Episode 5, The Trial of Seven is about to begin! Flashback to the end of last episode, “Seven”; the brutal Aerion whose lance struck Ser Humfrey Hardyng’s horse killing it and breaking the knight’s legs! Even worse Aerion breaks the finger of puppeteer, Tanselle. Dunk punches Aerion and then kicks him before being restrained. Egg is revealed to be Prince Aegon Targaryen! Prince Baelor has Dunk ask for trial by combat. Aerion then requests Trial by Seven, seven knights for Duncan and seven knights for Prince Aerion. Ser Humfrey joins him as payback to Aerion, Egg has brought Ser Robyn Rhysling, also Ser Lyonel Baratheon! Add to the champions, Ser Humfrey Beesbury, Ser Ser Hardyng and Beesbury are called the Humfreys. Five.
Ser Steffon changes sides to Prince Aerion making them seven and his cousin, Ser Raymun Fossoway asks to be knighted by Ser Lyonel. Six, but the ruling says only seven champions can take the field. Dunk asks the crowd, if there will be someone who will fight with him. A large, bearded man, called the Brute of Bracken, stands up only to fart and laugh with the crowd. He asks if there are any true knights? Silence. Then, gates open. A knight rides up to Ser Duncan the Tall and removes his helmet. It is Prince Baelor! This is when the Game of Thrones theme kicks in to the cheering of the crowd! Maekar says Dunk attacked his son. Baelor says he protected the innocent. He says the gods will decide the trial and rides off.
Aerion can only look at Dunk before riding away. it features part of the vow taken by knights, “In the Name of the Mother.” One of the Seven, the Mother, who charges the knights “to protect the young and innocent.” It is directed by Owen Harris and written by Hiram Martinez, who co-wrote "The Squire", Ti Mikkel, and Ira Parker. Prince Bealor is speaking to the assembled champions in a semi-circle. He tells them not to panic, keep calm and don’t panic! We see Egg hold Ser Duncan’s lance by his side. Ser Lyonel smiles, Ser Raymun vomits, Dunk spits too, and Ser Robyn laughs. Ser Beesbury, finally, asks about the Kingsguard. Prince Baelor says he will take them on and they can’t strike back with their oaths to protect princes. Dunk asks for his lance from squire and slowly trots away on Thunder.
He repeats again what he told Egg that he will hunt him down with dogs if his squire leaves and Egg happily shouts out, “Woof!” Love the twist on the line between them. The Ashford Septon (LJ Bennion) gives the opening words of the ceremony, Ser Dunk places his helmet on, then Prince Aerion. Egg looks on from the audience. The seven lances are raised for Ser Dunk’s champions, Ser Lyonel with his antler helmet, closeup of Ser Dunk’s visor as he breathes heavily watching the other knights. They put on their helmets. The horn sounds. We see just Thunder’s head from the visor, his opponent, Aerion, in the distance and the rest of the list is in fog. The knights charge, epic! Egg shouts, “Up!, up!, go!”, before Thunder charges.
A flash from behind Thunder right into Dunk’s vision, before he is struck with Aerion’s lance, the pieces in Dunk’s stomach! Another horn sounds. Aerion throws away his broken lance and takes out a flail. Dunk struggles to remove the lance pieces from his gut. We see his pov as he rips out the bloody lance pieces, fantastic cinematography! Dunk turns and sees a knight struck down. He throws down his shield and draws his sword. Dunk sees Aerion riding up swinging his flail, he is struck, Thunder neighs, and blackness. We see young Dunk (Bamber Todd) carving away at horse shoes from a white horse fallen over knight with a red beard. Off in the distance is the Red Keep while Dunk is on the beach of Blackwater Bay.
The knight (Ríaín Ó Conchóbaír) gasps and then turns to Dunk who wear a kerchief around his mouth. The knight struggles to say, “Ma”, Dunk apologizes, and then covers his mouth! A girl, also with her kerchief on her mouth, Rafe (Chloe Lea) comes to him and says they can get someone to pay ransom on the knight. Lea played Sister Lila in Dune: Prophecy (2024). They try to push the dead horse, no effect, and then try to drag the knight away as he moans in pain. They would need a lever of some kind to raise teh horse a little to drag out the body. He dies and the girl says if Dunk knows any words to say for the knight’s death. Dunk doesn’t and the girl tells him to check his mouth since a witch will pay her for teeth. Later, they are walking in a forest, and the girl with a helmet says, “I am your queen!” This is an extended flashback and feels like a diversion from the events of the novella. We ran out of Ser Arlan flashbacks so let’s tell a new story. It may be a life flashing before your eyes, but this doesn’t fit with the short flashbacks. Rafe was a character in the third novella, Mystery Knight (2010).
