Alicent really wanted to confide and find some comfort in her dad and he really said no thanks lmao 😭
He totally knew what she was going to say, and then just cut her ass off. 😂
Larys had already ratted her out to her Dad. So ya, he knew.
He didn't have to. Otto smelled Cole's face 😺.
“You remind me of my daughter”
Sniff Sniff
"Hm, that's really Alisit"
Lmfaooooo
Factssss 🤷♀️😎
Larys had already ratted her out to her Dad
When
Last episode of season 1 Larys told Lord Otto "there isn't any reason my conversations with the Queen shouldn't also benefit you."
Oooh
Otto's no lord. He's a grasping second son.
is that in the show?
Was that confirmed?
Do we know that?
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He couldn’t handle anymore bullshit that day lol
After that meeting with Cole and Aegon I'm surprised he wasn't just pounding shots.
Well, a clown just took his job. I’m sure he doesn’t want to think about the clown banging his daughter too.
He knew where Cole was when he was supposed to be protecting the Queen. He didn't want to set that bomb off.
Runs in the family. Alicent walked into Aegon crying over the death of his son (and her grandson) and just turned around and walked out. Really emotionally supportive group the hightowers.
Aegon didn't comfort Healena at all either when they ran into each other on the stairs while she was visibly hurt from the loss of their child. The Greens aren't the most sensitive folk, for sure.
He knew, didn’t need to hear her say it
Definitely but it was still funny lol
It was especially funny because of the way he delivered the line. It’s not that he was mad, or not in the mood after his shitty day. He was matter of fact and almost kindly saying “Oh, sweetie, I just don’t give a fuck.”
That's what the tone and expression on this face conveyed, that he accepts her as she is. But the actual choice of words didn't quite line up. Made me think of Tommy Lee Jones saying to Harrison Ford "I don't care!"
Oh 1000% loved every moment
Yup because when it all blows up, he doesn’t want to be taken down with them.
He basically said “Girl, I already know.”
“I got fired, I don’t give a shit anymore”
Not my circus, not my… humpees
"You're free to fuck around all you want, literally and figuratively, not my problem anymore"
It’s hilarious and sad at the same time for me. He doesn’t wish to comfort her while in the next scene, she doesn’t wish to comfort her own son.
Generational trauma fr
And then she walks in on Aegon sobbing and then just leaves immediately after, it was such a good and sad example 🥲
And her son didn’t want to comfort his sister/wife.
And Heleana's expression as he ran down the stairs to get past her, a slight head tilt and a nod as if to say "Yup, that tracks, makes perfect sense".... She's also deliberately refusing to engage with Alicent about what she saw in her mother's bedroom, so Alicent can't find a listening ear with Heleana, either. Phia Saban is just killing it this season, I hope they continue to flesh out her character.
I think that was more he couldn't bare to look at her rather than actual neglect but we'll see
"Having a husband isn't so bad. They mostly ignore you."
It's definitely neglect.
I was only talking about the scene in episode 2 but yes thats definitely neglect
Aegon is just demonstrably incapable of considering the feelings of those around him, for many reasons. No one in the Greens is capable of comforting one another because of intergenerational neglect. Poor Helena was held at knifepoint and witnessed her son being decapitated, then she was paraded around against her will for political spectacle afterward. No one is really there for her, even her mom is too busy explaining duty to her to give her the comfort she needed. For whatever reason, the result is neglect.
I don’t like aegon but we’ve seen they are not the e traditional brother sister marriage for Targaryens, it truly was arranged and it has always shown between those two. Aegon and her performed a duty of having children and that is all he intended to do. He would probably be way kinder to her if they weren’t married.
I know the actor who plays Aegon talks about how that is actually supposed to be sort of an unspoken moment between those two, it's not really meant to come across as neglect. They have this strong connection because he feels alone in his grief and realizes she is the only other person in the Red Keep who actually understands his pain 100%.
Yes, but the actors also tend to defend their characters. Totally understandable… but they aren’t always objective.
Jeremy Strong talking about Kendall Roy is another example. It’s hilarious, actually.
He’s an unkind person, so I doubt it.
She was going to skold him and slap him, but the timing was wrong. So she went to slap the closest face she could find
Well, Aegon was vulnerable and weeping and Alicent ignored him and went to fuck the living hell out of the guy who replaced her dad, so... Pot, kettle...
Pretty brilliant scene honestly. Just shows how the neglect has trickled down the generations
And a complete contrast to the scene in episode one, when Jace comes to Rhaenyra, starts crying and she hugs him. Really accentuated their different family dynamics, where the Blacks are open and vulnerable with each other, while the Greens are closed-off and cold.
