We've officially reached the halfway point of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and things are never going to be the same for our heroic duo of Dunk (Peter Claffey) and Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell). "The Squire" has all the range you could want from a Game of Thrones episode, with feel good moments, beautifully poetic writing, thrilling action, intriguing worldbuilding, and the first true edge-of-your-seat sequence of the season. When we look back on this first season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, this episode is going to be remembered as one of the best.
FULL SPOILERS ahead for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1 Episode 3, "The Squire."
Egg steps up his training as a squire
Given the title of this episode and the big revelation at the end, it should come as no surprise that we spend quite a lot of time with Egg this episode. It opens with our young squire waking before Ser Duncan and deciding to go do some training with the war horse Thunder, in hopes of being more prepared to actually help the underdog knight succeed in the joust.
The scenes of Egg pretending to bring Duncan his lance and shouting for Thunder to charge are adorable, and Ansell does a wonderful job bringing out the character's playful side. He's a joy to watch as Egg, and it's hard not to smile as he runs to and fro, imagining what it will be like to aid Ser Duncan in the lists.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms uses this scene to introduce us to a new knight: Ser Robyn Rhysling (William Houston). This old veteran comes upon Egg and thinks he's stolen Thunder, but the horse's comfort with the squire and Egg's quick wit convinces him otherwise. Once again the show uses flashbacks for comedic effect as well as to fill in the blanks, as we learn how Ser Robyn lost an eye in grisly fashion. I also really enjoy how the knight says he's never heard of Ser Duncan, echoing Egg from the season premiere — except this time Egg defends his knight.
Ser Robyn is a character who appears later in "The Hedge Knight" novella, and the book never really explains how Egg met him. This is a smart expansion of the book material, and I"m here for it.
Good times at Ashford Meadow
Dunk isn't too happy when Egg returns, since the squire didn't let him know before running off with his war horse. However, Dunk quickly rethinks his sharp words, and ends up deciding to teach Egg how to sew patches and do a few other squire-ly duties before they head into the Ashford tourney town to scare up a better breakfast. The following group of scenes are mostly dedicated to giving us plenty of quality time with our leading duo together. Dunk embarasses himself in front of Tanselle (Tanzyn Crawford), Egg gives him a hard time about, they bond over breakfast...there are a number of fun moments here, and there's very much a feel of it being the last calm before the storm. Egg's vulgar song that secretly tells the history of the Blackfyre Rebellion is a particular highlight.
Things start to turn as Dunk and Egg sit together talking on the hillside, with Egg reflecting on how much he could enjoy staying in a place like Ashford. Dunk doesn't understand what exactly he means, but by the end of the episode we do well enough — Egg isn't just saying this because he likes tourneys, but because of what a departure it is from his stuffy life at court as a Targaryen prince.
Plummer's dishonorable offer
Dunk and Egg's hillside conversation is interrupted by Plummer (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor), and a fun fast cut that uses the master of the games' trademark spitting to flip the scene to him and Dunk walking through the forest. Plummer has an unexpected offer for Dunk: instead of risking losing it all in the jousts, he wants the hedge knight to challenge Lord Ashford's son, who will agree to throw the fight. As a result, Plummer and Lord Ashford himself can bet on Dunk as the unlikely winner, raking in a windfall that will help offset the exorbitant cost of the tourney.
Dunk doesn't give Plummer an answer here, or at all for that matter, because by the end of the episode this choice is plucked from his grasp anyway. But you can tell that the hedge knight is leaning against it, and that the idea of winning a rigged fight goes against his values. Honorable men are hard to find in Westeros, and this is a test that establishes for the viewer that Dunk is made of rare stuff.
Aerion "Brightflame" shows his monstrous side
Horns blow over the tourney ground, interrupting Dunk's conversation with Plummer and drawing him back to reunite with Egg for the next competition. The pair watch as Aerion Targaryen (Finn Bennet) takes to the field, and it's obvious right from the jump that he's out to cause trouble. Aerion's father Prince Maekar (Sam Spruell) is nowhere to be found, since he's off searching for his two missing sons Daeron and Aegon. Aerion utilizes the opportunity to act out, selecting Ser Humfrey Hardyng (Ross Anderson) as his opponent, and then acting with extreme dishonor by stabbing his lance into his the knight's horse.
