Episode 3: Second of His Name

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Game of Bros. I am your host Kristash, and I'm joined as always buy my good friend and co host through this journey through hopefully the redemptive the redemptive arc of the Lord of the Lord of the Rings. No that shows also on the redemptive arc of Game of Thrones, my friend and yours you Sharperasto. Hello, Hello, hell, stop up? Wow?

Are you trying to be a mister official podcaster man? All of a sudden, it's like, nah, that I know that this is being ordered was because that was an act. Well, they're on at the same time they are. I liked it. I don't want to make this whole podcast about that, but it is a bit confusing because it's like I can only take so much fantasy at once because Lord of the Rings is different, right nor But like I'm just talking about like the source material I don't think is as serious as this, Like this show is.

No, we're all I mean, like, we're on the third episode already, and the show is already the show has made decisions already that I am questioning now, And is the third is the third episode you're saying I shouldn't marry my two year old half sibling? Oh and sure then God So on this episode of Game of Ros, we were talking about the third episode of HBO's latest Game of Thrones iteration, House of the Dragon. So the episode is titled Second of His Name. It aired September fourth, twenty twenty two. Is written by Gabe On Secca and written by what was written by Game from Secca and Ryan Condle, and directed by Greg Gutanus.

And what does this episode have to do with Well, ladies and gentlemen, we're jumping two years into the future, right out of the gate. Three years on. Damon Targharian and Cordless Valerian are losing to the crab Feeder and they are asking for help. Mister Krabs is what I've been referring to him as best strategy of all apparently is the Iraqi or the Afghani insurgent model, which is apparently dragons similar to tanks and helicopters, can't do anything when people are hiding in caves other than and I know that this is going to sound shocking, why not just walk the dragon up to the cave and shoot the fire into the cave, because you know what they like that Like, realistically, just bear with me here, if a dragon is standing at the mouth of a cave and the cave has no exit, Not that I'm saying it doesn't, but you could realistically surmise that if a dragon shoots fire through a cave, it's gonna go until it stops.

Probably you can at least get some like you know, smoke asphyxiation going sometime. Yeah, but apparently Prince drags Drahar or Prince Kragstrahar has the best strategy known to man against dragons. Just hide in a cave on the beach front of all. Like it's not even their hiding in caves that are hard to find. They can see them from boats coming out of these caves going.

And I'm also like, how are they even fighting? Like they're not really fighting. It's like it's like three years art Damon Targarian and Corless Valerian are fighting. Like also, like, how are they getting suppli not Damon, but like the people hiding in the caves, like they could choke them off, like well, they were getting supplies from the Free cities, but like again to hit them with the dragons. Yeah, I mean, how can they get the supplies in right, Like are they getting them through the caves?

Like again, it's all of a sudden, All of a sudden with this show. We've just given up on logic. Third season, third episode in like, what the hell is going on? If? Yeah, why don't we get to that part at the end of the said, well, we'll do a deep dive on the back because because we'll have a lot to talk about with that.

But so outside of the Stepstone, which is where the main conflict is taking place, the physical conflict is taking place back over in King's Landing, we have the King Vassaras who now has a son who is born of Alison High Tower, and so we're moving into the future here with this. So the son is two years old at this point, and Rainiera is convinced she is going to be taken out of the succession equation because now the king has a proper son air which logistically, theoretically he would be one hundred percent validated in doing so. But the King makes it a point to mention he's not going to do that. There is a whole issue with that with Rainier's character. And then we get them going and hunting, hunting, on the baby's name Day, which for the magical white Elk that kind of is like a good omen right and also a fucking mcguffin in this episode, but a different story entirely.

And yeah, so we get a conflict at King's Landing with Rainiera feeling like she's being passed over. We have the conflict at the Stepstones with Damon and Cordless Valerian, and then we have this kind of hunting procession that takes place towards the end of the episode. So yeshar right before we kind of get further into the episode than we already are. What did you think of this third episode of the show's It was definitely the weakest episode of the season, I think so far. So far, I'll say this, it's still like good TV, Like I enjoyed the episode overall, but I definitely think, especially with the Stepstone mister Crabs stuff, there was a bit of like season eight itis there, oh oh yeah, there was.

And we're having pretty big time skips every episode. We had nine years the first episode six months side three years, and I think from what I've been reading, the big time skip, which is like ten years of the future takes place I think after episode five, so we are missing. We're kind of having to infer a lot. We're talking about the Olivia Cook jump. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, which I think is I think I thought it was coming at this episode, didn't you, Like I thought I thought we were here.

Yeah, But I was reading an article and I think he SAIDs five as when they're doing like the major time skip. Interesting. So we're trying to stay away from like information about this show because I don't want because what happened with Game of Thrones was I was so invested that I was reading a bunch of stuff and it ruined. It ruined already bad season eight for me, because again I think everybody and their mother was prognosticating on what they thought was going to happen, and I think everything everybody else came up with was better than what we got. And so I stopped reading those websites because I didn't want to.

I didn't want to build up this show more than it's already doing an attempt at trying to build a world and build a reason for me to care about it. And that's fair. I just don't think, I mean, this is like a thing. We just know what's happening. It's like we don't know the episode, right, but like it's not I don't think they're trying to be.

It's coming. It's coming, and so we're having to infer a lot. Uh. And maybe that's because we have maybe a smaller cast of not a smaller cast character of all, but a smaller like overall story than the Game of Thrones. Like there's still a ton of characters of which it's hard to keep track of, but there's not as many like main points of view.

It's all around the Targarrians. Um. So you know, the politicking stuff is still interesting. I mean, the whole what's the succession thing? It's effective and engaging, but there's probably it's like, come on, guys, let's just like fucking figure it out already, right, Like this is not that hard in a lot of ways, Like and again again, like what is there really to decide?

