'House of the Dragon’ Season 3, Episode 2 Deep Dive

House of R - The Ringer

The Ringer's 'House of the Dragon' Season 3, Episode 2 deep dive explores 'Queen's Landing,' a pivotal episode marked by emotional highs, shocking deaths, and powerful visual storytelling. Hosts Mallory Rubin and Joanna

Key takeaways

• Renly’s ascension to the throne is visually iconic

Transcript preview

Greetings! And welcome to House of Ar. A Ringer First podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Mallory Rubin joining me today because today King's Landing receives its Queen. Me? It's Joanna Robinson. Queen in my heart. Whose head do I take? Well, I'm the only other one in the studio right now. So that's worrying. Guys, come on in. Come on in. Joe we are here of course to dive deep profoundly deep all the way the bottom of the lake sure fish feet except there's too many bones in the way bones house of the dragon yeah a little Baltimore x-I came out yeah other side of the table wow what a twist we're here to talk about haughts the dragon season 3 episode 2 what an episode it was it's called Queen's landing we are gonna go beat by beat through the entire thing right after this This episode of House of Ar is presented to you by Target. For 30 years, Pokemon has shown that Adventures are better together, and Target is calling all trainers to the celebration. That's because there's something for every era of fan in the Pokemon and Target Limited Time Collection. Thought you found them all after the first drop? Think again. Drop two just landed, featuring life-sized Pokemon puzzles and an instant print digital camera. The entire collection is in store and online. So check it out now. Explore now at target.com. Before we do any of that, we're actually going to share some programming. Wow, what a lie. I know. We always say right after this. It's never right after that. No. Never. But you hook them. And then you hope they stay. Programming reminders. Here's what else we have cooking right now. Talk the Thrones. Every Sunday. It's never, right after that. No. Never. But you hook them. And then you hope they stay. immediately. Immediately. Chitley. After the latest Hot Dee episode, we gather with our best beloved, Christopher Ryan. Love him. For Talk to Thrones. So Sunday night, T. T. T. T. Epp 3. Be there. Not a good sign that I can't get out full words, like at the beginning of the pot, but we'll see how it goes today. I think it's gonna go very well. I think that the state of peak exhaustion really worked for us last week. We'll see if we could tap into that same mania today today today today today today today today today today today. I have my hopes. In addition to Talk the Thrones and then of course the House of the Dragon deep dives on Tuesday evenings we are covering the vampire Lestat we're having a blast check out that show if you're not watching it you can watch it on amc plusse plusse see and then our pods will be up on Mondays most weeks tbd be next week tbd next week we have a little bit of a schedule wring, we have a little bit of a schedule wring like what the fuck are they talking? We might have a conflict. So we're doing our best and we will get Lestat up as soon as we can. It will be there. We'll be there. We'll be rocking out. Maybe we'll do the entire thing in song. We'll find out. I can't wait to find out. And then, you know, we're only a couple weeks away from the Odyssey. So that is thrilling. We also have one, one. We also have one. We have one. We've visited film. We've We're also it's July that's right uh is almost I I just assumed you're right when you said that it's not it sounded right you could have said it September now it's it's and yeah almost July yeah we're going to comic-con we are can't wait we'll have more more details more details but we will be there there will be some in force activities so plan and prepare accordingly updates on what might be coming at Comic Con etc. Oh my gosh out house of our pod are relatively new-ish out house of our pod is the rude troll fan parody account. I said at house of our pod is our new is new is new esk nobody start out house of our, don't do it it's not nice already taken. That is where you can find all those aforementioned breakouts you can also find us full video pods on YouTube or Spotify Sometimes, very rarely, but sometimes we have visual aids. I do apologize to the podcast listeners for doing a prolonged map segment without any clue for the podcast listeners about what direction I was talking about on talking about. Ah, the audio medium. Yeah, remember, remember how podcasts are for people listening? And I was like, here you'll see this. Anyway, that's a rarity. Usually you can also just listen to us. Follow the pod. podcast. Email us, Hoppets and Dragons at gmail. Yeah. We're getting some great house of our emails for house the dragon. Thank you so much for sending those in. And that's it. Fumble my way through that. You did great. spoiler warning. in the episode of television that we're covering today, guess what, we're going to talk about all of it. It's all on the table. Anything that's ever happened in House of the Dragon today could