The second Otto asked Alicent "So who knows the King is dead"? and she is like "My handmaid Taliya and some other servants". I said to myself "Oh, so everyone knows".

They could have learned a thing or two from Rings of Power... When they crowned the King he could have held his sword up and said to the crowd "I AM BAD!" Then when Rhaenys burst through the floor on her dragon to face off against the King and Alicent. Rharnys could have said "THERE IS A TEMPEST IN ME!"

The last part with Rhaenys felt like they added it at the end for people asking for more action. It really felt out of place. I would have been satisfied with the corronation continuing as normal with Rhaenys flying out of kings landing at the end.

“Mummy, when is daddy coming home from the coronation?” “Oh, sweetheart… unfortunately Princess Rhaenys wanted to have a Girlboss moment. We’ll never see most of our neighbours ever again.”

Thank you Alex, I was thinking the exact same shit. Ser Criston Cole just does whatever TF he wants, ruins a royal wedding by killing someone(also punching the future King Consort), and now he kills a councilman, and not a freaking thing happens to him. Criston Cole is a straight up piece of shit now.

The writing for this show truly reminds me of when GoT was in its prime. Also loved when Alicent realized that they planned for Aegon to be crowned regardless of what happened with Viserys

I'm always amazed by joe's ability to not remember names oh and btw, the dance does start next episode, you can see it in the preview

I thought the end credits would say “directed by Quentin Tarantino.”

It was funny to watch Ser Otto Hightower revelling & reaping the reward while listening to the people's applauds & cheers after Aegon's crowning, as if he was the one that actually got crowned & newly anointed as King. It couldn't have been any more obvious that he is, in fact, the one finally landing his lifelong & well-planned ambition brought to fruition!😂🤣

The orphan is really important, in fact that little white haired orphan might be a pretty major character in a few seasons. This series is doing well by the original material.

AJ blinking out of existence at 20:06 😂

"She doesn't want to be responsible for doing that to another mother"? Little late for that when she just carelessly killed and maimed hundreds of innocents, which included other mothers and children. Then she grows a conscience when it comes to killing half a dozen who will kill her own people? They wanted a glory moment so bad for this character that they kinda forgot it'd make her a mass murderer. This was a moment of Season 7-8 writing, spectacle over sensical, in an episode that had some smaller problems as well. The shadow of Season 8 still looms over this show, but hopefully this was a temporary misstep and over-indulgence in "isn't this cool? Now clap you dummies!" and not a sign of things to come.

Rhaenys busting through was good but I’m sure there was another way out. She didn’t want to kill Alicient the mother protecting her child but meanwhile she kills dozens of possible innocent moms in the crowd…yeah that didn’t make sense.

Not gonna lie, probably my least favourite episode of the show.. Not terrible by any means but the pacing didn't feel as tight as it usually does and there were a few too many "hollywood moments".

I love the look Otto gave Alicent after she told him about the “deathbed confession” to make Aegon king. It’s tough to describe it’s a combination of incredulous, pride and excitement that his daughter is on board for the coup

The council doesnt care about the Lord of Coin dying because he isnt in on the plan to instal Aegon to the throne. You see later on what they do to people who try to against them with the man hanging in the courtyard area. Criston has pretty much a blanket immunity to anything due to him being the queens personal guard and obviously Otto trusts him to some degree to carry things out even if he is on Alicents side.

Watching this back to back with AJS’s Rings of Power review is quite entertaining.

So she’s gonna go back to tell Rhaynera that they’re at war and it’s time to fight the greens, and rhaynera gonna be like “Um wait you had them defenseless with you’re dragon one dracarys and this whole thing would be over, why did you just leave???”

This episode was honestly the weakest so far. The writing was almost GOT season 8 level stupid. You are telling me Rhaenys is going to slaughter 100s of innocent civilians only to not roast the greens and end the conflict then and there? Scene should either not have happened or they should have put Sunfyre behind Aegon.

"You would've been a great queen" *30 Minutes Later* Bursts through the floor of a building packed with low-income civilians who were forced to be there, needlessly massacring them with her dragon for no other reason than spectacle.

By far the best show on television right now. Could’ve done without the foot fetish scene though. 😂🤣🦶 Alicent set up an Onlyfans account and Larys was the first subscriber.😂

Alex couldn't handle the 150% accurate pronounciation of the half French, half Jamaican, half Turkish character.

