HOTD: The Westeros Kickback Season 3 Episode 1

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[00:01:19] Oh snap! Welcome back, you guys. It is the return of Recap Kickback presents The Westeros Kickback here on RecapKickback.com. It's me, your host Chappell, and I am back again to talk to you about another season of House of the Dragon. Season 3, Episode 1 is out. We just watched it. And with me to talk about all the things and to catch me up on all the things that I forgot.

[00:01:46] The maester herself, the keeper of books and all things House of the Dragon, George R.R. Martin's biggest op, Mari Forth. Mari, welcome back. We're back, baby. We're back, baby. Dem dragons. Dem stones, y'all. Yeah, we're back. I'm so excited. I am very excited. I'm very excited. Okay. I do have some questions for Ryan and the team, though. I do.

[00:02:16] I do. Other than that, though, dragons are back on my screen. I'm happy. We can all commiserate. This is going to be fun. Yes, we are back in Westeros officially after a long wait. House of the Dragon Season 3 is finally here. And today we're breaking down the premiere episode. The Dance of the Dragons is only getting bloodier. Alliances are shifting. And if the first episode is any indication, we are in for another full season of betrayal, dragon battles, and family members making the absolute craziest decisions imaginable.

[00:02:46] So we've been looking forward to this for a while, and I can't wait to get into everything that happened. But before we head to King's Landing, let's talk about everything else we have going on here on Recap Kickback. If you are new here, we cover everything that we want to cover. We like to highlight black media, given the opportunity, and we also like to highlight whatever else is popular, which brought us here to House of the Dragon. My co-host Mari is a dragon expert. She is all well-read in the world of Westeros and Game of Thrones.

[00:03:14] And so she will be kind of our fact checker in a way to make sure that I'm not out here talking crazy. And I am just a fan of the show, and I really enjoy talking about it with Mari. And so hopefully you are with us for this ride as we move forward through this season. Also, if you want other coverage from us, we are also covering the Vampire Lestat.

[00:03:35] That podcast will drop tomorrow as we make our way through the last chapter or the latest chapter, I guess I should say, of Anne Rice's Immortal Universe. After spending, you know, a few weeks covering Interview with the Vampire Season 1 and 2, we are about a third of the way, I guess I should say, through the Vampire Lestat. And so come join us for that.

[00:04:00] We also have our Flavor of Love Cinematic Universe coverage as well with me and co-host Chantel Francis. We are currently talking about Flavor of Love live on Sundays. We've made it to Charm School, and we're going to be talking about the Charm School finale this week with our special guest, Matt Scott. So please tune in for that live on Sunday.

[00:04:21] And don't forget about our Bet on Black series where we spotlight the talented black reality TV stars that have made their way through reality TV but did not quite get the flowers that we thought they deserved. And so me and Gia Worthy will be talking about Tristan Epps Long. That episode drops on Thursday. And so check that out. As always, if you are enjoying our content, you can support Recap Kickback directly through YouTube with tips during our live streams and our premieres. Every contribution does help us continue creating more content.

[00:04:52] And while you're showing love to the podcast, don't forget, I know you ain't watching House of the Dragon without your House of the Dragon lava drip cup. Like this is so effing cool. And mine is clearly team green because, I mean, if you watch the episode, you see it. You see the material. And Mari's team is at the bottom of the gullet right now. So if you won that battle.

[00:05:21] Oh, really? Because it didn't look like it. So Mari, tell everybody how they could get a hold of one of these cups. Well, me, the maester is making cups. You can go to MariCraftsTooMuch.BigCartel.com. It's right here on the screen below us and in the show notes. I create book tumblers, tumblers that are based on books. But if you don't like, if you don't see anything you don't like, I also do custom tumblers. I have a whole category for House of the Dragon.

[00:05:50] So if you want to rep team green, team black, if you want to throw your favorite character on your cup, go to my website and go to the House of the Dragon category. And all of the stuff that I offer is on there. But again, if you see something, if you don't see anything on there that you want, you have something in mind. You can always email me through the website and we can custom collab on a cup. I can put anything on a cup. I can put your kids on a cup. I can put pets on a cup.

[00:06:20] I can put anything on a cup. Some things I can put on a cup, we can't say here because we're not trying to get sued. But it doesn't matter. Reach out to me. Let me hook you up. Yeah. Every Sunday. It's a cool cup. Mari's got a cool cup. I have a cooler cup. And yeah, we want you all to be watching House of the Dragon with your cool cup too. And so make sure you get one of those. Now, enough of the announcements. Mari, the dragons are flying. The realm is at war.

[00:06:48] The gullet has been seized or whatever. And we have a lot to talk about in this episode. So where should we begin? I mean, I guess we got to start with the Battle of the Gullet itself. Lots going on there. First and foremost, let's say the good things out loud. HBO does not get the actual battles wrong. Right?

[00:07:14] Like the actual fighting, seeing Corlys navigate his ship through the sea and Lothar chasing. Like that part was actually cool. I wasn't here like, okay, like, you know, it can feel like a little bit of a filler when you're trying to figure out what the hell is going on. But it was cool to see like the navigational skills of, you know, one of the best sailors in the world at this point.

[00:07:43] The cinematography of all the dragons flying around and the ships and all of that. I mean, just it. They are like smacking you back. Like we are back. Dragons are here. We're back in the thick of things. Mari, I have a complaint. I said you try to get the good things out first, Chappelle. But I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mari. Okay, listen, here's my complaint.

[00:08:08] When you make us wait so long for these episodes to come back. Those of us who have not read the books, who are not familiar with the source material, but are very familiar with the fact that these names all sound the same and these people all look alike. Hey, hey, when I tell you it took me a few minutes to calibrate to where I understood what was going on. I would die if somebody saw my notes that I took from this episode because none of it makes sense.

[00:08:37] Every name is Bela and Adam slash Allen. Every name. I don't know who these people are. Is that Bela on that dragon? No, that's Bela on that dragon. Well, that's Jays in the water. Like I was, it just took me a minute to get myself back together. I do not like this. I don't like that they make me wait so long because now I feel like if it wasn't for you, I would be so lost as of what was going on. The people who can follow this a year or so later without following, you know, without refreshing their memory. They're better than me.

[00:09:07] Yeah, two years. I watched, I watched like the little recap thing on HBO. I rewatched episode seven of last season because that was one of my favorite episodes that the red sewing and yeah, I can definitely see how just being thrown right back into the middle of all the craziness can be so freaking confusing. Yeah, they didn't do a really good job of that.

[00:09:36] Even me like when we when we when the show started, I was like, wait a minute. This was not where we were two and a half years ago. I was like, I thought we was going to start with the ships. Like we ended with the ship battle. I was preparing to immediately start with the ship battle and people talking and shit. I'm like, why y'all talking? Why are we not fighting? I was right. I was so confused as to like where we were.

[00:10:00] And then for me, knowing the books, it made it even more confusing because I was like, oh, what are y'all doing? Like, as we all know here, if you are new here again, we will have a book corner. I think Chappelle said it will have a book corner at the end, which will be a lot of books spoilers. And this one might be a little thick y'all. It's going to be a little thick and and it'll it'll only be and it's not spoilers for the future.

[00:10:29] I must remind you, it's never spoilers for the future. It's spoilers about like how they decided to approach this from a show perspective and how different it is from the book. So if you are worried about getting spoiled for future episodes, that's not the worry, if that makes sense. But anyway, I say all that to say I was heavily confused because the timeline Chappelle. Mm hmm.

[00:10:59] They they just they just said. And because of that, I was like, oh, OK. So it even it made it even more confusing for me on top of the foreknowledge. So. This is one of those things that, again, remember, everybody, you get this on Monday. I peek behind the curtain. We we record this right after we watch it.

[00:11:27] So there's a lot we are trying to process after we just seen the episode. So it it like not only will it probably take me another rewatch, but this is one of those things where I'm going to need to see the follow up for episode two as well. Gotcha. So I do want to talk about what you started with. But, you know, let's get back to the good stuff. The gullet. Oh, my God. You know, this is so cool. The the no narrow paths.

[00:11:55] We have Corliss kind of being ambushed in a way by who I have in my notes as bitch fit. I'm pretty sure it was bitch fist. That that's the name of her ship. That's that. Yes, that's Shakoro Lohar. Admiral Shiroko Lohar.

