Hooo boy, what a final ep to close out the season! I had guessed Viserys' death would be the closer, but pushing that up t get to the Aemond/Luc 'fight' was a good call.
Another ep that hewed very close to the source, though naturally Lord Corlys, long since recovered from his fever, was far more hawkish than shown here. I'm not really sure what they are doing with Rhaenys, it seems like she flip flops around, all the while with this all knowing smugness that seems quite unjustified considering she has LOST at every turn.
Seems to me the Velaryons are far more open to a side deal with Alicent at this point in the show versus the books. Cut out the bastard boys, turn over Rhaenyra and Daemon (who was not nearly as suspected in Laenor's death as in the show), and Baela and Rhaena, with proper husbands (say, the absent Daeron perhaps?), get Driftmark and Dragonstone while Viserys and Aegon the Younger are sent far away to be conveniently 'forgotten'.
Anyhoo, Ser Arryk brings Viserys' crown in place of Ser Darklyn, who seems to have been on Dragonstone already, and Rhaenyra has her crown. Her miscarriage happens much as it does in the book, minus the "MONSTER, MONSTER,.....get out" part, making it seem like she could have been commanding her midwives to leave or her child in the show (Condal confirmed this was to her child in the podcast) and it takes three days of labor. We get what looks to be a relatively normal stillborn, lacking the obvious hole in the chest and scaled tail from the book. Did seem to be not quite normal, but hard to say. Thus passes Visenya. Rhaenyra gets over this loss, her only daughter, SUPER FAST though and is right back in action.
The black council happens much like the book, down to the verbatim recounting of forces on Dragonstone. Dug the light up table, that's gonna be REAL popular on etsy
WE miss on the tidbit that all the Black Council lords got direct summons to King's Landing, thus participating in the Council is instant traitordom and execution. THere is no "lets take a poll and see where we stand" prevaricating nonsense, it is ALREADY a struggle to the death. Otto showing up to recite what they already know, that Aegon II looks, feels, and for all practical purposes, IS the new King.
The dragon count is the same, minus poor Daeron and Tessarion, seemingly deleted from the show, and at least indirect references to the three wild dragons. Looks like we should get the Dragonseeds. Curious if Mysaria's female helper will end up as Nettle, the one actual "brown girl" in the entire text. We miss out a bit on their fear of Vhagar, Rhaenyras inability to ride due to the recent miscarriage, and that most of their dragons belong to young children. Daemon is FAR more calculating and cunning in the book, not just headstrong into battle, most of his arguments end up in Rhaenyra's mouth. Once crowned, Rhaenyra is much more direct, naming Otto and Alicent as traitors and giving them a demand to berd the knee and be spared.
It's Rhaenys that seems so sure the Baratheons will stand with them. They have a rather immediate plan to blockade King's Landing, use Rhaenys as cover in case Aegon or Aemon ventured out against the fleet. Jace and Luc volunteer to be messengers and do get the command to not fight. Jace heads to the Eyrie though, then White Harbor, the North considered too far way to be able to help in time, though he does go there eventually. Luc is sent to Storm's End (alas alas).
The envoy led by Otto actually comes now, and naturally Otto isn't in it. The mesage is the same though. Rhaenyra is FAR more provocative, as she forces Maester Orwyle to admit he turned from her, dismisses his legal arguments, and strips him of his chain of office to give to her own Maester. No "holding the realm together" shit here, she is straight up going for BLOOD. "Tell my half-brother that I will have my throne or I will have his head".
We also miss the last possible dialogue betwixt the twins, Sers Arryk and Erryk Cargyll, as they part with brotherly love knowing their next meeting will likely be to the death.
Storm's End goes much like the book as well. I'm not sure which daughter Aemon is chatting up (other than it is unlikely to be Maris, the clever one), so it's probably Cassandra. Aemon is far more bullying to Luc in the book. And we miss out on the aforementioned Maris, scorned to be passed over, straight up MOCKING Aemond with "Was it one of your eyes he took, or one of your balls?" (can't have catty women in this show, I suppose
Aemond is likely more of a willing participant in this battle than in the show (which implies the dragons are fighting on their own) and he earns the unfortunate sobriquet "Aemond the KInslayer" for his troubles, though for his allies I'm not sure it was a negative.
Supposedly they are writing season 2 now, so I imagine we are looking at 18 months to 2 years for release. Hopefully we get some tidbits to show how far they intend to go, I gotta think HBO will straight up approve the 2-3 more seasons necessary to wrap up this story given the extreme popularity so hopefully they can at least get the child actors filmed before they age out of their roles, lest the Dance of Dragons take 5 years instead of 2.