They hide while a knight rides by with a body in a bag. The duo walk again and Dunk says the war is over with the death of the Black Dragon. Again, we get a mention of the Blackfyre Rebellion. He says Ferret will give them free bread. The girl says nothing is over and brings up when Pudding killed Cedric’s brother in Fleabottom. “You hurt someone, they hurt you back.” She walks away and Dunk turns. Then, we hear people screaming in pain, the duo walk the alley filled with the wounded. They are stopped by a man in armor, Alestar (Edward Davis) who wants to know what is in their bag. He is distracted by a stumbling man so Rafe and Dunk slip away. She has stolen the ale from him. They upend the bag of horse shoes and other items to Ferret. This all feels a little too Oliver Twist (1838) with Ferret as Fagin and the orphan kids including Rafe as the Artful Dodger.
I keep expecting Rafe to suddenly sing, “Consider yourself at home/consider yourself one of the family.” He puts down two coins which Rafe snatches away. He throws back leather straps to Dunk. At their own part of Fleabottom, Rafe is happy they can go to the Free Cities, Dunk wonders if they are all like Fleabottom. Also, if his mother will return, though he knows she’s dead. Dunk admits he doesn't want to leave her, they admit they love each other, but Rafe is more interested in leaving Fleabottom. Day, Rafe tries to pay for their fare, but the merchant says the fee is now double. She is angry at Dunk, but then they walk back until confronted by Alestar who wants his ale. They are held by Rafe and his henchman, he searches her and finds the pouch of coins. Rafe steals his knife, but is held and Alestar kills her. Dunk jumps on the back of Alestar and bites him!
He is thrown off, the back of his leg is sliced by the spear of the henchman, and a bearded man, Ser Arlan of Pennytree who says “In the name of the mother”, bursts in. As Dunk watches Rafe die, Ser Arlan takes the head of the henchman, Dunk looks to the fight, and Ser Arlan ends Alestar with a knife to the throat. Ser Arlan sheathes his sword and stubles away. Dunk holds Rafe’s body. He is alone the next morning and just shaking with cold. Then, he hears Ser Arlan’s voice. He follows Ser Arlan, still with the bloody leg, and sees him with Thunder, Chestnut, and Sweetfoot. Dunk sees Arlan sleeping outside and draws his sword. The next morning, Ser Arlan rides out of Kings Landing, Dunk stumbles behind him. Days pass, Ser Arlan practices with his sword, and is drunk at night, Dunk still follows him. One morning, Ser Arlan wakes to find that he was sleeping on his dagger and it stabbed him. He sees Dunk try to walk and then fall.
Dunk sees a vision of Ser Arlan say, “Get up”, and is roused. Egg screams, “Wait!”, pointing to Ser Duncan the Tall. The trumpet lowers. Aerion turns. The hedge knight, bloodied, pulls himself up by his sword like Rocky. The crowd starts chanting, “Up! Up! Up!” Aerion lowers his visor and then reaches for his sword. Muffled sounds as Dunk tries to swing his sword, but he is too exhausted. Dunk throws Aerion down, kneels over the fallen Aerion, and bash him with the pointed edge of his own shield! The visor is up and Dunk punches him again and again like at the puppeteer show. Dunk asks him to yield, still muffled, and Aerion with bloody face whispers, “I yield.” He sees the other knights in combat. Then, drags Aerion by the foot and then pulls him up. Dunk screams several times, “Tell him!” Finally, Aerion says he withdraws his accusation and Dunk throws him down. Lord Ashford nods as the crowd cheers. The trumpet ends the trial. This is not the end with a spoiler ahead. This made me think of Aragorn finishing off the Uruk-hai, Lurtz, at the end of Fellowship of the Ring (2001). Victory sometimes has costs. The fifth episode is a vicious and somber part of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
Four Shields out of Five!
#AKnightOfTheSevenKingdoms, #InTheNameOfTheMother, #OwenHarris, #HiramMartinez, #TiMikkel, #IraParker, #PeterClaffey, #DexterSolAnsell, #BertieCarvel, #DanielIngs
#ShaunThomas, #DannyCollins, #WilliamHouston, #RossAnderson, #FinnBennett, #SamSpruell, #BamberTodd, #ChloeLea, #DannyWebb, #CaraHarris, #PaulHunter, #LJBennion
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