'House of the Dragon' recap episode 7: Just you and eye
Welcome to the closest thing we're gonna get to a classic bottle episode, wherein all the action is confined to a single location. In this case: The island of Driftmark, seat of House Velaryon.
And this bottle episode perfectly understands the assignment. It knows that it's never about the bottle itself — it's about the Diet Coke you fill it up with, and the Mentos you plop in before scurrying the hell away.
Thus this episode brings every character from disparate storylines together for a funeral where emotions are running high; bashes them against each other in ways that invariably result in sex and/or violence; then sends everyone back to their separate corners, reeling from the experience.
Big things happen! Big changes! A dragon gained, an eye lost! A marriage ends in fire, another begins in blood! Battle lines get drawn — no but for real, this time we mean it, we're using permanent marker! And two characters, the two you least expect, get something that looks a hell of a lot like a happy ending together! Somehow! In defiance of all laws of God and Man! Especially when the Man in question is George R.R. Martin!
Some folks have been complaining about what they view as the breakneck speed with which the show burns through its plot. I do not share this view, to put it mildly. There is a fireworks factory in our future, reader, and our bus is just now pulling out of the school parking lot.
Open on: Lady Laena's funeral. The gang's all here: Her not-so-grieving husband Daemon and her very-much-grieving kids, Rhaena and Baela. Her mother Rhaenys, her father Corlys, her uncle Vaemond, and her brother Laenor. Laenor's wife Rhaenyra and "their" kids, Jayce and Luke. The king, the queen and their kids Aegon, Aemond and Helaena. Ottto Hightower, being Handy, once again. Ser Criston Cole, being a smug jerk once again. Ser Qarl Correy, Laenor's *throat-clearing noise*, as my mom
