That's not nothing. The show doesn't do things by accident. It is mine to hold the realm together, not sew it with further division. Here's the crown king. I would never, I would never. What a great episode of television. ["House of the Dragon Theme Song"] House of the Dragon, episode four. There is quite a lot to get through with this episode. I took so many notes. Unlike some previous episodes where sort of like one or two kind of like big themes or big kind of like character things that were really being developed, I feel like episode four crammed in a whole heck of a lot. And it didn't feel like when I say crammed, I feel like crammed is never a good thing. I don't mean to say that it was like overdone or it was too much or that I thought that they should have split it up or anything like that. Just that like episode four packed a punch. So there's like a lot that happens in episode four and all of it is pretty significant. So as I was taking my notes, I was writing my notes in like thematic categories, which like in retrospect with this episode it's so hard to do because there's just so much and so much of it overlaps. I probably should have taken my notes just chronologically and just gone through the episode beginning to end and do it in that order, but I already did my notes in these thematic categories. So I'm just gonna stick to that, but there's a lot of crossover. So these categories by no means are like isolated categories, they cross over. The lines are super, super blurred. But first things first, I feel like the main character of this show if there is a main character, which I don't really want to make the argument that there is a main character, but if there is one, it's Rainiera, at least right now. And a quick thing I wanted to note that isn't just from this episode, but it has been in every episode so far. And I really started to notice it now or just really like kind of, I don't know. I was realizing the pattern, I don't know, the music. I love the theme that Rami and Duati has written for Rainiera. It doesn't like play every single time she's on screen because that would be ridiculous. Not every scene is to do is like a Rainiera scene, but the scenes where like something is happening with her that is like epic or it's very significant for her character arc or something like that, the music, I don't know if you've noticed it. I think it's kind of hard not to notice after a while. Nothing, that's bad or anything like, I think it's a, you know, it's like Star Wars music, you know, like you notice the music, but like that's, you kind of should notice it. It's part of the storytelling. Once again, House of the Dragon wastes no time. Everything is part of storytelling. So anyway, Rainiera's theme, if you haven't paid attention to it, then you'll probably notice it now. It's this very like heavy drumbeat, this very light feminine voice singing wordless vocals. And I feel like both, I just really, I mean, Rami Ndiwadi is my favorite like screen composer of all time to date. So I just like all pretty much every bit of music that he writes for the screen outside of even Game of Thrones. So I just, it's once again, a beautiful piece of music by one of my favorite composers, but I feel like it just really embodies Rainiera so well because she is a force to be reckoned with. She's proven that time and again. I pointed out several times now in my previous videos on the show about how much she's shown taking action, being a woman of action. She quite often embraces violence, but also the show frequently shows us how young, how naive, how at times, in some sense idealistic she is. And I feel like this piece of music really does kind of show that duality really, really well in musical form. It's again, this pounding kind of beat combined with this light feminine vocal. So I just, I really like that piece of music and I really like how they're utilizing it. So what happens in this episode with Rainiera in general, more broad strokes, she's shown to be a lot more unlikeable, a lot more naive and a lot more out of touch in this episode. So we are shown many more things in this episode to make us potentially dislike her. I don't think the show is trying to get us to dislike her, but she is not a perfect heroine and the show has framed her very sympathetically for the most part and still continues to frame her sympathetically in this episode in general. But when this episode opens, I have on my list as well the fact that like she's fingering, she's like playing with the necklace that Damon gave her and that's the very first thing we see, which is obviously significant in general and significant for the scene in which she's doing it. I guess since I've brought it up, I may as well talk about it now. So in this scene, the first thing again that we see in the camera before you see anything else, you see the necklace and her playing with it. Then you realize that the scene in which she's doing this is a scene where suitors are presenting themselves to her for her consideration. So it is specifically while she is considering people she might marry that she is shown very like intentionally by the camera to be playing with a gift from her uncle. But in this scene, going back to her being unlikeable, in this scene, she is shown to make fun of people. She's shown to dismiss people, the young boy who presents himself as a suitor.  Like, I don't, this is ridiculous. So like, that's fine, but he's very earnestly presenting himself to her. And in some sense, she easily could and perhaps should feel some kinship with him because she herself is young and is underestimated.  Now, given the fact that this child's, I shouldn't call him a child, but given the fact that this young man is somewhat similar to her in so far as he is young and underestimated, I think it is significant that the show bothers to spend time showing us that as Rainier is leaving when the escalates into a violent altercation between the bully and this young man, that the young man is the one that prevails and wounds and I think kills, it's unclear if he's dead. But definitely wins that fight with the bully. Again, I don't think it's insignificant, this whole not judging books by their covers, not underestimating small packages, et cetera, et cetera. So again, the show doesn't really waste time, so the fact that it showed us that, I don't think is an accident. I don't think is just for color. Then as Rainier is returning, cutting her courtship tour early, not much of the light of her father. When Damon's dragon swoops by and around and down near her, Rainier gets hurt by this, but her reaction to this is not at all dismay. In fact, she looks happy to see Damon's dragon. So just the fact that they didn't just show us Damon's dragon and her spotting it and then being happy, the dragon hurt her. So by extension, Damon hurt her and she's still delighted about it. And she has a habit of smiling when Damon does violent things. This is actually, she's actually the one that's experienced. To say experienced violence sounds a little much for what happens there, but still. That's not nothing. The show doesn't do things by accident. Again, it just continues a trend of when Damon does brutal things and if Rainier is around to see it, she tends to at the very least not be put off by it, but oftentimes is amused or delighted by it.  