Review: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, "Seven" | Season 1, Episode 4
Although they couldn't recall his face, Dunk needs time from his fellow Knights
Note: If you missed it, HBO is avoiding counter-programming the Super Bowl and has released this week's episodes early on streaming.
With only six half-hour episodes, you might look at A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and presume that it is a fairly straightforward adaptation of the novella it’s based on: a shorter television form matches the shorter literary form.
But as I’ve been listening to the audiobook to catch up with each episode after I watch them, I’ve been struck by how much richer the show feels by comparison. I wouldn’t argue that Ira Parker has outright changed anything, as though he is fixing a problem, but there has been a lived-in quality to everything—the tournament, Dunk and Egg’s relationship, the supporting players—that has added meaningful substance without seeming like the scale of the story is changing.
There’s no question that the scale of the story changes in “Seven,” which sees Dunk trapped in a situation he can’t control. Even with Prince Baelor having a sober-eyed take on the circumstances, the facts are irrelevant in this case. He’s been cast as a robber knight who kidnapped one prince and assaulted another, and his only option is trial by combat. That seems bad enough, but Aerion’s insistence on a Trial of Seven throws him another curveball, and creates an even bigger problem: now, he has to find six other men who will fight beside him. The hedge knight who just wanted to prove himself in a tourney to create a path forward now has to call on the very men who ignored him as he tried to achieve that goal.
