Are The Little Things Done Right? 'House of the Dragon' and 'Warfare' on HBO

Hey, welcome to Taking it down, the TV and streaming podcast from the working class folk at the Alabama Take.

We come to you once a week with spoiler free section that begins the podcast that you can use as a recommendation guide and then with spoilers after a short break.

So you will not hear what could ruin the show for you.

Not at the beginning.

This week, Adam Donovan and I are discussing House of the Dragon and its third season through episode five and the film Warfare, which is streaming on HBO Max as well.

Let's get in the discussion and to do so, let me get Adam and Donovan into the show.

All right, we're all here.

It's me, it's Adam, it's Donovan.

And we should look and sound really refreshed.

Two weeks off for a break.

We're back now in our weekly slot.

If you're not a follower, listener, subscriber, take a second press pause on this episode, go to the show in your app and hit the plus sign or follow sign or subscribe.

And that way you can see us every Tuesday morning and you can make your decision on if the shows are right for you.

But we do start with non spoilers every week so you can listen to that part every week if you wanted.

Does anyone want to share what they did for summer break today?

I found what was left of a squirrel in my backyard and I put it in my trash can.

That was my summer break rip.

It had clearly been there for a while.

It's probably what got into my H Vac system.

Yeah, when I went without air for about three or four days, we got.

That problem solved though.

Yeah, it's solved.

Should be those not in Alabama, you know, that's rough stuff.

We'll get into some television then.

If you're expecting more from Lucky on Apple tv, maybe temper some expectations.

Lucky is a bit of a crime caper that stars Anya, Taylor, Joy, Annette, Benning and Timothy.

All of that.

I wish I could say great things about it because it's.

That sounds kind of great, but I can't.

I'll point out some good things about it.

It's a role that Oliphant can do in his sleep.

He's one of the few who actually clocks in for the work.

Not to say that they're not doing good acting.

It's just he's really good.

He isn't front and center either.

It's a Anya Taylor Joy led series, but Offense seems to be the one that's doing really great acting that evokes actual responses from him.

The others are fine but he's excelling.

I think he's excelling these days anyway.

And I've mentioned to you both that the first episode was entertaining enough, albeit really heavy with tropes.

You know, sometimes there's just no way around those.

However, the second episode had several too.

I don't think it's doing a lot that's fresh, despite some of the stars involved.

It's not that you don't care about the characters that that is a good thing.

You kind of do.

But their situation is fairly banal.

Makes you kind of shrug at it.

It's an okay show.

Yeah.

Great one.

Episodic.

Excuse me, not episodic.

Serialized television for laundry.

I think it really fits that I. I watch SNL during laundry on.

On many Sundays.

And this is a. I'm going to do some chores around the house.

I need something on, or I like to have TV on.

I think you could probably follow it pretty easily with that.

If you miss a scene or two, I don't think you're going to be ruined.

I. I wish there was more.

You know, it seems like those are really big stars who could do great things with a good script, but the writing is just so.

So that's your opinion is in line with pretty much every other review I've seen of it too, where it's just pedestrian at best.

Yeah.

But for us as a group, we're going to talk about House of the Dragon.

Longtime listeners know we don't spoil anything here.

We have a few episodes to talk about if we want to, in broad terms, so we can really focus on that most recent one was probably the most fresh in our minds.

But we also have that one Tumbleton before Unbounded Unbent from last week.

This series still shuts out the outside world for me.

You know, when I'm watching it, I want to watch it in one big long sitting.

And I don't care what's going on anymore outside.

That's a step in the right direction to say that it's good.

You know, when it's on, I'm so lost in the production, you know, it just feels like you're there.

It's like a Star wars used to feel with its first three.

It.

It feels palpable.

It doesn't hurt that I've, I think at this point gotten.

We're really used to the actors too.

So to the point where it's like, okay, yeah, I know you.

I know what you're doing.

Yeah.

And unless I'm missing something, I'm just off Base.

I think the characters, reactions to their situations, as fantastical as the situation sometimes are, they feel emotionally relevant, emotionally real.

I'm a pretty big fan of this season and I know that it's had some slower episodes, probably on purpose.

I continue to be a really big fan of a role that I wasn't sure was proper, which is Matt Smith when it was first announced, which is Matt Smith as Damon because, you know, he's a detestable human being.

Like, he's a really bad person.

But on the show.

On the show.

Yeah.

Well, Matt Smith too.

Not Matt Smith.

We don't know him, but.

But he seems cool.

Smith playing him, you just.

You kind of forget that he's actually that bad of a guy.

You know, you're like, has there ever been a role more suited for the term rascal?

It.

He's.

You really are like, murdered his wife.

He's such a scamp.

I was waiting for Donovan to use the word scamp, honestly, and I was going to if he didn't.

He is a scamp.

Flitting around on his dragon.

You're right.

He's nailing this role.

He.

He may have.

He may be stealing this season, but Emma Darcy's so good, too.

I said that to Beth today about.

And she's like, it's why he was so good as Prince Philip in the Crown.

And I'm like, you know what?

Like, yes, he's kind of irritating and petulant, but he's such a lovable little scamp that you're like, you.

You see why Elizabeth keeps him around.

He was good in that.

He was very good.

I think the.

The easiest.

And I hadn't forgotten about that role.

But, yeah, like, you obviously want to compare it to Dr. Who.

Yeah.

He has played the complex character.

I almost wonder if he's.

I haven't read the source material, but is he too good?

Like, am I rooting for him too much at this point in the show?

I've worried about that.

I mean, we get into spoilers.

I think before I'll fully expand that.

He seems.

He seems to just be outpacing everybody else.

And there's.

There's other good actors on the show, of course, but he's so good.

He's very good.

He really is.

He definitely.

I mean, I'm just speculating about his career, but it's interesting how he's really taken roles that are very different from the Doctor, especially since he got the Doctor as.

As a fairly young role and was good at it.

Was.

Was good pretty much.

In everything he's ever been in, but has almost, it seemed almost kind of consciously not to want to go and repeat that again.

Right.

But these, these two, not that Philip is like this, I don't know, sociopathic dragon riding warrior, but a complex guy with a complex relationship to power.

That's a good call.

Beth.

Yeah.

As soon as she brought it up, I was like, I just haven't thought about that role in years.

He was fantastic.