[00:12:17] She and Corliss have battled before when, you know, Corliss and Damon were battling in the Stepstones when when when Damon was bored and stuff like they kind of have a legendary rivalry. That's why she was like, I want to burn Driftmark, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Her her ship name is the bitch fist. And this is this is the teeth.

[00:12:41] So the gullet is like is like a small bay right before Blackwater Bay. So everybody remembers the Battle of Blackwater in season two. Blackwater is like the main port of King's Landing outside of that that main water. I wish I had a map is between like Driftmark between King's Landing, Driftmark and Dragonstone. There's a area that's called the gullet.

[00:13:10] And what's happening is Corliss is blockading this whole gullet open the Strait of Hormuz. No, he's blocking the whole gullet and he's choking off the supplies for King's Landing. And we saw this in the last season where the small folk couldn't get food and stuff like that. And the blockade had been in place for a while. It was making the small folk turn on the greens, all of that.

[00:13:38] So what's happening now is, you know, Otto sent Sir Thailand to the triarchy to help them break the blockade. And it's just taken so long for it to happen that it's now coming to fruition now. So the triarchy sent Lohar and now they are trying to break this blockade. Or that's what Thailand is thinking they're trying to do.

[00:14:04] When they get there, Lohar is like, no, I just want to, I basically just want to sun the sea snake. Like she's like, I don't really care about all, all of this. I just want him. So that's what the battle of the gullet is. It's them trying to break the blockade. Corliss trying to keep it in effect. And like I said, technically in the book, this does go down as a victory for team black. Again, it doesn't seem like.

[00:14:32] I mean, that's really hard to see from my perspective because, okay, we have Lohar running into battle, but she has an agenda. You know that you could see the other people, including Thailand being like, hey, here's what you got to do. You got like, we have them on the ropes. We need to go over here. We need to do this. And she's like, oh, you thought I came here to win a war for you. No, I came here because I'm finna slap this dude, you know? And so, and so that's what she wants to do.

[00:15:01] Um, she ends up really doing exactly what she set out to do. Really. She knows she's chasing after him. She goes and she burns his home at Driftmark. Right. Yeah. Boom. And cause she knows that will cut him deep. He goes through the teeth and I'm thinking it's so impressive watching Corliss navigate the teeth. Uh, because you see what it looks like when someone else is trying to do it. He's trying to talk them through it. He's up, he's up on the gas, you know, not too much going on the clutch.

[00:15:30] You know, he's doing that. Yeah. And then finally, he's like, just let me take you. Let me, let me just, let me try it. Let me show you. You could drive next time. Right. You can, you got it next time. We'll do it. You get more practice ropes. He gets through this. This is his ship. That's him being nice. Like this is his ship. He couldn't say get the out of the way, but he did. Move. Right. And I was like, okay, Corliss, uh, maybe he's being softened because he's finally being a father. Happy father's day, by the way, Corliss. Um, so yeah, what a day.

[00:15:58] And so, um, then we see how, uh, bitch fit comes through and it is not the same. It is not like, it is rough. She doesn't have the finesse that Corliss has. She didn't have the experience that he has in this, in these waters right here. And it's very shallow. There's a lot of rocks. So she needs to make her boat lighter so that she can not sink so low. And so we see the end of, uh, Tyler, Tyler Lannister. Did she just kill his man?

[00:16:30] TBD. But that was, that was so smooth. That was a little smooth. She's like, how much you weigh? He said, what? All of them. She said, get them all off. Yeah. Um, and so, but the plan is coming. It's, it's going as planned, right? Like Corliss looks over into the distance. He sees Driftmark. You can tell it's messing with him. And then her boat comes and bores him. She gets on there. They, they got hands.

[00:16:56] We kind of see Corliss have a moment, like a little bit reminiscent of Dunk, uh, you know, in his fight where he kind of wakes up, his head is ringing and the fights happening around him. Um, and then he snaps into it, gets into the fight. It looks like she gets the better of him, but, uh, lucky for him, he has taken this episode to make amends with his bastard, bastard. Number one, who is Alan. Alan. Yep. Ha. I did it because boy, my notes, this man is everything.

[00:17:25] Um, but, but because of that, um, the two of them really bonded. And when it's not wrong one, uh, the two of them really bonded. And when it's time for him to, you know, when he's, when he's having this fight, it seems like, uh, Alan is a lot more. It feels like it means a lot more for him, I guess, to, to be fighting alongside Corliss. Right.

[00:17:47] It really does feel like since they made these apologies now, it's not just, he's fighting for this war that they're in, but he's also fighting for his father. And even this name that Corliss has said, like, yeah, my bad. I'm sad. I'm sorry that you grew up a nobody when you really should have been, you know, raised like a, you know, like nobility. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Because that's what Alan, Alan's like, I had a wonderful life. Don't get me, don't get it twisted. Not, I don't know if I should have said wonderful. He had a decent life.

[00:18:17] He liked what he did. Like, that's what he said. He said, I like what I do. It was the name that had always escaped him. That's what he truly wanted. And, you know, Corliss can't do anything about that right now. You know what I'm saying? Like, like, yeah, you got me there. Cause you know, Corliss could throw money, do all that, make sure they were comfortable, da da da da da. But you're not there. You're not being a, you're not a father and you didn't give them your name.

[00:18:43] So it doesn't matter what other things you tried to do, you know? Yeah. And Alan does come through with the victory here. It was quite the fight jumping in the water, fighting her underneath the boat. He does get the better of, I'm going to keep calling this lady bitch fit. What is her name? Laura. Draco Lohar. Lohar. Okay. We're back. So yeah.

[00:19:07] Alan wins the fight with Lohar, but I don't think we get a follow up on where Corliss is, you know? So, um, so I mean, not to spoil anything, but he really looked like she got the better of him for the most part. Yeah. I mean, cinematic effect. I think they're just trying to, they want you to tune in for the next episode to see who survives. Like trying to think they do this with a lot of those games, the game of thrown battles, you know, big battle happens. Did X, Y, Z survive? You know? Yeah.

[00:19:37] I really liked this big battle. I did. I liked it. It looks so cool. Um, just the, the whole, like the scale of it, right? Like we're in the air, we're in the water, we're underwater, you know, we're in the teeth, but you know, it's so much going on. And I was really like enthralled in the moment. I was on the edge of my seat watching this because all the while this is happening, we got some dragon play going on Mari. And, um, all of this was a hot ass mess.

[00:20:07] Everything going on with the dragons shenanigans. Shenan and shenanigan. Like I, the, it was so confusing. Chappelle again, not confusing, confused, but confusing as to why y'all do this? Let me get that straight because I I'm pretty sure that this doesn't need to be saved for book corner. I'm pretty sure we've talked about this previously.

[00:20:36] Um, Reina, this is Reina. I know you were kind of confused about that. That is Reina. Reina is on sheep stealer. Right? So Reina is the one who at the end of the last season, we see her run into sheep stealer. And at the beginning of this season, we get several little interstitials of her trying to woo sheep stealer. But, uh, I think like you said, well, uh, she's still there.

[00:21:07] He drunk. Oh yeah. He kidnapped her at the beginning of the episode. I use this screenshot here Mari because it says call. Sheep stealer is far from calm. Sheep stealer. Sheep stealer for reference. Sheep stealer is one of the, one of the bigger dragons. Um, I can't remember where he is on the rank of between like Vagar, Vermithor, um, sea smoke and all them, but he, he's pretty old.

[00:21:36] He's, he's, he's, he's about, I would say that he is cause he's never been ridden. He's a wild dragon. And so when he, how old he actually is, they do not know because you know, they don't have a record of him birth royally and writers and all that. But he is still one of the older, wilder ones.

[00:21:56] And, um, so because he's never been ridden, uh, um, the fact that she's able to even kind of bond with him is a feat in itself. But it also goes to show you that he's like, yes, I accepted you. I accepted your sheeps and your gifts to me, but I'm the captain now. Like I'm in control. Like you, I might've quote unquote bit the neck to you to let you hop on me, but you're on me.

[00:22:26] Like, like he just took her up to his lair and dropped her off and flew off. And I know she was like, dog, you know, he brings your food back and she's like, okay, I'm eating. And she's trying to teach him valerian. She's like, oh, let's go, you know, let's go home and stuff like that. Yeah, it was a, it was a mess. And I say all that to say, uh, in the books, Reina does not claim this dragon.

