House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 8 - "The Queen Who Ever Was"

[CaptainWagner]

Interesting theory, and I haven't brought it up yet but I think Sapochnik's presence was missed this season, especially in the back half.

The only reasons I could think of them not including Ser Harrold this season are either A. Graham McTavish had a scheduling conflict, which seems unlikely because as far as I can see the only thing he's been in since HOTD S1 was The Witcher and that would have been long done by the time S2 started filming or B. they decided to drop it because we already got Ser Erryk defecting to the Blacks and didn't want to make it seem redundant.

Daeron should have been included in season 1, at least just as a very small role as a young child in episodes 6 and 7 similar to Joffrey Velaryon. It could have been explained that he was sent away to Oldtown at some point between episodes 7 and 8 during the time jump. As it is I'm glad they're including him at all, it was just an awkward introduction.

As for Aegon, I did like what they did with him in season 2 but it still felt like something of a u-turn from the cruel rapist we saw at the end of season 1. That said he was still one of the best characters this season, if not THE best.

Yeah, I was let down by Daeron's absence this season. Even if it was just for a few episodes, he would have been the perfect point of view to show how the people outside of the Crownlands are viewing the succession crisis. And having Alan Beesbury show up at the Hightower demanding answers to his grandfather's whereabouts would have been a great set-up for the War in the Reach. But I suspect the budget cuts meant showing Oldtown was out of the question.

And yeah, Aegon's characterization took a major 180 in this season and is much closer here to how he's described in the books. It's such a shocking change, that's why I think it had to have been a conflict between Condal and Sapochnick. But Aegon was a highlight this season, wheres I hated them making him overtly malevolent in Season 1, so that's a big improvement in my books.

 

[Drizzle]

Yeah, I was let down by Daeron's absence this season. Even if it was just for a few episodes, he would have been the perfect point of view to show how the people outside of the Crownlands are viewing the succession crisis. And having Alan Beesbury show up at the Hightower demanding answers to his grandfather's whereabouts would have been a great set-up for the War in the Reach. But I suspect the budget cuts meant showing Oldtown was out of the question.

Rhys Ifans was sorely missed in the latter half of the season so I completely agree that introducing Daeron here would have been an improvement and it would have been a natural segue after the scene where Gwayne tells Alicent about him in episode 6. Just a couple of scenes would have sufficed. Hell, I wouldn't have even cared if they recycled establishing shots of Oldtown from GOT to help keep the budget down.

Something else that the GOT/HOTD wiki reminded me of, Daeron actually was mentioned indirectly at the end of season one. Daemon says that the Greens have four dragons (Vhagar, Sunfyre, Dreamfyre, and Tessarion) so maybe the plan was always to involve Daeron but only when absolutely necessary for budget reasons.

 

[misjuevos]

After watching it again, I stand by the MVP of the finale being Ramin Djawadi, who's always on point but this track was epic:

I agree Ramin Djawadi's music is excellent.

I started reading the books when GOT had a huge break between their earlier seasons. I wanted to know what happened next. Luckily they already had the soundtracks. So depending on the character, I would play one of the songs that was connected to the character's house or the place they were at. Just something in the background for some ambience.

 

[Madam-Shogun]

I also have a feeling that if and when Book Cersei is faced with the White Walker threat, she'd probably go the same route that Show Cersei did, which is to say "Who cares? Let them kill the Northerners."

I'm Hella late to this, but I hope book Cersi is long dead before then lol.