And I really, I do honestly wonder if somebody whoever was casting for Game of Thrones had had the crown in mind casting him for this role.

I see the, I see the parallels.

Do you think Netflix ever, in any meeting, floated the idea of there being a dragon in the crown?

They missed an opportunity.

Look, they couldn't even put the fucking Suez crisis in the crown properly, much less a dragon.

Yeah, the dragons get viewers.

Besides House of the Dragon, we're going to talk some about the Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza film Warfare, which is also streaming on HBO.

Max.

It's the 2025 movie which stars Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Joseph Quinn, Michael Ganofini, Charles Melton and others.

I'm forgetting they're a platoon of Navy SEALs who are involved in what becomes a pretty dangerous mission in Iraq, noted for being a film that only uses the soldiers accounts and recreating it for production.

Donald the one thing I kept returning to when I watched this is how sad it is that every generation or more needs a good reminder of how devastating and scary war can be.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, this is the what's the Civil War book I'm blanking on.

Red Badge of Courage.

Yeah, this is the Red Badge of Courage, except in Iraq.

It's pretty, it surprised me.

I'll say more about why it surprised me in spoilers, but I'll, I'll agree with you.

Similarly, like, I think it works as a movie and it works as its project, but I'm also interested in what we as viewers take to it with our own feelings about that war.

I was just reading a New York Times article with one of the reporters, went back to Afghan.

He'd been a, a sniper, Marine sniper in Afghanistan.

He said he knew he'd killed at least seven people and he was going back to Afghanistan to talk with the disguise who had been a Taliban commander.

And they'd been fighting against each other.

Like they realized, he realized that they'd been in the area.

And one of the things the Taliban commander asked him about was why so many US Veterans struggle with suicide.

The things that this guy out of his own experience was saying it got to the point for many people where we couldn't figure out how what we were doing was making America any more safe for free, your home, and you deal with that for the rest of your life.

So that's.

That's kind of the interesting for me.

Interesting baggage too.

There's almost like a double tragedy of these soldiers in incredible danger and at the same time being like, what's the.

Why are they in incredible danger?

You know, it's, it's.

Without being overtly political.

I always think there's a political message in something like that.

If, even if the message is no more than consider what you are doing and consider what the human cost is when we commit soldiers to war or when we make war on others.

Yeah.

Did you think it was good?

Do you recommend it?

I did.

Not a spoiler.

I loved the when it ends, it goes to black and then it hits into a low song.

I love Low.

It was a great surprise for me, but I thought the movie itself was good.

I would recommend it.

I would recommend it while saying if you don't.

If you watch it and don't like it or aren't captivated by it, I understand that too, because I do think that it's so particular a movie that it's not universal.

It's not for everyone, probably.

Oh, I agree with that.

I agree with all that.

In fact, I don't have much more to add, which in that case, let's just take our break and on the other side, we will get into spoilers for both House of the Dragon, a few episodes maybe, as well as the streaming movie Warfare.

Social media has made it nearly impossible for you to see all that you followed or liked, but that's not the case with Alabama Tate.

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Okay, we're back from break.

We will begin the spoiler section with a customary trip to Westeros on our Dragons House of the Dragons fifth season.

Mainly, we'll bring up things from Unbent and Unbroken, that fifth episode, but just know there's a couple of episodes we could very well spoil, such as the one before at Tumbleton might kind of bleed into this discussion.

Before we begin with Unbent and Unbroken, do you have Any lingering thoughts on Tumbleton?

So since we missed a couple weeks here, I think the only two threads that do not pick up in Unbent and Unbroken, that don't just follow through is that Ulf is telegraphing his death.

Yes.

He's.

He's coming in there and going.

You know that.

Protesting.

Yeah, I'm doing a horrible off, but that's what he said.

Damon brings in a sheep herder's head instead of his daughter Bayless for riding sheep stealer.

That doesn't really pick up in the.

You know, Unbent and Unbroken.

Those are just about the only two.

I'm not sure if it was supposed to be funny.

I don't think it was.

We're like, where Damon is.

Is arguing with Bela and then all of a sudden, like, you kind of see, like, the sheep, like, the shepherd down there.

It's like, that guy was instantly dead.

I'm such a dunce.

I was thinking, why does he look down there that.

Who is that guy?

See another king.

It made me laugh because I'm like, yep, Damon.

Damon is who he is.

I.

The only thing I'll say about Tumbleton, beyond plot is that I'm really enjoying James Norton as Ormond.

I just love what.

I don't know.

I'm loving what he's doing.

I've seen him in other things and I like him.

So it was exciting to see him here and, like, he's clearly reveling being the villainous.

What is he.

What's he been in?

Because I've seen him.

I swear he's been in all sorts of things.

He was even in, like, a mystery where he played.

What was that called?

He played a vicar who solves mysteries.

It was on pbs, of course.

Sidney Chandler.

That's what it was.

Oh, cool.

You talking about funny?

The two things that I mentioned were both a little bit funny.

Ulf coming in and going, hey, I got some buds down at the bar.

You mind letting them off?

Can they just not pay their taxes this week?

Or whatever he was asking.

That's pretty funny shit.

Olf is hilarious.

He's like a.

He's like Norm from Cheers coming up to the queen.

I think, like, the premise for him is, like, what if just like an average schmuck got everything that he got and was just like.

And absolutely failed to rise to the occasion.

Right.

It is a pretty much.

If the show were from his point of view, it would be a comedy.

Besides Oldtown, who almost rule themselves.

We get some information on Dorne, they aren't Part of the kingdom.

Uh, what else does this title allude to for you?

It's called Unbent and Unbroken.

Am I getting that right?

Unbent and Unbroken.

Yeah.

Because there's like a third term.

Sometimes they'll throw in there unbowed.

Unbent and Unbroken.

For me.

That title does not bode well for Sir Criston.

Based on what we saw at the end as he gives a browsing speech about the Seven.

That was my other thought.

Is that it refers to Sir Criston or at least how he thinks of himself.

I was gonna.

The distance between how he thinks of himself and the reality that has played out.

You're talking about people telegraphing things.

Him saying I'm the greatest warrior in the.

As he leads a failed guerrilla warfare antagonistic campaign.

They can't even cross a river.

I mean, I assume we're supposed to think this, but it's like they get to that point, like, they have, like, no provisions or anything.

Like, Kristen.

Based on his actions of what he wants to do is stopping any chance of this being a useful force.

