My Review of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: "The Morrow"

 

Written by Ira Parker And Ti Mikkel

Directed by Sarah Adina Smith 

Ser Dunk (to Maekar): "I think I'm done with princes."

And so endeth our first season. It's been a short six weeks but not boring. If there was a show that truly proved that "less is more" can work as an approach, it's this show.

Time moved on since the events of Baelor's death. In fact we got his funeral and a guilt stricken Duncan attended. This led to some choice words from Prince Valarr. Needless to say that Valarr wasn't happy about Dunk surviving over his own father. 

Dunk in general just wasn't happy at all. The Trial had really knocked his confidence and he bluntly told Maekar that he was done serving princes after the latter wanted Dunk to continue to squire Egg. Was the great TV partnership about to end after only six episodes? Of course not.

Egg wasn't going to give up on being a squire. In fact, not only was he determined to be one but by the end of this episode, he abandoned his own family in order to continue being a squire fot Ser Duncan. Given the state of his family, you can hardly blame him.

Looking at the Targaryens so to speak, Egg's hatred for Aerion intensified to the point where Maekar had to stop Egg from killing his older brother. Daeron's a little bit better but even he knew that Egg would be better with Dunk than remaining with the family. It really did say a lot about the Targaryens as a unit.

Last but not least, there was Raymun. He's been the closest to a friend that Dunk's had in the show and he was genuinely touched upon being given one of Dunk's horses to keep. Raymun's also cut out toxic family members and was about to start a family of his own with Rowan. I hope we see him again.

- Egg pointed out to Ser Duncan that there was nine kingdoms and then the title card changed accordingly.

- More flashbacks had Set Arlan failing to tell Dunk about never being knighted. Dunk revisited the tree from that flashback.

- Egg's hair was growing back before his failed attempt to kill Aerion. Dunk refused Lyonel's offer to go to Storm's End.

- Chronology: By the end of this episode Aerion was heading to the Free Cities and Dunk and Egg were heading to Dorne.

The Morrow made for a short, sweet and satisfying finale. This show had modest expectations that it managed to surpass rather well. I liked this show a lot and I'm looking forward to the second season.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: "In The Name Of The Mother"

 

Written by Hiram Martinez And Ti Mikkel And Ira Parker

Directed by Owen Harris 

Baelor: "Be vigilant. Don't die."

That's perfectly sound advice. Then again, when you're taking part in a Trial by Seven, it's also advice that's hard to take. Oh and as it's a penultimate episode, a sympathetic character had to die. Baelor, we barely knew you.

The consequences of Baelor choosing Team Dunk meant that his own brother inadvertently killed him. Maekar struck a fatal blow and Baelor made a point of telling Dunk that the realm needed good men. Bertie Carvel might not have had a lot of screen time this season but he made the most of what he was given.

As for the battle itself, I love how green Dunk truly was as a wannabe knight. He looked completely out of his depth and it took very little for Aerion to actually incapacitate him. It also led to the majority of this episode being rather flashback heavy for Dunk.

In flashbacks we saw a younger Dunk (Bamber Todd) and his friend Rafe (Chloe Lea) trying their best to get out of Flea Bottom. This meant stealing from dead nobles but it also resulted in getting on the wrong side of Alester (Edward Davis), resulting in the death of Rafe and Dunk going with Ser Arlan.

As flashbacks, they're good and did add a bit more to Dunk's backstory. In the present though, things got even more vicious between Dunk and Aerion with the former forcing the latter to yield. I can't see Aerion letting that public humiliation slide in the future.

Last but not least, there was also Egg. His role was smaller in this episode but Dunk kept him on as a squire and Egg panicked when he thought Dunk was dying. Egg also was clearly upset when he realised that Baelor had also died by the end of this one.

- A few moments where characters were sick in this one to add to the bodily fluids list for this season.

- Beesbury and Hardyng seemed to be the other deaths of the episode, though Raymun took a battering as well.

- Aerion's dragon armour looked fantastic on the battlefield. It really did say a lot about his character.

- Chronology: The flashbacks said it was after Daemon's rebellion. 

In The Name Of The Mother was another triumph as an episode. Great use of flashbacks, brilliant battle moments and a death that genuinely impacted in spite of being telegraphed. I really hope the finale sticks the landing.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: "Seven"

 

Written by Aziza Barnes And Annie Julia Wyman And Ira Parker

Directed by Sarah Adina Smith

Ser Duncan: "Who will stand and fight with me? Has courage deserted the nobles houses of Westeros? Are there no true knights among you?"

