live view (not actually live I don't give HBO money for this garbage, live torrent? yeah)
first 9 minutes are miraculously book accurate, only minor nitpick being halaena being an autistic retard who just stares off (in the books she is completely grief stricken over her son and never leaves her room) I mean there's been virtually no dialogue just shots of the aftermath of the battle. I believe this 9 whole minutes is the longest stretch of proper adaptation so far in season 2.
around the 9 minute mark is where characters start actually speaking dialogue thus they have to start shitting on the books. Aemond hinting that he should be king, then Criston Cole and Alicent discussing the battle. Because they changed the battle so much they have to keep playing out this string basically making Aemond some kind of usurper.
Gonna note here that the show isn't even faithful to itself. Last week they showed that there was a plan, Cole was going to bait out a dragon/dragon rider and have Aemond kill it with Vhagar. This was of course shit fucking writing since Rook's rest was chosen as the bait spot because its a 5 minute dragon flight across the bay from dragonstone. IN the show, Team black has literally 5 fucking dragons + dragon riders at their disposal (in addition to Meleys, they have Syrax, Vermax, Tyraxes, and moondancer in the show version, in the book its a baby dragon that's not big enough to ride). This plan was fucking stupid, risking Vhagar against potentially 5 fucking dragons. But of course the show writers are too fucking stupid to realize this. So anyway, in the show, the plan was 1 vs 1 somehow and the king out of incompetennce or ego or a quest for glory decided to join the attack without any thought or preparation at all, he was never part of the trap in the show.
So why the fuck was all these scenes book accurate? Why the fuck aren't Cole and Aemond yelling at everyone in King's landing for letting the king foolishly rush off and join the fight? it's fucking their fault he was hurt and injured, he was never part of the plan in the show. Alicent should be kicking herself and blaming the council or the king's guard for allowing him to rush off like a retard. but no, everyone seems to be blaming cole and Aemond for what happened to Aegon.
What shit fucking writers. Anyway, moving on...
And of course the entirety of the black council and Rhaenyra volunteering to lead the charge is all bullshit and made up non-sense. Also doesn't show corlys condeming Rhaenyra, this was a major plot point in the book. it's going to be hard to explain her tossing him into the black cells later.
the next half dozen scenes and dialogue are just filler and completely made up. the bracken vs blackwood scene with Daemon, Jace and Baela, Rhaena at the Eyrie with lady Arryn, Mysaria and Rhaenyra, Rhaeynra and Baela, etc.
I actually don't mind the trippy shit with Daemon, the woods witch Alys Rivers fucking with his head. I mean she does end up seducing both Daemon and Aemond so it's an interesting take on that. Again I think this is the shows way of showing his inner most thoughts, ie correcting the record since they spent so much energy making Rhaenyra's team the good guys they now gotta work double time to make Daemon back into a bad guy.
they are also slow playing the riverlands to make Daemon out to be, idk, incompetent? or dragging his feet? No, he's already gathered up the riverlords and has a huge host at Harrenhal, he's been doing that since the end of last season in the book timeline. He done been had a fucking army ready to go, it's why Criston Coles army didn't march on Harrenhal.
wtf giving king Aegon Valyrian Steel armor? huge change. In the book his armor on his left arm was melted so much that it fused to his body (like they showed) but it was normal steel not Valyrian steel. There is only 1 known suit of Valyrian Steel and it doesn't exist in Westeros at this time in the history. It's in the smoldering ruins of Old Valyria and it is found by Euron Greyjoy during GoT time which is like 190 years after this show takes place.
The green council, also all this is made up to show fracturing of the green side, or doubt, or whatever dumb shit. Alicent never tries to be the regent, there is never a discussion on this. The moment Cole and Aemond return with Aegon Cole immediately names Aemond the heir, and it is Aemond who says he will only rule as a Regent and names himself Protector of the Realm, Prince Regent, not king. Alicent is the one who bars the gates to the city, not Aemond (and it has nothing to do with food shortages, the small folk are terrified of king's landing burning down from retalation/dragon attacks from Rhaenyra). Aemond has no actual interest in ruling, he only wants to merc armies, castles ,and dragons. he immediately decides that Daemon is the only threat and once he dies Rhaenyra's cause is lost, so he immediately heads out to kill Daemon and his dragon.
This whole Freys/twin thing is all made up, I guess to use a setting familiar to GoT viewers (hey look, the twins!) none of this happens. Oh look, the frey's are sneaky backstabbers just like they were in GoT...
Yeah they really laying it on thick about Aemond being like Orange Man Bad heil hitler or some shit. I'm surprised they didn't give him a super thin villain mustache to twirl or something. All this shit is made up. Note that i'm not saying he is a good guy or something, no far from it. He's a killer and he knows it. he spends the rest of the war flying around randomly attacking any town/city/castle that is sworn to Rhaenyra, burning thousands of men women and children alive with Vhagar. He is doing this to bait out Daemon to fight him. He does later take Harrenhal and he knocks up Alys Rivers who was also Daemons lover too. I guess she has a thing for blond badboys who ride big ol dragons.