Right?

Like, men need food to fight, you know, like, they need food to march.

They don't have anything.

Another one guy just dropping in the field, in the marsh.

Leave him.

Everybody else looked pretty healthy at that point.

For one guy just to fall out.

It could have been dysentery.

Could have been.

You'll get that.

I mean, I guess they have horse meat now, at least.

That's true.

Donovan.

You're right about that.

The men have to eat.

It's very similar to the argument Damon was making was, you got to pay these guys.

Yeah, you gotta pay these Guardsmen or they're not gonna guard anything.

It's not even that novel at this point.

But I do kind of like.

It helps keep me more in the world where it's like, okay, yes, these are guys that, like, fly around on fantastic dragons, but, like, people still need to eat, right?

Like, there's still political consequences for things they do.

Like, dragons can't really take and hold territory.

You need armies to do that.

So it kind of adds this other layer of, like, instead of them just being superheroes, like, the complications kind of make it interesting for me at least.

Targaryen dragons are basically a metaphor for US Policy in Vietnam under Kissinger and Nixon when they increased bombings to try and get the North Korean or the North Vietnamese to the negotiating table without committing troops.

That is why I am declaring Tumble Town the new Hanoi,.

Because they're not gonna bomb it.

It's not gonna work.

They gotta send in ground troops.

That's a big deal.

Unbent and unbroken reminded us all of Christian Coal, of course, a lot of telegraphing of who's gonna die.

But I think the interesting thing that they're doing is going and giving us that, but we don't know the win by whose hand.

How.

How's Christian Cole going to die?

Is Damon going to catch him?

Is.

Is it going to be at a battle in Tumbleton?

Will he ever make it to Tumbledown?

I think that happens a lot here.

Damon.

I mean, he pretty much has predicted his own death, saw it, or thinks he's going to die at Harrenhal.

Well, who's there?

A were thinking there's gotta be a battle between the two.

Is that what's going to happen?

That kind of thing is a nugget enough to keep me interested without spoiling anything, you know, without just beating you over the head too much with it.

One thing with Cole that I think is paying off now is they used him to really show the horror of the dragons.

Early on, I thought, like, when you saw them in both the original series and now this, there's that moment where, like, the dragons enter the battlefield and it's like it is their nuclear weapon going off and everything that you thought you've understood so far.

He's been a jaded, broken guy since then.

He's a different man.

And the payoff of having him.

This feels very earned to me that he hasn't really been in this season a whole lot.

And now you can kind of laugh at him at the end of this episode.

Saying, well, to die was actually the whole point.

That's why I made all these blunders.

But if you just think this is a man broken to nihilism, then everything he does kind of makes sense.

And that's a.

That's a good reaction to the situation.

Yeah.

That he's been marked ever since that.

I was basically.

What Adam said is exactly what I was thinking.

Like, it is.

It feels like a big payoff.

From season two or from season two onwards, really good.

There are moments where, you know, we had an episode where Rhaenyra is basically just like, having to.

The whole episode was like, oh, holding the crown is tougher than taking it.

But from, like, a bureaucratic standpoint, I was like, oh, my God, this is like watching paint dry.

This is terrible.

I wasn't into that.

So there are.

Do you mean this season's episode?

Yeah, I was.

I've never been more bored by an episode of Game of Thrones.

Yeah.

You talking about the one where she's having to deal with everybody's request and on top of like having her period and having to deal with surprises here and there is that episode.

Yeah, I did.

I thought that that was so heavy handed in what it was trying to say that it was just like it's both boring and not very strong writing.

But.

And there are moments where I think that they bring fairly modern concerns to say, like the small council meetings and they're like, well, you know the argument this time of like there's the out of touch guy talking about, oh, flea bottom, you know, whatever.

And then you have other people arguing essentially for taking care of the people versus putting out a show of force.

But it's like, okay, whatever.

But the Cole's reaction to a nuclear bomb going off, that to me feels like very earned modern day intrusion, if that makes sense.

Whereas some of these other ones, I'm kind of like, oh, okay, we get it.

Yeah, I can see that.

It's more of a make you feel don't make you think.

Trying to think of the.

What's the robot devil in Futurama?

He's like, your characters can't just say what they feel.

That makes me feel angry.

Unbent and Unbroken also reminds me of Ormond.

He's from Old Town, the town that really doesn't.

They kind of govern themselves anyway.

But he's also in control of.

Of this king whom he claims to serve in Darien.

But he's very much in control of him.

He's not bending to this guy.

It's Jason Norton playing Ormond.

And I thought that was well done.

To show he.

He has this very similar smirk that Damon has, but his smirk is more of, I've got a king, but I.

But I'm really in control.

Oh, the kid is playing.

Doing a good job of playing as being terrified of Ormond.

Oh yeah.

And I would be too.

So there's such.

There's such a hint of menace underneath it all.

You like every.

It hasn't gone poorly so far, but every interaction you're just like, is he gonna snap?

You know, like, yeah.

Oh, he.

He loses at the chess game or whatever they're playing and yeah, yeah.

That.

The tension again, that felt like very deserved.

You're like, this.

This dude's gonna do anything.

Yeah, don't apologize for winning.

He tells him.

Yeah, like you see flashes of like Theon and Reek in a way.

Like obviously it hasn't been taken to that point.

But just the.

The control and like terror from one.

Like both times, right.

Like he's afraid in this episode he calls the.

Basically the history's boring.

And then he quickly marches it back when.

When Ormond says with one like just says dry.

And he has to take it.

That's how scared this kid is.

Talk about some of those out in the field people with the Riverland and Northman, you know, they're the ones encountering the burned bridges.

Literally burn bridges.

But it does give us another quick opportunity to see the River Kid, as I've been calling him mentally.

It's Lord Tolly.

I know, but I just keep thinking River Kid, you know, he's matured well beyond his years, would imply.

I think it too hints that the Northmen are a lot more savage than anyone south.

Their leader almost begs to go headhunting again.

And I like how they're being painted as you don't fuck with the Northmen.

They're kind of scary.

They're wild.

Things are tough in the North.

This is something.

This is a complete sidebar, but it's sort of maybe not interesting, but I was thinking about how the whole like seasons last years and years and years thing is really not a part of this show so far.

And it was thing I had liked in the original books because it's like an additional explanation of like why Civil War is so horrible.

