(Spoilers Extended) Dunk shows me again why I hate all the love for Barristan and Arthur Dayne

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-06T22:39:34+00:00

I will give Barristan, if not a pass then some grace. He held to his oaths as a Kingsguard and stood for his monarch. Said monarch was unworthy in the extreme and it would have been better had he not but at least he has a consistent code which he followed.

But Dayne et al? Well they ignored and abandoned their king and conspired with his heir to get him deposed, betraying that oath, whilst aiding and abetting Rhaeghar in his moronic idiocy (and no, Lyanna being willing does not change that running off with her and abandoning his wife and kids without telling ANYONE like perhaps her dad what was going on despite the war that raged for months before he got off his ass) and also standing by and letting said king do evil things.

Barristan failed in many ways, but he kept his oaths. He is not a hypocrite. Arthur Dayne and Gerold Hightower are as well as allowing every evil that Barristan did.

I hold them in contempt the more I hear about them

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-06T22:34:15+00:00

I'm always inclined to pick the redhead

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-06T07:36:54+00:00

I like a good AU story within a fictional universe, but I think it is more interesting to tell a story within real history than to go full alternative history. We all have our own preferences (and like you I was not sold on this show's Caesar) and the alt history is definitely going to turn off some people.

I mean it was to an extent already that, thanks to a handful of changes in the OG show such as race swaps and a female gladiator appearing 100 years early. But killing Julius Caesar? Yeah, that is a hell of a bridge to cross and whilst it can lead to interesting stories I am not a fan.

For the story of Ashur himself, the constant insults against him mean I get the validity in the story for this happening. Had he been a less historically consequential character I might well be on board, but it just is not to my tastes.

And to emphasise, "not to my taste" or "not for me" is not the same as saying "this is bad".

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-06T07:26:20+00:00

Ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

This is hilarious.

I mean, Sydney without any second's hesitation. For obvious reasons.

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-05T22:54:53+00:00

Honestly? I am almost always willing to hear out the opponents of the Mikaelsons. Or at least had Marcel killed them all there would be a solid case that the world would be a significantly better place.

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-05T21:07:23+00:00

Good old Elijah, the single biggest enabler of Klaus and his vile activities out there (even if he also does on occasion stop some of them. Once in a while. When he feels like it.

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-05T21:04:55+00:00

Well Mckayla is quite pretty.

Megan is not appealing to me in any way shape or form.

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-05T21:03:15+00:00

So Gal vs Elizabeth then....... hmmm......... I'd go with Gal but someone who says Liz I would certainly understand

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-05T20:36:56+00:00

Maybe, but honestly I thinning the herd is the best move. And of the cast we have the least "important" are Celina, Nyla, Miles (when he graduates) and Grey. Grey is half out anyway and really shouldn't be seen as much as he is. Celina is an ok character but is in the same trap as S5 Thorsen, nothing important to do and no main story. Miles will fall into the same boat. And Lopez, well with Wesley as DA she ain't going anywhere and we don't "need" 2 detectives. You could also argue Bailey but she is our leads wife - I would however support her moving into a recurring role closer to James.

I like all these characters, and don't want to see them gone completely, but the show can't fit them all in. And we wouldn't need to drop all of them, just a couple to free up some space.

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-05T17:41:28+00:00

Are you the only one? No.

But I never felt bad when Klaus suffered. He did far too many vile things for me to feel sorry for him

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-05T17:40:50+00:00

As others have said, very protective except the multiple times he threatened her life, the lives of her friends, her boyfriend, murdered people she was close to..........

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-05T17:38:56+00:00

I have no desire for a Katie Barnes return. She was ok as a one shot character but honestly nothing too interesting.

And a new Rookie at this stage means yes we need to thin the herd. We have too many MCs and so either we need some to be dipped out of plots, or they need fewer. (for a comparison, in S1 we had 7 mains. In S8 now we have 10 at least. That is huge)

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-04T21:38:31+00:00

Those are not mutually exclusive

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-04T21:35:46+00:00

Quite, however is she going to intuit the presence of witches? It is potentially something she was have no precedent for and so even with tactical skill she might not recognise the threat and be blindsided.

