House of R - ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Episode 1 Reactions | Talk the Thrones

Episode Date: January 19, 2026

Talk the Thrones is back! There’s a new knight in Westeros and Chris Ryan, Mallory Rubin, and Joanna Robinson return to break everything down! They talk about their favorite moments and characters so far, where we are in the timeline, and how it all compares to the novella. (00:00) Intro (00:59) Initial Reactions (2:19) CR’s Recap (8:09) Favorite Moment of the Episode (12:58) Book Thoughts (24:05) Where Is This Show in the Timeline? (36:24) Egg’s Performance (38:38) Lyonel Baratheon (43:51) Thoughts on the Whores (48:38) Outro Hosts: Chris Ryan, Mallory Rubin, and Joanna Robinson Producers: Aleya Zenieris and Carlos Chiriboga Social: Jomi Adeniran Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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which includes gas, bloating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. Hello, and welcome to Talk the Thrones. I'm Chris Ryan. I am an editor at the ringer.com. And joining me in the studio is Joanna Robinson. Oh, hi. And sitting in the Ashford chair, it's Mallory Rubin. We are here to break down the first episode of a Night of the Seven Kingdoms

coming at you just after this. Guys, we're back. We're back, baby. We're back and we have such a bite-sized, you know, digestible television show this time. Six episodes, about 40 minutes each. I get it. I have no questions. You're not needed.

I can just break this down. Can we go? Great. It sounds like we can go get a coffee. I'm so excited to talk about this show with you. This might be my favorite piece of Game of Thrones content since season three, season four, Thrones. Maybe whatever. Mid-peak Thrones, I feel like this is giving me the same vibes.

Joanna, great to see you. I assume a huge fan of the show, but pleased with the first episode? I was so scared that this wouldn't be phenomenal. Were you really? I was because the books are phenomenal and I was just like they have to do it right. And I think they really, really did it. I'm so excited. We are going to talk about the books, which I have not read. Shocked. So you might have a question or two for us. Oh. Ma'am. Mal, everything you hoped for? And more. Honestly. I think they have nailed the tone, the sensibility. Like that specific essence, not only of these novellas that we adore and maybe can compel you to read over the next six weeks, we'll see. But also have given us that feeling of like being back. in a world that we love and being glad to be back in a world that we love. And I, for one, I'm grateful and grateful to be here with you both. I've dreamed of you.

Are you going to follow that up with getaway, stay away for me? I'm going to slump over in a pool of wine and then march off some steps in a very notable fashion. Just leave a little bit of change for me. I'm going to do a quick recap of this episode, but obviously you two are free to interject wherever you want. Okay. So, episode one, the hedge night. We meet Sir Dunk, soon to be known as Sir Duncan the Tall, as he buries his old.

as he buries his old boss, Sir Arlen, and contemplates his own future as a newly minted night of the realm. Do you want live fact-checking on how you have spelled character names or should we just hit you up on the side after the potter? Do you remember before we started?

Like Arlenz's backer, former senator of Pennsylvania? I said we had two names and we will interject with compliments and I was like, no, I don't think that's what's going to happen. Mostly about charming and whittie you are, you know? I think Mallory is dying to correct you on thing. It's all an education. The problem with the show is that you can't really Google a tongue

because it'll just be like, and then he dies. Don't Google anything. Do not Google a thing. Stay out of the wikis. Stay off the internet. That would be a cool bit for the second half of my life. Yeah. Do you need the internet for any other part of your job?

This is like a thing I'm hearing around LA as I've been here the last couple days. People are bricking their phones. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

For certain apps. Too much time on Instagram? Certain apps, if you know what I mean. As he takes stock of his possessions, a sword. and a few horses, and his prospects, life in Kings Landing as a member of CityWatch, etc., he decides to enter a tournament in Ashford Meadow where he might make a name for himself,

make some bank in the process. Oh, while all this is happening, he takes an enormous deuce. I mentioned this. We're going to come back to that because I'm not a big bathroom guy in terms of just talking about it extensively. But I think it's an important moment in this show. I agree.

Tone-Chiron be Chris Ryan, big bathroom guy. Not a big bathroom guy. Don't spare me your stories about famous bathroom trips. On the way to Ashford Dunk Stops at a small village in Slash Tavern that's doing some wonderful stuff with rustic small plate family-style cooking. He spots a little bald homie and has him stable his horses. While he's waiting for his multiple entrees inside the inn, a drunk dude tells him, tells Dunk that he has dreamed of him,

which is always a fun thing to hear at a restaurant. Would you have gone for the land? Would you have gone for the duck? Would you have gone for both? Both heavy, heavy proteins. Heavy meats. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm not a huge duck guy. Okay. No? No. Too greasy. Too tough. I mean, like, it's always looks great. Yeah.

But I take two bites and I'm like, I wish I could share this. I wish I didn't have a full weight of this. That's why I think to save money, you just get the duck. Interesting. Because it'll fill you up and then you have some for the road. We can discuss this. Okay. Duck, duck, duck,

over-served gentleman, blonde hair. When Dunk returns to the stable, the little ball boy asks to squire for him, but Dunk refuses. He rides to Ashford where it's infrastructure week, and the whole town is out for the tournament. He has to sign in first, and that's where a tournament official tells him

he needs some other knights sign-off, validation on his authenticity if he wants to compete in this jousting and fighting and, etc., tournament. Can I ask you as a as a as a as a podcaster, how did you feel about plumbers relationship to phlegm? And is this something that you've considered as a tactic as you podcast for hours at a time? Like you just. Is there liquid in the goblet or should it be empty for your lugies?