Because, like, not only are you destroying each other, you're destroying the realm.

And if you have a 20 year winner, you're done for.

But I think we had kind of with these Northmen, like the.

If we.

For.

For those of us who kind of remember or know about stuff outside of the show, it's like, oh, it might already be winter where they're from.

Like, it's tough.

Oh, wow.

I haven't thought about that.

That's a good point.

So with Cole's existential.

He's basically a death wish at this point, I think with his attack on the Riverland men, the Northman, did you see him as villain, hero, something else now in the game, does he seem more relatable now?

I was gonna say Larys had a speech about whinging that he gave to Aemond, that Ser Criston might have stood to her here as well.

Not really.

But yeah, he still comes across as a pretty giant prick, you know, like.

Okay, yeah, I thought so too.

You're not rooting for him, but you maybe understand him a little bit more.

I agreed and I feel like I agree with that, Adam and I think like they have done a good job of like, I don't necessarily like him.

I think I understand where he's coming from.

And I.

But I also think there's a.

There's a deep selfishness in him in the sense of the like, okay, you're going to get yourself killed, but you're getting all of these other people killed too.

Sure.

They don't exist for him outside of like an extension of his own whatever, right?

That, that moment where he's like, I've only ever served wealthy people, you know, essentially.

And like you, you are offering me the same thing.

But, like, you know, there's a.

There's a path away from that where even if that path is violent, you're kind of like, yeah, yeah, get yours.

That kind of thing.

But he still is just like in that selfishness, kind of dragging everybody down with him.

And like, for what purpose?

Which makes for great tv because the nihilism taking over is having one pocket of that is.

That's not bad viewing.

It makes stuff like Allison's brother splitting off of him.

Like, yes, this does make sense.

Like, he is like, you should be leaving this guy.

He's.

He wants to throw his life away, right?

Sir Gawain gives him the old, hey, I'm calling from Kentucky.

I know you're the coach at Arkansas, but would you, you want to come on in?

Sir Cole's like, I done that.

Come on.

It's a lateral move.

I think the creators learned a lesson from last season where they showed us all of Aemond's nightmares.

Excuse me, Daemon's nightmares.

But this season we get none of Aemond's.

We just see him waking up with the fever sweats.

Those trips took up a lot of last season with Damon.

I thought that was hilarious.

Last season I thought it was great that people complained about it.

I was, I was here for it.

I mean, I didn't mind, honestly.

There's not a lot this show does that I really just am a stickler or pissed off about.

I've just enjoyed it.

I like being in the world, say,.

Watching Aon and Harrenhal and thinking of some of the themes there.

And, you know, Aegon brings them up too.

I'm like, how have we gone this whole time without referring to this show as Operation Hot Mother?

Alice is the stand in for Hot Mother here for Eamon.

He.

She's becoming the mom he wanted before leaving for Harren Hall.

And it certainly implies he's going to do her bidding.

Unless, well, I say, whereas Uncle Damon gave her the short shrift kind of poo pooed on her a little there.

I'm not really going to give you hair and hall.

Come on.

Yeah.

Alice is pissed.

Yes.

And she's going to use aan as much as she can.

I'm going to tell you guys.

Roywood Jr. Has been one of the smartest, if not the best maesters in any of these shows.

We've seen the three, but no, the maester who works at King's Landing, he's risking his neck for both sides and seems to be improving both sides a little every time he gets involved.

Make him hand.

I know he's maester.

You can't probably make him hand to the King of the Queen.

But yeah, he's the smartest of the bunch.

There is a continuing theme around the King's Landing stuff that's good.

Where you have opposing forces that realize they can't fully destroy each other in the current moment.

And like, it's good.

It's good for everybody.

And they even gesture to the other side and speak about them in private.

Like this week it was the former queen saying there is good.

You know, there is good on the other side.

There is, but the.

The crown is going to crush kind of thing.

And so they're all kind of.

There's very few characters in King's Landing completely sold out for their side.

By the way, the new lady on the council is a lady from House Frey.

They mention it briefly.

You gotta catch it.

That's notably Walder Frey's ancestor, I suppose if you remember him.

She's the one that has the great line, right?

Is it always like this?

Yeah.

Well, she needs some catching up from the new Master of Coin.

You know that guy they may as well be texting during Rhaenyra's staff meeting.

That made me laugh.

That rude like that, that.

That really made me laugh.

They flat out call Messeria the within feet of the woman.

Yeah, it reminds.

Reminds me of the story I told you, Donovan, that man is a son of a bitch.

You know, just putting your hand up doesn't mean you didn't say it.

The look that Matt Smith gives them here to to STFU was I thought good stuff from Matt Smith.

Just doing acting without speaking.

Love it.

And.

And then of course he does basically tell him to shut up.

It's also why he's so good.

And while have such deep heartbreak when Eamon kills him, I'm guessing if he.

Goes, I'm not ready for him to go.

He's.

He's been a he's a.

He's a load bearing part of this show for me.

Agreed.

Yeah.

And kind of what we alluded to at the beginning of like, is he too good at this role for the context of this narrative?

Because he's right a lot of the time, you know, and like, he is charismatic.

Like when they're like, oh, a little speech to the city watch isn't going to help.

And then he goes and he gives a speech and completely saves the day.

Or he's right in most of his council to Rhaenyra, he's the badass who shows up.

I mean, him cutting through everybody going through to take King's Landing is like, how can you not root for this guy?

Yeah.

You know, he's a liar anyway.

Why not just have him at least pretend to listen to his wife and be like, yep, gonna do that and then not go do it.

The smart guy would say, got it, wife, you're the queen.

And then just go give the speech anyway.

I mean, it's just part of his makeup, right?

To just be like, well, I'm, I'm not, you know, the old.

Like when they go to Tracy on 30 Rock and give him all this stuff and he goes, I'm not gonna do any of that.

What a good analogy.

You gotta lay it out there.

And you know, I think another redeeming thing about him beyond Matt Smith's great acting is he through his visions and conversations with his brother, all this stuff, he is, I think, a true believer in like the end game of Fire and Ice.

And like, he understands that the best thing he can do, like, yes, he wants his family in a position of power, but like, he's trying to move the pieces around the chessboard so that there's only one thing that matters in the end.

Yeah, he's bought in.

Yeah, I think that's.

That's been made very well apparent that.

That's how it seemed to me too.