She is seated as a member of the council. So her position is already sort of elevated or taken more seriously. Just again, no one had to say that that happened, but between last episode having the series say, no, you are my heir for sure, for sure. Now she's seated at the council rather than pouring wine is a noticeable change. And then again, circling back to her being more unlikable in this episode. And I'll talk about this more in my other sections, which is why these divisions don't make a ton of sense, but whatever. We'll get through all my points one way or another. She's in this episode shown to us to be capable of deceit, which up to this point, she really hasn't. She's been rebellious. She has been in your face. Again, she smiled when Damon has done kind of naughty things. She's snuck off to Dragonstone without permission. She has not been shown to lie or to actively purposely deceive. And she does do that in this episode, which I think is a big sort of shift in her character or a shift in what the audience knows of what her character is capable of. So moving on then to Uncle Damon. Uncle Damon's a heroic triumphant return. So he shows up haircut with a crown on his head. The haircut, I don't exactly know what that signifies about his character. I don't know if it meant to signify that he's cleaned up his act or something, but I mean, the Targaryen men all wear long hair a lot. So I don't really get the significance of that. So if you have theories about that, if other people have put forth theories about what the haircut means, please let me know. But for that, I genuinely like, I watched the episode twice and I was like, I don't know what the haircut means if it means anything at all. And I don't think it doesn't mean anything because why would you have like, have this pretty noticeable haircut and have it mean nothing? So that I don't, I mean, I think he looks good in the short hair. But yeah, I don't know. But he does show up wearing a crown. And when he shows up, you know, he marches in wearing the crown and then he eventually does tell the king, you know, that he won this for the throne here, add the sword to the throne. Here's the crown, have it. Like I've won this for you, the king. The thing is though, if that was his intention and that's what it was always his intention he wanted to signal, that was his intention. He could have walked in holding the crown. He could have walked in presenting the crown, but he walked in wearing the crown and first told everyone that, oh, well, you know, they named me the king. But you know, here you go. I know that there's only one king. So he wanted that moment of uncertainty. He wanted to plant the idea and the image in people's minds of him in a crown. So, you know, he does eventually kowtow to the one true king, but not before first being like king, me trying on precise. How do we feel about this? Okay, not yet, not today. Okay, here's the crown king. I would never, I would never. Then much later in the episode, I'm skipping over him and Rainier's portion because I have a section called Damon and Rainier. So just Damon, he, the morning after events take place she is with his former mistress and she is, it's implied is a spy or one of the informants of Otto Hightower. And one does wonder how long she has been an informant for Otto Hightower. And then the last like Damon only thing is like towards the end of the episode when Viserys is confronting Damon. He's on the ground. This is the lowest he's been as compared to two Viserys in terms of how they are positioned in the scene. But his shirt is pulled to the side so that we can very clearly see the like scars from battle wounds that he has had the wounds that he's taken in fighting. So even if he's on the ground hung over and under the boot of the King, we're still reminded that he's a man of violence and a man of action with the showing us of these scars. Moving on then to my Damon and Rainier section which is a big chunk of this episode and of my notes. Again, there's some trends that have gone on throughout these episodes. I already pointed out how in general these episodes have kept sort of pairing them either by paralleling what they do, paralleling what they say, showing them actually in scenes together, getting along like I've talked about in previous videos about this. They also have frequently shown them speaking Valyrian to each other. And this isn't the only time you hear Valyrian in the episodes, but it is pretty much the only time you hear people speaking in Old Valyrian. And this is always shown to be sort of like an intimate private moment, an intimate private conversation and like something that sort of that binds them. It's like their thing, if that makes sense. So when he returns, they immediately go back to them speaking in Valyrian. And often that, they do speak to each other in not Valyrian in the common tongue. So when they do speak to each other in Old Valyrian, it is usually about more personal things. So perhaps, you could say, oh, it's because they don't want people to overhear them when they're talking about private things. But it feels like it's also something that they just want to do with each other. Again, she has worn the necklace that he gave her in the beginning of episode one through the entire show. She's never, she's always shown wearing it. And obviously at the very beginning of this episode, she has shown touching it. And one of the first things that Damon notices about her when he returns now in this episode is that she is still wearing the necklace that he gave her.  So she remarks that, you know, his adventures have matured him and he turns around and says, but she is matured as well in his absence. And during their conversation in Old Valyrian, it becomes quite clear what Rainier's objection to marriage is. She is afraid and it makes sense that she would be given what happened to her mother.  And so even if she doesn't die in childbed, that's still like, she's watched Allison's. Like that doesn't look like a ton of fun. In fact, we did have a conversation, which in my Rainier and Allison's section we'll get to, but this is her perception of what marriage is. It's no surprise that she would be vehemently against it. So Damon already sets about telling her that while marriage itself is, you know, done for political expediency, coupling does not need to be a chore. It does not need to be torture. There can be pleasure in it. And you can't live your life in fear because if you live your life in fear, you'll also, you may avoid the things that will harm you, but you'll also avoid all the things that may give you pleasure. So he's sort of like setting the stage for further convincing. And then he does that night, take her out on the town. It's very, you know, Jasmine leaving the palace and seeing Agrabah, although Damon is no Aladdin. She, you know, sees King's Landing and all of its glory with Damon. And Damon endeavors to put proof to his earlier words that there is pleasure to be had and that he can be a source of that pleasure for her. Now, interestingly, Damon, it seems to be the one to be reluctant to sort of go through with this. Rainier seems more than happy to go along with continuing their amorous doings. And it is interesting that he's the one that pulls away. I am not sure why he pulls away. I think it's possible that it's purely impotent because it was shown in the first episode. It was implied that he was struggling with impotence. So my reading of that scene is that that might be what's going on, but I'm not entirely