tv show House of the Dragon | Season 2 | Episode 2: 'Rhaenyra the Cruel' | GoT Prequel

[Rigalo]

THAT was blood and cheese? It just felt like two random characters doing Game of Thrones'd things that happen all the time. I mean I was a bit gagged I won't lie but I was expecting something insane 

[Witchpop]

18 minutes ago, Rigalo said:

THAT was blood and cheese? It just felt like two random characters doing Game of Thrones'd things that happen all the time. I mean I was a bit gagged I won't lie but I was expecting something insane 

If they followed the book to T and obviously still kept the gore off screen for obvious reasons It could have been quite a scene rivaling the Red Wedding, but they made decisions that didn't make any sense and lessened the stakes, for me, personally

[Contessa]

33 minutes ago, Rigalo said:

THAT was blood and cheese? It just felt like two random characters doing Game of Thrones'd things that happen all the time. I mean I was a bit gagged I won't lie but I was expecting something insane 

Well in the books

Spoiler

it was much more gruesome and Helaena and all of her children were toyed with... im too tired so im copypasta'ing from an article online

 

Quote

In the book, Helaena and her children are the target from the start. Blood and Cheese wait for Helaena and her three children to appear (in the show, she's with two). This means the children are awake for the ordeal, whereas in the show they are asleep.

Blood and Cheese tell Helaena they want just one son and demand her to choose. At first, she asks them to take her instead.

"Cheese warned the queen to make a choice soon" or Blood would grow bored and rape her little girl, Martin writes.

Helaena ultimately picks Maelor, her youngest son. The book tries to give insight into her decision.

"Perhaps she thought the boy was too young to understand, or perhaps it was because the older boy, Jaehaerys, was King Aegon's firstborn son and heir, next in line to the Iron Throne," the book reads.

Cheese then whispers to Maelor, "You hear that, little boy? Your momma wants you dead." But he ultimately kills Jaehaerys by chopping off his head in front of his siblings and mother.

The book describes Helaena's descent after the death of her son. She's unable to care for herself, nor look after Maelor, the son she condemned to death. Alicent raises Maelor while Helaena sinks "deeper and deeper into madness."

 

 

Edited June 17 by Contessa

[Triton]

The highlights are definitely the sets and production, especially the Red Keep. 
 

Alicent and Criston make sense. Good they pushed it that way, it was only natural. 

Rhaenerya is miserable so good. I still can't stand Matt Smith and his annoying voice, no eyebrows and ugly inbred face which I guess works for this character. 
 

I was expecting more from that final scene. The little ones weren't that developed to really feel sorry for them, same with Lucerys so they're just made up fuel. 

[LegaMyth]

The direction was on point, but the ending didn't do much for me. I blame the director. Helena was not crying enough for me.

[Richie.Valdez]

23 minutes ago, LegaMyth said:

The direction was on point, but the ending didn't do much for me. I blame the director. Helena was not crying enough for me.

I think Helena suffers some sort of dissociative condition and I don't think she was "attached" to the boy.. she gave him away so easily. She for sure did not like his destiny as the throne's heir.

[LegaMyth]

10 minutes ago, Richie.Valdez said:

I think Helena suffers some sort of dissociative condition and I don't think she was "attached" to the boy.. she gave him away so easily. She for sure did not like his destiny as the throne's heir.

I kind of feel like she knew what was coming

[♚ PRiNCE HiGH ♚]

This feels like a proper return to form, a return to the glorious GoT universe. The production, editing, transitions, shots are all flawless. The intro and use of the original theme was such a pleasant surprise.

Had no complaints about the episode until B&C played out (except for the HORRIBLE wig they put on Helena's daughter )

I don't understand why they PG'd it. This together with the Red Wedding are some of the most gruesome moments in the GOT universe. RW wouldn't have had the same impact, the show wouldn't have had the same impact if the RW was PG'd.

Helena's reaction was also a little unrealistic/reserved

 

[chris1991]

I kinda didn't like the episode…Emma carried.  The big moment felt so minimal but everyone expected so maybe they have more coming 

[BionicWooHoo]

The way the beginning of episode recap and the post credits interviews/previews didn't have any sound...

[Drowned8World]

you all have to remember the book is basically gossip. The show "shows" what actually happened 

[Drowned8World]

4 hours ago, PaloSanto said:

the new credits are **** tho  They better make a completely new one for s3 cause this aint better than the bloodline on Valyria model one

i loved it. The intro of S1 was confusing as *** and pointless/useless to the show. Opposite to GoT which help the viewers to understand where the story was happening.