Producer guy: Why didn't she just burn them with her dragon? Screen writer guy: Because then season 2 couldn't happen.

It’s both interesting and sad seeing when Aegon got crowned and he finally felt the appreciation and love he has craved for so long. The sad part is that it came from the common people and not from his own family. Edit: okay maybe not love but more like validation.

My biggest issue with the show is why would the king reinstate Otto as hand of king knowing he was plotting against his daughter and yeah that final scene was trash especially knowing which side she's on

@ 18:30 I was of the belief that it was White Worm that kidnapped Aegon for ransom, as she knew the King had died & could use the situation to her advantage. That’s why she made sure Otto recognised that by giving Aegons whereabouts it was her that allowed him to be king. & says she could’ve “killed him as easily as a wasp on fruit”.

Watching the finale of RoP and watched this. Day and night of the writing for this show. Excellent. GoT has set the bar very high and they delivered.

This and Andor are fantastic. The two best TV shows out right now.

I didn't understand what princess Rhaenys tried to do at the end, like I get that she wanted to ruin the ceremony but she just murdered a bunch of innocent people for no reason.

Kinslaying is the greatest crime you could ever do in Westeros so unfortunately Rhaenys couldn't do that. Then even if she was willing to, she just saw Alicent, a mother, stand in front of a dragon to protect her children. Tugged on some of her heartstrings as a mother herself. Still don't agree with the common folk she killed with that stunt. The Greens would probably use that info to their advantage that Rhaenys, the Queen who never was, an ally of the Blacks, just slaughtered a bunch of common folk during Aegon II's coronation. To be fair if she just said Dracarys right then and there she would be remembered as an Usurper but could've ended the war. It was her mercy that will eventually decide her fate and the fate of the realm and the house of the dragon just like it was Ned's mercy that killed the king and doomed his house and the realm.

This episode should have been call 'The Aeg Hunt'

I like the idea behind Criston being this stereotypical knight in shining armor whose virtue gets sullied by a princess, and he turns into a villain, but his character is just so one-dimensional. He might as well be a nameless henchman.

I feel like the season was too short and now we have to wait a year for a whole new season

Hell if what should have happened with the episode's climax actually happened this would have been basically a series finale

Larys is qyburn and varys as one character for efficiency. I'll always find it funny that the two spymasters like a thousand years apart are named Larys and Varys

its reviews like this that ive stayed with this channel so many years. great review fellas!

I really wish she would of just broke through the floor and immediately fled, instead of the stare down. It would of really drove home that all these noble people don't give a fuck about any of the common folk and there lives.

This is my favorite show right now!!!

I felt like that insanity at the ending made no sense to me! That entire coup could have ended right then and there. Instead we're supposed to believe that the princess showed mercy, right after bursting through the floor and killing dozens of innocent people.

This show is an amazing feet, I mean feat.

Majority of the episode was great but the ending was ridiculous. Princess Rhaenys Targaryen killing hundreds of innocent people for basically no reason is nonsense and out of character.

The King's Guard guy told Rhaenys that they weren't letting any dragons out, so it's okay if they had her break through to escape. The scene could've worked if Aegon, Alicent and her family ran away and when Rhaenys turned to burn them they escaped. It's unbelievable that they just stood there while all of this is happening, as in....hmmmm let's meet this dragon that's breaking out of the pit! Then you'd have your spectacle, a disrupted coronation and Rhaenys not looking ridiculous for letting them all live.

Having Rhaenys crush all those innocent people just shows that she's awful and pushes me toward the other side. That was a fucked up thing to do and shows that she has zero regard for the average person. It sucks that that wasn't in the book, because if that's not her character, it shows that the writers are the ones who don't give a fuck about the average people in their world.

Easy fix on the dragon part. Literally have a ton of archers that pop up once the dragon lands in the middle cause they should be prepared for a dragon attack.. and when she tries to get closer to burn the greens the archers are laying a huge assaults on her dragon causing her to get out of her before he is seriously injured. Or literally don't write that and just have her flying away on her dragon lol.

How many mothers in that crowd did Rhaenys kill by pulling that stunt?

There was a tiny detail you guys missed that I thought was interesting, the twin knights pointed out a bastard of Aegons in the fighting pit. 🤔 Maybe this will tie into the fighting pits and the female master of shadows?