You've already decided it? Like that's that's kind of right. NEA's entire argument later in the episode is like, what are you deciding? You have already decided it at this point, you're changing your decision, which she would understand if he did, but he's refusing to do that, so it's I do appreciate that aspect about the succession part of the episode, but succession on HBO this is not Yeah, and it's like, yeah, that's a problem, right, there's a better show tackling this on HBO. Now, like that's a that's kind of an issue with Game of Thrones when the show on HBO is tackling the succession thing almost directly as its sole plotline.

But like this, this show is kind of dabbling in that end. Game of Thrones always kind of has with the political intrigue stuff. But this, Yeah, but this is a lot smaller scale. Obviously, this is a small three people being affected essentially, and it only exists because like she is technically the rightful Air by age, and like she's been nominated, but then there's still this like weird page start. Technically Damon is the one by well, that's a thing, Like that's why working as a kid, what's a king as a kid?

The kid is always I know. But the way all this shit works is at any point any of them could claim that they're the rightful Air. I mean, we saw it in all kinds of actual real life wars of succession in history. You know what I mean, Like, there are four people they're technically right now in this universe, three people that have rightful claim to the throne. There's the Queen that never was because she was technically passed over so she could continue to claim that, and she kind of is you see her in the show, and then his son, and then Rainiera, and then technically Damon Targarian.

I mean, I mean the two of them are under the same roof of Vissiras, so maybe they don't count, but Damon Targarian, like, but this way, I don't think this is the last we've seen of him trying to take the throne obviously, you know, I mean where this episode ends, I think kind of pushes this in an interesting direction. But like, we know that the Dance of the Dragons is coming, because that's the main conflict of this show, is them fighting amongst themselves for a succession. We know it's coming because that's what this entire show is leading to. We just don't know what it exactly looks like. And another interesting like the conflict between Rania and Allison.

So I did a brief reading and apparently in the books else that it's nine years older than Rania. So I think them being like lovers and friends is like, it's less of a thing. It's a show thing. Yeah. So so now I'm like, okay, maybe they are just friends and not lovers, because it's still never super clear, but it's but it's like it's they do that coded gay thing, and I don't like it.

As someone who is gay, I get that her character being gay is a problem in this universe given that we've seen I mean, we've seen characters being persecuted for being gay in this universe and hide I mean remember Renley Braffi and hiding that he was gay. I don't want know who was hiding if he was gay. I mean, everyone knew it. Everyone was like, I mean, he was hiding it in the sense that he wasn't open about it and he couldn't be out and about with. Who the fuck was it one of the Lanisters, right?

I thought it was, I know, But again they in the show, they never make it clear why, So let's just go with it wouldn't be okay because I don't think this universe is accepting of gay characters for whatever reason. I don't think it's ever made clear as to why. Well and there was one other thing when the Sarah's is pushing Rania to Mary, I was like, she was seeing this because she's gay or she wasn't this because the choice thing And he says the thing at the end and it doesn't make She has a little bit of electricy with Sir Christin Cole like they may be a thing potentially, but I get the sense that she's gay, Like I don't. I'm sorry, Like if that's not the intent, that shouldn't they should never have written the scenes they okay, even if not well that and even if she's not gay, there's enough weirdo ass coded language where we've seen these scenes before and other things play out where that character is gay, and it's like, are you trying to play on the tropes that we've seen before but not give us any more than they normally do, to try to be like, well, she might be gay or she might just be you know, a stoic female protagonist.

Like again, like I can't tell because Denaries didn't really have a love interest until she had like a love she had a love interest after Carl Drogo, But like I know, but like think about after Karl Drogo. It's literally Carl Drogo and then John Snow, Like I know there was the faceless Man, or there was there was but the guy but wasn't. Yeah, but well the faceless man because he ends up changing actors to twice. Remember, but like even then, like Denares, Denaries's character, like the way she was written, she didn't need a love interest to matter, and like that's more my problem here. It's like this character doesn't need a love interest either, and so but like, but does she not lead a love interest because she doesn't need one or because her character is gay?

That's the question. Yeah, because like Denaries did not need a love interest after Karl Drogo, because that was almost part of her story, was that I don't need no man, and like and like that worked and what we would both agree Denarius's care character until she meets John Snow is the character that a lot of us were rooting for in that show, because she's the breaker of chains, you know, first of her name. She's righting the wrongs of the kingdom. And I see that with The Rainier, a character trying to do the right thing or at least be level headed in her response to things. So again, I can't tell if she's being coded this way, or if it's she is gay, like I don't, they're not making a decision.

And because they're not making a decision, that for me is that's a weak decision to make by not making a decision at all. Yeah, and just find out that thing about the book part. I'm like, okay now trying to just read this if they were friends and like, because it seems more than that, like they're doing it intentionally. We're not not picking we're not picking up on things that they're not doing. This is all intentional on their on their part.

That's probably is it intentional? I don't know, Maybe it is on their part. It is again George R. Martin's intention is a different thing entirely. Yeah, they're writing it in a way where it's like they're trying to have it both ways.

Well, she's not gay, but her and alson High Tower are practically all over one another in those first two episodes. Yeah. Um. And then the other interesting thing is that like Rinara goes from like not wanting the throne to say like, Okay, I'll but grudgingly take it for my dad, to like seeming like she does actually want it now like because she's threatened by like not threatened like she wants to kill her brother, but threatened like by losing it and just being like a political pawn. Right, they married off to uh to a Lanister where Jason what kind of name Jason Jason lanisterre Like okay, well no, so it's Jefferson.

Hall plays two different characters. He plays Jason Lanister and Thailand Lanister. But yeah, Jason Lanister is a terrible man. Like yeah, and here's my friend Bob, Bob Lanister, Like I'm waiting. He goes by a Bobby for Bobby Lanister, but um no, yeah.

So so a lot of episodes around, but Sarah's like having conversations about like who like how Rania needs to get married, and like he is a very I think we're starting to see like he's just he's not a bad guy, but he's like almost too passive at the end, so the episode he gets less passive, but like him being so passive leads to like him being used and then also just him getting in all of these conversations and he says the thing where I feel like, for the rest of my life I'm going to you know, be disappointing one person to help bring another more or less well. And then he's also complaining. He's like, even on my child's name day, I can't get out from underneath this politicking. And it's like, dude, you're the king, King, that's your job.