Of flimps, yeah. You know, it's good that you ask this. Yeah. I grew up in a, a free spitting community in Philadelphia. Okay. Like among the leaguers where it was like considered cool to spit. Right. So you're like, why even have a cup, a goblet?

That's what the city is for. How much of the lubrication on the lamp post, everyone is climbing, just come from people spit in the city of Philadelphia. It was just a big thing. It was like we would watch baseball and then we would go and do- All-Metro. Are you about to tell a story about being an all-metro catcher? It's city champs traveling baseball. I'm so sorry.

Yeah. I still have the jacket. I bet. Maybe I'll wear it for the finale. I think Plummer needs some of Fennessee's soothing mint tea concoction. Yeah. I mean, obviously, like there are some homeopathic remedies. He obviously looks at it as like a personality quirk and not as something to be solved.

I think you know that the remedies are just like maggots and leeches at that point in the realm. Save it for the pit. Yeah. So Dunk goes out to seek Sir Manfred Dundarian, but he's been napping and he also has gout. So they don't connect. He watches another night, Sir Stephan beat the shit out of his squire cousin. Sir Steph tries to get Dunk to spar with him. But Duncan takes a rain check.

Dunk sets up camp outside of the tournament grounds, does some laundry. makes another unsuccessful run at Sir Manfred, and then finds himself at a puppet show where he becomes smitten with the main performer. Dunk then bumps into the aforementioned cousin who got his ass beat, Raymond Fasaway, right? Oh, yeah. And he accompanies him to dinner

in Lionel Barathean's tent. This is just rock and stuff in here. Lionel and Dunst becomes something like friends, though, when it comes to Dunk's tournament process, but when it comes to Dunk's tournament prospects, Linal gives him the opposite of Billy Bob Thornton's Friday Night Lights half-time speech, which I did appreciate his candor though. Absolutely.

And that's played, he's played by Daniel Ings. Yeah. I was going to say Danny Ings. He's a soccer player. Of love sick fame. Love sick of the gentleman. On his way back to camp, Dunk finally meets Manfred, who seems like an asshole and denies knowing Sir Arlen when he gets back to camp, Dunk finds his little homie egg,

who is doing a nice Branzino on the fire to become partners, night and squire, and before they fall asleep, they see a falling star. Perhaps the only two witnesses to do occurrence, maybe they will have some luck after all. So here we get to the end. Christopher Ryan.

Beautically done job. Thanks. I miss these so much. Genuinely missed this. There's a little moments in there that I missed. We can get to those. But Joe, let's start with you. Yeah, yeah.

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Legacy is a beautiful thing, but only if it survives. Dunton Ranch starring Colehauser Kelly Riley, Annette Benning and Ed Harris now streaming on Paramount Plus. Mallory probably already knows this answer. There's a dance scene in this episode, and I just thought it was phenomenal. I thought the dancing was incredible. I thought everything to do with Lionel Barathean's party in his tent and using antlers and all of his decorating and all of that sort of stuff was incredible. And then the falling star moment that you mentioned at the end. But I think you just asked for my favorite moment and I'm cheating already and smuggling a bunch of things in here.

What's how we do it here? I think like big picture for book fans, almost every single line of dialogue, Mallory saw this. I went through with a highlighter in my book. Almost every single line of dialogue that's in the book is in the show. Ira Parker, it's nice work if you can get it. It turns out you just take a photo of it with your phone and be like, here you go. Unlike, except for the Lionel Barathean stuff, which is completely added and is incredible. Like, all of that stuff is expanded.

And so I was both really excited to see how faithful it was. And then what his team can do when they want to expand into a character. So, Lionel, like, the dancing stuff's not in there or even just the conversation? The whole pavilion party. All of it. Burning people. Like, we wouldn't have met Lionel Baratheon in this episode if we were going by the book. Now, what about you?

What was your favorite? moment of the episode. So I figure Joe would go with Lionel. I think it's hard to dispute that that's the scene and sequence of the episode for the reasons Joe mentioned. And I agree that the faithful nature of the adaptation is really heartening and cool and gives me like a lot of faith for the series overall. But the additions felt so like energized.

I am torn between two picks here. One would be the falling star, which like made me tear up, just seeing Dunkin' Egg together, our Hedge Knight and his diminutive squire egg. I think you mean, we're in the world. Little homie, I believe is the preferred nomenclature. And I think specifically the choice, because I've always loved the falling star, the luck moment in the book. But the subtle little shift to take an inner monologue moment for Dunk in the book and give that to Egg. Because as Squire, Egg will be learning a lot from his night.

However, Dunk has a lot to learn from Egg too. and egg not only being a little like impudent smart ass, but sharing some wisdom, I think is great. And then the tie has to be. And I know this will paint a lay out of here. The brief beat of the classic Thrones theme

into Sir Duncan the tall, like hippo spraying shit out of his ass. I remember once being at the zoo and a hippo, it's just like they really can project. Didn't Chris say no anecdotes? It's fine. Not since Yellowjacket season one. Have we spent so much

time watching someone take a ship by a tree. It was such a clever little way to say, okay, yeah, like this isn't the thing. We are a part of this world and this legacy that you love, but it isn't the exact thing that you've gotten before and we want you to know that right away, which I just thought was like brilliant. Despite my aforementioned lack of interest in people telling me stories about like a particularly bad experience that they've had in the bathroom. Yeah. That was also my favorite moment in the episode. I mean, it's really good. And here's the thing. You want to know why? Because it's a show ruiner if it doesn't work. If they, there's, if you're going to invoke the Game of Thrones theme song.

Yeah. I got to say, square that I am when they started playing it, I was like, oh shit. Yeah. Game of Thrones music's playing. But the rest of the, the Dan Romer score was so good. It's giving me Bear McCreary, like, Rings of Power with a sprinkle of Battlestar bagpipe and some outlander in a great, like, high fantasy way. I thought it was, like, more, like, Disney animated Robin Hood. You know what I mean?

