Spoiler alert!
Ahh, Driftmark. Where the tides are strong, the air is salty and the nights gloomy and difficult to watch in anything but a completely dark room.
My first thought watching this episode was “Could somebody please turn on a light?” Many of its scenes were so dimly lit I only knew what was going on by the subtitles, most of which involved the phrase “breathing heavily”.
Mind you, I watched the episode for the first time on my iPad while in the shower so I will admit it is not the ideal viewing experience - and possibly leaves an image in your head that I’m not sure I want there, kittens.
Given the production shots and paparazzi pics that came from the set were dazzling by comparison…
…it’s clear that much of this episode was filmed day-for-night, which is a common cinematic strategy.
The producers have made a clear choice to have morally grey area characters make morally grey area decisions in an explanatorily grey area. I’m not going to hold that against them.
Another aspect of this show that has drawn mixed opinions is its time jumping.
I’ve tried to go into the series as uneducated as possible, but even I know it is inspired by “The Dance of Dragons”, a intra-Targaryen blowout that is referenced in Game of Thrones as part of the dynastic history of the dragonlords in Westeros.
It’s become clear now that this first series is a collection of steps on the way to that dance.
Episodes 1 and 2 are the first grouping, set six months apart to be sure, but concerning the death of Queen Aemma, Viserys’ second marriage to Alicent, and the declaration of Rhaenyra as heir apparent.
Episodes 3, 4 and 5 are set three to four years after that, concerning Rhaenyra’s marriage prospects, Daemon’s ongoing troublesome presence and eventual banishment, and the estrangement of Alicent and Rhaenyra.
Episode 6 threw us forward ten years to introduce the children of the main players and open up rifts between competing factions. Now episode 7 follows directly on from that to see the fallout from one particular death and the resolutions taken in the wake of it.
Having already discussed this episode on the mighty Raven On companion podcast with my co-host (and guy who’s read the source material) Stuart Layt, I am aware that Episode 8 will jump us forward in time again, to see at least some of those children reach “adult actor” stage.
It has meant we’ve learned to love and lose characters within a matter of episodes - or in some cases, like Lady Rhea Royce, just the one scene - which some of you, loyal readers, have expressed frustration at not having more time and character development with them.
But the dancers must take their positions before the song begins, and so here we are, in a very stretchy bendy episode that sees a lot of joints flexed and cracked and made ready for the ultimate waltz.
Or as my colleague Stu so eloquently said this week: “It’s all tits and dragons until somebody loses an eye.”
While most of House of the Dragon has taken place in King’s Landing, this episode sees the major players all crammed together in an even smaller performance area: Driftmark, the seat of the Velaryons.
They’re gathered to watch Lady Laena’s body be returned to the salty depths from which we all crawled out, at one time in the distant past.
It’s a beautifully choreographed and lovingly shot moment, as her coffin is readied for water burial surrounded by friends and family on rocky crags all around.
“We’ve sunk so many coffins we’ve almost filled this bay in.”
Everybody Loves Vaemond Velaryon gives the eulogy in High Valyrian, and all the looks are despondent, except Aegon, who is bored out of his brains, and Daemon, who finds Vaemond’s call for the thick, salty blood of the Valyrians should not be thinned apparently hilarious.
He might have been chuckling at the fact that Rhaenyra has clearly been responsible for some bloodline pruning, having spared her sons any Valyrian sodium, but still, giggling at your own wife’s funeral is not a good look, bro.
As a quick aside, the music that accompanied Laena’s coffin falling to the sea floor was heartbreakingly sad. It matched the despair seen on particularly her brother Laenor’s face as he struggled to keep his composure.
Later, the grieving family and friends all gathered on a nice little terrace, which surely was too small for that many egos.
Rhaenyra seeks out her eldest son Jace, who she entreats to go and offer sympathy to Laena’s daughters Baela and Rhaena.
But precocious young Jace, who last episode outright asked whether Ser Harwin Strong was his father, claims he is equally as bereft, and says they should be in Harrenhal mourning the sexy Strong heir and his father, Ser Lyonel (aka Steven Toast).