Like this felt like, why to your point, Blaine, about why doesn't he just lie?

Because it does feel like he's like, okay, he's a tr.

Believer.

He's.

And he has, because of that, like, pledged his loyalty to Renera.

But he's also like, because of who he is, he's like, well, I'm going to serve you, of course, but I'm going to serve you by looking out for your best interests, even if you don't understand what your best interests are,.

You know, But I'm willing to believe him as like a big picture guy,.

You know, oh, me too.

I. I think.

And I think that like, that's the reason that he's like, I'm serving you even if you don't know what your best interests are.

Because he is that big picture guy.

Because he's got the.

And honestly, just because he is who he is.

You know, he's not a humble.

Yeah.

I want to ask you all about Mysaria, whom I mentioned briefly.

You know, here she goes to Alicent.

She doesn't believe that it's her that's really drinking the medicine for herself.

Is he on Alicent's side?

Is she seeing both sides?

Is she playing both sides is probably the best way to ask this question.

You know, she doesn't tell on them when they try to escape as maids later in the episode, though we may not see her immediately go tell.

What do you think about her?

How are we supposed to take her?

I think we've got to let it play out some more is how I think we're supposed to take her.

I think with like.

I think it would almost be too easy to.

We'll see how it depends.

I think it's almost too easy to believe that, like, if she's as experienced as she is, it's a little too easy that she.

To believe that she's like swayed by Alicent being like, you know, don't tell on us and you'll have favor with the Hightowers.

You have to think that, like, she's a little bit further down the road in the game than that.

You know, Master of Whispers, that's a pretty tricky position.

You kind of end up being on nobody's side.

She gets that from Alicent.

Alicent also mentions the indignities women must endure in this land of Westeros.

It's much like ours.

Sadly, that theme is almost a part of every scene Rhaenyra is involved in where she's trying to lead or even have a council meeting.

And it almost seems like a pretty decent course correction for the show.

Main Game of Thrones when it existed,.

Some people did not.

And I think George R.R.

Martin himself.

I might be slandering the man, but I know he's not happy with this adaptation, but I loved it kind of focusing in.

Yes, it's the two families, but it is the two queens in many ways.

And they're both in different positions and they both have different kinds of power, but they're also like butting up against similar things and the fact that they're both queens, they're both mothers, but they're one, you know, One has a dragon and the other has.

Well, you know, Matt Smith or Damon says.

You know, he says.

I think Allison is a born conspirator.

You know,.

She's good at it.

And I think that everybody that in interacts with her.

I don't know if they tell the actors this, but they always read as like being impressed by her, like her ability to wield essentially no power into getting what she wants, which for most of the season has been just trying to like smooth the waters for the people directly around her.

So it's.

It's kind of like, how can you.

She's not really antagonistic.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, it's different.

It's different now because she's not, for example, she's trying to get out.

It seems like her plan right now is to get out with what she believes may be her only surviving child.

She's not even looking ahead to like link up with Ormund or anything.

She's just like get.

Or her only surviving child in King's Landing is what I should say.

Well, as far as she knows it is.

Yeah, well, they.

That's true because she doesn't act.

She doesn't know actually what's happened to her ward yet or to her son who is Ormond's ward.

I suppose we do with the viewer.

That's a good point, Blaine.

Not worth analysis, but there's a new Joffrey on the scene.

He comes to Rhaenyra, you know, she's asked for her son, Joffrey, who would be king if anything happens to her.

He's the last.

Is he the last one left for her?

If I think there are there not, I say, aren't there two younger ones, maybe one of them a boy that are hers and Damon's son.

But I think Joffrey is the last of the.

Of the sons that she had with her.

I can't remember his name, but her.

Lover, well, he was a strong.

If I remember correctly.

Yeah, you know, the brown hair.

I think the two with Damon are both golden haired, if I remember.

And I think they're in supposed to be across the sea right now with where B was supposed to go.

Ormond proves to be an.

But he's also brilliant, you know, hiring flea bottom folk to kill Ra's watchmen or guards who, oh, by the way are working for free.

That's a smart piece of strategy.

He probably doesn't know they're working for free.

But still to employ that, it's hard to trace back to him though.

They do I mean, I say it's hard, it's not incredibly hard, but still, he could.

There's some plausible deniability, maybe.

And that's not to mention holding up in a town that she wouldn't dare firebomb.

She's gonna have to send in the ground troops, as you mentioned, as the comparison to Vietnam.

And, you know, try to spare Darien, who's her son, or, excuse me, who's the ward.

I don't know if she'll want to spare him so that she can kill him in front of people.

I don't know what she would want to do there, but it's basically all me saying.

And Ormond's very smart.

Ormond's read the histories.

Yeah, exactly.

He's a.

He's got a flavor for the history and also has a penchant for hating smells.

Not sure how that could even play.

That's Chekhov's smelly gun.

Chekhov's cologne here.

Yeah.

And you know, speaking of Borman, great to have him tell the story of Mera Martell and how Doran doesn't bend the knee to the kingdom and he doesn't answer young Darion if Mera is a hero or villain.

I found that kind of interesting.

Mara fought off the Targaryens and basically made Dorne a self governing place up and through Game of Thrones.

Speaking of telegraphing things, things that are definitely going to happen, Adam of Hull definitely hits on Baela.

Got a little sweet spot for Baela already when he tells her if she gets married, we'll fly away in exile.

And she likes that.

But first they just got to get a little food.

But let's get you a little food, sweetie.

And then off they went.

A nice little date that's.

Put a pin in that.

We'll watch that.

It must be awesome to have so many hot relatives like you.

Just go from hot cousin to hot cousin.

No one's touching that, Donovan.

We're already an Alabama podcast.

I mean, come on.

He's.

He's her uncle.

Right?

Because she's Damon's daughter.

So she's the granddaughter of the sea snake.

He's the sea snake son.

She.

She would be her.

He.

He would be her uncle, I believe.

Keeping it in.

Keeping it in the family.

Sylvia style.

Felt bored to understand how everyone's related in the show at this point.

Take it from me, if they're mackin, they're related.

Good one.

My second favorite actor in this series is Tom Glenn Carney, who plays Aegon.

He's actually doing A good job.

I think he's killing it, man.

He.

He torments Eamon, but he doesn't know that he is, you know, from afar.

He doesn't even know much about what's going on with Eamon.

