House of the Dragon S3 Ep 7 Review
You know, in a perfect world, Rhaenyra Targaryen would have been able to become Queen and stay as such without problems. That is what her dad wanted, and that is the oath that all the lords and ladies of Westeros swore to uphold. But while she now rules from King’s Landing, everyone is out to get her! She is surrounded by liars and people taking advantage of her, and this week, she has the biggest shock of her life as she learns the truth about Sheepstealer’s rider. And to be honest, I’m surprised that she shows as much restraint as she does with Rhaena in this episode. And meanwhile, Ormund continues to be the biggest d**** in Westeros since his relative, Otto, died.
Oh, and some racy scenes take place.
Why, Rhaena. WHY?!?
So, Rhaena once again proves how bad a decision-maker she is. Rather than accept living in hiding forever in the foothills of the Vale or flying into exile somewhere, she gets it in her head that if she hunts down and kills Vhagar, Rhaenyra will forgive her. I could only chalk this up to her guilt and lack of sleep, because any rational person would tell her that this was a stupid idea. Even if she tracked down Vhagar, there was no way Sheepstealer could kill her. That’s not even counting the fact that Sheepstealer refuses to listen to Rhaena! And she was still responsible for Jace’s death, so Rhaenyra won’t forget that.
Seeing how Rhaena’s storyline has played out in the show, it really makes me wish we had gotten Nettles. In the books, Nettles was a peasant girl who cleverly earned Sheepstealer’s loyalty by feeding him sheep every day. Not only that, but she was the only one of the major dragon riders of the war to walk away with her life and her dragon, fleeing to parts unknown. Unfortunately, Rhaena has proven neither clever nor as fortunate, and her luck ends up running out. After her sister and Addam spot Sheepstealer, Rhaenyra realizes Daemon lied and goes out to deal with the problem herself.
Once again, the characters on the show keep making the wrong decisions! Baela probably didn’t even realize that she had damned her sister. And Daemon is in full panic mode as he knows that his daughter’s life is in danger. When you hear him say “please” to Lady Jeyne Arryn, then you know that he’s desperate. He’s only able to get to his daughter for a brief moment, but in that moment, he shows off a vulnerable side to himself as he admits that he didn’t have a dragon of his own for a long time. It’s clear that he’s fully aware of how bad a father he’s been, and he is trying his damnedest to make things right. But it’s already too late: Rhaenyra and Addam soon come upon them.
The look on Rhaenyra’s face when she realizes that Rhaena was the one responsible for Jace’s death was absolutely superb. Emma D’arcy has really grown into playing the role of the dragon queen, showing just how more and more unhinged she’s become as time passes. But their acting in this episode was some of the best they’ve given all show. And to top it off, we get to see Syrax, Caraxes, and Seasmoke all fight Sheepstealer as the dragon goes berserk! We’ve already seen what dragon fights look like in the sky, but when they’re confined to the ground, they’re even more vicious. Seeing the maiming that Sheepstealer gets is just absolutely brutal; it’s a miracle that the dragon was even able to limp away intact. But it takes a lot more to kill a dragon.
What were the Show writers thinking?
Speaking of trying to kill a dragon, Alicent manages to make it to Harrenhal as part of Rhaenyra’s suicidal plan to kill Aemond. But before that happens, we apparently get yet another example of disturbing incest in the Targaryen family. We are led to believe that Alicent has come to find her son, and then we are treated to a scene of her and Aemond almost having s*x. It was even more disturbing than the kissing scene from earlier in the season. The only saving grace is that it was really Alys disguising herself as Alicent. Still, that’s messed up, even by Targaryen standards.
And then, when the real Alicent does meet her son, things don’t go well. Firstly, Aemond kills her escort out of fear that Alys is messing with him. Secondly, when Alicent tries to poison her son, he’s able to make it to Alys, which means he’ll likely survive. As for Alicent, she’s had to flee Harrenhal, and if she knows what’s good for her, she’ll head back Oldtown and stay there. But she won’t.
At least her one good son considers doing just that.
Ormund Has to Go!
Where do I even begin with Ormund? Even though the Winter Wolves are about to storm Tumbleton, he’s still acting like he’s going to have the last laugh. He arrogantly tells Gwayne that he’s got a secret trump card to use, but leaves everyone in the lurch about what it is. It isn’t until the end of the episode that we find out that it’s Ulf the White. He’s convinced him to turn on Rhaenyra in exchange for rule over Driftmark.
Full disclosure: I knew that Ulf was going to do this thanks to the wiki and the books. What I appreciate the show doing was giving some justification for why Ulf turned on his Queen. He thought he was going to become a Lord and someone important, only to instead be denied that and even the right to go drinking with his friends. The sad thing is, I think that if he had stayed loyal, she would have given him both after the war ended.
The crowning moment of this entire episode, though, has to go to Aegon. His plans to flee to Essos are dashed thanks to an army of Riverlanders bearing down on him, Larys, and Tyland. And while Larys opts to flee, Aegon decides that if he’s going to die, he’ll die fighting. It’s probably the first genuinely badass thing that he’s done in his life. At least, he tries to make it badass with that speech of his. But it turns out that the enemy was really just scared of the dragon behind him.
I KNEW Sunfyre was still alive!
Yes, against all odds, the show keeps with the book canon. Sunfyre is still alive, and arrives just in time to save his rider. And he looks absolutely hideous now! It’s hard to see from the darkness, but you can tell that Sunfyre has been just as maimed and scarred as his rider, to the point where I don’t even know how he’s still alive at all. But then he and Aegon get the last laugh as they set fire to their foes, symbolizing the return of the king. The fake king, at least!
What a crazy episode this was. Dragon-on-dragon violence abounds, Sunfyre rises from the dead, and Rhaenyra has no clue what to do with Rhaena. And next episode is supposed to be the last one of the entire season! With so much left to cover before the break as we await what is almost certainly the final season, I’m guessing as to who’s going to die. And I hope that it’s Ormund!