Absolutely. It was just like, incredible. we're going to the original text. I just thought tonally what it did was provided a thesis statement for the show. So it's just like, this is the height of, you know,

knightly values and we're going to get deep into the throne stuff, but we're not taking ourselves so seriously that we can't make fun of some of this stuff. I think Game of Thrones, the original series, probably offset. They,

they, like, subverted expectations with character deaths or with characters having sex, with each other that perhaps shouldn't have or things that we're related. Yeah. Perhaps. Well, they were endgame. Spoiler. They, like, they basically, like, offset, like, your expectations.

They, like, subvert your expectations that way. This one, it seems like maybe there's going to be more offsetting subversion by tone. Yeah, yeah. And I love that. I was thinking a lot about Peter clapping in that moment because, you know, Ira Parker, the showrunner has talked about how Peter is so perfect for this role because, like Dunk, he felt so anxious. and insecure to take on

such a massive role inside of this property. So I was just thinking of him filming that scene being like, am I really about to take this kind of... Yeah, is this it for me taking this shit

on my first episode of this Game of Thrones show? So you talked a little bit about the books, Joe. And we're like, this is a different kind of Game of Thrones series to recap and to talk about,

I think, because we're maybe not going to have as many data points, perhaps not is many mysteries to solve or to tease out. There are some, but we'll get to that. But this is a little bit more of an appreciation for the depth and the kind of tapestry that gets woven, I think, rather than like, oh, God, we have to decipher a dream that's been had or something like that, at least in this first episode. So tell me a little bit about these books. What are they?

Right. And why did George write them? And what's, I want to hear from both of you, what your relationship is to them. So three novellas currently exist. This season's going to be based on the Hedge Knight, the first one, which was written in 1998. I was in high school when this book was written. It came out before the second Asonged Vice and Fire book, the first novella. And, you know, this is, George R. Martin just wanted to play in this playground that he has created for himself. And it's clear when you read these novellas, which are incredible. Short reads, really, really fun, light and tone, like great stuff.

That he hadn't figured everything out yet. So there's, like, a few inconsistencies here and they. But I think the point why those books are so great and why I recommend them to a lot of people is that there's such a good introduction to Westrose. I think some people feel intimidated by the Song of Ice and Fire books, by their length by the- Georgia R. Martin might feel intimidated by those books. By the depth of lore. And yeah, so especially thinking about it in relation to that Hollywood reporter, George R. Martin piece that came out this week where he's talking about being behind on writing. but oh, actually he made some good progress on two Dunkin' Egg novellas.

That's very exciting. And that's what I want George to do, which is just write these novellas, which are easier for him to just grease the wheels. Yeah, like Kent Harrington do the future of John Snow to worry about it. Sure, that'll be fine. I've got some notes on that after the updates in the THA piece. But he's apparently given them a bunch of outlines for some other novellas. He's out like made significant progress on two of them.

So this could go for 10 seasons, 12 seasons. or three seasons. We'll see what happens. But there are definitely three novellas. And I think what makes them special is they're approachable. Their POV is so different to the POV of a song of vice and fire. We're with Dunk, who's from Flee's Bottom. And we're with him in every scene of this episode, right? And I just love that different look inside of this world, what it means to look at it from that point of view. Mallory and are huge lore hounds. We love talking about lore. But I just love that these books aren't birth. by lore. And so everyone's invited to play. Now, for you, anything you want to add about the books themselves? I just co-sign what Joe said. I find them more delightful every time I return to them. Like, I've always loved them. But it's been so fun, you know, from the moment we knew the first trailer was coming at New York Comic Con in October, like gearing up for the show when the casting was announced and we saw who were, you know, the performers who were going to be

embodying these characters. Like, it's always a great feeling to have an excuse to fall back into a world you love or to be introduced to it for the first time, right? And I think, you know, think that the hedge knight, the sworn sword, the mystery night, they're all wonderful. I think that my favorite one tends to be the one I'm reading in real time. I think I would, if forced at arrow or sword point, pick the hedge knight, which this first season is based on, but I have a great affection of kindness for the other two. I would pick the sworn sword. I would say. I would probably, it's sworn sword is amazing and there's some thematic richness in there that like, I already can't wait for the three of us to get to talk about. Yeah. Maybe this time next year. I mean, they're

in production on that already. Um, and I think. think, like, to Joe's point, the accessibility, the tone, the charm, you know, in the run-up to the series, I think as we're covering it, we're going to talk a lot about noble ideals, right? What does it mean to be a knight? The virtue at hand there. But also, it's a Game of Thrones story. And so while I think there is an abundance of charm and hope, it can be dark. It can be scary. Even the characters who are driven toward some sort of pursuit of real genuine. in honor, justice, purpose, meaning, whatever the case may be, are going to have polls on their ambition or their conscience or any number of other things. And I love that about it. The idea

of the hedge knight, right? Just this figure who, for many in Westeros, they look at a hedge knight, we get a lot of this in the first episode. And it's like, you're so sad. You have to call a hedge home. You know, you've got nothing. I love you. But the whores like to say it. It red calling egg. It was very. tough. It should return and even fall. But like, you know, egg, he's like, your rope is, your sword belt is made of rope. And now there's the aspect of that where it's like, Sir Arlen's leather sword belt literally won't fit around duck. But also, what else does he have? Too full for leather, baby. I mean, great passage from a later novella that is in essence, you know, big hands, big feet.

