*Spoilers ahead!*
Rhaenyra Targaryen, First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lady of the Seven Kingdoms, Protector of the Realm, and Wife to a Giant Knobhead is NOT having a good day.
Alicent Hightower, Dowager Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, Mother of Weirdos, and Boner of Incels, is having just about as good a time (albeit with more kinky sex).
You’ve got to feel for these two Queens - life is less “Yasssssss” and more “arrrrrrrse”.
In an episode that covers between 24 to 72 hours after the foul murder of wee little Jaehaerys (it’s hard to tell, people move about quickly), “Rhaenyra the Cruel” is a masterclass in what happens when people disregard reason and double down on their emotions.
YOU END UP WITH A SAD PUPPY AND DEAD HOT TWINS I COULD TOTALLY HAVE SEEN MYSELF IN A VERY ADULT SITUATION WITH, YOU BASTARDS.
It doesn’t take much to imagine oneself as the butter in an Arryk-Erryk sandwich. I mean, they were clearly kinda into each other, in a way that seemed a little beyond the “twin bond” I’ve read about. This was not Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, guys.
We all like to say we’re Elizabeth, but really we want to be Jessica.
But oh no, George RR Martin and HBO can’t let me have nice things like a literal bromance (wait, am I rooting for incest now?), so instead we get a shit sandwich for Rhaenyra and Alicent to try to navigate their way out of.
So here we are, kittens, yet again sailing the Good Ship Raven On Recap into rough waters. Join me, as we go full steam ahead into the doubling down of anger, revenge, horniness, two Kingsguards - and in Alicent’s case, a quadrupling down of kids (who knew?!)
S2E2: Rhaenyra the Cruel
It’s all go in the Red Keep as dawn breaks over King’s Landing. The first image we see is the devastatingly red bed linen from young Jaehaerys’ crib, followed by servants being pulled from their beds, nightcaps still on, as guards hunt any sign of treachery.
Quick sidebar: The accompanying music to all of this is new, and quite exquisite, if I may make that judgement. I am not a musical expert, but it feels mournful and threatening at the same time.
King Aegon His Face is busy conducting a one-man Doom of Valyria, tearing apart his father’s lovingly hand-crafted recreation of the one-time Targaryen home city. His hype guys aren’t having quite as much as they were the night before, being exposed to the famous Targaryen temper in full flight. They surround him like scared matadors as he wails on papier-mâché towers with his namesake’s famous actual-kingdom-conquering sword.
Alicent is having a minor meltdown in her father’s chambers, most intensely about the effect Jaeharys’ murder will have on her delicate flower of a daughter Helaena, but also about her nighttime naughtiness with Ser Criston “Taylor Swift Would Write a Song About Me” Cole.
“Criston Cole, he’s a real asshole… OK, I think we’ve got something here.”
Otto is more controlled; he’s already moved into the recovery phase of operations - find the killer and milk the situation for all its worth. It’s his gameplan in the Small Council, waiting for Aegon to get out all his rage at the likely culprit Rhaenyra with barbs like “the smug c*** of Dragonstone”, which is quite the witty rejoinder, and attack everyone for failing to protect his boy.
It turns out Ser Criston can lie smoothly, and nobody notices Alicent’s nervous “Please don’t turn us in” eyes.
Ser Larys interrupts to deliver the news that they’ve arrested Daemon’s gold cloak Hired Goon fleeing the city with the kid’s head in a sack. Aegon wants to go conduct some waterboarding personally, but The Hand stays his hand.
Otto is happy to let ol’ Clubfoot club some heads together to determine the truth; but either way Otto is keen to let Rhae-Rhae take the blame. “It’s a good PR move,” he tells the Small Council; even convincing the King to allow his beheaded and re-headed baby son’s corpse to be put on display for a funeral that would make Pope John Paul II’s look shabby by comparison.
“Is his wallet still in here?”
Otto tells Aegon he’s already seen as weak; to which he responds by breaking some stuff, which is always a good way of commanding your authority in the room. It’s up to Alicent to convince him that it’s the right idea. It’s to Aegon’s very little credit that he does seem to have genuinely mixed feelings about letting his dead son be used as a pawn; he’s really only mollified when Otto tells him he WILL get to have a war.
Another quick sidebar: I had to do some delicate Googling to confirm the name of old mate “Ironrod” on the Small Council. I couldn’t believe a character would *actually* be named Ironrod, no matter how much I wanted it to be true. Sadly it’s just his nickname; his full name is Lord Jasper Wylde, which honestly would be pretty cool if his nickname wasn’t “Ironrod”.
