I will likely be forever pissed off at Martin for not completing the Game of Thrones book series. In fairness, I believe there have been a lot of issues between him and whatever publisher/people/company that he deals with, and I don’t know the full story, but suffice it to say, I, along with many thousands of fans I’m guessing, am saddened by the fact that it likely won’t ever get finished. I have refused to watch the Game of Thrones TV series because of this stubbornness, which is pretty stupid because it actually got finished after eight seasons. Anyways, it doesn’t matter. With A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, set almost 100 years before the Game of Thrones, I felt I would be able to enjoy the series without really caring too much about what happens in the future. And enjoy it I very much did.

Right at the very start I was sucked in to the story and lore: A random hedge knight looking to make a name for himself after his master has died by entering a jousting contest. While I had expected for the series to be very dark, there were some lighthearted and comedic relief in the first couple of episodes that really brought everything together. The chemistry between Ser Duncan and Egg was just brilliant as well.

In the Game of Thrones universe, it’s expected to have high court politics involved, and while this series does have some of that, it’s mainly focused on Ser Duncan. I think we have to give it up for the casting crew for selecting Finn Bennett to play Aerion Targaryen. I mean, can they find another mean-mugging-looking asshole douchebag to play the role any better? The makeup crew likely helped a lot as well. I was just a bit upset he didn’t get more screen time. I really hope he gets more time to shine in the next season.

The first three episodes were fairly lighthearted, but in episode four, the darkness was building. And then came episode five, and all hell just broke loose. The gritty, violent, and hardcore fighting of those times was put on front display. I think the only weird thing I noticed was how much damage Ser Duncan was able to take. I mean, bro literally got stabbed in the stomach with a wooden lance at full speed, got his face smashed in, sliced and diced with a sword, got stabbed by said sword, and even had his eye almost poked out, and he was still able to continue to fight. The last episode was kind of weak to close out the first season, to be honest. At least it didn’t leave on a cliffhanger, though. At just six episodes, they were all, however, finely produced. I can’t wait for season two.