u/ApartShopping

A quiet corner of Maegor's Holdfast. Sunlight filters through lattice stone, soft and warm. The noise of the court is distant here. At a small table sits Helaena Targaryen. A delicate glass container rests before her. Inside a beetle crawls slowly along a thin flowering branch. Helaena watches it, absorbed.

Footsteps approach. Light. Unhurried. Rhaenyra Targaryen steps into the alcove. She pauses when she sees her. A waits a moment, taking her in.

RHAENYRA - What is it?

Helaena doesn’t look up.

HELAENA - It pretends to be something it isn’t.

A beat. Rhaenyra steps closer, peering into the glass.

RHAENYRA - It looks like a stick.

HELAENA - Yes.

Now Helaena looks up. Soft. Present.

HELAENA - That’s how it survives.

Rhaenyra studies her. There’s no mockery here. Just curiosity.

RHAENYRA - And when it doesn’t need to?

Helaena tilts her head slightly. Considering.

HELAENA - Everything needs to.

Rhaenyra leans against the table, watching the insect now.

RHAENYRA - I never see you at court.

HELAENA - I don’t like the noise.

RHAENYRA - Neither do I.

A small lie. Or maybe not entirely. Helaena studies her now, more directly.

HELAENA - You don’t mind being seen.

That lands. Rhaenyra smiles faintly.

RHAENYRA - I’m meant to be.

HELAENA - So am I.

No bitterness. Just a fact. Rhaenyra shifts slightly, caught off guard.

RHAENYRA - Do you ever wish it were different?

Helaena looks back at the beetle. It pauses. Then continues climbing.

HELAENA - It will be.

Rhaenyra watches her, trying to understand.

RHAENYRA- That’s not what I meant.

Helaena doesn’t respond right away.

HELAENA - Things change when they break.

Rhaenyra exhales softly. Half amused, half unsure.

RHAENYRA - You speak in riddles.

HELAENA - No.

A beat. HELAENA - I just say what I see.

Silence settles between them. Not uncomfortable. Just… incomplete. Rhaenyra straightens.

RHAENYRA - You should come sit with me at supper.

Helaena considers it.

HELAENA - There will be too many people.

RHAENYRA - Then sit beside me.

Another beat. For a moment—it almost happens. Helaena smiles faintly. Gentle. Distant.

HELAENA - I think you’ll be very busy.

Rhaenyra hesitates. Then nods. She knows it’s true. She turns to leave— Pauses. Looks back.

RHAENYRA - I would have liked a sister.

Helaena meets her eyes.

HELAENA - You have one.

Rhaenyra holds that for a second. Then gives a small, almost grateful smile. She leaves. Helaena returns her attention to the beetle. It reaches the end of the branch and hesitates. Nowhere else to go.

I don't think it's a bad movie at all, I enjoy a lot of scenes and character elements in it but I think ever since I watched it I've been trying to convince myself I enjoyed it more then I actually did. I have a lot of love for this franchise and I was really excited for Fire and Ash but after my first viewing I really felt a little annoyed honestly. 

Walking out the theater I was thinking cool cool... why didn't we end with a Navi's eye opening? Sure seeing the spirit world from planet scale was cool in the moment but it breaks the established tradition they set with 1 and 2 and that just upset me off the bat. I wouldn't have even minded if it was Spiders eye opening but give me something it feels like the movie doesn't fit with the other two now. And what was the reason? I get that this instalment is meant to essentially bookend the first trilogy of the franchise but I just don't think breaking that fun established trend was a good creative move. It's lame.  Makes me sad, I can't enjoy the end of movie because of it, I know it's small but it's a big thing to me. It was something unique to the franchise and now we don't have that. 

And if they bring it back for 4 and 5 it'll feel forced and out of place and if someone watches them all in succession they'll wonder why the third movie ends different then all the others. It just seemed unnecessary.

That was my first irk but I managed to convince myself that was a petty complaint and the ending made sense cuz it ends the trilogy on a different note. So I went back and watched Fire and Ash about 8 more times and genuinely I enjoyed it more after each viewing. Partially because in some viewings the audience was into the movie and the energy was infectious and partially because I think during my next watches I let myself just fall into the movie more instead of trying to anticipate the next scene and plot point or analyze every line and character choice. 

I think it's a great movie but I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed it as much as Way of Water or the first movie. 

