Oh Look, Something Finally Happened on ‘House of the Dragon’

(spoilers for episode 7)

For all of the critiques leveled at the numerous time jumps in season one, one thing is for certain: even if it was wobbly at times, at least there was continuous forward movement. To wit, after a robust opening with season two, beginning with the murder of a child before giving us a big character death (taking a few dragons in the process), the second half of the season seems to have come to a standstill. There’s been lots of setup to be sure—Mysaria and the smallfolk, Aemond ascending to prince regent, and Alicent coming to some unfortunate realizations about her children—but precious little has come to any consequence and none of it has required the weeks that have passed in the interim.

Maybe things wouldn’t feel so stagnant if it weren’t for the world’s most boring conquest taking place for an astonishing four episodes. Entire armies have risen and fallen in the time we’ve spent watching Daemon Targaryen wander from one dreary hallway to another looking dazed and confused. Apparently the real curse of Harrenhal is taking what was once a rock star of a character and turning them into a show’s biggest drag. Halfway through this week’s episode, I was convinced that the heat death of the universe would take place before Daemon’s storyline would see any sort of payoff.

Thank goodness for Oscar Tully (Archie Barnes), the new Lord Paramount of the Riverlands for injecting a bit of life into what’s otherwise a dead horse of a storyline. Despite being half of Daemon’s size and little more than a quarter of his age, young Oscar Tully wasn’t about to let himself get punked. We already know just how unyielding the people of the Riverlands can be—turning your back on a dragon is a hell of a power move—but watching a teenager not just defy but insult Daemon to his face (“I see no reason to cast aside loyalty no matter how loathsome I may find [Rhaenyra’s] representative, the prince”) and then responding to Mr. “Call Me ‘Your Grace’” by sauntering up and looking him dead in the eye is arguably the most boss ass thing that’s happened this season. One smooth political maneuver and a sword swing later, Daemon has finally come to realize that maybe he’s in over his head after all.

The most exciting thing to happen is, of course, the number of dragons we had this week. On the one hand, it’s kind of nice of Rhaenyra to serve up a charcuterie board of smallfolk to Vermithor—flambéing commoners as they flee for their lives is just enrichment time in his enclosure—but there was certainly a better way to play dragon rider matchmaker. Hugh (Kieran Bew), the hulking family man with little left to lose now that his sick daughter has passed away, manages to woo the mighty beast by yelling in its face (same, Hugh, only I lack your success rate). Meanwhile, Ulf (Tom Bennett), the one non-House Green character I thought would be most amusing to see eaten, quite literally stumbles into a dragon of his own, Silverwing. It’s a moment of serendipity turned stupidity when the first thing Ulf does with his newfound gift is fly directly over enemy territory like a drunk middle-aged version of The Neverending Story, thus alerting Aemond to Rhaenyra’s newly-acquired advantage—albeit, Aemond swiftly mounting his horse and racing to Vhagar was actually pretty cool in and of itself.

Next week is the season finale. Considering that in a story about civil war where we’ve only actually had one battle of note on screen, I wouldn’t be surprised if the relatively bloodless streak continues (barbecued smallfolk notwithstanding). Truth be told, I’d be perfectly okay with forgoing any major battles so long as we end the season further along than where we started it. Give me emotional turmoil, show me a plan unfurling, a demonstration of strategy, just something that gives this story a substantial step forward. Barring that, at the very least make it interesting.

Kaleena Rivera is the TV Editor for Pajiba. She can be found on Bluesky here and Twitter.