Scandal! George R.R. Martin Deletes Blogpost

so here we are Carmine with the uh the Scandal Scandal of the of what the the decade with George or Scandal of how has there is there ever much scandal with George this is the closest as we get to a a big Scandal it's been a wild 12 hours because holy [ __ ] like first we have to address this because you said on stream that you don't think you didn't think that George was actually going to call anybody out he was going to be yeah no I I was straight up wrong I was straight up wrong and I think the reason why I thought George wouldn't do that is is has has become quite apparent on why he shouldn't have done it and and like why like what happens when people in contracts who have big multi-million dollar deals uh go go and that's the thing is not even a not even like a lot Rogue just a tad just a tad Rogue like you know okay so for people that don't know what we're talking about George uh has been promising a series of blog posts about his criticisms of House of the Dragon season 2 um we will likely never see anymore because he he posted the first of the series um on the first two episodes of Game Of The of of how House of the Dragon which are probably some of the better episodes of the season and his criticisms were I would say minor really weird specific things that like the rest of us did like we noticed we cared about mildly but didn't it wasn't that big of a deal for us um but to George he sees things differently you know he he he made a big deal out of them but they're so minor and small his criticisms were so minor and small and so when it came out I was like oh I can't believe he actually like not only criticized the show but he actually called out Ryan Condell like he actually said I had specific meetings with Ryan Condell and um and that's when like Carmine and I talked earlier today when the when the post was up um because the thing is the post was up for what half an hour about that yeah and then all of a sudden the entire website goes out it was just it wasn't just the post got deleted itself the website went out and then the post was deleted and then the website comes back and it's gone so Carmine calls me and he's like he's like and and I was like yeah it's kind of a big deal because it's it's and K's like why what he's saying isn't even that bad I was like it's just unprofessional to air like minor Petty grievances between people publicly like you just don't do that in a work environment but I think perhaps George got in trouble in a legal environment of of what he was supposed to be doing or whatever but um nonetheless he posted this post 30 minutes later he removed the post and then HBO then responded there are few greater fans we should probably we should we should probably wait till the very end to check out HBO's response but let's go into this let's go into this this post was up 30 minutes and then George took it down and this is the first the first of a series of criticisms of season 2 and those those criticisms will go unfinished much like many other things in George R Martin's life but they the criticisms of I we will not see any more criticisms of season 2 he went further than I thought I was very surprised and a bit of it is um you know George not understanding I think what what is appropriate or like um I don't know well anyway we'll we'll we'll get into this um it's it's subtle but it's also very shocking and the reaction is even more shocking because had had had he left it up and had HBO said nothing we probably all would have forgotten about it but now it's a [ __ ] Scandal right you agree with me there's no way there's no way you're going to be able to forget about this because if this was maybe 10 years ago yeah but now remember everyone is trying to make their bones on the internet whether it's a YouTuber influencer but this is gonna be like Entertainment Weekly is gonna like run a story about this deleted like they're going to run a story probably about about thing because nowadays you have these Twitter accounts run by just random people that have more followers in Entertainment Weekly whether it's culture it's GNA Trend like like George R Martin criticizing House of dragons is going to Trend all the Scandal Chasers they create they made a scandal yeah they made a scandal that didn't need to be a scandal um anyway George George uh names this blog post Beware of the butterflies and you'll see that it's to many of you you're going to be like what's the big deal but we'll get into this back in July I promised you some further thoughts about blood and cheese and malor the missing after my commentary on the first two episodes of House of the Dragon season 2 a son for a son and reneer the cruel those were terrific episodes he's being positive here well written well directed powerfully acted this is the thing is I really thought he was just going to focus at h on HBO so far so good a great way to kick off the new season fans and critics alike seem to agree there was only one aspect of the episode that Drew significant criticisms the handling of blood and cheese and the death of Prince Jaris from the commentary I saw online opinion was split there the readers of Fire and Blood found the sequence underwhelming a disappointment watered down from what they were expecting viewers who had not read the book had no such problem most of them found the sequence a real gut Punch Tragic horrifying nightmares Etc some reported being reduced to tears all this is true um though going forward I think George's criticisms of the scene are very different from mine but uh I I found myself agreeing with both sides in my book aegon and Helena have three children not two the twins Jaris and Jara are 6 years old they have a younger brother malor who is to when blood and cheese break in on Helena and the kids they tell her they are debt collectors come to exact revenge for the death of Prince lucaris a son for a son as Helena has two sons however they demand that she choose which one should die she resists and offers her own life instead but the killers insist it has to be a son if she does not name one they will kill all three of her children to save the life of the twins Helena names malor but blood kill the older boy Jaris instead while cheese tells little meor that his mother wanted him dead whether the boy is old enough to understand this is not at all certain this is actually one of the things I have a problem with George on if meor is a 2-year-old no he doesn't know what's going on like what is wrong with you thinking that he would know what's going on he's two okay this is this is George not having kids knowing ridiculous ridiculous and would never and even if he did know he would forget in six months CU kids forget things um it's it's so like you know I asked my I ask my my my 5-year-old like oh do you remember at your fourth birthday party and he's like no you know he they they George