Blacks have a perfect family besides Daemon. Might be due to a lack of incest.
Well both families have incest. I think it's due to a difference in values and upbringing. Rhaenyra is (or at least used to be) more free-spirited and rebellious than Alicent, and not easily steered by misogynistic traditions. Alicent does, she does what her father influences her to do, and wants to be (at least come across as) one who does her duty even if it makes her miserable. She pushes this mindset onto her kids. Meanwhile Rhaenyra's kids sees their mother in opposition to those traditions, and stand tall in a storm of all kinds of criticism.
Of course there's more layers to this, but I've always felt that Alicent "accepts" the unfair position she was placed in and becomes bitter and miserable, creating a hostile family environment. Meanwhile, Rhaenyra faces challenges as well, but she fights them, doesn't wallow in shame for her actions the way Alicent does, and allows herself to love, feel pleasure, and stand up for herself. Which I'd say are positive values to pass down to her kids.
Generational trauma
Less trickle and more like a snowball turning into an avalanche!!
I’m not gonna lie, I generally have pretty good media literacy, but I didn’t make that connection until checking the subreddit tonight 🤦♂️
Also how Alicent was questioning Cole earlier in the episode asking if he’s told anyone about them and by the end she’s chomping at the bit to do so herself.
She points out that what Cole wants/needs is absolution, and he explains he absolutely cannot have it, and then later basically tries to open up to Otto to find absolution herself but then cannot get it.
This... you've literally wrapped the message of the content of the show in a bow
I’d add that Aemond is cuddled up in the lap of an older whore for comfort, who he’s obviously confided in before.
That's the woman who took his virginity when he was a kid
And Mysaria said she got herself close to powerful men and listened. Similar to what this women is doing with Aemond. Not sure if anything will come from that or not. I just thought it was smart of them to include in this episode.
I really liked how she reminded him that their actions hurt the small folk. In a motherly way.
Because he has obvious mommy issues
Makes you think that it was Daemon’s old whore. Dude admires everything about his psychopath uncle.
great scene when aemond said “in truth I am proud that he considers me such a foe” I found that so funny he really is a fanboy 😭
Aemond is definitely TeamBlack.
He did say his own brother usurped their father's throne last episode. He knows the truth lol
He isn't stupid. That is what makes him dangerous, he sees reality and deals with it as it is.
How much they keep saying how the greens rely on him and his stolen dragon seem to be setting up up them losing him, one way or another. Plus, more conflict with the blacks having to accept him and how he accidentally killed the kid and started the war.
Hope that lady’s getting paid well she was a hero not to burst out laughing.
Aegon was the one who introduced those two to each other, when he took his brother to the Street of Silk for Aemond's first time. I don't think we have seen Daemon with any other prostitutes outside Mysaria (on screen anyway), so that might be reaching a bit.
i think it’s more that she’s a surrogate maternal figure
"Maybe the poison drips through."
Absolute intergenerational trauma Succession hours
Yeah this entire episode was basically the house Otto built falling apart. Viserys was much more wise than Otto and he realized that. What a mess the Hightowers have made.
nice little moment that look on otto’s face when he realised he kinda missed viserys and how easy he had it when he was king
That was so satisfying Dude was so blind in ambition nothing needed to change Viserys did well
The Irony of Daemon's stupid move with blood and cheese actually being a serious blow to the greens because it allowed their natural dysfunctions an outlet to blow up and they could start fighting each other.
Like at the end of the episode, they have alienated the smallfolk, the most competent man among them has been replaced with the living embodiment of an andrew tate video comment section, Aegon has NOBODY to hold him back from his natural inexperience, and the rest of the greens have essentially checked out of each others lives.
His first act of becoming The Hand was to use it. 🫡
She really has no humanity left inside her. I love the contrast between her as a mom and Rhaenyra as a mom
Alicent Hoetower
He said “keep that to yourself my darling”
Favorite line from the episode.
Also reminded me of Cersei telling Tywin about her and Jaime.
i loved the way lena headey delivered that line
"your legacy is a L I E"
Girl was literally like "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned"
I can’t believe this episode had me sympathizing with Otto Hightower but the whole time I was like “yeah man none of these people are worth that energy”
Same! He's a villain but a competent one. He also is under no delusions as to why he does what he does. He knows he is a manipulative bastard, and he knows Viserys never wanted Aegon on the throne.
Aemond is pretty self aware too, but Alicent and Criston are still in their hypocrite era and Aegon has a lot to learn.
