High 3.5 Yeahhh, this is not even remotely close to S1, i would even say GoT S5 and 6 are superior to this. I was so hyped by the trailers but almost all the good scenes were apparently there. Starting off by the most obvious problem of this season which is that it was all just a set-up for S3, all GoT seasons created GREAT set-ups for the next, even S7 which i despise, but even though they created amazing set-ups, the plot moved forward A LOT and in every episode, even if it doesn't have much action or tense scenes, the plot always moved forward. And that is not to say that the plot didn't move forward here, it did but just barely. My problems with the characters were already mentioned in my review of 2x5 and 2x8 but i'm gonna say them again briefly : Rhaenyra : she changes personality every scene, she goes from ruthless to cautious in the span of minutes and all her dialogue scenes feel like they're all about the same thing. Alicent : same as Rhaenyra and also the fact that they're trying too hard to make us sympathize with her. Daemon : there was some decent development in him with the dream sequences but they went on for too long and he basically did the same thing the whole season. His dynamic with that "witch" is also not it for me. Criston Cole : same as Alicent but he was not that bad. The rest of the character either have few problems, are just mediocre or are actually good, some of my fav characters were : Otto : he had a short amount of screentime this season and wasn't on most episodes but in the moments he was in, he stole the scene, I like his character a lot and it reminds me of Tywin even though they have their differences. Aemond : i really like his character, his obsession with power and his short temper make up for a reallly enterteining character, he will do anything he can to have the throne, even trying to kill his own brother. I hope he gets even better next seasons. Aegon : probably the most well writen character of the show as of now except for Viserys in S1, he has some problems but in general he's really good. There are some other characters i quite enjoyed watching but didn't mention bc they're not that memorable to me such as Jace. Great 1st half, decent to mediocre 2nd half but in general a good season however i was expecting a lot more. Won't set my expectations high for S3 so i'm not disapointed again. Oh and btw, no, this show will NEVER touch the quality of GoT, not even remotely close. Top 5 eps (too lazy to look up the right names so i'll just put the numbers) 🥇2x2 🥈2x4 🥉2x1 4 - 2x7 5 - 2x3