The scene with Baela and Corlys is quite touching but completely made up. Actually let me back up a second and explain something. The #1 huge change is really the timeline in which these events take place. The show is week to week and alludes to or implies a great deal of time has passed between scenes or episodes, but they have not.
In the Book the following occur:
Rhaenyra's father (Viserys) dies
Her brother Aegon is crowned as King, "usurping" her throne
The news of both of these things happen force her into early labor (she was 8 months pregnant) and after 3 days of agonizing labor she has a stillborn daughter, Visenya
Rhaenyra, who has had to this point 5 sons with 2 different men (her lover Harwin Strong, and her Uncle Daemon), has always wanted a daughter, and when she finally has one it dies in the womb due to hearing the news that she lost her father and her crown.
She sends her sons out as emissaries to rally lords to her side, her eldest to the vale and then on to winterfell, the 2nd just a hop across the bay to storm's end, he is only 13 she doesn't want him in danger
He is immediately fell upon by Aemond seeking vengeance for his lost eye
In her grief/madness she orders the murder of Aegon's son for the loss of her son
In retaliation, Ser Arryk is sent and almost assassinates her, he is killed by and kills Ser Erryk, his own twin brother and Rhaenyra's only king's guard who stood by her side
Her brother's army lead by Criston Cole has marched on every castle, executed every lord who declared for her. The last castle cries for help from dragonstone
in response she sends Rhaenys (who is her, uh 2nd cousin? her father's cousin) who is killed along with her dragon.
All this happens over the course of like, 4 fucking weeks. She is still on bedrest from the still birth until the letter arrives asking for her aid, and she is still too weak to fly. Hell Jace doesn't even return from Winterfell until like near the end of this sequence, he just got back basically. They are all still mourning the death of Ser Erryk. She is still mourning the death of her son Luce, her one and only daughter who never got to live, etc. So the show having her teleport all over and personally volunteering to lead every single attack (yet her council talks her out of it, but because she's a woman, and you know, the patriarchy and shit) is such a shit show and legitimately does her such a disservice.
Rhaenyra is a terrible person. she is basically Cersei. But even cersei had redeeming qualities, as does Rhaenyra. But a lot of the evil and hate that happens in this story is because of blind rage and vengeance on both sides that just spirals out of control far too quickly to stop. dragging this out and showing all these decisions to be calculated, or just changing it so its girlboss girlpower getting held down by the MAN really, really undercuts what sympathy should exist for this character.
Anyway. Corlys blames Rhaenya for his wife's death and refuses to speak to her, Rhaenyra is back to being bedridden in grief for the death of yet another person close to her because she's bad at leading. Her son jace takes over. He is the prince regent and he takes over the council, starts making all the decisions and planning all the moves. he isn't fucking around at the twins threating or promising frey's shit, he is doing his job and leading team Black. It is at this point that he sends away his siblings for safe keeping, Joffrey to the Vale (on his dragon, as he had promised the Vale a dragon for protection, idk why the show changed this to be two baby dragons? wtf is this supposed to be, Jace kept his word and sent Joffrey on Tyraxes, a dragon large enough to ride.)
Actually hold up.. Rhaena went with a dragon egg....Actually it looks like they changed this completely. Both Aegon III and Viserys the two little toddlers in the show must be what they are referring to as the two hatchlings, this is a HUGE departure from the books, guess they don't want to show team black as that incompetent, couldn't figure out how to twist it to make Rhaenyra look good having her two youngest children attacked and captured by pirates.
Anyway, it is Jace who makes amends with Corlys by naming him hand of the queen.
And back to harrenhal...this whole bracken and blackwood bullshit is just dragging shit out filler, to make daemon look bad I guess. more made up garbage, its going to be hard to explain the upcoming battles if daemon doesn't have an army yet....oh wait I guess Rhaenyra can come in and magically get everyone to come together cus "girls get it done" or something.
Whats actually happening in the book is the riverlands are on Rhaenyra's side (except the tully's have not declared or marched), Aegon's side has the lannisters with an army marching, as well as the reach. except it is the Reach which is fractured. There are massive armies out of Oldtown loyal to the hightowers/aegon but other lords like the Tarlys and such are actually sworn to Rhaenyra so they are squabbling and actually fighting one another (mostly harrassment campaigns, killing scouting parties, etc, preventing them from marching).
Anyway this whole episode was basically bullshit filler. The only thing that happened is:
Oh no Rhaenys died last episode lets be sad about it
Oh shit team green is winning we need more dragons
We have dragons we need dragon riders
Oh yeah, duh.