sure what the reason is for his reluctance, because he's the one that initiates this. But then after that, Rainier is the one that keeps egging him on and clearly wants this to happen, which is significant for later. But it is interesting that he's the one that pulls back and eventually puts a stop to what they're doing and walks away. And then again, this episode, aside from all of their screen time together, the episode does once again pair the two of them by other characters' observations. So Alison, when she's defending Rainier to Viserys, she specifically cites Damon's deceitful nature as being different from Rainier, but the audience is very clearly been shown that Rainier is quite deceitful or capable of it. So while Alison is saying, oh, they're so different, that Damon is the deceitful when not Rainier, the audience is like, no, they're both deceitful. Like, I know you're saying that this is what's different about them, but the episode is saying this is what's same about them. And in fact, Viserys' response to that is like, they both shared the blood of the dragon and they are both restless. So he immediately pairs them back together again and says, no, they're the same. And then before we leave Rainier and Damon all together, I think the play itself specifically is a very interesting part of the episode. So when Damon takes Rainier out into the city and they see this street play that's put on that's about the current political situation, I love when films and shows do this, although rings of power did this recently and it did it badly. But when it's done well, this very pretty brief scene, it does three things. One, it shows us what the small folk really think about what's going on because so far, most of the show takes place in the halls of power.  But we don't really like it to see that or get a feel for that. So seeing this play and seeing the people watching the play, we actually get some eyes on what do the small folk think about what all their higher ups are getting up to. It also shows us how out of touch with the small folk Rainier is because she's surprised at their reaction. And then when she dislikes their reaction, well, she dismisses it and says, what does it matter what they think? And this is when we see how in touch with things Damon is. He is not at all surprised about this play. He purposely wanted her to see this play and he's the one that tells her it matters a great deal with these people think if you ever want a rule. So in this pretty brief scene, we get a temperature check on the minds of like the common people. We get even more confirmation about how naive, how out of touch and how young Rainier is and how much there still is that she does not understand about her position and then shows us how much more savvy Damon is.  He's not necessarily portrayed as a mastermind by any means. He's the brute strength, right? That's his claim to fame. He's the muscles.  Like it shows that he has a lot more political savvy than at least Rainier does and more than you probably would give him credit for. So moving then on to the series. The series seems genuinely glad to have Damon back which is kind of heartbreaking to see but when Damon returns after his big, you know crown removal and presentation, his first instinct is to embrace him and he does throughout the show. We both see him do it and we are told over and over that in the past he has always given Damon another chance. He always gives him another and another and another chance. He's always defending him because he does seem to really care about his brother and he does seem to wish that they could be allies and friends. And even in the first episode when he's confronting Damon about his behavior after the death of Viserys infant son and his wife he doesn't just say, you know how dare you say these things, you know I'm the king, blah, blah, blah. He specifically says, you should be here by my side. At which point it feels less like a, you should know your duty. It's more like a, I want you to be by my side. Like I need you to be my brother and you are not there for me the way that I would like to think that you would be. So Damon is not the brother that Viserys wishes that he was but he keeps hoping that he will be. Then later in this episode, we do get, I mentioned in my previous video about the previous episode, how interesting it is which parts of Viserys, Alice, and Rainier are see and once again in this episode we have a very similar situation where each of them is presented with a very different version of Viserys. So when Otto Hightower comes to Viserys we don't at first realize but Alison is in the shadows listening and watching this exchange.  So that's what Alison sees. But in the interim, you know, Alison has a conversation with Rainier and we'll get to that. But so then by the time Viserys confronts Rainier she gets the opposite. She gets attacked by Viserys and he is defending Otto Hightower to her. So it is reversed. And it's down to her to say I'll do my part if you do yours and get rid of Otto Hightower. And Viserys is the one that's like oh he served the crown loyally. Even though Viserys was the one when Alison was watching saying you're ambitious, you're out for yourself. Which is now what Rainier is saying but she's having to say it to her father he's defending Otto against these accusations. So the impressions again that Alison and Rainier have of Viserys thoughts on things and where his mind is at are kind of polar opposite because they're seeing very different sides to him and neither has the whole picture. And throughout this episode as these sort of revelations come to the attention of Viserys about what Rainier has been up to whether or not Damon encouraged this and what all's been going down and the amount of times that he's expressed that they are similar. He says they share the blood of the dragon in previous episodes. He has compared the two of them. And it seems to me throughout these episodes that Viserys is less worried about Damon hurting Rainier out or taking advantage of Rainier out or anything like that. He's worried about Damon bringing out in Rainier or the parts of her that are already like Damon.  She reminds him of Damon.  It's that she's a lot like Damon already. And if you have Damon around it's only gonna get worse. Then I think a very interesting line from Viserys which is towards the end of the episode when he's arguing with Rainier or discussing with Rainier the situation about Otto Hightower and about who's the heir and about how she's gonna need to marry, et cetera. When Viserys says it is mine to hold the realm together not sew it with further division. It's kind of an amazing line given where the show is going what the show is about and what ultimately is the fault of Viserys. I won't say more than that. But I mean, again, I think you're for watching the show even if you haven't read the books you can kind of see where all this is going. His every action does seem to be fostering division even though he's expressed a desire to prevent that very thing. Before we get to my Rainier and Allison section briefly Rainier and Kristen Cole. So it does not come out of nowhere. The show did a good job setting up the relationship the trust, the bond between Kristen and Rainier. And here the power dynamics are not what you typically see. She's the one with all the power. In fact, in the previous episode, he says, everything I have I owe to you, which is true. Even