I bet you're big everywhere. File that one away for our subsequent coverage of this wonderful story. But yeah, so it's like, are you a robber knight? Are you a barren knight? Can you be trusted and dunk this embrace of like the pure aspect of life as a hedge knight? But also he's like, I got to get some coin. This is my chance. I got to figure it out. Maybe I can find glory. Maybe I can make a name for myself. And that could all be encompassed in a tale that is succinct and full of charm and this odd couple core pairing. It's just their wonderful stories. Chris, where are you on audiobook life? I am still dedicated to reading books.

So not a huge uptake. I want to do a quick PSA, which we've talked about on House of Ar for the audiobook. These particular audiobooks are narrated by Harry Lloyd who played Vassaris on the first season of Game of Thrones. And they're just some of the best audiobooks I've ever heard. So, I mean, I know you can read a novella if you want to, but why do it when we're here to tell you everything? At this point, I'm kind of, I'm pot committed to the whole bit. It provides a little bit of... You will never read a word that George Arta Martin has written

just as a matter of principle at this point. Do you skim over his quotes in like profiles and something like that? I love his interviews. You love his blog, yeah. I thought I would ask you one thing about the books, though, which is, you know, the Game of Thrones novels, from my understanding, each chapter is written from the POV of a different character. That actually seems to be one of the reasons that George is tripping up and

finishing these novels is that he's introduced, what, 21 different POV characters. characters. Lord got away from him. Then I write one thing and I realize I've screwed something up, so I have to go back and fix this and somebody else's POV. This show did something really nice for me, which is the show itself is shot from a POV. Like the show itself, the characters, like Lionel, for instance,

appear the way they would appear to dunk. Across the room. Yeah, across the room, but also as this kind of like regal man of mystery rather than, of course, there's Lionel Morathian. Now, let's just go through his timeline here and go through his family tree and who will come from him and who came before him. It's more like, Stranger in a Strangeland

kind of reminds me a little bit of Deadwood. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Deadwood did do a lot of POV switching between Al and Seth and everything, but the idea of, like, arriving at this new place and everybody you get introduced to is kind of through the steps that these characters are taking to meet them.

I thought it was just really solid. It's something that Game of Thrones is a show didn't, it did, but it didn't do like super religiously. Like, you know. Right, you would sometimes get it with like, what is Kings Landing from Aria's point of view or something like that. Or like Danny would leave a room and then people would keep talking and the camera would stay with them or whatever.

And Ira Parker's commitment to if Dunk's not in the room, we're not in the room is really, really smart. The books are, we're inside of Dunk's Head in the books and they've done a bunch of brilliant adaptive work of taking inner monologue and making it things he says to his horses. Or, you know, like, you know. Incredible horse guy. Sir Duncan the tall. He's just like muttering his inner thoughts to the horse instead, but we're still

inside of his mind and his world. I was thinking a lot also of the framing, the effort that they, you know, they really wanted to cast someone tall for Duncan and they did, but they didn't cast, they cast Peter, they love him. Yeah. George was like, he's not quite as tall as, you know, you know. So we have him bumping into doorways. We're lowering the height of the tent.

So it's like brushing, you know, his... And then we're seating, like, we're casting shorter actors around him. We're seating people around him. Like, when he's first talking to Lionel... Sure, actors, so actors. Yeah. Well, when he's first talking to Lionel, he goes up to the table and everyone is either seated or, like, leaning around him.

So he's just like this wide shot, and he's just so tall in that shot. But it's something they have to kind of manufacture. The way the cops look in his hands. You know, it's like he's got a catcher's mitt for a hand. Yeah, it's really, it's movie magic. It's great. Lionel is supposed to be also gigantic. Oh, I know.

So they have that line and we have shaded with like, not as big as I thought of you. It's like, yeah, because you're not 611. You're pretty tall, but you're not 611. I agree. They've done a great job with that. And I like what you're saying a lot about the perspective and rooting us in Dunk's experience and through his eyes. And like one of the passages in the book, and this is incorporated into the conversation he has with Lionel where it's like, what chance do I have? And Lionel gives that great.

Oh, you have no chance. It's a great honor to test yourself. Dunk was strong and quick. This is from the Hedge Knight. And his weight and reach were in his favor, but he did not believe for a moment that his skills were the equal of these others. And so you have him voicing a version of that,

but to your point, you feel it in every step he takes throughout the episode. You know, when he's talking to Raymond, and Raymond is like, yeah, I'm a squire. And Dunk gives him that look up and down. He's like, you fight pretty well for a squire. Now that comes from the text where Dunk is like, well, if he's a squire, what business do I have being a knight? Like one of us is a fool.

Yeah. But he doesn't need to, even though, as we said, like a lot of the lines are pulled directly from the text. He doesn't literally need to voice every beat of internal monologue for us to understand. He feels like, I'm a fish out of water. I'm in a place where I don't belong. And part of what I can achieve is making people think that I belong here based on being here and what I do. One of the small miracles of this show is that unlike, say, House of the Dragon, where I feel like I had to do, even without reading any of House of the Dragon,

or the books that was based on, research, just to even, like, figure out, like, who this guy is. You were deep in the wikis. You were, oh, you're such a wiki guy. I would say too deep in the wikis. I was also, like, what am I signing up for? Like, I just kind of want to make sure we have an endpoint. Well, with this, I was going to ask you, what you thought a viewer might want to know

contextually about the world's point in the chronology that we're at. Love a BBI. But I have to just say it didn't matter to me. Like, for all I knew, this was happening like adjacent to Game of Thrones itself. And it really did give a sense of like depth

and width to the entire kind of fictional universe that he has built out. But tell me a little bit about Joe, you can start, like, what we need to know about like when this is in relation to the first season of Game of Thrones and like, what's going on in the world at this time. We're 100 years before Game of Thrones.