“But they are not kin,” Rhaenyra hisses emphatically, hoping the kid keeps his trap shut. For all their sakes, they’ve got to make like Hyacinth Bucket and keep up appearances.
Meanwhile the Targaryen teen bros are discussing their sister Helena, who’s playing with spiders and appears to be dishing out more prophetic statements (more on those later).
Aegon has no respect for the sibling he calls an idiot, urging Aemond to marry her instead. In a nonchalant fashion Aemond says he totally would, because keeping Targaryen bloodlines pure is important, but Aegon as the eldest had first dibs.
Aemond is suitably unimpressed by his sleazy elder bro going off to slam down some Driftmark daiquiris and hit on the wait staff. He definitely inherits his priggishness from his mother Alicent; lord knows where Aegon gets his reckless abandonment of propriety from. At least we should be grateful he didn’t get his wang out this week.
Jace heads over to Baela and Rhaena, but it’s Baela who provides comfort, grabbing his hand until Rhaenys comes over to embrace her granddaughters.
There are so many stares and small exchanges as the afternoon wears on: Rhaenyra avoids Alicent’s stare; Ser Larys eyeballs Alicent like she’s a human pile of whipped cream; Jace and Aemond exchange glances over a fire; Rhaenyra and Daemon fling sexy smiles at each other; and Viserys weighs up whether or not to talk to his brother.
As the sun begins to set, Lord Corlys spies his son Laenor standing waist deep in water just off the shore, and tersely instructs Lenny’s buddy Qarl to go fetch him.
Viserys does strike up a conversation with Daemon, offering his condolences and saying he remembers the mixed blessing that is having a daughter that looks like their dead mother. This is the first time he’s verbally expressed that sense of comfort and loss, and adds a bit more reason into his loyalty to Rhaenyra as his heir. Yes, she is his daughter, but even moreso, she is all that remains of his loved and lost Aemma.
Ever the mediator, he offers Daemon a place back in Westerosi court, but Daemon stubbornly insists his Pentos is his home now. “I need… nothing,” he spits back, pausing before the “nothing”. He storms off, stopped by Ser Otto, Hand firmly back on the tiller of State, who offers condolences.
“No matter how fat the leech grows, it always wants for another meal,” he responds, clearly not having softened on his opinion of Otto from Episode One.
Tired and unsteady, Viserys makes his way to bed, but mistakenly calls Alicent “Aemma”. Everyone seems to notice, except Viserys, who just keeps pushing on towards sleepy bo-bos.. Meanwhile Otto gets a drunken Aegon to bed, Qarl retrieves a grief-stricken (and probably also drunk) Laenor from the sea, and Rhaenyra shoos her boys off to bed.
Later Corlys and Rhaenys debrief in the Great Hall. Rhaenys is way crankier about their daughter’s death than the Sea Snake appears to be. He seems more content to believe Laena’s inability to deliver her third child was fate, whereas she thinks some decent Westerosi medicine would have saved the day.
Rhaenys suggests the gods are punishing them for their insatiable pride, for eyeing prizes above their station. Rhaenys has made her peace with losing the Iron Throne to Viserys all those years ago, and she calls out Corlys for hiding his ambition for a royal legacy behind the veneer of wanting justice for her lost crown.
“What is this brief mortal life if not the pursuit of legacy?” he asks.
Rhaenys isn’t having it. If he wants a true legacy, he’ll need to agree to her plan to leave Driftmark to Baela, Laena’s eldest daughter (I believe they are supposed to be twins, but they don’t seem to be played by twins, which has left me all sorts of confused).
Corlys says that would mean disinheriting Laenor, which Rhaenys says is fine because he’ll be Rhaenyra’s King Consort anyway. Corlys sees this as admitting Rhaenyra’s kids aren’t Laenor’s, to which Rhaenyra responds “Well, doy.” For Rhaenys, securing their legacy means securing Driftmark. That is all that matters; let the Iron Throne be fought over by the competing Targaryens.
But Corlys is unmoved. “History does not remember blood. It remembers names.”
And hey, he’s not wrong. As a random example, people might remember the names King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I, but who could immediately tell you which one of Henry’s six wives was Elizabeth’s mother?
With day-for-nightfall now upon the island, D&R take to the beach for a stroll and a D&M.