[00:22:52] This dragon is claimed by another girl named Nettles, a bastard during the sewing that we saw last season. Um, she, she's the one who does this same at the same thing. It's just a different girl, like the same way of wooing the dragon and stuff like that. Um, so Reina takes the place of Nettles and, uh, they show up at the battle and basically get in the way.

[00:23:18] But then Jace, Jace, locking my room and runs off to battle. Like what? Yeah. Again, confused as to why y'all did this.

[00:23:38] Well, well, if you want more information about the dragons, I did drop our, uh, uh, our, um, segment that we did with the war dog, uh, about the house of the dragon, introducing the actual dragon lore and the lineage of Vhagar, Sheepsealer, all the faves. Right. Um, and so if you want to go check that out, that podcast dropped yesterday, Sunday, uh, or today, if you're listening to this today, which you're not, but yeah, it dropped Sunday.

[00:24:08] Check it out. It's, uh, like a good 40 minutes of just dragon talk. If you just want more information about that, um, because the dragons are such a big part of the show and especially this episode. So, um, yeah, as you pointed out, uh, Sheepsealer is not helping. In fact, he's in the way. And unfortunately, Bela and Jace now have to go out of their way to either try to save that.

[00:24:32] They're like trying to attack it because they don't know who's on it. Then they find out, oh, it's Reyna. It's Reyna. And then they're like, oh no, don't kill Reyna. And Reyna's dragon is like, oh, but I'm gonna kill y'all because I don't, you know, like y'all shooting at me. I'm gonna shoot at you. Like you look shy. If I look shy back, what's going down? Everybody's shooting. We got those scorpions hidden, uh, the different dragons.

[00:24:56] And then down goes Frazier, AKA Jace, um, Mari. Yeah. You sure y'all won the fight? Again, this goes down in the history books as a win for team black. Who wrote the books? Jeez. I mean, well, I guess we'll talk about it in the book corner, but like, yeah, this is technically a win for team black.

[00:25:23] Um, so yeah, because of the confusion again, sheep stealer is, has never been manned. Plus technically sheep stealer has never gone to war. So sheep stealer is just like, oh, burn everything, burn everything. We burning everything. We just gonna burn everything. And so he just starts burning everything. And Reyna's like, no, those are our friends. So she gets in the way there, you know, they have to take her, uh, they, they have to put so much attention on what's going on with sheep stealer that Jace gets caught with a, um,

[00:25:53] like a grappling hook, um, uh, Vermax gets caught with a grappling hook to the stomach, opens it up. Jace goes down. And again, I, I can't remember if we talked about last, um, year, probably not because we were probably trying not to spoil it, but like, again, opening the season with Jace's death.

[00:26:18] It takes the, the wind out of the sails to me because like, if the member, uh, or if everybody knows, I don't know if everybody knows, but these first two episodes were supposed to be the last two episodes of last season. Like it was supposed to, there was supposed to be two episodes of supposed to be 10 episodes of last season. Those are supposed to, these first two are supposed to be the last two, uh, HBO short, short in the order.

[00:26:44] Order. We heard that these two episodes were then moved to the premiere of this episode of this season. And again, I think that is a little detrimental to the flow of the show, because again, like you said, we had to all acclimate.

[00:27:00] It took a few minutes for everybody to acclimate to who's who, um, while you're trying to figure out and try and remember what's going on, there's a battle happening. And then all of a sudden the Prince goes down and it doesn't hit you like, uh, Luke's death. Right. Because we were in it with Luke. We were there. We were like, poor little Lukey. Oh my God, that's my baby.

[00:27:20] And we was, you know, we was feeling it. We're two and a half years removed. Jace was acting like a spoiled child, locking his mom in her room for some stupid reason to run off and try and be the hero. And he goes down and you're kind of like, well, damn, like, and, you know, and they did a good job of depicting his death. Cause that's, that's how it happens.

[00:27:46] And it, it was, I felt, I was like, oh, that's the big one. That's the big one. This whole thing was a mess. Like, first of all, Jace deciding to do this, but then also, um, you know, what, what Mufasa say, but worse, you put Nala in danger. Why you bring Bayla into this? Leave that lady alone. Okay. Like what? And Bayla, of course, going to help Jace. And so they both end up being out there like we're dragon riders. We're, we're, we're big people. We, we can do it too.

[00:28:12] And it's just a mess from beginning to end. Um, we've been burying the lead a little bit. Uh, Jace does end up locking Rhaenyra in the, uh, in her room. And, uh, she is not enjoying this. We have to talk about the Rhaenyra of it all. Um, she is the queen in her mind and she is even probably, it was like rejecting the idea of being a woman at this point. Right?

[00:28:38] Like, she's kind of like, I was born in the wrong body. Cause I'm supposed to be the King. Like you can, you can call me a queen all you want, but I don't, that I don't subscribe. And so she's trying to convince everybody that they should listen to her. Uh, from her point of view, Alison has come and given her this offer that she just simply can't refuse it.

[00:28:57] Like, sure. It might be a trap, but I'm willing to take that risk because, uh, it seems like this war is about to be over. I'm about to go get my throne. I'm about to go get a gun out of here. Everything is going to be peachy. All I got to do is get on my dragon and go. So, and Jason's like, not so fast. Uh, he locks her in there and tells, um, this man whose name is, uh, escaping me.

[00:29:19] Sir Lauren. Yeah. Sir Lauren. Don't let her out because, um, if you're the queen's guard, your goal, your job is to keep the queen safe. And the queen wants to go on a suicide mission here. And so we're locking her in. So she does not lose because if she dies, then what is Jace doing this for? You know, uh, as far as he's concerned, this is all for her. I also think a large part of this is that this is a child and he's being a child.

[00:29:46] Um, but I can kind of see his logic and being like, listen, if anybody's got to die, it's gotta be me because she's the actual queen. Who am I? Yeah, no, but he, but that's the thing because he's a child. He, he didn't think that he was going to die. He's not going in to die. We, we see that he's telling Bella we're going in to win.

[00:30:05] And this, all this just pissed me off because I'm like, like, why are we again kind of like the meaning Rhaenyra here? Like, why would her queen's guard listen to her 16 year old son over her and lock her? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like how, how are you, how are y'all supposed to respect her as queen if they keep doing shit like this to her?

[00:30:32] And they've been doing this, doing stuff like this to her for, to her for like over the past two seasons. Like she'll say, she'll tell people to do some shit and they won't do it. Like that shit is annoying. And I remember last, last season, it kind of all came to a head. We were talking about like the moment between her and the white worm when they were kind of like, you know, touching up on each other and stuff.

[00:30:53] And we talked about the threat of like misogyny and, and gender expression going through it and how in that encounter Rhaenyra wanted to be the, the dominant one type thing. And I don't, I, it's, it's really baffling and perplexing to me. The way that they are handling her character.

[00:31:22] They're going to need to figure out a way to make it pay off in the long run. And I don't know. I don't know what to tell you. It feels, it just feels very annoying to me, to be quite honest. To me, I feel like that's what they're going for though. I think they want you to be annoyed at the patriarchy, right? The idea that she, this woman is like, I am the queen. And they're like, sure you are. You know, like, uh-huh. You definitely are. Yep. She's in charge.

[00:31:51] Y'all got it. She's in charge. But anytime a man shows up and says something, they're like, well, I guess we got to listen to him. You know what I'm saying? And as much as Team Black was caping for Damon last season, he at Heron Hall trying to find out, trying to decide if he going to listen to her. He's like, am I the king? Or am I, you know, am I, you know, like who's in charge? Like, you know what I'm saying? King consort. He's like, king. You know? King. You know? And so if that's her own uncle slash husband, imagine how everybody else feels.

[00:32:22] You know? Her son is like, yeah, mom, you're the queen. But just like, be dainty. Stay in the room. You don't got to go do these things, you know? But if she was a dude, people would say, hey, that's what she got to do. She got to run off into battle because that's what I do. You know? And so for her, I think her frustration is coming through the screen. I really did feel, you know, that idea. But Maury, tell me about this. So her ripping up that, like, robe. Was that just like? It was her dress. It was her dress. It was a dress. Okay.