Ah, Ser Dunk. Talk about being damned either way. He went from punching out a spoiled Prince to fighting out that his squire was another prince and his life was also on the line. It was not his day/night throughout this episode.

Looking into the Egg or shall Prince Aegon Targaryen reveal. I can't say that I blame Dunk for taking it badly. I also don't blame him for accusing Egg of trying to make fun of him, even though the latter made it clear that he didn't intend any malice. Egg just really wanted to get away from his own family.

Egg's hatred for Aerion was made very apparent in this episode. He genuinely wanted to see his older brother dead and didn't care if Baelor disapproved of him saying it aloud. I also liked that when the chips were down, Egg maintained being Dunk's squire. Dunk kind of had no choice but to let him.

This episode further cemented how cruel and petty Aerion could be as a character. He couldn't simply let Dunk do trial by combat but insisted upon the trial by seven. He even managed to undermine Dunk's attempts to save himself by getting to Steffon. To be fair, I don't think it would've taken much to get Steffon to switch sides.

I guess what really elevated the episode was of course Baelor himself. Baelor has proven to be receptive to Dunk on the show and having him step in at the last minute to give Dunk the team he needed was a nice moment to cheer things on. I don't think Aerion will be pleased with more family members making their hatred for him publicly known.

As for Daeron, I think this episode made him a bit more tragic. Like other Targaryens, Daeron admitted to having prophetic dreams and even apologised for making things worse for Dunk. In a few scenes, I've grown to like his character.

- Aerion genuinely believes that he's a dragon in human form and he killed Egg's cat while threatening to castrate him. 

- Tanselle fled the scene  while Lyonel knighted Raymun to replace Steffon. I like that Raymun has become a good friend of Dunk's.

- This episode along with the latest one from Industry were released on HBO Max due to tonight's Super Bowl.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

Seven was easily the best episode so far. A fantastic character study into everyone, but especially Dunk. A fantastic use of the Game Of Thrones/House Of The Dragon theme music and those last few minutes were sublime. This show really found it's groove.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: "The Squire"

 

Written by Hiram Martinez And Annie Julia Wyman And Ira Parker 

Directed by Sarah Adina Smith

Prince Aerion (to Dunk, re Tanselle): "Why did you throw away your life for this whore?"

Well, well, what did we have here? First of all after hints of Prince Aerion being a right little scumbag, this episode really went above and beyond to demonstrate that. Like Joffrey Baratheon and Ramsay Bolton after him, Aerion isn't a man who took a slight lying down.

That's in spite of the fact that his horrible reputation was completely of his own making and the mocking brought upon him by Tanselle was also on him. Personally, I think she went easy on the miserable sod but Aerion retaliated in kind by snapping her finger in front of everyone.

Aerion's attack on Tanselle brought out Dunk's violently protective side. Dunk hasn't been subtle in how he's attracted to Tanselle to the point where Egg teased him for it. It was Egg who also alerted Dunk about Aerion going after Tanselle. Dunk didn't hold back with the punch. Aerion also didn't hold back with trying to punish Dunk either.

Book fans knew the Egg reveal. Yes, he's Aerion's younger brother, Aegon. Yup, the great grandfather of Daenerys Targaryen but that's a long way off. Needless to say, Dunk looked pretty shocked when he realised who Egg really was. Aerion on the other was more annoyed with being reunited with his younger brother.

Dunk and Egg's banter was on absolutely fine form with this episode. They had formed a brotherly bond of sorts and enjoyed mocking one another while enjoying the tournament. That was before everything went shit and Egg's real identity came to the forefront.

I'm actually shocked they didn't leave it until the finale but this midway reveal might actually work better for the show. So far, it's been relatively tame but this reveal was absolutely the best thing that could've happened to the show. Just how will Dunk and Egg's relationship change after this?

- Plummer wanted Dunk to take part in a rigged joust against Lord Ashford's son Ser Androw. Egg also bonded more with the horse Thunder and learned of his future fate.

- Did Dunk and Egg invent the breakfast sandwich? It looked really nice. 

- The next episode will be released on HBO Max on Friday due to the Super Bowl on Sunday.

- Chronology: We've been in the same place for the first half of the season. 

The Squire was by far the best episode so far. Devoid of unnecessary bowel movements, genuinely fun banter with our leads and that reveal at the end. This was the shot in the arm the show needed and it came at the right time as well.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: "Hard Salt Beef"

 

Written by Aziza Barnes And Ira Parker 

Directed by Owen Harris

Tanselle (to Dunk): "All men are stupid. All men are Knights."

That might be a tad harsh there, Tanselle. Saying that, she might not be entirely wrong with that statement. This episode may have made too fine a point about the perception of Dunk's general intelligence.