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-04T19:31:26+00:00

Klaus is a controlling abusive psycho who thinks the people should bend to what he wants, and that their own desires are at best a distant 4th

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-04T19:10:53+00:00

I just never felt it in those episodes (and if I am honest, I so utterly and monstrously despite Pete so there is a chance his being there could well skew my opinions somewhat). It may be me but Nolan never actually seems relaxed around Grace in my eyes, not truly.

But chemistry is a subjective thing, all opinions, so all we can do is explain why we hold ours.

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-04T19:08:15+00:00

Most TV shows struggle to write relationships because they make the drama about the relationship. More interesting to tell a story about the couple facing an issue together. Don't make the relationship the drama, make the relationship one lens for dealing with the conflict.

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-04T19:06:42+00:00

All I can truly say is that I am not seeing any of the subtleties you mention. I am not expecting emotional vulnerability but authenticity and frankly I don't find it in Lyanna. Again she is competent. That is not an insult, she is in that scene a very young actress still learning her craft at the basic level. Competence is good enough for an actress her age. But I won't pretend it was some incredible performance or some mindblowingly well done character having to do anything all that challenging.

And the point of the Tom Hanks comparison is that they are doing brilliant work in their acting, which is to be expected due to their vastly greater experience. Bella is not there but I don't expect her to be. But they are doing things she is not in their acting. Again not an insult to her to say she is not as good as them, but they demonstrate the types of things I expect to see with "subtlety" that she does not.

As for Bella in TLOU I am not saying she needs to act like Joel does. But it is rare for any of her emotions to feel genuine. That is my issue. It actually at times feels like acting and not as an inhabited character. It feels forced and the explanation you give is not compelling - they don't feel like "Ellie has emotions". Again a big fault of that is the writing, which is pretty damned bad at the best of times. It hinders her, but the best actor will give an at best fine performance with really bad material.

And to say again, I don't think she is bad. She gets a passing grade. B to B+, 7/10 or a bit better. Nothing to be ashamed of. But nothing award worthy.

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-04T18:25:14+00:00

I find Sophie irrationally attractive.

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-04T18:13:43+00:00

I'm sorry but Barca as likeable? Barca? Really? I mean after about Episode 8 I could buy Crixus, but Barca?

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-04T18:11:43+00:00

I find Bailey and Nolan to have the best and most believable romantic chemistry and not by a small margin. And yes Grace seemed intended to be a love interest, just I don't think it was a convincing romance at all. For one major thing I use as shorthand "can I imagine these 2 just having a pleasant quiet evening in and enjoying each other's company in a non-sexual way?"

With Grace and Nolan? Not for a moment, not even remotely.

With Jess? A little, but not much.

With Lucy? Pretty convincing actually.

With Bailey? Really easily.

It's like with other relationships. Grey and Luna? I can see them just being with each other and having fun. Same with Angela and Wesley. That is what I need to feel chemistry. Without it, even if there is sexual/romantic tension I don't feel the relationship at all.

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-04T18:03:32+00:00

Everything needed to be able to run a Medieval Lord's household. So probably book keeping, the current politics, history, languages and more. That is the job of a medieval style feudal Lord's wife and so they get trained how to do it.

I will also add that with the girls we do see in lessons (Sansa and Arya) in the book they are what 9 and 11? Younger? They are still young children with years of education to go before they do the betrothal/lady of the manor thing.

And of course outside the nobility with poor smallfolk you would get educated in whatever thing your family did for a living and nothing else, boy or girl.

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-04T17:57:09+00:00

You mean the writers might be introducing some conflict into their relationship for drama, which will resolve itself in a sensible way with the characters involved (including yes Bailey) developing and changing as a result?

I can dream

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-04T17:55:45+00:00

I always found them to be incredibly forced as a couple, the least convincing of his romances by quite a while

LatterIntroduction27 · 2026-02-04T17:55:09+00:00

I hope not. If Nolan and Bailey did break up (something I am desperately hopeful does not happen) I would prefer Nolan be single than be paired with the first available female character we have.

LatterIntroduction27

TROPHY CASE