yeah so the meaning the cruelty of cheese there telling malor that his mother once up dead is is ridiculous but this is a mistake on George and and there's mistakes coming in here George says some things in here that where I'm just like wow George you you kind of don't know your own work here but anyway that's not how it happens in the show there is no melor in House of the Dragon only the twins both of whom look younger than six but I'm no sure judge of children's age so I can't be sure how old they're supposed to be blood can't seem to tell the twins apart so Helena is asked to reveal which is the boy you think a glance up the PJs would reveal that without involving the mother that's a pretty good joke but yeah you could have just they could have just grabbed for the the the kids you know dick it would have been you know like it was a little silly for them to be like which one is which but they didn't really put that much time into it so it's not that bad of of a scene because they're just like which one's which it's not like they're sitting there for like 15 minutes being like I can't figure it out have the woman tell us they they just ask her I mean it wasn't that big of a deal right instead instead of offering her own life to save the kids Helena offers them a necklace blood and cheese are not tempted blood saw saws Prince Jar's head off uh we are spared the sight of that a sound effect suffices in the book he lops the head off with a sword it's bloody brutal scene no doubt how not an innocent child is being butchered in front of his mother I still believe the scene in the book is stronger um and this is where I kind of like this is yeah this is where George doesn't quite get it here um the readers have right of that the two killers are crer in the book I thought the actors who played the killers on the show were excellent but the characters are crer harder more frightening and fire in blood well that's true um they're just doofuses and it's not just that the characters are are doofuses it follows them and they go on this weird the these weird irrelevant fake out scares like as if they're centers of the horror movie like there's jump scares for them like it's Billy eish made yeah like the yeah the Billy eyh made just showing up and and you're supposed to be like am I supposed to be fearing for their lives like it was very weird and like um anyway that that's the thing he doesn't mention that I'm just like that's what most people like most of my fans were like were like oh yes I totally agree when we when you guys called them the wet Bandits we were like we were like yes that was the problem with them they were the wet Bandits anyway in the show blood is a gold cloak in the book He's a former gold cloak gold cloak stripped of his office for beating women to death irrelevant book blood is sort of a man who who might think of making woman choose between her sons um oh who might think making a woman choose between her sons should die is amusing especially when they double down on the want in cruelty by murdering the boy she tries to save I mean the guys in the books are cruel um they're just inconsistent like one moment they're like wimps and sympathetic and then in another moment they're absolutely cruel monsters and so that was another problem is they were just inconsistent characters changing personality from scene to scene book cheese is worse too he does he does not kick a dog true but he does not have a dog and he's the one who tells meor that his mom wants him dead um well here he says wants him head uh again telling melor that his mom wants him dead is is is stupid it's a really stupid part of the scene George I'm sorry um I would also suggest that Helena shows more courage more strength in the book by offering her own life to save her son offering a piece of jewelry is just not the same kind of a relevant point to it all but um I mean we're we're s Helena goes through something incredibly brutal showing her courage at that moment is something I I think most of us forgot um as I saw the Sophie's Choice aspect was the strongest part of the sequence the darkest the most visceral I hated to lose that uh and judging from the comments online most fans seem to agree now she still does a Sophie's Choice um in fact she does a more literal Sophie's choice because in the show she's choosing between a girl and a boy while in the book They're they're CH she's choosing between two boys the older and the younger um in fact in the books um she's choosing the child that she spent less time with so of course you choose the younger child over the older child I don't know like I mean it's it's a really hard thought to think about like which child are you going to choose but like you know when they're twins it's actually a harder thing now you're choosing just because of gender um while in the in the show you know with older versus younger you know like one's one's a one's a two one you've spent two years with the other you've spent four years with you know I mean I I have more to say on this later on because because Helena is such a different character from In the books oh yeah absolutely too he touches on that too yeah now anyway as I said he he he's he's he's fixating on these things that that I don't think were the really the true reason for the for the scene not working in the show I think the scene didn't work on the show because it follows around blood and cheese as the protagonists which takes away the illusion of them being monsters you know um dark or Harden Killers or know what they're doing imagine I don't know if you remember I think I was with Trey instead of you CU I think you were out but uh I likened it to imagine if you had to go rewatch The Red Wedding and on the first view you watch the phrase plan out detail and like they're bickering over what song to play no we should play this song no how about this song it ruins how like like vicious and lethal the whole thing was right right absolutely you're absolutely right that's a that's a great analogy like you you they say what's coming like they tell you what's coming then you follow these characters who are a bunch of like doofuses and then they do what they say they're going to do there's no there's no surprise there's no you know you're not you we should be taking it from the perspective of Helena she's the one that should be surprised and shocked and dealing with this horror and instead we're following blood and cheese which is that's the thing that ruined the scene um the fact that it's this incredibly long sequence from their point of view where they're doofuses where there's no surprise that George seems to be obsessed with the idea that like the real problem was that she had to choose between a boy and a girl versus an older son and a younger son like no that wasn't it at all like or or that like these this like Zinger that cheese like gave was so brutal no it wasn't you know