House of the Dragon behind the scenes season 2
Throw back to season 2 episode 1 when I fucking called that the show runners framed it as comedic but people thought that ‘nooo they wouldn’t do that, there’s nothing funny about dead kids’ well lookie here! They wanted it to be comedic despite the tragedy.
Vindication is sweet but knowing this was their intentions puts a sour taste in my mouth.
so, now that the season is over, can i just vent about how useless and borderline tasteless those aemond/sylvi scenes were? maybe not tasteless, as ewan wasn't filmed naked against his will or coerced like the og GOT actresses were, but i certainly didn't feel whatever it was they were trying to get me to feel by watching those brothel scenes. while i can empathize with the plight of the smallfolk and will always stand up for sex workers, it just didn't work for me in this context. yes, as a big fan of aemond, there was a part of me that wanted to see him express some degree of vulnerability this season, but with his own fucking family and not at the expense of seeing the brothel madame from s1 again! anyone who is in or even on the fringes of the HOTD fandom knows what an issue the conversation surrounding sylvi was back in 1x09, and i feel like this was a move to capitalize on aemond's popularity, set the stage for his preference of older women once he meets alys, or maybe even just filling the nudity quota as per hbo's standards. i mean, damn, if they're going to put aemond in a position of romantic or sexual intimacy, can they just save that shit for his semi-canonical love interest? hell, i would rather he be demanded to bring floris baratheon to court, which would do that job of opening up conversation about whatever is going on in the stormlands and how borros is choosing the handle the war effort on his end! sylvi is not a character we know or care about on the same level of the main cast and i doubt she's going to leave a significant impact on who aemond is going forward, so why shove this glorified extra in our faces and attach them to a character who was/is kinda the dark horse breakout fave of s1? she adds nothing to him or the story beyond another smallfolk pov - which we already have with mysaria and the dragonseeds! what a waste of time. 😒
I agree. The purpose of these scenes was to humiliate the character or make him laughable for having "mommy issues" and literally drinking milk and laying in an older woman's arms. And all that so they could also include Aegon bullying him for it because otherwise he had no motivation to want to kill him all of a sudden. It is extra icky with the implication that this is the first woman Aemond was ever with as a literal child when he was brought to her to "get it wet." I don't think the show handles discussion and portrayal of sex in this show at all. Despite its "sex positive" attitude toward Rhaenyra it seems it shames every other character when it comes to sex: Aegon having his penis exploded, Aemond having mommy issues cuddling his abuser and drinking milk, the voyeuristic sex of Alicole included only for shock value and shaming the characters for being hypocrites, the lack of recognition of Alicent's inability to refuse Viserys and that marital rape scene seemingly just used to contrast with Rhaenyra's sexual liberation... To say this show is weird about sex and mixed with its messaging is saying the least.
I already pity Tom for what nonsense they're going to make him do tbh.
He was already so uncomfortable with the lines he was given about his genitals gone, lines he BTW was informed of in front of everyone without warning , that I cannot imagine how horrible he will feel if they keep this bullshit going.
I find it funny that Condal builds the whole Aegon's character around Mushroom's rumors from the book. Rape? In the book, the closest thing to this episode is the story about a 12-year-old girl who allegedly gave Aegon a blowjob, according to Mushroom of course. Children fighting pits? This was also information from Mushroom. Aegon's inability to have children due to injury? Well, Aegon was going to marry again and said that he'd have strong heirs, which means that he himself was quite confident in his ability to fulfill marital duties. So who said his cock didn't work? Mushroom! If this goes on, in the third season we'll see an adaptation of Mushroom's rumors about Aegon forcing the servants to have sex and watching them. You can start getting ready.
The same little boy
It's really fucking funny to think about how if Condal and Hess had just stuck to the fucking book, they could have cleaned up the award nominations.
yeah? and? he’s babygirl
i cannot emphasize it enough to you guys that they're giving book!daemon hating his brother and wanting to steal his throne (that's why he begins grooming rhaenyra and sets her against her siblings and poisons her relationship w them forever) is going to show!aemond right now. book!aemond was never characterized as wanting his brother's throne or hating aegon. that was all daemon in the book 😬
people are treating grrm post like it's just another opinion on the source material. girl no. he wrote the fucking source material. when he tells you that hel was beloved of the smallfolk and rhaenyra was not it's not his opinion it's a fact. when he tells you that the people of KL rebelled and sought justice for hel it's not an opinion it's a fact. making posts quoting the author's work trying to prove why acshually hel was not that important nor was she that loved and that gwurlbos qween rhae-rhae was acshally loved so much by the people of king's landing because the people in her father's court named her "the realm's delight" when she was 5yo. be so fr The Cope.
y'all are always talking about feminism so why are you so bothered by the idea that another woman that is not rhaenyra was loved and important? why are so bothered by the idea that Queen Helaena was an important character and the entire population of KL fought for her?
anyways, in the words of GRRM - "Queen Helaena was loved. Rhaenyra was not."
"[aegon and aemond] need each other in their own way. they have a weird love for each other. both of them would stab each other in the back just for self-gain"
— tom glynn-carney
Call me the God's Eye the way I want to keep Aemond Targaryen inside me forever. Who said that.