They should've had the floor shake and start to glow orange and the people back away before fire bursts through followed by the dragon. Would've been cooler and made a point to not have innocent people be obliterated

I thought the race to find Aegon was pretty dumb. They both want Aegon to be king and nothing is stopping Otto from convincing Aegon of his plan at a later point, he is the hand of the king.

Can’t wait to watch the finale episode this season has been great and a joy to watch 💯

I think it's kind of dumb that Rhaenyra went back to dragonsstone when she knows soooooo many are against her claim. Especially since her father was so close to dying. If I were her I'd be living right next to the king and have many witnesses who could verify anything that happened.

Alicent has never believed that women can’t rule, she literally tells rhaneys that she should’ve been the one to rule over viserys. that wasn’t her motivation for wanting her son on the throne. The only reason she wanted her son to be king was because she feared they would be killed if raehnera tried to stake her claim. This is in contrast to Otto’s motivations which are to have a male ruler and his own personal ambitions for his family lineage. They do not have the same motivations!!! Up to this point alicent only cares about her family and is just slowly coming into her own lust for power. That doesn’t make her “stupid” or “soft”. It is incredibly ridiculous to compare her to any one of the lannisters. She was not born a noble, she was a simple and young handmaiden who was thrust into a position of power and is still figuring out how to wield that power. It is understandable that she would struggle with decisions like murder and would be inconsistent in how well she is able to play the game. That is literally the point of her arc!! It’s like you guys don’t even pay attention to the subtleties and nuances of the characters

A few flaws but still yet another amazing episode. Excited for the finale, and the future of this show. As long as they keep the spectacles to a minimum or give them proper context.

Multiple issues with the dragon appearance at the end. Rhaenys doesn't seem so cruel as to injure/kill so many bystanders (Batman effect, just don't show them as if there was a large empty space in a max capacity building). Wouldn't choose to burst into the area if there isn't an intent to kill Aegon. The dragon just burst through solid rock as if it's nothing, so I guess now dragons can knock down walls also.

I wish they had done more with Viserys' body (oo err), from what I hear, in the books his corpse is locked in his room rotting for days as the Greens make their move. Would have been a decent way to show days passing if they used his body as an anchor for the episode, cutting back to it now and then and seeing him looking worse and worse, maybe have a rat chewing on him or something.

I think a few of the "should haves" here is kind of assuming the characters have no feelings or own motivations. Are we really at the point where not wanting to end a whole family branch to her is unfeasible, not to mention not wanting to do such acts in the first place? :P I actually thought the Rhaenys scene was great at setting up that even her, with her ideal, is completely missing how she's basically ending commoners in the process. A recurring theme in this show is how completely ignored they are by literally every player; in fact Alicent might be the only one that shows an inkling of remorse, other than the White Worm, and even then there's doubts. I quite liked how this episode still contrasted that scheming and callousness with people trying to follow their own compass, multiple characters doing what they thought was right. Rhaenys was one example, but Erryk or Beesbury, Westerling and so on. It didn't always follow the best logic or self preservation, but that's how life works, even among these terrible people. I'm just gonna add that this Viserys wasn't in the book either. I think if they decide they can do something without deleting the integrity, they've shown they're gonna do it. I guess we'll have to hope it remains good, which I think so far it is.

If Rhaenys was willing to kill innocents, I thought she was gonna land outside the coronation chamber, have her dragon poke its head in and turn that place into an oven. Maybe Aegon and his bro got that fire proof genes and survive. Maybe they even protect their mother. Or maybe the coronation crew has an emergancy exit they dip out. Busting through the ground kool-aid man style just to roar in their face seems silly. The dragon seems to shrink when it escapes through the front door and just looks wonky.

The speed with how fast the Small Council rushed to crown Aegon shows that if Rhaenyra became queen, the government wouldn't cooperate with her.

So the Queen that never was didn’t want to deprive another mother of her child…how many children of other mothers do you think she killed smashing her way out of the Dragon pit?

They are trying to make it so all the promos for season 2 will be “who’s side do you choose the greens or the reds”.

I wrote the dragon busting out of the ground out of my head canon. It added nothing to the story, so pretending it didn't happen preserves the experience for me without any cost to the story. I haven't read the books, so it wasn't until she didn't kill the "king" then and there that it broke immersion for me. I thought the king was about to die and Team Green would be promoting the middle child instead. We still could have had the Dance of Dragons *and* the boss woman moment that way. Alicent being softer in this version is a change I really support. Shows are so much more engaging when you are torn between the factions and characters, and ASOIAF has always been about grey areas. I have been Team Black from the start, but Alicent's character started growing on me this episode with her genuinely mourning Viserys and choosing to spare Rhae despite fearing Rhae would not show her family the same mercy.