You're like, this is never good. Like they I honestly feel like the Sarah's should have been written more as a reluctant king character because they're writing him that way without like really pushing the issue, do you know what I mean? Like they're painting him as somewhat of a reluctant king in a lot of ways, and like definitely a king who is not in control of the situation. But they there is this like a reluctantness to him in this episode. That's that's it's kind of been there, but now they're like really leaning on it because like again I think he knows his days are coming to an end type thing.

Yeah, and um and then like he says that thing to Rania, which is kind of interesting when they're fighting in the so so the whole premises, they go on this hunt, someone said we saw a white elk, which is like historically, um, what I take a white buffles are yeah, see, and like, oh, that'd be a great omen and it also kind of like further emphasizes, oh, maybe Agon is going to be the new heir because like right, and so they go do that, and he says, and Rania like talks to Jason Lanister does not like what's happening, like knows like the king is kind of conspiring to marry her off and like already feels distant. We don't know if it's because of Agon. We don't know really if it's because of Millicent or Allison or just like generally like feeling she's losing her status in the court.

There's there's several reasons that could be the case, and it's not explicit, but we can imply a few of them. And he says, even I do not exist above duty and tradition, like Vassara says that to Narra to be like, yo, like I'm the king, I got to do with this bullshit, like I had to kind of marry Alison, right, so you know. But then she says, but then she counters, She's like, but if you had wanted to marry solely for advantage, you would have married the now the now fourteen year old. Yeah, because remember now we're two to three or whatever. How however many years into the future we are she is now of the age where they were talking about in the last episode where it's like, this is the age you wanted her to be when you married her, and and so that's kind of where the king relents at the end of Recess relents.

Dana said, Okay, okay, so like get married, but you get to choose your partner, and that's kind of a compromise. Well it's like, yeah, like you've been miserable for the last three years, Like and you know what, here's the thing. Regardless of whether or not she wants to be married, He's right, like she has been. You you can see the way her character has been in this episode. And just you know, I was I'm sure you watched the after the episode stuff, and I think it's really interesting that because they were talking about a Miguel sapat Nick and Ryan Condall, We're talking about they're like, look, we're gonna have time jumps and we're just gonna give the audience information to infer what happened, but not spoon feed them everything.

And I'm sitting here thinking to myself like, wow, okay, Like that's a lot of trust being put in the hands of the audience because again, like there is a time jump here that is given very little context, like you know, and like it happens at the beginning of the episode starts with the time jump without any context being given. It's just like, oh, this is two years later, the baby is being is grown now. And you know what, Like for all of the problems of this episode, which I think are really contained to everything that happens in the Stepstones, everything that happens at King's Landing, and everything that happens on that hunt is pretty interesting, compelling, political intrigue stuff, and it's and look, it's there are a few shows that whose dialogue is as well written as this show, And this show's dialogue pretty well written, very on point with the world that they're trying to create.

And I say that only as someone who recently watched Lord of the Rings. We have a show on the Lord of the Ring show, and that show it sometimes doesn't feel like it's a game. It doesn't feel like it's a Lord of the Rings show, you know what I mean. The dialogue isn't as flowery as Tolkiens and in this show, like this show still feels totally the same with Game of Thrones, a little different, but it still feels in that same wheelhouse, which I do appreciate. This show actually feels a bit more formal than Game of Thrones to me, like that a lot like like you had like Tyrians and Bronze and who are just kind of like a little bit more colloquially sell sword shit heads.

Yeah, whereas everyone I feel like here is like very it's very much like high high born language, and it's it's almost like Shakespeare, which I mean, it's fine, but it is like a modern difference and so but it works here. It still works, like, yeah, it works more so now than it did in the old show because again, like we've mentioned, this show takes place ostensibly in two different places right now, and for a lot of this this show has taken place in one place. This is the first time really we're venturing out into the world like we have spent primarily most of the time with these characters at King's Landing. We're seeing stuff taking place elsewhere for the first time in the shows. I mean, like we've seen you know, a couple of scenes elsewhere, but now we're seeing like this is somewhere that we're going to return to several times this episode.

So I again like I think this show is trending in the right direction. But then we get to the stuff at the Stepstones and it's like, never mind, Like this is this is season eight's bullshit rearing its ugly head again, which is it looks cool, but logistically it's idiotic, and like you can't. I appreciate and I can still get behind things that look cool, but this is a TV show where that, in my mind, is a little less forgivable because you have so much time and directions you can go that movies don't present you because movies are a much more limited narrative in a lot of ways. It's too a half hour long movie versus ten hours of TV. This show handling this the way that it's handling it.

I get why they're doing it, because again, like this is a minor conflict in the stepping stone of the larger conflict coming, but it makes no logistical and defensive sense and no war. It makes no military sense, no strategic sense. None of this does the Stepstones and the reason they've been losing. If the reason they're losing is because they keep hiding in caves, wow, then Damon Targarian and Chorless Valerian are terrible tacticians when it comes to war, like really like good good thing. Neither one of them is running anything right and it just takes one offer of help to piss off David enough to like, well he was already going to do that anyways, that's the thing, like he you know, they were talking, so so the scene that this whole Stepstone stuff, you know they're they're losing.

It's made clear that they're losing the you know, you have this scene where Damon shows up with caraxis and he goes and he's walking around the beach front with the dragon, and then the dragon starts getting shot at by these arrow men up on a cliff who cracks is could just kill and he does just kill later in the episode. But you get the sense that like, I don't I didn't understand why they were fighting them at this beachfront constantly and not winning, because again it's just like years, I know, it's I don't know, like it's it's really hard to fathom that unless it was like they really just showed up with like two boats of dudes and we're like, okay, we've got this, and then it ballooned out of there.