like anyway this is where it gets really kind of interesting because he gets personal and this is the this is probably why he took it down when Ryan Condell first told me what he meant to do ages ago back in 222 might be I argued against it for all these reasons he didn't give very good reasons I mean honestly like like from I did not argue long or with much heat however the change weaken the sequence I felt but only a bit and Ryan uh had what seemed to be a practical reason for it they did not want to deal with casting another child especially a two-year-old toddler Ryan gave Ryan Condell gave a stupid reason um it does not take very much to just make meor like six months and then he he he being like a swaddled baby or or like 3 months or 4 months and him being like a a b like a doll carried by a handmade like it doesn't take very much so this is something that again we covered very early on you weren't there for that I was with Trey and I have a whole video on it um and I remember the video specifically because it got copyright claimed uh actually didn't get copyright claimed it got in ineligible for for monetization because of the graphic nature in which we discuss oh God but yeah but Ryan condo basically said how legally they don't think they could do that like the subject matter involving like such a young child and all the logistics behind it and and just yeah no I I agree with you I agree with you that it was like I don't think the choice between Jara and jar versus jarus and malor was that significant but he cuts malor completely which later George talks about the butterfly effect and like they could easily still have had meor in the show as a in another room that was not part of the choice but for some reason Ryan Ryan Condell is like let's just cut the cut the baby completely like cut the child completely I mean I get like like making the Cho like I don't like I I agree with briyan Condell here the choice between jar and Jaris makes sense like and I don't think it lessens the scene very much but the elimination of malor the elimination of malor doesn't need to be doesn't need to happen no I understand I understand that but this is something either George didn't know about because maybe Ryan didn't tell him or George left it out do you mind if I uh Ryan here sure it was it was not really possible given the age of those characters to play realistically what's in the book he said I mean there are things that you can actually not do with children on set and rightfully so sort of from a decency standpoint and also from a legal standpoint what children are allowed to see and do on set would have made shooting it very difficult so yeah so kids that young will inevitably slow down production and there there' be budget implications fine budget was Aller any an issue with House of the Dragon it made sense uh to save money wherever we could moreover Ryan assured me that we were not losing Prince meor simply postponing him Queen Helena could still give birth to him in season 3 presumably after getting with child late in season 2 or she she could have just had a baby in another room I me it would have been fine it made sense to me I withdrew my objections and acques to the change okay kind of minor the whole thing uh I still love the episode and the blood cheese sequence overall losing Helena's Choice beat did weaken the scene but not to any great degree okay uh I agree you know what before you move on what he just said here that's incredibly fair that is very very fair because at the end of the day the blood and shees scene was supposed to give us a brutal start to the Civil War this is where like both sides are like you know what that's it let's get into this this is it gauntlets thrown let's get it down and let's also be reminded that unfortunately we book fans are not the majority of the viewers casuals are casuals uh they were pretty horrified so the job was done there it is yeah um losing Helena's Choice beat did did weaken the scene but not to any great degree only book fans would have even noticed its absence viewers who had never read Fire and Blood would still find the scene heart-rendering uh mord did not actually do anything in the scene after all how could he he was only 2 years old um all this is true I don't but I I think George missed the point the scene is weak for none of the reasons he listed you know but so George George is hyper fixating and CR on on something that I mean he kind of even says is irrelevant which is odd it's odd to go to go paragraphs and paragraphs on something that he thought was irrelevant then and and says again is irrelevant here or to not any great degree you know or or it's I don't know if it's like you know your significant other being like it's fine you know when it's not fine you know but I don't know if it's that I didn't realize I didn't realize until you just said that but I really think that's what he's doing it's fine whatever fine fine before you move on by the way like there are so many PE and I said this in my video there's so many people trying to claim this is Victory but George says it right there his own words I still love the episode and this is something I said in my review the blood and cheese stuff aside it was a really good it was a really good episode that first episode outside of the blood and cheese I and I remember the review back then like we kind of all said that the blood and cheese like we could say the blood and cheese ruined it but the rest of the episode was was near Flawless you know yeah but but BL yeah um there's another aspect to the removal of this young prining however this is this is kind of funny um for those who hate spoilers should stop reading here spoil were follow at least for the readers among you if you have never read Fire and Blood maybe it does not matter because all am I going to spoil here uh are things that happen in the book that may never happen in the series starting with meor himself that is a lie yes that's true sometime between the initial decision to remove malor a big change was made the prince's birth was no longer going to be pushed back to season 3 it was never he was never going to be born at all the younger son of Aon and Helena would never appear and I think it's for the reason you listed the legal implications cuz most of you know about the butterfly effect I assume yes there's that movie a few years back it's a familiar Concept in Chaos Theory as well but the most science fiction fans uh were first to expose to the idea and Ray bradberry's classic time travel story The Sound of Thunder where time Trav let me P back on that real quick I don't think most fans were exposed to the butterfly effect from that I think most people were exposed to it from that one Simpsons episode where Homer goes back in time cuz the toaster have you ever seen that one yeah I mean that's that's a redo of the rap Bradberry story I know I know but I think a lot