if that wasn't true, she is a princess and he is, you know, he serves the royal family. So that power imbalance would still be there regardless. But even more so than in any normal situation he doesn't just serve the royal family that she's a part of. He owes his position specifically to her and feels beholden to her. And they're both young and they're both attractive and so there's clearly like some trust and they seem friendly with one another. But it doesn't really seem romantic, not really. Up until Rainier is left unsatisfied by a damon. So when she is feeling unsatisfied and like the lust that's been awakened in her has been left unquenched, she returns and goes for the first dude that she trusts slash has in front of her. And so at first he seems reluctant, not unwilling. So she's the one that's in control and egging him on and kind of ignoring his wishes. And he's not being forced into this but she is the one that kind of holds all the cards and is the one egging on the situation. And it's very clearly this scene. It is not a moment of passion. It is not just like an instant of just like, ugh, they just like go for it. It is a very slow scene and they take their time. They have multiple opportunities to stop and say, no, we shouldn't do this. And at every instance, they decide to keep going. Both of them, both Rainier and Kristen because Kristen is reluctant and arguably has more to lose, arguably. She's a woman, but she's royalty. So they both have things to lose. But this scene definitely feels more like she's taking advantage of him. Again, it takes quite a while to undress him from his armor and the scene doesn't sort of skip over that, which it very much could have. It could have shown her grabbing him and kissing him and then cut to them in bed naked. But no, it specifically takes us through and shows us her taking one part piece of his armor off and him hesitating, but then allowing her to take more of his armor off and then him hesitating and then allowing her to take more of his armor off and so on and so forth until we get to him removing his own white cloak, or maybe she removed it, I don't remember.  And they specifically show us this scene to show him looking at the symbol of his vow, the vow that he is deciding in that moment to break. So then moving on to Reynira and Allison, another very fraught and interesting relationship. Now again, we have something that's a little bit abrupt in the show, a little bit fast. And I think it's clear that I love this show and I think almost everything about it is great. I'm allowed to complain once in a while.  Given that we'd pretty much only seen them having a fraught relationship in the previous episode, it seems like they reconciled off-screen because I don't think this doesn't feel like the conversation in which they do reconcile.  It feels a lot more friendly between them even if it's not like it used to be. So that kind of surprised and bothered me because like usually this show is pretty good about kind of like showing us gradual changes. So that kind of felt like, wait, when did they become friends again? But in general, this episode does a lot to juxtapose their situations. A lot of it is not subtle at all and it hardly needs me to point it out, but it is very important the way that juxtaposes their situations. Not just to show us the difference between them but also to show us what it is that Reynira fears because she has a prime example of what she does not want to happen. She does not want to be like Allison. She does not want to be kept in a tower making babies as she says. It was shown again, Allison pretty sympathetically that she's, it's kind of one of those we've made your bed now lie in it, but like she didn't really make her bed. She was kind of pushed into that bed by her good old dad. So she's shown in many scenes in ways that make you really feel for her, make you pity her, make you feel quite sympathetic towards her. And again, we very, very obviously juxtapose her life in sort of being the nursemaid caretaker of a series and also his bedmate and the very unpleasurable situation in their bedroom as contrasted with Reynira having her awakening with Damon when she's in a pleasure house and he's telling her, hey, it is not just for making babies, it can be for funsies too. So we're basically seeing the making babies version juxtaposed with the for funsies version, very, very obviously. And neither is actually looking, is neither is made very appealing by the show. I'll say that the way that they shoot the scenes with Damon and Reynira in the city like that looks not great either, at least in my opinion. So they both look kind of bleak. I would say neither of them really shows domestic bliss if there is such a thing. I have meaningless relations to make a baby or you can have meaningless relations for funsies but neither of them really shows, you know, like, I guess if they're, after those two are juxtaposed then we do see Reynira and Kristen. And if any scene does show us kind of like a more idealized situation, it's that where stupid people who know each other and trust each other as much as they possibly can have consented to this and are going about it in a mutually trusting and slow way. So if there is a scene that shows us happy domestic bliss, it's that, but that's also like the huge power imbalance and the fraud situation that that is and the vows being broken, that's also not ideal. But yeah, right before Reynira goes off with Damon, what we see right before that is Allison holding her crying baby. And not only do we see that, but the way it's shot, I believe we're meant to understand that Reynira can hear the wailing of the baby. Right before she goes to her room and is offered and escaped into the city away from that fate. Now, when all of this comes to light about Reynira, may or may not have been getting up to with her uncle, Allison does genuinely seem to be concerned about Reynira and does seem to want to help her. I is also quite shocked by what she's heard. And but I do think this is another instance of like the way that the shot is framed and the way camera angles are done that I think is very intentional, very interesting again. So when it's the queen who has summoned Reynira to her presence, she sends Kristen to do it. So Reynira is the one that has to like come before the queen because she's been asked to. And when Reynira goes to see her in the godswood, the pathway is on a slope. And at the beginning of this conversation, as Allison is accusing Reynira of things, Allison has the high ground and she is looking down at Reynira who's looking up at her and is the one that's saying, what, no, I don't know what you're talking about. What is this? I'm sorry. But then when Reynira is accusing Allison's father of spying and treason, they have switched. By this point, Reynira has the high ground and she's talking down at Allison, which I think again, the way that they have a visual representation of the power dynamics in the conversation is excellently well done. And this is also a key scene because this is the first time we've seen Reynira outright lie. We've seen her again be rebellious, do things without permission, fly in the face of authority.  