But like three years of that and then we learned they had two dragons, and either opening of the episode is actually like right after the end of the last episode, Damon goes straight to the stepping stones, wipes out like a good amount of mister Krabs's people. And then as you think maybe with the best the best single shot was that guy begging to be saved by Damon and the dragon just stepping on him, like really episizes that the Damon does not give a single fuck or shouting. And dragons aren't a particularly like uh precise form, Like I mean they're WMD's right, they're like new I mean again, like we'll talk all about using dragons while your own people are on the field of battling. It feels drag again, you know.

We the titular dragons of this show. I feel like in the O G show were like a plot device, right, like the Night King needs a dragon. Yeah, but it does nothing with it other than break the wall down. Cool, that's important, it's important, but but then but then nothing else comes like you know, the dragon is a much bigger deal than just blowing up the wall like they are, like you said there, they change the landscape of a fight because they can fucking vaporize people. Like I don't think people will understand how terrifying dragons are in like our universe.

If these things, if these things are flying around in the our world, they would be horrifying. And like that's with like guns and missiles and all that kind of stuff, right, and like in this universe they have like bows and arrows and shit. So I don't know, like they do a good job of making us understand that, like having dragons at this point in time is a big deal, and like it is in the original show too, but like a right, but now this is literally why they're in power, because what do you do against the people who have dragons, Like, don't piss them off, That's what you do, so they don't come and fucking burn you out of your hole in the ground or your cave on the beach front. Because again, if you're going hide in a cave and you see them go in there, just follow with your dragon and blow them up.

Like again, this is not a cinemas in this plot hole. This is a poor riding, Like, yeah, I don't have a hard time believing these dudes were sitting in caves for three years on a beach front. We're not talking Afghanistan where they're in the mountains and they're far back in these caves and they've been there for hundreds of years, you know, and this is like a known cultural area for them, Like this is just the fucking beach front. Yeah, it's the stepstones, but like it's it's what It's like, they had to do the three year time jump for agons, and they also did Damon's story like simultaneous, where it's like they said, hey, this is like two or three months. I could say, okay, like that seems a little less silly like even then, but I'm like, whatever, you know, a few months you can hide out.

But the fact that they said three years and you kind of see and you're just like they have two dragons that we know of, maybe more like they at one point they had Valerian's strongest fleet in wester Roast and all that, and it's like and we we don't even know like the crab beaters deal is. I guess he has what's the thing that Jordan dragon scale. He has dragon scale, and he just kind of looks quite feral. But and also he's basic killed off screen. Matt okay a not basically killed off screen.

He is killed off screen. I was looking about his Fine, yeah, his character in the book is killed. Is the character in his book is killed in one sentence, like Damon Targarian cleaves his head off in one ll swoop. So again, if you knew that before the episode, you probably were going to be like, well, the crab Feeder is just gonna die. We got our we got our hopes up way too high apparently about the crab Feeder character, because he got snoked baby big time, Like oh yeah, and like again, like I know that the conflict of this show is the Dance of the Dragons and it's the Targarian household imploding.

But man, what a cool character, at least in theory, in presentation, and then in execution, just like I would when he when Damon walked out of the cave at the end of the episode dragging the upper half of the crab Feeder, I was like, wow, really yeah, okay, Like and I guess like that was just to I don't give him some sort of win. I guess obviously we are going to jump like from the beginning of this show to the time jump ten years, so we can't have mister Krabs. It's like the villain for a decade, but already had him as a villain for three years. Here's yeah, I guess, how is that any less valid? Like really, and while this is happening, so let's go back to the hunt.

So the hunt ends with Rainia getting quite pissed. She runs off. Kristin Cole follows her. They kind of have like kind of a flirtation and she they fight off, like a bore that attacks fight off, Rainiera brutalizes the bore, brutalizes it with a knife again. But her character takes no shit, Like I appreciate how how badass of a character she is, Like she takes no shit, but we also need to high like that early in episode she says she doesn't like hunting because like the boar squeal like children, Like she doesn't like just violence violence.

It was it was like self defense. And then the king has like a quite pathetic hunt where they find an elk that isn't the white alchem He's like he's a big one, and he like very pathetically while this thing is like tied down by like literally tied down, like stabs it twice and you can just see this guy just is so burnt out by like life, by all of his politic decision making and the fact that he's like, I can't even kill this thing when one fail swoop and it's not even the thing that I wanted. And at the same time we see Rainiera the white elk comes to her. Kristen's like should we is it Tristan Cole or Kristen christ weird name. I guess it could be Jason.

His name could be Jason. She just sees it and decides to let it go, which a shows I think she's a She is like a bit more gentle, but also like being an omen like it almost does lead credence, like, okay, maybe she is the rightful air And it kind of feeds into the final conversation that's had after the episode, after the hunt. Yeah, well, and she's I mean again, she's presented as having a much fairer hand. She's able to stay her hand a little easier, which again, like we've said, like that's important as someone who is expected to take over. She's actually an interesting She's kind of like the best of Vissara's and Damon.

Like she's not just like fuck blood letting like crazy, but she like it is very direct, strands by the courage for convictions and maybe doesn't waffle as much as the Sarah's does. So she kind of takes like, if you're if you're building a functional king and taking the best parts of the two brothers, I think you'd get someone like Rania. I agree, I'm I'm with you one hundred percent. I mean, that's that is the biggest success of the show I think so far is you know, all the other characters aside, we know who the main character of the show is. It's Rainia Targarian, and she's very well written.

She's a well rounded, believable character. I was worried that she was going to be too good at what she does from the start, and so you're presented with a ray from Star Wars problem where it's like, are we to believe that she is just good at everything now, which in this show's case, I probably would have given it more of a pass because she's already a Targarian. She carries the name already, unlike Ray, who we don't know is what. Yeah, we don't know what she is until much later, so we already know Nia and her expectations. But it was it felt like they could have fallen into a very easy trap by making her just a wrote very samy.

