I’ve sat through Game of Thrones’ (GOT) awful final season and have gotten tired waiting for the third season of House of the Dragon (HOTD) to see what happens to my doomed lesbian ship, “Rhaenicent.” So, when the spinoff series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premiered with its first episode on Monday, January 19, I found it to be a total delight. Not only is this thirst-quenching amid the two-year wait for the new HOTD episodes to come out, but its light-hearted tone and unimpressive but charming hero, Dunk, make the new HBO show refreshing for an otherwise bleak and gory franchise.
The show is based on George R. R. Martin’s The Hedge Knight, the first novella in an ongoing series following the adventures of Ser Duncan “Dunk” the Tall and his squire, Egg. Faithful to the source material’s more humorous tone, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ first episode forgoes the violence, court intrigue, and dragons that have made the Game of Thrones franchise what it is. In doing so, it risks going into The Lord of the Rings territory, but sprinklings of crude language here and there remind us we’re still in Westeros, not Middle Earth.
No Dragons, No Problem
The premiere episode, entitled “The Hedge Knight,” opens with grief-stricken Dunk burying his master, Ser Arlan of Pennytree, in the rain. “You were a true knight,” says Dunk, played by Irish actor and former rugby player Peter Claffey. “You never beat me when I didn’t deserve it.” The scene then cuts to several quick shots of a younger Dunk getting slapped by Arlan, which feels like the first visual gag in the television franchise’s 15-year history.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms isn’t interested in the gloom that colors the rest of the franchise. When the rain passes, the field that Dunk lies in is a shade of green that fans haven’t seen in years. As he figures out his next steps, he looks off into the distance, the iconic GOT theme swelling in the background. One would think it would cut to a bombastic animated title sequence, as previous shows have. Instead, it cuts to our protagonist gracelessly taking an explosive shit by a tree. And then he takes off for a jousting tournament in the town of Ashford.
There, he gets called a hedge knight: “It’s like a knight, but sadder,” a prostitute explains. He’s clumsy, a little awkward, dresses more like a farmer than a knight, and is very tall — which, in this world, is somehow a disadvantage. But he charges on, humble and kind.
As he inquires about joining the tournament, we find out that if he loses a game, he doesn’t have the money to ransom back his few possessions, which include Arlan’s sword and a horse. Before the joust, he also meets the orphaned stable boy Egg, played by British child actor Dexter Sol Ansell, who asks to be made his squire, and Daniel Ings’ swashbuckling knight Lyonel Baratheon, heir to the House of Baratheon.
Lyonel is sort of Dunk’s foil: wealthy and self-confident but not obnoxiously arrogant. He sits and drinks like something is weighing him down, but he notices that Dunk tends to slouch and encourages him to stand his height. “The Seven Above gave you tallness, so be tall,” he says.
The episode is fairly low-stakes, unlike other GOT episodes we’ve seen. We’re not immediately introduced to an apocalyptic threat, just Dunk wishing to prove himself a good, noble knight. Bigger stakes will no doubt be revealed later in the series; we know based on the trailer that the Targaryens are involved, and trouble always follows our favorite incestuous Valyrian family. But for now, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ humor and the endearing brotherly dynamic between Dunk and Egg are enough to keep the viewer glued to the screen.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is streaming on HBO Max.
