A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Lower Stakes, Higher Quality

FREDDIE COLES reviews the second Game of Thrones spin-off TV series. Is a show about a peasant knight and a bald child enough to scratch that medieval itch?

In the 30 years since the realm of Westeros debuted in George R.R. Martin’s novel A Game of Thrones, the franchise has seen incredible highs and dismal lows. Battles and backstabs, dragons and deception, Red Weddings and lacklustre finales. Following the immense disappointment of Game of Thrones’ final season and the mixed reception to the first spinoff House of The Dragon, it appeared that the once-raging inferno of a franchise had dimmed with time.

However, greatness can come from the smallest of beginnings. A new show stepped up, an unassuming show about a knight and his squire, and brought the franchise into a renaissance. A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms follows a peasant knight, Ser Duncan the Tall (played by Peter Claffey) as he attempts to prove his skills to the lords of Westeros in a jousting tournament.

A Tall Tale

While the premise of the story sounds incredibly simple, that is one of the show’s greatest strengths. Showrunner Ira Parker puts full focus on the characters and their motivations, understanding what made the early seasons of Game of Thrones so engaging.

Ser Duncan the Tall

As the show is adapting a novella, Parker has to walk the fine line between accuracy and taking liberties, something he excels at despite the short length of the source material. Duncan’s personality is perfectly translated from page to screen, retaining the knight’s awkwardness and perseverance despite the odds stacked against him.

Peter Claffey, a former rugby player-turned actor, embodies Duncan in both the comedic and dramatic moments. Whether he is hitting his head on a doorway or fighting for his life on the jousting field, Claffey gives the role his all. The premiere episode immediately contrasts Duncan with the High Lords and Ladies of the original show by playing the GoT intro theme before it is cut off by a cut to an incredibly crass scene that genuinely shocked me on first viewing. Parker makes it clear that we are far from the glamour of King’s Landing in this show, focusing on the Smallfolk of the realm instead.

A good Egg

Accompanying Ser Duncan on his quest is his squire, Egg, a bald child who is seemingly an orphan. Dexter Sol Ansell, who portrays the young squire, does a tremendous job for someone so young. His dynamic with Duncan and their banter is the core of the show, always bickering with the knight or daydreaming about squiring for a lord. Some of the show’s best moments are just the pair doing impressions of one another or camping under the stars. Ira Parker gives the first three episodes an almost slice-of-life tone, slowly building the character dynamics up before the main conflict arises.

Egg

Sol Ansell equally excels in some of the more emotional scenes later in the show, offering the unique perspective of a child in the usual blood and battles that are standard within the world of Westeros. When Egg’s true lineage is revealed at the halfway point of the show, you can see the actor shift his performance to reflect that.

The Stag, The Dragons and The Apple

On the sidelines of Dunc and Egg’s adventure is a whole host of memorable side characters. Daniel Ings plays Lord Lyonel Baratheon, harnessing the essence of characters like Jack Sparrow and Thrones’ own Tyrion Lannister in his mannerisms. Ings is an absolute delight to watch as he drinks and dances his way through the show, chewing the scenery at every possible moment. A particular highlight of the show for me was the Tug-of-war scene, in which Lyonel lets go of the rope for a wine break, before stumbling back and carrying on after swigging from a goblet.

Just as entertaining is Shaun Thomas’ performance as Raymun “The Green Apple” Fossoway, who becomes Duncan’s closest friend in the tournament, frequently offering assistance to the knight. Thomas’ blunt delivery of his lines never failed to make me laugh and his situation by the end of the season was the cherry on the cake.

Lord Lyonel Baratheon

Opposing Duncan is the royal family of the Seven Kingdoms, the Targaryens, in particular Aerion “Brightflame” Targaryen (played by Finn Bennett). Bennett brings Aerion’s malice to life as a villain you’ll love to hate, bringing a sense of uneasiness every time he enters a room.

All the Targaryens are fantastically portrayed, shedding light on a period in the franchise where the royal family were losing their grip on the realm as they didn’t have dragons to use as enforcers. Set 100 years before Game of Thrones, the show acts as a great midpoint between the original show and it’s prequel, House of The Dragon, where Targaryen rule was at its pinnacle.

Knights, camera, action!

Of course, a series with knights at the forefront would be incomplete without battles. This is yet another element in which A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms excels. Far from the CGI filled, terribly lit battles in the final season of GoT, the action here feels visceral and gritty. No dragons, no army of the dead, just shields and lances.

The main action set piece of the series occurs in the penultimate Episode 5, delivering a muddy, bloody spectacle and two sets of seven knights battle on the jousting field. The music and cinematography do a great job illustrating Duncan’s anxiety as he faces his first opponents in a fight to the death. One shot in particular, that I applaud the crew for, is a POV shot inside Dunc’s helmet, showing on the narrow slit which he can see out of. It really feels like he is going up against impossible odds, harkening back to the best battles in the early seasons of Game of Thrones, making a simple jousting battle feel like an all-out war.

A new high for the franchise

A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms is a brutal, hilarious, sometimes heart-warming series, bringing down the scale of the world to an aspiring knight rather than focusing on vast wars and power struggles. In grounding the plot, Ira Parker and his crew offer a rewarding slow-burn that the franchise was desperately needing. The two leads of the show have a brilliant dynamic that I cannot wait to see expanded upon in a second season and the action is as brutal as ever. I cannot recommend this show enough if you’re looking for something to scratch that medieval itch.

Written by FREDDIE COLES (BA Journalism student, University of Chester, UK)