But fashion hasn't changed much in Westro, so don't worry about it. It's true. They keep insistent. The trends don't move a lot. Fashion slow moving. Are they a little bit more regal in House of the Dragon? In House of the Dragon, yeah, which takes place far earlier. And so I think the most important thing historically to talk about is what's going on with Targaryens right now, which is that they don't have any dragons.

Yes. We get a dragon puppet in this episode, but we're not. spoiler for House of the Dragon I don't think it is. I will push back on that because we talked about this actually. No, no, no, no, no. But I think we had a beat of real anxiety about this

when we broke the trailer sound like, fuck is this. Now the show, it's clear there are no dragons in the show. So like it is what it is. But yeah, Game of Thrones. That's like, Game of Thrones starts there are no dragons.

There are no dragons. So guess what? 100 years before, no dragons. Okay. And so thinking about the Targaryens have just quelled a rebellion. Blackfire.

The Blackfire Rebell Which was also rumored to have been a spinoff at some point, right? No? They might, yeah, do it. It might interact with this show. We'll see. But, like, can I just say the Blackfire Rebellion, one of the coolest things that happens in the history of Westrose, imagine you're a Targaryen bastard.

And you're like, you know what I'm going to, you know what I'm going to name my family? After the Sword, we're the Blackfires. Like, that's... Would you have gone with Dark Sister instead? No, Blackfire all the way, maybe. Anyway, so they quelled the Blackfire Rebellion, but the Targaryen rule is quite shaky at this moment, right? They don't have their WMDs. Right.

They've just quelled a rebellion from inside of their own family tree. Right. Kind of barely. That was just, what, 15 years before the events of the show was that rebellion. And so when Plummer, between spitting Flem into a tankard says their princes about, right? The Targaryans are coming to this tourney. Right. And it's a backwater tourney.

So the fact that the Targaryans feel like they need to. be there. The royalty feels like they need to be at this tourney is very much like insecure power. It's like legacy maintenance. Yeah, exactly. We got to kiss the babies and shake some hands. I was going to ask, there's a plumber line that's kind of a throwaway where he says something like, this is the reach, not the Riverlands. What's he saying? Is he like, this is Philly, not New York? Like, what is it kind of? I mean, that's a, it's interesting to continue to glean more insights into how you've you, Philly. You think Philly is the reach. I'll have to reflect on that later. I mean,

yeah, I think that was like a minor. It's a way just again to say like, and this is one of the fun things about the premiere and the story. Look around at all the familiar sigils, right? We're in the reach. This is at Ashford Meadow, House Ashford, Lord Ashford, throw an attorney for his daughter's 13th name day. But we see just from watching this first episode, and as Dunk is scanning the town that pops up overnight, you know, we've got our Barathians, we've got our Donarians. We've got our There's Tyrell, right? We know a lot of these families. Like, more of them are there than should be given the stature of House Ashford.

They are vassal lords to the Tyrells. The Tyrells are in control of the reach. A lot of it is familiar. You know, the show is sandwiched between, as Joe said, Hot D. and Thrones. But a lot of the families and key figures are familiar to us. Why are they all here? For all sorts of reasons. If you're in the Reach, you're going to be there.

If you're in the Westernlands, you're going to be there, the Riverlands. in the Riverlands, I mean, the Brackens and the Blackwoods, they're still fighting. Don't worry. They're still fighting. The Burden Bracken has killed Lord Blackwood three years before this. Like, the tensions are high. The reach, they still think, as Plummer with his delightful little Ashford chair a bit, indicates this is a life of luxury and fresh fruit and wine, right?

But I think the key thing for the time frame is what Joe said. It's not just that the dragons are gone. It's that they still live in memory. Like Sir Arlen. saw, had seen the last dragon. So it's recent enough. And I would say like, that is a more precarious position

for the Targaryens to be in, actually, than a distant memory. It's like to have remit, for people who are alive to remember what your might and your strength looked like, but for you to not possess it in that form, is a tenuous field on which to try to rule. Right?

And then also there's like something like, you know, the king right now is Darren the second, Darren the good, who fought his bastard, brother, great bastard brother, demon blackfire sick fucking name as Joe said, in the Blackfire Rebellion. And he's the king who finally fully brought Dorn into the fold. And on the one hand, it's like, this is a titanic achievement in the history of Westrose. He marries a Martel. We'll talk about some of the hair color of some of the Targaryens we meet after in the rest

of the season. But not everybody loves that and is super into it or into the preferential treatment that Dorn is getting through those political alliances. So whether people think that actually Damon Blackfire should have been king, or why are you like giving Dorn X, Y, and Z, or any number of other things? It's Westeros. Someone's always bitching about something, but the Targaryans are trying to maintain a hold. After another call from inside the house, like, we are still covering a show about a Targaryen civil war. The Targaryans love a civil war. They love a challenge from within, and the rest of the realm is always swept up in that.

They also love to marry within. So that's just a lot. That's a great point. Blackfire Rebellions, like, hang over all of these novellas. This one less just because of, to your point, like how much George knew. Yeah. But eventually it will be very important.

It's just like a shadow looming over the realm. And in the novellas is Duncan conversant in that stuff? Like, does it come up? They all are because everyone fought in this rebellion. Oh, okay. The kingdom was divided, essentially. Okay. Because I was curious about when he's going around trying to, like,

stump for, you know, he's like, I need somebody to sign off and me being a knight. You might remember Sir Arlen, and he mentions, like, to, you know, he's like, my, my, my, yeah, Vulture King. Yeah, right. And they're all like, I don't remember, you know. Why are tournaments important in this world? So it's a great, great setting for a TV show. Yeah.