[00:32:49] It was her dress that she had just, she had a dress on. She had her dress on. And she changed into her riding leathers. Okay. Yeah. And I think her stabbing the dress, like you said, is her frustration against the patriarchy. Like, I'm wearing this dress. Like, I think it's her now rejecting femininity in a sense. So I'm going to look, I'm going, I'm going to probably, maybe this is them saying from now on, she's like, no more dresses.

[00:33:19] No more Miss Nice Woman. Like, maybe they're saying that it's going to make her harden herself, you know? Right. I mean, our actor here is non-binary, if I'm not mistaken. And I think the character is kind of giving that too right now, right? Like, hey, I was, I'm supposed to be the king. You know, like I, yes, I look like a woman, but make no mistake. Like, that's not me. You know, like, I don't know nothing about that lifestyle, you know? So we're right, right doing this.

[00:33:50] Yeah. Sorry. But I was going to say like, and you know what? That is kind of like subtext to in the book. I think it, I think what it is, is, is just, they're trying to make it very plain and apparent. You know what I'm saying? And thank you. You have made me feel a little bit better about this because I was like, they pissing me off. And it's like, I guess as a woman, I'm supposed to be pissed off. Cause I'm like, why are you treating her with kid gloves? She knows what she's doing, you know?

[00:34:19] Well, Mari, you know, you, you work in, in science, you know, and I'm sure you've had to deal with, you know, you being somebody who's more pedigreed in situations than other people who come in and just kind of like take charge because they are men. Yep. Yep. I definitely had to deal with that. That's why it's hitting you right there in the chest. What's the saying? Holler and all of that.

[00:34:49] Right. I think somebody hit somebody. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, again, I, I, now that you mentioned it, I do like this. I, again, they have to make it pay off. Like if, if it goes like, I think it should goes, they are teeing it up to pay off, but you got to like kind of land a plane. I want Rhaenyra to go full tyrant, you know, just like, oh, you think I'm a woman? Guess what? Now I'm the king. And they're like, no, you're a queen.

[00:35:19] She's like, I'll kill you. And they're like, okay. Okay. King. You know, like, I really want. You got it. Hey, hey, if that's what you want, you know, like, I really want her to be able to, like you said, kind of like for this to pay off, right? For all of this to lead to some type of empowerment or her gaining her, her own autonomy and being able to make these decisions and have the kingdom, queendom behind her instead of just kind of like placating her all the time, you know, just like, oh yeah, like we'll do whatever you say.

[00:35:49] But then looking to Damon for like, we deal with that? You good? All right. Well, she said, we're going to do that. What you think? You know? And it, and it sucks too, because this is her child. A 16 year old is being like, I don't think you know what you're talking about. Be that as it may, stay in the child's place. Get out of my face. Exactly. And yeah, so very interesting way to start the season for Rhaenyra because literally that's all we get from her.

[00:36:20] Truly, right? Like her. Pretty much. I want to be a woman. Her wanting to accept Alison Steele. Which we haven't discussed yet. So let's get to Alison's deal. Last season, Alison snuck into Rhaenyra's home and been like, hey, listen, I don't want this no more. I'm done. Like, Aemon is crazy. Aegon, he sucks too. Look, if you want this, fine.

[00:36:48] And Rhaenyra's kind of like, all right, well, I hear you, but you know they got to die, right? Like, I just, your son got to die. There's no way anybody's going to actually respect me as the queen if he's walking around being like, is she really the queen? So you got to give her up. And Alison, I don't know if we ever get like a straight answer, but she's like, okay, we have a plan, right? Like the plan is we're going to lure Aegon over to Harrenhal for the time being. And, um, and no, I'm sorry, Aemon over the Harrenhal for the time being.

[00:37:18] Aegon is going to be bedridden because he was attacked, uh, and you know, mauled. And, um, so then when she, uh, sneaks into the red keep, um, uh, Alison is going to then basically sacrifice Aegon. Like here, take him. He's, he's look at him. He's, he's, he's decrepit. You kill him. We go on about our day. She's going to run off with Kristen Cole. Everything's going to be fine. Well, that's not exactly what happens here because when she gets to, uh, back home from

[00:37:47] talking to Rhaenyra, who was waiting for her, but her crazier son, it's Aemon. And he is sitting on the iron throne. Like, so I'm a, where you been? What's that about? What's been going down? And, um, very quickly she realizes her plan won't work because he's not supposed to be here. Mari. Yeah. Yeah. So Aegon left at the end of last season.

[00:38:12] So when she comes back, she learns Aegon's gone and Aemon is rightfully won't leave the city because he's the only person defending it. Um, and he has, he's sitting in the throne with all the trappings of the iron throne. He either even has Blackfyre there in his hand. Um, I do love to see this. This is, this is straight up mirroring. We've, we've seen Viserys sit in this same position. We see Aegon in this position.

[00:38:42] Aemon is styling himself as the king here. Pretty much. Well, I mean, if Aegon has, if Aegon has fled away or been, you know, incapacitated by, you know, by, by, by Aemon. Um, but if that has happened, Mari, who is the predecessor to the throne at that point? Is it, is it not him? No, he is. Yeah. He's, he is the heir parent.

[00:39:11] Um, with the death of Aegon's only son, Jaehaerys, uh, Aemon is his heir. But you just don't go proclaiming kings when they have no confirmation that the king is dead. And yeah, he fled. I mean, just write that note down for the book corner. Um, he's like the interim king, you know, it feels like, like, okay, he's not dead yet,

[00:39:40] but like in the event that he does die, let me just kind of sit in, you know, and, and keep this, keep his seat warm. It feels like, um, and I, and look, I am not an Aemon fan, but I think he's completely correct in just being like, I'm not going to leave the city. That's crazy. Um, because Rhaenyra is scary. She has three dragons and, um, leaving the city would leave you mama vulnerable. So why would I do that?

[00:40:07] Um, and so he doesn't know anything about Alicent's plan, but Alicent, uh, she's a crafty one. She's like, all right, how do I get him out of here? And Helena is the one who gives her the hint. She says, you know, I can tell you're really scared, but you know who else is scared? Aemon. He's scared. He doesn't want to die at the hands of Rhaenyra and those three dragons. And so we see Alicent go to him and really stroke his ego and his hand. Oh, mommy's worried about you. Don't be scared, baby.

[00:40:37] And all that kind of stuff. And it actually starts to work a little bit. Like I know he can tell that she's working him over, but you can see that like, yeah, he is afraid. And she's saying everything that he needs to hear to justify him leaving and going to Harrenhal. And so as they are kind of like, she's really pushing her agenda and they're getting closer and closer and she's really pushing for him to go and, and stay safe because mommy will never like, would it be so devastated? Something happened to you just like Aegon.

[00:41:07] And then Mari, he does the house of the dragon things and he kisses his mama. I was like, God damn it. Can we go one week? Nope. One week? Nope. Every week here on Recap Kickback, we're talking about some freak kissing on a mama or worse. And at least Alicent and us have the same facial expression because what is happening? That's shit. Oh my God. This was so funny. This was so funny.

[00:41:35] I was like, when he just started like slowly, I was like, what is happening? And then for this case to happen, Alicent would be like, holy shirt balls. What is going on? Hilarious. But also why? Why? Why? Why? It's such a, such a weighted moment because Eamon really thinks he's Damon and Damon wants

[00:42:04] to have sex with his mama. And we saw that in Heron Hall. And it's just crazy how Damon and Eamon kind of look. They got the same aesthetic, you know, um, it's, and they, they have a rivalry between the two of them, right? Their names are, it's an anagram basically for Eamon. So, um, it's, it's really bad. It's like, this is bad because one ill, but two, I'm like, wait a minute. This fool can't be in love with me. Cause they're going to, he going to make me marry him.

[00:42:34] Like, you know, like I'm going to be the queen to my son. And look, things of like that have happened in, in house of the dragon game of Thrones. Like that's not completely unheard of, but it's still nasty. And also this is a crazy man. Like Alicent, you do not want to be connected to this crazy man intimately in any shape, form or fashion. And so it's like, she used her Alicent powers to win them over, but they were too good. She was too, she was like, wait, wait, wait, wait, slow down. Slow down. I didn't want you to kiss me.