If she would have Aegon and the court to a crisp it would have thrown the kingdom into chaos and she would most likely unite all the other houses against her. Like in Thunderdome how Auntie had to hire Max to kill Master Blaster because if she did it it would have fucked everything up lol

Damn it Joe.. Don't spoil future stuff from the books. I know the books have been there for ages but many of us want to go in this blind and NO SPOILERS PLS.

I truly was not prepared for that scene with Larys and the queen's feet...

Man, I know this may fall on deaf ears, but I think this will have to be my last review for this show specifically. Joe will elude to a conflict that happens later in the series based on the source material, and it's happened in multiple reviews for this show. That would be cool if you threw up a spoiler warning. No worries overall though, I''ll def be back for more movie/game/TV shows in the future.

Lord Commander Westerling casting down his cloak really got me. That was such a good scene. He knew those orders went against his Knightley morals and against the white cloaks. He couldn't let anything else tarnish that. Graham McTavish is perfect for Westerling.

I really believed that Aegon was going to show his ultimate act of defiance for not wanting to be king by killing himself with the Valyrian dagger at his own crowning ceremony. Obviously I've never read Fire & Blood, but he never wanted to be king and nobody loved him not even Alicent or Vaserys. Then when he turned to face the cheering crowd with a grin I was like "whelp, so much for that".

Aegons sister/wife isn't crazy. She prophetic. Shes been doing it since she was introduced.

*Spoilers* That final scene is probably going to turn the people of Kings Landing against the dragons. Which is a very important plot point

I get there's a book and all but the dragon exploding through the floor could have worked if they just killed a few of the characters, like Alicent and the kid king, sir Cristien. While Otto and eye patch boy run away cause they aren't dumb enough to stick around with a dragon running around. This is the same episode Ned Stark died, a true spectacle. Not this isnt a seven, it's worse.

Only thing that takes me out of that scene is that a dragon can break through the floor of the dragonpit - a building built to keep the dragons locked in. But with the Princess Rhaenys, she went to see her dragon and didn't kill her family, as well as that, the war hasn't even started yet. It makes complete sense for her character, you don't even need to think hard about it.

Aemond is an absolute Badass!

joe and mikes take on why she didnt kill the greens with her dragon is pretty brain dead.......... she doesnt know theres going to be a war or what the future holds thats why she doesnt kill them

I feel like the writers reason for the end scene was silly. They could have just said she’s honorable and doesn’t want to become a king slayer. I’d believe she’d value her honor more than the lives of thousands that are going to fight in the upcoming war.

This show has so much promise, episode 9 was my favourite so far

It saddens me that my favorite fantasy show LOTR did not get the same treatment as this beautiful masterpiece. By far the best show out right now.

I think Alicent will become more like cersi as the series goes along. I feel like showing her conflicted mind will make her characterisation deeper in the long run

Two things really stuck out for me on this episode that didn't really make sense. The most obvious is that everyone in the dragonpit who tried to crown Aegon is a traitor to the realm and she could have easily killed them all. Rhaenyra would have thanked her, given her the Driftwood throne, and everyone would have been happy. She could have stopped the civil war right then and would have been justified. The other one is that the Knight Commander didn't kill Ser Criston right then and there when he disobeyed his commands along with killing a prominent lord right in front of him. Regardless of the lord killing, he should have kicked him out of the King's guard and either slew him or called for the guards to take him to the dungeon. Especially after stating that he only answers to the Queen. He is a member of the KING'S GUARD...not the Queen's guard. Basically, he broke his oath a second time because he supplanted his allegiance, even when Viserys was alive, with absolute simp loyalty to Alicent. Anyway, the Knight Commander guy could have easily killed Criston or had him iprisoned without the Hand or Queen standing in the way since it would be an internal matter of the King's Guard and for the King. As he said, he only answers to the king, not the hand or the queen. If the Hand had the power to imprison him, he would have done so when he left the room even though the Hand had declared the doors would not open until their business was finished.

As a book reader, my jaw dropped when the dragon broke through the floor XD since it was not in the book

They're giving more context and depth to characters where there's very little in the books.