come up today. If it's ever happened in another Thrones television program, Game of Thrones, and Night of The Seven Kingdoms, it could potentially come up today. In terms of book information, we'll sprinkle, we'll sprinkle, we'll sprinkle, we dable some book quotes. We'll smatter, some book quotes and content. We'll dawlut, some book quotes, some book quotes, some book quotes, we'll Going down to the ocean, huh? I'm gonna watch the O, seven-addy Bo. Some book quotes as we go, for context, clarity. But if it's a nugget about the future, anything about story beef that are yet to come. Helena saw in a dream, or Alice saw in a puddle, we'll talk about it in the book spoiler section. Which you will be warned of as we near it. Which, which, witch, witch, witch. Which stuff go. Carlos will have a spooky. that the book spoiler section is upon us and that'll be at the very end of the pod so you only have to worry about that late stick around if you want to at that point leave if you don't want to hear book spoilers okay is the upstart pup too craven to face his queens we'll find out because it's time to pod it is time for the opening snapshot episode two of season three just a quick update one of the things we asked last week is how many people do we think watch the premiere like what is the audience gonna be for the season as we go so after we recorded there was a an answer to this question 21.5 million global viewers after just three days per w b for episode one we don't have figures for episode two yet so is this gonna take up hopefully that is an 8% dip from season two that is obviously how many people watch most television shows in the peak TV streaming era, but something to track. Anecdotally. Yes. We were going to track this as we go too. We talked about this a bit last week. What is the temp check? What is the read for you? People in your life, people on the old interwebs. Did you feel a... I felt, and there was positivity episode one. I felt an uptick in episode two. I felt an uptick in episode two. I felt like this a jubilant moment. I think this is an excellent episode one and people are really excited about it. That's great. The other thing I heard was from people, wow, what a great season two finale that was. I mean there's no question. Right. It would have been sensational. A sensational season two finale and so that's just sort of the slight caveat is that it still feels like this belonged at the end of a previous season. And so you know that's something think about how does that impact this season because if we think about episodes one and two as episode nine and ten of season, season three as it exists is only six episodes long. You know, so, right? These things are all impossible to pull apart from each other because had season two been 10 episodes and ended that way, maybe seasons three and four would have been longer than just eight episodes. Maybe we would have been in 10 episode territory the whole way. I think, you know, Condole and team definitely wanted those other episodes at the end of the previous season. I hope they feel really vindicated and validated as people are saying like, hey this would have been great. And they're like, hey, that people were talking about the season two finale we didn't want it that way and they didn't want that way and what if you just let us do this I was thinking back to all of our season two trailer breakdowns where we're like this is definitely where the season's gonna end oh yeah we're gonna take King's landing that's happening golet we're gonna pan away runear on the throne what an incredible moment that's gonna be we're like wow they're really hiding gullet they're like we're like we're like we're like we're really hiding gully they're like we're were. But set the table again we'll go through all the beats and the deep dive but set the table Joe as you already just kind of alluded to you loved this episode people are hyped about the episode. Queens landing. Queens landing didn't occur to me but it's strong. You know what's really funny is that the only option I came up with was I was like what if they did we light the way and then I was like wait didn't they do that for the Renira's wedding in season one when Allison walks in in the green dress that was called We Light The Way directed by Claire Kilner who directed this episode and you also brought up we Light The Way when talking about the blood pool shot at the end of this episode with Otto and you're like remember Renira's wedding blood pool shot Claire Kilner just like bookending her fantastic work here I mean she's just incredible I talked about her a lot I think she's incredible hearing the way that she talks to her various inspirations for this episode you know so this episode written by Sarah Hess who's written a ton of episodes and directed by Claire Kilner who's directed several episodes. They're both EPs yes yes and Sarah Hess is the the co-head writer so this is a power team yes coming in for this episode and I think Claire Kilner has really proven herself at this point in my eyes is like if it's a Claire Kilner episode I'm gonna be really excited to see what she does and like going