Streaming House of the Dragon (Game of Thrones prequel)

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Forgive me for being late to the party - I prefer to watch the show in binge mode, rather than the weekly drip feed. I finally watched it this week.

I agree with all the comments about poor pacing, and the season being "all filler, no killer".

What I still can't get out of my head is the medical treatment Aegon received (or didn't receive) after the events at Raven's Rest...

As per the maps I posted earlier, it would have taken at least 2 weeks for his wagon to travel the 300 miles (as the dragon flies) from Raven's Rest back to King's Landing. All indications are that he received no medical treatment whatsoever in this time, given that the maesters in KL had to remove his armour, before they could start treating his wounds.

The Grand Maester made a comment about "the next few hours will be critical". The first hour after a traumatic injury is referred to as the "golden hour" - with survival rates for people who receive treatment in this time being massively improved, compared to those who don't. Unfortunately, Aegon's treatment by the Grand Maester missed the "golden hour" by at least 14 days.

I get that the Grand Maester is the best person to treat him, but why wasn't he at least given some treatment by the army's maesters in the field? Every army in history has had mobile hospitals with them, however rudimentary, for treating soldiers who have been injured in battle. Why didn't Aegon receive even the most basic of treatments there, before being shipped back to KL?

The simple answer to this question is the same one the GoT producers came up with in the later seasons - teleportation. It appears they simply teleported Aegon & the head of Meleys back to KL, completely bypassing the 300 miles between Raven's Rest and KL. It is disappointing that they have chosen the same path of laziness that the DBs chose in GoT.
 

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Thinking about the 14 days - it may have been considerably less than that. It's possible they put him (and the dragon head) on a ship, and transported them to KL that way. This would have been much faster than traveling by road, and he could have been back in KL within 2-3 days (maybe only 1 day, with favourable winds).

All we saw was him being transported through the streets of KL, on the back of a cart. There's no reason why he couldn't have been shipped to KL on a boat, then transported to the keep in the cart.

Regardless, it doesn't explain why he received no treatment at all at Raven's Rest, and he's still missed the "golden hour" by at least a day.
 
The whole point of the Alicent's story line just baffles me.

We have these episodes earlier in the season with potentially valid critiques of masculine flaws of being overly willing to jump to violence and make quick decisions - with Alicent's plans to take control of the small council quashed because she is a woman too soft to make the correct decision. Interesting take by the show writers, but if you nail it off correctly you achieve the message they're trying to show - men rash, women rationale. All power to them.

Then you completely destroy that message by having Alicent sacrifice her three sons, her father and the lives of many Hightower and Lannister loyalists because she's been booted from power and things aren't going 100% as she wanted them to be.

Proving those 'misogynistic' men in the Greens Small council right that she can't make correct decisions...

I was loving Alicent's portrayal at the start of the series but Hess and Condal's obsession with making this character flawless has, accidentally, made her incredibly flawed.
 
FlowersByIrene said:
The whole point of the Alicent's story line just baffles me.

We have these episodes earlier in the season with potentially valid critiques of masculine flaws of being overly willing to jump to violence and make quick decisions - with Alicent's plans to take control of the small council quashed because she is a woman too soft to make the correct decision. Interesting take by the show writers, but if you nail it off correctly you achieve the message they're trying to show - men rash, women rationale. All power to them.

Then you completely destroy that message by having Alicent sacrifice her three sons, her father and the lives of many Hightower and Lannister loyalists because she's been booted from power and things aren't going 100% as she wanted them to be.

Proving those 'misogynistic' men in the Greens Small council right that she can't make correct decisions...

I was loving Alicent's portrayal at the start of the series but Hess and Condal's obsession with making this character flawless has, accidentally, made her incredibly flawed.
Click to expand...
Maybe that was actually the point though? I don't think it's a bad thing that she isn't flawless and that she is hypocritical and that she is desperate. I mean, that's humanity right there. She's realised she made an incredible mistake with Viserys' last words and now with Aemond's impetuousness seeming to have no bounds, she's desperately trying to reduce the carnage that is to come. Rhaenyra was certainly cruel during their meeting, but she was completely correct that Alicent is being incredibly naive to think it's not too late to undo what she certainly had a hand in starting.

