Another work week is upon us, which also means it’s time for more House of the Dragon. Last week saw the show shake up much of the cast as it leaped forward in time about a dozen or so years. We saw Alicent take her first steps towards ruthlessness, while Rhaenyra surprisingly opted for more peaceful measures by relocating her family to Dragonstone. She also suggested marrying her son with Alicent’s daughter in order to ensure a peaceful transition once the finally King dies.
Both women are becoming increasingly desperate in their bid to protect their children; though, Alicent’s descent towards evil appears more self-centered — she wants to validate her own sacrifices and get back at Rhaenyra for lying to her all those years ago. For Alicent, this is personal.
Naturally, her emotions are carefully manipulated by the slithery hands of Larys Strong, whose bid for power just cost him his father and brother — the true father of Rhaenyra’s sons. This won’t go over well.
So, basically, just another day in King’s Landing.
Let’s get to Episode 7, titled “Driftmark,” and hold on for dear life as we watch our beloved characters nosedive into tragedy.
What Happens in House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 7
We open at the funeral of Laena, who burned herself (and her child) alive via dragon fire after childbirth complications called for desperate action. Daemon stands by, apathetic during the ceremony. He even laughs at some of the words spoken during the ceremony, particularly those stating the Velaryon blood runs thick through the family and must never thin.
Jacaerys and Lucerys display genuine sadness while Aegon rolls his eyes. Though, we later learn that “Jace” is actually bummed that they aren’t at Harrenhal mourning the death of Lord Strong, his actual father. “It wouldn’t be appropriate,” Rhaenyra says.
We get lots of Godfather-like glances from the likes of Varys and Alicent. Everyone seems to be conspiring in their own way. I’m still not sure what Daemon wants. He always looks like he’s thinking hard, but his thoughts typically amount to … nothing. At least, so far. Maybe he’s not thinking. Maybe he just doesn’t give a shit about any of this. Or maybe he gives a shit but is too emotionally attached to everyone involved to do anything about it.
Helaena, Alicent’s daughter, plays with a spider while her brothers Aegon and Aemond stare in confusion. “We have nothing in common,” Aegon says. He’s as apathetic as Daemon.
Larys eyeballs the hell out of Alicent, an action that doesn’t go unnoticed by Criston Cole.
Meanwhile, Laenor stands in the water below the party looking positively devastated. Corlys spots his son and orders Qarl Correy, Laenor’s “secret” lover, to retrieve him.
Varys watches all of this and looks positively tired. It takes a lot of energy for him to rise to speak with Daemon. He suggests Daemon return home — Rhaenyra watches from afar — to King’s Landing, but he’s like “Nah” and storms off, past … Otto Hightower, who, I assume, was reinstated as the King’s Hand?
Night blankets the proceedings. Otto orders a drunken Aegon to get to bed; Laena stumbles through the crowd after being pulled from the sea by Quarl; somewhere overhead, a dragon growls, a sound that draws the interest of Aemond. Varys heads to bed, another shitty day for the King.
Later, Corlys and Rhaenys, aka the Queen that Never Was, discuss their daughter’s death. She thinks it’s a punishment from the gods for their selfish ambition and chastises Lorys for his unyielding desire to ascend the throne, no matter the cost. Covered in word vomit, Lorys sits beside his grieving wife. “What is this brief mortal life if not to pursuit legacy,” he asks. Indeed.
Rhaenys lays it all on the line and states she wants Driftmark to pass through Laena’s line. She knows that Rhaenyra’s children are not Laenor’s, and she knows that he knows. At this point, the only way to ensure the Velaryon bloodline continues is to lean on Daemon/Laena’s children.
“History does not remember blood,” he snaps. “It remembers names.”
Great scene.
Elsewhere, Rhaenyra walks with Daemon along the beach. She explains how she tried to conceive a child with Laenor, but nothing came of it. “It wasn’t much fun,” she says as Daemon smirks. The topic turns to Alicent, who Daemon notes is very much capable of doing really bad things if pushed to the limit.
The couple that never was shift gears to discuss their own love life. “I was a child, I was in love,” she snaps. “It was wrong and you knew it!”
“You knew what you were doing,” he retorts.
She takes a step toward him. “I’m not a child anymore. I want you.”
Boom.
We get some romantic, er, Uncle/Niece necking while the soundtrack tries valiantly to play this off as romantic. They do the nasty and … I’m not sure what to think. Are we supposed to be happy that they found each other at last?