back to her first episode King in the narrow Sea I just like remember us at the time talking about some of the visual when Renier and Damon go into the bells of the pleasure dead and like you know have their night out on the town like this podcast owes so much to that episode honestly where frankly where would we be without it it's really true I googled that just to make I even though we've said it one million times I googled it just to make sure I had it completely right and dumb AI so AI is dumb but the dumb AI result was like Otto's famous line for Mouse the dragon I was like if it's famous it is incredible because we willed it into fame we light the way the blood wedding in season one the green council which is the penultimate episode of season one that's a blight on the record that episode I don't know like because but not not through the fault of direction I think the opening of that episode of like various you know Visseris is dead like what's going on like I remember the opening of that episode being really good yeah that stuff's stuff's quite good I can't get over everything in the dragon pit with me at least and reneise and everything it just still doesn't make sense but that's not Claire Kilner's faults that makes no sense it's never made a single lick of sense. Bazaar did you see on on social media there was this tweet going around where it was like if Lady O'Lena had had a dragon like a dragon like that and it was like I'll tell you something right now O'Lena would have torch the greens. That No question. I did not see the tweet. I barely go on Twitter as you know. I know. I basically go on. But sometimes tweets make their way into Instagram so I don't know what you've seen, meme-wise. That is true. Every now and then someone will post a tweet on a on an Instagram story. Every now and then on a carousel. There you go. That's the extent of my Twitter exposure other than the three times a year that I tweet. And then I look at my Twitter. All that's not true. Renier the Cruel. Cargo Boyle. Yes, the episode 2 and episode 5 of season 2. Cargo on a needy list. Your favorite. You love cargo. Favorite thing that's ever happened. Anyway, Claire Kilner, what a star, really, really brought it in this episode, I think. It's just such a treat to have Joffrey and his beaten bloody head and the blood pool from season one episode, I think. It's just such a treat to have Joffrey and his beaten bloody head and the blood pool from season one episode 5 back on our minds. It's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, Joff. Do you think I was actually thinking his namesake other Joff comes back into the story. I was thinking about poor dead Joffery yeah when Simon strong dies in this episode yeah during Pride Month and I'm just sort of like listen yeah in the same episode where he was like young virile young man what brought you here. Incredible reply from Damon when he's like and which of those brought you Lady Glenn. You know what's wonderful. You know what's really fun about that? Sorry we are gonna go in order probably but you know we'll do what we want. We're gonna talk plenty about the fish feed obviously. Fish feed and that song but Sean from the History of Westeros podcast pointed out that if they are indeed like improvising lines there. Uh-huh. In the Fish feed song, uh, Damon is like still going. Damon says when the Riverlands were a sendent music and meat and virile young men yes and Damon says and which of these delice drew to us through Glade and glen like he's still he just can't stop dropping bars songwriting yeah yeah get Damon Targarian on the vampire Lestat tour bus and do it now oh yeah his big boss his rendition of big boss that have been really good. So, Broes who gave Ash together stay together, we'll see how Kristen and Aaman do. But happy pride. Simon Strong, we'll miss you. I'm really bummed. Dispondent about Simon Strong, even though we knew it was coming. It's still devastating because he's been such a delight. I also thought this episode was just wonderful. Really, really excellent, some astonishingly great performances and moments that feel, and I over used the word iconic. Who do? But, I don't say this lately here. And moment, and moments in this, that feel like that feel like, feel like, as signature pantheon, thrones, visuals and thrones moments. Reneera receiving Jace's body and the performance from Emma Darcy in that scene. Unquestionably, the visual of Reneera ascending to the throne reflected as you noted in the pool of Otto's blood and what that tells us not only about that moment but the cost of war and the inextricable nature in the stretch of the canon, the Dance of the Dragons for House Targarian of your achievement and your pursuits and the of that the cost of war is where we open this episode and it's a through line of the story and a question that should be in our minds the whole time and Allison and Reniro looking at each other is something that I think Thrones fans will will carry with them moving forward at the end it's just amazing I was based on the throne this this thing that she has always I mean she Renira they Emma she Renira has always wanted to