Hurting myself with this but oh well.
The Dance of the Dragons ending with most of the Targaryens dead. Aemond is King and he marries Lucerys to keep House Targaryen going. However, by this point Aemond already has a bastard child with Alys. Lucerys gives him children but none of them could rival their older half sibling that their father dotes on so much. Nevermind that the child was a bastard, Aemond treats them like how Viserys treats Rhaenyra. Lucerys and Aemond’s children grow up neglected by their own father, with only Lucerys loving and protecting them.
Since the Greens do win in this, most of the Lords support Aemond’s favouritism since they don’t like Lucerys. Although they can’t do anything about the marriage, they can influence Aemond’s bastard into going against Lucerys and his brood.
Aemond’s bastard grows up hating Lucerys and his children, believing he should be the heir and not some weaklings born from a Black. His hatred grows even more when all of his half-siblings’ dragon eggs hatched and his doesn’t.
Don’t get me wrong, Aemond does love Lucerys and their children in his own emotionally constipated way but his grudge over his entire family dying in the war stops him from seeing the divide he’s created by choosing to recognise and favour his bastard child. (Viserys-coded)
Aemond only realises the mess he’s created once he’s sitting on the ground watching a wailing Lucerys cradling their dead children to his chest.
The bastard child is killed and Lords are burnt but it’s too late. Lucerys is inconsolable and House Targaryen is once again left in tatters by the same man who vowed to never be like his father.
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Honestly? Did I want more from DTAMHD? Yes, I did. I wanted something signifying actual progression for Dennis' character (even just a crumb of genuine growth) , and I sincerely don't think we got that. However... we did get a fascinating insight into the process of his mind. Dennis' level of self-denial is so ironic and profound. He can't acknowledge the inevitability that he's middle-aged.
(I swear this episode honestly has given me an alt hc, that the show is based in his mind; because logistically, a man of his lifestyle and malnourishment could not commit the feats he is constantly sailing through. TGGB & DTAMHD... back-to-back? What happened to his hand? Did he even sprain it? Or is he just the most dramatic brat in the gang - clearly the latter.)
It is important to note that he didn’t fix the actual problem. He momentarily masked the symptoms, but ignore long-term help with blood pressure medicine is not going to fix the issue, nor is it going to protect him from fucking keeling over in a stressful situation (when he's not in a contained and quiet Doctor's exam room) and his blood pressure spikes.
I'm honestly a little jaded at this point (16 Fucking Seasons of crumbs, y'all), but if one were to continue 'trusting the structure' this episode conveyed a lot.
The B Plot: The pressure cooker. The metaphor parallels the building pressure Dennis quick-tempered bouts of rage. So, to toss out a little 'cat-in-the-wall' conjecture here: The pressure cooker is Dennis, but we all saw him eat that bloody diamond in the end and we all heard Mac's speech about coal turning into diamonds under massive pressure. Dennis' experience is a theory of pressure, he daydreams it all in the span of a minute or so. He's roleplaying with hypothetical obstacles. There's no risk. Maybe Dennis, isn't the pressure cooker, but the coal.
If I were to try and take anything hopeful out of this episode, it would be the way the narrative is showing us that this episode acknowledged that Dennis isn't ready yet. It's not his turn to break. It's going to take real, substantial pressure to get that diamond.
It was a hell of a misdirect (and honestly a little bit of a slap in the face), but if these characters live in the real world, where people are bound by the laws of mortality, then Dennis should have his time.
Genuinely, who fucking knows?
I'm not hating on the episode. We all know this is the trashy dick joke sitcom. I just thought that if Mac & Charlie could have moments of genuine heartbreak, culminating in deep catharsis, that maybe Dennis could have that too.... but no.
Can't wait to see the sunny dudebros miss the point & proclaim Dennis Reynolds - SA victim, traumatized individual with an emotionally tumultuous personality disorder - the new Andrew Tate.
I'm sorry, but yeah. I'm a little miffed. It was all a dream, and everything goes Dennis' way. Y'all I'm fucking tired. This was a great episode for Glenn, but a fucking frustrating episode for Dennis. I may have wanted a little macden, but all I cared about was seeing Dennis face the limitations of his mortality, to see that he's failing his body and his brain. He didn't have to actually take the medicine (I wouldn't expect him to), but Goddammit, everything seems to work out in his delusional favor. So, of course he's going to continue being delusional, and probably only change for the worse.
I'll say it: I wanted a broken Dennis, and we did not get that. He didn't even crack, the unbearble and apparently now canonical Golden God. That episode's title was intended to tease sunnyblr.
Excuse the plethora of tags. I just kept getting more irritated.
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My husband fucking hates Azula (fair) but meanwhile every time we see her I just think about how much a foil she is to Zuko and how they much they reflect the parents that “chose” them.
Ursa and Iroh were clear parental figures to Zuko from a young age, not really developing a close bond with Azula. Meanwhile, Azula was groomed by her father to be his perfect tool, where he was the one constantly encouraging her.
Zuko has several flaws, most of which stem from the neglect and abuse from his father, but he is good at his core and he has Iroh to guide him. Meanwhile, Ozai encourages all of Azula’s flaws, pushing her further into villainy.
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