I just think second-guessing the creators' intentions is a bit silly. They obviously knew that Alicent would flip-flop and that her piety was based on hypocrisy (because they wrote that character arc obviously), but viewers seemed to have decided without that foresight that she was a stand-in for the creators' anti-patriarchy stance.

It's not just for Alicent, nor indeed just for this show. The over-analysis of TV shows without knowing how things resolve in the next episode, or next season seems really weird. And it must be exhausting too.
 
MC Bad Genius said:
Maybe that was actually the point though? I don't think it's a bad thing that she isn't flawless and that she is hypocritical and that she is desperate. I mean, that's humanity right there. She's realised she made an incredible mistake with Viserys' last words and now with Aemond's impetuousness seeming to have no bounds, she's desperately trying to reduce the carnage that is to come. Rhaenyra was certainly cruel during their meeting, but she was completely correct that Alicent is being incredibly naive to think it's not too late to undo what she certainly had a hand in starting.

I just think second-guessing the creators' intentions is a bit silly. They obviously knew that Alicent would flip-flop and that her piety was based on hypocrisy (because they wrote that character arc obviously), but viewers seemed to have decided without that foresight that she was a stand-in for the creators' anti-patriarchy stance.

It's not just for Alicent, nor indeed just for this show. The over-analysis of TV shows without knowing how things resolve in the next episode, or next season seems really weird. And it must be exhausting too.
Click to expand...
I just don't think their intention was - men were correct to not trust female leadership. Which is the only logical reading you can now take of Alicent's arc.

Additionally, I just don't agree with the position that her plea to Rhaneyra is based in any decision for the "greater good". Her entire character has been based around how family orientated she is, stepping in front of Melys to protect Aegon at the coronation, taking a knife to Rhaneyra after Aemond had his eye taken out. I just do not buy this position that she is now flippantly throwing away the lives of her father and her three sons because there is too much "carnage" in the wider world. She caused this, she knew this would happen the entire time. Again, unless the intention of the show runners is to establish that their bastion of matriarchy cannot comprehend the simple and inevitable consequences of her actions. Based on the writers interviews about the show, I just don't buy the position that Alicent's story is critizing her naivety. I believe they have just ****ed up.
 
Vader said:
As per the maps I posted earlier, it would have taken at least 2 weeks for his wagon to travel the 300 miles (as the dragon flies) from Raven's Rest back to King's Landing.
Click to expand...
Hence my joking comment of the need for a dragon medevac service. Do dragons allow passengers? Could they have flown a maestre out to Aegon to begin some treatment?
 
Frank Bunn said:
Hence my joking comment of the need for a dragon medevac service. Do dragons allow passengers? Could they have flown a maestre out to Aegon to begin some treatment?
Click to expand...
You'd think the army had maesters with them anyway - maybe not as skilled as the Grand Maester in KL, but maesters nevertheless. Every army in history has had medics/doctors/sawbones/surgeons behind the lines, waiting to treat the wounded... but apparently they weren't available for providing even a superficial treatment of Aegon's wounds.

I don't understand why the army's maesters didn't provide an initial level of treatment, even if it was just removing the armour and bandaging the wounds, before shipping him back to KL for further treatment by the Grand Maester. The Grand Maester should not have been required to remove Aegon's armour before starting treatment, 2-3 days after the injuries occurred.
 

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FlowersByIrene said:
I just don't think their intention was - men were correct to not trust female leadership. Which is the only logical reading you can now take of Alicent's arc.

Additionally, I just don't agree with the position that her plea to Rhaneyra is based in any decision for the "greater good". Her entire character has been based around how family orientated she is, stepping in front of Melys to protect Aegon at the coronation, taking a knife to Rhaneyra after Aemond had his eye taken out. I just do not buy this position that she is now flippantly throwing away the lives of her father and her three sons because there is too much "carnage" in the wider world. She caused this, she knew this would happen the entire time. Again, unless the intention of the show runners is to establish that their bastion of matriarchy cannot comprehend the simple and inevitable consequences of her actions. Based on the writers interviews about the show, I just don't buy the position that Alicent's story is critizing her naivety. I believe they have just ****ed up.
Click to expand...
I have no idea on the books but to me the idea that R would waltz into KL was possibly treacherous and could be…


Its A Trap GIF
 
Problems of being a single issue show with a pre-determined ending.

