A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms 1x03 Full Reaction!
Added 2026-02-02 21:52:54 +0000 UTC
Comments
Kind of General Ripper to take a week off. Nicely done with the WC Fields remark. (Inevitable we both brought up Artax.) Didn’t catch the Joseph Crackstone of it all. Subverts expectations when he’s reasonable here. Fair point on the pacing. Sort of thought Dunk was darning his socks at first, though I like your comments. They did do good work with the song. Not sure if it’s the exact comparison you’re making, but how you say, “a bunch of complicated wordplay songs”, the mind goes to Animaniacs. They were impressed in the school days when I could and still can sing Wakko’s America and the President’s song by heart. I can get most of the first part of Yakko’s World, and sort of go in and out with keeping up with it. Heard bits and pieces about this Blackfyre Rebellion. See if they dive into it more. The theory about Varys, though that didn’t happen, it sounds plausible. Shared feelings on knowing that Jess would hate the joust, though well said about how it shows where the strength of the Targaryen power is. Now I’m stuck with Kevin Spacey as Hopper giving the one villain speech about the ants outnumbering the grasshoppers a hundred to one. The lack of the power of the dragons is further demonstrated by the guy venting to Dunk, who, good nod to Power Play. It is such that Baelor has an uphill battle when he gets to be king. One hopes that it doesn’t go too badly for him when he ascends the throne. Can see the concern that what happens to Tanselle could have been worse, given the reputation of the books. Again, it feels like it’s designed for the book readers, the reveal about Aegon. Or like the big reveal about Omega being an unaltered clone where Tech lampshades how he found it to be obvious, that he felt no need to mention the idea. The fortune teller did seem certain about him being king, even though he is the fourth son. Like his father before him. Considering that season five of Game of Thrones was the weakest season, complete with the one scene that I REFUSE to ever watch again, (and that is no small feat,) I can buy how everyone forgot about the big Egg mention. It stood out, and fans back six years ago were still loud about it. Hence I remembered here. That music accompanying the big reveal, it is miraculous. See the one recent show put the film on the brain, not that anyone ever needs an excuse to quote that movie, especially the Salieri dialogue. Yeah, similar thing, halfway through, it’s out in the open, moving on to have fun with where this all goes.
Thomas Corp
2026-02-03 02:35:41 +0000 UTCNo precious human bodily fluids to start this one, but the same spirit. WC Fields would have had to come up with a new saying if he saw this kid and horse, who display their bond so seemingly effortlessly (certainly more than I ever felt with Artax). And some more neat playing with expectations as Joseph Crackstone walks up looking like he's going to be trouble, only to turn out pretty reasonable once he sees Egg actually does have a bond with Thunder. Bit of an odd pacing that he never shows up again in the episode, but I imagine he's made enough of a mark that everyone knows he'll have some role to play later. It's always the biggest, toughest looking guy who you see sewing on his chevrons while singing "A tisket, a tasket," isn't it? And very well done to whoever came up with Egg's song, which isn't in the books at all and perfectly captures a big memory from my childhood that I'm sure is the same in lots of generations, where there's a bunch of complicated wordplay songs going around and you become the coolest kid in school if you completely memorize one. It's about the Blackfyre Rebellion, something that hasn't really been made clear in either this or Game of Thrones, so briefly, the current King Daeron is called "the Good" mostly in comparison to his father Aegon the Unworthy, who had a ton of bastards and in his will legitimized them all as equal claimants to the throne. This especially became a problem with the one the song mentions, Daemon, who took the last name Blackfyre and went to war with Daeron over it. Last episode we actually saw Egg play at swordfighting a Blackfyre in another clue to his identity. Daemon's descendants tried several more times to take over, and it was actually a popular theory for a while that Varys was one of them and planning to take over himself once Dany had done all the work for him. We all knew you'd take this joust hard, but it also gets across some important context that even if they're quickly subdued, these peasants are quite a bit more willing to attack a Targaryen if provoked enough. You might have noticed we haven't seen any dragons, and this is indeed after they've supposedly become extinct, so the family can't just burn anyone who tries to rise up, and people like Raymun can feel comfortable insulting them as much as they want, even to someone who's just acted totally shocked that a Starfleet captain could do anything bad. Their reputation even seems to have overtaken people like Baelor who from all we've seen is a totally nice guy but will probably have an uphill battle in getting people to like him once he becomes king. And that's also why Aerion is so upset to see a dragon killed even in a puppet show, and it's actually kind of a relief that Tanselle just gets her middle finger broken like in the book because with this franchise's track record I was worried from the start it would go further. Leading to the reveal that a lot of people have complained was too easy to see coming, though I'd remind them this story was originally designed to be read in two or three sittings rather than having two weeks to mull over all the clues. He has the name of the family's forbear the Conquerer despite being the fourth son of the king's fourth son which would seem to make him very unlikely to become king, though that fortune teller seemed pretty certain of it. And there's one more clue that's been under your nose since a certain line that must have seemed pretty odd to newbies back in GOT Season 5, though with everything else going on they likely forgot it by now, as Aemon's death delirium caused him to address his final words to his long-dead brother: "Egg? I dreamed that I grew old." Its being so obvious also makes the big musical finale pretty funny, at first simple, almost comical, until high above it all an oboe, etc. etc. But it's out just halfway through the story, so we can move on to what happens next.
