When we think of Game Of Thrones we typically think of a show that is super serious but also has some lighthearted moments in it. Well the franchise has just launched it's latest prequel and unlike House Of The Dragon which was more serious then what Game Of Thrones was this show seems to be going the opposite route by being more of a lighthearted show and well you all just knew that I had t check the first episode of this show the very first chance that I got and so then join me as I give you my SPOILER FREE first impressions of the show that takes place both ninety years AFTER House Of The Dragon and ninety years BEFORE Game Of Thrones with the show in question being called simply just "A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is a squire by the name of Dunk goes to enter a tournament after his mentor is killed but has to get the blessings from a lord in order to do so. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good with this episode plot doing a good job of setting up the main plot for this season of the show that being the tournament that Dunk is trying to enter and what his relationship with Egg might be like as well but on the flip of side of that when compared to the other debuting episodes from this franchise this one is easily the weakest of the three as not alot really happens plot wise with it feelin like the makers of the episode only had enough plot for twenty two minuets worth of television but then were ordered by HBO into making this episode well over forty minuets which does mean that we get stuck with a plot that gets stretched really thin when it would have helped the episode out alot more if the episode was shorter as there's nothing in this episodes plot that demands it be this long but in saying this tho having it be this long does make this episode feel special as the plot does have alot of setting up to o and to be fair the episodes plot really is quite strong on it's own it's just not really as strong as the debut episode episodes plots for both House Of The Dragon and Game Of Thrones respectively with the plot of this episode being really rather entertaining and as well as bein g really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan The Tall , Dexter Sol Ansell as Egg and Daniel Ings as Ser Lyonel Baratheon. Also starring in this episode is Shaun Thomas as Raymun Fossoway , Tanzyn Crawford as Tanselle , Danny Webb as Ser Arlan Of Pennytree , Henry Ashton as Prince Daeron Targaryen , Daniel Monks as Ser Manfred Dondarrion , Bamber Todd as Young Dunk , Jenna Boyd as The Innkeeper , Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Plummer , Abigail O'Regan as Daisy , Carla Harrison-Hodge as Beony , Rowan Robinson as Red , Edward Ashley as Ser Steffon Fossoway , Steven Calvert as A Stormland knight , Danny Collins as Ser Humfrey Beesbury , Ross Anderson as Ser Humfrey Hardyng and Ellie McHale-Roe as Lia The Lovely.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With this episodes acting being shockingly good as you don't usually expect acting in the first episode of a new show to be this good and that's exactly what we get in this episode as it is made clear that the characters of Dunk and Egg were cast perfectly and as both Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell just embody the characters so perfectly and are a good fit as these characters with the pair of them even having some really solid chemistry which was the most important thing for this show to get right as this show lives or dies on there friendship being real to us the audience with the best actor in this episode being Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan The Tall as he knows just when this character would act goofy and when he act seriously and be this menacing threat of a man who is kind hearted and is just willing to do what he thinks his right and that is something that does come through in Peter's performance as the character with his performance being one of the few highlights of the episode as it's something that proves that the makers of this show knew to the casting of both Dunk and Egg down perfectly and that really is something that they pulled of wonderfully with the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Character wise it might be a bit to early to fully judge this shows characters but as for right now we do have some fairly decent characters. As right now there's nothing all that special about any of this shows characters but given that this is the first episode of the show that is something that's to be expected as not all shows have good characters right away heck again just look at Game Of Thrones as proof of that as it took a good few episodes for there characters to really get going and so it does make sense that alot of this episodes characters wouldn't be the best characters out there right away with there being alot of potential for this shows characters to be some of the franchises best characters as Dunk is easily someone who could be a funny character and could be one that alot of people relate to further on down the line and a character like Plummer is one that alot of people could really hate by the end of this first season as his character does come across as being slimy and like he's up to no good with this being something where this franchise thrives as the characters that you think are going to be good guys end up being villains and the ones that you think are going to be villains end up being good guys of course there are expectations to this rule and we know that a character like Egg will go on to become a good guy so it will be interesting seeing hm grow into the person that he is when Game Of Thrones starts and see what it is that drove him to The Wall in the first place whereas with Dunk it will be interesting to see why he's not in Game Of Thrones and how a character like him could be taken down and given just how slow George R.R. Martin likes to write his stories we could find out in this show what happens to Dunk before it happens in the books.
Much like how House Of The Dragon was adapted from the book Fire And Blood this show is adapted from the Tales Of Dunk And Egg series. Which is a series of short stories that are set in the world of Westeros with the first story which was called "The Hedge Knight" being published in "Legends" it's sequel story was published in the sequel to legends "Legends II" with the third and so far mist recent story being published in 2010 in the book "Warriors" yet due to the fact that George hasn't finished "The Winds Of Winter" yet he has said that there will be no more entries in this series until that book is finished which does mean that we're not likely to see the next chapter of there story in book form for a long time but we are likely to see it happen in the TV show as jus after quickly glancing the Wikipedia page for the whole series this first season does seem to be sticking fairly true to that first book something which was kind of the case for House Of The Dragon as well altho given the historical nature of the book that that show is based off of they do have a little bit more wiggle room for changes to be made to the story something which can't be true here as the stories do seem to be greatly detailed and are told in the more traditional sense and given when this show is taking place it would be interesting to see these iconic landmarks from both shows appear in this one just so we the audience could see what changes happens to those landmarks inbetween all three shows as that is something that would be quite interesting to see even if it's just very briefly but at the same time that is something that could be seen as being to distracting as it could be seen as reminding us the audience that we could be watching two more better and more established shows.
