House of R - ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Episode 2 Reactions | Talk the Thrones

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

The Targaryens have arrived, the tourney has begun, and Talk the Thrones is here to break it all down! Chris Ryan, Mallory Rubin, and Joanna Robinson react to ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Episode 2, “Hard Salt Beef.” They talk about the flashback with Ser Arlan, plus Dunk meeting Baelor and the rest of the Targaryens. And, of course, CR has some thoughts about the Kingsguard. (00:00) Intro (00:54) Programming reminders (2:28) CR’s recap (7:08) Favorite moment of the episode (9:43) Targaryens without their dragons (16:19) Baelor knows ball (19:45) Egg is wise (25:07) The tourney and all its glory (27:23) Prince Valarr and his abilities (28:41) The Kingsguard and their cloaks (34:06) Prince Aerion is kind of a dick (38:39) Puppets and dragons 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

Want to support your gut health? Take Activia's gut health challenge by enjoying two Activia yogurt today for two weeks and see if you feel a difference. With billions of probiotics and 20 years of scientific expertise, Activia is one of the easiest and tastiest ways to start your gut health ritual. Try Activia today. Enjoying Activia twice a day for two weeks as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive discomfort, which includes gas, bloating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort.

This episode is brought to by Whole Foods Market. Spring is here, so celebrate it with fresh, juicy, seasonal produce and some very tasty limited time flavors. New Whole Foods, Market Peach, Apricot, Rose, Italian soda. Perfect for a picnic or brunch, as is their trending mango, Yuzu chantilly cake. But if you're on the go, new 365 strawberry pretzels make a great sweet snack. That sounds delicious. Get savings with the yellow sale sign storewide and everyday low prices on 365. brand items. Enjoy the fresh flavors of spring. Save at Whole Foods Market. Oh, and welcome to Talk the Thrones. My name is Chris Ryan. I am an editor at the ringer.com. Joining me in the

studio is Joanna Robinson and screaming crab cakes and football. That's what Duskindale does. It's Valerie Rubin. What's up? What's up, man? What's this piss throth? We need muscle. We're going to get all to the culinary delights of this episode. The second episode of Night of the Seven Kingdoms. Yep. Hard salt beef. We're going to talk about it right after this. Come back, guys.

Episode two. You know what? We didn't do any housekeeping last time. We didn't say where people can find us, where people can watch us, where people can listen. This is on the House of Our Feed. Yeah. How do you feel about that? Our can stand for many ours.

Oh, Ryan. Love it. This is where you belong. Ryan, Rubin, and Robin. The Dragon has three heads. You can listen to and watch us on the Spotify House of Our Feed. You can also watch us on YouTube on the Ringerverse channel, right? That's right.

And you can catch me all over the place. I pop up here and there. But you're talking about this show on the watch. We do. Yeah. You know, it's right up against industry. So it's like, it's just every Monday. It's a delight to find out what Andy thinks about either one of those shows.

We're going to talk about this second episode. Do you want me to just recap it for you? Can I quickly ask Mallory, how excited were you to have an episode of television that is essentially titled jerky? And I know you're a jerky enthusiast. You need to have it with you on every flight. Yeah. If you ever leave your home, you should have some jerky with you. You do really have some weird flight, plain food, don't you?

I love a funnion. I forgot about this. Something salty. I like a turkey jerky, you know, trail mix. Certainly, I mean, Jomi's here with us. Basically 90% of our text thread with Jomi is about, well, just for snacks that we all purchased at the airport. So yeah, you know, we get some nice hard salt beef faction. with Arlen and Dunk at the beginning. We get Dunk taking a big, a big bite at the end.

No soaking of the beef in this episode. Jerky to open, jerky to close. I like to just hit the Centurion Lounge and see what they've got, you know? Yeah. What sort of like seasoning do you like on your jerky? I hate jerky. Let's get into this episode. You're missing out, man. You're missing out.

Welcome to the past where we see Sir Arlen packing insane heat. Unbelievable stuff. Was that a prosthetic? I got to find out. I feel sure that we will know when Bill starts watching this show. Because we will get that text from him. That's true. He is getting himself a diabolical fatal infection, and he's fucking dying.

This is what Game of Thrones is. It's also fucking and then dying. But this is what this franchise is about. Guys getting minor infections and then going out on that, you know? No antibiotics in this world. Question for you guys. Should Dunk just be going around to all of the high lords and saying, do you remember the man with the where would cock?

I think he would be having more luck if he had led with that. Oh, Sir Arlington. Yeah. This riveting footage is narrated by Sir Duncan, who is making his case to House Tyrell. Shout out to my girl, March, to get someone, any one royal to co-sign his entrance into the Ashford tournament. Last, he gets rejected. Leading his Squire egg to question whether Arlen was really all that in the first place. Oh, but what's that?

Is that the Targaryian music I hear? King Darren's adult son show up on the scene with banners and trumpets and questionable manners We got Baylor, the crown prince And hand of the king along with His brother. Money Makes got a kid of his own

And this guy seems like a real Stand-up dude. His named is Arian. He's played by Finn Bennett. He may have seen him a true detective Night Country. Love it. Money makes his elite nickname work for you. It got a lot from both of us.