We've seen this a million times before. They could have just made her Denies two point zero and she's and she's not yet and I don't think she'll get there either. She won't get to the final version of Darres, but she definitely shares a lot of like Denis's characteristics. Um I think, like, yeah, I think the best parts of Denis Rainia exhibits because again, I mean early Denis was a great character. Yeah, I mean again, like the character of Denis early on was the character that you got excited about for the show because she's the one who's coming with the dragons.

She's going to right the wrongs. And Rania feels the same way. Right now, she is going to do the right thing when the when it calls for it, when the time calls for it, And like that was the expectation with Denies I think we all had as we were ending that show, and then it you know, obviously got turned on its head, but I think we like Rainira's history has already been written. We know where the character is going for all intensive purposes, so you know there is that also. But at the same time, Rainira is a at least right now, a character that's still interesting and still being written a little bit more nuanced than again Denarius was towards the end of the show.

But again, right now, the show still has a lot of luster on it. You know, it's still shiny, hasn't been worn down yet like Game of Thrones was by season eight. So what are we thinking about? Like all the like, obviously Auto is manipulating Allison. I'm still a little unclear on what Auto, like is Auto doing because you think it's it's it's genuinely better for the realm to have a male heir or is it because he wants his bloodline and he's like could be both.

I mean, if you ask that question, you can't. If you can't answer the question, then you shouldn't be doing either, you know what I mean? Like that's and that's why Bassaris, that's why I feel like the Saras is like I can't like your because reesiphens his character is coming from He's not coming from an unbiased position. His daughter is the queen, so and he put her there basically, right, I say he pimped his daughter out, so yeah he I mean, yeah, if you're the king, you're sitting there thinking to yourself, like, well this guy is really pushing his grandson to be king. Huh yeah.

And it's and you know, he even says um Efan says that conversation where he's like, you need to have the king c straight to his daughters because she obviously is like the person who has the most way on him, because she really gets Vi Saras and you get that. Like it's I don't know how like in love they are. They seem to have a decent relationship, but they at least understand or at least she understands him. It's we don't really see it the other way, not to say it doesn't exist, but and you know Allison. Allison is not the character that we're invested in.

No, and maybe we should be, but I don't. I don't think we're there yet, which you will, I think, so, yeah, time jump because of the actress that cast Argue be like one of the more famous ones on the show. But when he's he says, you know, don't you want your son to be the king? And she's like, yeah, what mother wouldn't. But it's like like an autopilot response, Like I think maybe she kind of gets like being with Ferris, like maybe this isn't the life I want for my kid, Like maybe it's not so bad to just be like rich and not have all the responsibilities, right, can I point out?

Can I point out though, like Emily Carrey, like she Emily Carrey is nineteen and then Olivia Cook is twenty eight, Like, man, she looks way different real fast. I feel like I feel like they're getting really close with the time jump to it being like yeah, because now it's been like almost like four years since the first episode, and they don't look they don't look a day older, Like yeah, yeah, I guess I guess Alison's kind of guys. They definitely dress her older. She looks a lot older than ye do. But like again, like Rainiera and Alison are played by different actresses from here on out, like maybe not this next episode, but episode five, like we're not going to see Milly Alcock again or Emily Carey we're gonna see maybe maybe even Patty Considine's gone, Like I'm assuming Patty Considine's probably gone too.

By the time the time jump had he lost he lost two fingers. Did you notice that I did? I did. The maggots didn't help, apparently. I'm very curious to see how this time jump is gonna work because I mean, obviously it's gonna do with with the kid, like the little brother, and I think there might be and she doesn't.

She's pregnant too. There's gonna be another I don't know, boy or girl. It's gonna be the kids older. And I feel like it's just been hard for the show. I feel like it's hard for the show to give us interesting steaks when the show is jumping into the future every episode, Like we can't get grounded.

We can't get grounded in the world because the world is like just full tilting downhill. I do think once we get the like full jump, it'll probably be less. I don't think it would be like three years every episode. I hope. So, I mean that's my hope is like when this actual jump had happened, it's like we're here now until the end of the story and like because like we didn't really how did Alison feel about getting engaged, Like we didn't really see the conversation between Ranera and Allison or when Alison was first pregnant, and like, like, we make a lot of assumptions to your point.

You know, you can infer generally, but some of these actually would actually be good to give us some context on because we're still like, like, you know, otto is seems to have the King's best interest, but now it's like I don't. It's it's hard to tell, like how self interested he is, and like, um, and the king kind of gets that because what was it when what's that guy's name is it? Is it Lionelum, the Master of the Laws? M Yeah, He's like you want my opinionest Yeah, And he actually is a bit more um subtle, like he's not as hammering the king. He's like, look, I'll tell you what I want to tell you.

You make your decision, you're the king. And the King's like, oh, you just want your son, mister Hardbone or you know, Woodcock or whatever his name is, hard Bone, I think that would be your name in this world, break bones. You mean? Yeah, And he's apparently briefly in the episode. I didn't even notice him.

I did notice the other son, the one has a limp. He's also I think Lionel strong son. He sat with the women that were gossip club foot. Yeah, but you know, because the king's so cynical, but hair is so cynical. Is like everyone just wants and wants, and he's like, oh, you just want your son Mary.

He's like, actually, no, Valarian son who makes the most sense, whose wig is not as bad as his sister's but still not great. Why can't they just give these guys short hair? I don't I don't get it, and just diet um. But his hair looks the least of all the Valarian characters. Ymen Valerian, who is Uncle Corless's.

Yeah, Ymond is Corless's brother, and his doesn't look as bad. Yeah, and his and then and then Corliss his son Lane or his wig doesn't look very bad either. But Corless's wigs still looks awful. And hopefully we never see his daughter again, because unless she grows up, I think we're going to see her grown up. I think I think that's a given, right.