sit on the throne and then here it is that to me is that to me is the through line is the through line of this people actually want? What are they given and what do they want? You know, like Alice wants a castle and Damon's like, we'll see. You know, Wolf wants a hug. But he gets a slap in the face and the face instead. But it's just sort of like this idea of like, you know, what does Alan want? Does he want his, cordless his name or does he just want like some love and respect? Like what are you want, what do you want, what do you want and what are you want and what are you given and what are you given and then and then, and then, and then also what happens when Let's ask Rena, you know, how does it feel to get a thing you finally want and find yourself? It feels great, she looks great, she looks great, she's thriving. Everything's going really well. Yeah, Jane Aaron's like, great I got a dragon, this is great, comes to know with no baggage attached, this is wonderful for me. Yeah, that's a that I agree that through line is really a rich text to parse in this episode and runira most of all but Allison so many of the characters and then that through line too of like trust and what you can rely on, ever really in a position to be able to identify that. Like it's just a, this was a really good Thrones episode for balancing character dynamics, introspection, the relationships between them, the way that this episode called upon and rewarded the history that has passed between the characters, but also are history as viewers with the characters. Like, you know, there are definitely some house of the dragon fans still that are like, did we need five episodes of basically prequel? You watch an episode like this and that feels like a decision that was appropriate to make, for right? So, you know, there's all of that and then there's something that is like epic, like the taking of the throat. That is just a huge, huge, huge moment. To go back to your balance point, which I think is such a good one, something that Claire Kilner said is that action without emotion is useless, right? And so she's always mindful as a director of making sure that we like feel the action. And I think that that's a problem I have had with the gully in episode one is I didn't feel as emotionally connected to it as I wanted to. Despite Lohar being your long-established favorite character who were the most invested in you didn't feel it. Everyone spent years invested in Lohar so you know so that's what I'm always asking for when we talk about spectacle versus whatever like I don't mind spectacle if it's tied to something emotional like Rook's rest you know what she brought up like my emotions were so tangled in that moment so like it can't. Same, same level, same, same, exactly the same. So I agree and I knew you would agree. So, you know, I, like when you have something in this episode like Aaman arriving on Begar to at Heron Hall, like all that looks really cool and I don't take that for granted, I don't take for granted how good the dragons look. Yeah. Like that's amazing because if they look shitty we would be taken out of the story. It's very immersive to see these dragons rendered so beautifully and they're everywhere, and they're everywhere everywhere. Sheep Sealer in the back of Rana, you know, she's stiller didn't have to be in that scene but she's still there. Caraxi taking like a little drink from possibly my favorite moment in the series to eat. The corpse infested waters of the godside. You know, if you're a dragon it tastes delicious and a lot of those corpses were probably roasted before they went in there. And umami flavor to the water. Exactly. Um, so really cat coated moment for car accident right there are amazing. You know and that's incredible. I don't take that's incredible. I don't take that's incredible. I don't take that's incredible. I don't take that's it's Aaman being like shanked in the side and then crawling on the floor and saying like help me that's the juice for me yes here's my one I didn't need it from this episode yeah two episodes two episodes and I'm like you know what it's yeah I understand it's a throne proud throne's tradition I don't think they should be so proud of it I don't I think there are so many ways we could have conveyed a similar story for Allison here about like no matter how much conniving she does or whatever, as a woman she is still powerless in many ways. There are things that we could have done, but I didn't need that part of this episode. I definitely agree. Yeah. But I love this episode otherwise. Me too. Big fan. Should we head to the bells of a pleasure den? Should we head to the deep dive? Let's do it. episode just quickly opening credits check-in because the tapestry in the opening credits evolved across season two and here is our first update inside of season one the gullet has been stitched into the fabric on the heels of the sewing we get the kind of blue thread for the water I thought that looked cool and great the tapestry was like waving really neat. Lohar makes the tapestry which like My favorite character that I've been long invested in. Looked amazing. The design