and that you're the un or the air, like it doesn't matter. You're still a woman.

You can't do anything about it. Like I appreciate that it's a it's a tad on the nose. I mean, I as I'm sure you did. I listened to Miguel Spasnick talk after the episode and he's like, this is like the important this scene is like the crux of this whole show, right, And I'm sure I'm sure by the time the show ends that we will look back at this scene and go, this is a microcosm of the show as a whole, which is fine. Yeah, I mean, if you didn't have this, like institutionalized sexism, she would have been the queen and they have been, and she wanted to be the queen.

The Sarahs didn't want to be the king, and then maybe things would have just been fine. And maybe you never have the mad King and it's all because of sexism, like right, and maybe the Night King is dealt with before anything bad happens, like maybe you know what I mean, Like, oh, this is an inflection point here in the universe, Like this changes like Ray, like Baylon the air dying last episode, the baby and the Sarah's making that decision changes everything everything And actually to your point, so the Saras and the episode one does say like the night is a thing they've been the targetans had been warned about, so like they're at least like it wouldn't have like you're right, they would have done something, and especially their dragons and stuff like it's again, it's it's a massive inflection point in the world of Game of Thrones, and this scene does speak to what we even saw in the first iteration of the show.

Would you say that her getting passed over is the hanging chats of wests? Wow? I mean in a way, I mean in a way that this is the entire theme of Game of Thrones. Right, It's like people who get passed over for the throne feel like they should not have been passed over. I mean, that's all.

And sometimes they are qualified, but like and sometimes they're right, they shouldn't have been passed over. But that's just the way it is in the Game of Thrones. Sometimes you play and win and something. I mean, if you don't play, you can't win or lose. Yeah, And that's the thing I mean, you know, and you see this is this show is hewing closer to what I liked about Game of Thrones personally, which is the political stuff and the intrigue.

Because one of my favorite books series, Dune. Dune is inspired Game of Thrones is inspired by Dune because Game of Thrones injects into it self what Done injected into sci fi, which is the high political intrigue because Dune is a lot of that, and Game of Thrones is just like that, I mean, just pure spice into the veins milange, the spice Milange. I'm excited to see what the third episode brings. I'm hoping to see more Crab Feeder. I'm hoping to see more Matt Smith.

But you know what, I'm with you, this is the first time in over a decade, I've been excited for Game of Thrones. Yeah, I'm honestly like I was. I was excited to show it's like new Game of Thrones, but I was just like, yeah, House Dragon sounds cool. Whatever. Now I'm excited, like, I'm genuinely excited for this weekend's episode.

I'm like trying to find a dragon to ride around. Yeah, I'm just like, just don't just don't pull the men and jump off your balcony. Bro God. So yeah, on the next on the next episode of Game of Bros, We're gonna be talking about the third episode of the first season of the House of the Dragon. It's called Second of His Name.

I wonder what it's about. Until then, people could find you on the internet, is sure if they were looking, But I feel like you scrubbed your existence off the internet intentionally. Yeah. You can find me on Wiki league stock and I'm just kidding. Um, you can find me mentioned in these Sony Wiki leagues.

I think I think I'm in some marrow lago documents. Oh wow, Uh this is a joke. This is a joke. Um, yeah, sure it is. I have not been to Florida in at least two weeks.

Um, stop talking. As for me, you can find me at c stash dot com, cstac hiw dot com. That's my link tree. Go there for all the things that I work on, which are various and varied in their offerings. Uh.

As for this show, Game of bro I've thought about it. I have, I'm not haven't we all? I have genuinely thought about it. I don't know if you've just thought about it in passing. Yeah, I mean okay, well why not see exactly?

If you had an only fans, I'd pay five bucks? Is that the total reoccurring? I was talking dear you, Shar. I was talking to Kate tonight and I asked her, has you Shar donated to my only fans yet this month? He hasn't you, Shart?

We're forgetting about you overdo only fans? Please don't ate now? Uh No, I don't have an only fans not yet. Uh oh. If that's something people want I mean give them people what they want.

I don't know, like yeah, like I don't know, like well, but like a cheering noise in the background, like first down, like that's what people want now, but like some dragons crawling in the back. Yeah, that's what it is us. And you know, as for the show, Game of Bros. That's the name of the show. That's where you can find us an all podcatchers.

That's gonna be the best way to get a hold of us. That's gonna be the best way to find the show. That's gonna be the west best way to listen is just go on any podcatcher in search Game of Bros. Give us a review and a rate on iTunes. That's what helps us the most.

I would love to give you shar the opportunity to make a dragon noise, but I do not want him to blow out the microphone once again. So well, did someone say Drachorus worth it?