But I was curious, what is transacted at these things? Yeah. So I would say, there's a couple things to say. There would say, George R. Martin, personally, one of his favorite books ever, is Ivanhoe, which has this great tourney. And so he's like, chasing the Ivanhoe high, basically. But if you think about the way tourneys have been used

inside of his storytelling before, the biggest one outside of this one is the tourney at Heron Hall, right? Which is... Rigar and Leanna. Basically where Robert's Rebellion started, where Robert Barathean got very mad that his fiancé Leanna

got crowned the Queen of Love and Beauty by a married prince Targaryen, right? So that happened to attorney. Attorney is a place for all of these houses outside of the battlefield to mix and mingle. And we got a quote from one of our faves, Rainies, in House of the Dragon. Season 1 episode one, she's talking about the tourney that happens in that series premiere. And she says, these knights are as green as summer grass. None have known real war.

Their Lord sent them to attorney field with fistful of steel and balls full of seed. And we expect them to act with honor and grays. race, it's a marvel that war didn't break out at first blood. So that's not true of these guys because many of them fought in a Blackfire rebellion. They've been to war. But it's, it's play act, we're play acting war, right? And all the houses get to fight each other without going to war with each other. So it's war of pageantry sort of thing. Yeah. You know, I like thinking about the fact that each show now has either prominently, like this is, this, this show is just set. This first season is set during a tournament or just early in the runs featured attorney.

to the hot D point, that was the beginning. You know, Viseris just like, gonna finally have that mail air. Right. Let's, it's not too soon to start the tourney, right? That's a really fun thing at the beginning of Hot D, obviously very intense with the way that's edited and inner caught. But of course, in Game of Thrones,

we have, you know, the hands tourney that does not want. And we get fun little discussions about, like, on the one hand, tournaments are incredibly expensive, but on the other hand, they're a source of coin too. It's this town that you're seeing in this premiere, like the merchants, the puppet show, the horrors, right? Literal cottage industry. Yeah, it's a bustling area of activity and for merchants and for commerce. But it's also a chance for glory.

It's a chance to prove yourself. And I like what we can learn about a given character by how they feel about that. So Dunk is like there's this kind of beat throughout the first novella of like the chance might not come again. Like, I must risk all, right? He's been with Sir Arlen since he was a boy in Flea Bottom. That's been his life squiring for Sir Arlin, and now he's like, I'm on my own. I have Sweetfoot, Thunder, and chestnut, and a lot of things to tell them and not a lot else figured out. I can make a name for myself.

Upward mobility for him. Yeah. But think about what Ned said to Jamie, right? This was on my mind, actually, when Sir Stefan was like, come, come spar with me. And then Raymond says later to dunk, like, he basically likes to spar with people so that he, He can break them and hurt them before he might have to face them, but also to study them, to learn about them. When Jamie's like, you know, we're going to see it?

The hands turning and Ned's like, I don't fight in tournaments because when I fight him in for real, I don't want him to know what I can do. And so that is just such a radically different perspective than somebody who is out there just for fun. Or somebody who's like, your sick dragon helm if you're Damon Turner. For this tournament, a lot of these guys are battled. like they've just fought in the rebellion or in some other. Yes.

But some of them are like, okay, maybe it's experience. But for a lot of the guys out there, it's like, I want to be in the songs. I, and we talked about this on our trailer breakdown, but we both got a kick out of the first poster, the log line was like, you know, a tall tale that became legend. And so much of Dunk's story and so much of the spirit of this show, even in one episode here, is rooted in what does it mean to? Like, we got sort of of the mirror shields, you know, and. In Tenzel's puppet show. This is an age, a fabled age of heroes tale and a figure who like certain things

that you'll hear about him in the story could not possibly be true about him based on when he lived and that's how myths and legends morph and evolve over time. And then what Lionel says, right, about like 4,000 years ago, the first joust on this field

and men cannot have devised it. So much of this episode lived in that like age of heroes long ago where were the myths that we tell each other now born and the characters who hear of them want to become that myth for the next generation. Watching Dunk who, when he's asked,

is that short for Duncan? He's like, sure. And in the book, it's clear. He doesn't know. He doesn't know. So Duncan is not a name that he's familiar with. And then Lionel Barathean inside this episode is like, be tall.

So he's like, the tall. Okay, Duncan the tall is a name that was just sort of cobbled together from what different people said to him inside of this episodes. We're watching a myth be born inside of this story, what other aspects of the myth will we accrue over the next few episodes?

Now, the Thrones novels are told in POV style. The House of the Dragon stuff is based essentially on like a historical but not always reliable historical dresses. Would you guys characterize these novellas as reliable?

I think in that they are so firmly rooted in one person's POV. They can't be entirely reliable. think we're supposed to take sort of like historical detail as, as fact. Yeah. Okay. And so, but the novellas are from Dunk's perspective. Yeah.

In his head. Okay. Obviously, there's a second character here. We'll obviously get to him as we learn more about him. He seems to have a bit of something to him. What do you think of this performance? This is like a really tough, like a child actor is like a tough to cast. The thing that jumped out at me was this is why TV is good is because you meet.

people that you haven't seen before. And they make stars. They don't hire stars. And we've gotten very far away from that for better and worse over the last like 10 years. Thanks to Nicole Kidman and Matthew McConaughey and all sorts of people who have come off the big screen. You just come for Kidman. No, I mean, I think it's interesting. Nicole Kidman brings a whole series of baggage and experiences that we've had with her for the last 30 years when she takes a TV role.

Yeah. People playing Dunkin Egg, we do not have. Right. Well, one notable exception, which, you know, I've mentioned before. A few times. I think Peter Claffey is just fantastic as Dunk, like almost better than you could have dared to hope for. Dunk is a canonical virgin. Not sure. No shade. Just a fact. Not sure if you could tell from the way that he looked at. No shade to no shade directly to me. No shade to a canonical version. No, he's supposed to be like 15 or 16 also. Yeah. As is often the case in the same. throw show they've aged them up.