And then Eamon torments Aegon and they're both playing head games with one another without even being in each other's presence.

I loved that.

Well, I love the mother theme too, where both of them believe that the other is their mother's favorite.

That's.

Both of them sincerely believe that.

Yeah.

One of the more elevated performances, I think, is what he's doing.

He.

He adds, there's this scene where he's sitting there and Larys is about to chew him out, but he hasn't quite done it yet.

And he's got this bouncing leg of impatience and the shortened breaths of surprise and anger.

When Larry does dress him down.

Watch.

If you want to watch that scene again, watch how short his breaths get.

It's like he said, you.

How dare you.

But he can't, right?

Because Larry says.

Right.

It makes him murdering his murdering of the boot man, the bootlicker man.

It made it all that more satisfying to me to watch later.

It's a classic Game of Thrones maneuver where they give you someone who.

Whom you don't like.

You don't like them for a while.

They're a character, and then they put them on the down and outs and then you're.

You're having so much more fun with them or you're.

You're at least kind of rooting for them, you know, he's basically a flea bottom character at this point.

And it makes me think that I wish he and Ulf could just hang out once.

They both love to drink and rebel.

I mean, Larys also being shown to have like some sort of backbone or moral compass to be like, not only even worse than, like, you were a bad king, you're just a.

You're a bad person.

And like, after listing out all the reasons why that was great.

And his.

You talk about watching scenes again for maybe what wasn't obvious as the dude is still being stabbed on the ground.

You just see Larys in the background.

Go, yeah, it was comedic.

Now I gotta undo this or cover it, whatever, you know, he's created work for me.

He is so.

I cannot remember the name of that actor, but I love the guy playing Laris.

He's consistently.

I don't know, fun is the word, but Matthew Needham.

Sorry, I was just looking him up consistently, just like a Captivating character in whatever scene he's in.

Like he's kind of funny and dry and droll but also like, you know, he's been set up enough that it's like that.

The man is incredibly dangerous.

Like he's.

He's a snake.

He's so happy to play both sides.

Former master of Whisperers.

He's probably.

He might be the only person in Westeros who could get away with talking to the king like that.

Yes.

I would say especially because I think they've done a good job of.

Larys either knows what you want to hear or what you need to hear throughout the.

And he.

Throughout the course of the series and he will.

He will play things accordingly.

While we're on these scenes with Larys and King Aegon.

Former King Aegon.

Were you as surprised as Larys to see the Lannisters appearance?

I could have sworn he died at sea in the battle in the first episode.

Of course we know his brother's a wee bit dead.

Yeah.

Well, we just never saw anything happen to him.

I suppose that was it.

Right.

Yeah, that's.

That's much more.

It's one of those.

If you don't see the body in this type of show.

Yeah.

I want to talk about another scene specifically and how good it was.

I think the scene between Rhaenyra and Damon in the sept was another shine sign that this show's doing really well.

Yeah.

It's well written.

I thought that it was smart to set it in the sept in order to accomplish two things.

One, you can see how well written it is by having them speak Valerian or having to speak that and you read it.

And two, it reminds us Rainier is still pretty stung by their refusal to anoint her as queen or recognize her as queen.

And she has that great line that's she's just kind of scared.

And it's something crouched, something formless.

It feels like it's going to get her.

She can't even put her finger on what it is.

Every.

You know, she is the queen.

She got what she wants.

But something out there that was great.

That was great writing.

And the Damon saying you hear the wind blow through these high towers but anything.

They're an omen.

But it's just the wind.

Yeah.

Damn good.

When I first watched that I thought that is good.

And I did happen to catch it a second time and that line really stuck out to me as well.

It's kind of a really smart line from Damon.

Two very poetic images there back to back and just pure Acting having.

Having them do this pretty serious conversation in Valerian.

You know, you think about how do you learn those lines?

And like, what.

How to emphasize.

Especially Matt Smith is like emphasizing very specific things in the Valyrian.

Yeah.

Which, you know, it's not just like, maybe in years past, like, you know, they drop a line here, there.

But this is like a very emotive conversation happening.

I can't.

Can you guys remember one that was that involved?

No, because usually it's like that.

There's a little bit, but this is a back and forth.

Yeah.

It's one of those scenes where it's hard to credit the actor or the director or maybe both.

Surely the director, you know, had the real English version in front of her and said, really emphasize the word blah or whatever.

But I'm sure he knew it.

But then he even worked some comedy into some of the ways that he's doing things.

And I'm always just.

Actors impress me that they can remember lines in their native language, much less however the hell they learned how to do these.

This dialogue.

Since we're in spoilers.

This is a bit of a spoiler for an upcoming episode, though.

It's not huge.

Don't.

It could be right or wrong.

I've saw at least three different people online, say, about Unbent and Unbroken.

Well, that was a nice table setting episode.

Or the one that was phrased the most interestingly was said, well, that was the calm before the storm.

Huh.

So, all right.

I suspect the next episode might have a little bang.

Don't know why they didn't say anything.

Spoiler.

Other than that, it does leave us with a couple of things.

We got Cole's destitution, Damon discovering that the leadership of the City Watcher murdered Allison and Helena trapped in the walls of the Red Keep with a cat and a rat.

Those are.

Those are some.

Okay.

Cliffhangers for.

And.

Oh, and.

And lights out.

So they're in the dark there too.

I mean, I loved that scene where they're like, we should try this way.

Oh, it's blocked.

We'll just go back.

We can't.

The door is shut.

This universe obviously has always done the frailty of existence at that point really well.

But then she drops the light and it's like, okay, we're two of the wealthiest, most powerful people in this realm, and nobody knows that we're stuck in the wall.

Yeah, let's see what happens.

I suppose it does make sense to shut the door behind you so it doesn't look like you left or it'd be harder to catch you.

Yeah, I guess the door would kind of lock or be too heavy to push in that direction.

I don't know.

The door opened into the passage.

Right.

So if they pushed it shut, it'd be hard to pull it.

Yeah.

You can't pry it open.

Yeah.

I think it's a good episode for.

Highly likely we'll return to it.

You know, I thought this is just a note, but I wonder, you know, we kind of almost.

I think it was.

Adam said maybe there was some course correction in House of the Dragons.

And I've been interested to see how many of the past episodes have been.

Have been written and directed by women specifically.

And I, I suspect that there is an attention being paid to aspects that make scenes like Renera in the Sept. That much more impactful.