of people didn't know about rap Bradberry story they probably from The Simpsons episode The R Bradberry story is you could you could go back in time and and kill a dinosaur that was already gonna die like by a tree falling on him and so but they're like you got to stay on the path and not get off the path and the guy gets off the path and he kills a dinosaur and he kills a butterfly and then he comes back to the future and a different president is President um where the time travel in the present panics and crushes a butterfly while hunting a T-Rex when he returns to his own time he discovers the world has changed in huge and frightening ways one dead butterfly has rewt history the lesson can being that changes be get change be gets change and even small and seemingly insignificant alterations to a timeline or a story can have a profound effect on all that follows malor is a 2-year-old toddler in Fire and Blood but like on butterly he has an impact on the story all out of proportion to his size the reader among you may recall uh that when it appears that rira and her blacks are about to capture King's Landing spoiler yeah uh Queen Allison becomes concerned for the safety of Helena's remaining children and take steps to have them smuggled out of the city the task is given to two knights of the King's Guard sir Willis fell is commanded deliver prince princess Jara to the barians at storms end while mayor is given to Rickard Thorn to be escorted across the Mander to the uh to to the protection of the high tower Army on its way to King's land uh to King's Landing Willis fell delivers Jara safely to the braans at Storm's end but Rickard fares less well he and meor get as far as bradbridge where it's revealed as a Kings guard in a Tavern called the hog's head where he's revealed in King as a King's Guard in Tavern called the hog's head once discovered sir rard fights bravely protect the young his young charge and be and brings and bring him to safety but he does not make it across the bridge before some crossbows bring him down Prince meor is torn uh from his arms and then sadly ripped to pieces by the mob fighting over the boy and the huge reward that rera has offered for his capture and return um will any of this appear on the show maybe but I don't see high well how again legal implications here well hold on before you move on they can still do that this is something I said in my video they can still do that with Jara have Rickard Thorne and I guess Willis fell accompany them and then as they're trying to get to the high tower army people spot them Ricker defends both them trying to get to help them get away and in the process he gets brutally murdered they can still do this with Jara and and no I'm notar is not gonna get torn apart I mean jar Jara has to marry a on the third yeah 100% she's gonna survive but they could still do this whole thing just switch it up and obviously she has to survive I'm not trying to run defense for Ryan Condell here but it can still go down sure um could maybe make meor a newborn instead of a two-year-old but that'll scramble timeline which is a bit mess bit here we go which is a bit of a mess already he's beginning to get off script I have no idea what I have no idea what this is the be this is probably the the the worst line he has in the whole thing I have no idea what Ryan has planned if indeed he has planned anything I don't know I think I didn't touch on this in my video but I think people over over relied on that I think he's probably I think he h I think he wasn't being as douchy about it as people intended because that does sound like an [ __ ] thing to say but it is it's also it's also the nature of M dashes like M dashes do like create this like physical what's that in the middle of the paragraph kind of highlight which they don't necessarily mean to do um but get like had he had he parenthesized it it would have been smaller well it's just here like you're under the impression George is basically saying if he's planned anything about the show at all that I don't think that's what he meant yeah probably not probably not you're right I mean he's he's trying to be nice but given mayor's absence from episode two the simplest way to proceed is to just drop him entirely lose the bit where Allison tries to send the kids to safety drop rooked Thorn and send him with Willis Fel so Jara has two guards from what I know that seems to be what Ryan is doing here it's simplest yet and may make sense in terms of budget and shooting schedules but simpler is not better woof the bitter Bridge scene has tension susp action Bloodshed a bit of heroism and a lot of tragedy Rickard Thorn is a tertiary character at best most most viewers as opposed to readers will never know he is gone since they never knew him at all but I rather liked giving him a brief moment of heroism a taste of courage and loyalty of the King's Guard regardless of whether they are black or green um the butterflies are not done with us yet however this is what's weird um okay okay so this is where George kind of kind of doesn't know his own work here okay um so in the book when word of Prince maor's death and the grizzly manner of his passing reaches the red keep that proves to be the thing that drives Queen Helena to Suicide for I first of all like Helena like like May mayor's death happens like a good 35 Pages before um uh Helena suicide and there's like multiple battles and like a Time passing event I maiden's day and the B and the battle over the God's eye the go you know like all happened in that time so and then when Helena dies there's immediate talk of her being murdered and like that's the topic it's really hard to believe that any reader would believe that mayor's death triggered the suicide certainly it would further contribute to Helena's insanity and contribute to her eventual suicide absolutely but he says here it proves to be the thing that drives Queen Helena to Suicide as if like that's the thing at that moment the news the news reaching the red keep uh drives Queen Helena to Suicide unless I've missed something which and I don't think I have like these events are pretty far apart in the text so so George is kind of making [ __ ] up or misremembering himself it's weird um h ah I mean I don't you I don't expect you you to kind of know what I'm talking about here car car because it's really spe it's really [ __ ] specific but I can bring up uh I can bring up fire and blood if you want if if you think this is worth pursuing uh I mean doesn't George contradict himself all the time specifically even in his own dragon post he does and he also contradicts himself in this but I know what you're talking about how how it's the timeline is not there and and this is this is this is also the weird thing is that he says knowing she chose him to die in the Sophie's Choice scene and now he is dead in truth her words have come true except Allison's the