Dunk and Egg #4
A short review for this one
So, now we’re really in it.
Episode 4 is, once again, all about vibes. The key narrative points at the beginning are as follows:
Aegon has revealed himself as a Targaryen, but he’s still, fundamentally, a good kid.
Aerion Brightflame has called a Trial of Seven - two teams of seven knights will fight to the death - and the winning team will be proven innocent of any crime.
From here, it’s all about atmosphere and feelings. Dunk is lost and confused by Egg’s betrayal - though Egg’s excellent acting reminds us that he’s only a child, and a nice one at that. It’s some excellent stuff, as is the Targ discussion where we see Maekar react to his son’s drastic request - the dynamics are fractured and complex as ever among the Dragons. All the performances in the opening fifteen minutes are gold. I look forward to season three, which, if it follows the novella, will be about 80% conversations like these, interspersed with some exciting spectacles.
Pate proves himself to be an excellent guy, as does Raymun. His cousin, Steffon, is, as we expected, a complete cunt. He briefly seems to be a reasonable guy, but folds immediately to greed when given the opportunity, abandoning Dunk in his hour of need. It is Egg that saves the day - bringing 5 knights to fight for his Ser. Among these is the Laughing Storm, Lyonel. Excitingly, Raymun is knighted, and the vows are spoken over a dramatic few shots. This is cracking, I must say.
We also get a brief insight into Daeron - the drunk Targaryen, Egg’s older brother, who we saw in the pilot. He is cursed with prescient dragon-dreams. In his most recent, he saw a dead dragon in Dunk’s future. Foreboding stuff. This character is well acted, and seemed to have the classic Valyrian lilac eyes. I could be wrong, but it looked that way!
Equally great is the haunting shot of Arlan, hovering in Dunk’s memory, as if to say, what can you do, eh? It’s equal parts amusing and chilling.
Speaking of amusing, there is an ill-advised fart joke. From wider reading, it’s mostly gone down badly with the audience. I don’t really care - it definitely felt pointless, but it works thematically in that people don’t respect Dunk.
This episode has come under some criticism for narrative changes, but I think overall it works fairly well. The reveal of Baelor as the final champion is cracking. The casting choice proves to be ideal. He is reserved but impressive. Grim but regal.
There is rather a lot of music in this episode, non-diegetic, and I’m not sure if it was completely necessary. The Game of Thrones theme is, of course, used to build excitement, and it works, but silence would’ve been just as exciting, I reckon. Tension breeds in silence as well as it does with song. We should know, as horror fans.
Anyway, what will come next will truly be an excellent bit of television, that’s for sure.
Oh, and final note, the shield looks perfect. Just ideal. Fucking awesome armour designs on show here too.
As ever, thanks for reading,
Until next time,
H.E.
P.S. This is my 150th post. So that’s cool!
Congrats on 150! 🍾
Yup, great episode. Amazing for a show that was released with relatively little fanfare to become such an absolute banger
Also, well done on using the word “cunt.”
Too often overlooked in the modern day lexicon to describe a whole host of egregious characters 😁👍🏼