Otto's like talk sense into Visarah's and about Agon becoming there, but she actually talks him about helping Damon because we didn't highlight that the people have asked the king to help. And he's like, no, this is Damon in Cholos's war, Like if I help now, I kind of seem weak that he can do what the fuck you want. But he's like he's trying to let them suffer the consequences of their actions. That's his strategy. And they have a good conversation where he talks to Allison about how he's a dreamer rather than a writer, which is like he has visions and he had the whole vision about having a son as the king, and then he's like, well, what if I was wrong?

And that whole thing is like what if I was wrong about what having a son? What if he's wrong about Rainero, what if he's wrong about Agon? What if he's wrong about Damon? That's so broad. It's like he's so un uncertain about himself, right, which plays out and look like what what what are you supposed to do in this situation?

You've decided to not make your brother the heir, you've chosen your daughter, you sacrificed your wife and to for your other son who also died, and now you have the son you've been promised and you've believed was going to happen, but you're not willing to make him the king. Yeah, and it was interesting that Alison actually doesn't go down that when she does have the conversation, not that it won't happen, I'm sure it'll happen, but she talks to him about, hey, maybe should help Damon, but not for Damon's sake. She's like, what if what's best for the realm? And when she kind of still his brother, right like you and you still love him, and she distills it to like a very simple thing where he's like, shit, like this is probably the right thing to do.

I'm going to send him help, which leads to what you're saying, to find apart and please walk us through. So their supposition is if they send Damon out, the crab feeder will be baited out, and this is all going on in this kind of they're overlooking the stepstones and Damon and Chorless and Bayment are like, look, we need to send Damon in there to bait them out, and then we'll kill them. We'll fight them after they've come out because Damon is who they ultimately want and they've not tried this in three years, right, And all of a sudden areas his messenger shows up and goes, hey, I've got this message for you, and it's the message of the King, and they have this vo of the message being read of, Hey, you know I still love you, You're still my brother.

I'm sending ten ships to come and help. Damon goes ape shit, beats the shit out of the messenger, and then just goes onto the beach front on his own, one man versus all yeah, white flagging. He bits them in and then you know, the crab Fader comes out. His guys are sitting there. There's like fifty dudes with arrows, all ready to annihilate Damon should he do anything.

Of course, Damon bates all of these guys in and he just starts killing them, all of these like dudes. There's like sixty or seventy dudes, and Damon just kills all of them. And look again, Damon is meant to be portrayed as this like blood lusting monster who does just kill people with want and abandon. So I believe it, and it makes sense. But like you mentioned it took him three years to do this, and all of a sudden, these pirates seem like the biggest, the most ineffectual dipshits this side of I don't even know who in this universe.

Like I've never we've not seen a force this inept in this universe before. Like these guys just run and die, like I don't know how else to describe it. And the thing was like there's a point where Damon actually save five couple arrows and you're like, oh, but then rows like it's obviously he's like drawing them in to use a dragon. But what we don't know is that the dragon is Coreless. Is okay, I'm so bad cos his son, the son.

Yeah, and that we didn't even know he had a dragon, right, he has his own dragons. It was like a third he comes in, He comes in and basically like just recks everyone and then and then um, Coreless brings his troops in and yeah, it just it doesn't even been nippicky, but can't be. Like they've been fighting this thing for three years and like they just ended like like that, and it wasn't The strategy was kind of bonkers and silly like some of the action looked cool, like like Damon, oh it looked cool. It looked cool. It's just it was stupid.

This ship, this ship could be filed out. This is the cult of Colt. This is the cult of cool shit, where it's like we're making something look cool, but like realistically, like this makes no fucking sense, and it makes so little sense. It makes so little sense that we have to point it out. It's not even like excusably stupid.

It's like stupid in a way that things like this should not be if we're trying to take it seriously. And the impetus is like Damon was like considering this plan, but he's so pissed off by the fact his brother would help him. He's like, no, I'm just gonna do this myself, like because I actually thought it was a very nice letter that Decius wrote him. But yeah, right, he's like, hey, man, I still love you, I'm still your brother, Like I'm gonna help you. Yeah, so that he can go back and say, like I did this on my own, I mean, and that's that's right.

Yeah, in a lot of ways, like Damon did kind of kill all the fucking pirates on his own. I mean, yeah, the cores, Coreless and Vayman show up and they're on the beach front with him fighting, but it's damon like all the way down, you know. And again I want to point out using dragons while you have your own people on the battlefield seems like a bad idea. So I was thinking about that. I mean, I guess if you have the villains like or the bad guys on a certain part, yeah, I was wondering because not all of them, but obviously once with Targarian blood.

Like I was think in the past, when it was all Targarians and the yet fully Targarian armies, then I would think it would be okay because, like you, you're immune to fire. But obviously I don't think all of these guys were Targarians. So I was, man, I was like, are you killing some of your own? I mean, we don't see any friendly fire besides that guy in the very opening of the episode, but well we can assume that it's happily. Yeah, it's that like, it does seem a bit when you have that many guys, you're guys there, like, it seems a bit dubious, and it's that small of an area it's just like, this is not this giant battlefield.

It's essentially like a coal it's a beachfront co And boy, I'll tell you what, man. I when Damon walks into that cave following the crab Feeder, I was not expecting him to walk out with a dead body, yeah, because it was weird because like the crab feeders standing there kind of just doesn't fight. He doesn't fight anyone. He just kind of looks menacing two lines in this entire show. Does he have it?

Really? I don't remember. I don't even maybe I don't think he has anyone. I don't think it any lines. Maybe he doesn't have any lines.

Then I'm for whatever reason, thought he had lines. Um. Then he walks, I guess into the cave and was like like, okay, he's gonna just gonna like shell up again basically, and then then I kind of forgot about him. Um. And then do you see, it wasn't clear if it was Damon or I guess it was intentional Damon or the crab Feter walking out because it's like very shot.

It's shot from behind, It's it's shot from the perspective of inside of the cave. And it's back it's not back lit, so all you can see is the outline of whoever it is holding whatever they've got in their hands. Yeah, and then you're like, oh, okay, crab Feter's done. Like it's not a villain. I was particularly invested in and like the logistics of this all quite silly something.