one that sends him off not her so again like it's George George does George doesn't know like George is just off on this paragraph um grief and guilt are too much for her to bear like that's just that's it's just not what happens um I I I I guess I got to [ __ ] bring it up because people are going to be like what the hell um here let's let's let's find the the the Rickard um Thoren Thoren scene um Queen's hand argued here we go Rickard Rickard Thorne Rickard Thorne cut his way through them abandoning the stolen Treasures he scooped up his son fled to the stable sto stole a horse 30 leagues other men took pursuit of Rickard Thorne they tumbled on the saddle and then here's him battling on page 472 473 King's Landing was far was was far away and then um and and so and they tear him apart here on page 474 and then they even talk about how the news reneer wept because news got through the city and then and then there was news that Queen Helena was sent his head in a chamber pot though there's though there's no proof that that happened okay so the boys the boy dies and the News makes it of the city on page 474 and 475 and then I think she what he said 505 we go all the way you got to go all the way on like what's going on here okay we have then C the the we have the deal with the with Lady Caswell and that whole incident and then we have uh Kristen Cole at heren Hall um in fact I think he's and then maiden's day happens at 1:30 and I think Kristen Cole do this where Kristen Cole dies three arrows falling across the field striking Kristen Cole on the belly neck and breast I have no songs to sing about you so so after mord dies imagine you're a reader mord dies news reaches King's Landing then Kristen Cole dies Kristen Cole [ __ ] dies then maiden's day and then you have the the battle over the God's eye and then and then um and then you have second you've got tumbleton happening okay and then you've got [ __ ] what does tumbleton happen before because they go back and forth between like tumbleton and and the uh the battle oh and then we have the shepherd coming okay and that happens and then cha more cup chaos at tumbleton and then and then we've got then we've got and then we oh I'm sorry we have the betrayers dealing with stuff at at at tumbleton and then we have um battle over the God's eye okay and then finally in a new chapter in P page 505 George said 55 I think it's actually later but there's uh it's 506 Helena commits suicide so I like there's no way like George is just off there okay he's just uh he's just off um no like m word of Prince mayor's death and the grizzly manner of passing is not the thing that drives hel it's not the thing that triggers princess Helena to Suicide um and her words coming true is also not really a thing considering that like it's it's Allison who sent them out so uh George George off the rails here okay I'm sorry sorry so in Ryan outline of season three Helena still kills herself for no particular reason um yeah because that's what you [ __ ] wrote In the book okay like that's what he [ __ ] that's what you [ __ ] wrote In the book so on some level he does have access to those scripts he does have has access to the outline of season three he had yeah yeah so he gave him an outline but now here George is criticizing Ryan for something that Ryan like no one should be able to like read that and be like Oh mayor's death triggered Helena Sude side like there is no fresh horror no triggering event to overwhelm The Fragile young Queen there's no [ __ ] triggering event in Fire and Blood like what is he [ __ ] talking about oh George or George oh George and the final butterfly follows soon after Queen Helena a sweet and gentle soul is much beloved by the small folk of King's Landing rira was not so when rumors began to rise that Helena did not kill herself but rather was murdered at Helena's command the commons are quick to believe them that night King's Landing Rose in a bloody Riot uh I wrote on page 506 a fire of blood it is the beginning of the end for rira's rule over the city ultimately leading to the storming of the Dragon Pit and the rise of the shepherd's mob that drives rira to flee the city and return to Dragon Stone and her death meor by himself whatever happened to rea the Realms Delight whatever happened to that um well that's the thing is like I thought you're supposed to read it and not know like actually if the public like likes rer or hates her and whether whether things are are uh you know like the shepherd's the shepherd's um Riot is more is more about I'm sure there's some stuff about rira being horrible in there but it's more about him believing that the dragons are demons you know um but nonetheless malor by himself means little he's a small child does not have a line of dialogue does nothing of consequence but die but where and when and how that does matter losing malor weakened so here's the thing is like now he's claiming that mord dying like without mord dying Helena doesn't die George I mean kind of weird here that I'm I'm siding so much with Ryan condle well you guys are brothers right isn't that the woman yeah yeah that's right we're brothers you look like Ryan Condell mayor by himself means little he is a small child does not have a line of dialogue does nothing of consequence but die but where and when and how that does matter losing meor weaken the end of the blood and cheese SE sequence I would argue not really that wasn't the thing that weakened it uh but it also cost us bitter Bridge scene with all its horror and heroism okay that's true but again they're not going to show a child getting r a two-year-old child getting ripped apart it was it undercut the motivation for Helena's suicide no it didn't and it and that in turn sent thousands into seat streets and alleys screaming for justice for their murdered Queen it's not really how it's you know okay so none of that is essential I suppose but all of it does serve a purpose it helps to tie the story lines together so one thing follows another in a logical and convincing manner oh George what will we offer the fans instead once we've killed those these butterflies I have no idea I do not recall that Ryan and I ever discussed this back when he first told me they were pushing back on aegon's Second Son man Tor himself is not essential but if losing him means we lose bitter Bridge bitter Bridge Helena suicide and the riots well that's a considerable loss there's no way we're losing the riots or Helena's suicide come on there's no way we're losing the riots lot so much has to happen with the riots and thei the riots can the riots can be they've already seeded the riots they've already seeded like the the small folks discontent um and there are larger more toxic butterflies to come that's the most damning line in the whole thing not the not the one thing from earlier that one right there if House of the Dragon goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for Seasons three and four CH so this is so this is my issue with the his whole Helena thing here um this is where he contradicts himself so in the previous blog post when he the first episode came out he praised the Helena character and and how and her performance better than her performance and also he he liked the way they did the character but in order for Helena to be grieving over her son so much how she is in the books according to him here um to the point where she commits suicide it has to be a different character so which is it do you like the the show's interpretation or do you like your original writing of the character I mean so there's two things going on here like one like fundamentally George does seem to be unhappy with the show and that's that's an interesting thing in and of itself I think this is more of a symptom of because the things he's bringing up in this blog post are frankly like well some of them they're minor or wrong like that's what's really weird right these are not the things that the fans complaining about you know well here's the thing do do you think that maybe he's being incredibly uh nice by bringing up the melor thing even though it technically doesn't really matter that much as a means to basically say he's unhappy with some of the change right like like like like a cou a couple arguing about the toilet seat being up or up or down when there's when there's actually a deeper issue that they they they want to be arguing about yeah 100% my problem with this blog post is we can argue about whether it's professional or not whatever my my problem here is I was hoping he would go Episode by episode about what he liked and didn't like right going having just such a big blog post and about what's going on my problem here is there's so many things to focus on why House of the Dragon season 2 wasn't good and this was one of them this is on the bottom of the list there's no mention Damon stuff or Helena well I think because he hadn't got to it maybe he planned on a post on episodes three and four and a post on episode you know five and six post on seven to eight there's no way this [ __ ] who has been in Show Business for so long didn't think that he was going to get contacted but uh from HBO or I I don't know what I don't know what he was thinking man this is like there's no way look if you were gonna go Earth because you're sick of not being alerted when they change things because that's what it sounds like sounds like he's annoyed that he wasn't alerted that they change certain things which is fine this is really this is really weird because he's going scored Earth on the things that HBO is being reasonable about the things that George like HBO is not reasonable about dropping episodes nine and 10 and for and all of a sudden making them rewrite scripts like that's not reasonable that's horrible [ __ ] that HBO did right them saying hey can we not murder a child on screen is [ __ ] reasonable them say them being like up we're shortening the season in the 11th hour that's unreasonable so like you know it's we like why why fiper fix it on this that's like it's what it's what you just said about you know the fight being about the toilet seat it's not really about the toilet seat the one thing I wish he would have done and I'm sure you will agree with this is that this is something the showrunners themselves and even people who know anything about how production Works behind the scenes knows because of the writer strike they couldn't go back after they were ordered to cut it from 10: to to 8 they couldn't go back and rewrite certain things they had to continue filming to stay on schedule and uh rewrites happen all the time during Productions they couldn't do that so therefore they were stuck with what they had to do they had to follow HBO's orders to cut it from 10 to 8 because they didn't have the budget they they did that and I'm sure they thought before the writer strike came down they thought it's fine we'll rewrite some the later stuff let's do what we have and then fighter strike happened they couldn't rewrite the later stuff and that's what we got stuck with um what's so weird is he's he he's he really thinks that the fans love his story beats versus like his writing and his atmosphere and his themes and things like that like he really thinks like I just I haven't met any fans that were like oh my God like I I met some fans that like comment on the loss of meor but I don't know any that were upset unlike say the loss of nettles you know or oh God yeah oh [ __ ] yeah um because Nettles is a great character and and has thematic importance and and and is great while malor honestly it's a [ __ ] random scene like like oh God melor is gone we don't get to see a baby ripped apart on a bridge like that's really the only thing that's lost there and that's actually hold on that's actually a good [ __ ] point because you would think George of all people would be commenting on the nettle situation but I don't that's why I think this is chronological that that he way that he was gonna do later kind of stuff though I admit that this last line is is very summarizing well if Helen is going to kill herself in season 3 then they're moving along way faster than I anticipated I expected her to do that in season four which would have been like the perfect uh drop off to the riots happening and the storming of the Dragon pit yeah yeah but season three sounds like it's a little too early I mean I guess they're just they I mean we talked about this before when we were when we thought that when we thought the series was going to be three seasons we thought season one prologue season two ends with riro taking King's Landing season 3 ends with the end of the war right and so we kind of thought that riro King's Landing was going to be a good stopping point and then you know uh they they they shorten seasons and we were like okay maybe end maybe battle the gullet because then you've got you know Jason Luke dying being paraly paralleled and then that doesn't happen and then and so now how are they going to fit it in I mean you've got to have gullet and then taking of the of King's Landing so it's like rira takes it midseason you got to have the first episode of season 3 has to be riro taken King's Landing and then shortly after gullet then where do you put two betrayers where do you put tumble like where do you put all this stuff and if you have Helena die in season 3 shortly after she dies you have to have storming of the Dragon bit unless you're removing storming of the Dragon pit for that reason I mean you you're you're putting it all in I I imagine like rira takes King's Landing and then you could have you could have Helena commit suicide while rera takes King's Landing and then um or the next episode and then have well you want some time of with rira in the in the queen position so maybe maybe you let her