A tale of two halves, where the first was probably close to the peak of Thrones and the second to those final couple of seasons.

It could well be wall-to-wall action from here on out, not sure how much that would interest me given that Hardhome is probably the only 'battle' episode I would rate as being an S tier episode.

But still a perfectly decent show, just doesn't feel like appointment viewing.
 
Warsaw said:
But still a perfectly decent show, just doesn't feel like appointment viewing.
Click to expand...
I know the Olympics have taken precedence for me I still took 3 days to put it on

I think the next season ( whenever that is ) I will not rush to the tv when it is on
 
Vader said:
Forgive me for being late to the party - I prefer to watch the show in binge mode, rather than the weekly drip feed. I finally watched it this week.

I agree with all the comments about poor pacing, and the season being "all filler, no killer".

What I still can't get out of my head is the medical treatment Aegon received (or didn't receive) after the events at Raven's Rest...

As per the maps I posted earlier, it would have taken at least 2 weeks for his wagon to travel the 300 miles (as the dragon flies) from Raven's Rest back to King's Landing. All indications are that he received no medical treatment whatsoever in this time, given that the maesters in KL had to remove his armour, before they could start treating his wounds.

The Grand Maester made a comment about "the next few hours will be critical". The first hour after a traumatic injury is referred to as the "golden hour" - with survival rates for people who receive treatment in this time being massively improved, compared to those who don't. Unfortunately, Aegon's treatment by the Grand Maester missed the "golden hour" by at least 14 days.

I get that the Grand Maester is the best person to treat him, but why wasn't he at least given some treatment by the army's maesters in the field? Every army in history has had mobile hospitals with them, however rudimentary, for treating soldiers who have been injured in battle. Why didn't Aegon receive even the most basic of treatments there, before being shipped back to KL?

The simple answer to this question is the same one the GoT producers came up with in the later seasons - teleportation. It appears they simply teleported Aegon & the head of Meleys back to KL, completely bypassing the 300 miles between Raven's Rest and KL. It is disappointing that they have chosen the same path of laziness that the DBs chose in GoT.
Click to expand...

Similarly, what's the rules of engagement relating to medical teams. Are they fair game? Its conceivable that maesters in the field were attacked and killed.
 
peternorth said:
Similarly, what's the rules of engagement relating to medical teams. Are they fair game? Its conceivable that maesters in the field were attacked and killed.
Click to expand...
In the real world, doctors/surgeons/sawbones/medics usually setup their tents behind the lines, and the casualties were taken to them.

Under the Geneva Conventions, medical personnel (and chaplains) who are captured are "retained" and are not technically prisoners of war. Of course, the Geneva Conventions do not apply on Westeros. However, given that everyone gets their maesters from the same place, I doubt they would be targeted by either side.
 
Vader said:
In the real world, doctors/surgeons/sawbones/medics usually setup their tents behind the lines, and the casualties were taken to them.

Under the Geneva Conventions, medical personnel (and chaplains) who are captured are "retained" and are not technically prisoners of war. Of course, the Geneva Conventions do not apply on Westeros. However, given that everyone gets their maesters from the same place, I doubt they would be targeted by either side.
Click to expand...
I was working at Red Cross when the last season of Game Of Thrones came out and the IHL (International Humanitarian Law) team analysed violations of the Geneva Conventions for the first 7 seasons and then did a weekly look at them after each episode of Season 8.

www.redcross.org.au

Who is Game of Thrones worst war criminal?

Nerd alert: to celebrate the launch of the eighth and final season of Games of Thrones we’ve analysed every episode of the last seven seasons to find the show’s worst war criminal.
www.redcross.org.au www.redcross.org.au
 
Frank Bunn said:
That would explain it. It felt like an episode 8 of a 9 or 10 part season. A possible false economy by the HBO execs. They still have to fund season 3 but due to a poor ending to season 2 they may have lost some of their audience.
Click to expand...

It might get totally overshadowed and forgotten if 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' ends up being really good.
 

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Streaming House of the Dragon (Game of Thrones prequel)

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