If the phrase “sticking the land” could be 110% applied to a show, then that is HBO’s “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”. This is the type of show every one of these streaming services wants. Overwhelmingly positive coverage, lower budget, positive memes circulating online, and enough people are watching it they are releasing actual viewing figures. No figures based on bogus metrics, no “it’s the most successful show released in January during a year with two Friday the 13ths in consecutive months,”, etc. Six tight, efficient, captivating episodes, and a first season finale absolutely perfect, from the script, to acting, to the songs. No Notes.
The show excels because of how it completely bucks the formula of the epic fantasy franchise, Game of Thrones. Complicated political intrigue is gone, and replaced with uncomplicated humanism. What happens is less important than why it happens.
It’s almost purely about the characters and their relationships. I’ve watched every episode of House of the Dragon and I still can’t tell you the names of all the Targaryens and Velaryons and how they relate to each other, but in just over a handful of episodes of this show and I can write a short story apiece about Lyonel and Raymun and Baelor and Maekar or even Tanselle. Remarkable storytelling going on here, just masterful work.
One thing I find especially compelling about the relationship between Ser Duncan “Dunk” the Tall and Prince Aegon “Egg” Targaryen (Both played brilliantly by Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell) is that they are not just straightforward surrogate father and son / big brother and little brother scenario(s). They each in different capacities fill the roles to one another given that Dunk has life experience but is naive about the nuances of politics and human relations and Egg is the inverse. A prince disguised as a stable boy, and a Kid from Fleabottom disguised as a knight. That’s an interesting dramatic vehicle.
When talking about the special sauce here … what do you think the Game of Thrones formula is?
To me it’s an expansive The Wire-like view of different circumstances of life in a fantasy world. It also focuses on how power corrupts, and how good intentions are useless without political acumen. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms isn’t expansive, and focuses on a much smaller story about one man. Dunk’s rejection of a position of power within a noble house, his decision to continue being a hedge knight, and his general good nature seem to be putting him in a situation where political acumen won’t affect his life very much.
Was Ser Duncan actually knighted?
I think this falls into “audiences don’t know what they want” territory.
Many have misinterpreted it completely, some feel it is lamp-shading that he was never knighted, I’ve even seen it theorized that Arlan never woke up and the scene was Dunk imagining him ending the story. I feel the “truth” is that the show is playing with our expectations and other, weaker shows, would look to “pay off” the moment where Dunk a) was knighted, in a glorious moment of mentorship by Arlan, or b) (correctly) the moment where Arlan dies and Dunk says “so I guess I’m not going to be knighted then?”. The point is that no-one should know – I have my theory, he has his, she has hers, they have theirs, and we all live with our theories without satisfaction because the POINT of the story of Dunk is not whether he was Knighted truly or not.
Isn’t it such a wonderful conceit that he can be both the most honorable knight there ever was, but all possibly built on a dishonorable lie.
-Dagobot