That was she says it's true and we know it not to be true. And so part of what she says is an outright lie. She says, the Damon never touched me. That's an outright lie. But she also says, I would never. And that, well, that's not, I guess, an outright lie. From what we saw of that scene, she definitely would. And she wasn't the one to walk away with Damon. And if Damon hadn't walked away, she would have been more than happy to let that continue. And again, as I mentioned before, after this conversation, Allison defends Reynira to the series, specifically saying Damon is the deceitful one, not Reynira. But by this point, we know Reynira is deceitful and it's Allison's that is framed as the sort of like innocent one that really wants to believe in the innocence of her friend. So Allison arguably began the show as the deceitful one because she was going behind Reynira's back and making friends with the king. But by this point, Reynira is the deceitful one, not Allison. Then a couple more semi-quick things. Lenor Valarian, the chosen betrothed suitor of Reynira. We don't really get to see him in this episode, but I just wanted to like call your attention to how they paired them or paralleled them in the previous episode. So in the previous episode is where we do see Lenor, Valarian for the first time. And in that episode, it's pretty small. I don't even know why I noticed it, but so very early in the episode, when we're in the hunt thing, the hunt for the name day of Aegon, when Reynira is in the tent with the ladies and the ladies are all talking politics and gossip. And Reynira snidely says, and how have you served the realm lately, Lady Red Wine, by eating cake? And then much, much later in the episode, one of the first slash only times we see Lenor Valarian, he's arguing with his uncle about strategy as concerns the stepstones. And what he says is what role have you played in this council, uncle, other than master of complaints? So the way it shows them both kind of having this, they're the young and they both have similar attitudes and they're both speaking out against people around them. They're both like, and we see very little of him, but you know, she's definitely shown to be a woman of action. He's clearly a man of action. He's wearing armor. He's talking about battle strategy. So I just think it's interesting how they kind of already paralleled them in the previous episode. They've also aged up his character, which given what they've done with the show, I think makes sense and I have no problem with that. And lastly, the episode ends with the morning after potion, which I think is such an interesting way to end the episode and such an interesting scene because we're left wondering who sent it? Of course the maester says, oh, this is from the king. I seriously doubt that. I really don't think the series sent her a morning after potion. So if you were to say it's from the king, I think you might be able to get away with saying that if it was the hand of the king that sent it, Otto Hightower, which he very possibly arranged before he was demoted from that position. So my personal impression of that scene is that that elixir was sent by Otto Hightower via the maester as a test to see whether or not she did actually get up to anything because if she drinks it, that's an admission that she did do the nasty. Now, the assumption would by everyone would be that she did it with her uncle, which would not be the case. But nonetheless, that's what they're trying to find out. That's a very clever way of finding it out. And it's very, I'm very curious about whether or not she's going to drink the potion because we're left with that hanging. It's been given to her and we don't know exactly for sure who sent it and we don't know what she's going to do with it. So I love the way they ended that episode. I love the way they left that scene open to interpretation or at least open to us guessing about what will probably be confirmed at some later point. So yeah, all in all, a fantastic episode. So much happened. So, and the fact that it was able to show us all of this in one episode without it feeling overwhelming, like I felt overwhelmed because I was like thinking about how I was going to break this down. But if I wasn't worried about trying to break it down, I would just be like, what a great episode of television. Can't wait for the next one. That's, you know, on and on every single time I post a video about the show, I harp on the fact that they don't waste screen time.  They really make every bit of screen time count and it's a glorious thing to watch. And I cannot wait for the next episode. Let me know in the comments down below your thoughts about episode, what is it for? Are we only on episode four? I feel like so much has happened, but you know, it's a great show. So let me know your thoughts in the comments down below if you liked it, if you hated it. If you think I missed anything, if you think I'm wrong about anything, whatever you want me to know. I post videos on Saturdays, other random perhaps well, but definitely Saturdays, so like and subscribe, join my Patreon if you feel so inclined and I'll see you when I see you. Bye.


I'm Stephen Garnett, I'm Professor of Conservation and Sustainability at Charles Darwin University. We also use Edgar to look at where the distribution is at the moment and where it might be. It's got this very nice facility where you can run a slide along the bottom and that gives you some idea of what might happen to these birds under a changed climate. We don't know whether the birds will respond in the way that the climate is likely to but at least we've got an idea of which birds to look for, which birds to monitor to be careful about and you need it this far in advance. We're looking at 2085 with the modelling, you can go up to that. Now how quickly is the climate going to change? When do we have to act? Those are the sorts of questions the data can help answer. Birds of course are relying on particular elements of their habitat and one of the big mysteries or lack of knowledge is where that habitat is going to move, where the different elements of that habitat are going to move. There's this idea of ecological communities that we have in our head, we have in our legislation but under climate change those different elements of those communities are going to move in different directions and we don't understand that process at all. We can see this in the past, we can see this in the fossil record as the species have come together and gone apart again. What's going to happen in the future? The sort of modelling that Edika does can follow multiple species and look at the way their climate space is going to move to different parts of the country. What sort of new communities will they have? Will they provide the sort of structural food plants, nesting sites that the birds need? I think it will be a very valuable tool in that respect. Glossy is a very interesting bird from this point of view. There's three different forms of it. There's one just on Kangaroo Island, very rare bird. There's one up in North or Central Queensland and then there's one in South East Australia and they each behave differently. The poor old Kangaroo Island bird seems to lose its climate space altogether. There's nothing like it down there. But just next door in the hills around Adelaide where the bird used to live in the 19th century is a climate space for the one in Central Queensland. So what you could do perhaps is bring some birds that have adapted to the climate in Central Queensland and introduce those genetics to the Kangaroo Island population. Now that's a political question, it's a policy question, a philosophical question in many ways This sort of modelling gives you an idea of the sorts of questions we will need to be asking in the future as climate changes. If we want to keep the biodiversity we've got, we've got some very tough philosophical moral questions to answer. In a sense we've taken a moral decision to keep using fossil fuels and changing our climate but there are all these consequences we haven't thought through at all and mixing up birds like this, perhaps taking them into the captivity forever if their climate space disappears then we've got to make a decision of whether we want to do that, whether we want to resource that. And Edgar is helping us look at those questions.