Love the fact that in these last 2 episodes both Aemond and Otto have said the quiet part out loud regarding usurping the crown. Aemond admitted last episode that it definitely was an usurpation, and this week Otto admitted that Viserys never wanted Aegon to be king. These two understand what is actually going on.
For all of his talk of the long game, he didn’t have the foresight to predict that he couldn’t control Aegon. No sympathizing for the man who set all this into action by pressuring his teenage daughter into a relationship with the king.
Otto didn't predict her daughter would raise the boys to be this dumb. She told Aegon "you will be king" but didn't raise him for it nor taught him to listen.
Otto also did nothing to help raise him into someone who would be appropriate to take on the title of king. He saw what he was and still pushed for him to be king when the time came. He didnt predict it, but he also didn’t help it.
To be fair he was kicked out when Aegon was young and came back when Aegon was a teenager. And as a grandfather isn't his place to raise the kids.
One thing you can't say about Otto Hightower is that he lacks courage. Dude went personally to Dragonstone twice, in the face of probable death. In this episode, he absolutely lays into the KING, knowing full well he's dealing with an amoral loose cannon who just strung up two dozen innocent men.
Two dozen? No... 99 innocent and ONE guilty.
99????
I felt that for a second and was like wait this was all Otto's own making. Every failure. His 'long view' isnt that good. I mean his family is in absolute shambles and about to do that for everyone around them.
nah i have no sympathy for him. he's pulling a surprised pikachu face when he created all of the problems.
Exactly!!!!
That’s because this a tragedy you weren’t meant to pick sides or favorites.
Details of your incompetence do not interest me
Otto Hightower just keepin it real
"I do not wish to hear of it." = "I already know what you're about to tell me. However, my plans are blowing up in my face, lots of people are dead, and a lot more are about to die. So, I don't really have the emotional strength to listen to my daughter tell me about how she's been getting railed out by a sycophantic murderer."
Literally the funniest scene of the show so far Otto really gave zero fucks
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Seems like since Helaena already knows, she'd be the one to vent to
He knew what she was gonna say. I have a feeling everyone knows.
"Everyone knows. Just look at them."
Everyone Knows: Hightower Edition.
Not so different from his buddy Vizzy T who didn’t want to hear the truth huh 😆
You are the very best of your mother. And I believe it, I know she did, that you could be a great ruling queen.
I screamed when he said this. He is genuinely so over all of them and how off the rails they have all gone.
He really said ‘Find someone else.’
I badly want a copy of that image with subtitles to drop into my group texts with coworkers.
he did not give AF it was so funny 😂 he said he needed to get his ass out
More hypocrisy as she accused Cole of looking for absolution
I sorta took that like he was taking her as an equal now. They were strategizing together. Their relationship had evolved into being more complicated than before.
Yeah I took it as less backhand and more that's your thing idc stay focused about what really matters
Otto was goated in this episode
That was so awesome! He’s like, bitch please idgaf 😂
Well she literally does that to Aegon in the next scene so 🤷♀️
And Aemond* is getting comfort from a prostitute as well. Seems to be a family issue
She also doesn’t comfort Helaena or Aegon. She cries on her own. Otto wasn’t built for emotional comfort and that’s something she learns from him.
That line + the delivery was absolutely HILARIOUS.
I know we are all laughing, but I read this as a nod to their supposed religiousness
Allicent wants to confess her sins, and her father is like the priest in this scene. He refuses to hear it because it's not about absolution - it's about power!
And then her essentially doing the same to Aegon. That cycle of neglect/abuse really does keep spinning, huh? It’s so sad.
Very relatable. Parents do not want to think about their children having sex any more than children want to think about their parents having sex.
To be fair, I think you can actually read it in two different ways.
- I feel like this is what most people have gone with. Otto is incapable of emotionally comforting Alicent, just as Alicent then proves emotionally incapable of comforting Aegon.
- But I think it's also quite possible that Otto just didn't want to hear it so that he doesn't have to lie about it. He can honestly say he wasn't told or anything like that. And I think he might think it's better that Alicent tells no one about this. So this would mean Otto isn't insensitive, just putting pragmatism over emotional comfort.
I tend to think it's more the second than the first. He thinks it's a bad idea to spread word about it and it's better for Alicent that he doesn't know. But in choosing the purely rationally best thing to do, he hurts Alicent emotionally.
As he should tbh bc fuck both of them
Not only is it the worst timing bc his grandson is making a mistake but now his daughter is about to confess hers too like 😭😂
I’M TEAM LET’S ALL GET ALONG WITH EACH OTHER AND HAVE A GREAT TIME
Love him or hate him though, Otto's always been the fixer and the one solving other peoples' problems (even if it was often for the sake of his own house/legacy).
