House of the Dragon Season Two, Episode Seven, The Red Sowing Review: Best Episode of the Season?

My favorite part of Fire and Blood was the sowing of the seeds.
I just loved the concept of having Targaryen and Valyrian bastards from the smallfolk claim dragons.
So, obviously, this was the part of the story I was most excited to see in House of the Dragon.
Well, this storyline finally got adapted in Episode Seven of Season Two, “The Red Sowing”, and it did not disappoint.
In fact, I would say that in some ways the show actually did better than the book.
Directed by Loni Peristere, the episode begins with the first of many cinematic shots, as we get a brilliant extreme wide shot of Syrax and Seasmoke facing off, Rhanerya having chased Addam down.
She confronts him about claiming Seasmoke, understandably suspicious, but Addam asserts Seasmoke claimed him, voicing his wish to learn the way of dragon riders and serve her.
Noticeably, he does not admit to Corlys being his father.
Word of Addam claiming Seasmoke soon gets back to Larys through Iron Rod.
Larys, however, chooses not to bring this to Aemond, which is unusual, even if the information is currently unreliable.
That is unless you consider the fact that Aemond clearly despises Larys, who is now trying to get on Aegon’s good side.
He may have deliberately withheld the information to weaken Aemond’s position.
We see later on in the episode that he is continuing to aid Aegon, although through indelicate means, as he has Orwyle helping the king walk, despite the agonizing pain.
Meanwhile, back with the Blacks, Mysaria convinces Rhanerya to use the Smallfolk to fill her ranks of dragon riders, while Corlys meets with Addam.
The conversation between the two is understandably awkward, given that they both know their relation but refuse to acknowledge it.
Corlys ends the conversation by telling Addam “Well done,” probably the first bit or praise he has ever given his son, based on the emotional look upon Addam’s face.
Following this, we get one of the best scenes of the episode, as the Harrenhal plot finally goes somewhere.
Oscar Tully (Archie Barnes) arrives to meet with Daemon after his grandfather’s death.
He swears his allegiance to the Blacks but maintains it will be difficult to control the riverlords because of how much they hate Daemon, due to him encouraging Willem Blackwood’s war crimes.
All of the lords and ladies meet outside before the Weirwood Tree to discuss the matter, and it is here that it becomes perfectly clear just how good of a lord Oscar Tully will be.
Although young, he manages to expertly play Daemon, forcing him to execute Willem to make amends, ensuring the riverlords’ loyalty.
Archie Barnes is absolutely fantastic in this scene.
I honestly did not pay that much attention to him when we first met his character in Episode Four, but now I really want to see more of him.
Daemon’s storyline this episode ends with him having yet another vision about Viserys, who confronts Daemon over whether he really wants the crown.
Viserys is disfigured and, apparently, it was Paddy Considine who decided he should look that way for the scene.
It was a good thing he was listened to because his disfigured state perfectly shows Daemon the effect the crown can have on someone.
It took a while but Daemon’s storyline this season finally seems to be taking off.
Better late than never.
Daemon’s storyline is the second best of the episode, but my absolute favorite is, as I already stated, the sowing of the seeds.
This story continues with Jace confronting Rhaenyra over allowing Targaryen bastards to claim dragons.
I will admit, I was a bit disappointed to see that Jace did not have as big of a role in the sowing as he did in the book, where it was his entire idea.
That being said, the show did a great job of explaining why this makes Jace so scared.
He himself is a bastard, and the whole world knows it, so what is to stop another Targaryen bastard, this one with more Targaryen features, from asserting their claim to the throne over his?
In the end, though, Rhaenyra is not to be deterred and has her handmaiden spread word throughout King’s Landing that she is looking for bastards to claim dragons.
When Ulf hears of this, he acts as though he has an injured leg, not wanting to go until his friends peer pressure him into it in a humorous scene.
Hugh’s scene is much more emotional, as it is revealed that his daughter tragically died.
