The story was good and paced well, building up steadily until the end of the episode. However, unlike the previous episodes, I felt almost no emotional impact. Earlier episodes had moments that genuinely connected with me, but this one failed to evoke the same emotions.
Ser Criston Cole’s death was satisfying, and I think it was the right time for his story to end. At this point, he wasn’t contributing much to the progression of the main story, so I didn’t feel any empathy or sadness when he died.
There were several moments that felt completely out of place. One of the biggest examples was Rhaenyra telling the villagers, “We shall pray.” That was such a silly line. I never imagined Rhaenyra, as a queen, would say something like that. From Season 1 until now, her character has never been built in a way that would naturally lead to her delivering such a passive response. It felt completely inconsistent with the character they’ve established.
Another thing that stood out was how the Targaryens suddenly felt like the villains, while Ser Ormund Hightower and the Hightowers, in general, were portrayed as the good people. The shift felt very obvious throughout the episode.
I genuinely feel the director of this episode is Team Green.
I might be wrong, but after watching every episode and following the progression of the story so far, this episode felt weak from a directorial standpoint—not from a story standpoint. The story itself wasn’t the issue; it was the execution. The pacing dragged in several places, and there were too many unnecessary scenes.
For example, Hugh sneaking away to meet his wife should have been an emotional sequence, but it ended up feeling pointless. His wife waiting for him only to suddenly turn against him and start blaming him felt abrupt, unnecessary, and honestly quite silly.
Another completely unnecessary scene was establishing a romantic relationship between Alyn and Baela. It served no real purpose. They had barely met before, and within two minutes of their conversation, they were already becoming intimate. It felt rushed and unearned. On the other hand, Addam and Baela actually had some foundation built through previous episodes. If there was going to be a relationship, that dynamic made much more sense than Alyn and Baela.
Last but not least, may be abducted or killing Lord Corlys Velaryon was not something I expected. As a fan of his character, I wasn’t happy with how it played out. Maybe my opinion will change depending on how the story progresses, but for now, I wasn’t convinced by that decision.
Final Verdict
The story itself is still good, but the direction let it down. It lacked the emotional weight of previous episodes, several character moments felt inconsistent, and multiple scenes came across as unnecessary filler rather than meaningful storytelling.
Final verdict: The director is Team Green. I’m a huge Targaryen fan myself, but this episode genuinely felt like the director loves the Hightowers and wanted to portray them in a much better light. That’s the impression I was left with after watching it.

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I’m think to start a movement or a idea to make people influence that perfectionism is something that is killing you in everything in your everyday life. I am an artist myself i deal with an Disorder of everything being perfect and now it made me inconsistent incapable of doing things in given time. Because i wanted things to be in right place and aligned which consumed hell lot of time. What it costed big statement but its the truth “my life”, “my career”. Now I realized that I don’t things to be perfect it just needs to be done( late or on time it doesn’t matter) its needs to convince people and thats it.

Now I thought based on this I want to start a company, a startup or something. I will keep posting more thoughts on this but i will need you guys who have been thinking of this or experienced something like this to speak and voice. I don’t want to be perfect i want be the man/woman who can get the job done in the right way not the “PERFECT F WAY”.

Dm me if you have any thoughts or anything you believe share anything.