This show really is going down the route of ‘every character will wind up as an unlikeable jerk’, aren’t they? House of the Dragon Episode 7: “Driftmark” has unquestionably and unfailingly solidified George R.R. Martin’s core principle: everyone has the capacity for evil just as much as they do for good.
The only issue with that core principle is that, without clever and considerate writing, these ‘morally grey’, ‘conflicted’ characters will end up being unthinking, carbon-copy images of one another.
Or, in other words, they’ll just end up as unlikable jerks. And that has happened in Episode 7.
Okay, I guess I should just start off by saying that I now realize that the writers of House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones are two sides of the same coin.
With Game of Thrones, writer/showrunner Dan Weiss and David Benioff were so taken with ‘creating their own ending’ for Game of Thrones that they disregarded established plot principles, character arcs, and in-world motivations of George R.R. Martin’s books in order to rush through the end of the show and deliver an ending of their own making.
And Game of Thrones Season 8 suffered massively because of it.
As for House of the Dragon, showrunners/writers and directors Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik are so enamored and faithful to the source material George R.R. Martin wrote for the ‘Dance of the Dragons’ that they have adapted everything related to the central conflict, even though most of it doesn’t work in a T.V. format.
And this episode, and series as a whole, has suffered for it.
First off, the time jumps are just too much at this point. I know Fire And Blood, the source material that House of the Dragon derives from, covers the 30-year backstory to the Dance of the Dragons by jumping in time through the most relevant moments, but it does so as a history book would jump in time describing the Fall of Rome in the 5th century.
(HBO-House of the Dragon-Driftmark)
Sure, the Fall of Rome and the fallout that preceded and followed it is extremely interesting but adapting nearly 100 years of history into one season of television is just silly and stupid. The primary characters and plots will always be changing and shifting with the politics of the era.
Simply put, the audience just can’t (and rightfully so) get invested in 50+ characters that have ever changing actors and motivations all within the same season.
There would be too much turnover.
And it’s the same concept for House of the Dragon.
Fire And Blood is a history book of the early history (app. 150 years) of Targaryen reign over Westeros, and it covers everything from the Conquest of Westeros by King Aegon I ‘the Conqueror’ to the reign of his great-great-great grandson King Aegon III ‘Dragonsbane’ (who is the firstborn son of Rhaenyra and Daemon).
Everything important you can imagine that happened during the reigns of Aegon I-Aegon III was detailed and described in that book, though in a scholarly, history book-esque way. And that is where this show’s problem begins.
You just can’t adapt all of that material into a coherent, concise show, even if it is only a 30-year time span (out of 150 possible years) before, during, and after a major civil war in 10 or so hours of TV.
The time constraints limit the minutes and episodes we can see a certain actor portray a certain character (ex: Milly Alcock as Young Rhaenyra), while the plots and character motivations (ex: Otto Hightower wanting Daemon to be removed as heir) must constantly change at lighting speed to the detriment of the overall story and growth of characters.
Like I said, a perfect example of this constant turnover is Otto Hightower’s ever-shifting motivations over who should be named heir. In the first episode, he is bent on removing Daemon Targaryen as the heir to the Iron Throne as he convinced King Viserys Targaryen to name his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra, as his heir over his brother Daemon.
However, in Episode 2, Otto suddenly shifts from wanting Rhaenyra to be heir over to his grandson, Prince Aegon Targaryen, as the chosen successor to Viserys. I don’t know about other people, but I was at least a little confused and off put as to why Otto Hightower would fight so hard to get Rhaenyra named as heir to only switch his motivations and get his grandson Aegon named over her a few episodes later.
I get that there was a time jump and his daughter married the king in between said jump, but that just proves my point. Otto Hightower, along with many other characters, just feel all over the place with their goals and motivations as this series has progressed.
The relationship between Ser Criston Cole and Rhaenyra is another great example. These two go from not knowing each other, to best friends, to lovers, and then to arch-rivals in the matter of three episodes. Again, I realize there was a few time jumps (well, more than a few), but it just felt super jarring and rushed.
Okay, final example is the War of The Stepstones. You’re telling me that Daemon Targaryen couldn’t defeat The Crabfeeder and conqueror the Stepstone Islands for years in between Episodes 2 and 3, but was able to suddenly figure out how to storm a cave and kill the Myrish Prince in less than a week or so (in episode time) in Episode 3?
I’m sorry but that is the very definition of rushed and borders on a plot contrivance
One time jumps would have been okay as that would have allowed the characters to grow a little older on screen, but also given us enough time to learn and sympathize with the CONSISTENT motivations and goals of said characters.
That is what made GOT so great as we were able to understand and sympathize with the characters and SAME ACTORS (who didn’t need a time jump as the story was told concurrently) and consistent goals for 8 seasons.
But, when you have multiple time jumps in a single season, the end of said season is bound to become a confusing mess.
And Episode 7 proved that.
(HBO-House of the Dragon-Driftmark)
Essentially, the whole of the episode revolves around the funeral of Laena Velaryon as the Targaryen and Velaryon families came together to mourn the loss of the daughter of the Sea Snake. Obviously, the bickering and infighting that we saw last episode continued into this one as the secret parentage of Rhaenyra’s children is becoming more and more widespread.
