Rhaenyra x alicent is an interesting idea, especially since emma d'arcy, olivia cooke, milly alcock and emily carey all said they played their friendship as having romantic/erotic undertones.
right?! and they're doing it so well: rhaenyra sighing looking at alicent, alicent's obvious and masterfully depicted internalized homophobia, holding hands all the time, being protective of each other, standing up for each other...... the acting in this show is insane. and how their friendship and different personalities reflect the political landscape of the Dance: rhaenyra is wild and free and disruptive, alicent is bound to tradition and order ("don't you care about your position?" in the first episode; basically every scene with Otto; the scene with the low-key slut-shaming of Nyra going to a brothel, "i'm trying to protect you!" it's all there already!!!) whoever decided the dance should be about the most cathartic sapphic break up of westeros was RIGHT and they should say it. they took grrm's way of thinking about plot (as in, the plot blooms out of the characters instead of being imposed on them by some deus ex-machina mechanism, hello D&D?) to another level entirely xD
it's so bittersweet and i am looking forward to see them chasing each other to death, lol i particularly love love love the way this relationship impacts alicent's character. i don't know, man, i love characters who perform femininity perfectly, good girls who do as their fathers tell them to, who obey every rule, and still suffer for it. important characters, i think. hopefully, with the way they are investing screentime in her loneliness and her grief, and how it's not just a matter of "the good, feminist character" vs "the bad patriarchy side", we can treat her with the same tolerance we treat daemon (re: being nuanced, complex, etc) when we get to the proper Dance and things get ugly.
honestly, i can't help but think they were instructed to play it that way by the directors. or it was too clear in the script to ignore. in any case, i think it was intentional not only from the actors but from the writers’ room (and, i want to believe, with grrm's consent). i'm 100% for it.
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