The Green Council

House of the Dragon is back with another episode titled "The Green Council" and there are only one episode left after this. The premise the episode: While Alicent enlists Cole and Aemond to track down Aegon, Otto gathers the great houses of Westeros to affirm their allegiance. What follows is some brilliant drama and scenes that will stay in your mind, the writing and direction is superb. With how the scale is smaller than Game of Thrones, it becomes much more character driven and more personal which I found to be quite great for this show. It gives us a more mature story, told by better writers that have faith on its viewers. This was exactly what I wanted after the previous episode and they didn't disappoint, it was an hour of spectacular television.

With Viserys Targaryen death in the previous episode, we are left with the aftermath and the ascension of a new king/queen have started. I have nothing but praise for Olivia Cooke in this episode, she was terrific, bringing an Award worthy performance. Like many others. Eve Best did her best performance as Rhaenys Targaryen, Rhys Ifans gave one of his best as Ser Otto Hightower. At first I was quite surprised in how the episode was solely situated in King's Landing as it meant no Rhaenyra and Daemon, but it was the right choice, thus giving the supporting cast more time to shine.

I wrote before how brilliant the writing is and I can't praise it enough, I think Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik along with George R. R Martin have done perfect job with creating the show, with the two former being show runners. Sara Hess wrote episode 1.09 "The Green Council" and her work was brilliant, with Clare Kilner directing it and her work was too quite phenomenal. There's a Shakespearean quality to this show that makes every scene so interesting to watch, really giving the show a different feeling than it's predecessor and other shows. It feels much more serious and mature, more intelligent in a sense, than Game of Thrones. The characters are so richly drawn and the tension and conflict that's built up between them so compelling and complex. Despite the plethora of dragons, it is less fantastical for one thing. It's also more focused and less epic, with a smaller cast and a tighter focus. Sometimes I do miss that big scale and epicness Game of Thrones had, but I'm sure we'll get that back in season 2 when Dance of Dragons begins. Episode 1.09 was brilliant, the whole production was superb, but the musical score... Just wow, with the piano to the epic music, Ramin Djawadi continue to impress.

Let's face it, it was always going to be an impossible task to top the previous two episodes in their greatness. So I am not at all surprised that this one felt a bit tamer.

But nonetheless, it was an amazing setup for the Dance of Dragons. Many characters had new nuances added to them, underlining once again that nothing can really be divided into just "Green" and "Black".

Instead, Green is deeling with lots of inner conflicts themselves, which was very interesting to see.

We saw lots of scheming in this one, from all sides (except from Rhaenyra and Daemon, who seem to be the center of next episode). And the big Dance is finally on the Horizon.

There seem to be some people not liking the subtle ways characters here are portrayed and therefore decide it's bad writing, or they don't like the scene at the end, because they felt it lacked an obvious decision.

But I implore you to look at all the subtle hints that have been sown in previous episodes and in this one, as well as understanding that the source material is going to be added upon to make the characters more complex.

While this episode is not the best of the season, it also is far from the worst. And no where near comparable to the atrocity of seasons 7 and 8 and the painful mediocrity of seasons 5 and 6 of Game of Thrones.

This episode is well worth watching, despite not being the gut punch of an episode we know the 9th episode to be.

I mean what is it to hate on this episode for real(Maybe a slightly thing on the WHICH IS OBVIOUS WHY SHE DOESNT DO IT)Yes its a filler,BUT a GREAT one...Again the perfomances,dialogues the interactions of the characters are on point and now you pretty much know who to hate and who to love...But the main thing for me is...Give a proper thank you from your bottom of your hearts to Ramin Djawadi...This man for eleven years make this franchise's episodes 10 times better and he did it once more...I have literally goosebumps everytime his work is showed off in the series...Let the haters be hate,this is the best new show that came out on 2022.

If only could Rhaenys utter Dracarys, it would be the only season!

The suspense was really good. The White Worm actress is the worst performer in the series. I wish the showrunners put some emphasis on her character.

Olivia Cooke put a stellar performance in this episode. Her expressions are spot on. She and Paddy Considine are already good candidates for Emmy nominations.

I understand the dark setting of the show but the exposure in the Red Keep could be a little brighter. Not everyone has an HDR TV in their rooms!

Hopefully tge next episode will be a firecracker (pun intended).

Overall 9/10. There will always be a desire for more!

....and with dislike the show I don't mean I dislike the show but I dislike the characters. And with dislike the characters I don't mean I dislike the actors but I mean I dislike the characters.

It's been a while that I really got drawn into a show. O how I dislike Alicent's character. The sneaky way how she came to be the king's wife, the trying to be fair and just and fragile but at the same time being so conniving and strong. O how I detest her but at the same time much credit for Olivia putting on such a performance.

For now I think I am more team Rhaenyra but we'll shall see how it all plays out.

And many credits to RR Martin. He's showing what a brilliant writer he is. He's showing how to have powerful women in shows without it being shoved down your throat. It also shows that people really don't care if there are lead female characters as long as it is a well written show.

Seriously after episode one I had my doubts about this show but this show is right up there with the original GOT. Great acting, writing, special fx everything is just hitting the right buttons for me.