The Reel Rejects - A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS 1x5 REVIEW –CONSEQUENCES ARE CATCHING UP!– FIRST TIME WATCH

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Starting point is 00:02:08 Anything that's got highlights over here on the channel probably has a watch along over there and you can save yourself a little discount and some teas such as at least a couple of these And thank you to prepper for chopping these highlights together Gang as a unit how are we all feeling right now? Who wants to draw first blood in this conversation between Us I'm feeling a lot of things Yeah, yeah, you know it's um like knowing it was about to happen um and seeing it play out um and he's just like the hope of the realm like it's just there's just like so many layers of of like brutality and like uh this episode from just like a filmmaking perspective

Starting point is 00:03:05 to be able to capture the the the the weight and the anxiety and the intimacy of war and battle and we've we've spent so much time with this like fantasy of chivalry and what it looks like and what it feels like and then just to be thrown into the reality like when you're in the mud there is no difference between who is who you're just trying to keep going and honor is is an off battlefield concept largely that you just have to hope that you ingrain deeply enough into your subconscious to act on in those moments. And maybe chivalry is the, how do we mentally cope with the fact that this is just part of the equation? But that was just absolutely brutal.

Starting point is 00:04:00 I mean, I thought the acting in this episode was, it was just, it reminded me a lot of, in the same sort of clodagh, Astrophobic nature that we got in the Battle of the Bastards. Sure. Where you're just like, you're in the thick of it. You literally feel out of breath on his behalf. And just watching, like, hit after hit after hit. And we've spent so much time with all of these characters at this point to where it just, it feels personal. But boy, it's just like a crazy moment to like that helmet comes off.

Starting point is 00:04:37 And the entire history of Westrosse is forever changed. And I just, yeah. That's a lot of feelings Greg Talk, please I forgot it happened until like Like literally five seconds before Sure

Starting point is 00:04:52 Until he was like standing I started like why does something we feel off And then it was like right in the split second It was like literally five seconds We're like oh my God that's right He gets his head the back of his head bashed in And yeah it It sucks because of how much

Starting point is 00:05:06 connectivity there is to it And because we're watching a visual medium I'm more connected to Baylor than I would be when reading it. So, yeah, it was a really, like, heartbreaking moment. And it's so much of the episode was about choosing, like, paths of good in the midst of everything being just, like, fucking awful at all moments in time. And I love, like, the whole history and the backstory that we got with him with, with, um, I'm dunk because I don't, I don't think any of that's in the novella. I believe that was all invented for this series, but I think it enhances it. I was so pulled in, gripped by it,

Starting point is 00:05:43 that it would stand the reason that the girl he was with would probably die. Yet I was hoping that there was a possibility that maybe she just like went a separate path, something, and there's a whole thing with like, which road do I take? And maybe he just chose a different road. And when you got like creepy dude showing up, I could see what's about to happen here. But how he came into, like in the midst of that and was saved. by um fucking sir aran arlin arlin god damnan you can want to say arian but that's the bad guy yeah yeah i believe this is official title um yeah to be saved there was a cathartic moment i felt like there's

Starting point is 00:06:26 like a lot of random like catharsis and dread mixed with surprisingly cool cinematic action and brilliant use of sound design i know most people don't watch this show with headphones on but If you watch it with headphones on, like, holy shit, is it atmospheric? Because they really let you soak in the environments and the amount of like auditory usage of when you're going into POV of dunk when his, when his like ear is ringing and he can't hear anything else that's muffled because it's both physiological and psychological. That's all compounding in a one moment was so much more immersive. And the way it complements with the shots as well was so awesome. Like this is an incredibly directed episode and edited episode. Like there's so many cuts that would happen in the middle of the fights where you wouldn't really like see like a cut occurring.

Starting point is 00:07:16 It would have this deceit that it might be. It wasn't trying to trick you into being a oneer, but there wasn't that many cuts to the like when they would transition into a different shot where it was so seamless. You weren't really like paying attention to it. Like it was so there was so much fluidity yet it was like messy and icky. But it was all just put into emotion. And because of the auditory usage, when he hears Sir Arland's words of get up, like the one fucking word he gets to him in that moment.

Starting point is 00:07:45 It was so motivating. I was so, I was so impressed with this one. This is easily like my favorite one of the episode. I feel like this will, I feel like we've said that every episode. But I feel like this would probably be the talk of the Emmy episode. Yeah, like I said last time, I actually forgot everything that was supposed to really occur and what goes down. If I remember one thing that might have occurred,

Starting point is 00:08:08 I thought it happened, and I could be way wrong. I believe it has a little bit of that cliche moment where after he yields, that he does, like, pull out a knife and try to stab Duncan, I don't remember if that's what happened. I don't know if that's like my mind making that up. That's what I was expecting that. It's certainly, I'm trying to remember as well.

