The series “Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” achieved a near perfect score with one of the best episodes in the history of “Game of Thrones”
Viewers are more than excited after the fourth episode of the series “The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” (The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms), considered the best since the premiere of the series and one of the best for any “Game of Thrones” series, writes Forbes.
The episode called “Seven”, which revolves around Ser Dunkan (“Dunk”) the High's efforts to assemble a team to take on the Targaryens, earned an average rating of 9.7/10 on IMDb, out of over 27,000 ratings. It's the highest rating yet for the series, which debuted streaming on HBO Max on January 19.
Forbes reports that the rating is not only the highest, but that the already acclaimed series seems to be getting better along the way: Episodes 1-3 have averaged ratings of 8.1, 8.3 and 9.1. What's more, the score for “Seven” puts the “Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” episode on the podium for the highest-rated episodes in the entire “Game of Thrones” franchise, tied with several episodes of the original series that made waves on HBO before it ended in 2017.
These are:
- Game of Thrones: The Rains of Castamere, Battle of the Bastards – 9.9/10
- Game of Thrones: The Winds of Winter, Hardhome – 9.8/10
- “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”: “Seven” – 9.7/10
- Game of Thrones: Blackwater, The Lion and the Rose, The Mountain and the Viper, The Laws of God and Men, The Door, The Spoils of War – 9.7/10
“The Red Dragon and the Gold”, the most rated episode of “House of the Dragon”, the series “Game of Thrones” released in 2022, has a score of 9.4/10 on IMDb.
The series “Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” also delighted the film critics
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” even holds the record for the highest approval rating from movie critics of any of the three “Game of Thrones” series: 95 percent. The original series has 88%, dragged down by its controversial ending, while “House of the Dragon” has an approval rating from experts at 87%.
Forbes notes that “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is shaping up to be a formidable weapon in HBO's arsenal, both due to the critical acclaim it's received and the fact that its short run of just 6 episodes allows it to film and air a new season every year
It's a model that HBO is increasingly supporting, especially since the success of its medical drama series “The Pitt,” which just won two Golden Globes: best drama series and best actor in a drama series, for Noah Wyle.
“The big problem is that I've only written three short stories, and I've got a lot more Dunk and Egg stories in my damn head,” writer George RR Martin told THR ahead of the premiere of the new series based on his writings. “I have to put them on paper,” he added, with season 2 of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” already in production at HBO.
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What the new series “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is about
“Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” was co-created by RR Martin, who is involved to a greater or lesser extent in all HBO productions based on his fantasy novels, and Ira Parker, series coordinator of “House of the Dragon” which has the story set 170 years before the events of the original “Game of Thrones” series.
Therefore, the story of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” lies as a timeline between the two, in a relatively peaceful time when the Targaryens still ruled, but the dragons were long gone. As indicated by the official description published by HBO, it revolves around the adventures of a knight errant named Ser Duncan the Tall (played by actor Peter Claffey) and his young bald squire, Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell).
The new series is based on the beloved “Tales of Dunk and Egg” short stories from Martin's wider “A Song of Ice and Fire” universe.
When his mentor, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb)—the knight under whom Dunk grew up as a squire—chills to death en route to a jousting tournament before he has a chance to formally ennoble his humble apprentice, Dunk sees an opportunity to improve his place in life.
As Time magazine has shown since before the premiere, “The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is intended as a lighter story than its predecessors and focuses mainly on the lives of the “common people” of Westeros, rather than the ruling elite.
“It doesn't have dragons or big battles,” RR Martin told THR in the same interview. “It has a field, lots of tents and some horses,” he explained. “At the end of the day, we're 'Game of Thrones' without all that stuff,” Ira Parker also pointed out.
As with the vast majority of HBO productions, a new episode of The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms comes out every week. On HBO Max they appear every Monday and there are only two left until Season 1 ends.
