The Red Sowing

"The Red Sowing"
House of the Dragon episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 7
Directed by	Loni Peristere
Written by	David Hancock
Featured music	Ramin Djawadi
Cinematography by	Vanja Cernjul
Editing by	Katie Weiland
Original air date	July 28, 2024 (2024-07-28)
Running time	64 minutes
Guest appearance
Paddy Considine as Viserys I Targaryen (uncredited)

"The Red Sowing" is the seventh and penultimate episode of the second season of the fantasy drama television series House of the Dragon, a prequel to Game of Thrones. The episode was written by David Hancock and directed by Loni Peristere. It first aired on HBO and Max on July 28, 2024.

The episode received critical acclaim, with praise going towards the claiming of Vermithor and Silverwing, visual effects, cinematography, musical score, and performances of its cast, especially Emma D'Arcy and Harry Collett.

Plot

On Driftmark

On a beach, with their dragons Syrax and Seasmoke behind them, Rhaenyra confronts Addam. He kneels and pledges fealty to her as his queen. When asked about his parentage, Addam withholds his father's identity so that Rhaenyra will not know how he may have Targaryen blood.

In King's Landing and the Kingswood

Grandmaester Orwyle treats Alicent's minor arm wound she received during the riot. Despondent over being removed from the Small Council, Alicent seeks solace in Kingswood and to avoid court. She takes only Kingsguard member, Rickard Thorne, telling him she may never return. They make camp, and she later floats in a lake.

In the courtyard, two Kingsguard members have their whitecloaks stripped and are sentenced to the Wall, ostensibly for fomenting the riots. While Larys observes the proceedings, Lord Wylde approaches with news that Seasmoke has a new rider, though the rider's identity is unknown. Larys suggests that Wylde withhold telling Aemond. Larys pushes Grandmaester Orwyle to accelerate Aegon's recovery, despite it causing him extreme pain and against Orwyle's advice that the king needs more bed rest.

In the Vale

Rhaena and the young Targaryen princes depart the Eyrie to travel to Pentos. Rhaena suddenly leaves the group to find the wild dragon.

At Harrenhal

The new Lord Paramount Oscar Tully arrives with the Riverlords. He honors his late grandsire's previous pledge to Rhaenyra as Viserys's heir and offers Daemon allegiance. However, spurred by the Riverlords' dissent and who doubt the boy's leadership capabilities, Oscar denounces Daemon's previous nefarious actions. Oscar then demands Daemon's contrition and that he dispense justice. Daemon agrees and executes Lord Blackwood for viciously slaughtering the Brackens. Later, Daemon sees Viserys' rotting ghost, who asks if he really wants the burden of the crown.

At Dragonstone

Mysaria tells Rhaenyra that rather than researching noble houses to find distant Targaryen descendants, to instead search King's Landing brothels for dragonseeds with thicker blood ties. Rhaenyra agrees, but Jacaerys challenges her decision, arguing that bastard dragonriders could weaken the Targaryens' power and threaten his succession by exposing him as Ser Harwin Strong's dark-haired illegitimate son. Corlys tasks Alyn with delivering a message to Elinda in King's Landing. In return, Corlys promises Alyn the possibility of becoming a dragonrider.

In King's Landing

Elinda receives Mysaria's instructions on where to find Targaryen bastards. Word about Rhaenyra's search quickly spreads throughout the town. In the tavern, two men encourage Ulf, who has gloated about having Targaryen blood, to join the other dragonseeds making the journey. Ulf is reluctant, however, partially due to a leg injury, but he also admits that what his mother told him might be false. Hugh the Hammer, whose ill daughter died due to the situation in King's Landing, tells his wife, Kat, that he wants to go. He says that his mother worked in a pleasure house and was an aunt to Viserys and Daemon. The assembled Targaryen bastards arrive in Dragonstone by boats, organized by Alyn.

At Dragonstone

The dragonkeeper elders denounce Rhaenyra's method of elevating low-borns into dragonriders and leave the proceedings. After Rhaenyra summons Vermithor, Silver Denys steps forth but the dragon burns him and numerous dragonrider contenders. Others fall off the platform into the pit and get eaten. Hugh bravely steps between a woman and Vermithor, an act that seemingly impresses Vermithor, who then accepts him. Taking a torch, Ulf wanders further into the caverns and lands in Silverwing's lair. The she-dragon awakens and gently knocks the terrified Ulf to the ground before accepting him as a rider.

From King's Landing to Dragonstone

At a council meeting, Lord Wylde reports that Daeron Targaryen's dragon, Tessarion, is nearly ready to join battle. During the meeting, Silverwing, mounted by Ulf, appears over King's Landing. Aemond rushes out and pursues him on Vhagar. As Aemond nears Dragonstone, he quickly retreats upon seeing Rhaenyra with Syrax, Vermithor, and Silverwing.

Production

Writing and filming

"The Red Sowing" was written by David Hancock and directed by executive producer Loni Peristere. It marks Hancock's second time as writer for the series, following "The Burning Mill", and Peristere's first directorial credit.

Casting

The episode stars Matt Smith, Emma D'Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Steve Toussaint, Sonoya Mizuno, Matthew Needham, Tom Glynn-Carney, Ewan Mitchell, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Kurt Egyiawan, Abubakar Salim, Clinton Liberty, Kieran Bew, Ellora Torchia, Tom Bennett, and Simon Russell Beale. Paddy Considine once again made an uncredited guest appearance as King Viserys Targaryen, following the previous episode.

Critical response

Emma D'Arcy's performance in the episode received critical acclaim.

"The Red Sowing" was met with critical acclaim. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 100% based on five reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10.

Helen O'Hara of IGN awarded the episode with an "amazing" score of 9 out of 10, praising it as "an episode with momentum, drama, and consequence [that] sets all the pieces in place for a grand finale." Katie Doll of CBR and Carly Lane of Collider both scored it 8 out of 10, with the former describing it as "a fantastic piece of television". Doll also highlighted Larys' character development, the characterization of Oscar Tully, and the final shot as the episode's standout elements. The episode also received a rating of 4 out of 5 stars from David Crow of Den of Geek, James Hunt of Screen Rant, and Haley Whitmire White of TV Fanatic. Hunt considered it "one of the strongest installments of the season, and offers a sense of momentum heading into the end of the season" and praised the payoff of Daemon's story with the Riverlords. Moreover, Kayleigh Dray of The A.V. Club graded it with an "A", while Proma Khosla of IndieWire gave it a "B", commending Djawadi's Score, Cernjul's cinematography, and the visual effects.

The performances of the cast received critical praise, particularly those of D'Arcy, Collett, Cooke and Archie Barnes. Both James Hunt and Kayleigh Dray called D'Arcy's performance "brilliant", with Hunt also noting, "A lot of praise must also go to Collett, who gives his best performance yet as Jace." The storyline involving the claiming of Vermithor and Silverwing, as well as their scenes with Ulf and Hugh, received significant praise, with Carly Lane calling it "some of the best scenes in the entire series to date."

External links

• "The Red Sowing" at HBO
• "The Red Sowing" at IMDb