I can rewatch the original Avatar and the Way of Water over and over on my tiny phone and still enjoy it but I genuinely couldn't sit through every showing of Fire and Ash in Imax because I was falling asleep. Thats really upsetting to me. But now I've figured out why Fire and Ash just doesn't hit me like the first two did. 

Firstly I think the critics are right, we have to admit to truth where it's said, the Avatar movies are basically the same plot but in different settings. And I don't even think that's necessarily a bad thing because a lot of franchises and book series are just the same plot each instalment but changed slightly. 

But with Way of Water the power dynamics were shifted and new locations and cultures was explored. We got to experience the Markayina through the Sullys like how we got to experience the Omatikaya way in the first Avatar through Jake and Grace. Fire and Ash like the title suggests should have copied that element of the other two films and allowed the audience to experience the Mangkwan way through Quaritch and Lyle they could have had real arcs of self discovery and rebirth - seeing  them fall in love with the Mangkwan way like how Jake fell for the Omatkaya would have been a great and fun twist on the first film. The beginning would mirror the end of the the trilogy era. It would have also given us more Varang, who is the reason I bought a ticket. 

For that to have happened they would have had to give the Sullys a lot less screen time and honestly I'm fine with that. Cut out all the middle scenes of them doing nothing and replace them with scene of Quaritch and Lyle integrating into the Mangkwan culture. I think that's what most people wanted going into this movie, I was expecting Varang and Quaritch to have more screen time then Jake and Neytiri and I was super excited for that. 

We'll have the Sully's presumably for the rest of this franchise but this was the only movie they could have fully explored the Mangkwan and the Way of Fire. If they do it in movie 4 or 5 it'll feel retroactive, like some other changes they've made like including more Pyakan and Tulkun scenes. 

While I like the Tulkun subplot I think it's become too much of a focus, centering the movie called Fire and Ash on the Tulkun as the main plot is a mistake in my opinion. The main plot should have focused on the Mangkwan's alliance with the humans that is what you think of when you think of Fire and Ash. The communion assault should have been moved to avatar 4 or 5 as one of many battles planet wide. It felt out of place in Fire and Ash as the end battle. Why is the end battle for the fire movie taking place in the most spiritual water place on the planet? I think that's a valid question. 

Also deciding to center the movie on Spider was a bad decision. I like Spider more then most and I like that he's a center piece in this story and I'm interested to see where his storyline goes but he's THE most hated character in this franchise without a doubt so making Fire and Ash about him is kinda shooting yourself in the foot. Because now half the audience is already less interesting in the movie after hearing it ends with Spider and is basically all about him. 

I wouldn't have even minded if Spider was the center of Fire and Ash as long as it felt like his character actually changed. Ironically enough despite his character going through a literal metamorphosis his storyline and personality is unchanged. And I find that a little annoying, he doesn't seem to ever get angry really or have any deep character flaws (besides being kinda dense sometimes) or even real motivations or goals. I was expecting us to see a much darker side of him maybe some reflections of his father or who he could become. Instead they turn him into a saint ordained by Eywa herself. It's sweet sure but feels kinda corny and kiddish in my opinion, he's just soooo much of a chosen one that's it's hard to ignore the white savior comparisons, don't know why they decided to feed into that narrative but whatever. I wanted to see him struggle more with siding with the humans, he is human, his mom was human and she was good right? - yes he grew up on Pandora but to think he has no possible interest in exploring his human heritage and culture is weird to me. Anyone would be at least curious about their own alien history but he just never seems to have any deep thoughts really.

Even after saving his dad (and not telling anyone about it putting them all in more danger) he decides he doesn't want relationship with him. At that point then I feel his decision to save just makes less sense, if he didn't think he could change then saving him was incredibly selfish of him. And that's fine, but lean into that and make him a grey character with morally questionable decisions instead of pretending like he's the bestest boy. 

Despite almost being killed by both Neytiri and Jake he just kinda quickly forgives them. Neither of them apologized mind you. I feel like he'd be valid to feel some resentment and animosity towards them, they basically treated him like trash most his life and only really come to accept him now that he's a replacement for their dead son. Idk the fact Spider seems to never have these thoughts is odd to me, I thought he'd be a smarter more calculating character like his father. But honestly all the Sully children seem to not be very intellectually gifted, they hardly ever make good plans or react properly in dangerous situations. That's why they can't stop being captured every movie. Which is just another valid criticism of this franchise. 