Believe it or not this episode actually sees a return of sorts as while House Of The Dragon was mostly filmed in England and in Spain. This show was actually filmed in Belfast Northern Island much like Game Of Thrones was for many years with alot of the people who worked on that show returning to work on this one and well whilst you really can't tell the difference all that much it was nice to see this show return to the home if you will of Game Of Thrones as much like how it would feel weird seeing The Lord Of The Rings filmed in anywhere but New Zealand as that place just simply is the home of Middle Earth Belfast Northern Island just simply is Westeros and it does feel weird seeing a show that's based in that world filmed in anywhere but that country as there's jus so much beauty to be found in the Irish countryside that you just can't replicate inside of a studio and heck the makers of this show even built the entire village of Ashford for real as they knew that the whole first season of the show was going to be spent in that one location which does mean that everything that we see in that town from the tents to the castle all worked the exact way that they work in the show and that was just an insane amount of dedication to something that really didn't require that much dedication in the first place and it was the same amount of dedication that we got in both House Of The Dragon and in Game Of Thrones as well as it's that level of commitment to making this world feel real and lived that helps to make the shows even better as it makes those sets all the more impressive to look at in the first place and it's something that really should carry over into future seasons of both this show and House Of The Dragon as well.
Whilst this show is alot more lighthearted then the other shows in this franchise that doesn't mean that it's devoid of drama as it's really it. Rather the episode doesn't really give it's drama alot of focus which is something that does make alot of sense as this first season of the show is meant to be following the first book really closely heck both the first episode of this show and the first book share the same title with the books being alot more lighthearted then the Game Of Thrones books were with the amount of drama that this first episode does have being very minimal at best with it only serving to give us more information about the characters and even then alot of it is more played for laughs which is something that does keep to the show from being to drama focused but given that this is a drama show it would have been nice if the episode did allow more time for the more dramatic moments of the episode to have the time to breathe that they really did need instead of cracking a joke alot of the time as this franchise is known for having some fantastic drama when it really wants to and that is something that could have been in this episode and while there is a chance that the show might get more dramatic as the season goes on you only get one chance to start to build up that drama and that's something that this episode doesn't take full advantage of doing as it's more focused in trying to tell a joke when it could have done that and still give us some good drama but to be fair to this show it has so much to set up in this first episode that of course certain things are going to fall by the way side and just be forgotten about which was the case with this episodes drama.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly forty one minuets and fifty two seconds. Which for this show is actually double the length of what the average episode might be as the average episode of the show is going to be around thirty minuets which is fine for a comedy and the type of story that there telling in this first season and for a show in the Game Of Thrones franchise it's alot more on the shorter side of things with this episode having the right amount of plot there to cover that long amount of running time however it does feel like that the episode is being stretched from what was clearly a twenty two minuet plot to fit in with a much longer running and while the episode doesn't really use it's running time all that wisely by developing it's plot this is something that does make sense as this is one the first episode of the show and therefor of course the plot of the show won't be that well developed but it still would have been nice if the plot of the episode was a bit more developed as we don't even get to find out why Dunk is entering the tournament in the first place which is something that would have developed the plot of the episode and given the show some much needed the drama with the episode understandably not really developing it's characters either which again is understandable as this is just the first episode of the show and therefor you could argue that the characters are going to be getting to there character development in further episodes but this episode really did need to start them of in a way where that development would feel natural and while you can see how characters like Dunk and Egg could get there character development that's just not something that you can see happening to the episodes other characters but I really will admit that this episode episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With the episode having alot of really good jokes in it all of which do feel rather refreshing for this franchise but at the same time tho it still would have been nice if this episode had alot more better jokes in it as this is the first time that the mainstream audience are something these characters and therefor you do want to start this show of with your best foot forward and part of that does include putting your best jokes in the episode with the best joke in the whole entire episode not really being one that can be described not because it's spoiler but because it's hard to do so with out possibly getting the post removed but let's just say that the joke is the perhaps the best bodily joke that you could come up with purely for the fact that it has the Game Of Thrones music play over it with the episode having alot more cuter jokes in it all of which don't really undercut the tension of any scene that there in but in saying that they don't also really add to any scene that there in as there just there because of the fact that the makers of this put more focus on being funny then being dramatic which is something that does make sense as the books really were more lighthearted but at the same time Game Of Thrones found the balance between being funny and being dramatic and yet this episode really just couldn't do it despite it having alot of really funny jokes in it in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall whilst it might be hard to say on if this show is going to be better then House Of The Dragon as that show was so good that did restore alot of faith in Game Of Thrones as a whole what can be said is that this episode isn't of to the best of starts with the show having alot of room to grow in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this episode in this very post and as this is only my first impressions of the show there won't be a rating but if i'm still watching the show when the final episode airs then I will do a review of the show as a whole.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
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