Bay Of Naples, Robert Walter Weir, Ca. 1830

elena & lila

when the trope is they might not be lovers in the traditional sense but they have and always will be there for each other, they come as a pair even when they are physically apart, they're always in each other's thoughts and they'd choose one another over any friend, partner or family member

The fact that I’ll never be the same person again after reading this series 🥲

― Elena Ferrante, The Story of a New Name

[text ID: I am what I am and I have to accept myself; I was born like this, in this city, with this dialect, without money; I will give what I can give, I will take what I can take, I will endure what has to be endured.]

The Glass Essay, Anne Carson | Molly Brodak, Molly Brodak

noah ross / jennifer gennari / roadkill - searows / st. bernard - lincoln / thegirlhoodtheory / richard siken

Axel Schovelin (Danish, 1827–1893) - View of Frederiksborg Castle and the lake on a summer day

Why did I just notice that???

Do you see how Alicent is so dissatisfied in the scenes during the Green Council meeting in episode 9? How utterly surprised and somewhat disappointed?

It's not because she falls from cloud nine to discover the possibility of Aegon becoming king when she learns about the lords' "long-laid plans" from Tyland Lannister. She knew that it would make sense for Aegon to inherit the throne for both the realm and the survival of her family, and basically gave us hints she realized this as early as the hunt scene in episode 3.

More specifically, she understands that she might have to put Aegon on the throne during the scene when a heavily drunk Viserys laments his fears of making a mistake in naming Rhaenyra his heir since he now has a son, and reveals to Alicent his prophetic vision of seeing his son with the conqueror's crown. Even if at that moment, Alicent reassures Viserys he made the right choice, you can see that the doubt lingers in her mind, and in seeing Rhaenyra return from the hunt covered in blood in absolute and ruthless callousness, Alicent recognizes the danger.

It is a wake-up call: in the end, she might have to choose her son over Rhaenyra.

And of course, we know that as Aegon was growing up, Alicent spent hours musing these doubts and even confronts him with them in episode 6: "You are the challenge, simply by living and breathing. You are the king's firstborn son and what they know, what everyone in the realm knows in their blood and in their bones, is that one day you will be our king."

So what explains her dismay during the Green Council meeting??

As I see it, the cause of Alicent's distress during the Green Council among other things is not that the lords planned a whole operation to crown Aegon as king, but that they did so behind her back, as if she is not fit to be included in these discussions, let alone be consulted for her own son's future and survival.

She rightly says: "Am I to understand that members of the small council have been planning secretly, to install my son without me?" and right after that comes the condescending reply: "My queen, there was no need to sully you with darkling schemes."

No sh!t.

Remember how betrayed and distraught Alicent felt went Aemond lost an eye and everyone dismissed her concerns as that of an overreacting and overbearing mother? The Green Council scene gives flashbacks to this.

Once again, Alicent's wishes, her wills, her thoughts, and her whole person as a mother, queen, advisor, and woman, are sidelined and minimized by members of her own council.

So this is why I think it makes sense that episode 9 is called "The Green Council" which contrasts the name given to a different council meeting in episode 10, namely, "The Black Queen." Because apparently, Rhaenyra owns her council meeting, even if she has to shut down Daemon to do so. But Alicent is not yet perceived as her own council's queen.

I hope we can somehow see Alicent truly become her own Green Queen in season 2.

Lila and the Men Around Her: A Means of Possession

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Credit: pictures on the left are from filmmaker Catherine Breillat’s interview at the Berlin Film Festival (originally found on justabore on TikTok)

BTS of Glen Powell doing Hit Man promo via Tim Dueñas' insta stories [x]

"It looks like two old white guys poached our patient."

ELLIS, SHEN, ROBBY, and ABBOT in The Pitt, 1x15, "9:00 PM"