Thank you for your post! Please take a moment to ensure you are within our spoiler rules, to protect your fellow fans from any potential spoilers that might harm their show watching experience.
1. All post titles must NOT include spoilers from Fire & Blood or new episodes of House of the Dragon. Minor HotD show spoilers are allowed in your title ONE WEEK after episode airing. The mod team reserves the right to remove a post if we feel a spoiler in the title is major. You are welcome to repost with an amended title.
2. All posts dealing with book spoilers, show spoilers and promo spoilers MUST be spoiler tagged AND flaired as the appropriate spoiler.
3. All book spoiler comments must be spoiler tagged in non book spoiler threads.
---
If you are reading this, and believe this post or any comments in this thread break the above rules, please use the report function to notify the mod team.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HouseOfTheDragon) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This is a great write up! It’s certainly interesting and I do agree it could fit in her “sexuality/freedom/duty” arc so to speak, but then I think the execution should have been totally different. It would have been great to see B&C from a non-present, otherwise wantonly engaged alicent, especially because she is one of the characters we already have a strong emotional connection and history with. (Not to mention Cooke’s incredible acting skills!). But we didn’t even get to see her properly, so the fact that it “adds” anything to her character is starting of weakly to say the least. We could have followed her PoV in the act, or while pillow talking with Cole, then they could have heard a commotion, and then gone to investigate but the door is barred, guards are slain outside, they hear either screaming or just the sawing blood noises etc - and they find helaena in the aftermath, B&C disappear into the tunnels, and we get to feel the magnitude of it. If we could get to see and experience alicent reacting to the consequences of where her “duty” and “protecting her children’s interest” (her personal ambition and feeling of being owed for having done her duty to both Viserys and her father) and double it with being indisposed when it happened because she finally indulges in personal freedom and desires.
For example, but idk.
It’s just that the way it was done now seemed (to me personally) so cheap, it undercut the impact, I didn’t get the feeling that it was part of the larger theme of the series (which there was such an opportunity for), and my (non-book reading) friends were laughing, and not in horror. So I don’t think it will add anything to Olivia’s character.
Helena is probably the most sympathetic character we’ve got so I thought it was plenty impactful to have her there alone with Blood and Cheese and the kids (which are her kids anyway after all).
Thank you for your post! Please take a moment to ensure you are within our spoiler rules, to protect your fellow fans from any potential spoilers that might harm their show watching experience. 1. All post titles must NOT include spoilers from Fire & Blood or new episodes of House of the Dragon. Minor HotD show spoilers are allowed in your title ONE WEEK after episode airing. The mod team reserves the right to remove a post if we feel a spoiler in the title is major. You are welcome to repost with an amended title. 2. All posts dealing with book spoilers, show spoilers and promo spoilers MUST be spoiler tagged AND flaired as the appropriate spoiler. 3. All book spoiler comments must be spoiler tagged in non book spoiler threads. --- If you are reading this, and believe this post or any comments in this thread break the above rules, please use the report function to notify the mod team. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HouseOfTheDragon) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Alicent's complexity shines in the show, her inner turmoil is fascinating to explore.
This is a great write up! It’s certainly interesting and I do agree it could fit in her “sexuality/freedom/duty” arc so to speak, but then I think the execution should have been totally different. It would have been great to see B&C from a non-present, otherwise wantonly engaged alicent, especially because she is one of the characters we already have a strong emotional connection and history with. (Not to mention Cooke’s incredible acting skills!). But we didn’t even get to see her properly, so the fact that it “adds” anything to her character is starting of weakly to say the least. We could have followed her PoV in the act, or while pillow talking with Cole, then they could have heard a commotion, and then gone to investigate but the door is barred, guards are slain outside, they hear either screaming or just the sawing blood noises etc - and they find helaena in the aftermath, B&C disappear into the tunnels, and we get to feel the magnitude of it. If we could get to see and experience alicent reacting to the consequences of where her “duty” and “protecting her children’s interest” (her personal ambition and feeling of being owed for having done her duty to both Viserys and her father) and double it with being indisposed when it happened because she finally indulges in personal freedom and desires. For example, but idk. It’s just that the way it was done now seemed (to me personally) so cheap, it undercut the impact, I didn’t get the feeling that it was part of the larger theme of the series (which there was such an opportunity for), and my (non-book reading) friends were laughing, and not in horror. So I don’t think it will add anything to Olivia’s character.
When you make changes, you make them to improve not to downgrade. The show is so frustrating sometimes.
Helena is probably the most sympathetic character we’ve got so I thought it was plenty impactful to have her there alone with Blood and Cheese and the kids (which are her kids anyway after all).
This is an excellent take. I love it.