Sensational stuff. In about 14 seconds of screen time, Arian mistakes Duncan for a stable boy and asks him for a wench and some wine. Who among us? Honestly. It's the big three. All you need in life. Someone proving the cue rating of the Target Jason Knights

are Sir Roland and Sir Donald members of the Kingsguard. Correct. You love the Kingsguard. God, those guys are cool. I just want to note that like one third of our notes today you dedicated to a minute of screen time. You're occupied by the Kingsguard. Badasses, right?

I will say, I felt... That's the same homies who were the morning star guys, right? Like, right? Is that the guy's name? The dude who's at the tower and... Sort of the morning. Oh, sort of the morning. So Arthur Dane?

Yeah. At the tower, Joy, you're the best. I thought Sir Roland was particularly memorable. I'll say that. I got a spicy text. My goodness. These guys have good nature banter with Duncan at the stable. We get some intel on Donald's crabbing background

during a tender moment between Ian Dunk. And that's under six. stands all the way to Baylor Targaryen. Dunk eavesdrops on the Targaryen brothers talking about Maycar's missing sons, Darren and Agon. When he's discovered, he makes his big pitch to Baylor, who is surprisingly

warm towards Duncan and says he remembers fighting Arlen in a tournament 16 years ago. There's just one condition. Duncan has to get a new sigil, but otherwise you're in. Branding is key. Yeah, great opportunity. 16 seed, maybe, but you're in the tourney. Enter Tanzel, the puppeteer

who moonslights as a graphic artist. It's her passion. She agrees to redesign Dung Shield under the creative direction of egg. Dunk also needs some armor. And while the blacksmith armor is not unsympathetic, he still needs his rate. So Dunk sells off his beloved horse. One horse. Just the one.

Yes. Just sweet foot. This is basically a Bruce Springsteen song. It's a sell his horse to get his armor. Do you have any lyrics prepared for us? I actually don't. You know, honestly, the reason I don't is because they didn't give my guy Jeremy, either Jeremy a nom.

Okay. If they had, you would be ready. Full on. Okay. Egg and Dunk visit Night 1 of the tournament and get a front row seat to the brutality and the speed.

Honestly, this is like me thinking I could play slot receiver in the NFL and then go into the combine and be like, you know what? I don't know if I have the Twitch ability. I loved what Ira Parker, the showrunner, said on the official pod off of episode one,

which was, I'm paraphrasing, Dunk has been playing like pick up hoops with his high school pals and now he's trying out for the Lakers. Honestly, we got to talk about Ira Parker's old hair before his new hair. Oh, yeah. His long, like, I'm in Slayer hair.

What's up with that? He's a hippie guy. That's great. Anyway, Egg and Dunk, they chat about, like, this tournament. And Dunk is shook. Dunk is like, I'm not sure I'm ready for prime time. And, you know, Ag is just kind of like, he's seeing the whole chessboard. We're going to get into what he says, what he does, how he seems in this episode.

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Oh, I thought this episode was great in general, so I'm excited to talk about all of it with both of you, but there can only be one pick for me. My favorite character, and this novella is here. Bailer Breakspeer is my favorite. He's my dude, so, and I love Bertie, who's playing him. That casting was so, I texted you like 500 times when that was announced. I thought that that scene was sensational, and I can't wait to talk about it with you guys today. So Baylor finally being here at Maker and Arian. And his brother. And his brother?

Great to have the targs here. But Baylor in particular, it's just very exciting for me. I love him. What about you, Joanna? Yeah, I think, you know, Lord Ashford says, sword and shield did not make a knight. And then tries to get an, am I right from Maker? Maker's like, I'm not giving you anything.

But like, watching Duncan's brand further coalesce with the, he's getting some armor, he's getting a sigil. like we got his name last. So like the way in which the story, the myth is forming as it goes, that end Tugawar with my guy, Lyle. Yeah, I forgot to mention the Tug of War,

which was very impressive. We got, I believe, three cunts from Lionel in like 75 seconds. That guy is efficient with his screen time. My goodness. Yeah. I said you like basically every line he said in the episode. I definitely think that my favorite part of the episode is the arrival,

the Targaryens. And I guess we could start there and we need to talk about them because here's the thing. Because here's the thing is that you can be very well steeped in all the war and read the books and understand what's going on. Or you can kind of watch the shows and... And then watch our show. And just watch our show. But even just from the performances of the actors portraying the Targaryens, you just see that they've been taken down a peg or two a bit.

You know what I mean? Like, I think that this is a more weary, maybe like late period Rolling Stones version of the Targaryans. You know, like, we're still out here playing Start Me Up at stadiums, but like, we really got to get cranked before this happens. Like, it's not just flowing through us anymore. And you don't feel like Arian is really like representing for-Aryan has a lot going on. But like, I even think like his uncle and his father's reactions to him or like the way they talk about him, like, you know, is different. So, I mean. Yeah.

What do you think of the short hair? I'm for it. You're a fan of the short hair in general. Yeah. I like it too. I think it looks good. I think it's great. I like it as like an idea of like a humbled Targary and is like we're not wearing our long hair.

