House Of The Dragon Episode Seven Review - 7 Ups & 3 Downs


Steve Toussaint and Eve Best are as excellent as ever this week as Corlys and Rhaenys respectively. The overriding issue is with their current storyline.

Rhaenys is clearly an intelligent woman which makes her stance regarding Driftmark passing to Laena's children over Laenor particularly nonsensical. She laments her husband's endless pursuit of legacy but is adamant over a matter of succession, arguing that Velaryon birthrights should not be passed to children who are blatantly not Velaryons. Furthermore, for a Targaryen royal allegedly as exhausted of the ruling rat-race as Rhaenys is, it appears inconceivable that she has put up with being married to Corlys prattling on about legacy for decades.

Speaking of Corlys, the Sea Snake's more unpleasant character traits rear their serpentine head this week. His homophobic treatment of his son has already been alluded to, but it is the fact that the Lord of Driftmark is more concerned with placing people named Velaryon on the throne than whether they are actually Velaryon by blood that shows Corlys' disturbing tunnel vision, unbefitting a man of his reputation and wisdom. The same can be said for the manner in which he rudely thrusts his wife's hands away from his in what can only be described as a childish fit of pique.

Such meandering plot lines are ill-befitting of such rich characters; one can only hope that Corlys' storyline feels a little less one dimensional next week and that Rhaenys' depiction more accurately brings her legendary literary counterpart to life.