Elsewhere, Aemond follows the sound of the dragon and spots the massive beast snoozing under the moonlight. (There’s no music in this bit, just the sound of the dragon’s breath. It’s really cool!) Aemond attempts to touch the monster, which, I think, is Laena’s former dragon Vhagar. She wakes. Eyes Aemond and casually looks away.
Again Aemond tries to touch the beast, which opens its mouth and prepares to dish out a massive amount of hot whoop ass, but the young man shouts nonsense in High Valyrian: “Dohaeras! Dohaeras, Vhagar! Lykiri!” These commands subdue Vhagar, and Aemond climbs on her back. We get a terrific shot from his point of view and then the young man shouts, “Soves!” and the massive dragon launches into the air.
We get an incredible dragon flying sequence that literally takes your breath away — the score, the music, the FX, the acting, the direction, all of it is incredible. Hiccup, eat your heart out.
Aemond lands and strolls back to the castle like a boss. He’s confronted by Laena’s daughters and Rhaenyra’s sons. Rhaena scolds him for taking her dragon, which, Aemond notes, she should have claimed after her mother’s death. He tells her to find herself a nice pig, which earns him a slap. Stunned, the young man slaps back … then Jacaerys slaps Aemond … and Aemond slaps Lucerys … everyone slaps everyone until all the kids are atop of Aemond slapping the holy shit out of the kid. Things escalate further when Aemond calls Rhaenyra’s kids bastards and … well, kids being kids, one of them draws a knife and slices half of Aemond’s face off.
We cut to Varys looking like a man who would happily welcome death at any moment just to escape from this endless nightmare of violence, pettiness, and self-destruction. “How could you allow such a thing to happen,” he says cooly to Ser Harold and Ser Criston.
“Where the hell were you,” Alicent snaps at Aegon, slugging the gangly kid in the face in front of the entire castle.
Nearby, Aemond gets a wicked set of stitches across his face, which should come in handy should he choose to become a proper villain. His eye is lost, but the flesh will heal, which is good news, I guess? Aemond takes all of this remarkably well.
Rhaenyra shows up along with Corlys and Rhaenys. “Who did this,” Rhaenyra asks after seeing the wounds on her children.
Kids shout. Varys shouts. Everyone shouts. “Shut the f*** up,” the King commands.
“He called us bastards,” Jacaerys whispers to his mother, who stands with a look that says she knows this is going to be a long night.
“False accusations were levied against my sons and they defended themselves,” Rhaenyra says. “Accusations about the legitimacy of their birthright.”
Everyone rolls their eyes.
“This is high treason. Prince Aemond must be questioned to determine where he learned such slanders,” Rhaenyra continues, doubling down on her lie.
“Over an insult,” Alicent says, her eyes filled with tears.
Otto watches the scene from afar but slowly moves forward as if bracing for the worst. Daemon observes from a doorway, arms folded; a smirk across his face.
“Where did you hear this lie,” Varys asks Aemond.
Alicent tries to smother the fire. “Uh, he’s just a kid saying dumb kid shit … uh, where’s the boy’s true father, Laenor?”
That seems to draw everyone’s attention away from the moment.
“Yeah, where the hell is Laenor?”
“Entertaining his young squires, I would venture,” Alicent says, drawing a smirk from Criston. (Honestly, this episode has been fire. I love the little character beats tucked within the larger scene. You learn a lot from the slightest gaze.)
“Your King demands an answer,” Viserys says. “Who spoke these lies to you?”
Aemond eyes his mother, but then pivots. “Uh, Aegon!” (I’m reminded of that scene in A Christmas Story where Ralphie falsely accuses his friend of strong language and is forced to listen to the poor kid incur a horrible beating over the phone.)
The King confronts Aegon. “Who told you this lie,” he screams.
“Everyone knows,” Aegon says quietly. “Just look at them.”
Yeah, the jig is up. But Varys wants nothing to do with any of it. “You King demands everyone to be happy,” he shouts the way I do at every Thanksgiving family fight. He heads off to bed, but Alicent’s like, “Nah, that’s not good enough. I want an eye for an eye — literally.”
Viserys is like, “What the hell?”
“Fine, if the King will not seek justice, then the Queen will,” Alicent says coldly, the pent of rage boiling to the surface. “Ser Criston, bring me the eye of Lucerys.”
Keep in mind, the entire castle is watching this very intense family dispute. Oh, the stories they’ll tell …
The King again orders everyone to calm down, go to bed and eat some fruit or something, and also proclaims a new decree: anyone who falsely accuses my daughter’s bastard sons of their true heritage will have their tongues removed.
“Thank you father,” Rhaenyra says before turning to head back to bed.