Yeah. When you're not flying on a dragon and it can't kind of like just flutter in the wind. Well, let's. There's obviously an absence of dragons. Let's talk a little bit about what has happened to them. Yeah. In between the end of House of the Dragon, which we can't really betray because we don't want to be mean to people watching House of the Dragon. And now where it seems like they're still like they're the seat of power, right?

They're still running the kingdom. But they're just like a little bit different. a little bit less mythical. What did you think, Joe? Yeah, we get this line, Father Bates attend this miserable circus, right? Which we had been talking about, what are the Targaryens doing at this sort of backwater tourney? Yes. Iconic with Lord Ashford, just literally standing right there. Is that just said about his home? His daughter's name day celebration and the tourney he is hosting. Gwen Ashford, what a piece of work. How thrilled were you to get a name? This whole thing is like Gwen Ashford's My Super Sweet 13, 13, right? It's her 13th birthday.

She's like, ugh. It's her name day. George R. Martin forgot to give her a name in the book. And so she's Gwen in the show. We love that she has a name in some lines. It's really nice. Beckdale tests. Well, she's talking about missing guys, so not really.

But anyway, so what makes the Targary and a Targaryen? I think we've been asking a question what makes a knight a knight, but what makes a Targary and a Targaryen when they don't have their dragons? And I think that's what we're seeing. We're seeing Baylor, who seems like a really chill, nice dude. and we're seeing Arian who seems like a piece of shit. So it's like the whole spectrum of Targ here. But I think we talked about this last week, this idea of the Blackfire Rebellion,

which gets mentioned twice in this episode. The Red Grass Battle of the Red Grass Field gets mentioned. That's from that Targary and Civil War that really just happened a few years ago. And then at the very end, egg is like, you blackfire bastards, right? Yeah. So we weren't sure they were going to talk about it because it's not in the book. in the first book. Oh, okay.

Because George hadn't thought of it yet. But it's very prevalent in the second and third novellas. And so it's already here. And that's really exciting because they're still licking their wounds from a massive civil war. They don't have their dragons. So they're really holding on by a thread to their power here. I loved to the way that, like, to the redgrass point that Dunk was just like the redgrass, right? He's talking about how Arlen lost his prior squire, sweet little roger, Mace.

Mace to the face. Tough way to go. But the shorthand, it does rhyme. The redgrass, there's not a person he could be addressing there who wouldn't know what he meant. Like that is the way that this looms, this latest Civil War looms over the realm and history. So you pair that conflict and the fact that where they are in history right now, some of the people that the Targaryens are interacting with might be like really glad that Darren the second, Darren the good one. And some of them might not feel that way. like, oh, I was on the other side.

13 years after Civil War, it's not like everybody is in agreement. The Dragons, as Joe noted, and then you add in this little delicious aspect of the brown hair on Baylor, which, like, is actually worth talking about because you don't have a dragon and you don't have that signature silver hair that's supposed to instantly remind you that you're closer to a God than a man, that shit that you Targs are always talking about. Now, for Dong, for Sir Arlen, for the readers, for the viewers, the fact that you're going to you see Baylor that like in the novel it's a little different in the novella dunk and i actually thought this was a really interesting change that here the i thought the implication was that dunk sees them go in

and he's like i'm going to go well the what here's my hill mary yeah makes the pitch directly right whereas in the novella he is just going to seek out plumber again happens upon them literally is speaking to baler before he has any idea who he's talking to and then in real time it's like oh my lord so he's dressed more plainly and simply he's got the because his father the king married a Martel, his mother's a Dornish princess. So he has like common hair, right? And some people are like neat and other people are like, this is just one more reason to think that I can go for you from the world of ice and fire. Yet too many men looked upon Baylor's dark hair and eyes and muttered he was more Martel than Targaryen, even though he proved a man who could win respect with ease and was as open-handed injustice his father. So that's, I think, a good indication of the landscape that they're navigating as they go around. I mean, what's also true is that Baylor is way more popular. popular than Baker. Way more. That introduction of that was so funny.

And why is that? Personality? But does Maccar's personality follow his chicken egg? Rankin? Or is he like... He's the youngest son. Is he like, I'm a little salty because like I'm so far down

the pecking order here? Or is he just like I have terrible sons? I don't know. But can I just... One more piece of Baylor and Maker or allure that I want to give... I mean, Baylor is Baylor Brick-Spereer. Like that's a sick name. Ari and bright flame.

And then also... Did he give himself that name? Probably. The bright prince. And then there's Maker. Yeah. That being said, they're also called the hammer and the anvil because at the Battle of the Redgrass field, they did like a pincer attack movement. One was the hammer.

Bailor. One was the Anvil. Maker. It's cooler to be the hammer. It just is. It just is. But that's their legacy. There's like a whole song about these brothers.

Music. Their other two brothers suck, and they get a mention in this episode. How's the older brother? How's Darren? No, that's... Darren is Maker's eldest son. Their middle brothers. So, the king's son, eldest brother heir to the throne, Prince of Dragonstone,

Baylor. Then Aries and Ray Gall are their middle brothers to get a quick mention here. And it's like, bookish, mad. So that's sort of the rap sheet on those guys, the scattering brother of those guys. Then Maker. Maker has his son's Darren. I know you were like... But isn't there another Darren?