of it is incredible obviously. Do you think it's a spoiler that there's a blood pool around Lohar and a blood pool around Jase but not one of our own Corley's? I was interested to see how many people... A spoiler for mere minutes. Yeah, for mere minutes. How many people left? Because I actually did get, you know, Chris had asked us about Courtless after episode one. And then I did get some texts from friends who were like, is the sea snake snake? Okay. Okay. Glad you mentioned arrow-riddled jace who of course belongs on the tapestry air to the iron throne. This is a huge moment in the war deserves to be commemorated in the opening credits and in the the tapestry of history. Do you know what I'm gonna say? Where's vermex? Where the fuck is vermax? I'm sorry but to not put sweet baby vermax who died for these buffoons? Bottom of the gullet. Let's pan down through that gorgeous blue thread it's already there. Really tough. I know. Are you mad that Bala didn't try to haul Vermax's body on the back of Moon Dancer to wing him home? Thank you for asking. Yeah. Thank you for asking. You're welcome. I feel seen and known and understood. I didn't consider it possible or practical for Bala or anyone to retrieve Vermax's body. However, I did think it was quite amusing in a way that I respect on the show's behalf that Jay very kindly died with one arm over a wooden plank so that his body could be retrieved. So that Bailey could just like, euh. Yoig him up. Thank you, Chase, you did one thing right at the end. Mop up, mopping up in the gully. This is where we begin the episode. The seeds have come in, Joe, for mop up duty. And we talked last week in episode about this adaptive change to not have Ulf and Hugh and Adam at the gullet. And you know we see there additional dragons, the force of the flame, kind of the flame, kind of the flame, kind of the remnants, kind of the remnants, kind of the remnants, kind of the remnants, kind of the remnants of the remnants of the some of the remnants will remain and can't wait to talk about our favorite characters in the history of television. Aagon and Larras. Still don't know how we got here, but here we are. Give me credit. You were on it, minute one. A, minute one. A minute one. A minute one. A minute one. I think you were early on Tom Glen Carney is Aegon. This is actually kind of rules. The first scene. Just great stuff here. They did not arrive in the thick of the action as in the action as in the text. This is the text. This is. This is. This is. This is. they got there at the end so that the Dolph can say we were at the gully too which I found just incredibly amusing. Vermethor and Silverwing, and Sea Smoke, you know, has seen to battle, but Vermothor and Silverwing are massive dragons. If they had been at the gullet, like the thing about Vermax, and Moon Dancer, youthful tender. So those like tweens. You know, they are susceptible to these, you know, grappling hooks. whatever we're calling them. Punyards, I don't know. But in a way that these older dragons wouldn't be. So if... The Bronze Fury would be tough to take down, to pull down with one of those. Follow a question. Tell me. Do you think Damon is so weird about Hugh and Ulf because their dragons are bigger than his dragon? Oh you think it's a dick measuring contest? I do. I mean, Carax is a long moodle boy, but... Yeah, but like the Bronze Fury... So interesting because Carax is has length... in Wiggle. You know, Caraxes knows how to move and I think that's a lot of what we've seen with the shrieks and the squeaks tells me that Caraxes is up to some interesting things. Okay. So I think Damon feels confident but it's Damon and so there's always a little bit of insecurity to feel that. So, this is a great shout, this is a great shout. Great old Dane. Joe, on the imagery front, the Dragons and otherwise, this is just a quick opening stretch, but we have like this real kind of cacophony of sights and sounds. I think that the score is excellent this season so far. I mean it's always good, but it is really, really resplendent early and I thought that the use of the musical accompaniment and these opening moments were really powerful. And then on the visual front we have you know all the floating bodies, right? Like to be under the water and see the fire. above the water. Blanketing. Yeah. I liked like the literalization of last week's episode title, you know, the salt and sea and fire and blood, but just what that shows you about the way that the fire can kind of take over the world? We open with fire and we end with blood. Blood. Hey, fire and blood. That's the name of the book. Not sure if you all have heard. That's the fictional history that this show is adapting. I thought that the lake and this is also something we get to really see in a cool way later later later when we're later when we're near when we're near. are leaving Dragon So to head finally to King's Landing. The air is just choked with smoke and wreckage and the carnage of the battle. And so much of what we... Corless's legacy up in smoke, tough. So much of what we linger in appropriately inside of this episode is the personal costs, right? The really