[flower moon]

i thought that was really well done. the sounds at the end of the thing we didnt see were disgusting

to me it seemed like a huge improvement visually

[flower moon]

i loved the new intro bit. waaay better than last season

[Hephaestus]

I have to admit that for how much it was hyped, Blood & Cheese was just okay to me. To put things into perspective, I thought S1's finale was much more impactful. That being said, great first episode. Definitely didn't expect heads rolling so soon, so that's a plus.

 

Rhaenyra stole the show for me. Every scene with her was SO powerful, even with little to no words spoken. A performance 

 

The entirety of the greens can f*ck off, they're so nasty and conniving. Daemon can f*ck off as well, he lowkey acts a greens' plant considering how damaging his actions are to the blacks.

[Gui Blackout]

4 hours ago, Contessa said:

Well in the books

  Reveal hidden contents

it was much more gruesome and Helaena and all of her children were toyed with... im too tired so im copypasta'ing from an article online

 

 

 

Hmm I kinda get why they had to tone it down a bit with a scene involving children 

[Cleanromantic]

Super disappointing episode

Them starting with the boring starks for fan service. I forgot how tedious and dull the stark men are.

They're still whitewashing and Jon Snoring Rheanyra. This was the opportunity to actually give her character some complexity but they went the safe, fan servicy way again. They downplayed the blood and cheese thing and Helena's suffering. Allicent was supposed to be present but they chose to villainize her and had her have sex instead, all to appeal to the rabid Blacks fans . They're trying so hard to justify what team Demon and Rheanyra are doing, by making it seem like killing the young boy wasn't the plan from the start to absolve them of any blame...

Edited June 17 by Cleanromantic

[clee95]

surprisingly good acting from the young actor playing Jace, the way his voice cracked..

[Karla Cabello]

35 minutes ago, Cleanromantic said:

Super disappointing episode

Them starting with the boring starks for fan service. I forgot how tedious and dull the stark men are.

They're still whitewashing and Jon Snoring Rheanyra. This was the opportunity to actually give her character some complexity but they went the safe, fan servicy way again. They downplayed the blood and cheese thing and Helena's suffering. Allicent was supposed to be present but they chose to villainize her and had her have sex instead, all to appeal to the rabid Blacks fans . They're trying so hard to justify what team Demon and Rheanyra are doing, by making it seem like killing the young boy wasn't the plan from the start to absolve them of any blame...

this is my main problem with it... like they are pushing this "choose a side" promo, but they actually whitewash rhaenrya and team black and make them the heroes and the green the baddies... there is complexity missing and what was supposed to be a pivotal moment for the development of the dance was kinda just there.

That being said they also kinda whitewashed alicent too, i know the books are unreliable narrators but i prefer the book version where both alicent and rhaenyra had more agency in the "criminal" actions of the dance, like alicent actively usurping the throne or rhaenyra ordering to kill vaemond.

Edited June 17 by Karla Cabello

[Cleanromantic]

32 minutes ago, Karla Cabello said:

this is my main problem with it... like they are pushing this "choose a side" promo, but they actually whitewash rhaenrya and team black and make them the heroes and the green the baddies... there is complexity missing and what was supposed to be a pivotal moment for the development of the dance was kinda just there.

That being said they also kinda whitewashed alicent too, i know the books are unreliable narrators but i prefer the book version where both alicent and rhaenyra had more agency in the "criminal" actions of the dance, like alicent actively usurping the throne or rhaenyra ordering to kill vaemond.

They butchered Alicent this episode actually. Here is a character that had such a complex relationship with sex, being sold to an old man and used as children factory for years, then becoming pious as a defense mechanism, and they could've explored that in her relationship with Cole, another character with a complicated viewpoints towards sex, but instead they chose to villainize her by painting her as a horny hypocrite and neglectful mother all while emphasizing Rhaenyra's grief... 

[Liafen]

just dropping in to say vHAGar is a WH*RE and will be DEALT WITH

Edited June 17 by Liafen

[Cardcaptor Sakura]

The acting, the set, the CGI.

Loved it. Also love the new opening theme.

[eclipsed]

Episode 1 was alright. I'm rewatching GoT atm currently on season 3 and this just doesn't compare. The stakes aren't as high and the characters pale in comparison, its not bad but nowhere near as gripping. I've heard talk of blood and cheese, I'm hoping that wasn't supposed to be this series red wedding and theres more excitng/shocking moments to come because that had no impact on me whatsoever.

[RideOrDie]

great episode, they made blood & cheese less horrible but still gagged

[Terylee]

Cole and Alicent - The jokes write themselves.