House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 7 Driftmark – Open Chat

HOTD7

There’s a funeral afoot tonight and nothing ever goes wrong when people gather in large crowds in Westeros.

Episode title: “Driftmark”
Writer: Kevin Lau
Director: Miguel Sapochnik
Runtime: 62 min.
Content Warnings: TV-MA: Adult Content, Adult Language, Graphic Violence
Episode 7 Video Preview
Episode 7 Preview Photos

Tonight is episode writer Kevin Lau’s first outing into Westerosi territory, with showrunner Sapochnik making a return to the director’s seat.

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Sue the Fury
Susan Miller, Editor in Chief of WatchersOnTheWall.com

30 Comments

  1. I love Daemon he got the shaft from the beginning but he is a true warrior. Now it looks like the crap is about to go down!

  2. Episode 7 “TV-MA: Adult Content, Adult Language, Graphic Violence”

    It’s disappointing, I expected to see another aegon targaryen scene

    Where does this information come from? Is it definitive or is it not exact?

  3. I just re watched The Rogue Prince 10/10… one of the best episodes this season so far. Milly Alcock is perfect playing Young Princess Rhaenyra… She reminds me of Margaery Tyrell when she tells her father “You are the King” when King Viserys had some doubt.

    Margaery Tyrell said “You are the King” to both Renly Baratheon and King Joffrey Baratheon.

  4. Episode 6 was the only one I continued to think about all during the week, moaning over numerous plot points, sort of “Oh, if only…” Like, if only Harwin had laughed when pouty Criston said “like a father,” instead of beating Criston’s head in. If Harwin had said “that’s one thing you’ll never know about,” and walked away, it would have been Criston blowing a fuse. Instead, loving, strong mature Harwin, who I was growing to like so much, is banished and ends up dead, at the evil machinations of his own creepy brother, who I DON’T like.
    If only Laenor had voiced even the least displeasure to the Queen about Rhaenyra being dragged from the birthing bed while still bleeding, or if, when Queenie made the crude remark to him about a someday having a child that looked like him, he had said, “My children are beautiful like their mother,” Alicent might have backed off some. Instead, seeing how Rhaenyra allowed herself to be degraded by making haste to her rooms, with no protest from Laenor, it emboldened Alicent to continue embarrassing and degrading Rhaenyra. I’m continually amazed Rhaenyra keeps allowing such things to happen to her. If only…

    One of the things Game of Thrones excelled at was introducing lovable, decent useful characters, then killing them after an episode or two. Thinking of Syrio Forel, and Jaqen H’ghar. (the Jaqen of early episodes, not the later not-Jaqen). Here is HotD following suit. If you’re good, you’re gone. I can’t believe decent Harwin is gone. The loving, delighted looks he shared with Rhaenyra while holding that baby melted my heart. So, of course, he had to go. And his father, Hand of the King, fair, honest, gone. Instead we are left with numerous unlikeable characters. I certainly hope Rhaenyra toughens up. I’m absolutely House Black, but Rhaenyra needs some reliable back-up. Laenor is worse than clueless.
    Looking forward to ep 7.

  5. Strange and depressing so far… having some trouble hearing what the kids are saying.. Hope it gets better

  6. Okay it got better…. still strange but…. not sure about the chemistry… the visuals look blurry and distorted too

  7. Wow good episode…. clever

    Very Dynamic… started off slow and had a perfect ending 10/10

  8. Very dark episode (hard to see whats going on. TV is set at its brightest, anyone else having this issue?). It is good so far though.

  9. It will be interesting to see the reaction to the ending. I’m guessing this was the thing they were teasing that some of the readers of the book will love and some will hate.

    I’m kind of wait and see on it. Let’s see where they go with the change they made.

  10. You coùld tell they filmed those scenes at daytime and then added a night filter on top. Except it was kind of a cheap one. The cinematographer and director dropped the ball here.

  11. I tip my hat, they managed to surprise me with the Laenor twist there. Dang.

    Scene with Corlys and Rhaenys was SO well done. ❤

    To my surprise, I’m still finding ways to be sympathetic to Aegon. Aemond is developing nicely into a little shit.

  12. Hank B:
    Very dark episode (hard to see whats going on. TV is set at its brightest, anyone else having this issue?). It is good so far though.

    I agree! Most of the episode was so dark I could hardly see a bloody thing! Even turning all the lights out in the room with the TV made no difference! IMHO, whenever Sapochnik directs an episode this always happens. Same happened in GoT when the White Walkers attacked Winterfell. Just a black screen for most of the episode 🙁

  13. I agree the nighttime filter looked a bit off but I didn’t have a problem seeing the episode. It’s weird, I didn’t have any problems with The Long Night either so when people complain about lighting I can’t relate to that since I didn’t have the same experience that others have been so outspoken about. I also saw the episode on HBO Max so the quality is a bit better than on TV, I think.

  14. Another solid episode and another which feels much more like GOT in terms of it’s theatre and direction. On that note I’m really going to miss Miguel Sapochnik, he’s directed my three favourite episodes so far.

    My only complaint is I’m still not overly invested in any of the characters so I don’t feel shocked or that happy/disappointed when they die. I guess it will change over time but most the children feel “bratty”, Alicent was very likeable at the start but now is much less so, Rhaenerya and Daemon are the new Cersei/Jamie couple, I miss a Jon Snow, an Arya, a Tyrion or even a Hound in this show right now.

  15. Hank B:
    Very dark episode (hard to see whats going on. TV is set at its brightest, anyone else having this issue?). It is good so far though.

    Yes, it was very dark, reminded me of the Long Night in GOT also directed by the same person.

  16. Jon Snowed: I miss a Jon Snow, an Arya, a Tyrion or even a Hound in this show right now.

    Same.

    I think the show is trying to go out of it’s way to make the “Blacks” the good guys and the “Greens” the bad guys., but I find it kinda hard to root for anyone right now.

    While I sympathize with Rhaenyra and Laenor’s “agreement” when they got married, it really is pretty monumentally stupid for Rhaenyra to give birth to bastards and not think it would blow up in her face at some point.

  17. Mr Derp,

    Agree with both you and Jon Snowed. Laenor is one of the very few fundamentally decent characters, and the sardonic humor of GoT is missed here. I’m really enjoying it, but we need some corrosive humor to cut through it.

    Looking forward to seeing the shenanigans Aemond will get up to. He definitely seems like more kingly material than pretty-boy Joffrey-lite Aegon. Not that he’s nice, but he possesses the assertiveness so desperately missing in sweet, pitiful Viserys.

  18. Thronetender:
    If only Laenor had voiced even the least displeasure to the Queen about Rhaenyra being dragged from the birthing bed while still bleeding …
    … seeing how Rhaenyra allowed herself to be degraded by making haste to her rooms, with no protest from Laenor, it emboldened Alicent to continue embarrassing and degrading Rhaenyra.

    Rhaenyra wasnt “dragged from the birthing bed”. The message was that the Queen wanted to see the baby, and it was clear from Alicent’s reaction that she hadn’t expected Rhaenyra to bring the baby herself. It was Rhaenyra’s decision to play the drama queen, presumably as a rebuke to Alicent for wanting to part her from the baby so soon after he had been born.

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