He reveals his past to his wife and states his intent to claim a dragon, despite her pleas.
That night, Hugh, Ulf and dozens of other Targaryen bastards are snuck out of King’s Landing for Dragonstone, where Rhaenyra is waiting.
However, it is not only Jace she is receiving resistance from.
The dragon keepers are also incensed with her decision, believing it desecrates the ways of old Valyria.
They force Rhaenyra to do her task alone, and she introduces the potential Dragonseeds to the dragon Vermithor.
Called the “Bronze Fury”, he is the largest dragon besides Vhagar, and the shot of him appearing behind Rhaenyra is especially threatening.
Just imagine how the Smallfolk felt when Rhaenyra left them all alone with him.
The potential dragon claiming quickly turns into a massacre, as Vermithor roasts Dragonseed after Dragonseed.
Although I do wonder why Rhaenyra did not just send the candidates in one at a time, it makes for quite the horrifying spectacle.
The CGI for the dragon is stunning, especially in an excellent one-take shot in which we see Hugh attempting to flee Vermithor, before standing up to him to save a woman.
I wonder if he was reminded of his daughter in this moment and this is what motivated him to make his move.
Hugh standing his ground against one of the mightiest dragons in the world and screaming “Come on!” is now one of my favorite moments in the series.
It bumped Hugh up to my top five characters of the show in a single moment.
His taming of Vermithor is also incredibly ironic because it is heavily implied that he is the son of Princess Saera Targaryen, who was disowned by her father Jaehaerys, Vermithor’s previous rider.
As for Ulf, his taming of a dragon is far easier than Hugh’s.
He just happens to stumble into Silverwing’s resting place, and she accepts him.
It is left vague why she claims him.
Ulf does step in one of her egg sacks before she sees him, so maybe she smelled him and thought he was one of her children?
Either that or she is just lonely.
Also, I have got to say that Silverwing is by far the most beautiful dragon of the series so far.
Her horns give her a really unique look, as does the color of her scales.
It is kind of funny that Rhaenyra sent the Dragonseeds to tame one of the most violent dragons first instead of the most chill one.
After the taming scenes, we get the final scene of the episode, as Aemond’s Small Council is interrupted by the arrival of Silverwing, Ulf on her back, cheering and laughing as he flies over the city.
I absolutely love the way the show has handled Hugh and Ulf.
To be honest, in the book they were fairly generic characters.
But in the show they have fleshed out personalities and motivations that make them all the more compelling and relatable.
There is something about seeing Ulf laughing with joy as he flies over the city that brings a smile to my face.
It definitely does not bring a smile to Aemond’s though, as he rides out to reach Vhagar.
They chase Ulf and Silverwing all the way back to Dragonstone, where Aemond realizes it is a trap and has just enough time to turn a reluctant Vhagar around before the two of them can be swarmed by the combined might of Syrax, Vermithor and Silverwing.
The episode then ends on yet another fantastic shot of Rhaenyra watching Aemond flee, a determined glare on her face, as the dragons roar behind her.
“The Red Sowing” is a fantastic episode.
There is not a bad scene in it.
The weakest is definitely the Alicent stuff, where she pretty much just goes on vacation, but that was not bad, and it could be building to something she will do in the finale for all I know.
Speaking of which, the next episode is the last of the season, and I hope they can end it on a banger.
As for “The Red Sowing” it is currently my favorite episode of the season.
Is that bias because of how much I loved this storyline in the book?
Maybe, but I personally do not care.

Book Spoilers Section:
I loved the show’s portrayal of the Dragonseeds this episode.
The only thing that would have made it better for me is if we also got to see Nettles claiming Sheepstealer.
However, as I have constantly mentioned, they have almost definitely given that role to Rhaena.
It is a shame we probably will not see Nettles because, as I said earlier, I loved the portrayal of Ulf and Hugh this episode.
If the writers had Nettles in the show, I know they could do her justice.