“Sadly, it is just a nickname.”
Alicent goes to see Helaena, who understandably is having a rough time after being held at knifepoint and ordered to watch a baby die. She doesn’t understand why their grief needs to be public, and why the people need to see her dead son. Alicent knows it’s a political manoeuvre, but leans on the weightier idea of “duty” to convince her.
She also attempts to explain why she was riding the Cole-r Express when Helaena walked into her bedroom, but the Queen isn’t interested. She simply thrusts a blanket for Jaehaerys at her mother and picks up one of his sweet little toys.
The funeral happens very quickly, with mourners throwing some sort of organic confetti at the body of Jaehaerys - with Frankenstein-style neck stitches holding his head on - and at the two Queens. A priest of some sort does a very good Walk of Shame impression, ringing a bell and cursing Rhaenyra as “The Cruel”, “Defiler of Innocents” “Kinslayer” and “Pretender to the Throne”.
The plan is working - everyone is grieving. They all want to reach out to Queen Helaena, to comfort her physically, to touch the mother of a dead future. They grow in numbers during an embarrassing moment when the carriage carrying the coffin gets stuck in a pot hole, and guards have to awkwardly heave it out. But Helaena was not ready for that level of emotion, and she definitely does not come across as the kind of person who likes hugs en masse.
Alicent has to hold on to her daughter to both protect and comfort her, and it’s a hard task. There was a beautiful shot of Helaena’s veiled face looking skyward - for escape, perhaps, or a lightning bolt to strike her down. It almost looked for a second like her big eyes were about to flip back into her head like a Warg - wait, could Helaena be a Warg?! Is that why she can see bits of the future?! Do we even have Wargs in this part of the timeline? Have I somehow seen the future myself in making this guess? AM I A WARG?
My brain is Fry-ed.
Meanwhile, deep in the Black Cells, Goon loses all his gruff and rumble as soon as Ser Larys rolls out his assortment of clearly well-used torture instruments. It’s like Batman’s utility belt if you replaced the Batarang and shark repellent with testicle pinchers and bowel extractors.
“I will dance a confession out of you!”
“I was hired by Daemon Targaryen,” he immediately confesses. He then throws Cheese under the bus; even if he doesn’t remember his actual name. “Are you going to hurt me?” he trembles, to which Larys issues a tension-deflating “No.” Goon looks calmer until he says “But I cannot vouch for His Grace.” Once again, you’ve got to wonder if they planned that moment to make sure Larys set Aegon up for the most badass entry.
Aegon comes in and clubs Goon in the head. The guy was quaking beforehand, but seriously mate, you killed a kid. You killed the king’s kid. Did you honestly think this wasn’t going to end badly for you once you were caught?
Let’s cross the bay and see how this news is being received on Dragonstone.
Rhaenyra is understandably shocked. As a grieving mother herself, she’d never order the decapitation of a child, or put an innocent like Helaena through pain - and she gets cranky when one of her councillors suggests it could have been a rash comment on her part that started the murder ball rolling. Which is fair, given she was quite intense about murdering Aemond.
“Yeah, well, YOU shut up.”
Meanwhile Rhaenys just looks at Prince Daemon with a “I totally know it was you, bruv” expression, and Rhaenyra eventually realises the same - well, she has little else to realise once she sees Matt Daemon smiling smugly at her.
Their subsequent scene was beautifully played, and I’d hazard a guess the longest scene of the episode. We were allowed to spend time with these two titanic characters, who are on the same path and yet differ wildly in how they want to make the journey.
Despite Rhaenyra’s frustration and near tears, Daemon either couldn’t or wouldn’t see his poor judgement. Rhae presses him for details on what exactly he told the assassins that would have led to them to kill a lil’ baby, but he insists he told them to look for Aemond alone. He maintains it’s not his responsibility if THEY made a mistake.
Rhaenyra tries to make Daemon see beyond his own ingrained ideas about his interpersonal relationships, suggesting that his behaviour made first her father, and now her, doubt his intentions. As a great philosopher once said:
From Daemon’s perspective, he put Viserys’ crown on Rhaenyra’s head, so his loyalty should be obvious to her. But Rhaenyra senses his potentially toxic mix of jealousy and impulsivity could derail both of them. “I don’t know who you are, or who it is you serve,” she pleas.