Rhaenys not killing her family makes complete sense given what we know about her character and how Westeros views Kinslaying. Anyone who says that she should have just murdered half of her family in cold blood has not been paying attention to the show and does not understand Westerosi customs, taboos, and history. That being said, Rhaenys being willing to kill all those civilians does not make sense. I can buy most lords not caring if smallfolk die, but not Rhaenys. She is being set up as one of the morally righteous/underdog characters and having her callously kill these peasants goes against that. However, given events that unfold later in the story, I also get the showrunners' desire to want to have a dragon kill a bunch of commoners. What they should have done is have Sunfyre attack Meleys/Rhaenys in the dragon lair, then have them both burst through the floor while fighting. This would have been better spectacle, more believable for Rhaenys's character, and it would have been a cool reveal for Sunfyre.

Rhaenys busting through the floor killing a bunch of innocent people reminded me when Majin Vegeta blows up part of the stadium to get Goku to fight him. But then I realized that Vegeta at least had a reason to do it whereas Rhaenys had no reason to. :/ lol

Honestly with Alicent being more likeable, I don't mind as long as the show continues to make sense to me. I'm loving it so far anddddd do agree rhaynes should have burned them all. Hopefully rhaynera addresses that next episode. 🙏🏽

I feel like the show is still strong. I have a lot of hope for the last episode. 💜

Really enjoyed these reviews esp versus ROP. BTW I thought the preview makes it really clear which event happens next episode - Storm's End. It's the one I've been looking forward to and dreading.

Alicent lies to Rhaenyra while she's mourning her dead mother and secretly meeting up with her grieving father. Alicent: Omg Rhaenyra lied to me about having consensual sex that bitch. Alicent to Rhaenys: You should have been queen. Also Alicent: I need to install my rapist son as king instead of my former best friend. Alicent: You targaryens have queer customs. Also Alicent: Marries her son to her daughter. Otto to Viscerys: You should have Rhaenyra as heir... Also Otto: If she becomes queen it will divide the realm... This is why i just can't get on the side of the greens, I know the blacks do terrible shit too but the show at this point is making it very one sided.

Love how they keep bringing up Rings of Power 😂

I agree with the sentiment with the final scene but we wouldn't have a show if it didn't happen to be honest. So I can forgive it ever so slightly since the rest was amazing.

I was pleasantly surprised with this show. The time jumps threw me out a lil bit but other than that it was fantastic. Watching ep 10 tonite I’m already excited for season 2.

Watchers have to remember that the story “The Dance of the Dragons” was written by fictional characters from within the universe. George R R Martin said himself that parts of the story might not have actually happened the way they were written in the book because the fictional authors may have had biased opinions about the war. Some things might be over or under exaggerated in the book and didn’t actually happen that way in real life, or for us, the show.

You’ve had 9 weeks to get the names right, please figure it out

I'm waiting to see a few things.grown up Benjicot Blackwood ( the kid that gutted the house Bracken dude at storms end) Cregan Stark and Aemon and Daemon's duel above harrenhal

100% agree the ending took a whole point. It was cool, but made no sense. It’s like pick a side, do you want Hightowers? Then don’t escape. Do you want Targaryen? Then burn them alive. Or if you don’t want to kill the main bad guys then just have her fly away immediately! Not do the weird stare thing.

This episode was amazing! So damn excited for the finale! I hope it's an hour and a half! It needs to have dragon fighting! We also see Aemond in the preview trailer allying with Daemon? Anyone else see that?

Top tier show running. Every line delivered and every scene presented actually means something again. Cough cough* season 8 and rings of power 👀

Also did y'all not notice that there is a child with white hair at the fighting pits who could potentially be King Aegon's bastard

"It's been making sense this whole time." *Insert montage of Sir Criston killing important people without any repercussions.*

it's good to see Joe and Alex smile after saluting for a change...

Idc what anyone says.. this season has been perfect. After what GoT season 7 and 8 did to me, I thought I’d never be interested again. But HOTD is a masterpiece. “A Masterpiece !?”.. yes. I can’t even explain in words how happy this show makes me feel while watching it. To me, it’s a masterpiece.

Did anyone else notice what Heleana said when they started looking for Aegon. She blurted out that there was something big under the floorboards and then there was that dragon scene at the end. Maybe I'm looking into it too much but was that some kind of premonition?

Rhaenys killed hundreds of bystander civillians but did not end the war by killing 10 more people. She could just have took an other exit without killing anyone. It is kind of ironic that she said that women hinder men from violence, yet she has now the highest kill count in the show.