[00:43:04] Alicent has to be like, God, I just make any type of, right. Any type of move where like with Fiserys and then the layers and feet, like, it's like she constantly has to use her feminine wiles to get. She'd been, she'd been doing it since she was 17, seven years old. Remember when her daddy pimped her out to go meet the Kings, you know, she was like, yep. It's a, it's an old standby, you know? I mean, what do you say? This was, this was crazy.

[00:43:33] I just think, and, and, and again, it just goes to show you, Eamon really just wants the love of his mother. He wants, you know, he, we, we've known since season one, he wanted the trappings of the firstborn. Remember, she even says at one point, man, if you were born first, she says everything he wants to hear because literally in the first season, that's one of the first things he said when Eamon's mad that he has to marry Helena, Eamon is like, I wish I was there. I would have rightfully married Helena.

[00:44:02] It's like, it's just that, that moment. And, um, like Allison is really pushing that one, but that button of his. Ew. And so, so, uh, hopefully not too much more of that, but her plan does work. It's going to get him out. And so she, this, I mean, it was a very like desperate move for her, right? Because she doesn't want Rhaenyra to think that this was a setup or that she's not serious about this. So she needs it to go on without a hitch.

[00:44:31] She needs to get these people out of the throne. Um, but she also kind of needs to get Eamon back. Um, and so she ends up sending off, uh, uh, a letter to, um, to, uh, I don't know, Mari, who is this man? Uh, she, um, sends off a letter to this guy from the high towers. Yeah. Ormond, Ormond high tower. That is her older brother. I believe. Okay.

[00:45:01] Got it. Yes. I believe that is her older brother. Um, yeah, they made him such a bigger deal deal than they need to. So I, I don't know what's going on with this man. Like, what is he sniffing? So when I saw him, well, when I saw him with the wax, I thought he was like some like Spidey sense was happening where he was like, something's off, you know, like, I don't know.

[00:45:30] Cause, cause the letter she sends is, is if the King sent it right. Um, she's sending it like, oh yeah, send this on their behalf. She doesn't say this is Allison, you know? Uh, so I didn't know if he could see through the letter, if there was something about the wax away and he, I don't know, but it just like, I really like honed in on him as somebody who is supposed to be assisting her. Um, but somebody who she has to obviously trick to get it done. Mm-hmm. This might be her older cousin actually.

[00:46:00] Oh, okay. Yeah. Because I think, yeah, because I think her father is actually the second son in the high towers. If I remember correctly. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think this is, yeah, this is her older cousin.

[00:46:21] Um, remember in season one, in season one, when Allison shows up in the bright green dress. Yeah. And, oh, they light the beacons and the other high towers came and they're like, oh, we're here. Your banners. I'm pretty sure that not, not I think about it. I'm pretty sure that's her older cousin.

[00:46:46] I believe, I believe her, her, her father was a second son. He made his way up in the world by knowing the right people. And that's the reason he doesn't rule old town. He wasn't the heir to old town. Um, his older brother was. So I think this is actually her older cousin and G Wayne is her, um, her brother. Well, G Wayne. Yeah.

[00:47:12] G Wayne is in danger, um, without, uh, aiming on the way. And so, yeah, this leather is going to be very important. Um, as far as, uh, Aegon goes, we do have to talk about that. Aegon, uh, has fled with, um, Sir Loras. And, um, right. That's his name. Loras. Laris. Laris. Laris. Is it Laris? Laris. Laris. Laris. Yep. Laris Strong. Right. All right. We back, baby.

[00:47:42] Um, and this was a very cool scene. So, um, he is smuggling Aegon, uh, across the border basically. And all they have to do since they've entered the queen's territory has been the knee. And of course, you know, pledge your field team. Say, Hey, the queen is the queen. I recognize it as law and, uh, let's go on about our way. We see Laris immediately. No, Hey, let's just move through this very quickly.

[00:48:09] But, uh, Aegon, the genius, is like, F you. I ain't bending the knee. And so, Laris does what I thought was very savvy, but also, like, completely just crazy. He's like, Hey, that's fine. He's not bending the knee because he's Aegon. And I said, Wait a minute, Laris. Please, slow down. What are we doing? Um, but this does, uh, convince them to keep them alive at least and turn them in for a bounty. Yeah.

[00:48:35] These are, um, Staunton men, uh, the, um, emblems on the knights here. Uh, these are the, the men from Rook's Roost. We saw, uh, Rook's Roost. Uh, the battle of Rook's Roost is where, uh, Ray, Rhaenys dies. Um, so, the fact that there's Staunton men here is kind of interesting.

[00:49:02] Um, oh, the timeline's messed up. Nevermind. Yeah. Anyways. Yeah. This is, these are, uh, people sworn, sworn to Rhaenyra. Um, and, I mean, did we see this in Thrones? We saw this in Thrones, I think, with Jaime, right? When, um, Jaime, they almost killed Jaime, but they decide to keep him alive because it's a better bounty.

[00:49:32] They take his hand, though. Yeah. Yeah. Um, exactly. Uh, so, desperate times, desperate measures. It'll be interesting to see how Larys gets them out of this. Um. Yeah. But, I, uh, because, again, they're just making shit up at this point. Um, I don't know.

[00:49:53] Um, but I did like the kind of the, uh, mirroring of this is Larys and Aegon fleeing, and it's kind of exactly how Varys, um, flees with Tyrion. Mm-hmm. Um, and Thrones. So, very cool. Mm-hmm. Uh, we mentioned G-Wayne. Um, he's got some issues. Kristen Cole is over it.

[00:50:21] He just wants to paint his shield and vibe. This man is the hand of the king. And also, um, like, a, a decorated knight. Right. And, you know, the, the, the, the queen regents? Like, baby, like, boo-thang? I don't know. Depending on the day. And he has, he wants nothing to do with these people. He's done. Was, is this still the aftermath of him seeing the dragons kind of come through and wreck

[00:50:51] shop? Because it looks like that really did shake him to his core. Yeah. That's, yeah. Exactly. I think he, he's still just kind of like, well, what is the point of all of this? Um, I, I don't know this characterization of him. I don't get it. I was like, why am I on G-Wayne's side right now? Like, I'm confused.

[00:51:16] Like, I'm just saying this throughout the, because yeah, Kristen Cole is just like, dog, we're all going to be monsters. We're all going to be beasts. You see what's happening? It's war, dog. It's war. I'm over it. Fuck it. Like, which is messed up. And it's just like, you just want to sit there and paint? You just going to sit there and paint your shield? Shit happening, sir. Get up off your butt.

[00:51:42] This goes back to what you were saying about that, not including these, these scenes in last season. Because seeing that Kristen Cole was affected by the dragons like this. And then this was his immediate reaction. Makes so much sense last season. But two years later, I'm like, what the hell is wrong with him? Get up. You know, how much time has passed? You know, like we're all G-Wayne in this moment, right? We're all like, hey, people are committing crimes. Why don't you go punish them or something? Because you're kind of in charge.

[00:52:11] He's like, why don't you punish them? I was like, hey, bro. Like, they need to see you do it. He's like, whatever. I don't care. Just, he does not care at all. But I think it hits a little bit harder if it's fresh off of him looking up into the sky and seeing, you know, these big ass dragons coming through and just kind of leveling the playing field. Because he's like, I'm decorated. I can fight. But what am I going to do against them? You know? And so, and they looked at the dragons like godlike creatures. And so, like, y'all walking around with tanks.

[00:52:40] What am I to do with this? Um, so, I'm going to, I'm interested to see how he's going to come out of this. Uh, another person we haven't really talked about who is in the trenches currently is Damon. And, um, tell me, Mari, what is going on in this scene? This is a battle. This is a battle in the Riverlands. Um, so, we're fully in the middle of, like, the dance with dragons.

[00:53:09] Like, it's, we're here, right? And so, if you, if you remember last season, I said, um, it's wartime. It's civil wartime. So, there's going to be a whole lot of skirmishes happening basically at the same time. Right?

[00:53:33] There, um, so, this is a skirmish in the Riverlands where Damon has, has, has his host of Rivermen. And the thought process of the crown is that, uh, the Lannisters are coming from the west. They're, they're going to press from the west. And then, um, uh, at this point, they should still have Rook's rest.