Rhaenyra reflects on her disastrous marriage to Laenor, including the fact they tried to bone their own baby into existence, but failed miserably. She says it felt good to be desired by Ser Harwin Strong, and the two trusted each other. Rhaenyra rues allowing the hunk to return to Harrenhal, as now the castle’s curse is stronger than ever.
It’s no surprise that Matt Daemon suspects Ser Otto and the Queen had something to do with the Strongs’ fiery death; but Rhaenyra does not believe Alicent capable of “cold murder”.
It’s a really interesting detail that despite their mutual dislike and distrust, Rhaenyra still gives Alicent the benefit of the doubt; perhaps remembering the childhood friend who helped her with lessons. It’s a sentiment that will not outlast their time on Driftmark.
But as they talk about people’s capacity for depravity, Rhaenyra gets up a head of steam. Rather than see her awkward teenage uncle fantasies as… well, awkward teenage uncle fantasies, she sees them as the way her life was supposed to go. “Look at what my life became without you…droll tragedy.”
So when Rhaenyra challenged Daemon to steal her away from her own wedding party and marry her on Dragonstone, it wasn’t teasing. She was actively trying to spur him into creating a future she wanted.
Still wants.
“I’m no longer a child,” she says, drawing closer to Daemon. “I’m still your uncle,” never seems to come up. Imagine having your pre-teen and teenage years being consumed with chaste foreplay with your uncle.
That’s right, everyone, we’ve reached the point of the incest.
And not just any incest: upturned boat wreckage sandy incest!
And in this instance, Daemon seemed to have no trouble getting his, err, dragon to, errr, roar.
I’m way too into this incest.
Weirdly enough, in the annals of Game of Thrones sex scene history, it was oddly wholesome. Half-dressed missionary, not even any weird slapping or slurping noises. I suppose the lack of lighting made watching incest a bit easier on the eye.
While those Targaryens busied themselves bumping uglies, young Aemond decided to create a different kind of beast with two backs.
The ambitious young toff has set his eyes on claiming Vhagar - Laena’s dragon - as his own.
The great creature doesn’t let him have an easy ride; the kid is able to convince her to let him climb to the pilot’s seat, but his first flight is high altitude and dangerous, and he struggles just to keep his grip.
There’s even a proper Top Gun-style moment where Vhagar nose dives directly to the island, disappears from view briefly, then resurfaces to triumphant music with Aemond still attached.
The boy begins to get comfortable on his ride, and starts steering the dragon over the water, eventually nudging her upwards again and yelling in delight.
But it’s hard to keep the flight of a giant nuclear bomber secret: Rhaenyra and Daemon’s post-coital cuddle is interrupted by the sound; and Baela and Rhaena get Jace and Luke out of bed to find out who stole their mother’s dragon.
The imposed darkness makes sense given the amount of dragon CGI in this sequence; it is beautifully done, and genuinely thrilling to watch.
We have only ever seen dragons be bonded from birth to their Targaryen humans, so this was a great chance to see how a rider takes control of an existing, riderless dragon - even if Aemond is a little shit we know is going to cause trouble.
And trouble comes quickly, as a CHILD FIGHT! breaks out.
Ahhh, there are few genuine pleasures in life, but I’m sure we all agree seeing children beating the shit out of each other is one of them.
I’m joking, of course. Absolutely joking.
I didn’t want to see dear, innocent babes pummelling seven hells out of each other. Wanting to see a CHILD FIGHT! would make me some kind of monster.
I wasn’t remotely entertained by Baela and Rhaena bum-rushing Aemond after he smack-talked Rhaena for not claiming her mother’s dragon first.
I didn’t delight in Jace and Luke joining in, only for poor Luke to get a punch to the snoz, and Aemond to threaten them all with a rock while declaring the boys bastards..
I certainly didn’t find the sight of the four cousins going to town on their slightly-more-distant cousin in the dirt one of the greatest televisual moments of 2022.
No, the very concept of a CHILD FIGHT! is abhorrent.
Particularly because we shouldn’t encourage knife crime, and it turns out Jace brought quite the blade to this fist fight - which his brother Luke ends up using to relieve Aemond of 50 per cent of his vision.
