A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS S1E3 THE SQUIRE 🤮

I think I’m an outlier here, but I do not like A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS. I was at the gym last week when someone mentioned how much they were recommending it. And it’s someone I usually agree with. But not here. A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS is like a meeting that could have been an email. Nothing happens, and the only interesting character is barely in it. 

A LOT of websites post promotional spoilers before the episode even starts, doubly so when a show is based on books or a previously existing IP.  When I was researching this series for my E1 review, a big thing was ruined for me because the audience learns in E3. The “spoiler” was listed so casually that I didn’t even realize it was a spoiler. But now that I’m 3 episodes deep, I’ve learned it’s actually quite a big twist to the story. But I can still say with 100% confidence that had I known this secret about A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS, it would not have changed my opinion toward this episode. 

Long before A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS, I was a massive fan of GAME OF THRONES. It was one of the last of the “water cooler” shows; i.e., great TV shows that ended before Covid, aired episodically, and were dissected by viewers. When the final season was in its home stretch, I was out of the country on a birthday trip to Mexico with a group of friends. Instead of enjoying a nice dinner or time at the pool or on the beach, that Sunday evening, we were gathered around a hotel room TV, hooking up a laptop and using someone’s VPN so that we didn’t miss it! NBC may have coined the term “must-see TV,” but HBO perfected it. While I do not feel that strongly about HOUSE OF THE DRAGON,  it does have compelling characters that keep me coming back to watch every episode. Unlike GAME OF THRONES or HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS lacks a central emotional hook.

In almost every movie or TV show I watch, I need at least one character I can root for. This does not need to be the lead. For example, I never rooted for Don Draper on MAD MEN. I suppose I’m supposed to be rooting for Ser Duncan the Tall, the central character of A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS, or his young squire Egg, but Duncan is too boring, and Egg is just sort of there. Egg’s young age limits what a character can do on this HBO series. I don’t want anything bad to happen to this child, but I’m not sure why I’m supposed to care about him beyond that. 

A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS has a character problem. I hoped this prequel series would become a sweet adventure story about two unlikely heroes living in a more innocent corner of the realm. But it’s as bloody as GAME OF THRONES, and 3 weeks in, we’re still in the same place we were in the pilot. 

There’s been no adventuring, just some bumbling about.

Verdict: “THE SQUIRE” does little to move A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS forward, even with that twist that was spoiled for me. 

A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS airs weekly on Sunday nights on HBO, with Episode 4 streaming early on HBOMax due to Super Bowl scheduling.