Doing the child hostage plot was fun and tense for Way of Water but the they go and do it at the start and end of Fire and Ash and at that point it just feels like we're spinning our wheels going nowhere. It feels like we're intentionally drawing out the storyline by adding unnecessary fluff to expand the runtime. The thing is if they had explored the wind traders and Mangkwan they could have removed these capture and rescue sequences and replaced them with new scenes letting us explore those two new cultures. Like we wanted. 

There's more to say but I'll leave it there for now, I enjoyed the movie I just know it wasn't as peak as it could have been and the box office and reviews reflect that reality. I'm looking forward to next ones but unfortunately my overall excitement and investment in the franchise was kinda affected by Fire and Ash. I've bought it on digital when it released but still haven't watched it fully. While I still regularly rewatch even just specific scenes from the first two almost every day. I think that speaks for itself. I hope after Avatar 4 is a return to form, I'm optimistic about it though I just Cameron and his team, two out of three isn't a bad average. 

I really like Tom's acting here. It speaks to me I wish he had more screen time. I believe he should have had the second most amount of screen time after Rhaenyra. I think that just makes sense and allows us to sympathize more with both sides of the conflict so we actually struggle to choose a side. But I don't know..

that first one the whole sequence of him walking and the music really is beautiful and makes me feel a sense of both triumph and doom.

They decide to include a non book canon kiss between Rhaenyra and Mysaria, who have no chemistry and don't interact in the book when they could have done it with these two who are bursting with chemistry and are said to be basically best friends in the book. And unlike the Rhaenyra/Mysaria kiss/relationship it wouldn't muddy the story because Jace dies soon after this anyways and his love life is largely irrelevant to the story. He could be gay or bi or whatever and it wouldn't need to be addressed really cuz he'll be dead before it's relevant. He won't live to try to have heirs.

But you can give the audience more of a reason to care about Cregan's devotion to Jace. They can be brothers at arms and friends but Cregan going south to finish the war to avenge his dead lover by killing all his families enemies and ensuring his brother sits the throne hits way more for me then whatever representation they could possibly have in mind with their Rhaenyra/Mysaria plot.

It would have been such a small change to both characters that only really enforces the characterization of both of them in the book. And it just makes them and their storyline more interesting and distinct from all the other male lords and princes.

Male bisexuality is more stigmatized than female bisexuality so that could explain it. I want representation sure but not at the expense of the story and especially not when it distracts from the story. Like when it comes out of nowhere and after a very sad and gross story. At the end of the day when writers force gay characters into a narrative they don't belong all that does it hurt gay people.

Because some straight people will blame gay people when it's mostly straight writers and executives making these decisions as a manipulation tactic to make the gays feel seen and get our money. They don't care about anyone, just money.

Ultimately I just want a good story in this great universe. I love that George made gay characters but I don't need characters to be changed into gay or lesbian to make me feel included. I just wanna watch the story I read. But if you must include gay characters at the very least make it make sense.

It was cute at first and makes sense on paper, it's a quick and easy way for the casual viewers to recognize who's on what side. Yes. That is true. But this isn't a sports match, these characters don't need to wear "green" or "black" signs on their back for us to remember what team their on.

It just feels lazy and frankly insulting to the intelligence of the audience. Because they didn't do this gimmick in game of thrones, Danny wore all kinds of colors not just red and black and Sansa was in a myriad of colorful dresses each season that weren't strictly Stark adjacent colors. That felt more realistic, of course people would dress to express their personalities - like they do in the real world.

I understand wearing your house colors for special events or ceremonies but I find it hard to believe everyone on team greens favorite color is green. And that everyone on team black just can't go without a red piece of clothing once and awhile.

It's boring, I want color, I want contrast - I want life. The costumes aren't bad they have really beautiful details and the fabric looks nice, I just wish we could mix up the color scheme a bit. Just for the sake of variety.

Aegon would look amazing in just black and gold, with maybe rubies and emeralds aligning his jacket.

So much potential.

The music was also on point.

I think this is my new favorite character in the show, he was so much fun in season 2 I would look forward to his scenes.

His outfit is beautiful to behold, his acting is surprisingly good and his character is awesome. He's very much a boy version of young Rhaenyra, bold and surprisingly cunning for his age.

Also how he talks to Daemon is great, wish more people talked to him like that 😂

Really wish the show let the pov go to other houses once and while, would have been nice to see how the great houses react to the kings death and everything.

There are very few and far in between canon gay characters in the a song of ice and fire universe and for this particular show Leanor and Joffrey are like the two main ones.

And in my opinion they really failed them.

