I originally thought episode 8 would end with the blacks taking KL. I know there isn’t really a fight in taking it because of Aemond’s fuck up. But it feels like we’re running out of time. Especially if we’re milking this thing for 4 seasons. Thoughts?

- Larys. The source material views Larys as a bit of a mystery. Why was he the way he was? There's still so much twisty, tricky shit yet for him to do. Seeing him in action is pretty legit. Was he being truthful with Aegon and helping him because he feels bad? That's one take, but the more likely one is that he tapped into some of his personal pain - like a true sociopath - to manipulate him and make him his own creature because he is realizing he can't do that with Aemond.

- Rhaenyra and Mysaria. Is Mysaria the Black's reflection of Larys Strong? It's possible. Source material comments on the rapid rise of Mysaria in Rhaenyra's court a bit and how unexpected it was. Seeing some of why (she's capable AND DTF? That's the jackpot, right?).

- Rhaena and the wild dragon. They're twisting some of the story there (condensing a character or 2, it seems). I sure hope they don't have her take on the relationship the character she looks to be replacing was taking on, because that would be too much, even for GoT. (In the Martin book, there is a character called Nettles who tames a wild dragon called Sheepstealer and who becomes extremely close - intimated a lover - with Daemon. There's some allusion to it being more like a father-daughter relationship. Maybe they just make it that).

- The show is spending a good amount of time on character development - Daemon and Rhaenyra. I know it's slow, but I find it interesting and would prefer showing more of it to just TELLING us about why they did what they did later.

- Daeron Targaryen. I found the scene between Alicent and her brother, and the conversation about the son she sent way, pretty sad knowing what is coming.

If you could tell the story of the Targaryens from this point forward, it might be a tale of tragedy - that the "best" Targaryen was not ascending to the throne.

Daeron apparently is everything you would want a benevolent philosopher king to be. So was Rhaegar, the more we learn about him.

Larys and Mysaria are peas in a pod. They both are just trying to obtain the best possible outcome for themselves alone but they're going about it in different ways. To be fair if Larys thought letting Aegon **** him would get him what he wants he'd probably do it.

tbf there was a moment I feared for Aegon’s exposed feet in the last ep

I'm all for elaborate character building, but that's not what we are getting. We just keep getting the same thing episode after episode with pretty much everyone. It's a really tough to do that slow burn thing as well when you're only gonna crank out 8 episodes ever 1.5 to 2 years. They really need to pick up the pace, because not much has happened and we only have like 2 episodes left.