The current king is Darren's second. So Darren the second is the ruling king right now. Okay. Darren's son of Maker. The missing, we'll call him. Darren the missing. I like it. Not to be confused with Darren the first,

the young dragon, a famous figure in Targaryen history. No, not to be confused with Darren the daring. You're making it worse. I think the point is, as we have said before, we would really love to employ the Targaryans to think of some different. Yes.

And you might be wondering on the name from, Baylor, in case anyone who is a Game of Thrones enthusiasts is like Baylor, like Sept of Baylor or Baylor, the famous season one episode. No, he is named for Baylor the Blessed, Baylor the first,

who the Sept was named after. And then, of course, the Thrones episode is named for the sept. So different Baylor's, different day. My favorite part of Dunk... They should just name a kid... Talking to these guys about who Arlen is, is Baylor's recall.

That's right. He remembers. He is. It's the best. He has a ball knower or a bail knower, as I might want to say. Yeah, I like it. He has like, his access to baseball reference for the Knights is right there. And he's like 16 years ago.

Off the dome. Broke four lances. Fought, didn't win, but didn't suck. Yeah, never shamed himself. And then you have that great exchange between the two of them where Duncan mistakenly is like, it was seven lances, sir. And he's just like. And Plummer's like some amazing facial expressions from Plummer in the background of that scene.

Yeah, tails grow in the telling of them. I know. I think is the line of the episode, because that's like what we're watching, right? Is a tale as it grew. And I also love the way the episode is bookended. We get Dunk making the pitch about Arlen. And he's sort of trying to polish his legacy, right? We get the juxtaposition of what was actually going on with Arlen at the time.

And some of it's good. Like he's giving money away to people, right? Like he and Dunk are sharing some jerky and a laugh under a tree. That was so sweet. Like very, very sweet. So there's some nice stuff. But, like, at the end of the episode, we get a more plain, unvarnished version of who Arlen was. And that's just, like, what this story is about.

It's like, who is Dunk versus Duncan, like, the legacy of Duncan the tall. Yeah. You know, and that's what Baylor is underlining here. Yeah, yeah, seven spears. No, it was four, but don't worry about it. What was the one he asks about Damon Lanister? The Grey Lion. Is that a hard question?

No, it's not. I think that's actually... You think he was trying to help him out a little bit? Yeah. I think that tells us. more about Baylor than it tells us about Dunk because the Lord of Castorley Rock is not a hard person to know. Yeah, it's like who won the World Series last year. It's not like Mallory Rat rattling off 900 different target. It's like it's one more way to show us that the like you said, the warmth and the kind

of like generosity and the hospitable welcome. The fact that like what is the reason that Dunk is in that room in the first place, right? I asked Sir Manford, he told me to fuck off. By the way, on the like, is that a hard thing to know? Part of how in the novella, Dunk tries to convince Sir Manford is rattling off the history of how the House Dondarian got the sigil and he's like anyone could know that. A thing that anyone could know is not definitionly impressive. But Baylor wants

Dunk to be able to do this. He calls him Sir easily. He's Sir Arise. Right? Right. He doesn't need Dunk to convince him that he's a knight because he is remarking upon a certain quality. There is a dunk is endeavoring to do something

and make something of his life and Baylor is responding to that with a warm. I also just love He's fabled warrior, open heart. Sir Arlen loves him snacking. Like Brad Pitt in any movie he's in. The way that he was just popping. The way he looks up from his, like, huh? The comfort and the ease.

And yeah, like the fact that he remembers Sir Arlen when not a single other person did, and that was like a crisis for God. It's just so funny that Maker the whole time is just like, sorry, what the fuck are we talking? When Dunk rips off the shovel, the chivalry Arlen idea and Maker's just like, oh, fuck this. Like how many days of my life do I have to spend? Your brother. Also, when Dunk is like, I tried to talk to Manfred Dondarian and Maker goes, who?

And as we talked about it, Havanaugh is married to a Dundarian. So, like, the Dondarians are in their immediate family. And Maker's like, who the fuck are you talking about? I don't know. Well, he's got a lot. He's a hands full with his kids. Yeah. All right.

I want to talk a little bit about egg in this episode. Yes. So. he's wise. He knows about puppetry. He knows about puppetry. He knows the arts. He's conversant in the arts and sciences.

He is. He knows a lot about knights. Sure does. Especially currently serving knights. He does not seem to enjoy the arrival of the Targaryens. Correct. I note that. He has some commentary on the royal lap dogs.

You know, he's really saying to Dunk, like, just fucking ride into the jazz, man. Yeah. Yeah. I think that after Plummer ripped off the Ashford chair bit in episode one, he would really have enjoyed Dunks, turn his asshole into a lancehole or eggs, excuse me, turn his, I was like, wow, little potty mouth on little egg here. I loved that.

What did you think of egg getting the puppet line? The famous, fable puppet line. One of my favorite lines from the story. It's a commonality or no? No. No. When they meet Tantzel, too tall. Yeah.

Right? And she's like, too tall the boys called me. And Dunk says, you're not too tall. You're the perfect height for. And trails off. Control yourself. And Egg goes puppets, right? A real nice say from egg.

