House of the Dragon Season 2: In anticipation of the latest season 3 of this Game of Thrones prequel I decided to revisit the final episodes of Season 2. I thoroughly enjoyed Game of Thrones and read the books as well. In addition I read the book for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and watched that first season. I have to admit as I revisited the last few episodes that I couldn’t recall whether I had seen the final few episodes at all. I am convinced that I did not. The key storyline is the amassing of a more formidable force for the Princess Rhaenyra, who believes that she is the rightful Queen of the rhelm (this is Team Black). This arises from a number of fronts. First, her husband Daemon, played by Matt Smith, who is the brother of the dead King and her Father, is in Herrenhal and looking to gather soldiers to support an attack against the forces of Aegon II, the son of Alicent and his brother Aemond. Yes I find all the names that are remarkably similar to be quite confusing. Daemon has his own issues, including that he should be the rightful King himself, and not a consort to the Queen, and he is suffering from visions and illusions while at Harrenhal.
On another front, Rhaenyra is looking to find more riders for dragons. She has dragons, what she lacks is true blood Targaryans to ride them. You see, dragons will only be ridden by those with dragon blood that they choose. They are powerful animals that are a deciding factor in any battle. Dragons against soldiers is an easy battle. Dragons, which have various sizes and abilities, is a different story where numbers are important. The largest and fiercest of the dragons is ridden by Aemond, who is a violent and cruel leader. So there are episodes to address this challenging task.
So I finished up in preparation for the pending season. Episode four in this series with a battle with various dragons was the best of this entire series (first or second). As with Game of Thrones, there were surprises and betrayals. The quality of the CGI was very high and the second season built on the slower first season, which I did not enjoy as much. There is intrigue with family members along with the childhood friends Rhaenyra and Alicent who had major differences, but they also share in a desire to avoid needless bloodshed with innocent lives. As was discussed in Game of Thrones, it makes little sense to have a crown to a society that has been wiped out. Who wants to rule over ashes?
Meanwhile on the Green side, with Alicent and her offspring battling among themselves while looking towards continuing in the line of succession that they believe that the King stated to Alicent as part of his dying wish. But her adult children have issues with one another, including their own ideas about who is best positioned to be a leader. This intrigue of course comes from writer’s George R R Martin’s interest in the British crown and tales from Henry VIII and others. He creates a believable world, which is intentionally complex with many characters and families. The exploration of bastards in this season is a good one, as clearly these places explored have plenty of sex and family shenanigans. Shakespeare in King Lear wrote: “Now, gods, stand up for bastards!” This series has taken up this cry literally! The results for the Queen are mixed, at least so it seems at this point. Overall this season was more satisfying, even though the issues with Daemon fall flat with the continued visions for him, along with a visit to the Weirwood tree (“truth tree”) with the assistance of a local witch, Alys Rivers who for me is one of the better characters.
I have to admit that I am not clear who I am cheering for. There are true villains like the eye-patched Aemond, but others are not so clear. I am aware of the fate of Rhaenyra from a quick explanation of a dungeon in Kings Landing from Joffrey with Maergery Tyrell. The writers certainly are leaning towards putting the viewers in a position to want to see her succeed in her ascension to the throne. How much is one prepared to lose to achieve in order to obtain what they feel is their birthright? Your friends? Your family? Your children? Your ethics and morals? All this is explored. In short, there were genuinely exciting episodes in this season where plenty took place and the dragons were front and centre unlike season one that was far more about backstory and explanation of the characters with their loyalties. All in all it was good to revisit this and I look forward to Season 3.
Born To Be Blue: This romance/documentary about the later life of jazz singer and trumpet player Chet Baker is presently on Crave but was released in 2015. Ethan Hawke plays the title role, and his muse started off as an acting partner in a movie about his life that they were both filming. Her name is Elaine and she is played well by Carmen Ejogo. Much like the flawed character Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon, Hawke is dealing with a person struggling mightily against addiction which greatly impacts his ability to perform. In this case, we find Chet on the floor in jail and being picked up by the movie’s director. He is filming the scenes for the movie about his life. Hawke is very effective in portraying the charming but flawed musician. We learn that he came from humble roots as an only child on a farm in Oklahoma with a father who had some talent but holds some resentment towards his son who he feels has disgraced his family name.
Baker was gapped tooth missing a big tooth and later has major jaw issues due to a beating by an unpaid drug dealer. It seems that talent means little to those who profit from addiction rather than ticket sales. Baker has alienated all those people around him, in addition to his parents like his manager and fellow performers. When asked by Elaine early in his courting of her about his addiction he responds “I’ve got some habits”. After his beating he needs to rehab himself physically to play the trumpet with his repaired mouth and teeth. It’s painful and takes time. All the while Elaine supports him. He performs yet again in a studio where he first became noticed, and he sounds like his old self. He sings “My Funny Valentine” while looking at Elaine and he manages to parlay this into another opportunity with record and concert promoters present in New York City at the Birdland Jazz Club. Fellow famous performers Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis are in attendance. Things happen. We learn that like any true addict, if left to his own devices and provided with difficult choices, an addict will generally make a poor choice. The audience if left to wonder, like so many other artists who struggled, just how great that they would have been without it. There is so much on the line too, with Baker in particular with Elaine. Baker argues that “all I want to do is play” and “I don’t want a career”. We can see the painful dilemma and how it impacts Baker. Hawke is excellent in portraying this. Hawke gives an excellent performance, and this laid some ground work for his Oscar nomination in Blue Moon last year. I will say that Ejogo (who in real life was married to Jeffrey Wright from 2000-2014) was very good here too. Her young actress showed initial resistence to Baker’s charms but quickly fell for it. Even after seeing Baker hit bottom time and again, she says one thing and yet does another. A moth to the flame. It is sad to see addiction rule a person’s life especially those who have talent and can provide such joy with their art. This story effectively tells such a story. It is to be noted that Baker lived until he was 58yo in Amsterdam.
Mondays With Robbie 