So kudos to the, the writers too, and, and hopefully for whoever's in charge putting, maybe putting some, some new perspectives in there.

Agreed.

And that may be why it's working so well.

Yeah, I mean, I like it and I do feel like.

I just feel like they're doing some good things with the writing.

It's Game of Thrones.

It's not subtle.

Not all subtle at least, but there's no.

There's some good stuff there.

But, you know, I'll praise the production for as long as I. I live.

Looks great, for sure.

All right.

With that, we're going to move into the movie Warfare.

It's also streaming on HBO Max.

So this is the movie directed by both Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza.

Garland's known for his work in directing Civil War Men, Annihilation and Ex Machina.

Mendoza is not that well known.

He's had some production credits.

But it's Mendoza who was involved in the conflict.

That's recreated here and it's almost recreated in real time.

And I alluded to the big part of the story.

It's.

It's not a mystery what this is about.

That's not the spoiler part.

It's a dangerous mission for a platoon of Navy seals in Iraq.

Gets even more so dangerous because they get pinned in a house that they've taken over in the middle of.

I forget the city.

Yeah, real, real place, real situation.

That's the movie Ramadi.

It was in Ramadi.

Movie makes it clear right at the beginning that this, this movie is what the events are based on.

The participants memories.

More than anything, more than anything else, it's based on their memories.

And in fact, co director Ray Mendoza's character is Reservation Dogs actor Young Pharaoh.

He is on communications during most of this battle.

And that's who Mendoza was in real life.

Yeah.

This movie almost works like a report, like a.

Like a journal entry.

Like straight.

Yeah, straightforward.

I'll probably refer to it a lot as a recreation and not as a movie because it's.

That's its goal.

You know what I thought was interesting?

I. I like that idea.

I think that.

That this.

You saying that it reads like a report, plays like a report.

I think I don't have.

I don't have it quite stuck together in my brain yet, but I think that made sense of something I was thinking about.

And I'm sure some people didn't like this, but that's how.

We don't really know anything about these characters until they're dropped in.

All we see is who they are, and all we really need to know is that they're trying to stay alive.

And I think that you saying that it's like a report.

It's like, yes, you're brought right in, and it's like all you need to do is that these guys are trying to save alive, stay alive, and keep each other alive.

Here's what happened.

It's a document, if you want to call it that, too.

I think it does a stellar job.

The first 45 to 60 minutes had me hooked because of palpable tension creating anxiety in me.

And it's.

You knew something was going to happen in any minute.

I know there's a lot of downtime where they're setting up and they're simply establishing where they're going to be in this house.

And that takes up many minutes of screen time, longer than any movie would probably dedicate to it.

But I like that because it allows you to get settled in.

And you know that without a conflict in the literary sense, in the movie sense of the word, a conflict has to happen in order for there to be a movie.

Well, you know what that's going to be, most likely.

So that helped to develop the tension that I think you.

You want to feel.

Because if this is going to be a almost documentary, well, you have to feel what they were feeling to.

To get the point, the setting up and stuff, too.

Like, I'm, you know, I think sometimes, like, processes can be interesting.

So I found that interesting.

But it also reminded me, like, when I talk with my own brother who's in the military.

He's in the National Guard now, but he was active duty.

I just get this sense and you kind of see it and like, these are like.

Like very Very like professional, capable people who are.

They have a job to do or there to do it, who are being.

Who the, who are being given orders by, you know, politicians who are not, you know, that was, that was, that's, that's me bringing something in.

But it reminded me like when I talk with my brother about what he does, as much as he can say about it or about his, his soldiers, you know, like they're, they're really professional, like they're smart.

They're here to do a job.

That process part reinforced it for me that like these guys are.

They're professionals.

Yeah, I'm with you.

The process is interesting.

It's a process.

I bet a certain percentage of us have no idea what it is or how to do it.

And I thought that.

I'm with you.

I thought that was interesting.

And when I queued this up, I was really happy.

I started watching it because I remembered pretty quickly, oh yeah, this is the movie that was sort of sold advertised as a pretty realistic account of what happened or as realistic as maybe it could be.

Yeah.

And I thought, okay, that's what I was hoping it was.

In fact, I will say that when it's at its most disturbing is when the movie switches to these 30 seconds of silence where you're looking at things from the drones and all you hear are the communications between those people.

And it's scary because like you're being given the context of what you're seeing, whether it's like, oh, those little dots down there are soldiers running, or like, oh, those little dots down there are people converging to try and kill you, you know?

Yeah.

And it gives you that quiet, that eerie quiet.

The eye in the sky that's always watching versus the ear splitting noise of, of death and chaos at the.

On the ground.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's.

I mean, I think we've.

It's the same kind of unreal feeling that we see, I think we get with drone footage in real life where it just seems so divorced from the actual carnage unfolding.

Yeah.

This movie was only 95 minutes, which shocked me.

Looking back, I felt like it was longer.

And I don't mean that in a bad way.

I feel like it exhausted me.

I felt trapped in the.

I was in their shoes of the seals and I was just eager for the other group of seals to come and help them get out.

You knew at least some of them had to get out because of.

It's told from the account.

They say this at the very beginning on a Black screen.

This is told from the account of people who lived it as much as possible.

They definitely do a good job when, when they're trapped basically when they're stuck in that house and they do a great job.

Like there's a book, Parade's End by Ford Maddox Ford, and he was a officer in the First World War.

And the last book in the parades or the third book in Parade's End is entitled A Man Could Stand Up.

And what it's referring to is the main character, Captain Tchen said, thinking like in a normal time, like a man can stand up on a hill.

But now if you stand up, you're going to get shot in the head and killed.

And I think that this movie did a good job of that kind of transformation where it's like you can't even go up the stairs, you can't even go into that room, you can't even do whatever because like war has utterly transformed the geography that you're, that you're in, you know, and, and, and we're, and I think for, for me, they did a very good job of kind of making me feel that transformation.

Like you can't, you can't look through the window.

Someone could shoot you in the head.

You know, a man could stand up.

But not today.

It's very good.

I didn't press you when you told me that this movie wasn't what I thought it was.

I thought I'd save it for here.

Yeah.

And I'm betting that you and I both liked it a lot because there's no jingoism at play here.

That was kind of exactly it.

