A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Season 1, Episode 2 Review

This reappraisal contains afloat spoilers for this week’s occurrence of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Titled “Hard Salt Beef,” this week’s occurrence begins with Dunk’s quest to find a noble lord who tin vouch for his dormant master, the hilariously well-endowed Ser Arlan of Pennytree, truthful that helium tin enactment successful the Ashford tourney. The problem? No 1 remembers Ser Arlan.

Even aft Dunk succeeds successful uncovering idiosyncratic who does – Prince Baelor "Breakspear" Targaryen (Bertie Carvel), a Targaryen who is really a bully guy?! – it’s not until helium sees the knights of the Great Houses clash astatine the tourney (which has large NASCAR and WWE vibes) that Dunk realizes he’s romanticized Ser Arlan, admitting to his squire Egg: “Do large knights unrecorded successful the hedges and dice by the broadside of a muddy road?”

The thrust of this occurrence is Dunk’s increasing disenchantment with knighthood. The knights he’s encountered truthful acold astatine Ashford person mostly been entitled and abusive jerks, not the chivalrous warriors of legend. At archetypal the imaginable of a subordinate of the Small Folk similar Dunk rising supra his presumption seems possible, particularly aft gathering Ser Donnel of Duskendale; surely, if the lad of a crabber tin go a large knight, past wherefore not Dunk? After Egg reveals that Ser Donnel isn’t immoderate moving people leader but a subordinate of a prosperous and almighty merchant family, it’s the opening of the extremity of Dunk’s tube dream. “What accidental bash I have, truly?”

The knights’ casual dismissal of Ser Arlan isn’t conscionable astir them brushing disconnected the deeds of a hedge knight, but a rejection of the values Dunk believes a knight should basal for. This spread betwixt the perfect and the world of knighthood appears to beryllium putting Dunk connected a collision people with the precise men whose ranks helium seeks to join. In the end, Dunk is truthful upset that nary of the knights (except Baelor) remembered his mentor and begetter fig – helium calls himself Ser Arlan’s “legacy” – that helium vows to usage the Ashford tourney to “show them what his manus has wrought.” If helium can’t articulation ’em, he’ll beat ’em…or truthful helium hopes.

The knights aren’t the lone radical Dunk encounters successful this occurrence who are nasty to him, with everyone from a unchangeable lad to Lady Gwin demeaning him (“You’re large and stupid!”). People person called Dunk dumb his full life, arsenic helium recalls to Egg, but, well, helium is a large dope. That’s portion of Dunk’s charm; he’s elemental yet sweet, and is particularly bully to horses. He has a benignant heart, and credits Ser Arlan with raising him to cognize what’s right.

As helium peels backmost the layers of his seemingly simple-minded hero, Peter Claffey continues to impressment arsenic the lovable doofus Dunk, portion Dexter Sol Ansell arsenic Egg smartly plays his cards adjacent to the vest arsenic a squire who behaves similar helium has thing to hide. Their banter is among the highlights of this episode, peculiarly Egg’s effect to Dunk’s reflection that he’s ever been called stupid. It was besides saccharine to spot however Egg helped Dunk erstwhile helium was struggling to articulate what sigil helium wants the puppeteer Tanselle to overgarment connected his shield.

Speaking of Egg, it’s funny however accelerated helium hightailed it backmost to campy erstwhile helium spotted the Targaryens riding into town, not to notation that helium knows much astir knights and the Great Houses of Westeros than a kid his property astir apt should…