intimate loss and toll of what has happened here. So it is, I think, important and helpful to just give us these reminders of how many people died. how savage this battle was? Like the fleets are annihilated and this rooted us and oriented us very effectively from the jump. I do think it's interesting. I don't know if it's it's you know if it's clear to folks watching at home who haven't read the book but like the the battle of the gullet bloodiest battle on water and then the fish feed. bloodiest chapters of the war, certainly not the last. We certainly have many more skirmishes to come, but we have just gone through the two bloodiest battles, the biggest losses of human life inside of this war in the last couple of episodes. Not ideal. Not great. Not ideal. Not ideal. And yet no loss was felt more keenly. Prince Jace Saris. That's a book line that we love. Jace is brought home. Fis those pirates, yeah. Baille brings him home, the dragonstone dragonkeepers carry him forward this procession of his body. How do you feel about this about the dragonkeepers? So like the dragonkeepers last season were like pissed about the whole sewing. So how do you feel about the bearing Jace's body like this? Like I think it's really interesting. You could have had any castle staff sort of acting as Paul bears here as Paul bears here, but like here but like, but like, you know, you know, you know, Obviously at the dragon mount like having having the dragon keeper is so close to moon dancer is ideal but it just like felt really like jace he's a dragon. Yeah he was of dragon blood something that was like you know obviously he's obviously Renera's son but like a part of him that was questioned his whole life and here at the end it's these dragonkeepers sort of bearing his body. I just thought this whole sequence was again just like where the camera was as jace is sort of like beautiful dead face just sort of like serve in face even as a course. Crowd surfing, yeah. That's a beautiful observation and then you know the person who would have appreciated it most of course is is Jase who's not there because he's dead. But yeah like to honor the fact that he was a writer and that he died on dragon back sort of kind of he had unhooked and then just got shot by arrows by the triarchy tough way to go in battle a battle that he shouldn't have been in because he wasn't ready but he did he did die that way. And I thought I thought I really I really I really I really I really I really I really I really I really I really I really like on the opens with the body. This episode closes with bodies. We've got the decapitated auto. And you know, we're probably not going to spend much time when we get to the end of this pot and we're obsessing over the auto sequence. But let's just note, Iron Rod also gets decapitated and he deserved to. No one gives a ship, but he did. He died. His arms out my wife. Very good. Very good. Very good. Demon coming into decapate characters who are in the middle of sentences is one of my favorite house of the dragon traditions. the open and the clothes. But it just made me think more broadly of like when there is, I don't want to be too weird and spend too long talking about corpses here, because even we have limits on the house of ours. I'll try to say this quickly, but like this was on my mind like what, when a character dies, what happens to that body and what does it tell us about where we are in the story, like what the context of the moment is and what grace or in dignity, that body like what it indicates about the the moment in time like Ned spoiler Ned Stark is beheaded tough one they put his head on a pike his head is on a pike right to be eaten by crows and picked out and she's sons that has to look at equally important I mean I don't like to see lions or any animals harm they did an amazing job with that prosthetic holy shit oh my god off the prosthetics team is killing it here. You know, and then Ned's bone, that indignity, but then his bones, and granted it's part of a manipulation, you know for Littlefinger, but they're presented to Kat, right? So you have that. Rob and Gray Wind, stitched together, their bodies befowled, right? A horrifying one. You have the sequences where a character like Taiwan can rest with the stones on the eyes, but then like is the corpse. riding? Does it stink? You know, even so I just mentioned Beaman, like that was a very tense death and a tense moment in the story, but then we were treated to this a really fascinating quiet sequence where Rhenes went and to watch the silent sisters at their work and reflect on the inescapable presence of the stranger. So Rhenero who could never find Luke's body, right? And that was such an important part of Rhenera's grief after Luke was killed at the end of season one and it was one. It was one of the things that dick mode for Damon at that point, right? But he was basically like, the mother grieves and the queen shirks her duties. And Renez had to say to him, I could not accept what happened to my daughter, Lena, until I saw her body. And this is something that is not on offer to Renira with Luke. It is here. What we witness is so