His ego wounded, Daemon tries to hit back at her saying that Viserys only made her heir because he knew Daemon was the stronger leader of men and was scared of him.
“You’re pathetic,” breathes Rhaenyra, basically done with his shit now.
Daemon storms off, ignoring his daughter Baela in the halls as he goes, and we see him leaving Dragonstone in full armour on the back of Caraxes. The impression is he’s going to double down on his poor decision-making by attempting to bring Harrenhal to heel solo - but geez, it makes for a mighty fine CGI shot of the Bloodworm flying away from Dragonstone.
Speaking with Baela, who she orders to take her dragon Moondancer and patrol the skies above King’s Landing, Rhaenyra tells her that Daemon “must follow his own path”. Chaos agent be chaos agenting.
There’s a lovely little subsequent scene between Baela and Jacerys, who are after all, betrothed. Baela’s out doing some crossbow training, and the two have a chat about fathers. Baela thinks she might hate Daemon; Jace has memories of two fathers - their official one, Laenor Velaryon, and their real sperm donor, Ser Harwin Strong. They both seem to know the truth, but also know it doesn’t really matter - they had strong father figures, but eventually you have to make your own way. Also Jace misses Luke. Nawww.
We later see Moondancer fly out over Driftmark, which brings us to the first of a number of new character introductions, particularly taking us into the lives of the smallfolk.
Driftmark boat builder Alan reunites with his brother, who is criminally not called Steve.
Addam (I know it’s weird for me to say this, but that is an unnecessary “d”) is some sort of chef, and one who thinks his brother should lean on his good standing with Corlys Velaryon for personal advantage. Why Alan seems averse to this is still a mystery to me, but I AM interested in his brother’s cooking skills. As long as I can avoid crabs.
Over in King’s Landing, we meet that burly ironmonger or blacksmith chappy from last episode - the one who got Aegon to agree to pay them something before they started work. His name is Hugh, and he turns out to have an inner life, which is intriguing. A regular person! With feelings! In this tale of royal revenge!
For those non-Australians reading, you should know our nationwide struggle with inflationary pressures has been given its own bastardised nickname… “cossie livs”.
It’s somewhat mollifying to see King’s Landing undergoing its own cossie livs crisis, with Burly Hugh (Hughly-Burly?) and his missus struggling to look after an ill child AND find a chicken dinner that hasn’t been grossly marked up.
Is Burly Hugh going to be a thing? Is he a Wat Tyler-esque figure, a yeoman worker who might gather supporters enough to stage a labour strike?
Another self-described “smallfolk” character we meet is clearly in somewhat of a position of power - it’s the brother madam that Aemond seems to have taken to as a quasi-material figure.
Quick sidebar: Hey hey! We got a flash of TITS! Saucy nudie fan dancers at a Street of Silk naughty house giving us a tantalising reminder of a world of sexposition gone by.
I wasn’t sure who to expect at this Skin Bin, but it definitely wasn’t Aemond.
Last season he talked about Aegon taking him to brothels when he was still a boy because he thought he needed deflowering, but I always read Aemond as one of those “Men Going Their Own Way” types. You know, those levelled-up incels who’ve decided they don’t even WANT the soft touch of a woman on their wing-wang because it will just SUCK OUT THEIR LIFE FORCE and hobble their ability to go live in the woods and hunt deer or whatever.
Having said that, Aemond’s visits to visit a Flesh Mesh make more sense as we realise he’s clearly got some Mummy issues he needs to work through with an attractive but gentle older woman who’s happy to let him monopolise the best room so he can have his one-eye stroked.
But which eye?!?!
It turns out the reason Aemond wasn’t around to be murdered by Goon and Cheese is that he was with this Madam instead, getting “therapy” with his “therapy”.
She tries to kiss him at one point, and he pulls away, saying “not here”, and laying his head on her lap. He doesn’t seem interested in the practical services of the Boner Doner Centre, just the counselling.
It turns out he regrets losing his temper and chasing down Lucerys, but he was bullied, you see? Because he’s different. Yes yes, the Madam says, reminding him that when princes lose their temper, the smallfolk suffer.
It’s the kind of life instruction that he should really have learned at the foot of his parents - you know, the former King and Queen. But maybe unlike Helaena, Aemond feels drawn to the smallfolk, as a way of establishing a connection to a broader world.
OR he just likes people treating him like a king, considering he’ll never be one.
