It’s a bit hard to believe that this week’s episode of House of the Dragon was, in fact, the penultimate for the season. Episode seven, titled The Red Sowing, built on the foundation of last week’s entry by focusing on the concept of the Dragonseeds. It was a more focused episode for sure, with some great payoffs, and some nagging issues that persist.

I’m not sure if this was just me or others noticed as well, but the contrast on this week’s episode felt like it was cranked really high. It was very noticeable from the opening scene, where Rhaenyra meets Addam of Hull on the beach. The sky seemed almost white, which is something I noticed throughout the episode, whether it was at Harrenhal or the backdrop for dragon flight. Addam is quick to bend the knee and the Black Queen realizes that Jace’s idea of finding those with diluted Targaryen blood must be true if this “low born” is able to ride a dragon. Addam opts not to reveal Lord Corlys as his father to Rhaenyra, but that doesn’t stop the Sea Snake from asking Alyn if he’d like to be a dragonrider as well, citing they are of Old Valyeria, but Alyn ultimately refuses, citing he’s a man of sea and salt, not of the sky. This seems both a jab at following his own path and denying Corlys’ ambitions with his lineage out of spite. Alyn wants nothing to do with Corlys.

Meanwhile, in Harrenhal, we actually got a pretty awesome scene and it wasn’t due to anything Daemon did, but rather Oscar Tully, the adolescent ruler of the Riverlands. His authority was being questioned by his people, for his age, lack of experience, and for potentially being Daemon’s puppet. In one scene that really makes me wonder if Oscar was playing Daemon for a fool the first time they met, he shut down all naysayers about his experience, put Daemon in his place, and united the clans under his banner. It was all really well done and it was great to see this child not bend under pressure from Daemon, opting to put him in his place while also standing by the oath his grandfather made to Viserys. So Rhaenyra, via Daemon, now has her army. Of course, when that awesome dialogue-heavy scene concluded (after Daemon was forced to execute Lord Blackwood to earn everyone’s trust), he began tripping balls again, seeing Viserys in his Lepper form. Thankfully, the vision didn’t overstay its welcome and having the vision after a meaty scene, as opposed to starting with it, worked far better.

The rest of the episode was spent with Rhaenyra recruiting all the Targaryen bastards from King’s Landing to Dragonstone to see if any of them can claim Vermithor, the behemoth that burned Ser Darkling last week. After a lot of fire and snacks, the dragon eventually submits to Hugh, the commoner we’ve been following for most of the season. As mentioned, I like how they took characters like Hugh and used them as a way to see the perspective of the small folk during this war, while also setting them up as important characters at the same time. Nice development there and use of screentime to do two things at once. Also, don’t think I mentioned it this season, but the sound design on the dragons rule.

But it seems Vermithor isn’t the only dragon under the castle. Fleeing in terror, the oaf Ulf walks straight into Silverwing’s nest and luckily for him, he actually is part Targaryen, and claims the dragon of Queen Alysanne, wife of Jaehaerys. Unlike Addam, who we skipped over his “how to train a dragon” moment, we did see Ulf’s first dragon ride, dive bombing over King’s Landing. Meanwhile, despite Jace suggesting they use diluted Targaryen blood for the dragon rider project, he seems pretty pissy about using low-borns, stating that the Targaryen dynasty could naturally be challenged if anyone can ride a dragon now. Reinforcing this claim, he alludes to his own Strong heritage, something he’s never openly talked about before. There seems to be a growing wedge forming between mother and son here and Harry Collet is doing a great job at bringing Jace’s frustrations and ambitions to light.

The episode did have some random meanderings, such as Alicent bailing on King’s Landing for a bit to go camping and how the show completely ignores the kiss between Misaria and Rhaenyra from last week. Aemond also feels a bit sidelined ever since he became Regent, we don’t really get a sense of his goals and ambitions save from secondhand impressions.

So now Rhaenyra has three new dragon riders and the scales have tipped dramatically in her favour to try and reclaim the Iron Throne. But will she succeed in her endeavour? We’ll have to wait for next week’s finale!