devastating that I think it forces us to ask, like, is this any better or is this just misery in a different form? I love this. And like, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you terms of like the various traditions of the various you know the Riverlanders returning the body to mud or whatever right odd that you didn't mention Prince Joffrey's dead body in front of which his mother and his father who was also his uncle yes fuck I was going to but it's such a controversial scene and choice that I couldn't quite bring her in chains why would we talk about that episode great stuff you know like bringing Jason's body in we talked about this plenty on talk the Thrones about how incredible Emma is in this scene how incredible it is for Renira thinking about were you thinking about you know speaking of Cercy we think about other like mothers inside of Thrones who we've watched whether it's Cercy or Catlin or Dinaris losing one of her Dragon Babies or whatever like you know these mothers in their and they're horror you know Cercy we hate that kid and we're excited to see him dead but and we don't even really like Cercy that much but like there was something so primal about that moment of Cercy holding Joffrey's body or of course moo the and then like you know Catlin just screaming and being like I guess I'll slice this neck while I'm grieving the surcy shout out is a great one too because I think that's a good one to remember the evolution across loss which is like helpful to have in our minds as we watch when you're different response to Marcella and the question of like is to is this like the price we pay for our sins yeah and then where we find Cursi after Taman is a point of no return. Emily Darcy said this incredible thing in the inside the episode about Reniro being robbed of the opportunity to be a mother to protect her son I just thought this incredible and I think when when when they bring Jay's body in And Renier is talking to Jace, like her child is still alive. Yeah. What have you done? How could you do this? You know, Jace? What have you done? Like the way that Emma decided, you know, she could have played it as like, whatever, you know, whatever, but like, just this like scolding sort of gently scolding tone or whatever. It reminded me a lot of, you know, that's not how it is between this mother and son, but like, like, it reminded me a lot, a lot of Romeo and Juliet, the like, oh troll, drunk all and left no friendly drop when Juliet's talking to Romeo is if he's still there, you know, just sort of like, just the inability to accept the reality of what you're confronted with. And we talked on Talk The Thrones about like, how horrible it is that Reniera has to go through this experience with an audience. Yes, and what is everybody, what are we reading on the faces of the people in that room? Yeah, they're deeply. comfortable with her response here which I say get a grip and let this lady like lose her marbles for a second I think it's absolutely fine yeah her beloved son second beloved son is is dead you know and yeah I mean like fuck you Sir Laurent honestly I know I will say this I know the Gaul the moment between Bala and Sir Laurent when he asks how the battle went she said Tis won yeah I actually love I love that even more than the Corless line which is a book line that we were waiting for. Yeah. His, you know, if this be victory, I hope I never see another, like we were waiting for that because that's a book line. Yeah. But Bala saying tis won. Yeah. And his response to that, that really captured that feeling that I had reading that victory line in the book. I agree and like, you use the term appeared victory last week and like this question of what is the cost and can you possibly justify it the way to this episode and then. the show and the dance is a piece of canon overall ask us to think about that like in the inside of one relationship or one family or one household and then kind of at scale en masse that's like inescapable in moments like this and I think we often think about it for characters like Reneera or Allison who are making these big choices but it I agree it's like really powerful to see a moment like that for a character like baila who and then you pair it was saying to Allen you know bail Niro, which Musaria basically directly invokes in this episode. Someone asked where our writing credit was on that and I was like, I was thinking of you and us weeping and sobbing in the studio talking about that scene together, one of my favorite podcasting memories ever. Slightly less emotion being shared between Damon and Musaria, but you know, they have their own sort of thing going their own special spark. They'd actually do a great podcast together. Damon and Missouri, my God, can you imagine. to go back in time four years when we first started this and say yeah when we were discussing Missouri's accent in four years or now I will say this lady should have a podcast I stand by every take every single day it is one of the most shocking parts of rewatching house in the dragon is confronting Missouri season one accent it just pulls you over the great conversion or Masaria in