Aemond crashes to the floor wailing, only for Harrrrold Westerling, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, to come rushing out to see exactly how deep the shit his team is in for allowing this to happen.
And ho, ho, ho, it’s a deep well, people.
This is a family dispute for the ages. The Great Hall of High Tide is not an insignificant structure, but with so many people milling about it feels positively claustrophobic.
Aemond is having his eye stitched up when Corlys and Rhaenys enter demanding to know what is happening, and Rhaenyra rushes in to evaluate the state of her boy Luke’s nose.
When she asks what happened, a cacophony of children’s voices screeching at each other over who was to blame.
That moment felt very real, and I loved it. No doubt many of us had childhood experiences of getting into trouble but trying to either shift responsibility or apportion blame elsewhere.
Actual footage of me through the first half of the 1990s.
For me, I don’t remember details but I remember the EMOTION of perceived injustices. The UNFAIRNESS of copping it for something that wasn’t my fault. Well, not ALL my fault.
And those slights would have been simple things, like broken toys or hogged TV remotes or some giggly outburst in class. I can’t imagine how WRONGED I would have felt if somebody took my dragon, or insulted my parentage or sliced my eyeball open.
Most of all I loved how Matt Daemon, sneaking in after Rhaenyra in the hope nobody would suspect they’d just indulged in some beach boning, just leant up against the door and watched the goings-on with yet another one of his wry smiles.
Bish lives for the drama.
Eventually Viserys has to use his precious energy to shut them all up, and try to get to the bottom of what happened.
Alicent and Rhaenyra trade barbs defending their respective children; the rumours around the boys’ parentage is raised as a potential reason for violence; and Alicent even gets in a barb about Ser Laenor probably being too busy entertaining his squires that makes Ser Criston Cole chuckle until he gets a LOOK from Ser Harrrrold.
Viserys is determined to out the truth and demands Aemond tell him where he heard the bastard rumours. There’s a very long, very tense pause in which Aemond looks at his mother, Viserys looks at Alicent, and then Aemond replies…. ”It was Aegon.”
Viserys then rounds on Aegon, who deserves a bit of respect for not even attempting a veneer of politeness and saying “We all know they’re bastards. Just look at them.”
There’s another tense pause before Viserys yells that they are family, and must stop fighting, by order of the king.
And here’s where Alicent loses her shit.
She insists there is a debt to be paid, and she wants a literal eye for an eye. It’s all gone very Old Testament up in here.
Alicent demands Ser Criston Cole remove one of Lucerys’ eyes, and when Viserys intervenes, she yells at Ser Criston “You are sworn to me!”
Cole, having been firmly dumped in the trash bin last week, redeems himself ever so slightly by saying “As your protector, my Queen.” It’s not in his job description to carry out summary justice on a child.
Viserys tells her the matter is finished, and tells the court any more rumour-mongerers should expect to have their tongues mongered out of their faceholes.
And here’s where Alicent REALLY loses her shit.
She grabs Viserys’ Valyrian steel dagger and charges at Rhaenyra.
Finally, the simmering resentment she has held towards her step-daughter for ten years has erupted like a volcano on meth.
Alicent sees herself as being locked into tradition and a life of servitude, while Rhaenyra has done whatever she wants. She feels Rhaenyra has flaunted her infidelities and is now getting off scot-free after Aemond’s devastating injury.
It’s interesting to note a very deliberate choice the filmmakers include which is to have Rhaenyra listening to this tirade, struggling with the dagger in Alicent’s hand - but also noticing the nearby fire is heating the blade, and some of its prophetic writing is starting to emerge on the steel.
Alicent’s words cut - “Where is duty? Where is sacrifice?” - but she unfortunately remains second to Rhaenyra when it comes to rhetorical power.
“Exhausting, wasn’t it? Hiding under your cloak of righteousness. But now they see you as you are.”
If Alicent’s words can’t cut Rhaenyra, her blade will.
She slashes at Rhaenyra, cutting her arm through her sleeve. It breaks the spell, and upon seeing the dripping of blood from Rhaenyra’s hand, Alicent drops the knife.
Ser Criston Cole, who’d be held back by from assisting Alicent by Daemon, who until then had been very happy to just watch that whole thing play out.