[00:53:58] Uh, the crown should still have Rook's rest and some of the crown lands around it. And they would be coming from the east. So, they're trying to do, like, uh, a double front battle for, uh, the, the Rivermen and Daemon, making them fight two fronts of a war. Um, so, that's what Daemon is, is doing. He's in the Riverlands tangling with the Lannisters and some lower vassals.

[00:54:26] What we see here is them defeating the Lannister host. And then the Starkmen showing up. Oh, is that who that was? The Stark? That was the Starks. Crazy. Uh, when they showed up, I was like, who are these people? And I think Daemon was kind of like that too. Like, what's going on? But they are there to align with him after taking out the Lannisters. So, we, we lost Tylan and, uh, Jason at the same time?

[00:54:57] Yes. TDD. Dang. Uh, well, I mean, not, not on Jason. That boy head rolled. Um, but yeah. So, so this is, uh, this is interesting. I didn't know the Starks were really involved in this. When they popped out of the woods, I didn't record. I wasn't like immediately like, oh, look, it's the Starks. So, back in season one, when Luke was going to Storm's Inn, Jace went to, remember, he goes to the Vale and he goes to Winterfell.

[00:55:23] Um, we even, oh, and then at the beginning of season two, we see him treating, um, with Cregan in, in, um, Winterfell. And so, the Starks gathered their banners in the North and then they proceed to march South. They show up here. Let me add it to the corner. Adds to the corner. Um, Mari, the last little loose thread that we have to talk about, unless I missed something really, uh, really, uh, pertinent, is the bastards.

[00:55:52] Uh, we got off, we got Adam and Third Guy, whose name I can't remember and they didn't say it because they don't know that we waited two years to, to bring these people back up. What is this man's name, Mari? Hugh the Hammer, or also known as Hard Hugh. Yeah, so, the three bastards have been given their assignment. They're supposed to wait here and basically, um, like, ambush Aemon whenever he shows up.

[00:56:20] Um, but he's not coming. He's not coming. Vhagar's not coming. And so, they're just waiting and waiting and waiting. And we are finding out a little bit more about Ulf's backstory. Uh, kind of dark. Um, he is, uh, a drunkard, but he's been through a little bit, you know? Um, and so he's kind of telling his, uh, tale of how he was essentially molested, it seems, for money, sold into some type of, you know, sex trafficking situation. Uh, and he was always told, like, oh yeah, you got that good blood boy.

[00:56:50] And, uh, kind of find out, he does. He got some, uh, Targaryen blood in him. But he's not having it. He's like, I'm ready to go. We've been sitting here all day. Uh, it's scary anyway, because he's not a trained warrior. Um, the other two seem a little bit more chill about all of this. But eventually, this witch shows up and was like, nah, he's right. You should go. Yeah. They, and I don't know if you know this, because they barely even said it. They are on the God's Eye.

[00:57:18] They are, uh, outside of Harrenhal. Uh, the, the, the God's Eye Island. It's this, it's this island with weirwood trees that's in the middle of this, like, lake outside of Harrenhal. And it's thought to be, like, a sacred place. And it's thought to be, like, one of the last strongholds of the Children of the Forest. Um, and it's very witchy, very spiritual, very magical. And so they're sitting on this island that's haunted, essentially.

[00:57:46] And they're waiting for something that we know as a viewer is not going to come. Because Aegon is not coming. At least he's not coming now. And so, yeah, they essentially just have the Bastards here waiting. And the absolute only reason that this is what's happening right now is so that we can get more of a, um, so we'll know more of the characterization of the Bastards, like you said. Um, yeah.

[00:58:16] And I, I, from that point of view, I think this did a really good job of that. Like, showing how Ulf is, like, um, uh, impatient. How he's like, oh, I'm going to get a castle. And he's like, no, you're going to be a knight. He's like, what are you going to, you're going to horse. He's like, look at the fucking dragon. Like, that was funny. That was real. That was real as hell. Because what do I need a horse for if I got a dragon? Make it make sense. Make it make sense.

[00:58:43] And, uh, you know, and, and Hugh kind of, kind of starting on Adam's side and be like, yeah, let's stay here. And as the time goes on, he's like, man, you're right. I kind of don't want to be here like that either. Uh, just seeing the three of their interactions, getting, like, kind of in a sense, right? Kind of showing their loyalty or at least how they can listen to commands. Uh, Adam is like, the queen said stay here.

[00:59:13] So let's stay here. You know what I'm saying? Right. And Ulf, like, I don't care what the queen said, man. He's just sitting here. Fuck the queen. Right. Yeah. Is, is that because Adam had more proximity to this type of lifestyle? You know, uh, with him knowing basically that Corliss was his daddy, you know, I don't know if there's like some gravity to like, oh, I can finally step into the role that I was born to play.

[00:59:39] Like, as opposed to Ulf, who just been walking around being like, yeah, I'm, I'm royalty or, uh, the hammer here who had no connection to these people except for like, I'm a bastard. Yeah. It's, it, it, it, not only proximity, it's kind of like, kind of like classism, right? Like they're all bastards. They're all technically low born. Right. But it's, it's almost like classes because, um, Adam is, was a shipwright. He, you know, he's. He's.

[01:00:08] You know, uh, a vassal of a very important Lord who he does in fact, no, is his father, even though he doesn't have his name. It's a very like, um, in this case, we'll say upper middle-class type of upbringing. Um, because not only that, his, his trade in itself is, it's taking orders, right? He's, he's basically a midshipman, you know, or, or, you know, and so his upbringing and his job is about service, loyalty, and technology.

[01:00:38] And he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's a flea-bottom kid. He's, all he's done is survive by the seat of his pants, basically his whole entire life. And he's been used. And he, you know what I'm saying? Because of that, the only person he trusts is his self, right? So it's a very poor, lower class type mentality.

[01:01:02] And then with Hugh, he is that lower middle class because he is a blacksmith. So he is a tradesman. He is a craftsman. Um, but he also knows what it feels like to be poor and starving. And he didn't remember, he didn't have, he couldn't protect his daughter who died of a disease because he, he couldn't find food and medicine and stuff like that.

[01:01:26] So it's, it's about their, their upbringing at more, more than like the tank of bastardy, like in the eyes of the kingdom, they're all bastards. They're all low born, but, um, here we get to see the clear differences between the three of them. Um, yeah. Uh, and so, uh, I love seeing the bastards, uh, because they're, they're fun characters, you know, they're kind of out live outside of this realm, but they're getting kind of dragged into it. Like we are.

[01:01:55] So I did enjoy the scenes, but we did spend a lot of time with them. Um, just kind of hanging out and like doing a real character story study on some people that I think may, um, be bigger characters later on. Mari, um, in my mind that pretty much covers the episode. Is there anything else you want to talk about before we get into Mari Maester Mari's book corner?

[01:02:21] I think that is about it for the regular episode. Let me just check them down. Check the notes. Um, yeah, uh, everything else. I will definitely, um, I will definitely express in the book corner spoiler section. All right. So, uh, that was house of the dragon season three, episode one here on recap kickback.

[01:02:51] If you are completely spoiler averse and don't want to know any context of what the hell is going on and how that looks in the book. This is your time to go. Uh, we hope you come back next week or check out some of our other content here on recap, kickback.com. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast as well. YouTube.com slash at recap kickback or recap kickback.com slash subscribe. Um, if you are into the context, you want to hear more about the world that we're in, in episode one.

[01:03:18] Now is the time for Maester Mari's book club. We're back, baby. Mari, you made a lot of notes during this podcast. Uh, and I would love to know where would you like to start as far as giving us a little backstory on this wacky timeline. Some of these character moves that are being made. What, what, what, what are you thinking?

[01:03:47] I'm going to start at, let's just go through kind of like the rundown. I'm going to start at Jace Bela, right? Okay. Um, or should we say Jace Bela and Raina because like we said, Raina is not the original person on that dragon. Um, sheep stealer is at the battle of the gullet, but he's on his, he's on his rider nettles and he is not causing havoc like this. You know what I'm saying? This is not causing habit.

[01:04:15] Bela isn't even at the battle of the gullet in the book. She not there. She not there. And Jace and, and it's a, it's kind of like a bigger characterization. What they're doing is they're changing parts of the books to fit characterizations of the characters that are different from the books.

