House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 7 Review: Driftmark

On House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 7, “Driftmark,” familial drama is front and center, proving once again why it’s the worst kind of drama there is.

For most people, the first person to put you down or challenge your character is a family member. Families are messy and full of needless dramatics but provide exquisite entertainment, and House of the Dragon exemplifies that.

The most captivating and entertaining moments of the hour are the interactions between the children and Alicent and Rhaenyra.

After years of staying silent and sitting idly by while Rhaenyra does as she pleases, Alicent’s anger is boiling over. Her ability to no longer hold her tongue leads to one of the most impactful moments in the series, but it lacks depth.

Alicent physically assaulting the heir to the throne in a room full of people provides for quality entertainment, but it’s also one of the highest of treasons.

After slithering on the sidelines for too long, anger gets the best of Alicent, causing her to expose her true character and nature. The reputation she’s worked meticulously on for years is now in jeopardy because of her stunt.

I applaud Olivia Cooke and Emma D’Arcy for obliterating their roles and bringing the characters to new depths with each passing episode. I’m not fond of the continuous time jumps we’ll see resume on Season 1 Episode 8, but I love the iterations and continued deliverances.

However, it must be said that the sequence of events is a bit confusing. Just as I was confused when Ser Criston Cole was able to slaughter Laenor’s partner in cold blood with no repercussions, the same confusion persists with Alicent’s actions.

Looking at the situation from a law perspective and dynamics, it’s confusing that there’s no outrage at Alicents lunging at Rhaenyra and Luke. Viserys may yell at her to stop going for Luke, but he merely waves her on after slicing the heir to the throne.

Spreading rumors of lineage and parenthood is an act of treason alone, one which Aemond all but admitted was Alicent, so why the ease of judgment? It makes no sense. It was easy to feel bad for Alicent at the beginning of the series, but now my feelings are conflicted.

Alicent had her entire life stolen from her thanks to her father’s search for power, but it doesn’t justify her actions towards Rhaenyra and her children.

Allowing us to see the beginning of the rivalry between Alicent’s children and Daemon/Rhaenyra’s children is vital to the storytelling, considering we’re going to see them in their teenage years on the next episode, but it’s progressing too quickly.

I was hoping that there would be no more time jumps for the rest of the season, but it seems the showrunners had not a bone in their body that thought they’d be renewed for a second season, so we’ll skip past more crucial storytelling opportunities.

The persistent time jumps do nothing but retract real depth from the series and provide no greater value to the story. The pacing is atrocious and acts as a true disservice to the series. Another concern is the simple fact that a good portion of the episode is barely noticeable due to poor lighting.

I get it; we’re in 2022 and living in the land of smart televisions that can act as a computer and easily play movie theater-quality video. However, that is not an easily accessible item for most people, so that should be kept in mind when creating scenes with little to no lighting.

On my television screen, it’s easier to make out the adventure Aemond takes Vhaghar on, but still not adequately lit. On my MacBook Pro? It was as if I had manually thrown my screen brightness to zero.

With the budget House of the Dragon has, there should be no lighting issues, let alone scenes that look pitch black on a laptop. Vhaghar’s flight scene would be ten times more alluring if the audience could see it correctly.

Stray Thoughts:

• It’s disappointing to see Aemond regress and act in the same manner Aegon does when it comes to the other children. For a moment, it felt like he would end up being decent.
• Luke gets a significant amount of respect for doing what needs to be done and protecting his brother and cousins from Aemond in the moment. 
• I am not excited to endure Daemon and Rhaenyra as an official couple for the rest of the season. However, it is pleasing to see Laenor given a chance at a free life rather than killing him to gain ahead in the political race for the throne.
• Whenever Criston Cole smirks, I want to smack him in the face.

What did you think of this episode of House of the Dragon? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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House of the Dragon airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.

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