Meanwhile, I don’t mean to be personal, but WOW Aemond is all angles, isn’t he? He’s the human equivalent of a flick knife. He doesn’t even need a sword, he can just stab you with his joints and you’d be done.
I shouldn’t be too rude to the boy. Sometimes you do just need a gentle, non-judgemental touch. Speaking as your MOKILF, I’d be happy to cradle all of you naked and tell you you’re not a freakishly evil psychopath.
The final glimpse into smallfolk life comes when we see a bunch of dudes grimly hanging from the castle gates. “My son!” cries one woman, before collapsing to the ground. For exposition’s sake, they have a random fellow ask another random woman “Who are they?” so she can simply reply “Ratcatchers”.
It turns out in his infinite wisdom/revenge arousal, Aegon ordered all the ratcatchers in the king’s employ to be hanged. Old mate Goon didn’t know Cheese’s real name, so all of them had to go. The Goon bag is empty; the Cheese is no more. That brief party is officially over.
What it leaves, however, amidst the wailing women, is Cheese’s BEAUTIFUL LITTLE SCRAPPY PUPPY whimpering at the sight of his master’s face bulging lifeless in a noose.
Burn them all. Burn them all. Burn them all.
Somebody give that dog the Emmy. It was one, single shot, and yet I cried aloud at seeing him bark pathetically for his dead master. It made me think of one of the saddest moments in all of television history and then I was even more sad.
Kittens - does it say more about the SHOW, or about ME, that this happened? Am I so indifferent to my fellow humans that the decapitation of a child, while engendering a strong feeling of repulsion, was nothing compared to my pain at seeing a dog feel slightly sad?
Or is the show so worried that another human death will mean nothing to hardened viewers that they need to invoke animal pain to remind us of our humanity?
All I know is that if they do something mean to a cat, I’m kicking some stuff over.
Thankfully, Otto Hightower is as angry about the sad puppy as the rest of us.
Sure, he hides it by saying killing innocent ratcatchers basically eliminates the goodwill generated by Jaehaerys’ funeral, but we all know Otto is a dog-lover.
Otto’s vitriolic flaying of Aegon was brilliant to watch. For the first time, he really let his feelings about his grandson fly. “The King is a fool!” he spits, defying Ser Criston’s warning to show respect. “Ill-considered, trifling!”
I will say it’s a bit rich of Otto to have a moment of longing for King Viserys. Of course he never actively plotted against Viserys himself, but boy, you could have prevented all of this by just LETTING RHAENYRA TAKE THE THRONE LIKE THE KING WANTED.
“F*** dignity, I want revenge!” is Aegon’s reply, and look, that’s in character at this point. “My father is dead.”
“And we are poorer for it,” he sighs. AGAIN, YOUR REGRETS WERE ENTIRELY PREVENTABLE.
There is a good laugh from Otto about whether Viserys truly made Aegon king, but it’s too late.
While his character’s doubling down this episode was probably the only example of being a net good - if you think in terms of short term hope for humanity. Certainly it’s not for himself, or the long term, because Aegon doubles down himself and sacks Otto as Hand of the King.
It was a nice touch for Otto to throw his official badge at Ser Criston Cole’s feet, rather than actually pass it to him. Spit on the office as you go, bitch. But it doesn’t stop Otto worrying about the fate of his and Alicent’s long-held plans for the future of the realm. He thinks he should go back to Oldtown, where his elder brother holds power - AND ALSO BECAUSE ALICENT HAS A SON THERE CALLED DAERON AND I’M SORRY WHAT NOW?
I’m pretty sure I recall Stu telling me that in the Fire & Blood book that serves as source material for HotD, Viserys and Alicent did have a fourth child, another son. But Season 1 made no mention of him! I had thought they’d keep cast numbers down by eliminating excess children, but apparently not.
So now I’m intrigued as to what kind of lad this Daeron is. Maybe growing up under the slow and careful influence of Maesters in Old Town has tempered his base Targaryen nature, and he might have something positive to contribute.
Also, is it really pronounced “Dare-ron”, because Daeron seems a bee’s todger from “Darren” if you ask me. I’d love Westeros to have its own Darren. Best name since Jason Lannister.
Alicent tells Otto to instead go to Highgarden to ensure the Tyrells come to heel, and wait for this whole thing to blow over. Otto reassures her that the young are peacocks, “all shrieking and feathers” - which is a lovely turn of phrase - but they can restore peace if they just stick to their Daddy-Daughter plans.
But why, we must ask, was Aegon so keen to reward Ser Criston “Brainmogged” Cole?