season one of House the Dragon. I still, I give Masaria the edge because Count Chocula is at least a vampire. And so while it is a bit of a puzzling choice, it is a choice inside of a story universe that I understand. I won't give the show credit this. They didn't bury the character of Masaria even though she was deeply unpopular. They're like, she has things to do. We're going to keep her around. And they took the note. And they took the note and they, and they, and they, and they, and they, and they you know the volume on the accent great stuff we are grateful on the Emma performance front in this this stretch Claire Kilner a couple lines from the official pod about just how you know mesmerizing this performance was thought were really interesting Claire Kilner described it as deep from the pit of their gut which is I mean poetry but just that read that capture something I think that's how you from the pit of your gun. It really is. Via Screech and something primal deep from the pit of the gut. And then Sarah has said, there are not that many actors I would write that scene for. And I believe that that's true, actually. Like you have to have the confidence that something like that can be rendered on screen at this level and Emma Darcy is capable of that in a way that is unique. I really just the tracking and the evolution from that. this can't possibly be true denial that you identified into the disparate anguish of just like the mounting loss how can a nut like there's no reprieve there's no escape how can this keep happening two boys who hid their faces in my skirts devastating right absolutely crushing and what that forces Renira to ask and Damon's like yada yada we have a it's time to switch to I Valerian we have a thrum we have a And then the wrath, you know, and that blend of emotions, like when will those things kind of coexist with each other and when will one win the day? This scene, and when near it goes right back in after the wrath kind of breaks through into going back to Jason's body and scooping him up and cradling him and just sobbing, choking out the despair and the anguish. But that comes after laying in appropriately and rightly to almost every person in. You too. That room. Let's see the clip. All of you, who knew what you said has done is stood by? Are your lives too not forfeit? Have you not betrayed your queen? I mean to submit it to the Emmys now there's no need to wait. The way she like looks at Masaria and her sort of like body kind of collapses into the sobs it just sort of like I can't even hold myself up under the weight of this grief it's just incredible stuff and also you spend so much time trying to assume the figure of the ruling queen or the warrior and then we think back to like cutting into ribbons the gown of the ruling queen you know like we talked about last week it's like what is like what is maintain that image sometimes just the raw humanity breaks the damn but also like Renira is in a moment right now of asking what is any of that for where has any of that gotten Renira right and like I thought so I was Sir Lauren is like an interesting microcosm of a larger circumstance here I was thinking back to in season one Damon coming with with Sir Stephen and Sir Lauren to intimidate, trying to teach J-S a lesson about how it's done, and said to them at the time, if you choose treachery, if you swear fealty now, only to turn your cloaks, know that you will die screaming. It's so interesting as a, like, Sir Laura did not go to the Greens. He didn't give Renear to the enemy. You could argue this is a deeper and more damning betrayal, because what it is, and it's like these things mount. A loss of a person you can trust, and then, and then the, and then the, and then the constant, and then the constant, the constant, the constant, the constant, the constant, the constant, the constant, the constant, the constant, the constant, the, the, the constant, the, the, the constant, the, the constant, the by the people who are supposed to have chosen Renira and sworn to abide her. I mean the Black Council's here. Fuck those guys. Oh my God the worst. Forever. The worst. You know so those guys are here. She's like fuck you guys I don't I don't listen to any more great. They're useless. Yeah absolutely but yeah Sir Lord Mulbrane when he I was like you're in so much trouble buddy and then when he like went to like grab her I was like don't do that. I was nuts. I was like don't do that. for this episode still behind Celtic and Girardies being like you can't be serious about going to Kings landing but yeah or Lauren grabbing Renier was fucking nuts you know we have some notes for Damon which we'll get to later on slapping off I do think that Renier should have slapped Keltingar again as as she very satisfying I mean yeah there's a couple like don't fucking touch me. You know, Kristen was the sworn swords for a while and that's a, you have shamed me because you didn't want my oranges and cinnamon. And so I have gone to the other side. But then Eric, Cargill Bowl, it's the second time it's come up today. Will it be the last? Who can say, stay tuned to find out? Is it the moment that