I’m not sure what to make of HBO Max’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. When the series begins, it almost seems to make the case for a sophomoric, cringe-comedy version from George R. R. Martin’s mind. This, based on the source material, is intentional. The new series replaces menace and loads of gratuitous sex with juvenile comedy. However, by the time the series reaches its peak in the penultimate episode and season finale, it melds the lighter tone with classic Game of Thrones thrills.
However, even if A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms barely keeps the story together, the first season, dipping its toes into Westeros, is frustratingly uneven. Frankly, any story worth holding onto is undermined by the amount of narrative triage it takes to reach its destination.
The series follows a good-natured hedge knight, Ser Duncan the Tall (Wreck’s Peter Claffey), or “Dunk” for short. He has been an orphan since adolescence, when his mother left and never returned. Dunk was taken in by Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Alien 3’s Danny Webb), a hedge knight who mentors him. When we meet them in the pilot, however, Arlan has died. Dunk is burying him, but not with his sword. Dunk later takes the horses into town, planning to sell them to support himself.
On his way, he meets a stable boy, who goes by Egg (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ Dexter Sol Ansell), who has a secret we are not allowed to tell you here. (While not revealed in the trailer, any outlet writing a feature on the show lays it out there for anyone to read.) Since Egg is a stable boy and an orphan, like Dunk, he takes him under his wing to mentor him with some tough love. From there, they also meet sorts of wild and vivid characters. They make friends along the way.
That’s, of course, not being a dynamic duo. It’s more like “the long and the short of it,” or “the oak and the acorn.” They also make plenty of enemies while drinking, eating, and attending local tournaments. Things come to a head when Dunk defends the honor of a young waitress being assaulted by Prince Aerion Targaryen (Finn Bennett). Aerion goes by “Brightflame,” which sounds like a nickname you give yourself when you have no friends. Aerion is mean, has no conscience, and even less honor.
A prequel to Game of Thrones, taking place a century before that classic series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on George R. R. Martin’s novella series, Tales of Dunk and Egg. It has been adapted for television by Martin and Ira Parker (House of the Dragon). The series starts off like GOT-light, almost like a buddy comedy between Dunk and Egg. The writers never met a bodily flatulence or liquid release they didn’t want to showcase in technicolor, high-definition through any orifice the series could think of.
When A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms works, it embraces some of the colorful side characters, Daniel Ings’ charismatic Ser Lyonel Baratheon, and Bertie Carvel’s stoic “Breakspear,” who brings some much-needed gravitas to the season. Claffey and Ansell make the most of cliched characters. Claffey, a former rugby player turned actor, holds his own in action scenes. Ansell has a powerful scene in the finale in which he nearly crosses the line from honorable to morally ambiguous.
Yet, even when the series finds a bit of a groove, leading up to a big battle scene in episode five, the show is undercut by a flashback to Dunk meeting his mentor. Given the shortened season and thirty-minute episodes, the series would have been better served by flashbacks to Dunk’s upbringing in each chapter. Instead, it feels like pointless exposition meant to shock rather than add depth. The first two episodes could also have been wrapped up in a few minutes. Instead, they stretch into nothing but narrative filler.
If you are a fan of Martin’s work, I have no doubt this series will satisfy you. And, yes, your argument could be made that I have issues with the source material, which is what I am citing, that doesn’t transition well to the small screen. Yet, despite A Knight of the Seven Kingdom’s late surge of classic nods to GOT’s gritty tension and action, including all those clever Easter eggs that we won’t spoil here, the story suffers from incurable tonal confusion. The series never quite graduates to the dark and dangerous narrative it promises to be. Even though the makings are there.
You can watch A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on HBO and HBO Max starting January 18. One episode will stream each week until February 22. All six episodes were screened for this review.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms flattens Westeros into a juvenile, tonally confused buddy adventure that never quite graduates into the dark and dangerous world it promises.
I am a film and television critic and a proud member of the Las Vegas Film Critic Society, Critics Choice Association, and a 🍅 Rotten Tomatoes/Tomato meter approved. However, I still put on my pants one leg at a time, and that’s when I often stumble over. When I’m not writing about movies, I patiently wait for the next Pearl Jam album and pass the time by scratching my wife’s back on Sunday afternoons while she watches endless reruns of California Dreams. I was proclaimed the smartest reviewer alive by actor Jason Isaacs, but I chose to ignore his obvious sarcasm. You can also find my work on InSession Film, Ready Steady Cut, Hidden Remote, Music City Drive-In, Nerd Alert, and Film Focus Online.