Because it was so silly, I was happy with them wrapping it up. I was like, all right, this is it's only gonna get stupid or if I think about this anymore. So, actually, let's move on to a real conflict. The guy looked cool. I guess that's about it.

He existed basically to cause conflict between the King and Damon and then also allowed Damon to have like a win basically, and right, we'll see what comes of that. And I was going to say, we've seen the preview for the next episode, and I think it's very clear that the win is very much an important part of getting back in the King's good graces and getting back into King's landing in a substantive way, which I think is what we're going to be seeing in the next episode with another time jump into the future. God knows what Damon's up to but he's back in King's Landing. We know that much. Yeah, which is exciting because deck means he gets interact with the main cast again.

Yeah, and that's good because, as we said, I think a couple of episodes ago, like Matt Smith probably besides Rainiera like still the best, absolutely one of the best part of this fucking show. And he's been slightly deep prioritized because his story is separate. And now I'm hoping this is going to bring him back. Maybe not in he won't ever be a big roles to Sara's or he's a main gotta be a main character of this show at some point, Yeah, but it's I think we're gonna get a lot more time with him, and he's just he is such like a like a magnetic presence on the screen, Like Matt Smith is just killing it literally and figuratively, and hopefully hopefully we know that Battle Planning is really his four team.

They hopefully just want on like court destruction and funny line, yeah I want. And then That's where I'm at with this show right now, is if it takes three or four episodes for us to get to the point where the show kicks into high gear. I get it, and that might be where we are right now, and like it's hard to see that given that we're in the middle of it, because we don't know. Again, we're going to have a better idea of where the show ends up going by the end of the first season, but work that's like six episodes, seven episodes from now, So it's hard to see where the show ends up because again, this show has a weird thing that it's doing, which is it's trying to really set a large but a large but narrow stage to play on because it's showing us the world again that it we're going to be dealing with, but we're not going very far into the world.

I don't think with this show. I think it's going to be contained to the Targarrians. I don't think we're going to be seeing you know, fucking winter Fell or anything else. And like why would we, like why do we need to go to Dorn? We don't, and so like that's why I think, you know, we've seen the pieces, and the pieces are being presented us and they're opening up the stage a little bit more each episode, but at some point they're going to say this is where the show is going for the time being, and I'm hoping by episode four or maybe five, the stage has been set for now the pieces to start moving at one another as opposed to new pieces being added to the board, because that's still what it feels like now.

It still feels like things are being added and taken away so quickly that I have not gotten to a baseline with this show. There's no baseline with this show yet, you know what I mean. I don't feel like there is one. Because of the storytelling mechanics, this show has been trafficking and there's a few there's a few different conflicts, but we don't know what the may conflict is. Like.

I don't think it's Rania's being air like air versus a g On. That doesn't seem like that would be an interesting show for all. I hope it's not just that that. Yeah, that that seems to be part of it, and that seems to be like leading to the schism between Damon, potentially the schism between Rania and Alison, like, but I think those are more of like a cause rather than like NFL like. I think we'll see there's gonna be a bigger thing.

I don't I'm just not sure what it is. Is it that just it leads to just to Sarah's being seen as weak and then like there's some sort of rebellion. To your point, we don't know. We know there's at least one one more pretty significant time skip ahead, and I think around once that settles, that will kind of give us some more clarity on what's going on. Whereas the original Game of Thrones, like after a couple episodes, you were like, oh, this is once Robert Brathian dies, and even that took a while to get there, right, Like it wasn't that was an episode one thing.

Again, like the conflict was set up before that really like well you knew there was something going on, but once he's killed, then you're like, okay, the conflict is who is the right it is the rightful air. But it's not as simple of a fix as like, oh, just your kid, because you have like the denerest thing you have. But I also don't want to just be that because then it just kind of just like Game of Thrones, like like one, it's one component of game. Yeah yeah, so and again like that's and I'm with you, Like my concern with this show always was is it telling an interesting enough story to justify existing given that this is a prequel show, we know none of these characters ultimately have any bearing on any like nothing any of these characters can do can change what's already happened.

And we have not read the source material, which means, you know, we don't know where this story is going. And I'm sure there are people listening in to this that are screaming, going, well, this is like, that's going to ruin it for me if I know where this is going and I don't, I there are going to be there are shows podcasts talking about House of Dragons that it's you know, an expansive look at these episodes, but also informing with the source material. I don't want to read the source material for this because there's not enough, and like if I did, I feel like I would ruin this for me because I would know where this is going and I want to see. I want to go with the show runners on this journey through this season, not feel like I know where they're going and I'm waiting for them to hit these kind of way points, which I feel like a lot of people who watched Game of Thrones those first early seasons, they were like I'm just waiting for them to hit the Red Wedding or Da da da da, and it's like, okay, like I don't want to be one of those people with this show, and again like I don't it would it would ruin my enjoyment to the show for me because I would be like, well, I know where they're going with this right now, I have no idea where this is headed.

And the other thing is like the book that this is based on is less of a novel. It's kind of some actually Lord of the Rings thing where they're less based on like a story, more based on like a history that like facts abouts of time. Yeah, so it's not so much like we have all of the specificity of like how we get there, which which the Game of Thrones novels do you have. It's more of like we have main things that have to happen. The specific how we get there we're not sure.

And some of that is I probably we're seeing so many time jumps because like we don't really have the details. And then some of it also is like they have the freedom to fill in the details because they just have to get us there, which is you know, is good in the sense that they have a bit of created freedom, but it's bad when it doesn't work, like in like the Stepstones part or it's just like it feels a bit rushed. Well, what they should have done with the Stepstones is just have that conflict. Have that conflict get dealt with at the beginning of the episode, so then you time jump it after that. You could do like two times jumps.