that and a bag of chips he decided to build a golden image dedicated to himself. God had revealed to him in a dream the future kingdoms that would come on the earth. Nebuchadnezzah's kingdom was represented by a head of gold and though strong and powerful, God had shown Nebuchadnezzah that his kingdom eventually would come to an end and be replaced by another kingdom.  And to back up his defiats, Nebuchadnezzah instructed his artisans to build the very image God had shown him in his dream with one exception. Instead of just the head being gold he directed the head, the torso, the arms, the thighs, the legs, the feet, in fact the entire image from head to toe to be made out of gold which represented Babylon. Nebuchadnezzah was saying to God that I and my kingdom will be here forever and by the time of our text when the image was completed he commanded everybody within his realm to come to the plains of Dura and worship the golden image at a designated time in order to pay homage to his egomania and anyone who refused to bow down and worship the image did so with the certain knowledge that they would be put to death by being thrown into a fiery furnace. The record says in verse 7 that when the music began to play everybody bowed down except three young people Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego three people who were living in the key of F Now don't miss that for while the intent of the narrative is to focus our attention on the gallantry of these three Hebrew boys who were heroes who did not bow down the real underlining tension for us today is while the three boys did not bow down everybody else did which causes me to wonder if Daniel were writing today what would he write about us here at Nairobi Central for while the music of the world plays would he be able to declare that everybody else bowed down except the people here at Nairobi Central Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were not the only Old Testament seven-day Advitish Christians who worshiped God they were not the only people from the church on the plains of Dura confronted with the pressure to compromise and the question today is why did the majority of God's people choose to bow down reaching an activity of worship that they knew was offensive to God why was only Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego ready to stand when tested well the answer is clear the majority bowed down because they lacked commitment and conviction the truth is they did not possess a heart for God Jesus said to love God we must love Him with all of our mind our soul our strength and there can be no equivocation about His preeminence in our lives hear me now those who bowed down bowed down because even though they were surrounded by religion and participated in it they were not living in the key of F Jesus was the center of their joy in name only because the truth of the matter is while they knew a lot of information about Him they learned a lot of nice facts according to Him Jesus had never really captured their hearts and despite the best efforts of home, school or church it was easy for the devil to chip away until their religious rut and status quo became palatable to them can't you hear them in your mind's eye can't you hear us hey Shadrach get down that serious you can just do it today and tomorrow go back to your business can't you hear us I know it's wrong but I'm in love me Shack just do it this one time it's okay you don't have to keep doing it just bow down this one time and get it over with can't you hear us the Lord will understand when they go Nebuchadnezzar is not playing he's going to put you in a fiery furnace and you don't want to burn up hear me now don't fool yourself what you do now will determine to a large degree what you will do later if you cannot take God seriously now and you think that you will somehow get it together later on you are sadly deceived if you only come to church because your parents make you if you only come to church because you grew up in the church and it is the only church that you know if you only know stories from the Bible but God has not given you your own story if you have tried to have a testimony but you are unwilling to go through the test that makes the testimony if Jesus is not your friend in fact if he is not your very best friend then you are prime candidate to succumb to the temptations that will shortly come on the face of the earth and here's the kicker you will fall you will fail you will conform you will capitulate you will compromise you will cough up your Christianity precisely for one reason your demise will not be because of what you thought you were missing and had to go out to get no, your demise will be because of what you always thought what you already lacked Shadrach, Meshach and Abindi Gold were able to stand at the most trying time in their lives because they had a firm grip on Jesus at an early age learn to love God with all of your heart learn to develop good spiritual habits because you will always do in a crisis what you are practicing and learning to do right now you will bow down or stand firm give up or get out get in or get through compromise or show courage fall into sin or have faith surrender to role or submit to righteousness in direct proportion to how much we choose to cultivate a meaningful relationship with Jesus when Nebuchadnezzar heard of their refusal he pointed to the fire reminded Shadrach, Meshach and Abindi Gold that punishment awaited them if they persisted and not obey and then he added this addentum that changed the whole trajectory of the story he said to them if you don't obey I'm gonna put you in the fiery furnace and he said if I put you in the furnace who can deliver you out of my hands now why in the world he go and say that Shadrach, Meshach and Abindi Gold replied in a mortal fashion we are not careful about this matter in other words we don't have to discuss it we don't need to caucus we don't need a board meeting we don't need to have a debate we don't need to call an impromptu business meeting we don't even need a commercial break if it be so that is to say Nebuchadnezzar if that's your decision for God not the God of my parents but the one that I know personally and intimately myself whom we serve the one that we are committed to the one that we are in relationship with he is able in other words Nebuchadnezzar you may think you have the power but you are not running the show oh I wish I could stamp that indelibly on every forehead listening to me God calls the shots he always has and he always will if Calvary proves anything it is that God is able the God we serve is able to deliver evil may crucify on Friday but God is able to fix it on Sunday the key to standing when everybody