Daemon unburnt when flying through a fireball, but his wife dies by dragonfire at the end. They’re from the same bloodline, aren’t they? I know Daenarys was fireproof in GOT but is it established all Targeryans are? Dany seemed like she had a unique ability that was quite a big deal, since her very brother was burnt…

There had to be a healthy fireproof Targaryen baby chillin’ in their mom’s ashes, right??

And she prophetically says in the episode that she wants to die a dragon rider’s death, and being gutted like a trout ain’t it. 

That’s all I needed to see.

“Why did this proud, determined woman who clearly cares about her daughters and her own future so abruptly decide to kill herself?” It was clear that she was going to die in childbirth, so she decided to go on her terms, as a “dragonrider.” (Just as she said she wanted to earlier in the episode.)

I still like this show more than I dislike it. And I’ve read the book, so I know there’s decades of story here and a LOT to cover ahead of us, so I’m generally on board with actors changing and the necessity of time jumps. But this was the first episode I felt jumped a bit TOO far and in doing so left out some…

I like this show, but am I the only one who finds it distracting that two characters look A LOT like SNL actors doing cosplay? Larys has serious Mikey Day energy, and Criston Cole definitely gives off a spurned-Kyle Mooney vibe.

“Why did this proud, determined woman who clearly cares about her daughters and her own future so abruptly decide to kill herself? Was she so stricken with grief over the loss of her child that she immediately decided to self-immolate?”

My wife and I had a good laugh about Daemon apparently standing there for like ten minutes before deciding to run after his wife who just abruptly up and stumbled out of her birthing chamber.

I’m surprised that most people haven’t caught on to the fact that Helaena is a prophetess

She was going to die from being unable to deliver the baby, so she chose the dragon rider death.

Larys’ goons did have the advantage of working for someone who once lived at Harrenhall and who could pass along the locations of the structure’s passages and weak spots.

They nailed casting older Alicent, which makes them dropping the ball on older Rhaenyra more apparent.

Is Criston a vampire? Well, at least he is the son of one. Fabian Frankel’s father, Mark Frankel, played one of the original “sexy vampires” in a short-lived mid-90s tv show called “Kindred”

Re Laena’s death: We had just been told that she would die in clildbirth. Given the choice, she chose to die on her own terms. In an earlier scene, she specifically expressed a preference to die a dragonrider’s death. Smoked by dragonfire would seem to fit that wish.

Laena ordered her dragon to torch her because she knew that she and her baby were going to die anyway. She preferred to go out by dragon fire than to die in childbirth.

I assumed Laena killed herself because they can't get the baby out. So she either dies of sepsis or ....

I wouldn’t dare say that he didn’t truly love her, but Laena’s death really does seem like a greater loss for the show (and its reputation) than it does for Daemon. Last week it was suggested that the HOTD was being careless by using the brutal death of a minority character (Joffrey Lonmouth) for spectacle. While that…

I liked this episode, the plotting and family drama was fantastic. But I really wish we could have had more time inbetween setting up the characters, especially Laena and Harwin.

This feels very much like like a later season GoT episode. Laena’s suicide and the lead up to it didn’t make any sense, but hell with sense, it will be a “cool” scene. If you want to do something like that, earn it. Don’t explain it in the “After the show”. How she also magically got that far away...