Well, at least we will see Sheepstealer next episode, so I have that to look forward to.
As for what the season will end on, I would have to guess the Blacks taking King’s Landing.
The show has not built up enough to the Battle of the Gullett yet.
So, Rhaenyra will probably take King’s Landing in the finale, and then go on a darker path next season.
The writers seem to be alluding to this based on Rhaenyra having her guards prevent the Dragonseeds from leaving the sowing, resulting in many of their deaths and the deaths of some of her guards.
She is becoming increasingly willing to sacrifice others for her aims.
Even the Dragonseeds will not be safe from this darker path, as some will most likely go power hungry.
This could cause a lot of tragedy as, before he leaves, Hugh’s wife suggests going to Tumbleton where her brother is.
Tumbleton is the sight of a massacre in the books, caused when Hugh and Ulf switch sides to the Greens.
I can see a tragic end for Hugh’s wife where she dies because of his actions, driving him over the edge.
But that is at least another season away.
For now, we will have to see how Episode Eight chooses to end the season.
Will it be the fall of King’s Landing, or something else?
We shall see.

House of the Dragon Season Two, Episode One, A Son for a Son Review: The Dance Continues.

After a long wait, House of the Dragon Season Two is finally upon us with its first episode, “A Son for a Son.”
Directed by Alan Taylor, the episode is a solid start to the season, ending with a gruesome moment that book fans have been waiting to see for a while.
“A Son for a Son” begins in the North, where we finally get to meet Cregan Stark, played by Tom Taylor.
Taylor does a good job in the role, as does Harry Collett as Jacaerys.
The two meet atop the Wall and discuss the Starks bending the knee to Aegon the Conqueror over a hundred years ago, leading into Jace asking Cregan for men to support his mother’s claim to the Iron Throne.
There are a few details that stood out to me in this scene, one of which is that Collett got to show off his actual hair, rather than the horrible wig of Season One.
This is good because now he actually resembles Harwin Strong quite a bit.
As for the second detail, Cregan states that when King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne visited the Wall, their dragons refused to fly across it.
This is book accurate and does foreshadow the White Walkers, but it also does not really mesh well with the Game of Thrones show because Dany’s dragons flew across the Wall just fine.
The scene ends with Cregan promising some of his fighting force, and a message arriving with news of Jace’s brother’s death.
From here, the episode transitions to the fallout of Luke’s death, where we learn Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) has flown off on Syrax to find his body, leaving Daemon (Matt Smith) to brood.
The Rogue Prince attempts to convince Rhaenys (Eve Best) to help him take down Vhagar, but she is able to easily take Daemon down a notch.
Although Daemon is still right when he says that Rhaneys could have ended the conflict by wiping out Aegon and the rest of the Greens in Episode Nine of Season One.
As for Rhaenys husband, Corlys (Steve Toussaint) is speaking with one of his men, Alyn (Abubakar Salim), who was the one to save his life during the fighting in the Stepstones.
This scene is actually one of my favorites in the entire episode.
It is tense and has lots of subtlety, but to explain those subtleties would be to spoil future reveals so I will save my deconstruction of this scene for the spoiler section down below.
Following the scene between Corlys and Alyn, we see what the Greens are up to and, unfortunately, do not see Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) revealing that he killed Lucerys.
I was quite looking forward to seeing Alicent’s reaction to learning her son had ruined any chance of peace.
What I was not expecting to see was Alicent (Olivia Cooke) getting it on with Criston Cole (Fabian Frankel).
Yep, those two are a thing and this definitely did not happen in the book.
To be honest, I have mixed feelings about the two of them getting together.
Alicent is a religiously devout person, so I’m not sure how she justifies having sex out of wedlock to herself when she judged Rhaenyra for it so harshly.
She went on and on about “honor and decency” in the first season, yet now she’s seemingly going against this.