It’s Aemond who breaks the silence, telling his mother not to mourn him, and that it was a fair trade. “I may have lost an eye, but I gained a dragon.”
There’s another overhead shot that shows Viserys walking slowly away from the assembled group, simply done with all the fighting. As he leaves, two distinct lines form on either side of the room. This is to become what we know of as the Greens - Alicent and her allies - and the Blacks - Rhaenyra and her allies.
It’s not so much of a line in the sand, but a line in the Great Hall of a castle BUILT on sand, signifying the impending fall of a house of cards. Is that enough metaphor?
Later, Otto visits his Alicent in her chambers. Far from being disappointed in her lack of decorum, or for causing gossip about her sanity, Otto is as pleased as punch with his daughter.
“It was an ugly scene,” she says. “We play an ugly game,” he shoots back, perhaps the most succinct summation of the court politics of Westeros ever uttered. “But now I see you have the determination to win it.”
It’s a flip on the conversation they had back when Otto was dismissed as Hand, and he chastised her for trusting Rhaenyra. Now, she knows the truth, which means with their Hightower powers combined, they can win this fight. Also, he points out that the “rogue” Aemond was right when he said winning a dragon was worth losing an eye. The Greens now have the biggest dragon of all on their side, and Otto can’t wipe the grin off his face.
Less happy is Rhaenyra, whose arm we see being stitched back together in gory close-up. Funnily enough, there was no issue with the lighting on that particular shot. We got the whole needle going in, needle going out, squishy experience.
Laenor enters, having missed the entire kerfuffle in the Great Hall.
He’s having a moment of deep reflection, is poor old Lenny. He couldn’t help his sister, he wasn’t there for his wife. He comes to Rhaenyra begging for forgiveness for his inattentiveness as a husband, and his failure to live up to his side of their arrangement.
“That’s it, babe. I am deleting ALL the Westeros-based hook-up apps. Dragn Around, King’s Handling, Fleabottom Buddies, The Iron Bone, Master of Loin, they’re all going. What’s that? No, Handy J of the King is a totally different app.”
Whether Rhaenyra had already begun to formulate the plan that will close out this episode is unclear; but she definitely seems to be referring to their relationship as something in the past, something that was attempted, but is now over.
There was even a tender moment as Rhaenyra expressed her sadness they couldn’t get it together enough to make a kid of their own. “Things might have been different,” she says.
And when Laenor curses the gods for making him gay, Rhaenyra rejects that. “You are an honourable man with a good heart. It’s a rare thing.”
The whole point of their lavender marriage was to do their duty while satisfying their own needs; but Laenor has concluded this may be impossible. I think at this stage Rhaenyra is thinking that it might still be possible for her… but not with Laenor.
Which is a problem because Laenor recommits himself to her and their family, to prepare her for her ascension to the Throne. “You deserve a husband,” he says. Pity he didn’t specify he meant himself for that role.
With the funeral over, and the family infighting done for now, it’s time for the visitors to Driftmark to head home. Alicent and Viserys take a ship, while various children mount their dragons and take off.
Watching their departure, Rhaenyra and Daemon start a cryptic conversation about the dangers of fire and whether the sea is a better ally. “Fire is a prison,” Rhaenyra says. “The sea offers an escape.”
She then flips back into High Valyrian, the language they always speak when speaking intimately. Rhaenyra needs Daemon by her side if she’s to face the Green Menace. Besides, they are both of fire. They are meant to burn together.
“So let’s make like Aegon the Conqueror and legitimise this incest,” Rhaenyra demands.
But what about the still inconveniently alive Laenor?
Awww, shucks. The party seems over for the Velaryon heir, as the episode closes out with another one of its layered montages.
We see Daemon - wearing his “I’m doing evil deeds and need to hide my easily recognisable hair” cloak - find Ser Qarl and offer him a bunch of money for “a quick death, with lots of witnesses”.
Ser Qarl then picks a fight with Ser Laenor in the Great Hall, with some sort of Velaryon cousin or servant running to call the guards.
By the time Corlys and Rhaenys rush in, two guards are already fishing a half-toasted corpse off the fire. Rhaenys screams and collapses, Corlys rages against the guards who let this happen.