Well, he’d been feeling guilty about being abedded with Alicent while the heir to the throne was getting beheaded nearby. To ameliorate himself of responsibility somewhat, he starts getting all up in the grill of Ser Arryk, the twin who stayed with the Greens, brother of Ser Erryk, who absconded to the Blacks.
He tasks Ser Arryk with the greatest operation of them all to kill Rhaenyra: a Parent Trap.
That’s right, he’s got to go alone to Dragonstone, pretend to be his own brother, then kill Rhaenyra. Ser Arryk doesn’t want to, because he’s not an idiot, but in the end he has no choice.
Given that Aegon makes him Hand of the King for this action, he’d better hope it pays off.
So let’s return to Dragonstone for the final part of our journey this week.
Rhaenyra seems to be haunted by Daemon’s words since he sodded off in a huff. However flawed he is, he still has been her chief adviser and emotional rock. Indeed, one of her accusations against him was that he ran a war council instead of helping her give birth to that weird scaly baby that died just before Lucerys did. She needs to know she is his priority; him leaving doesn’t really help that anxiety, no matter how well she is looked after by others.
There’s a quiet moment when Rhae is alone in her library, pulls out a dusty tome, and flicks through it. We see a symbol of the original three conquering Targaryens, and then an image of Visenya riding Vhagar. It’s a reminder that this one dragon, who helped found the Targaryen dynasty in Westeros, could be responsible for wiping out her line of it. She’s got some big issues ahead of her.
In front of her, too. Magical Mysaria Tour has been languishing in the cells since giving Matt Daemon the goss on how to set up the bungled Jaehaerys murder. Rhae interrogates her for information, and Mysaria continues to display serious signs of seasonal depression - or ramplant nihilism. The girl just wants to GO.
Her only bit of satisfaction comes from realising who Mysaria is - the one-time good-time girl of Daemon himself. Back when Rhae was a teen, Daemon had claimed his then-mistress was pregnant, and she was going to be a part of all of his plans.
Her rise to White Worm came about precisely because he had abandoned her, and she made the most of the confidences she had been able to establish in her time as a whore. She took advantage of Otto Hightower as much as he took advantage of her knowledge networks - and so assumes it was him that destroyed them. We know it was more Ser Larys acting on request of Alicent, but that’s by the by.
The key point is Mysaria looks after Mysaria, because Big Important Men will never accept her anyway. And rather than try to be a Big Important Woman, she just wants a life of anonymity.
Rhaenyra doesn’t want to let Magical Mysaria resume her Tour to the Free Cities. But later, she changes her mind, and says even though she doesn’t trust her, if the word of her house is given, it must be honoured.
This doubling down on her reputation may seem small, but has mighty consequences. In fact, it saves Rhaenyra’s life.
For it’s Mysaria who spies a dead ringer for Ser Erryk, Rhaenyra’s half of the hot twins, marching his way up to the palace as she heads for a safe passage off Dragonstone. Thankfully, she notices, and stops. “A moment,” she asks her guard.
“Um, what?”
Ser Arryk gets himself let into the palace with a superb impression of his own brother. He plays a tense cat and mouse game with his brother, stalking him around the main rooms of the castle, removing his own helmet when he realises Ser Erryk is not wearing his. Eventually he dismisses the guard at Rhaenyra’s door and says he’ll take the night watch.
Rhaenyra is trying to sleep, and her handmaiden is about to organise a draught to send her off, when Ser Arryk bursts in and draws his sword. Everyone is clearly confused, but aware danger has arrived. Thankfully Mysaria’s message has gotten through and hooray! Ser Erryk runs in to stop his brother murdering his Queen.
Kittens, please tell me I’m not alone in that I had NO FREAKING IDEA who was who in that sword fight.
I was glad that Rhaenyra was also confused, because damn, it was tense. She manages to get her handmaiden to run off and get another knight, but as she huddled behind stone pillars, it truly feels like her death is imminent.
After what seems like forever, one of the knights gets the other one down, and screams that he still loves his brother despite their disagreement. “We were born together, you parted us!” was delivered with a rage only Miranda in the Sex and the City movie could match.
Now having forensically rewatched the scene, I *think* that was Ser Arryk, who had Ser Erryk pinned down. Erryk then dug his hand into a wound in Arryk’s hand, and Arryk crawled away to find his sword. But as Arryk turned to deliver a death blow, Erryk thrust his own sword into his brother’s stomach, leaving them both, well, gutted.