Yeah. Peter Claffey in season two of Bad Sisters bagged Eve Husson's character and I'm supposed to believe this guy as it fucked. Like, come on. Other than that, no notes. I thought the egg was fantastic. Yeah, I thought the texture was fantastic.

It's also like, it's really smart to make the two main characters relative unknowns aside from Bad Sisters heads and then populate the outskirts of the show with like, Incredibly seasoned UK actors. Yeah. So Daniel Ains owns the six minutes of screen time that he has. But like I'm very excited to see the other people that they bring into the series. As people have locked the trailers, no, Finn Bennett is in this show.

I'm a big fan of his. I'm a big fan of true detective fan. Very pumped for that. What else do I want to ask you guys? You want to talk about Lionel Barathean? Let's do it. Yeah. What's up with the horns?

Well, House Barathean, that's their sigil, right? It's a lot of horns. It's very guest on a Beauty and the Beast of him. I think we should do every subsequent episode of Talk the Thrones in the Antler Helm. I think it's frankly a derelict duty that we didn't today. You say helm, I should say, it's quite crown-like. And this is what's very important about the Baratheans is that when the Targaryans conquered, House Baratheon is like the first of the oldest houses. And you will remember that Robert Barathean eventually,

becomes the first non-targarian king after Aegon's conquest. So the Baratheans have always been like... It should be us. Should we be king, though? And so the fact that Lionel's here with a giant antler crown is audacious, I would say. Audacity. It is bold. I would say not as bold as one other aspect, which was to incorporate the antlers on the

hilt of the dagger. I just thought it seemed like a safety hazard. If you leave it, he's very drunk as he knows, he's dancing a lot. Dancing, yeah. Lean over once. That's an eye. It's an eye gouged out. I thought that he was fucking amazing. And I think the decision to allow us and Dunk to spend more time with him sooner is like kind of a master's stroke. Okay. Fantastic. Just because like flesh is on character sets. In the novellas, it takes a while to

meet him or? He's just a much, much smaller character in the novellas. It's not that he's not important. It's just the novellas are so lean that you're with Dunkin' Egg and not very many people outside of that. And so what they've decided to do in this season is while still keeping it lean six episodes less than an hour each, they're like, what if we get to know Raymond Foss away a little better or Lionel Barathean a little better?

Etc, et cetera, et cetera. And so... It's also like a really nice like off-speed pitch to have Han Solo come in midway through this episode and just be like I drink and screw and like dance and like we'll kind of... Goals, man? Yeah, we'll mix it up a little bit

here. Yeah. The Laughing Storm one of the sickest monikers in Westerosy history. We've got a couple great ones coming in this season of TV, but the laughing storm is just like hot. I really think it's top tier, but do you think the implication that the story that he's telling is that he like steered into a storm and was laughing all the while while he did?

Whereas actually he's called the laughing storm because he makes fun of all the people on the tourney field. Beats them. He beats them, takes their helms off their car, laughs at them. Laps in their fucking face. So he got a favorite of the comments. He got kind of like a sicker,

a backstory inside of this episode. You just like the salt, you taste the salt on the air. There's something so poetic and almost hypnotic about listening to him to tell the story. But the other thing I loved about it was it puts him and Dunk into a plane of shared understanding. I want to test myself. I want to prove myself. And then we are pulled right back out of that when Dunk is basically like, easy for you to say. Stakes are different for you. Yeah. If you lose out there, it affects you not at all, unless you take a wound or you're grievously injured, which of course is always a risk of the journey. I'm out.

All my money. I'm out. He will have nothing. That will be it. I can't even get his horseback. What I loved about, there's something poetic about this drunken, loud lord, and it reminded me a lot of Tyrion, right?

Like drunk Tyrion, but also that poetry, that lyricism is there. And also, like, maybe a keen observer of human behavior and, like, being able to see, like, there's something different about this guy. Yeah. Even if he's, like, it's just one night I'm hammered. like we're just talking here, but to like spot him, ask him a question, be amused by him and then spend the evening with him, but also try and stomp on his feet. That was great. If I were to ask for anything in addition inside of that tent scene, I would have said,

can we get a longer montage of dunk just eating stuff? That was incredible. Yeah. Absolutely. He gets the giant like turkey leg or whatever that he's eating and then like a pastry, but I was like, we could have just cut to dunk like scamming food the whole night. When Lion was like, what did you bring me? And he like, quick We look at a half-eaten pastry in his hand. And then Lionel just kind of, you know, every man either wants your help or your head. And Dunk is like, I just want to supper.

By the way, one note on Raymond Fosway, the character we love. Kind of fucked Dunk here. He's like, you hungry? Let me bring you into Lionel Barathean's tent. Gonna fill your goblet. And then I'm out. And it's on you to figure out how to navigate this circumstance

from the laughing storm. Greenwald does that. I'm all on board with not saying goodbye to people at a party. actually, I think it ends up adding, like, 90 minutes. I just did this to you the other day. You did it's me, and then I spent the next 90 minutes, wishing that I had followed your lead and your counsel. Yeah.

What a lesson that was. You know, the scene was great. Will we be recreating the dance on Instagram? No, but can I just say, can I just be on brand and add one? I think about it. I like to yes and, but I'm no budding that. But I'm going to add a musical reference and say this was very the like, bottle dance Lechayem Fiddler on the roof

was like the way this was shot and it just filled me with so much show. A lot of fan edits are going to come out of this. Oh, really good. Those guys dancing to call me maybe, whatever it is. Myel's like whirling dervish skirt like moment. It was just like really incredible.

