House of the Dragon (S03E07)

“The Dragon in Winter”

I love that we get to see some of Helaena’s dreams in this episode.

I’ve always enjoyed interpreting her visions and riddles, but actually getting to see her dreams is an entirely different thing altogether. A really cool thing for that matter! Especially since we finally get to see what Dreamfyre looks like. And it should come as no surprise to hear that I think she looks awesome! I absolutely love her color and her overall design, and I definitely hope we get to see her in the actual show. Especially if Helaena’s dream about her does come true.

Unfortunately for Helaena, though, Rhaenyra doesn’t seem to understand how dreams work. And this leads to an uncomfortable scene where Rhaenyra presses Helaena for information way too harshly. Which is unfortunate. Rhaenyra is so desperate to prove that the gods ordained her place on the throne, that she’s definitely starting to lose her sense of self. Something that Alicent tried to warn her about! So, while I personally don’t want to see Rhaenyra become a bad person, I do think that this hyper fixation of hers will ultimately be her undoing.

Also, given how they’ve literally never interacted before, I definitely forgot that Rhaenyra and Helaena are biological sisters. These Targaryen’s and their damn incest…

Speaking of which, Helaena isn’t the only one having dreams in this episode; Aemond also has an incestuous dream about his own mother! Gross. But this segue’s nicely into Alicent’s arrival at Harrenhal, where she isn’t exactly met with the warmest of welcomes. Alys can tell that Alicent is up to something, and her distrust leads to a funny “marriage” dispute with Aemond about where her “mother-in-law” is going to be staying. Of course, Alicent isn’t intent on staying long, since she does flee after trying to kill Aemond with poison. Though, since her attempt at murdering Aemond is unsuccessful, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of consequences she may face.

Aegon, meanwhile, is tired of running around like a mere commoner, and decides to make a last stand against an army of Rhaenyra's soldiers. Which is foolish, but also a bit respectable. No one will remember him if he randomly dies while in disguise on the road, but people will surely remember his "heroic" stance against an entire army. And his stand is certainly going to be a memorable one since it also marks the return of Sunfyre!

That's right, Sunfyre is still alive! He may be a little disfigured like his master, but seeing him rise like a phoenix from the ashes made for an undeniably awesome scene! One that clearly feels inspired by the T-Rex scene in Jurassic Park!

And Sunfyre's resurrection will surely turn the tides in Aegon’s favor. Which is unfortunate for Rhaenyra, especially since things aren't looking too great for her already.

On that note, Coryls is revealed to be alive in Ormund's captivity. And Ormund's plan is to torture Corlys just so he can get to Rhaenyra and Alyn. Which is absolutely diabolical, but his evil schemes do seem to be working.

It'll also be interesting to see how Alyn will feel about his brother Addam hitting on Baela. Because I definitely didn't see that coming! And now we're going to have another incestuous love triangle on the show. How fun!

Now, I know I haven't spoken much about Baela, but I really like how her character is being handled on this season. Jace's death ripped her future as the queen away from her, and it's been fascinating to watch how she struggles with that.

But as Baela and Addam continue to search for Aemond and Vhagar, they accidentally come across Rhaena with Sheepstealer. And this leads to a fantastic confrontation with four different dragons! Yes, this episode features plenty of great dragon action. All of which is fantastic! 

I do feel bad for Sheepstealer, though. He didn’t want to get involved with the Targaryen drama; he only ever wanted to steal some sheep! And now he has to die for it?? That sucks. Though, I do think it’s interesting that we don’t actually see him die. I mean, I doubt he’ll be alive for much longer - given all of the injuries that he sustained here - but if Sunfyre can come back from a near death experience then so can Sheepstealer! 

Anyway, Rhaena gets taken back to King’s Landing and, instead of facing dire consequences like she initially feared, she actually has a nice and touching moment with her sister. As it turns out, Baela easily forgives her for  being involved in Jace’s death, and Rhaenyra - while still furious - is mature enough to recognize that her involvement was just an accident. So, it’s almost like Rhaena ran away for no reason! Let that be a lesson kids: facing the consequences of your actions is better than running away from them. 

But, by finally hearing the truth, Rhaenyra has to come to terms with the fact that Jace’s death was for nothing. And that’s a pretty hard pill to swallow. Good thing she has Mysaria to distract her from these thoughts, though.

While Rhaenyra is being distracted, however, Ulf is revealed to be making plans with Ormund. That backstabber! But, given how disgruntled Ulf has been lately, it was only a matter of time before he decided to betray Rhaenyra. And Ormund uses that fact to play Ulf just like a fiddle. 

So, I think this all made for a decent penultimate episode. Maybe not the best one in Game of Thrones history, but all of the dragon stuff here is undeniably great. I just hope that the finale will be able to bring this season to a satisfying conclusion!