be Queen for a while and then you have Helena commits suicide and then storming of the Dragon pit but the thing is is how are you going to get Helena to commit suicide well I think you you and I both know how they're going to get Helena to commit suicide uh someone kills her daggers and prophecies [ __ ] she's to K she's got to kill herself because she foresaw herself die well yeah right this is something Dragon demands actually brought to me which I thought was an interesting idea um because he always thought Lis had Helena killed in the in the books so yeah I I mean to kick off the riots in in season 3 I guess that could be as well well well who knew who knew that his theory was wrong who knew it was actually an event that happened 40 pages earlier and months before who knew it was that George reveals it here [ __ ] there's so much stuff that needs to happen in season 3 that you get a chance to have it in season two it's gonna be like literally if any ass it be it would be all battles because you've got to do you've got to do gullet you've got to do they could they could combine battle at the lak shore with butcher's ball I suppose and but then you've got then you have to have uh um yeah you've got to have rira takes King's Landing you have to have Helena I don't know do you even maybe you can push maybe you can push Helena suicide maybe you can end the season on Helena suicide I don't know and then begin the season four on the riots it almost sounds like season a good chunk of season 4 if it has eight to 10 episodes is going to focus on aegon 3 and the Council of regions and all that stuff I wonder if they're going to do that because again after hel like like George said here after Helena dies Rino's rule isn't that long so so this is this is what I find an a really really interesting though because so George like George did not criticize um Game of Thrones very much if if ever and um I mean he kind of mentioned that he fought against the removal of different characters like he fought against the removal of lady stonehart fought against like uh the removal of Jane P um and things like this um but for the mo you know but for the most part he didn't complain which makes me wonder if DND D really focused on story beats and they included they were they were like we need to include every story beat from the outline that George R Martin approved and which is why those later seasons of Game of Thrones kind of feel like checklists like nothing happens and then checklist John John R plus elic was J checklist shireen's burn checklist hold the door you know these these events that don't really have much bearing on the plot like hold the door doesn't have much bearing on the plot at all uh R plus equal J has no bearing on the plot other than VY um uh Shireen burning doesn't really have any bearing on the plot like these things like they're just checklists from that like George had on some sort of approved uh outline and here you know he's he's saying oh you guys had an outline and then you changed your outline and you're not following like um you know the checklist though he's kind of contradicting himself here because he he says oh he approved it and it didn't seem that bad but then he's like more toxic butterflies are coming with Seasons three and four By changes being contemplated like who's this is why I'm thinking they agreed on something and then they changed it behind his back and he got very upset and then he heard about it secondhand like like somebody like he has a leaker I mean probably like T mckl would be his leaker I mean that that go go without saying it would be T mckl but I could see this is why the block cross is so frustrating can [ __ ] say that homie just say that's that's what's getting you that's get what that's what's getting your panties wilded up that they made these you guys had an agreement and they made changes behind your back without your agreement and there this this is the conspiracy theory that we have now okay I got it George not only watched the season and didn't really like things but then T mckl in the writers room heard some stuff and was like oh my God they're really [ __ ] changing things for Seasons three and four or there's talk she goes and tells George George panics doesn't know what to do and so like does this blog post to try to stop it I'll take it [ __ ] it I'll take it I don't think the world is that exciting but you know like it's something like that right probably I just find when I say when I say when I say t mckl t mckl used to be his writing uh writing assistant for for a number of years before she uh joined the The House of the Dragon um writer team so if there's one person on that writers team that is George's friend it's Tel of course and uh I just find it atrocious that no comment on how they bend over backwards to make riro and Allison have their hands clean of any of the the horrible [ __ ] they do in the book does does he not have a problem with that he didn't mention it I wish he would have mentioned some of the changes especially in episode 8 no change well again he's only talking about episodes one and two you know so I like maybe had he gotten later later on like them you know but it's just like I say like he's he's doing the first half of the season was pretty good and for him to have these minor criticisms on episodes one and two which are on a whole better than most of the season episode two being being what I would call the best episode of House of the Dragon period i say episode 100% 100% um and he's just he just has some minor criticisms on like cutting meor and like what it might do like had he gone further he had he would have had to have because that's it's the latter half half of the Season that everything falls apart and it's episode 8 where things really [ __ ] fall apart where all the the wheels fall off the clown car so this is not he did not think that this was going to be it he was going to talk more um but he's there there's no way there's no way he didn't think he get contacted for this there's no shot I don't know man he's a crazy old man now he's a crazy old man now really he's not that crazy I I'm just saying man I mean you know he's he's old man yelling at the clouds but speaking of which uh you mentioned earlier uh HBO and their response do you want me to uh set that up yeah yeah so do you want to go to my uh my Twitter cuz I I put it there or do you want to go hold on second no no I'll go to your Twitter here it is so I'll uh I'll read it off so of course HBO responded because this thing uh this account called streamer reached out to them and um this is what HBO spokesperson had to say there are few greater fans of George R Martin and his book Fire and Blood than the creative team on of the Dragon both in the production and at HBO commonly when adapting a book for for the screen with its own format and limitations the showrunner ultimately is required to make