""Oak and iron guard me well / Or else I'm dead and doomed to hell"- Old Westerosi 'Shield Rhyme' George R.R. Martin is a devilish storyteller who seems to find sick joy in setting his audience up for one outcome and then throwing in a crazy complication no one could've considered. Game of Thrones fans will never forget the shock of the Red Wedding or the Purple Wedding - any wedding, really. Me, I often think of the battle between Oberyn and the Mountain, in which the overmatched Dornishman had miraculously all but defeated the hulking brute ... before hesitating just long enough to get his skull crushed."
"For example, the early A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms episodes had the rough shape of an underdog sports melodrama - or maybe a "slobs against the snobs" comedy. This unknown rube who calls himself Ser Duncan the Tall, who may not even be a knight, enters the Ashford Meadow jousting tournament with his undersize squire, gambling his entire knightly future on beating all the much-better-equipped lords and princes. We know how this goes, right? Somehow, this ragtag duo of Dunk and Egg - no skills, all heart - will pull it together and show these snooty aristocrats a thing or two. Right?"
The episode premiered early and is streaming on HBO Max. George R.R. Martin’s plots are unpredictable, often setting up expected outcomes then inserting shocking complications. Early episodes suggested an underdog jousting melodrama centered on Ser Duncan the Tall and his undersized squire, Dunk and Egg, facing aristocratic competitors. The expected feel-good arc is upended when Dunk is arrested, turning his tournament hopes into a fight for survival. "Seven" adopts a darker tone with reckonings and raised stakes, forcing characters to confront consequences before the series can move forward.
Read at Vulture
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