He's finally feeling shit and vulnerable after having everything torn away from him, goes to Alicent for some much-needed motivational energy, and she unintentionally chooses the worst possible moment to say "would you like to hear some more bad news?"
I do worry that he might have had the same response even on a good day, but I really can't blame him for essentially saying "please no I really can't take any more bullshit today".
He’s doing the same thing Viserys did for Rhaenyra.
Rhaenyra consoled Jace when he was grieving though. Alicent can’t bring herself to give a fuck
“I have sinned….”
“…. Sick… you can leave btw” 😭
“Idc sweet tea “
She said I just got eaten out da-
No no keep that to yourself
Otto Dontbother
After dealing with Aegon and Criston Cole all day the man was done and wanted nothing else to worry about 😂😂😂
I mean her confession would have been she was too busy banging Crispin that he was neglecting his own duties. She’s lucky he said to shut up before she said something she regretted. She deserves to feel guilty.
True but it would have been so satisfying for him to find out straight from her. I guess he probably already knows tho
The way I burst out laughing at his response 😂 babe I am sure already knows and he does NOT want to hear about how Ser Criston Cole has been clapping those cheeks 24/7.
In other words “i’ve had enough misery for one day, fuck off. Leave me alone and keep your sins to yourself”
What comfort could he give? Yes, it’s your (and your side piece’s) fault that your grandson is dead. I hope your nut was worth it.
Otto’s smart - he wants deniability and also cannot be called as a witness against his daughter. In his own way he was helping her.
She felt guilt and he didn't even act as a father to comfort her. All this family ppl do is just for politics.
I know im probably completely wrong but i kind of thought of the line as him trying to comfort her. Like "i dont care what you die, it doesnt matter"
I'm almost certain he already knew what the sin was and why it keeps happening. Therefore, I don't think he wanted to entertain any part of it. Almost like he's trying to deny it's happening by ignoring it completely?!
I liked it because it felt like they bonded for a brief moment talking about Aegon and peace. He loses himself for a moment taking about returning then she mentions winning over the Tyrells instead, I feel like he was happy at least someone in his family wasn't incompetent.
Then she used his lowered guard to get unburden herself and he was like "Say less.".
“You have an unnatural allegiance to losers and it’s not like you” Ser Katt Williams
He was like "I'm about this 🤏🏼 close to a heart attack, so please, don't say a damn thing"
He knows, he just can't deal with any more family drama right now.
"what i don't know won't hurt me"
Then she did the same to Aegon more or less.
Because he knows very well what she has been doing and he wants to continue pretending to not know
This show since the first season make me want to enter in the screen and shake all characters to ✨ communicate ✨
too much bullshit for one day. I don't blame him
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned yet is that while I’m sure part of why he said he didn’t want to hear it was him just being done with all the bullshit, was also something more practical.
He’s no longer hand of the king, and can no longer protect his daughter if what she’s about to say is big enough that it will mean her head. Rather than having her speak it out loud, he just cuts her off so that he’s no longer a part of the secret. Better to be ignorant and far away in Oldtown.
But yes, I also agreed part of his reason is just because of the fucked up family raising of the Hightowers.
I actually liked that scene. I felt like guilt was consuming her and she needed to confess her sins, and by saying he didn’t need to hear it he was “forgiving” her (i interpreted it that way because he smiled). I actually thought it was sweet, like him saying it’s okay people sin, the gods will forgive you.
No he was like “please keep it to yourself”
I took it as him saying he wants to be ignorant. He doesn't want to know his daughter's sins. It's very Viserys of him, explains why Viserys didn't want to hear about Rhaenyra in a brothel, and yet he doesn't seem to get it. and everyone is taking it as acceptance of Alicent, no he is REJECTING her by not allowing her to speak the truth plainly. simple as that.
I interpreted this statement as don’t admit this to me because if you do, keeping it a secret becomes my problem, and he’s already stated in the prior scene with Aegon that he has enough problems because of his Aegon’s decisions. Otto has already been discharged as the Hand and is looking to remove himself entirely now from the ramifications of his family’s actions.
I don't blame him. He's heard too much. Though, I interpret it as he doesn't really care what her sons were and still trusts her the same, especially compared to Criston and Aegon.
Lmao he just did not give a single fuck 😂
or does she truly repent her actions- confess or not.
I wonder if they're going to make Daeron Coles bastard.? She looked really guilty when he was mentioned, and it would explain why he was sent away.
Otto was totally over everyone’s bullshit in this episode, I actually felt kinda bad for him.
I think he knew, or at least had his suspicions and didn’t want them confirmed
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