and everything around you suggest that you bow is to learn how to bring God into the situation but that's not all if you really want to see God work learn how to sweeten the pot don't just bring God into the situation but exercise faith while you wait for him to show up the Bible says in Hebrews 11 verse 6 without faith it is impossible to please God for he that come after God must believe that he is able and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him if you want to please God don't stop at verse 17 when you say God is able move up to the higher ground of verse 18 but if not he should have been to go got the Holy Spirit excited about their testimony but if not is a statement of permission and submission that I am willing to let God do his thing in the manner that he sees fit but if not is an attitude that takes your religion to a level beyond where you serve him everything is going right up to a level where your testimony is in harmony with the lyrics of the songwriter whatever my lot thou has taught me to say with my soul God is able is powerful enough because our God can do anything but if you really want to get God excited and but if not for it is the highest compliment that you can give to God because it declares that even if things don't work out as you think they should you are still confident that God is still working for your good but if not see that's big boy and big girl talk it communicates the message that because you know God's heart it is not necessary for you to always see his hand and because you trust him you will trust him even though you can't trace him but if not is like sweet music in God's ear because it is the sibling of other statements of faith like though you slay me yet will I trust you like father take this cup away nevertheless not my will but your will be done it hangs around with statements of faith no weapon formed against me shall prosper and the Lord is my light and salvation in whom shall I fear but if not is a testimony that recognizes that before you get there God has already been there because he's already been there where you are trying to get now it means that he has already prepared for the situation but if not validates that I have since enough to give God credit enough because I have been with him long enough to know that if he allows it to happen he has already thought that thing through and already worked that thing out it's alright to stand in the midst of your difficulty and declare God is able but the greater testimony comes if you can also add to your conviction that God is able but if not Nebuchadnezzar got so angry when the three Hebrew boys declared but if not that he ordered his soldiers to make the furnace seven times hotter the wrecker says it was so hot that the flames slew those who escorted the three Hebrew boys into the fire Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego fell bound into the fiery furnace but the Bible says they did not burn up infact the only thing that burned were the ropes that tied their hands and the only reason the ropes burned up was because the ropes were Babylonian the Bible says fear not for I have redeemed you I have called you by my name you are mine when you pass through the waters I will be with you when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned and the flames shall not consume you for I am the Lord the Holy One your savior what I'm trying to say is this if God allows you to go into the fire he will also take the heat out of the flames and if God allows you to go through the fire not only will he take the heat out of the flames if that is not enough for your situation he will get into the fire with Nebuchadnezzar expected to see three utterly destroyed boys but when he looked into the fire again something caught his eye Nebuchadnezzar turned to his cronies and said didn't we cast three men into the fire but I Nebuchadnezzar was introduced to God's math where two fish the size of a small sardine and five body loaves can feed five thousand Nebuchadnezzar was introduced to God's math where a little cruise oil can feed a prophet and a widow and a child through a famine Nebuchadnezzar was introduced to God's math where I can do more with nine temps than I could if I kept all of my money Nebuchadnezzar was introduced to God's new math where a multitude of sins can be erased by one drop of Jesus blood Nebuchadnezzar said I put three people into the fire but now I see four and the fourth person that I see was Jesus who never forgets his own Tradition says that when the youths were about to be put into the fire God called an emergency meeting up in heaven said to the angel, Sinclair how long will it take you to get down there to save the three Hebrew boys Sinclair replied it would take me about five seconds Lord God replied that's not fast enough so he turned to Gabriel and said Gabriel how long would it take you to get there Gabriel said I can get there in one second God said well that's not fast enough then he turned to Jesus and said how fast can you get there Jesus replied father I'm already there low I am with you always even throughout the consummation of the ages he was the fourth person in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach and Abendigo he was the third person in prison with Paul and Salas he was the second person with John on the Isle of Patimus he is the one person that you need to stand with you remember because the Hebrew youths didn't bend, budge or break neither did they burn because God always comes through remember that being a Christian is like being a teabag you are not much until you've been placed in hot water remember God runs the show even if it doesn't look like it for he knows exactly what he's doing remember in every situation God has thought that thing through and he already has worked that thing out remember that God is able he will either take the heat out of the flame or he'll get in the fire with you either way you are in good hands remember following the path of least resistance is what makes people and rivers crooked remember spiritual failure occurs because of what we lack learn to love God with all of your heart and let your devotion be to him like blue the three words but if not are just as important to God as God is able please God by giving him permission through your submission learn new math one with God is a majority no matter how many people are on the opposition and after you have done all you can just stand, be still and see the salvation of the Lord and in this crisis hour be faithful to God by living in the key of F your head's about in my country we have several branches of service for the military one is called the Army Navy, the Air Force and the Marines and often times in my country these branches of the military will go to the high schools of various high schools across our nation and they go there for the express purpose of recruiting young people to consider a profession in the military there was one such school where the recruitment took place with the senior class in the high school and each of the branches of service the Army, the Navy and the Marines were scheduled to have 15 minutes of peace to make a convincing argument to those who may be interested in going into the military the Army representative went first and he used the famous slogan that the Army is known for in America be strong and be all that you can be if you come into the Army we will make you into all that you can be