Summary
A very solid penultimate episode lays the groundwork for an explosive finale.
Dragons are like buses – you spend ages waiting for one, and then several come along at once. Not since the series-best episode “The Red Dragon and the Gold” have so many giant CGI lizards graced our screen. House of the Dragon once again lives up to its title in Episode 7 of Season 2, “The Red Sowing”, with dragons emerging left and right, choosing their riders, and getting ready for war.
A few times in this episode I genuinely marveled at whatever digital wizardry has brought these things to life. From the scales to the scale, they’re something to behold, and they emote better than some of the less-important supporting characters. Cooler names, too – Westerosi history is replete with Aegons and Aemonds, but there’s only one Seasmoke and Vermithor (I think?).
Riding Dragons Is For Everyone
Rhaenyra and Addam (and their dragons) face off
Earlier in the season, Jacaerys put forward the idea of trying to recruit new dragon riders from the other noble houses that have mixed with Targaryen blood over the years. This was how poor Ser Steffon Darklyn ended up getting barbecued by Vermithor in the previous episode.
The last-minute reveal that Addam could ride Seasmoke opened the idea up a little wider. Why only search for Targaryen descendants in noble houses when the House of the Dragon sired bastards all over the Seven Kingdoms? Blood is blood, and if Addam can ride a dragon, then so too can lowborn commoners like — *checks notes* — Hugh Hammer the blacksmith, and — *checks notes again* — Ulf, the town drunk.
This has been teased before now, to be fair. If you were wondering why we’ve spent a slightly unusual amount of time with Hugh, and why we devoted an entire scene in Episode 3 to Ulf claiming he was Daemon and Viserys’s half-brother, well, now you know.
Choose Your Rider
Alyn might be a contender for another dragon rider
I’m going to assume that we have another dragon rider coming soon in the form of Alyn, Addam’s brother. Corlys gives him a slightly hesitant heads-up, and Alyn reassures him that he remains “of salt and sea”, but dragons rule and sailors drool, or something like that. Keep an eye on it.
In the meantime, we should express consternation at Rhaenyra’s recruitment efforts, which comprise getting Mysaria’s smallfolk spies to spread the word that the crown needs Targaryen bastards and grossly underselling the risks. Since we saw what happened to Ser Steffon, we can’t help but gulp a little when Rhaenyra leads a small army of bastards down into the depths beneath Dragonstone. Needless to say, Vermithor burns and tramples virtually all of them until it eventually settles on Hugh.
Ulf is running away from this carnage when he flees deeper into the caves and runs right into Silverwing. But the dragon takes a shine to him, and the next thing we know he’s helplessly flying over King’s Landing, sending Team Green into an enormous panic. Aemond follows him back to Dragonstone on Vhagar, but he promptly retreats when he sees how many dragons Rhaenyra has sitting around the place.
Daemon The Executioner
Daemon has gained an army but lost a lot of respect after his time at Harrenhal
I’m happy to report that Daemon’s hallucinatory time at Harrenhal seems to be coming to an end. And in some ways his schizophrenic sojourn there has been a success since he has managed to unite the River Lords under Rhaenyra – and thus himself – but it hasn’t come without cost.
It’s probably telling of how far Daemon has fallen that he gets humiliated by young Oscar Tully in “The Red Sowing”. The lad manages to remind the fractious lords of their loyalty by assuring them that he hates Daemon just as much as they do. For all of Daemon’s bluster, he’s powerless. Oscar orders him to behead Lord Blackwood as punishment for the sins he committed against House Bracken at Daemon’s request, and Daemon has no choice but to go along with it.
He got his swords, in the end, but his self-respect is at an all-time low.
And Another Thing…
Alicent takes a deserved break
Some additional observations from House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 7:
- Jacaerys, who came up with the Dragonseed idea in the first place, is initially fuming about the idea of lowborn “mongrels” riding dragons. Initially, it seems like he’s just being a petulant, nasty little brat, like seemingly all of the kids in this universe, but he tips his hand. He has long since figured out that he’s a bastard himself, but his ability to ride a dragon gives him legitimacy as Rhaenyra’s successor. If any commoner can sit astride one of the winged beasts, what does that mean for him?
- Larys has appointed himself as Aegon’s medical mentor, trying to expedite his recovery by forcing him through the healing process at a dangerously accelerated rate. He’s up to something since it’s Larys, but for now, we’re not sure exactly what.
- Alicent essentially takes some time off in “The Red Sowing”, and I do wonder what she’ll get up to in the finale now that she has been stripped of her political power.
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