A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms review

 It’s been a while since I’ve engaged with Westeros. Maybe it was the disappointing ending to Game of Thrones but I’ve skipped the spin off.  This series, set a hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones, however is a lot of fun and when the inevitable action happens it is filmed very inventively so it seems different. More than anything it is more relatable than the lives of Kings and Princes and fronted by two likeable characters.

Rather than regale us with dozens of characters on different continents, the show focuses on two people and whomever they come into contact with. More than ever it underscores George RR Martin’s debt to medieval culture; save for the odd mention of a dragon and some nomenclature, this could be twelfth century England. The opening episode suggests a bawdy comedy complete with everything hanging out (occasionally too much!)  and character banter aplenty. Peter Claffey (who was in the excellent Wreck) is Ser Duncan the Tall, a lowborn hedge knight uncharitably described by one character as “a knight but sadder”.  His name is well earned as he towers over everyone else yet his demeanour is affable, loyal and principled.

After years spent being a squire to the somewhat less affable and always very drunk  Ser Arlan of Pennytree (played by a riotous Danny Webb) the latter’s death frees Duncan to pursue his own ambition to be a fully fledged knight. On his travels he meets a boy calling himself Egg played by Dexter Ansell Sol who becomes his squire even though he’s clearly rather over educated to be a servant and as it soon transpires is of more noble descent. In the tangled mythology of the books, Egg is a character who will ultimately become King, a prophecy he hears in this show much to his disbelief. At the moment though he is a rather cheeky youth with a shaved head who is hiding from his family. His sparky personality works really well with Duncan’s humble outlook while the height difference between the two (Claffin is over six feet tall) makes for an amusing foundation for their lively dialogue.

Unlike other series in this franchise, the show is about the ordinary people; the poor and disadvantaged and shows something of their muddy, uncomfortable lives. Rich with bodily functions, various accents (a Scouser in Westeros!), fruity language and violence this is a world far removed from the thick cloaks, devious plans and large castles we’re used to, except for the violence I suppose. So, a lot of the dialogue is concerned with those more regular lives rather than the power jostling around the Iron Throne. What reference there is to that kind of thing comes as gossipy rumours. With episodes lasting around thirty five minutes each there’s a crispness to the narrative even during the inevitable flashback episode which seems compulsory for any show these says.

Where the series really excels though is in creating what seems like such an authentic looking locale, populated with all sorts of wily characters, only some of whom are trustworthy. Most of the season revolves around a jousting tournament, a singular location that enables the budget to be well spent on an impressive set up for the sort of event we’re familiar with from countless historical and fantasy shows though never quite as immersively as this.

The camera work, direction and sound in this series are all tremendously full blooded especially when it comes to the jousting.  Shot at night with multiple contestants riding at once its one of the best realisations of such events I've ever seen. Drone cameras sweep over the combatants as they charge, we get helmet’s eye views of the impact. Later when the Trial of Seven is staged to save Duncan from execution due to him assaulting Aerion Targaryen (Finn Bennett) in order to protect an innocent girl, its every bit as intense as some of Game of Thrones’ famed fight sequences albeit with a smaller number of participants. Yet it really conveys the sensory and audible challenges of such combat never flinching from the severity of injuries and brutality of the weapons. You can feel every blow and also the incremental effect as the sound starts to cut out and all you can really hear is the pain of injuries or the impact of metal. Equally well conveyed is the flashback episode taking us into the previously mentioned Flea Bottom, clearly the no go area of Westeros with it’s narrow streets and random assaults.

As Ser Duncan, Peter Claffey is very likeable, the openness of the character making a refreshing change from the usual Westeros types, and Dexter Sol Ansell takes full advantage of Egg’s funny lines, avoiding the traditional precious youth with some skill. Together they are magic, bickering like older and younger brothers but crucially when the chips are down they prove to be a good team. Their dialogue and indeed that of the entire show is a well penned mixture of the formal and the casual sounding more like real conversations than a lot of fantasy shows manage. As the main antagonist, Aerion Tygaryen, Finn Bennett plays him as suitably entitled, arrogant, snarling and dismissive of the lower classes. He does rock up though in very cool dragon armour. Other standouts in a great cast are Danny Webb looking like he’s having a lot of fun, Shaun Thomas as Raymun, a cheery squire who helps our heroes and Daniel Ings whose character Ser Lyonel Baratheon seems to be partying much of the time.

After the full blooded combat the series ends in as lowkey fashion as it had begun and includes a possible name change for season two! I’d definitely say this is a show which people who’ve never watched any previous Game of Thrones iteration will enjoy because it is a simple story well told, packed with character and some stunningly realised action, bawdy humour and a sparky if unlikely friendship.