but instead of 15 minutes he took 20 minutes there were only 45 minutes allotted so the Navy recruiter got up next saw that the Army recruiter had taken 20 minutes decided that he would not be outdone so he made his pitch which is famous for the Navy if you come into the Navy you will see the world and so he took 20 minutes that left the Marine recruiter with just 5 minutes to make his case the Marine recruiter walked up to the stage got behind the podium and for 4 minutes of his 5 minutes he just simply stood at attention and said nothing finally when he had 1 minute left he said to the senior class at that high school potential persons who might be recruits for the military he said most of you would be better off in the Army or Navy because only a few good men and women have what it takes to be a Marine those of you who are desirous to be different and to make a difference meet me in the dining room dismissed and the entire class showed up in the dining room where the Marine recruiter was what I'm trying to tell you today simply is this in a world of mediocrity in a world and in a church where most people want to be like everybody else God is looking for those who are willing to be different and to make a difference who are willing to live in the key of F let us pray before I pray I'm wondering if today that those are listening to me whether online or those who are in this audience today want to say to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in this crisis hour in which we are living in a world surrounded by mediocrity that by your grace I want to be different and I want to make a difference I want to live in the key of F I don't want to be like all the other keys on the piano I want to be unique for my God if you are here today and would like for me to especially acknowledge your commitment in my prayer I want to invite you to stand you want to be different you want to be a Marine despite everybody else you want to be one of the few men or women who is determined to live in the key of F now before I pray I would be remissed if I did not offer an opportunity for someone either online or someone here in the midst of our in-person service who understands and realizes that this is a critical juncture in their lives before you can live in the key of F for Jesus it presupposes that you have a relationship with Jesus and so I want to encourage some man woman boy or girl some young person today if you really want to make God excited that you want to say to him Lord I want a relationship with you perhaps my relationship in the past has gotten off track and I need a refreshing I need a new experience I need a new place to be able to say that I started over with the Lord or perhaps you're a young person today you've been around the church maybe you've grown up in the church but you've never really made a conscious personal decision to make Jesus Lord of your life now God won't force it on you but He stands at the door ready to receive you and all He's asking is for permission to enter your life and to become first best and foremost I don't know who you are but perhaps you are here today God has been speaking to you and saying hey listen I heard the pastor say that there is a way for me to signal my ultimate commitment my definitive statement that I am on the Lord's side He's going to grant us the privilege by opening up the baptismal waters for those who need to come back home or those who have never made a definitive decision for Jesus Christ well the church is praying everybody's head is bowed here's what I want you to do it's going to take some courage but if you will take one step for Jesus you will find that your steps will be light because He will dispatch angels to help you to take the rest of the steps so I'm calling for that man woman boy or girl here today who perhaps knew Jesus but when you came to this camp meeting you know and you knew that your relationship with Him had grown stale in Mildewd you need a new start if you want that new start to start today I want to invite you simply step out of your seats come down it's going to take courage but don't worry about anybody else in here because this is between you and Jesus I want to call for that young person today that perhaps has never simply made a personal decision to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and you want to make this camp meeting a special time where the Lord and Saviour will receive you the while every head is bowed the people in this church are praying if you meet one of those conditions won't you come man woman boy or girl right now just step out of your seat and we will receive you and you can join the others who are planning to participate in the big celebration of baptism anybody here today want to make that decision won't you come for those who are online we don't want to leave you out either if God is speaking to you and you know that you need a new start you need a new experience with the Lord and Saviour somehow the devil has gotten you off track but you need and want what you once had back again there's a number that's on the screen call that number and there are counselors there waiting to receive your call and they will provide you with all of the instructions that you need so that you can participate also this is serious business God is looking for those who are totally on his side anybody else here today want to say to the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Lord I can't go another day not another minute not another second I hear you speaking to me and I want to make my calling and election clear and sure any young person today want to say to the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I want you to be first best and foremost in my life I'm getting ready to pray there's still time for somebody to come anybody else today want to make their calling and election sure your head's about bother we thank you today Lord for the example of Shadrach Meshach in Abendigo who teach us through their testimony that not only is our God able but when we add but if not we show supreme confidence in him your people are standing today signifying that they want to live in the key of F they want to be unique different and make a difference they don't want to be mediocre they don't want to be just like most people going through the motions not up or down just going through the motions no they want to do something great for you my prayer is that you bless them my prayer is that you prepare them my prayer is that as they live in this crisis time may the preparation of loving you first best and foremost prepare them now and for the crises that must come and may each one of us live in the key of F so that the world can know that we have been with you thank you for those who are considering being baptized recognizing Lord that they need to make their calling an election sure and now father hold us protect us bless us but give us the commitment and consecration that is necessary to live in this world in an exceptional manner for you we thank you in Jesus name bless everyone to live in the key of F this is our prayer in Jesus name amen and amen turn to your neighbor and tell your neighbor I'm praying for you to live in the key of F being faithful by living in the key of F we will close our worship with song number 610 stand like the brave song number 610 in our SDA hymnals as will be our closing song I request that we rise as we do this song stand like the brave 610