difficult choices about the characters and stories the audience will follow we believe that Ryan Condell and his team have done an extraordinary job and the millions of fans the series has amassed over the first two seasons will continue to enjoy it honestly Bravo for them if this is their official statement because this is them standing behind their writers and you want your company to stand right behind you on this them for doing that yeah I mean it's George doesn't write about keeping Lor alive and dragon bonds he doesn't write about dragons busting through floors he doesn't write about beating people to death at weddings with no consequences he doesn't write about God mode Damon he doesn't write about like the weird murder of of uh of Ria Royce you know but he writes about malor missing and thinking that meor missing is the thing that made blood and cheese off and uh and proceeds to uh I don't know create a huge Scandal here because largely because he deleted the post had he not deleted the had they not made him delete the post because I'm sure it's like doesn't matter this is something I want to highlight something someone in that in that thread said uh Wes he goes uh HBO are making this worst really is once the web once on the web these things have a short life never breathe life back into it I want to uh bring your attention to something Woody harelson did he did a very very bad uh AMA on Reddit and it was like really truly truly bad and after he ended it he never really talked about it and it was on the internet for maybe a couple hours and everybody forgot but this one guy Allan comes in and says not at all they absolutely need to declare loudly and clearly that they have confidence in their writers yeah that's also true because if you don't stand behind your writers then you're really not standing behind your product and if you're not standing behind your product why should I come back for season 3 yeah absolutely absolutely so and this is what George that that final line where he's like season three and four what are they contemplating but the thing is it's like the problem isn't whether they they keep to George's story beats or not that's where George that's where George is off it's not about the story beats um you know it's it's about themes and writing and things like this that that are more important character motivation linking episodes to episodes in a in a in a cohesive manner it's just so this whole thing is just so weird because I think a lot of people are are like so happy that George is being critici is being critical of HBO but he's being critical of HBO for the wrong reasons like like this was something where I'm like I can totally see this specifically is something I can totally see Ryan Condell and HBO side on there's a lot of [ __ ] other stuff that I can't so it's really weird this is a weird Hill to die on man so odd this is so odd I find it so funny how this is this is a [ __ ] crazy Scandal rocking the rocking the ice and fire Community right now is it really a scandal though it's more like a is it a scandal it's it's we'll see we're going to add to it we're adding fuel to the fire by by making these videos but yeah what's funny is in my comment section called you and me drama queens who focus on drama stories no this is in the news this is relating to the creator of the series we cover we have to cover this I think it's also because this also then affects his mood and you know Winds of Winter and all sorts of things and and the production of the show and what's going to be on the show going forward and George's role and stuff like that all that's going to be affected by this this is going to be some weird [ __ ] well George said earlier that he's not involved in the season 3 writing room so if you want these changes to stick that you want you got to be more involved which means putting Winds of Winter on the back burner and making sure they do it correctly yeah um or putting W putting Winds of w winter on the back burner and House of the dragon on the back burner and focusing on Duncan ass and your Cinema and producing um a half dozen movies from of the writings of Howard waldrip and uh you know like all the other all the other projects that he has going on but would you say this is was very unprofessional yeah this is this is you don't you don't air your you don't air your laundry you don't air your dirty laundry publicly man like that's just I understand that like uh um like some people don't have like real office jobs but you just you don't do this [ __ ] like you know if I have if I have a problem with with with Tammy from HR I'm not [ __ ] tweeting about it like she just don't don't [ __ ] do that don't don't ever do that you know you do it like everybody else you go to happy hour you [ __ ] about it with your co-workers you know that's it like don't don't [ __ ] meah horn into the world you're George R Martin man I wonder if this is a situation where they could lose money off this like will people not turn out for season 3 because of his grievances here right but it's also weird that he did delete it like I mean maybe he had regrets over hurting Ryan Kell's feelings or maybe it was a money thing but it's odd that like a man with so much power is scared and has to delete has to delete a post you know it's also possible I know you don't go on I know I know you don't post often on social media I know this very well and so does your audience but it's also possible he posted it he got it off his chest he went back he reread it and you're like he's like you know what I'm okay then he tried deleting it accidentally deleted the website for five seconds deleted it took it off B it and yeah yeah yeah but then HBO felt the need to response to to respond so like you know if how if HBO was like we don't know what you're talking about but yeah oh well we'll probably see him make a comment about him commenting like some sort of apology probably later on if he was smart if he was smart to put it all under the rug release another sample chapter if he was smart if he was oh my God you're right dude if you released another sample chapter like a Cersei or a Jamie holy [ __ ] oh my God like everyone this everyone would just forget about what was go this all forgiven [ __ ] all all forgiven anyway Carmine thank you for for talking with me about this uh this Scandal this scat big Scandal something tells P we're gonna continue talking about this well into the week because I think we'll prob it'll probably come up it'll probably come up on Sunday yeah yeah ah I'm sorry that by the way you think it's funny that I like I like George is being super adal and then I over anal I over analed him this is overanalyzing George's blog I know right over analyzing George's blog post I was like wait what what are you talking about what if that didn't trigger her suicide oh God all right I will talk to you soon Carmine thank you again thank you