‘A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms’ Season 1 Premiere Recap And Review: ‘The Hedge Knight’

The first episode of HBO’s new Game Of Thrones spinoff, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, put a funny thought in my head early on: What do Hedge Knights use as toilet paper? What do any of these people use?

An intrusive thought, and not my fault. The show’s premiere, “The Hedge Knight,” opens to Ser Duncan the Tall (just “Dunk” at this point) burying his dead master, giving him his proper send-off. He thanks him for not beating him unless he deserved it (and the show cuts away to several scenes of Ser Arlan Pennytree being rather free with his fists) and then the familiar Game Of Thrones theme kicks on – only to be cut short by Dunk voiding his bowels behind a tree.

This sets the tone rather early on. We are not dealing with any dread prophecies in A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms. There is no brutal civil war between dragon-riding branches of the royal House. No dragons at all, in fact. While there’s plenty of humor in Game Of Thrones, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms is taking an even more comedic approach. This is a good thing. One of my biggest complaints about House Of The Dragon is its utter lack of comic relief.

Later, of course, in the novellas by George R.R. Martin upon which this show is based, we dive deeper into the politics of the day. There is violence and the story takes grim enough turns.

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms is set roughly smackdab in the middle of the timelines, roughly a century after the Dance of Dragons that House Of The Dragon is building up to, and about the same stretch before the events of Game Of Thrones.

It is a time of relative peace in Westeros. King Daeron II Targaryen rules over the Seven Kingdoms. The Blackfyre Rebellion, which you’ll come to learn more of over the course of the story, was quashed nearly fifteen years earlier.

The Hedge Knight

Dunk, played by the charming Peter Claffey (who gives strong Samwise Gamgee vibes), leaves his master’s grave and heads to Ashford Meadow in the Reach, the lands ruled over by House Tyrell in Highgarden (later the home of Margaery and Loras Tyrell and their grandmother, the Queen of Thorns). Here, a tourney is to be held and Dunk, rich in horses but not in coin, seeks fame and fortune. This is a story of knight errantry, after all.

At an inn on his way to the tourney, Dunk encounters a young boy with a curiously bald head. This is Egg, played by Dexter Sol Ansell. He wants to accompany Dunk on his adventure, to squire for him as every knight needs a squire. Egg is from King’s Landing, he says, and Dunk assumes he’s another Flea Bottom orphan like himself. Dunk has no need of a squire, he tells the boy, and heads to Ashford Meadow alone.

Here, he is something of a fish out of water. With no master to guide him, he flounders. There are knights and lords, ladies and ladies of the night, all about and he does his best to stay out of their way.

He also stumbles upon a puppet show where a woman recites poetry and dragons breathe gouts of flame. This is Tanselle, a Dornish puppeteer played by Tanzyn Crawford. Dunk is clearly smitten. But Dunk is here to joust and to fight and he must find a way to join the lists.

The master of the tourney, however, tells him he must be vouched for if he intends to enter the games. Dunk was only made a knight on Ser Arlan’s deathbed, and while it’s true that any knight can make a knight (see, for instance, Ser Jaime Lannister knighting Brienne of Tarth) there were no witnesses. Dunk is a hedge knight – penniless drifters with no lands or titles – with a name nobody recognizes. He must find Ser Manfred Dondarrion to vouch for him, since Ser Arlan once served Manfred’s father.

If that name sounds familiar, you’re probably thinking of Ser Beric Dondarrion, leader of the Brotherhood without Banners, and wielder of the flaming sword. Manfred is a far cry from his progeny, however. When Dunk arrives at the lord’s tent, two prostitutes inform him that Manfred is sleeping. He’s still sleeping later. When Dunk finally catches up with him, the knight scoffs at him, saying he has no recollection of Ser Arlan.

The Laughing Storm

Dunk has more luck with Lyonel Baratheon, played with fiery gusto by Daniel Ings. There are some changes here from the books, but I love how the “Laughing Storm” is introduced. He’s larger than life, charming, wild and – like Robert Baratheon – a man of great appetites. Lyonel is also kind and unpretentious. Once he learns that Dunk is only at his feast for supper (rather than to kill him or ask him for something) he welcomes the young knight with open arms. “Do you like dancing?” Lyonel asks. “Doesn’t everybody?” Dunk replies.

The ensuing dance scene is brilliant. After dancing with the various women at the feast, Dunk and Lyonel spin around in a sort of combative dance, the Baratheon lord spinning wildly while trying to stomp the younger man’s foot. But Dunk gets the better of him, a quick glimpse at the big man’s speed. Later, they talk, Dunk wearing Lyonel’s stag crown. Dunk is clearly no longer friendless in Ashford Meadow, and a hedge knight can use all the friends he can get.

When he returns to his camp, a fire is lit and a familiar bald head can be seen. Dunk is annoyed, at first, that the boy followed him. But Egg is determined to earn his keep. He’s washed Dunk’s clothes, groomed the horses, started a crackling fire and even caught some fish, which he’s cooked up for his master-to-be. Reluctantly, Dunk agrees to take him on. It’s a sweet moment. He promises that as his squire, Egg will never go hungry, even if the food they eat isn’t very good. He’ll never go without clothes on his back, even if the clothes will be roughspun wool, and none too comfortable. More importantly, he promises not to beat the boy, and we know he means it. He may hold his former master in awe and reverence, but he is too kind and too gentle to pass along the abuse.

Egg, meanwhile, reveals a keen intellect. He knows just how to gently guide the young knight. By the time he’s finished, Ser Dunk has become Ser Duncan. When Egg asks Ser Duncan of where, Dunk recalls Lyonel Baratheon chiding him for slouching. “The gods gave you tallness, be tall!” the boisterous lord commanded, threatening him with charges of heresy should he deny the divine gift.

Dunk straightens up and says, “Ser Duncan the Tall.”

Later, as they lay under the stars, they see a falling star and Egg tells his new master that a falling star means good luck. All the other knights and lords are asleep inside their tents, he points out. Dunk grumpily tells the boy to stop talking and go to sleep. Then he realizes what Egg is saying. “Does that mean the luck is just for us?” he asks, a look of wonder on his face. Egg, curled up away from the knight, smiles.

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms hews closely to the novellas, and while some significant changes are made, the series keeps the spirit of the books alive and intact. It’s small wonder that George R.R. Martin is so happy with the outcome. My only complaint so far is the fact that the episodes are so short and we get so few of them. Six 30-minute episodes! We’ll be in and then back out of Westeros in the blink of an eye.

This isn’t really a complaint, of course. I’m glad that showrunner Ira Parker isn’t padding out these stories. These are novellas, and there’s only so much content to adapt (though House of the Dragon manages to take a section of one book and stretch it out into several seasons). I simply find this adaptation wonderful and charming and I want to spend as much time with these characters as possible. Hopefully the show will be able to extend beyond the three novellas currently published.

I also love the score from composer Dan Romer. It’s a lovely blend of fantasy and Western, with some whistling that gives it a very “lone rider” feel. Hedge knights are a bit like Old West gunslingers, I suppose.

All told, this is a tremendously fun and charming premiere. It’s cozy fantasy, for lack of a better term. The casting is perfect from top to bottom and the simpler, less epic, less grimdark tone is a breath of fresh air. Not every fantasy needs to have dark lords and grim portents and incestual romances. Sometimes, all you need is a good knight, a trusty steed, an old blade, and a loyal squire at your side.