As this plays out, we hear the rest of the Daemon and Rhaenyra’s conversation, in which she says she doesn’t want to be a tyrant. Daemon says sure, but you also need your people to fear you. She says she loves Laenor. Daemon says sure, but this is setting him free. And she says if Laenor dies, people will think she did it. Daemon says sure, but let them whisper.
Rhaenyra finally gets it, saying they will fear what else the pair of them might do. Daemon says… well, Daemon says nothing, but responds with what else, but one of those wry smiles.
Because we also saw a moment where we saw Daemon steathily attacks another random Velaryon cousin or servant and breaks his neck.
And as we see Daemon and Rhaenyra get married in a super High Valyrian culty-looking ceremony, featuring matching outfits and exchanging blood, we also see a shaved head man jump into a small boat, and row his way with a companion towards a waiting ship.
The book the show is based on has Laenor simply dead at this point in the narrative; but the show finds an elegant solution to allow Daemon and Rhaenyra to benefit from his absence, but not have his blood on their hands. If anything, it makes them smarter than just organising Laenor’s death.
And of course, it gives Lenny and Qarl their own happy ending. They live to dance another day.
Yay! Best Moments
I’m not sure if you’d call it a Best Moment, but I wanted to spend some time on Helena Targaryen’s spooky prognostications.
Last episode when Alicent promised Aemond he’d have a dragon one day, Helena said creepily “He’ll have to close an eye.” That comes true with Aemond being de-peepered after claiming Vhagar.
This episode her creepy predictions involved her playing with spiders, and repeating these words:
“Hand turns loom, spool of green, spool of black, dragons of flesh weaving dragons of thread”
So I want to have a go at breaking down what that could mean, mostly so I feel either smart or silly next episode.
The Green and Black reference is obvious - the competing wings of the Targaryen family. The “Hand turns loom” could be simply referencing the practice of weaving as an act of fate OR it could be more specifically referring to the Hand of the King, aka Otto Hightower. He’s certainly a dude who could easily spin a few yarns/massacres.
If we assume “Dragons of flesh” means real dragons, what are the thread-dragons they are weaving? Is it an allegory for sewing the seeds of self-destruction? Or just some really sweet outfits?
I am really not as good at psychic interpretation as I claim to be.
Zing! Best Lines
The most tragic little moment in an episode full of domestic tragedies (with kingdom-changing potential) is Lord Corlys Velaryon trying to perk up Lucerys Targaryen by telling him he will one day inherit Driftmark and the title of Lord of Tides.
Luke: I don’t want it.
Corlys: But it’s your birthright!
Luke: If I’m Lord of Driftmark, it means everybody’s dead.
Awww, the poor sweet summer child. Luke knows what’s ahead.
Eww, gross
Stand up, Ser Larys Strong. Wait, is that rude, given the whole Clubfoot thing?
Anyway, the dude makes your skin crawl more than taking a cockroach shower.
As Alicent sails home near the end of the episode, he’s right there, talking up the injustice of Aemond losing an eye and how he’s EXTREMELY AVAILABLE to right the wrong.
Alicent too is getting more comfortable with drastic action. After realising Ser Larys murdered his own family last week, she had the decency to be freaked out. This time, she just tells him that won’t be necessary… right now. But she’s noticed his loyalty and she might need such a friend in future.
The bug he has taken as a sigil, by the way, is a Firefly, which is darkly appropriate. Fireflies emit light from their bodies to attract mates. Larys is happy to set fires all over the place to gain the Queen’s favour. Let’s hope she doesn’t have to pay him back in sexual ones.
“Your skin is so soft.”
Boo, sucks
We’re getting another time jump next week, so we’re losing this latest set of kid actors. They’ve been a neat little bunch, particularly Aemond’s “I’m going to be so evil” foreshadowing. I’m looking forward to seeing him unleash “full Targ” at some point in the future. Plus it’ll be interesting to see what they do with Aegon and his potential drinking problem.
Thank you so much for reading, kittens! Remember you can find my Patreon here and sign up to throw a few bucks per month my way while the season is running. The support is incredible, and I cannot thank you enough!