[01:04:40] So with Jace locking his mama up and running off, he's really coming off as that brash 16 year old. Right. In the book, that's not what happens. The battle of the gullet is very calculated. Um, you know, it's a very calculated defensive, um, that again, team black technically does win because they defeat the triarchies of fleet. The triarchy sends about 90 ships.

[01:05:07] Uh, the triarchy ends up with only like 28 going back home, something or 18 going back home. So they, they, they, they basically destroy the triarchy. They're able to, um, keep up the blockade, but at the detriment of high, the high tide and high tide is burned to the ground. Driftmark is sacked. Spice town is gone.

[01:05:29] Um, again, Lothar, Lohar's singular, um, driving force to go after Driftmark is what makes the whole thing a failure. Um, technically, but they do also, they lose Jace. And in the actual battle of the gullet, the bastards are there fighting too. That's again, why it's, it's actually pretty easy for them to, um, to win.

[01:05:56] It kind of, it kind of like in, in this episode, right? We see Bela and Jace and they're doing good. And then Jace gets hit with a, I don't know why they stunt. They did like a pump fake on his death. I truly don't know why they did that. I don't know if they did it to kind of like trick us book readers into getting us mad for a second and be like, wait, why isn't Jace dying? Because the first time they do it, you get the, they get the hook to the collar. He's going down.

[01:06:24] And I'm like, okay, this is me. I was yelling. I was like, he just got here. He about to die real quick. And then Bela comes and saves him. Oh, okay. Um, and I was like, he still got to die though. And, you know, and then they make it, it's again, sheep stealers coming in and wreaking havoc, which does not happen in the book. So because of that, now they're dealing with that.

[01:06:49] And that's when, when Jace gets caught unawares, like in the real battle, like other than the burning of Driftmark and all of that, it's kind of there, Team Black has it in control so much so that again, it's kind of like a fluke that Jace ends up dying. Jace ends up dying. It's just like the, the right ship, um, sent the right bolt at the right time. And that in, in the books, that's an emboldening thing.

[01:07:19] Um, you don't need a dragon to take down a dragon. You know, that's, that's, that's kind of like a thing to the commoners. Just how like we saw, you know, but anyways, that, that's what it, that's kind of the cool thing about his death. It should be like anybody can, can get it. Like we can actually take down a dragon even when we're losing the battle. So, um, this is supposed to be a, a victory for the blacks, but even in the book, they acknowledge that.

[01:07:49] Uh, I think, I think it's Corlys or, um, uh, or Rhaenyra's maester that says, if this is what victory looks like, I pray we never see defeat. Like even they realize, like you said, yeah, we won, but what is the cost? Like truly what is the actual cost? So the, my major thing here with the battle of the gullet is just like, I don't, it was just a lot of extra stuff.

[01:08:19] They, they just added a lot of extra stuff. And like I said, they made Jace look like a petulant child when in essence going into that battle, he was the, the, the, the crown prince for his side. He was there, like, you know, their hope and him dying, like for a lot of the supporters are almost make them like, should we just give up? You know what I'm saying?

[01:08:43] Um, and he actually kind of switches, switches characterizations here because Eamon, this whole thing about trying to get Eamon to go to the, to Harrenhal, it's so ass backwards. The Allison never makes this deal. Um, and, and the book Eamon does what Jace does. He's, he's like, I want to go to Harrenhal. I want to face Damon.

[01:09:11] And he has that, you know, like we said, he has that like beef with Damon. Cause he kind of like wants to be better than him and he, him and Kristen Cole run off together. Like, yeah, we're going to go save the day in the riverlands type thing. And so he is actually the petulant child and they switched their, their narratives here for where Allison has to basically beg him to go out to the riverlands. And it's just like, it makes no sense.

[01:09:40] But it's again, it makes no sense because the timeline is off because Eamon is gone, but Eamon does not flee this early. Like there is an inciting incident. Why Eamon flees? And it makes more sense as to why he flees in the book. So that's why everybody's not, oh my God, where is Eamon? Because in the book they're like, oh, thank God he got away. You know what I'm saying? Like here it's just like, he's leaving and it's just kind of like, well, what, what's going on?

[01:10:10] Well, he left because Damon was going to kill him. Well, uh, Eamon, right? Eamon, yeah. Eamon was going to kill him. Yeah. He's like threatening to chop people's heads off. Like, you know, to get to him. Mari, you read the books, but the show, obviously House of the Dragon has been deviating from the book since the very beginning. Right. Like, cause they're taking liberties and kind of filling in blank spots. Cause the book is not a, necessarily a story with a through line. It's more like, you know, there's some time jumps, X, Y, Z. Yes.

[01:10:38] But does that take away from the viewing pleasure, knowing that you came in to watch one story, but you're getting a different story. Cause for me, as someone who doesn't know the original context, I'm like, this is fine. This is fine. Right. It kind of does. So like they deviated. Right. But you can go back and listen to me and Taryn and DM Philly talk about the deviations in the first season. Because the deviations in the first season were not deviations.

[01:11:08] They were compounding on the information that you have. So it felt so much cooler. It felt like you're filling in the blanks, not saying, oh, let's go over here. You know what I'm saying? Like it was a different type of quote unquote deviation. It was, or a different type. In season two, we talked about it. Damon spends eight freaking episodes. Basically, he's been six episodes at Heron Hall when that wasn't in the book at all.

[01:11:35] And we were just kind of like, well, he's spinning his wheels. But here they're playing so fast and loose with the timeline that it's then it's that. I don't know if it's chicken or the egg. It's like, are they playing with the timeline? Which means they have to change the character motivations. Or do they want different character motivations? So they're playing with the timeline. You see what I'm saying?

[01:12:04] Because like even Allison's motivation here doesn't necessarily curl over for me. Like as a woman who did all of these things. Like remember this whole thing started because she wanted to protect her children. She wanted to have a reason for her basically giving up her childhood to Viserys. She did all of this because she was like, I gave up my life. I've been the perfect queen. I did all this. At the very least, my heirs are going to sit on the throne.

[01:12:31] And now all of a sudden she's saying she's just going to throw open the doors and let Rhaenyra walk in. Like it, I don't, it's kind of weird, you know? And maybe we'll see more of her motivations in the next few episodes.

[01:12:48] But I, it is kind of as a book reader throwing me off because I don't know if I necessarily like all of the characterizations that they are choosing for the characters. Now with Jason doesn't matter because he's dead and that was always going to be the case.

[01:13:08] Um, uh, but the whole thing with Sheepstealer and Bela at this point, Moondancer, Moondancer was still a young dragon. I mean, last season we did see her riding a little bit. So I, I, I guess, but, um, that didn't, it just, they did it to be like, like you said, these kids, like these kids ain't got no home training type of thing.

[01:13:33] You know what I'm saying? Like they did all of this to say that like, oh, these kids need to be on a longer, uh, a shorter leash type thing. Um, so that was kind of the big deal with the Battle of the Gullet. Uh, like I said, Aegon fleeing, the timeline is messy for that. He, he never gets caught, um, in the book. So we'll see where that really goes. Kristen Cole's characterization here too.

[01:14:00] Like, like we said, him, the kind of PTSD of the realization of how, um, formidable the dragons are is still weighing down on him here. But in the books, in the books at this point, it's like, it's like Sir Kristen, we got in season two ish. Like at this point in the book, Sir Kristen is like, rah, rah, let's go.

[01:14:29] Like, you know, he's like, let's kill them all. He's the whole point of Aegon taking the hand, uh, from, uh, Sir Otto is to put it on Kristen Cole. Cause you know, his hand is now a steel fist and that's what Kristen Cole was. Kristen Cole was the one who sent Eric, Eric, Eric, Eric, um, him to go, to go kill Rhaenyra.

[01:14:52] Like that, that Kristen Cole, that emboldened one, that, that this, this sad boy, God, my light, this, this sad boy, Kristen Cole is kind of weird to me. You know what I'm saying? This emo Kristen Cole is not what, you know, I was anticipating. Um, and so it's going to be me fighting with my light for the rest of the thing. Um, so yeah, it, it, it, that was kind of interesting as well.

[01:15:21] So, I mean, again, it's not, it, it wasn't something that, um, made me enjoy it less. It was something I just caught when we were talking about it. Um, here, the start showing up. Yeah. What's that about? The starts like this wrong. It's wrong. The, you remember winter felt like that's, they high up there. It's a lot.