Alicent can’t take this shit anymore and goes full-on Rambo. She grabs the King’s blade and hurls herself towards Rhaenyra. Daemon blocks Ser Criston from performing his duties, while Ser Harrold eases everyone back and allows the two women to have their moment.
“You’ve gone too far,” Rhaenyra says dryly.
“I’ve done everything that was asked of me,” Alicent snaps. (Cut to Otto slinking off into the shadows.)
“Exhausting isn’t it,” Rhaenyra says, “hiding under the cloak of your own righteousness, but now they see you for who you really are!”
Alicent lunges and then pulls back. Blood pours down Rhaenyra’s arm. (I expect the King is thinking he should have gone with Door No. 2.) Everyone is shocked. Daemon smirks. Aemond steps forward. “Do not mourn me mother,” the boy says. “It was a fair exchange. I may have lost an eye, but I gained a dragon.”
“Everyone go to bed, for the love of God,” Viserys commands as the families eyeball each other, neatly divided by miles of hatred.
The next day, Otto visits Alicent and surprisingly commends her for her actions. “You’re tough shit,” he says. “I think you can win this game.” He assures his daughter that the King will forgive her actions — what else can he do? — before stating: “Stick with me and together we’re gonna kick some ass.” He then notes that Aemond’s rebellious decision to snag himself a dragon may have turned the tide in their favor. “I mean, Vhagar is ours now.”
Scary.
We get more stitching action as a maester sews up Alicent’s arm the next morning. Laenor stumbles in. “Ah, hiya everyone …”
The couple discusses their relationship — highs and lows. Long story short, he recommits himself to her. “I will be your husband from this point on.” She looks surprised, a little shocked and … sort of weary, if I’m reading Rhaenyra right. I mean, she finally got her Uncle in the sack and now … it’s complicated.
Speaking of which, the pair stand at Dragonstone and watch Alicent’s ship sail away. “Fire is a prison,” Daemon notes of their Targaryen lineage, “the sea is always right.”
“I need you, Uncle,” Rhaenyra says. “I cannot face the greens alone. Let’s kick ass together.”
“We cannot marry unless Laenor were dead,” Daemon says.
“I know,” she replies coldly.
On the ship, Larys offers to snatch an eye for Alicent. “Not now,” she says. “But one day will come where I need your loyalty and discretion.”
Everyone is choosing a side, forming allegiances and setting the table for the battle to come.
Daemon seeks out Qarl and offers him gold to execute Laenor. We see the “loyal” servant confront Laenor and engage in a sword fight. By the time Corlys arrives, a body burns in the fireplace. Is that Laenor? Or somebody else? Thrones doesn’t typically kill a character offscreen, but I’ve been wrong with all of my assumptions about this show thus far.
We end with some lip and hand cutting as Rhaenyra and Daemon finally marry in front of their kids. Uh, this is great … I think?
Later, a mysterious bald man who is totally Laenor runs into a boat and sails away with Qarl. I knew it! And that’s how we end this week’s episode.
Final Thoughts on House of the Dragon Episode 7
Okay, so just three episodes to go, folks. I don’t know about you but this show is friggin’ incredible. There are so many interesting nuances within each storyline that it’s easy to lose oneself in the drama. While not exactly a fair comparison, House of the Dragon has handled the slow and steady buildup to its big finale far more competently than The Rings of Power.
I get it. One’s a mostly family-friendly show rooted in fantasy, while the other is a very R-rated political thriller with fantasy elements. Each show has its merits, but House of the Dragon has so much more lurking beneath the surface. Its characters reside somewhere between good and evil — you root for and despise them all the same, which is a tricky thing to pull off.
Tellingly, I’m not sure who I’m pulling for at this point. Alicent deserves what she fought so hard to achieve, but is clearly going down a very dark path. Rhaenyra is a good person, but her lies have led to a lot of problems. Yet, I don’t fault her for her lies. I get it. This world sucks and both Rhaenyra and Alicent are fumbling through the darkness trying to latch onto the first thing that gives them hope. Except, Alicent has turned to Larys Strong while Rhaenyra has sided with Daemon. Can either be trusted?
This is not going to end well for anyone, is it? There’s too much emotion, too much at stake, too much anger for anyone to step up and douse the flames. Really, this family just needs to sit down and have it out as every family does once every year or so. But it’s probably too late for that at this point.
No matter. That just means we get to watch this royal family rip themselves to shreds with swords, bows, spears, and friggin’ dragons. I’m afraid to watch, but I can’t look away.