It's like a couple of month time jump and then a couple of year time jump. But like just doing three years and saying like you have to believe that they could not fight these guys at the Stepstones for three years, It's like, uh, You're you're devaluing your characters in your own show by doing that, by making them seem like dummies, because like Damon Targarian, up until this point, I like believe that he's a calculating, smart dude, and now it's like and Chorless. We know, it's like like like right, it seems same with Choralss. So it's like you're you're devaluing your characters by making them seem like fucking idiot, which was like a whole thing in Game of Thrones, like they did the same thing with Vasiras and Game of Thrones and Little Finger, Like they took the smartest dudes in the realm and made them part well an Tyrian and Little Finger and Vasarias, they took the smartest dudes in the realm and made them the biggest idiots.

And so like they're they're like, my, you know, we said season eight itis, and like that's I get flashbacks of that with this, with this plotline, it's like this is so unbelievably like dumb, because it's just like not it's not believable. It's so unbelievably stupid that you're just like, oh God, like are they already doing this? Because again, like after the way the eight season of the show ended, you can't blame us for being concerned that it's gonna walk into the same traps that the first eight seasons of the show did. Like you know, yeah, this is its own show, but it's effectively Game of Thrones season nine, you know, I mean in a lot of ways, right, Like it's it's it's trying to avoid the mistakes of previous seasons, and it knows to avoid those mistakes because those seasons weren't successful at doing them either, you know, like it was like, okay, like it's smart to hire Tim Porter as the editor for this episode, because yeah, he's the guy who edited the Battle of the Bastards and you've got you've got this show's first big fight scene war scene, which this show is kind of now known for.

But again, like, if the logic behind that scene is not sound, I don't give a shit how good it looks, you know. And that's and that's like the problem with with the logic behind this show a little bit is I don't want them to fall into the trap that Game of Thrones og did, which is presenting stuff that looks cool but not giving a shit if it makes any sense. Yeah, no, I get you. And that's and that's kind of where I am with the stuff that happened at the Stepstones. It's like it looked cool, but logistically strategically just indefensibly stupid.

For me. It's just like, I'm obviously where this goes, because the crab Man wasn't like the main villain or whatever, maybe a bit more forgiving about how it was handled. Still in on the show Hoping, we talked a little bit left about the succession to pay well maybe ever get full of the succession. But the patriarchy stuff is getting a little old. The patriarchy stuff again, I don't know how many times.

I don't think they need to bring it up in every episode because like when ilse like real, I'm not saying that they don't need to bring it up again, but in the last episode, the hammering it well, and in the last episode they had that scene with Rainiera and the Queen who wasn't And like I was thinking to myself, like what more do you need to say? Like yeah, like really, like you can reinforce that theme, but you don't need to like remind us every episode, like of what's going on, Like we understand the way the universe is in like in a lot of ways, it's the way our own universe is. Yeah, it's like, oh, a woman, the queen, a woman in power and that pisses people off, Like yeah, it does even in our reality.

So and it's clear and sometimes it informs the story and it needed maybe a nudge about it for the agon, which you don't need to like really hammer it home every episode, like because at some point I'm going to stop caring Mike, and you're going to just make me just be like, I get it, Like, you don't have to reinforce this for me. I got it the first time, you did it, maybe the second time, but like I don't need the third or fourth or fifth. I don't need you to do it every episode. And like now it's twice in a row, they're gonna make it three and then four, Like I just yeah, subtlety wins the day with TV shows. Like I say, this episode, while the weakest episode of the show so far, I mean only three episodes in, it's good, not great, but I enjoyed it.

I'm still in on the show obviously, I mean not every show's gonna be a home run, and still interesting to see where this goes next week. Yeah, I'm no, I'm with you. You know it's again the strategic idiocy of this episode, aside and the decisions that some of the characters make that again seem very Season eight of this show seemed very lazy writing, you know again like this, I've said this before and I'll say it again. Even bad episodes of stuff like this are still better than like most thing on TV. Yeah, yeah, I would say that this show is in the top fifteen percentile of TV shows being presented on TV, and that's a very small group.

I mean, between the acting and the budget and like like you're not even if it's stupid, you'll be like, well, these performances were good or like I thought cool with the dragon, Right, it's not going to get where season eight of this series got or the previous series got where. It's like it's been so aggressively stupid for so long at this point that I don't care anymore. I hope this show never gets there. But yeah, like there's some dumb shit in this episode, but at the same time, like I can overlook it, but it's it's the problem becomes when we get to the point where we can't overlook it anymore, and that takes a while. But my concern is having been worn down by Game of Thrones and that show flaming so hard.

I just don't want this show to even verge on that, like at least not in the first season. Like this is this is a new show, Like, yes, it's based off of Game of Thrones, but it is a new show with all new people, with all new cast, all new show runners, Like yeah, h beas involved, but like the names on this show that are connected to it that have cred with the first show, or like Ramanwati and like the product and George R. Martin, but like most people that are on this show had nothing to do with the first one. So that's why it's like, we need to temper our expectations about where they can go and how they can do what they're doing. But hope to god they don't make the mistakes that Bennie Off and Weis did because again, like at some point we can't overlook it.

We're not there yet. But some of the stuff in this episode, it was just like, man, I've we've seen this. Don't do this. Please don't do this to us because you've because somebody else already has. So so yeah, no, the next time you hear us will we'll be talking about the fourth episode of the first season.

That episode is titled King of the Narrow Sea, and that character that they're talking about, I think now it'll be two episodes titled after Matt Smith's character, because we've already been shown in the preview for the next episode. He is the titular King of the Narrow Sea, and the road Prince was what he was being referred to in the second second episode show. So yeah, I'm looking forward to it. So until then, you sure I would give you an opportunity to plug where you're out on social media, but you're not anywhere. But I'm basically anonymous.

Yeah, so you're the hacker known as four chan. So as for me, you can find me at c Stashue dot com. That's my link tree. Go there for all the things that I work on. And yeah, as for this show, Game of Bros dot com, you can find it everywhere you can find podcasts at this point, which is a lot of places.

So just search Game of Bros. We're the only show called Game of Rose about Game of Thrones. At least make sure to catch us on the next episode. M