The earing the hair. Any thoughts on the horrors, Chris? They seem like nice ladies. It was a good sense of humor. Big episode for Ginger's. What's up with the gal with the coins on her eyes? Well, she's pretend. It's a very Roman and Tabitha from Succession.

meant to be dead. Sorry, the morgue is closed. Is that some guy's kink? Yeah. Yeah. Seems like it. I want to, well, I don't want to say into a microphone. I want to pretend I'm fucking a dead person. The characters. Is that clip for social? Take clear.

The character in the show. Joey's like thumbs up. But you know, we've seen the painted eyes on like, you know, Taiwan, a dead character. I think Chris was merely asking, why a dead girl? Yeah, but I was like, it was for someone's kink is what I was asking. You know, as Little Finger would tell you to, any man with enough coin in their purse. Not for us.

But in the world Game of Thrones, you can figure it out. So to be clear, we're just clipping that one part. Okay. I thought that they're not a lot of women in the Hedge Knight. Correct. Not a lot of women. Tanzil is there. Again, the tournament is for Lord.

Does the Hedge Knight past the back down? Deeply not. Derectly not. And so. Unless two of the horses are women and they're, like knickering to each other at some point perhaps. Banny, Daisy, red. Very much in, obviously, Game of Thrones features more the women, but very much in the like Raws tradition here of we are going to introduce a horror into the story who is not only a source of humor

and charm. That's the no place where we go with horror. In this story, just adhering to the canon. I just wanted to be on the right page. That's all. I am. Did you feel a particular pull toward either of the Fostways? So, Stefan, or Raymond? I like how Stefan talked to shit. This is an incredible, this is really akin to Chris being like, I'm team green during House of the Dragon. I just liked how Stefan was like, I'm full court pressing up 15 points with like a minute left.

You know what I mean? Like, he's like, there's no breaks here. So I enjoyed that. Interesting. My last bit that I wanted to ask you guys about was about the falling star. which is a perfect encapsulation of why this show is good. I think you can watch that and just feel it on its merits. Yep.

But I gather and slash sort of remember falling stars being pretty important. You're sort of like the red comet. Yeah. Same thing? Not really, but like no. That's fine. Symbolism everywhere. It's fine.

It's fine. No, here I'll give you something here. And I'll say. As Mal was mentioning earlier, when Duncan sees the falling star, it's an internal monologue. The luck is mine alone. Yes. To change it to the luck is ours alone as a conversation between Dunk and Egg, I think, was like a really good addition. It was also the idea that all these rich guys with the roofs over their heads.

They don't know about like the wonders of the world. What a great way to reposition the, it's such a classic Thrones wear it like armor moment, right? Okay, other people are going to say even like sweet egg is like, I would have put up your... Tree's leak. Yeah, Trees leak is straight from the novella. So good. Yeah. I would have put up your pavilion, but like I couldn't find one.

And Dunk can't afford a pavilion, so he doesn't have one. And, you know, in the novella, he's kind of like, I am not even... I would not feel, like, comfortable here. He's like, they're all going to make fun of me. Yeah. And, like, more they'd be nice to me, and that would be worse, right? And then in the show, he kind of, like, mosey's through and he's like, I got to go find, like, a quieter accommodation, right? This idea that the lack of your own pavilion, your tent, he's wearing Sir Arland's,

winged chalish shield, you know, he's carrying another man's arms and sigil, like all this stuff, trying to figure out who he is and where he fits in the world. Oh, that sort is his by right. Fits better in his hand than ever fit in Sir Arlands. What a weird thing to say. So Stefan falls away. That's a weird thing to say. Sir Stefan was right. It's easy, weird, it's conspicuous thing to say. It's my sword and I'm supposed to have it. Take some Emodium AD and then just like take a deep breath and chill my guy. He's like, I have anxiety and I have anxiety about my anxiety. But like the fact that that is a source of anxiety

or vulnerability or insecurity, right? And to spin it to like what edge can I find inside of that? What edge can we, my new squire and I find inside of that? It's such like a lovely... The World of Game of Thrones can be so bleak and so grim. Moments like that. Tereans wear like armor, you know, we loved that Laris scene with... Like, my kind of Laris.

I did not have a Laris mention on the words for today. moment. It's something like this, which is, I think, a subtler version of it still taps into that core idea of like,

then it can't be used to hurt you. You know, wear it like armor. I just, I love it. I love it. Let's do a little

housekeeping. So on House of R, yes. Will you be discussing this show with the full knowledge of what happens in the books? We'll do.

What we usually do is just like a section level, like a book, spoiler section at the end. People might be watching this. They're like, you haven't said this,

you haven't said that. We'll be going deep, scene by scene through the entire episode. And also, like, perhaps a book spoiler section. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I think that this show works on both levels. I think you can watch it episode to episode,

or you can have the total knowledge of where it's going. And it's still very, it's still a pleasure. It's a pleasure to talk to both of you. What are you doing? This show on The Watch? We will be. It is on industry corners, so we'll be splitting a little bit of time. When will we see Egg in industry?

Sally Draper's there and Jonathan Pye. I mean, honestly, industry season 11. Yeah. Yeah, Egg comes. Thanks so much for talking to me, Mal, Joe, House of R. We'll go Monday or Tuesday or when do you guys think we'll go up? Tuesday night. We'll record Tuesday morning, so depending on how long we go and how much caffeine

Carlos has. Shout out Alea, shout out Carlos, shout out Arjuna, shout out Jomey. The whole crew is here with us today. Hannah and Ratliff surprised us with all of our set deck today. Just the squad. The best as always. Total pleasure. See you guys next week. See ya. Man Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars.

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