And it doesn't turn into, at least as I read it, the core tension of the movie, besides just surviving is they're trying to get two of their badly injured comrades out of there.

It's not really a movie about killing people, about killing the enemy.

Presumably some other guys die, but it's not which.

Which you know, but it's not really about them like American soldiers killing.

It's about American soldiers trying to save their friends and, and survive themselves in a very tense and scary situation.

And that's.

That surprised me.

I thought there was going to be more of a battle as opposed to what we were given.

Yeah, you're exactly right.

Mendoza and Garland choose not to even.

Focus isn't the right word.

But look upon any of the Iraqis deaths.

I'm guessing that they, you know, had to kill some of them.

I don't even know that the camera really showed it much.

You just assume I think that worked.

For me because it felt too, from the perspective of the soldiers, like, we don't know who these people are.

We don't know where they are.

You know, there's a couple times where they're shooting out the window.

They're not really shooting at anybody.

They're just trying to keep.

If anyone's out there, keep their head down.

That worked for me.

I do.

Obviously, you know, anything portraying war is complex.

And the people on the other side, of course, are as human as the American soldiers.

But I don't think that that was a choice that was made to dehumanize.

I think that was a choice made because we are so, like it said at the beginning, this is from the memory of the soldiers.

And so we are in the point of view of the American soldiers.

There's another story to be told here from the men who fought the American stories, but that's not the story we're telling today.

Yeah, and you mentioned early on, we don't get the background of these men.

That's for movies like American Sniper.

That's for those kinds of movies.

It's not a hero movie.

It's not a high five movie.

It's not a we made it out kind of movie.

It's just a documentary documentation.

And it's one of those movies about war that's actually presented almost without comment.

And by presenting it without comment, it does make, I think, an argument I'll always remember to.

Not always remember.

Sorry.

I always remember.

And this is.

This is a quote of a quote, so I can't remember it.

But in Roger Ebert's review of the movie Platoon, he quotes someone else who talks about, like.

Like, basically, war movies kind of always break down because at a certain point, it all seems kind of fun and exciting.

And Roger Ebert was citing Platoon is like, a movie that didn't do that.

And I think that this movie accomplished that too, where, like, it just.

Just from putting yourself in the shoot without, like, by refusing to give us, like, a coherent narrative of, like, what.

What is quote unquote, like, going on in the overall battle.

I think it managed that trick where we're just with these guys who don't really have a good idea what's going on.

They're doing their best, and some of them will go on to star in Beef.

Oh, Charles Melton, you know, he's good.

But.

But I think they made.

It was just side note, I get such face blindness with everyone in uniforms.

But it was fun to see.

Like, okay, there's Cosmo Jarvis, there's.

The cast was good, but, yeah, I really.

I really think that this.

That was kind of what I was.

I think one of the ways it surprised me too.

And that's kind of what I was thinking of when I said that is, you know, sometimes war movies seem like a.

Like, violent laser tag, you know, just a sport, whereas this did not have that feel at all.

Yeah, that was.

His goal is.

Here's what it's like.

Yeah.

Which Thumbs up.

You know, that's.

That's a compliment.

Yeah.

You know, how fascinating was it, though?

I don't even know what the mission was like.

I know we know the town.

The barest bones is that they were supporting another unit, and we don't really.

Know more than that, and that's fine because it.

That helps in seeing its goal.

I thought the performances were good.

You mentioned Charles Melton there top to bottom.

Joseph Quinn in agony.

Will Poulter actively trying to fight.

The onset of PTSD was pretty harrowing.

Another choice that the movie made that I think was good.

I think this is very sensitive was the continual reminder that there's a family trapped in here with them, you know, and there's not.

Ignore that.

That.

That was an additional, like, reminder, you know, like, as the house is being destroyed by the combat, like, the.

The pain of the people who live there.

I really thought they did a good.

You know, and it was almost.

It was a scary situation, too, because you could see how, you know, you've got soldiers trying to keep an eye on these families who don't speak each other's language.

The soldiers don't want to hurt anyone, but it's getting increasingly desperate and.

And, you know, people have been.

The battle's been going on their head.

Heads.

Heads have.

Heads have had concussions happen.

You can see how something could have.

Could have really broken away.

But I loved.

I thought they did that really well.

And I thought to.

To almost end on a picture that we're supposed to understand is those families helps to remind us that, like, there was more happening there than just those soldiers trying to survive.

Right.

Like, it's.

It's like this geopolitical tragedy just exploded on everyone's head there.

Mm.

Yeah.

It's powerful.

It's a pretty good movie.

I was.

I was surprised.

Not Rah Rah, which I.

Not jingoistic, intense, respectful of the.

Of the.

The.

The men without.

I don't feel like anyone here is.

Is made to be a superman.

You know, just kind of normal guys who've trained a lot and are Trying to do the best they can.

And there's some real.

I. I remember something Phil Clay once said about, like, he real.

Like, he.

He the writer of Redeployment, who's an Iraq War veteran.

Just talking about how he.

How he realized once when he was out and about, he's like, I couldn't walk down that.

Like, he can see a street.

He's like, I couldn't go and walk down that street because, you know, if he was away from the other soldiers and everything.

And I think that is part of what this movie does, that transformation of, like, I couldn't walk down that street.

I couldn't go there every.

You know, like, if I go outside, I could be destroyed.

Like, the.

The transformation of the world that we live in through combat.

Very, very harrowing, for sure.

Yeah.

And I think we need these movies, books, documentations of what that's like.

If there's been a recent war.

Yeah, I agree.

I think that it is an important.

Like, obviously there are politicians who make these decisions, but at least in theory.

At least in theory, you know, this is reflecting the will of the electorate, the will of the governed.

And I think, you know, it's a serious and sobering thing to ask somebody to risk themselves mentally, morally, spiritually and physically in a way that.

That we ask our soldiers or we ask of our soldiers.

Yeah.

Even if you're callous enough to think it's just money.

Well, here's where.

How's your money?

This is your money being.

How's your money being spent?

Yep.

Yeah.

But it's a lot more than that.

So if you make that decision, that heavy, crucial decision to put people on the ground in war or otherwise, then this, you know, you probably need to see what that's like as much as you can.

I think.

Yeah, the movie does a good job of that.

Well, I think that's it for us.

And we'll remind you, if your traveling companion says, you're a horrible person, it doesn't mean you can't stab your bully.

Have a good week, everyone.