House of the Dragon 2×7 & 2×8 Review: “The Red Sowing” & “The Queen Who Ever Was”

As is often the case around San Diego Comic-Con time, I’ve had to double up my reviews of the show due to traveling for the con. We’ve got 2×7, “The Red Sowing”, which I loved. Then we have 2×8, “The Queen Who Ever Was”, which, uh, I didn’t love too much. Let’s start chronologically.

House of the Dragon 2×7: The Red Sowing

I’ve been incredibly excited for the Dragonseed to claim their dragons because dragon lore, and how the Targaryens function in association with it, is my favorite part of the whole franchise. The ambiguity about who can claim a dragon, whether you need to be from a Targaryen lineage or other dragon rider family line, or if anyone can claim one, is one of the biggest mysteries in the lore. We simply do not know. 

The mystery is generally maintained in the show with our three new riders. We have Addam of Hull (whom I previously misidentified as Alyn, my bad), who is a Valeryon bastard. His father is not a dragon rider directly, though the Valeryons and Targaryens have intermarried quite a bit. It’s absolutely possible that Corlys has Targaryens blood and either doesn’t know it because it’s so far removed, or simply doesn’t think it’s enough to produce a dragon rider. Laena and Laenor had it pretty clearly from their mother, so that was easier to determine. 

Addam’s mother’s heritage is completely unknown, however. She could have been a Targaryen bastard either directly, or a few generations removed. So basically, Addam could either have distant Targaryen blood through his father, or much closer ties via his mother. We just don’t know. The ambiguity is maintained pretty well. 

Then we have Hugh, who is strongly implied to be Princess Saera’s son. Saera was one of King Jaehaerys’ many daughters, but by far his least favorite. He essentially disowned her because she was too rebellious and promiscuous. So Hugh’s ties to the Targaryen line are pretty clear, but it does bring me some joy that the son of the child King Jaehaerys mistreated so severely ended up claiming his dragon. It’s a sort of karmic justice that we don’t get too much of in this universe. 

Screw you Jaehaerys. You were so damn mean. Anyway…

Then we have Ulf, who claims to be a bastard of Baelon Targaryen, and thus half brother to Viserys and Daemon. He’s kind of a braggart, though, and it’s hard to say how much of what he said was true. But he claimed Silverwing in a comically accidental fashion, so in the end it is what it is. Lies or not, he claimed a dragon. 

The rest of the episode had much the same problems as the rest of the season. Daemon continues to screw about at Harrenhal (though he was challenged by the incredibly badass kid Oscar Tully), Rhaenyra is hindered from making the decisions she wants to make by her new status as Queen and the ingrained misogyny in the system, and the Greens are gradually falling apart internally.  

None of these plot points moved along terribly much this episode, but the Dragonseed moments were so spectacular I didn’t much care. 

Sadly, I was not so forgiving with the finale. 

House of the Dragon 2×8: The Queen Who Ever Was

Oof, what happened here? This didn’t feel like a finale. It felt like a penultimate episode. It didn’t end so much on an exciting cliffhanger, but rather what felt like an extremely long commercial for an exciting conclusion that we won’t get for far too long. As we now know, the show will end after season 4, and the next season is probably at least two years off; it’s actually kind of a painful way to end it. Cliffhangers aren’t supposed to make us mad and frustrated. They’re supposed to excite us and get us looking forward to the next season, which this simply didn’t do. 

Daemon still technically hasn’t left Harrenhal. Which is honestly absurd if you think about it. He did, however, get some spooky dreams about the future that seems to have turned him around. Daemon “Dreams Didn’t Make Us Kings” Targaryen’s entire life has been flipped over by dreams and I do kind of enjoy that. 

But as much as I loved seeing Daenerys in those dreams – more confirmation that she was certainly the Princess That Was Promised – it hurts to know that the prophecy didn’t actually lead anywhere. She didn’t kill the Night King – her nephew’s cousin did. She wasn’t even sitting on the Iron Throne during that whole affair, which is what King Viserys implied the prophecy demanded. She never even sat on it, really. She was killed in front of it. So why continue building up a prophecy that ultimately didn’t come true? It feels so pointless. 

It is true that she helped defeat the armies of Wights, but they were also more formidable because of her. They got one of her dragons. So would she have been needed if that hadn’t happened? Could the north have defeated them without her dragon and Unsullied if the opposing side wasn’t as strong?

Oh god. Look at me now. I’m ranting about Game of Thrones, which I hate doing. But if this show keeps referencing it, I don’t have much of a choice. So please, House of the Dragon, stop doing it. It hurts. It makes fans angry. The more you reference it, the more we’re reminded that it crashed and burned right at the finish line. 

The rest of the episode was a build up to (presumably) the Battle of the Gullet, which I’m surprised we didn’t see. Even one of the actors (who I won’t name due to spoilers) who is supposed to die in the battle was surprised to see that he lives to see another season.  I think ending the season before the battle was a major mistake. It slowed the show’s momentum down way too much. I understand that it likely got pushed due to budget reasons, and I get that, but it slowed the momentum down to an absurd degree regardless.

Then we have Tyland and Lohar, which slowed things down even more. The comical tone of those seems felt incredibly off. Apparently Lohar is supposed to be a woman pretending to be a man, which is not at all clear based on how she was presented. I just assumed it was a tough woman who had forged her way in a world of men, like Yara Greyjoy. If that was really their intention, they failed pretty massively. 

If she is supposed to be a woman pretending to be a man, hiring a trans actress to play her feels sort of offensive. But I’m non-binary, not trans, so if that’s an issue, I’ll let that community speak up on it. It feels off to me, but I’m happy to follow that community’s lead on how to address it. Is it offensive? Let to community sound off on it and I’m here to support either way. 

And then we have Rhaena pursuing Sheepstealer, the wild dragon. This seems to be confirmation that Nettles has been cut entirely. Nettles originally claimed the dragon, who was wild on Dragonstone, not the Vale. And the location of where Sheepstealer resides seems to be bothering George RR Martin quite a bit. I feel like cutting Nettles breaks the lore more than the location of the dragon, but hey, George RR Martin has his priorities and it’s his story, so fine. 

I suppose the ambiguity about who can claim a dragon is well covered with the three Dragonseed, and Daemon has already flipped and supports Rhaenyra with his whole damn chest so an affair might not work. Her purpose in the plot had generally been eliminated. Still, she’s a fan favorite and her being cut gives echoes of the dissatisfaction about Lady Stoneheart being cut from the original series. Sure, you’ve plugged the holes that removing that character left, but sometimes people really just like a character, you know?

We enjoy the plot to be driven by characters, not characters simply serving the plot. The show runners don’t seem to understand that. Maybe that’s the key thing missing with this adaption. We’re fans of the characters and not necessarily the plot, so the more you shift the focus to the plot, the more irate fans become. 

Is that it? Did I uncover the biggest problem with the show? Or is it just me? Sound off in the comments because I’d love to know if I’m alone in this.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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