You're the perfect type for puppets. But that's like one of Dunk's lamest lines. He's like, you're the perfect height for puppets. I mean, he's got zero game, my guy. I love egg in this episode. I love watching him just like be a kid, you know, get like the way. that he's watching the puppet show in this episode. The tug of war sequence, which is added,

like that's not in the book. All of their chats, like the bug and his cider, you know. And then just like watching the tourney and just being like, yeah, get him. Like, it's just like, it's really sweet. Did you think he was more like Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, flyers, or was he given you like Bill's Mafia? Like, I'll flip my way through a table vibes.

He was really into me. Yeah, he was really into the beginning of the joust. I think that, I think that he was. he's definitely a Northeast Corridor guy. For sure. No question. He loves winter football and big hits. Agreed.

What Jersey is he rocking? Ray Lewis? Well, I mean. You think he's a Kyle Hamilton fan? Welcome to the flock, egg. Yeah, he likes Kyle Hamilton's positional flexibility the way he really opens up scheme on the defensive side. What else is there to say about egg?

Because he's still the mysterious stranger of this show. Well, so he shifts from the, I thought this was subtle. but effective. He shifts from that really effusive cheering and euphoria at being there watching the joust to the chaos is unfolding. Obviously, we get the kind of foggy head from Dunk who's like, whoa, this is going to be intense, right? But then Egg is watching all the squires grab the lances after they've shattered and replaced him. He looks at his

tiny little hands and he's like, oh man, he's having his own version. Am I going to be ready for this? Am I going to be able to do that? And I thought that was like precious. I think him talking about it. Like feeling puny for his size and all of, you know, for his age and all of that. I thought that was really sweet. The genuine like bonding between the two of them is, I thought, really. Yeah, you can't really, I mean, just to step into the TV side of it, you cannot really say enough about how much they nailed the casting on this.

And how, I mean, the Dexter, Dexter Saul, Ansel, is that his name? There's only one moment where he was like, and, you know, that I was like, there was like a little too much sauce on the hot dog there. But other than that. Too many bugs in the cider? too much sauce on the beef? Sometimes sentences get away from you. I did like that when he does that, though, I did like that moment where Dunk kind of has offered up this.

Yeah, well, you know, yeah, you're like, people always call me stupid. And Egg is waiting because he's like, aren't you trying to, like, help me or teach me? And we have all these moments already where Dunk is learning something from egg. And so Egg is, of course, eager to receive some wisdom and stuff. And Dunk's like, what if I just to help you grow? I thought that was great. But right before that, when Egg very very,

charming. He said, well, you are both gigantic. Yeah. It's a commonality. Is that promising? It's a commonality. And so I like thinking about how with Tanzel and Dunk and Egg is identifying something that they share. And we have with Egg and Dunk a little bit of the inverse in that. You know, they're so charming to us because they are the odd couple. Obviously in episode one, you know, the, well, my mother say she's dead and oh, you'd have to take me back from King's Landing.

Dunk is identifying things that he that soften him toward egg and that he thinks point to commonalities. But a lot of what's going on here is that they're complimenting each other because they're so different. And that's not only effective and useful in the plot engine of the story. It's just so compelling to watch in real time. So I think egg is fantastic. Dunk is obviously just like amazing. Yeah, I think one of the hallmarks of like all these shows, but I assume George's writing is just like the ability to like fashion these relationships out of, of opposites, which is obviously not unique to him, but like, throughout thrones,

you're like, and honestly, if I had, I would say Hot D kind of misses this a little bit, is a little bit of the like, let's put two people on a mini adventure. What about you and Kristen Cole? I mean, in Philly at closing time, it's a different story. Yeah. It's a little bit more task oriented, you know? Can I talk to you about the tourney for a second that we see? Yeah.

What is this? This is like opening ceremonies? What are they doing? No, no, this is real. So it's 5V5. I just want to point out that this first novella is 100 pages long. The description of this section of the tourney is 15 pages long. It's so in depth.

There's so many names. I mean, there are illustrations too, but there's, like, so many names. Like, George is so excited to talk about attorney. And he talked about this before the show started. Like, he's inspired by Ivanhoe. He loves that book, that film. He's like, tar, tar, tar, tar. here we go. And he's like, now the tournament.

Yeah. And he's like, let me tell you about Humphrey Harding. Get really excited. And so he was like, it was important for the show to nail the tourney. And this isn't the last that we're at a like multi-day tourney. This isn't the last action we'll see. But I thought it was interesting that they shot it at night.

That's like an interesting budgetary thing I imagine. See, I actually thought the nighttime shooting contributed a little bit from for the perspective of Duncan egg like the night almost shrouds this whole thing and even more mystery yeah like it's like they're going so fast we can't see it clearly yeah how is this working but i that's interesting yeah you just smell the the tully bitten fishhead flying over you but can you track it with your eyes in the dark it's good question the bit with the

fish it's pretty gross disgusting um but i thought that i thought like you know thrones took so much flack for its night shoots. Like I thought the action was, yes, overwhelming, but fairly clear. Like, I could track things. And as long as you are like adept at sigil spotting or whatever it is, like you can kind of track the action and it looks intensive. I didn't feel overwhelmed. Like, I couldn't follow what was happening.