[01:15:50] Like there's, there's, you know, Stark and the Winterlands. There's the neck. And then there's the Riverlands. Y'all remember how long it took them in Game of Thrones to get, you know? So the Stark showing up this early was kind of nutty to me. Cause I'm like, well, now what are you going to have them do? Because. Yeah. So it's just that, that too. I was like, okay. So we just, let's find.

[01:16:20] It's like giving it out. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Um, and it's, again, it's not like nitpick. It's like nitpicking, um, pettiness. It's just one of those things where it's like, I, I'm going to have to see where it, where it goes because they're moving so many things up. Uh, the, the, the battle with the Westermen that Damon is going through right now, even this battle is been moved up.

[01:16:47] It should be after another event that happens. So it's just, it's just, I'm just like, okay, well, I was trying to rationalize with myself. Why are we moving up all of these small skirmishes and kind of making them bigger? Like, what, what does that mean on the other side? And then when I was watching the, the weeks ahead thing, I was like, there's some stuff that I saw in the weeks ahead. I'm like, what?

[01:17:17] Like, I'm like, okay. So, um, I now understand why a lot of us book readers are kind of afraid for this season, because I don't know if we talked about it, but, um, I'm pretty sure we did, but this will be the first season of house of the dragon where like George RR Martin isn't working with them again. Right. I think we talked about that. Right. Oh, I don't, I don't think I remember that. Yeah. Remember that?

[01:17:44] Uh, word, word, word is going around that, um, George RR Martin didn't like that. That they weren't taking his notes this season. And that now kind of like parted way with production. And I'm just like, Oh my God. Like, like, and, and so some people were taking it as like, Oh no, that means this season is going to be bad. You know, that this is exactly what happened with D and D. And as soon as this happened

[01:18:12] with D and D, everything started going to shit. And then, you know, the biggest hater, I was like, nah, good riddance to him. Now I'm like, Oh no. Like now, like, Oh no. Um, I still think it's going to be a good season. I just am going to have to see how they wrap, uh, everything up. Um, like I said, the bastards are just sitting on the God's eye talking, uh, the battle of the gullet is supposed to be their first bloodening.

[01:18:41] That's supposed to be their first taste of battle. That's supposed to be like the battle that like ignites them, like the bloodlust type thing. Um, so, um, it's going to be interesting to see where they go with those characters now too. Uh, yeah, it, so for the book corner, it's a lot of just correction. Maybe again, y'all might got here and be like, Oh, she's just, man, she, a lot of complaining about stuff.

[01:19:08] Um, and it's not a complaint. It's really not complaints. It's just like, for me, as I'm watching it, as somebody who knows what's coming up, the changes just made me again, very confused because I was like, well, now what are we going to do? Yeah. And I'm just kind of sitting here like, all right, I guess like, like I'm waiting for every, like everybody else, like what's going to happen.

[01:19:33] I heard episode three is probably is one of like the better episodes of like the series. Well, you know, essentially it's supposed to be the premiere of season three. So, you know that I love that they're coming out of the gate strong. Um, but we got an episode until we get there. Uh, Mari, thank you so much for your book context. I think for the book readers, you know, I did not read the book, but I think if I'm a book reader, I'm thinking along the same lines you are right. Like I want to get to the book corner so that I can be like, all right, I know I ain't crazy, right?

[01:20:02] Like this is exactly, this isn't exactly how it was going down as far as the television product. Look, uh, I, I enjoyed this episode so much. It was, uh, it was jam packed with action. Uh, I don't know how much the budget is these days. And so I don't know if we're going to get four or five episodes of action or if this, this is one and then we'll be back for episode three and then maybe seven, you know, like, I don't really know how much movement's going to happen and how much is actually going to be fighting. But the fighting we got in this episode was really, really good.

[01:20:30] And so, um, uh, Mari, is there anything else you want to add to your book corner before we wrap? Yeah, the only, I mean, the only thing I want to say is, um, for the first, for the first two seasons, you can roughly, you could roughly map out what's going to happen. And me and Grace and Taryn and Dan Philly, again, in our book corner, we, uh, our book episodes, we've all talked about where we think they could, it could end up. Right.

[01:20:57] Um, so this is the most fly by the CD of the pants that we're going to get. Um, I can't remember, are they already confirmed for a season four? I believe so. Yes. Okay. Yeah. So where season three ends and where season four begins, I truly don't know. So, you know, I, I, I don't mean me. I know me and Taryn and Grace have talked about it. We do not know how they're going to end this just because again, this is based on an open history book.

[01:21:28] The ending ending is game of Thrones, you know what I'm saying? But we know we're not getting that far. You know what I'm saying? Like, uh, where they're going to choose to end and wrap up these specific character story and the dance of the dragons is going to be very interesting to see. Um, and again, I don't know what the pacing is going to be like, because if you would have asked me last season, I would have thought that it would have ended somewhere where I think episode three is going to end.

[01:21:58] Um, so, um, yeah, I'm going to be here talking about the book corner and stuff and, and, and stuff like, so if you guys are, don't get mad at me. If you feel like I'm complaining for the people who have read the books, let me know sound off. Like Chappelle says, tell me I'm not crazy. Let me know if there's anything I missed, uh, feel free to discuss in the comments and the in YouTube and stuff like that. We love going back and forth and talking about stuff. Um, again, if we messed up, if I messed up anything or anything like that,

[01:22:29] that it's midnight, I'm sorry. Uh, but like, um, yeah, no matter what, we're going to have fun here. Like we're in it, baby. Uh, this is the Westeros kickback. We are going to be breaking it down all season. So, um, talk to us, you know, talk to us, let us know, let us know your thoughts. Please, please, please. Yes. All right. This was great. Uh, so happy to be back.

[01:22:55] Uh, tell everybody where they can find you until we come back again tomorrow. You can find me over on blue sky at Maury talks too much. That's two. Like the number two, I'm over there talking about love Island, talking about house of the dragon, talk about everything. Uh, also you can find me over on the crime scene podcast where me and Sarah Carradine, we break down true crime podcast. Uh, sorry, true crime documentaries, docu-series.

[01:23:22] Uh, you can go to crime scene pod.com in order to subscribe coming up this week. We are talking about, um, it's the, the one that everybody's talking about right now. Maternal instincts, maternal instinct, the documentary on Netflix, uh, wild documentary, just wild to say the least. We're lucky to be joined by, uh, by Dr. Victoria Davis from black girls talking TV friends of all podcasts.

[01:23:49] Uh, she joined us to talk about maternal instinct on Netflix and we had just an amazing time talking about that documentary. So again, go to crime scene pod.com in order to subscribe. You can also go to buy me a coffee.com slash crime scene pod in order to become a member. Members get, uh, episodes early and ad free. They also get access to our once a month. We are now going to be doing once a month live, uh, recordings. Uh, we were able to do it with Chappelle last month.

[01:24:18] We are now going to make it a monthly thing because a lot of our listeners liked it. A lot were mad that they missed it. So we are now going to make it a once a month thing, but you can only get access to our once a month live recordings if you are a member. So you have to go to buy me a coffee.com slash crime scene pod in order to become a member to get access to that. Uh, and again, if you want your cups, you can go to mauricraftstomuch.bigcartel.com.

[01:24:48] Rep your set. Hey, team green with a big dub today. Uh, regardless of what the books say, we saw y'all saw the footage. Run the tapes back. Um, get your cups, join us here to talk about more house of the dragon. And then of course, check out all the other recap, kickback content. Uh, like I said, it is, um, we got our bet on black series, Tristan Epslong and his, uh, top chef, um, season 22 win, uh, with me and Gia Chantel and I next Sunday will be

[01:25:17] joined by Matt Scott to talk about charm school finale. And then, uh, of course, Mari and I will be back tomorrow with coverage of interview with the vampires, the vampire list at, uh, episode three. So check all that out and more, and then tune in next time to recap, kickback, uh, make sure you subscribe and all that good stuff. Uh, but for Mari and for myself, you ain't got to go home, but you got to come back next week to catch the rest of our house of dragon coverage until next time. Peace. I've been traveling Devin cruises. I've been traveling ... One, two, three, five. ...