As for Cole, his entire reason for turning against Rhaenyra was that sleeping with her made him feel like he had “soiled my white cloak.”
But he is suddenly okay with soiling it again with Alicent?
Maybe this is the point that the writers are trying to make; that these two are hypocrites, but them being together still feels a little out of character to me.
I will have to see how their relationship is portrayed in future episodes to decide if I completely dislike it or not, though.
Alicent may have a thing for Criston, but she definitely does not like Larys (Mathew Needham).
Unfortunately, she feels she has no choice but to work with him, as he reveals to her that he has got rid of staff who could be spying on her.
Don’t worry, he replaced that staff with his own.
It’s totally not creepy!
Well, Alicent is justifiably worried about Larys’ new staff keeping an eye on her, since she decides to bathe alone rather than have her new servants help.
Speaking of creeps, we also get to see how Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) is handling his role as king.
He is pretty much like what if a frat boy became king, with his own fraternity following him around.
Surprisingly, though, he does seem to be a good dad, as he is preparing his son for council meetings.
I say “surprisingly” because Aegon was revealed to watch his own bastard children in fighting rings last season.
I do think it was a bit of a mistake to go so extreme with Aegon’s depravity last season.
The marketing for Season Two has set it up as Blacks vs Greens.
The problem with this is that it is extremely hard to get on board with Team Green when their king is a rapist who watches his own kids fight to the death for his amusement.
At least Tom Glynn-Carney does a great job as the character.
Back with the Blacks, we see Erryk Cargyll (Elliot Tittensor) find Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), who expectedly survived Larys’ attack on her base of operations last season.
In my reviews for Season One, a common complaint I had was Mysaria’s accent.
It was so bad that it took me out of every scene she was in.
Well, I am happy to say, the accent has been severely toned down this season.
You can still hear it, but it is slight.
Most importantly, it no longer sounds like she is attempting a terrible Jamaican accent while drunk.
Following her capture, Rhanerya returns after retrieving Lucerys’ cape, and speaks her only line of dialogue in the entire episode, “I want Aemond Targaryen.”
Emma D’Arcy is an absolute powerhouse this episode.
They deliver an emotional performance which tugs at the hear strings, all without speaking.
The emotions only heighten when Jace returns and attempts to give his report to his mother, only to break down.
The two embrace as they mourn the loss of Luke in one of the episode’s most tragic scenes.
Not the most tragic, however, because that distinction comes for the one immediately after Lucerys’ funeral.
Daemon arrives in King’s Landing wearing his crime hoodie, and we all know that means nothing good.
He recruits a Gold Cloak named Blood (Sam C. Wilson) and a Rat Catcher named Cheese (Mark Stobbart) to assassinate Aemond Targaryen.
“A son for a son,” Aemond for Luke is the plan.
Or, at least, one of the plans.
The lack of a response from Daemon when Cheese ask what to do if they can’t find Aemond speaks volume.
Daemon is fine with killing any of the Greens’ sons as revenge.
Blood and Cheese then enter the Red Keep, encountering hurdle after hurdle, leading to Cheese eventually kicking his dog in frustration.
It is kind of funny that more people seem upset over the kicked dog than the later murdered child.
In a morbid sort of way, I mean.
The two are unable to find Aemond, which is probably good for them because, let’s face it, Aemond would have wiped the floor with them.
It is less good for Helaena (Phia Saban) and her children, however, because Blood and Cheese find them.
And so, another of Helaena’s prophecies comes true.
She told Aegon earlier in the episode that she was afraid of the rats and now they have found her.
She attempts to placate Blood and Cheese with her necklace, but they take it anyway and still demand “a son for a son.”
In the end, Helaena has to point out which of the twins is her son, Jaehaerys.
The boy is then murdered, thankfully off screen.
We can still hear the sounds of Blood and Cheese taking his head, however, as Helaena takes her surviving daughter and runs to Alicent and Cole, ending the episode with the statement, “they killed the boy.”