Ryan
2026-02-03 01:49:07 +0000 UTCThey did mention in the second episode that the youngest son's name is Aegon. I think it was during the Baelor/Maekar conversation. Kind of glad they chose not to have Raymun reveal the events of House of the Dragon Seasons 3 and 4 during that rant. It would have made sense if he had, given where we are by Dunk and Egg's time. Reminder to Jess not to rewatch Game of Thrones season 3 episode 4, which through Joffrey spoils both that show and one future element of this one.
Ed Green
2026-02-02 23:27:49 +0000 UTCWell, the shocking imagery wasn’t within the first minute or so this week, so there’s that. Some road apples, but tame compared to what was later in the episode. Nice that you loved the focus on Egg. Or should I call him Aegon Targaryen? Knew that going into this, by the way. Nice words that you had to say about how he’s showing his character, figuring out who he is and what is it he really wants. We are loving the bond between he and Dunk. Shame that the lady who sounds like Latrine brings the mood down with the ominous words that you don’t appreciate. Continues to be a great time with this show. Shame about Maekar being absent this week. Sort of groused, “Maekar’s not in this episode, no Maekar? Aw, goddamn it!” You are such a sweetheart with your reactions to when Squidward, er, Plummer (I keep doing that, sorry.) comes to Dunk with the offer of Androw taking the dive. Since you’ve, far as I know, not seen two films, I’ll refrain from references to the films I thought of with that. Does again bring to mind Iron Will some. You crossed my mind the second you knew the horse was going to have it about as bad as Jack Woltz’s horse and/or Artax, or worse. The scene was awful. The reaction you had was about what I anticipated. You said, “See, the-You know what I’ve been saying, this whole time.” makes me say, “Yeah, I do apologize about that, Jess.” Aerion seems to be quite the cold and ruthless asshole, even by Targaryen standards. I know that Jodie Foster tried to toughen him up when he was under her tutelage, yet even then, he’s taking things too far. But then again, considering what happened there... Suppose this is the logical end result, yes? Still horrible for the horse. And we follow that with more Lyonel. Makes me shake my hand, “...Fucking Baratheons, man.” Rather liked the question of was the lady with the special talent’s name really Alice. I don’t know, maybe. Aegon does raise a point of you probably should list the name of the lady, which yes, is oddly sweet. And the lad’s onto something. You usually have songs without naming people, for example, The Landlord’s Daughter, which is a banger. (Is that the way you say it, “it’s a banger”?) That one guy sure as shit vented like how retail workers vent about the Karens when expressing his disdain for the Targaryens. Essentially, the takeaway is that Rhaenyra and/or Daemon shit the bed so badly with a complete omnishambles of a catastrofuck? Jesus, that is depressing. Leads, I’d imagine, to Team Green fans such as myself, being asked if this makes us happy now that we know this. Answer... Well, it’s... Better. Gets a teeny bit of a smile how you respond with concern with who the guy says it to, because the Targaryens, with very few exceptions, are not known for level heads, as you describe. We matched in reactions to Aerion brutalizing Tanselle, especially the closeup of her finger being broken. Your response to Dunk beating Aerion’s ass being, “I live, but oh fuck.”, reasonable sentiment. All culminating in Aegon getting to have his big Princess Jasmine moment, and boy was it iconic. There was some John Barry sounding music to accompany it; some Lion in Winter vibes, and we both lived and laughed at that. Should be some interesting conversations going forward. For immediate purposes, Dunk is gobsmacked. Understandable as he saw Aegon and saw a boy, a, how do you, squire to be. Never did he imagine that the boy is, for real, a dragon. You speak of the reveal feels like they didn’t go to the greatest lengths to hide it beforehand. That was my assessment as well, in that they sprinkle enough for those who don’t know to piece together, whilst getting those who did know a little bit excited. The foreshadowing was there, most of which you caught as you are that sharp, Jess. I noticed that they were mum on the younger heirs names, see you noticed the same. There was also the dialogue in the parent show from the elder Mister Stevens, er, I mean, uh, Maester Aemon. Sorry. The whole show, I kept having The Remains of the Day on the brain with his character. Imagine it’s funnier for those who were introduced to him in Time Bandits and retain that default image. One sneaky bit of foreshadowing was Aegon asking if it’s normal for dark hair to be growing in his nether regions, as I quip, “That depends. Were you expecting a different shade?” Additionally, his distaste for ale is a tip off. Ale is good. May not be partial to it, but if it has a nice enough flavor, it is excellent. The other guy has home brewed cider. Cider is great. Especially when you have a nice granny smith cider that’s nice and tart; have it in a smaller glass, just sip on it on a late night. Lovely stuff. You offered thanks to us for keeping the lips sealed. I know I was trying to dance around the big reveal without lying; only directly responding to what you had to say if I could. Similarly, you observed the drunk in the first episode, and the penny has dropped. I didn’t know about that; not even sure if I did say anything about that or not. I did think that when you mentioned about speculation of that being something, and again here, the thought was that I didn’t know, but it did seem a reasonable surmise. Kept the option on the table if nothing else. I do appreciate that you were grateful for everyone who respected the no spoilers policy. And sorry about the acrylic. Didn’t even notice the broken acrylic until you drew attention to it, making me say, “What are, oh, shit, so it is.” Reminds me how when a nail chips or breaks, you clip the rest of them down when you get home. Hope the appointment goes well. And thank you for another delightful reaction to this show, Jess, much appreciated.
Thomas Corp
2026-02-02 22:59:50 +0000 UTC