I thought there introduction scene was quite nice, it was well directed and the dialogue wasn't overly corny. They had good chemistry and it was a nicely shot intimate kiss. I was pretty optimistic they'd portray them well after that but I don't know who in the writers room made the awesome decision to rewrite their deaths into something completely different, ridiculous and insulting. But whoever it was needs to get fired.

For a show that wears its progressivism proudly on its chest, they really shouldn't be given any awards based on how they write and treat their gay characters. Let's break it down.

Criston Cole beating a noble man to death in the middle of ballroom while dozens of people just watch really pissed me off. Like let's just remove the connotations of him bashing a gay man to death away for a second and just focus on the fact that a member of the Kings Guard can just randomly kill a favoured noble at a royal event and no one near by has the balls to do anything. No lords (who are Knights right? And have weapons right?) or anybody tries to do anything to stop or restrain him.

Leanor literally gets pushed by several men into a table face first. Shouldn't that be a crime? Laying a hand on the the future King Consort? A prince himself. I thought people lose their hands and feat for assaulting royalty? Thats what knight of the seven kingdoms told me anyway. But Leanor can be tossed around and punched in the face with zero repercussions. Okay. Sure Jan.

It's really upsetting and immediately breaks my immersion. Because no one seems to be having any kind of actual human reaction to what's happening. 2 or 3 men would be able to pull Criston off Joffrey, but they all stand there covering their mouths and looking away like pathetic cowards.

As someone literally gets beaten to death in front of them. The whole scene is a farce and incredibly disrespectful to the character and internal logic of the world.

They should have kept his death from the book, reuse that Tourney set, have it be ambiguous as to whether or not Criston actually meant to kill him. You can even keep their conversation just place it before their match. They really just did way too much - sometimes simpler is better.

And then you have Leanor who they changed to not just die randomly in a market street but now he actively chooses to abandon his family, dragon and everything he's ever known. And for what? To go frolic in the east.

Leanor is blood of the dragon, he is a Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Son of the Sea-Snake, and a dragon rider like his mother and his grandsire. He is no minstrel or mummer.

Maybe they changed it because admittedly his death in the book is sudden and tragic but I don't see an issue with that. That's most peoples deaths. For one we don't have to contend with the idea that Leanor and Rhaenyra are perfectly comfortable just murdering random servants in order to get what they want.

Now you're making them unlikable and dishonorable. Not to mention this only makes all Rhaenyra's children bastards which just further proves the Greens argument.

And I'm sorry but I don't wanna have Leanor be the kind of selfish self centered character that would not care if his children and parents thought he died and mourned him. If he's someone that callous that the emotions of his loved ones have no bearing on him and he's able to just be free and happy knowing they're miserable without him then that really is an awful ending for a character.

I don't understand how no one argued that point when this change was suggested. The ironic thing is they were perfectly fine bashing a gay man to death the episode before but then shy away from just killing another when his book character dies instead choosing to turn him into a dishonorable asshole. And then want us to cheer for him?

And don't even get me started on him leaving his dragon. All I have to say about that is, lies. Lies and deception, a dragon rider would never abandon their mount, I'm not believing the shows propaganda.

I could write an essay about this but I'll leave it there for the sake of brevity. I'm a gay man myself so these are two characters I was really looking forward to seeing done well and I just kinda feel personally let down by the writers and creators. I just know It could have been peak entertainment and the opportunity is gone now sadly.

I feel like he really embodied the pampered princeling archetype kinda in the vein of Joffrey but not as sadistic or vain. He reminded me of Milly Alcocks Rhaenyra, which is a great parallel.

I really loved that he was naive about power and genuinely seemed to not wanna get in his sister's way. Like older Aegon has that too but in that he seems outwardly more hostile towards Rhaenyra and her children (for obvious reasons) calling them bastards and her a whore.

It was a really good addition to have Aegon be friends with Jace and Luke and be their ring master, it makes sense but it would have been nice to see this version of Aegon talking to and interacting with Rhaenyra. Weird they've never talked to each other on screen before.

Could you imagine this Aegon on a younger more slender Sunfyre, racing with Halaena over Kings Landing. Or with Rhaenyra. Show them being friendly so when they hate each other it actually hits.

Like why'd he get so close to his face for, and he's looking directly at Aemond's lips and holding his face and the look in Aemond's eye looked like maybe turned on to me probably by the thought of being King but still idk could have been more. I was waiting for it. Wouldn't be a surprise.

It's the Targaryen way.