I do have to woner if this line is a reference to Aemon telling Jon to “Kill the boy… and let the man be born.”
If it is a deliberate reference, then perhaps this is foreshadowing that this horrific act will cause Aegon to go on a vengeance streak.
He was shown to care a lot about his son this episode, after all.
Back to the Blood and Cheese scene itself, one thing that drew me out of the scene is how there were absolutely no guards defending the royal family.
There may be a combination of reasons for this, however.
For one thing, Larys said he halved the staff earlier in the episode.
For another, Criston Cole could have sent the guards away so no one would know about him sleeping with Alicent.
In this is true then, yeah, Cole is definitely one of the worst Kingsguard to ever Kingsguard.
As for how the Blood and Cheese scene compared to the book, it was actually much tamer in the show.
That is not meant to be a criticism, however, because I think if it had played out exactly as it did in the book much of the audience would be traumatized.
The scene was brutal enough as is, and the writers thankfully did not take it too far.
It is a horrific end to the first episode, which is a solid start to House of the Dragon Season Two.
The fallout will certainly be interesting.

Book Spoilers Section:
Just like last season, my reviews for every episode will come with a spoilers section at the bottom, where I discuss how scenes compare to the book and what may happen in the future.
For starters, I will talk about how the book handled Blood and Cheese to show you just how brutal it was.
In Fire and Blood, Blood and Cheese kill the guards and Alicent’s handmaiden, before tying her up and holding Helaena and her children at swordpoint.
They then cruelly demand that Helaena choose which one of her sons will die (she has two sons in the book).
A distraught Helaena chooses her youngest son, only for Cheese to tell the boy that his mother wants him dead before Blood decapitates the older boy instead.
As you can see, the scene is much more horrifying in the book, but it is good the show played it safe because we did not need to see a kid decapitated.
Now, I will go back to discussing the Corlys and Alyn scene, one of my favorites of the episode.
The reason the conversation between the two was so tense is because Alyn is actually Corlys’ bastard son, along with his brother Addam.
So, when Alyn offers his condolences for the loss of Lucerys, Corly’s heir, he is actually showing quite a bit of understandable bitterness.
Alyn and his brother are bastards, so are not acknowledged, while a bastard who was not even related to Corlys was elevated as his heir.
I love how subtle this scene is, and it makes me excited to see more of Alyn and Addam, the latter of whom is one of my three favorite characters in the Dance.
One of my other favorites is Daemon, and the other one is a character I will discuss in a bit.
For now, though, I want to talk about another new character, Hugh (Kieran Bew).
He gets a small appearance in this episode, while Aegon is holding court in King’s Landing but, if I am right, he is the Hugh Hammer character from the book.
Him being in King’s Landing is especially interesting because he later joins Rhaenyra’s side as Dragonseed, a bastard with Valyrian blood who tames a dragon, alongside others like Addam.
Hugh eventually betrays Rhaenyra, so him being in King’s Landing makes me think that maybe the Greens will send him to spy on Rhanerya, once they learn she is recruiting Dragonseeds.
This would certainly be an interesting change from the book.
What would definitely be a worse change from the book, however, is the potential removal of one of the Dragonseeds.
This Dragonseed is named Nettles and she is the third of my three favorite characters of the Dance.
There have been leaks going around that Nettles has not only been cut but replaced by Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell).
If these leaks turn out to be true, then I am going to be pretty mad.
Not only would removing Nettles from the story be a big mistake but replacing her with Rhaena would completely miss the point of Nettles’ role in the story.
I just wanted to get this concern out there, in case the leaks turn out to be true.
If they are true, then you can probably expect a rant about it in the review for the episode where it happens.
Just a heads up.
Although, if this were to happen, it would not kill the season for me.
Would it be a big negative?
Sure.
But Episode One was great and, if the quality keeps up, then Season Two will be a more than worthwhile watch.
There is only seven episodes left and I hope the rest are just as good, if not better