I don't think Dunk might be the sort of person who's well read but he does seem to have a practicality about him and this week, he seemed to be getting closer to being a Knight. While unaware of Egg's true identity, he did meet some of the latter's family throughout the episode.

Yup, this episode was overloaded with the presence of House Targaryen. In the space of thirty one minutes we were introduced to Egg's father, Prince Maekar (Sam Spruell), brother Prince Aerion (Finn Bennett) and uncle Prince Baelor (Bertie Carvel). Out of the three, Baelor taking an interest in Dunk made him the most likable of the pair.

Even when Baelor was correcting Dunk on Ser Arlan of Pennytre's true achievements, he was surprisingly considerate to Dunk's feelings. By contrast, both Maekar and Aerion in their most fleeting interactions were both condescending, rude and disdainful towards Dunk.

Circling in on the strength of the show so far, I really do love the rapport between Dunk and Egg. They're a fun duo to watch and while Egg was desperate to avoid being spotted during a night just, Dunk was more than happy to talk more about his relationship with Ser Arlan. Yup, there's more flashbacks with the latter to start and end the episode.

As for the only woman on the show so far, I'm really liking Tanselle as a character. Her interactions with Dunk are endearing and both being tall was something they could bond over. I don't know if a romance can work long term but their scenes are sweet together.

- Another Targaryen we met was Prince Valarr (Oscar Morgan). He's the son of Baelor. We also met Ser Roland Crakehall (Wade Briggs), Ser Donnel of Duskendale (Bill Ward), Lord Ashford (Paul Hunter) and his daughter, Gwin (Cara Harris).

- Did we need to see all of Ser Arlan in that regard? This show might be giving audiences the type of nudity they don't want to watch.

- Ser Dunk wanted a signal of an elm tree and stars. Tanselle was tasked with that due to her puppeteering expertise.

- Chronology: Not long from where the first episode left off.

Hard Salt Beef felt a bit more of the same as the first episode. I get this will be more of a smaller scale story compared to the other shows and I did like the jousting bits but will it retain it's audience? I guess we'll see but no more gross nudity wouldn't go amiss.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: "The Hedge Knight"

Written by Ira Parker

Directed by Owen Harris

Egg (to Dunk): "Every knight needs a squire and you look like you need one more than most."

We go a year without a Game Of Thrones prequel show to enjoy and 2026 we get two of them. While the third season of House Of The Dragon won't air on HBO until the summer, this somewhat lighter show finally made it's modest debut.

Based on George R.R. Martin's Tales Of Dunk And Egg series, this opened with Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) burying his master, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb) while also claiming three horses as well. Oh and he really wanted to be a Knight.

That's pretty much the premise of this opening episode. Dunk was determined to get into a tourney and that meant encountering several characters along the way. The most important character being Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell). Every knight needs a squire after all.

Egg's determination to become Dunk's squire, I'll admit it's admirable. He didn't give up until Dunk agreed and considering how nearly every other character was more dismissive of Dunk, I can see why the latter relented and agreed. Already on this episode, the dynamic between Dunk and Egg seemed spot on.

As for the rest of the characters, there was Plummer (Tom Vaughn-Lawlor). He thought of Dunk as a farmer but pointed him to Ser Manfred Dondarrion (Daniel Monks). The latter wouldn't vouch for him but that didn't seem to deter Dunk.

There's some better scenes with Dunk's interactions with Tanselle (Tanzyn Crawford) but his scenes with Ser Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings) were also a highlight in this opening episode. Lyonel seemed a little similar to a certain character who made it out of the main show alive. I'll let you guess which one.

- There was no title sequence for this episode and it's the longest one we'll get in this series. The rest will be shorter.

- We were also introduced to Ser Steffon Fosdoway (Edward Ashley) and his cousin Raymun (Shaun Thomas). Oh and we also saw Prince Daeron Targaryen (Henry Ashton) upon meeting Egg.

- I definitely could've done without seeing Dunk actually doing his business so graphically tbh. I'm guessing the flashbacks to his younger self and Ser Arlan will be a weekly thing.

- Dunk earned his nickname because of Tanselle and her friend. We also got a dragon puppet show.

- Peter Claffey is a Galway man. It's nice to see someone from my county in this franchise.

- Chronology: 209 AC. It's after the events of House Of The Dragon and before the events of Game Of Thrones.

The Hedge Knight made for a decent opening episode. It's definitely a lighter show compared to what's come before and the comedic scenes definitely feel broader as well. It's not as strong as either of the first episodes of the shows but there's potential here.

Rating: 7 out of 10