Brief Story Line
Set some 90 years before the events in Game of Thrones, a young squire named Dunk (Peter Claffey - Small Things Like This, Wreck TV series etc) had inherited three horses, sword, armor and shield from his master Ser Arlan (Danny Webb - Churchill, Liar TV series etc) who just past away and knighted him. After considering his options, Dunk (short for Duncan) decided to go to a tournament in Ashford to make a name for himself. During his journey there, Dunk met a young boy at an inn called Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell - The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes etc) who proposed himself to become his squire. Despite his initial disagreement, Dunk decided to accept Egg due to his persistence and ability to reach Ashford without his help.
Before the tournament, Dunk befriended a young squire named Raymun Fossoway (Shaun Thomas - Ladhood TV series etc) and Ser Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings - The Woman in Cabin 10, Why Didn't They Ask Evans? Mini series etc). He also met with the Targaryen family including the Heir to the Iron Thorne, Prince Baelor Targaryen (Bertie Carvel - The Crown TV series, The Tragedy of Macbeth etc), his younger brother Prince Maekar (Sam Spruell - Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, The Last Ship TV series etc) and his son Aerion (Finn Bennett - True Detective: Night Country TV series, Eye for an Eye etc). Unfortunately for Dunk, he was involved in a major incident which resulted him to fight for his life.
So what would happen to Dunk and Egg? You could find out in the first season of this series.
End of Brief Story Line
You know this series only had 6 episodes and to my surprise the duration was quite short with only between 30-42 minutes. I should have been able to finish binge watching in a day had I started it at noon or evening. But since I was finishing another series, I only began quite late at night and had to continue the following day. Anyway the first episode was not exactly something that I admired. In fact I failed to see what made everyone highly praised the series. In the early part of the second episode, I still could not really appreciate it especially with a frontal nudity scene that I thought was totally unnecessary (just like that disguting scene in the opening of first episode). Fortunately though, things became a bit more interesting when the joust tournament was shown.
In the third episode, I began to enjoy better with Egg proving his worth as a squire. But not until the shocking revelations in the final few minutes of that episode which changed my mind (though I did suspect something earlier but did not give it much thought). It made me viewed the series differently and subsequently it felt more exciting. My most favorite episode was the fifth which had everything that I had hoped for in a fantasy series, with lot of intensity, brutal fights and plenty of drama plus a surprising dramatic ending. Once I reached the final episode though, it felt rather anticlimactic, but it did give clear picture of what would be in store in future for Dunk and Egg. Oh, there was a beautiful scene before the end when they were riding horses.
The reason I was really interested with the series was because it was set in the same universe of Game of Thrones. However, it focused on entirely different characters. I actually liked Dunk who was perfectly written as the underdog and his relationship with Egg was nice to watch as well, especially since Egg was such an intelligent boy but with complicated background. The first season was based on The Hedge Knight, which was the first of Tales of Dunk and Egg novella series written by George R. R. Martin. The series itself was created by him together with Ira Parker. Amazingly this was already renewed even before it was released. The next season would be based on second novella titled The Sworn Sword and likely released next year.
The series had a largen ensemble cast. Apart from the two lead cast and some I mentioned above, there were also appearances of Henry Ashton (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder TV series etc) as Prince Daeron the oldest son of Prince Maekar, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Love/Hate TV series etc) as Plummer the stewart for Ashton, Edward Ashley (Masters of the Air TV series etc) as Ser Steffon Fossoway, Tanzyn Crawford (Tiny Beautiful Things TV series etc) as puppeteer named Tanselle and many more. Just like House of the Dragon and its predecessor series, this one also had high production value with amazing set, wonderfully done costume and convincing fight scenes, though there was not so much visual effect (yet). However, there was one aspect that I did not feel great to be followed, i.e. the low brightness during night scenes which made me difficult to watch.
Overall this was indeed a good new series in A Song of Ice and Fire franchise. I could understand the high praise the series gotten from critics. For a smaller scale story set in the same world and the nice underdog angle, it was no surprise that audience also liked this. And although there were some things that I enjoyed in this series, I did feel certain parts not really to my liking (like those unnecessary scenes in the beginning of first and second episode, or the low brightness at night and few others). So if you are interested in this brand new series set in the same universe of the two critically acclaimed series before, then I am sure you would enjoy this one. As for me, it was not exactly my most favorite series but I am hopeful it would be more enjoyable in subsequent seasons.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
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