Humfrey's leg is crushed beneath his mount, which has to be put down as a result of its horrific wound. Dunk and Egg are both horrified, as is the crowd at large. What ensues gives us a fascinating glimpse at how far House Targaryen has fallen since the time of House of the Dragon, as people begin throwing stones at Aerion and trying to rush the field. That's the sort of thing that would never in a million years have been tolerated during the reign of King Viserys. The dragonlords' grip on power is waning, and we're only a few generations away from the rebellion that will ultimately unseat them and place Robert Baratheon on the throne.
Sobering truths and ominous words
Aerion's terrible actions dampen the mood, and put an end to the jousting for the day. As Dunk and Egg leave the tourney grounds, Egg shares his disgust that Aerion would knowingly kill the horse — something Dunk has a hard time accepting. He doesn't yet know that Egg knows Aerion well enough to know for a fact this was intentional. It gives a clear view of Egg's clear-eyed wisdom in regards to the royals, and Dunk's naievety about just how underhanded nobles can be.
The two take refuge at a party where Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings) and Manfred Dondarrion (Daniel Monks) are singing a bawdy tune about a whore with a particular skill at "pleasuring men in their bums," as Egg says. Despite the funny backdrop, Egg's musing about the song actually serves as an entry point to a really deep conversation between our hedge knight and squire, about honor and hope. It's a great example of the sharp, poetic writing of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and how it's making a habit of cropping up in unexpected places.
After the storm passes, Dunk and Egg head back out into the tourney town, and we get a scene that had me gasping out loud at the television, when the two cross paths with a fortune teller. The modd grows suddenly tense as she delivers a chilling prophecy to Egg: "You shall be king, and die in hot fire, and worms will feed upon your ashes. And all who know you shall rejoice in your dying."
Dunk laughs it off, but Egg is visibly shaken. The scene quickly moves on with the arrival of Raymun Fossoway (Shaun Thomas), but that prophecy has far-reaching implications in the lore of Westeros.
The fragility of the dragon
Dunk and Egg split up, with Dunk going back to Raymun's tent to imbibe some of the hard apple cider House Fossoway is renowned for, while Egg takes in another one of Tanselle's puppet shows.
Dunk's time with Raymun drills farther down on the discord that Aerion's jousting antics reveals. Dunk remains in denial that Aerion killed the horse intentional, which provides Raymun an excuse to rant about throwing off the yoke of the dragonlords. Again, it's hard to imagine this sort of blatantly treasonous statement during the era of House of the Dragon, even in privacy. It's a great scene for Thomas as Raymun, and Peter Claffey is the perfect uncomfortable sounding board as Dunk doesn't quite know how to react.
Meanwhile, Tanselle's puppet show draws an awe-struck crowd, as she recounts the exploits of Ser Selwyn of the Mirror Shield and slays the giant dragon puppet. The puppet is magnificent as always; it even makes a sound effect kind of reminiscent to the actual dragons from the franchise when Tanselle stabs it with a sword and red streamers of blood pop out.
Unfortunately, Aerion wandered in during the performance, and he's none too pleased to see the sigil of House Targaryen killed, even if it was in such a seemingly innocuous way. Egg rushes to get Dunk, and they return just in time to see Aerion break Tanselle's finger.
Dunk reacts on instinct, storming into the tent, throwing aside Aerion's guards, punching the sadistic prince and tossing him away from Tanselle. Aerion pulls a knife, and Dunk kicks him squarely in the fact to disarm him before he's subdued by the guards. Just as they're about to curb stomp Dunk and shatter all his teeth in retribution, Egg storms in and we get the grand reveal: he is in fact Aegon Targaryen, Aerion's younger brother and a prince of the Iron Throne.
The fight at the puppet show was a crucial sequence for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms to get right, and it completely nailed it. Dunk rushing to Tanselle's defense and Egg subsequently revealing his true identity is a turning point for the story and one of the most iconic scenes of George R.R. Martin's book "The Hedge Knight." Most of the dialogue from this scene and many of the stage directions are straight out of the book — though I certainly don't remember that brutal near-curb stomping. The team behind the show deserves kudos for pulling it all off so well.
Thus far, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has been a relatively feel-good show that favors comedy and heartwarming moments over the bloody betrayals and beheadings that the Game of Thrones franchise is known for. But the closing minutes of this episode remind us that we're still in Westeros, and it only takes a second for things to turn deadly. With it, the show proved it's capable of putting us on the edge-of-our-seats just as well as its predecessors.
Verdict
"The Squire" is a key episode for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' first season and a point of no return for Dunk and Egg. From its lighter moments, which are all the more important for the turn the story is about to take, to its gripping tension and big twist ending, this was about as perfect an episode of the series as we've gotten thus far.