I still don’t understand why the showrunners just didn’t start with this plot and cast of characters? A full season of intrigue, in-fighting, political maneuvering, and foreign conquests over the Iron Throne and this generation of its claimants would have been more than appreciated from me at least.
Yes, the show would probably have had to age up the actors of the children, along with moving a few events closer together in time (ex: Daemon’s Conquest of the Stepstones) to shorten the wait until the Dance, but I guarantee nobody would be crying over a shorter waiting period over seeing dragons fighting one another.
Nonetheless, the high point of this episode’s plot was when Aemond Targaryen mounted and claimed Vhagar, the largest dragon in the world, by stealing it from the control of House Velaryon. The ensuing brawl between the 12-year-old Aemond and his 10-year-old twin cousins, a 12-year-old Jacaerys, and a 5-year-old Lucerys was absolutely hysterical.
First off, why did the shy, brooding Aemond all of a sudden switch into a cocky, arrogant jerk the second he got off a Vhagar? There wasn’t any foreshadowing of Aemond becoming that cruel and callous that quickly last episode.
Second, who thought that it would be a good idea to show a 12-year-old boy absolutely clocking another 11-year-old girl across the face and then choking a 5-year-old? Yeah, it’s hilarious as to how ridiculous Aemond’s reaction was from being slapped by Baela/Laena (they’re tough to tell apart being twins) and then hit by Lucerys, but it was also very out of character.
He was a reserved, brooding kid just one week ago, and now he’s ruthless would-be woman beater and child killer? You see what I mean about adapting everything from Fire And Blood? Not all of it works in translation, especially when its rushed.
Even Aemond’s actor, Leo Ashton, said it was crazy on the ‘Inside The Episode’.
(HBO-House of the Dragon-Driftmark)
Speaking of out of character, why has Alicent become a lunatic all of a sudden? After the confrontation and resulting loss of Aemond’s eye, Alicent demands that Ser Cristion cut out Jacaerys’ eye as retribution. When King Viserys denies her request, she goes insane and steals his dagger, rushes over to Rhaenyra, and then slices open the veins on her wrist with Valyrian Steel.
She’s lucky that she didn’t kill Rhaenyra as that would have ended question as to who would succeeded between Rhaenyra and Aegon pretty quickly. In fact, Rhaenyra actually should have died from that scene as Alicent struck several veins with that blow. Even with maesters, that should have killed Rhaenyra from the loss of blood.
Nonetheless, these gripes are nothing compared to the one I have with climax of the episode. In essence, Rhaenyra and Daemon, the man with absolutely no purpose or even need to be in this show, reunite their romance and resolve to get married as soon as possible to ‘solidify Rhaenyra’s claim’ (you’ll see why that doesn’t make sense).
One problem…Laenor would need to die for that to happen. So, what does Rhaenyra and Daemon do to solve this issue?
Well, they fake Laenor’s death with the help of Ser Qarl Corray.
They give Correy a huge handful of gold and the promise of a life with Laenor in Essos in exchange for him to ‘attack’ Laenor in front of several witness in the Driftmark throne room. When said witnesses eventually ran to get the guards, Laenor and Qarl killed some random guy (it was never established who it was), dressed him in Laenor’s clothes and burned the upper half of his body to hide his real identity, and then the pair ran off to Essos together to live happily ever.
How sweet, right?
Well, not for me as this plan not only was incredibly stupid as Laenor’s dragon flying off to catch up with its rider would obviously tip off the swap, but also was extremely cold towards Corlys and Rhaenys. Having your child die in your home is tough as it is, but to think that he was murdered and then his body burned past recognition is horrible.
Corlys and Rhaenys didn’t deserve that amount of pain and suffering that Rhaenyra, Daemon, Laenor, and Qarl have now inflicted upon them.
Nonetheless, this plan didn’t make sense as now the Velaryons don’t really have a reason to stand behind Rhaenyra when the Dance of the Dragons kicks off. Lord Corlys and Princess Rhaenys already know that the Velaryon children are not Laenor’s, and with him dead, there’s no chance a Velaryon will ever end up sitting the Iron Throne (Corlys’ ‘grandchildren’ will have their names changed to Targaryen once their mother dies).
Plus, with Daemon and Rhaenyra getting married so quickly after Laenor and Laena’s death, it must now be somewhat suspicious in Corlys and Rhaenys’s minds that these two had a hand in the deaths of their children.
As I said earlier, this ending of this season has been badly plagued with plot contrivances, inconsistent character motivations, and too many actor switches (how many has there been so far? 6?) and it has really hampered my enjoyment of the conclusion of Season 1.
(HBO-House of the Dragon-Driftmark)
I fear that Episode 6 will serve as the high-point of this season as it felt the most ‘Game of Thrones’-esque to me as we will be getting yet another actor reshuffling with the children being swapped out this time.
Therefore, I’m giving Episode 7-“Driftmark” a 7.8/10 as this episode may have had a lot of things I didn’t like, but the scenery, cinematography, actor/actress performances, and sets were all superb again.
Though, again, I could barely see the Vhagar riding scene (which, funnily enough, happened to be my favorite scene).
HOW HARD IS IT TO MAKE THE SCENES VISIBLE, HBO!
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