Game of Thrones S4 Episode 2-3 Reaction

Little fun fact that I dont think is ever discussed in the show is that the reason Oberyn is a Prince and not a Lord is because Dorne is the one kingdom that was never conquered by Aegon whenever they went with their dragons they'd find empty castles and have to fight asymmetric warfare against the Dornish they even killed one of Aegons sister-wives and her dragon Meraxes. They eventually became part of the Seven Kingdoms when a different Daenerys maried a Martel Prince.

Dany can't attack the cities using her dragons. She doesn't want to harm innocents. It's one thing to use the dragons  on a battlefield against soldiers and a rival army, but if she uses them to attack and burn a city it would also kill innocent civilians, slaves, children, and destroy their homes. 

Also, love your reaction to Jaimie and his complexities. I've seen a lot of reactors talk about his "redemption arc" or him changing, but personally I don't think that's the case. Jaimie is the same man he always is, a mix of honor and monstrosity, compassion and cruelty. Rather than him fundamentally changing who he is, I think it's more that those different and often contradictory facets of him shine or dim depending on who he's around. His family and the capital bring out the worst of them, because he's surrounding by a cesspool where true honor is mocked and considered stupid and everyone are (as Littlefinger said) liars, thieves, and people out for themselves. What's the point of being good and honorable when you're surrounded by nothing but bad people?

But Brienne is different. She is truly honorable and good and does not betray her beliefs or morals, even when mocked or when doing so would be better for her (ie. refusing to rise to his goading, not killing the farmer who spotted them, etc), but she also doesn't shy away from getting her hands dirty (killing the Stark soldiers who murdered those tavern maids). She's not unrealistically, naiviely "honorable" like Ned Stark, who he distained, her honor is realistic, grounded, making it far more precious. As a woman in that world, she'll never be able to get the accolades, titles, or respect a man with even less than half her skill would -- she's not even an actual knight. But she doesn't do what she does for those thing. Of course, she would love to get the recognition she deserves, but whether she does or doesn't, her actions and honor are unchanged either way. Jaimie's never encountered anyone like that.

Jaimie is a person who is deeply motivated and shaped by his devotion to those he cares about. He'd do anything for them, by anything they wanted him to be, even if/when it destroys him. Unfortunately, the people he cares for the most (his sister, his father, most of his family) are all terrible, cruel people. How can you be honorable when the people you want most to protect have no honor? Every terrible thing we've seen Jaimie do (pushing Bran out the window, attacking Ned, murdering the messenger who was imprisoned with him, even betraying the Mad King), were all done for the sake of one or more of his family members. Over the course of their journey, he also grows to care for Brienne. And in true Jaimie fashion, that's when we begin to see the more noble aspects of him shine through. He protects her, even at risk to himself, he stops mocking and insulting her, he explains himself to her, he reveals his well-hidden vulnerability about being called Kingslayer ("my name's Jaimie"). As his respect and care for Brienne grows, he also wants to be someone she respects in turn. It's a great bit of face acting frrom him in that moment when Brienne finally calls him Ser Jaimie instead Kingslayer: the surprise and relief and hope in his eyes. 

Anyway, all this was a very long winded way to say that Cersei and Tywin make Jaimie worse and Brienne makes him better, which is the reason we see such an abrupt backslide in his behavior the moment he reunites with them.

Oh man I forgot about these two episodes! <3 

The Mountain that Rides HAS been in the show since season one, the character has, just not this actor. The Mountain was the one who cut into the head of his horse with his great sword after he lost to Ser Loras during the Hand's Tourney for Ned. But I understand the hype for him.  The season is a third over, but things have only just begun! 

As people have already pointed out, the scene between Jaime and Cersei was way more clearly consensual in the books, and both the directors and the actors stated that it was supposed to be percieved as consensual by the middle of it but that they missed the target because they were surprised by the amount of discussion the episode brought. So just act like it never happened because it is never referenced again. It was a fuck-up in terms of directing, nothing more.

Tyrian tried being honest with her he's told her multiple times to leave because it's not safe for her there but she refuses to listen 

you have seen the mountain multiple times lmao. you saw him in season 1 joust against loras in season 1 and cut of a horses head. you also saw him in season 2 at harrenhal when arya and friends were captured. the actors were different these first two times. and hafthor is the third actor they use who you haven't seen yet.

You've already seen the mountain in the previous seasons although played by 2 different actors and will appear again played by a 3rd actor lol. You first saw the character cut off the head of his horse in that jousting competition in season 1 i think.

I really recommend boom extra history, kings and generals, or overly sarcastic productions on YouTube I like when he goes on about history and teaches the others something.

The scene with Jaime and Cersei is really weird. The directors have said that it was intended to be consensual (Cersei was just reluctant at first,) and going forward the show treats it like it was fully consensual.

But goddamn is it *terribly* executed, one of the worst scenes in the show.

at least the audio mixer lives through the episode

Damn it sucks that the audio problems happened, I remember when it happened before or atleast something similar. I enjoy hearing your guys commentary and conversations. Still enjoyed the reaction though. I always look forward to the Game of Thrones videos. Keep up the great work guys

Little Fd up detail for you... In the books Ramsey names a new dog after the girls that give him a good "chase" before he catches them...