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It's been 5,567 days since the release of A Dance with Dragons, and I thought the Game of Thrones TV series ended horribly. Nevertheless, I've enjoyed House of the Dragon, and am looking forward to this series as well (also enjoyed those stories).
Here's the Trailer.
It looks a bit more light-hearted than the other series. If I recall correctly, the stories were the same way.
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I watched the premiere episode last night. I thought it was great. The dude playing Dunk may not actually be an inch shy of 7 feet tall, but he's pretty damned big. And he did a great job. And I knew the dude playing Lyonel Baratheon was familiar! He played Freddy in The Gentlemen tv series.
Anyway, it had a good bit of humor in it, which was refreshing and well done. I look forward to the rest of the season.
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Episode 2 brings in the other Targaryens: Baelor, Maekar, and Aerion. I like the way the showrunner's are showcasing just how thick-headed Dunk can be (beyond him coming out and stating it), with him just not realizing Egg's secret. The actor portraying Dunk actually reminds me a lot of Nigel Terry.
It was a bit weird, though, seeing Baelor and his son without the white hair. Makes a bit of sense though. By this time the Targaryen bloodline was probably way more mixed.
Regarding THAT scene with Ser Arlan of Pennytree...
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Great episode last night, although there were parts that deviated from the novella. I especially disliked Ser Duncan having to be told by Egg how the tournament worked. Dunk already knew that kind of information. He was raised on it.
Still, other parts of the episode more than made up for any deviations. Especially that last scene - The Incident. It was done to near perfection. I didn't think they'd get to The Incident so quickly, though.
And the joust between Ser Humphrey Hardyng and the lunatic Aerion was done very well. Although I did think Ser Humphrey looked a little too young. However, I was hoping we'd get to hear some of the aftermath of it, particularly Ser Humphrey being awarded Aerion's horse. I think it contributes to The Incident.
It was mentioned that he was given Aerion's horse. It was in the scene with Dunk and Raymun drinking cider.
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They released episode 4 early (yesterday) to avoid competition with the Super Bowl. Although, to be honest, I'd have watched this instead. Such a great episode. They get pretty much right up to the big battle scene. So next episode should be action packed.
This is such a great series. It really shows how enjoyable something is when the showrunner respects the source material and wants to adapt it as closely as possible. The kid who did this show (because he looks young to me) would be the kind of person I'd want adapting more of my own favorite stuff.
Only problem is now I have to wait more than a week for that next episode.
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I can understand that. If you haven't read many or any of the books in the Westeros setting, there's a lot that's missing. Such as why the Targaryens are even at this tournament.
As for why Aerion is going to fight Dunk - it's the law. Trial by combat is the right of the accused.
As for investment in the characters, personally I'm invested in Ser Duncan. Here's a dude that came from nothing, and is perilously close to going right back to that nothing. All he wants is to be a knight, and this is his chance. It's a hero's journey, and the underdog triumphing over powerful forces. You had it pegged right: Rise of the common man is an underlying theme of the Dunk and Egg stories.
I disagree though that Dunk is just "experiencing the situation". He went to great lengths to make it into the tourney and be acknowledged as a knight. He made a definite judgement call in defending the innocent puppet people from Aerion's childish rage, knowing it could cost him his life. That's what ultimately got Baelor Breakspear on his side though.
Although I do have a problem with Dunk not being as knowledgeable about knightly things as he is in the book. I understand why they did it, but it does make him look less capable.
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Damn! Loved the episode last night, but was also a little annoyed by it.
The good - Trial of Seven was mostly from Ser Duncan's point of view, exactly like the book. It was brutal. I don't think a single person came out of that fight unscathed. And some, of course, didn't come out of it at all.
The bad - While Baelor Breakspear's rallying of the good guys was cool, they skipped out on some dialogue that would have made it even cooler. The flashback to Ser Duncan's youth, while cool, was poorly placed and very disruptive to the flow of the rest of the episode. I think it might have been better off at the very beginning.
That ending, though. I knew it was coming, but it still sucked to see it.
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The final episode was, perhaps, the biggest deviation from the book. Kind of understandable, considering they only had a very small bit of story left over to work with.
Some of it was....meh. Although I like the Laughing Storm, the scene with he and Ser Duncan was unnecessary. I wasn't too keen on the stuff with Ser Raymun and his wife. Finally, though I found the bee coffin in the other Ser Humphrey's funeral was interesting, I didn't think the scene was needed.
That said, the added scene with Maekar and Egg was really good. As were the little bits with Ser Arlan. And that very last scene with Maekar asking where Egg was really made me laugh.
Overall, I thought this was a fantastic series. A pretty simple story covering the basic hero journey, but very faithfully adapted. Ser Duncan was a good person, and extremely likable. Great performances all around. And the chemistry between Ser Duncan and Aegon was really great. It's really going to suck waiting for season 2.
And I'm seeing a lot of positive feedback and review of this, which is unsurprising. You give the fans what they want, a pretty faithful adaption of a traditional hero story, and they will love it.
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Anything is possible. Though I don't see why they'd intentionally screw up a story about a classic hero type that was very well adapted from the written material, and is a big hit with fans.
All they have to do is leave the show runner in place, and hope that Martin doesn't find some reason to have a falling out with him.