It felt scary and fun. And I'm just excited for George that he got exactly what he wanted, which was like, please nail the tourney. What a time to be George. I'm so glad that something worked out for him. What a time to be George. Yeah, I really agree. It was super exciting and energizing, but it's also scary.

It makes you worry for Dong getting into that. What did you think of getting to see Prince Valar, Baylor's son, who is one of, so there are five champions and then there can be challengers. I'll take that bet. I'll take that bet. Second in line to the throne. Okay. But like, there are doubts about some of his abilities. Like he's like, I'll take that bet.

This guy's not that hot. Well, so Dong is kind of like assuming, right? He's the favorite. Because part of it is like Baylor's prowess and Maker, as Joe noted with the hammer on the anvil, a fabled warrior as well, though, as the passage goes, like in the shadow of his eldest brother always. It's a little bit of the like Brian Jamie like, well, maybe you were that good once or maybe people just love to overpraise a famous name idea.

Like the assumption that the Targaryen prince, who is one of the champions, would be the favorite is, well, that's not the position that Dunk is going to be. And nobody knows who the fuck he is. Nobody remembers who Sir Arlen is other than Baylor. but you see that shiny black Targaryen armor and the impressive mount. And you're like, is that the guy in eggs? Not really.

I don't think so, you know? So just what is the perception? What is your name grant you? What are people expecting from you based on who you are? And is the fact that you're no one and known to no one, perhaps an advantage then, actually. It's like kind of an interesting place to find the characters in the opening stretch of the joust here.

We're talking a little bit about knights. You just brought up, what's the name, Vailor? Valar. Valar. Valar. You're like, enough about the second line

of the throne. Can we talk about the king's guard? I just want to talk about my guys in the Kings Guard 40 second because a very,

very good scene just like the two of them also looking for a place to take a dump but having like great well and if anyone would know where to take a shit it's Mr.

It's Mr. Diary a dunk. He's like, let me tell you. I reject that name. It's Mr. Diary a dunk. I'm rejecting it. Anywhere I drop trow is a great place

to go to the bathroom. Really interesting. And then Sir Donald, not unlike Baylor, you know, connects with Dunk about something for Baylor. It's probably like this idea of virtue and humility and a knightly quality that he sees in Duncan. But, uh, no. Sorry, just doing my make-ar impression.

But, uh, Donald, one of the Kingsguard is like, oh, I, you know, I came from nothing too, brother. You know, like I just- We're crabbers. Yeah, I just humble cravers. And then Egg is like, I happen to know. that his dad basically owns all the crabbing boats.

His last name is Old Bay. Tycoon. Yeah, exactly. And he's like, how do you know so much about that? And he's like, I'm interested in fish. I mean, you point out his Branzino skills last week. I don't know that's off for and for eggs. That's exactly right. That's exactly right.

Why would Donald lie about that? I think he's trying to make, I mean, this is a show edition so we don't have like a clear, clear answer for you. It's just a great wrinkle. Donald of Duskendale, though he's in the, the book is like a much even thinner character than he is in this episode right so they're fleshing out the Kingsard for you Chris because they know how much you love them and giving him this whole crabbing backstory so we don't have like a technical answer for you so we can only just use our

TV watching skills and say I think he's just making try to make Dung feel better about the opportunity you guys are making fun of me but as I'm thinking about it all my favorite characters are in the I know we're making no better me we see you very clearly yeah Jamie Lannister yeah Right? Marin Trant, you know? Oh, come on. Get a little break. Morning, son of the morning?

Yeah, morning star himself. You're so close. One of these days you're going to get it. That guy's cool. Are you a Bears and Selmy guy? You love Barrison Selmy guy. Yeah. Even now, I can't stream of the king.

Yeah, those are all the guys. We'll rank the armor. I think this is the best Kingsguard armor we've seen yet. It's real white. Well, this is like, I think, closest to the canon. It's close to the dragon kind of wing effects down at the air. I think Jamie had the bear's armor. I think Jamie had the best honor.

Of course you do. And when he took it off with just one hand? I mean, that was good. That was memorable. Admittedly, that was memorable. So I think, like, another interesting thing about Donald is, like, it's one more reminder that there are different kinds of access and different kinds of power. Sure, he's not a nobleman.

He's not a dark land of Duskendale. You loved watching a dark one of Duskendale get be headed by Chris Cole and not date. There's time we'll spend that serious. You love a sack. You love a sack. You love a sack in many forms. That's part of why you were so taken by Sir Arlin and you'll never forget him.

We didn't actually... I'm not going to get into it. No, let's. You want to talk about the deck? I just didn't really get to see much sack. Because there's just... It's a weird... I'm hanging down to his ankles there.

A mighty elm. A mighty elm indeed. A mighty elm indeed. You know, money is access. Money is power. And so I think that there is a tenderness of intention there to say, like, bro, you can do this.

But like this guy had daddy funding every step he ever taught. Nepo baby. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, Donald Obey fought his way into the Kingsguard. So Donald Kingsguard, that's like a good job for our noble son.