“This is almost as bad as making a puppy sad.”
Brothers, man. Such a rich vein in literature and art. From Cain and Abel, to the Kray twins, to the guys who founded Aldi and later had a falling out over cigarettes, to all those dudes lusting after Julia Ormond in Legends of the Fall.
Because apparently Brad Pitt had “competition”.
But it turns out crying over killing his brother isn’t enough for Ser Erryk, as he turns to face the Rhaenyra and says “Your Grace, forgive me”, and commits seppuku. As his brother went, so shall he.
BOOOOOO. I quite liked those twins, and they were a little ray of rugged sunshine in an otherwise sea of grey when it comes to hot man offerings in this series. Possibly more importantly, their deaths - the biggest double down of the episode - show the fallout from a cycle of revenge and retaliation.
Neither of these two had to die. You could argue had they stayed together, they wouldn’t have. But as similar as they were, they still had distinct thoughts, and put their own interpretations of honour over a tight brotherly bond.
The Targaryens would do well to remember that the families they tear apart won’t just be their own.
But will they?
Yay! Best Moments.
It’s covered above, but I think in terms of length, intensity, acting chops and character development, the scene between Rhaenyra and Daemon was extraordinary.
Zing! Best Lines
Corlys and Rhaenys continue to be couple goals, with a sweet bedroom moment on Driftmark as Rhaenys visits her husband. They talk about Daemon’s temper and temperament, and how hopefully if he takes Harrenhall all will be forgiven. But this is the zinger:
Corlys: You do not think Daemon will challenge her?
Rhaenys: Not as such, but neither can he allow her to command him.
Corlys: Pity. I have, on occasion, found that to be quite enjoyable.
Ohhhhh yeahhhhh, you tame that Sea Snake, lady.
Ew, gross
I’m putting it here because I didn’t want to force it in above (oo-er), but Criston and Alicent’s hanky-panky is getting serious. Alicent literally goes from crying about “sinning” to her father (who kindly does not want to hear her self-flagellate) to smacking and tapping Criston AGAIN in her bedchamber. I’m going to posit that she’s in a shame spiral and needs to feel *something*, because by the Old Gods and New, surely Ser Criston “Stabby Fingers” Cole can’t be that much of a gun in the sack.
Then again, maybe it’s the new hotness. I haven’t really watched much Bridgerton (besides random clips I get fed on social media because the algorithm knows I’m a Mr Darcy stan), but everyone seemed to lose their shit about two characters getting all intimate in a carriage recently. I discovered it was because the lad was sending two soldiers forth under a prim Regency ballgown. This is what people went crazy for? Literally all I know about Australian teen culture in the 80s is that there was a lot of fingering in the back of Holden Monaros or Ford Escorts. But whack it in a period costume and now it’s sexy?
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of backseat shenanigans.”
This is clearly where I double down on my line:
Medieval banging: YES. Regency banging: NO.
Boo, sucks
I felt so sorry for Helaena in that small moment when Aegon passes her on a palace staircase, turning up his nose at her as he goes. No doubt he will hold her in some form responsible for their son/nephew’s death. Although that is one couple I’d be quite happy to not visit the backseat of a carriage ever again.
I also actually experienced a tiny bit of sympathy for Aegon during the scene where Alicent goes to - confront him? Comfort him? Not sure, but she happens upon him bawling his eyes out. He must have known she was in the room, but instead she takes a deep breath and backs out of the room. Not even his mother wants to help the son as he mourns his own son. There’s some messed up dynamics at work.
Final sidebar:
If you’re interested, given today’s theme is "doubling down”, I thought you might like this old video of me and the incomparable Stuart Layt actually testing out the infamous KFC Double Down.
This is when I was young and pretty and slim, and didn’t have to highlight my hair blonde to cover up an increasing number of greys. Stu is wearing a “What Would Batman Do” t-shirt, which is very on brand. Fashion tip: I got a whole bunch of Schweppes-branded T-shirts via a drink label competition. They dramatically underestimated a) my interested in free merch and b) my ability to drink bottles of Pepsi Max and post (post!) five at a time to Pepsi HQ. You might notice I cut the collar out of this one to have a more slouchy neckline. I am wearing said collar piece as my headband. Somehow, it works.
Thank you so much for reading, kittens! Remember you can find my Patreon here and sign up to throw a few bucks per month my way while the season is running. The support is incredible, and I cannot thank you enough!