Ser Criston Cole

Aemond is kinda sor- ensorcelled by her.

Criston Cole is...

You know, there's not much of that in, in, in the show.

But, like, there's just this hint, you know? It's like, uh, Sabbath Affray comes up and, and, uh, Alys is ranting about, you know, the f- uh, A- Aemond's seed, the, her, his dragon seed, his, the flames licking at her womb and crazy shit like that.

Yeah

... seeing these episodes back to back, seeing Criston Cole give this, like, you know, "Fuck, fuck about-- Fuck rejoining the Hightowers at-

[laughs]

...

They're given to different people and whatnot, but like the whole like, you know, what is-

Yeah

... you know, what is this? Uh, and Criston Cole saying, "It's our death.

[laughs] We're not coming out of here." Like, all that stuff and the-

We finally get to see him, and they did the, she tried to do, like, the switcheroo and she's like, "Wh- whose goddamn, uh, brown haired baby is that?" Like, [laughs] you know? So it was interesting.

I'm like, is Criston Cole the dad of this one?

Hmm.

'Cause those Targaryen genes are very strong, um, for the most part when it comes to, like, the male heirs, I am assuming.

But, like, I was like... 'Cause Alicent, and, and also I was so happy that Criston Cole got what he deserved.

I'm like, finally.

Hmm.

I mean, as soon as, uh, R- Rhaenyra took off she, you know, uh, killed him.

Uh, the strength, as with most of these, uh, Thrones HBO shows, remains the cast.

Um, I think, you know, a- all the heavy work is really carried by the leads, Emma D'Arcy perhaps most of all, especially this season as Rhaenyra, but also, uh, Olivia Cooke as Alicent, Matt Smith as Daemon, and while he was there with us, uh, Fabien Frankel as Criston Cole as well.

Um, those were kind of the pillars holding up the various plot threads.

Um, when Criston Cole died, his plot thread was, uh, you know, uh, kind of mul- f- uh, folded into other storylines.

So, um, there are also a bunch of great either new actors or actors who debuted in season two and k- were kind of elevated this season to have more meaty roles.

Um, I think Ewan Mitchell as Aemond really stepped up his game.

It was...

Let, let me just say, one of the biggest things for me was Criston Cole.

Yes.

I knew you were gonna go to Criston Cole-

Okay

... 'cause he's a fucking asshole.

I knew you were gonna go to Criston Cole.

[laughs]

Dislikable characters probably across the board for House of the Dragon, if you've watched it.

Ser Criston Cole is the top of the list for a lot of you out there because of like toxic masculinity, because he got, you know, dumped by Rhaenyra and all of a sudden he's on this vengeance tour.

He's constantly like trying to fight for honor, but in reality is just constantly self-absorbed and image obsessed.

Did you like h- did you like that character?

He's one of those guys, you know, like he's another...

It, it was just a great acting job because he was so universally hated.

Every single week after episodes people are posting reels and GIFs of like, "Please, Criston Cole, just die today.

We just want this to be over." And, um, of course he gets killed by a woman-

There was quite a few scenes with that, and those were quite well done, I thought, in terms of the characterization.

Part of that was the success of Gwayne as a character, and Criston Cole being quite a successful character too, in that as I said in the beginning, Vise- no one, it was really...

Or did I say that? I don't know.

Maybe I'm just remembering what I was saying as we were preparing for this episode.

Yeah, I think you said that to me privately before the episode.

Which is that Criston Cole's death had the biggest reaction in the fandom since Viserys in season one.

Not for the same reasons, but a character that meant a lot.

He's more on the side of like a Joffrey in that he's not like Joffrey.