It depends if you want to be able to fuck and marry and have your own landspola. I mean, are they? They're supposed to be. Oh my goats are so many facts. They make you swear. Yeah, Chris Cole famously under the vow of celibacy.

Jamie. Jamie definitely never fucked his sister. It's just barris and holding down the vows, I guess. Yeah, pretty much. But it is if you want to be a knight, if you care about being a knight, it is the great honor. And so that's another thing with Dunk getting to interact with Hot Rowland and Obay Donnie is, you know, when he sees them arrive, the seven champions of the Kingsguard were the most precent warriors in all the seven kingdoms. A word we both learned how to pronounce this week. We sent.

We sent. Oh, yeah. You probably knew. I didn't. Well, now we all know. Look at that. Saving only perhaps the crown prince Bala Briggs Spear himself. A bodice ripper?

BOTUS Ripper. I got confused. It's a bodice riper. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I support you always, genuinely. When we mentioned bodice is on House of R, a bunch of people wanted us to ask you about your bodice ripping skills. I bet. I've said a line to say about that. Keep the commentary coming.

Did Crabb make you think more of Davos, son of a crabber, or your actual favorite character? The crowd theater? Back on top. I just love that there has been a consistent drumbeat narratively of crabs in this franchise. I think thinking about Sir Davos is really useful because he's also from Fleabottom the way that Duncan is. And so Sir Davos is a genuine start at the bottom, now we're here kind of story. Yeah. We're having a lot of fun.

Yeah. Aren't we? It's the best. Ain't we? Well, I was just saying, because this is like weird. I'm like kind of done. Like I'm like, because it's a 33 minute episode. This is the shortest episode.

It's almost strange to, like, be in this world where we're like, great job, guys. Give us your, what's your Aryan vibe check? Okay, first of all, Finn Bennett, I just have a lot of stock on him is in my investment portfolio. So I thought he was fabulous in Night Country. Same. Black Doves? Black Doves. He was fantastic.

He just has that fucking, pardon my French, twat. Like, kind of like. Did not think that's what he was going to say. He's just such a, like a stuck-up. up asshole. Very little Barathean laughing storm of you just now.

Was it? Yeah. Well, I thought you said cunt like four times. I mean like people were watching the show. She was just beating him. Anyway,

he just had like, that's a great character entrance. And it says everything you need to say about him. I am not expecting much many layers to his character. I think he's here to be an asshole. And that's,

that's my thought. Like, would you put him in like the Joffrey camp? Like where would you put him? I just maybe not as sadistic but maybe maybe not. I'm not betting heavy.

I'm just saying he's not going to have a character beat where he's like, well, nobody understands me. You know, like I have a really hard line. Mallory, how did you feel about the character design here? Because it's different from the book. I really like in the book that he, you know, he comes in and it's with Raymond, bright as flame, all reds and yellows and gold. He's basically just trying to walk in looking, yeah, peacocking and looking like as dragony

and as wreaths in fiery dragon flame as possible. I think in general, obviously, the shows have a little bit of a subtler visual palette than that. And so I think this makes sense as a treatment. And the hair is doing all the work that, frankly, we need. But I did long for that a little bit. What I really love about his entrance, though, is the way that that's where we get that great line that we've mentioned many times across the trailer pods and so far covering the season. On Dunk, he felt illity's enough around the lords and their pavilions. He had no business speaking to princes, like confronting Aryan.

And it's a real like, why am I talking to these people? And then he's got to go have this conversation with Baylor and Maker and Lord Ashford and our dude, plumber. It's just like how are he in the circumstance. And then all of a sudden hanging out with the people in the baseball cards. Yeah, exactly. Yes, exactly. It's a perfect comp. Something they added, not that we needed more to endure ourselves to dunk,

but something they added to that scene is him like taking care of Arian's horse who gets like spooked. So it's a real like save the cat moment, right? Then he's like, he loves to talk to horses. he sells his horse for some money. But leaves some money behind. He needs all of that money. I mean, he's tossing some coin to Tansell. He sure is.

Look, graphic design isn't cheap. But he needs that money, and he's like, he leaves money for oats and an apple for sweetfoot, you know? And he feels very pained. It's expressly stated in the novella that he feels like he's betraying an old friend because this was obviously Thunder is the war horse, but, you know, Sweetfoot mattered a lot to Arlen, and Arlen taught him. We talked to how the Sun House of Argy like care for these animals and to take their care seriously

and that if he had a copper left, he would spend it on an apple for them. He didn't care, but he taught them horse care. No neosporne in the seven kingdoms. Didn't just die because he caught a cold in the rain, you know? Just a festering wood. Yeah, but this is like a, this is like a tweak. Yeah. I just like, George didn't describe the festering wound.

And he's like, that's a bad cut. I should, and then just is like, I'll just let that. seen the canvas of his body covered in scars. So you have to wonder like what made this particular wound fester like one step away from the naked chick behind him. His body is a wonderland bang, Arlen. I love

this. We have been waiting for Chris to sing all pods. So it's not too late. It could be it could be that. I thought for as much as fun as we're having, I thought this is an excellent episode for showing that Dunk has something that other people are recognizing from across the spectrum of the universe of this show

that is, if not special, at least valuable. Which is like his sort of innate, heroic, chivalrous quality. Right. That Baylord, down to the Armour, Danz, like all these. Steely Pate, my two. Many people, if they two are good, they're recognizing that common goodness.

Yes. That's good writing. We talked about this a little bit on House of Ar, this idea that, like, in the book you're reading from Dunks' point of view, so he's not going to say, and then Steely Pate looked at me like, I kind of could be a cool guy. like Baylor thought I might be a cool guy.

So like this is something we are getting in the show is the way that other people look at him, which is not available to us in the book, which makes television a great medium. I also think it's worth talking more about puppets. Puppets. Florian the full? Sure. Yeah. Is that okay with you?

I zoned down a little bit during the puppet show. Did you remember the name Florian? I just didn't want any House of the Dragon spoilers. So this is a different time period, I promise. It's just way back when. Way back when. Florian? Is that this guy?

Is the dragon name Florian? No, the fool. The fool who becomes a knight. And this is one of Sansa's favorite stories. Remember Sir Dantos? No. I could be your Florian. Who's Sir Dantos?

Is he in Game of Thrones? Don't worry about it. He's the one who helps Sonsa escape. Joffrey makes him drink all the wine, turns him into the, and Sonsas is like, He's a fool, not a knight. Chris has closed his laptop, which means it's time to go. We're not done.

It doesn't mean it's time to go. It just means minor. He has no more bullet points on crabs or the King's Guard. Or the King's Guard. Should I mention the continuity thing or should I say that for House of Ar? Go for it. I like continuity stuff. I think it's in this episode, I don't want to knock this episode.

I think they're doing so much with so little budget and they're really, really killing it. There's a continuity era where Dunk gives the shield to Tanzel and then later when he goes to Steely Paid and also when he sells Sweetfoot, he's got the shield back on, though they digitally deleted the like chalice, the wing chalice on the back of it. And so it's not that he has another shield knocking about. I think they just did the scenes a little bit out of order, which is fine. There's no shame in it. But out of order would be closer to the book order.

So there's something about the way they reshuffled the scenes that made more sense. Maybe they wanted to emphasize their relationship with tens all a little bit more. And also the Kingsguard. Sure. Yeah. What's she not too tall for, do you think? Man Bott is ripping

Yeah broadly speaking Did you like If you don't want to talk about Like blowjobs or different angles You know the physics The vectors we don't have to I don't think that's what he was going to say

I know that's what she was going to say He's a blushing virgin I think it's for kissing He says in his In his In his head in the book He's talking about how he wouldn't have to kneel down to kiss her The one kiss he's had

It's like a tavern Went shoes Is he like 16 in the book Sat on a table To kiss him because he's too tall. He's not too tall. For what?

For kissing. Classic. For sweet virginal kissing. What did you think of the graphic design idea for the new shield? I think she's got a great. I mean, I like egg being like, I'm sort of like Eddie queuing this. You know, like I'm giving my big vision and then you just need you to execute. It's fun to hear it described.

You know, that's the cover of the collection of the novellas. It's like iconic imagery. So it was just exciting to hear. I love their facial expressions. It's just like, man, you're botching this. And Tansell's like, what, like, what are, you came here to ask me to do this, but you don't know what you're asking me. It's all very charming and sweet.

I loved it. And I think what Joe said earlier, I was really struck by that book ending too. And I love that the end note of the episode from Dunk is about jerky. That bite is the actual last note of the episode. But, and I am his legacy on the morrow. We will show them what his hand had wrought. I got like a chill. And to be able to reconcile the truth that we are glimpsing in those,

the very comedic adjacency of the flashback with this like, I am trying to compel you to vouch for me, building toward this reconciling, as you said, of the truth. And as we love to talk about this George central focus of what's real, right? What's the ideal? And how do those things meld with each other? And for dunk to be on his own journey of embracing it, but not as a rejection.

Like Arlen is there as the foundation still. And then you build on top of that. So Duncan Go become his own man. And he wants, he's repeatedly in the novella. And he says it in this episode, 60 years and he was never a champion. Like, I want more than that. And that's okay. But saying that doesn't mean that I'm like, this guy actually was a joke and it's okay that no one remembers him.

He's like the fact that no one remembers this guy who gave chunks of his body to help their cause is appalling. Like how can that be the way that people live their lives? And to capture that. But not the most important chunk of his body. That is intact. And the fact that that, I mean, I love that, like, you can just see the woman in the background. Like, he's just till the very last breath. He's getting it in, man.

Yeah. Good for him. I think that that's a great great note to go out. Really, really, really great notes. High doing what he loved. Essential Valerie Rubin commentary. Updating the Goldtown lyrics with Ashford, taking a piss in front of a thatched roof cottage, and fucking a hot chick on the road.

We should all be so lucky. And even some jerky in the rain. Do you want us to go? Yeah. You can just kind of rip for a while. Very memorable episode. I believe that was the first thing I texted you guys about. I can't wait for next week.

Joanna Robinson, Mallory Rubin, House of our. Chris for Ryan. Yeah, it's me. We'll be back next week. Thanks to everybody who works hard on making this show what it is. Legends. We will see you on Sunday night after a night of the Seven Kingdoms. Episode three.

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