Starting point is 00:08:29 It's sort of going into this. I kind of wanted it to be a little foggy. But it could be just a cliche that I'm inventing in my head or does the book does it or the filmmakers are like, this is so cliche, we don't need to do that. It's also just self-evident that he's just that much of a little snake. Yeah. You know. But I was still so surprised by the entire experience, you know, and I know that John's really a team Targaryen all the way. Always, man.

Starting point is 00:08:58 I'm really crazy to be here and watch you pretending to root for this guy. I'm so sad my man Hinchcliffe Targaryen had to yield like that. Yeah, it was a bitters. Yeah. Really sad. Do you think it's the incest thing? Is that like what? Always.

Starting point is 00:09:11 Or the mad genocidal aspects. Like what makes you gravitate towards? It's a little bit of it, man. It's really like the style. It's audacious in every, you know, box that you could possibly check. Yeah. That's how I like to live my life. That's why I don't go over to your families anymore.

Starting point is 00:09:29 Yeah, that's right. You know, I mean, you're missing out. But then we wouldn't want you there anyway. The wedding was beautiful. You got to go to your own family. You got to be blood-related. Yeah. The wedding was beautiful, John.

Starting point is 00:09:37 Your sister wife is really. Thanks, guys. She is hot. You know, I'm glad you guys can at least appreciate my lifestyle. And, you know, be respectful to my heroes here on screen. We're accepting a bunch of lip-tarts. Guys, girls, rejects. I cannot believe we are already a month into 2026.

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Starting point is 00:11:36 We accept cultural relativism to the max, baby. Who are we to even comment on anything? Right? But yes. Well, cinema never touches on politics or current events.

Starting point is 00:11:51 No, because it's fiction. It's not real. How could it possibly apply? Certainly there's no relevant no possible connection. you could make. Dunk is Joe Biden. Dunk is Joe Biden.

Starting point is 00:12:03 Let's go, Duncan. Listen. We're going to build West Rose back to the city. Sir Arland. Oh, no. No, Sir Arlen was Joe Biden when he was vice president. The. Yes, and.

Starting point is 00:12:19 I don't. Yes, and. Yes, and. Boy, howdy. John, what are you doing? John, yeah. How are you doing, man? real thoughts, John.

Starting point is 00:12:30 I think it's interesting because, yeah, you don't have like a huge oneer, but these moments carry the same type of like,

Starting point is 00:12:37 you are right there kind of language that oners have. So I think it's funny. I think what we watched here was a deconstructed oneer where they just didn't bother to do the stitching

Starting point is 00:12:49 because you have these great whip pans from like one unique piece of violence to another unique piece of violence. But moreover, yeah, I just really like

Starting point is 00:12:59 the use of perspective and the use of editing in this episode because, you know, the timing with which we check out of the battlefield and why it's a trope. But here, the way it's used, makes a lot of sense. A great place, as I understand from your guys' commentary, to flesh things out. And this, I get why George. George R. Martin seems to be especially chuffed about this show because this does have like all the edges, but I feel like they're good. The edges and the nuances, that I am used to from at least the Game of Thrones show at the point where everyone seems to accept its goodness. And I feel like this show is great because it remixes those qualities and puts them in a much more benevolent and inspiring place. But it's not without its harshness.

Starting point is 00:13:44 Like this, I heard a song lyric or something that alluded to the idea that the day after a triumph is as hollow as the day after a tragedy. And that's kind of how this feels. It's like they won, sort of, but it came at great cost and it came at huge personal trauma. It was just so ugly and it's, yeah, the juxtaposition of like, you got all these people in the stands who would be us who were not hardly in the perspective of. And all of it is just this ugly, disgusting muck on the field. And it's like we've just been in the joust, in the tourney, in the games, in something that's quite similar to this, minus the political slash law aspect of this is a trial now. And yet, you know, we get a little bit of that early on in the show going like, oh man, to be on that horse. doing the joust is pretty intense and this even more so but with an added layer of ugliness and horror and

Starting point is 00:14:36 yeah this is really so tangible and so you know it's like you have to imagine that dunk will win somehow and you know the whole thing of egg trying to get him to wake up again it's another type of moment but I thought they earned those types of moments by you know depicting the mess

Starting point is 00:14:52 yeah you know I loved everything of like legist of it's so easy to look at Game of Thrones world and especially with the world they're inhabiting, even when you're looking at Dunk's childhood with that girl of him going, what if on this other side of the world, everything is just as bad or even worse than what we're happening?

Starting point is 00:15:10 But when you're seeing Dunk as a child who's kind of doing what Egg was doing with him and watching this, like, how do we pass on the lineage of doing good deeds? You know, this is the thing that we have to keep fighting for. When you're looking at the whole thing of his past and what inspires him to get up, It is bigger than, because when he was, like, pounding into him, we were all talking about how this is the culmination and catharsis of everything that's all at once.

Starting point is 00:15:39 And he's, like, unloading into this guy's face. But it's more, like, representative thematically of everything that tends to overpower and overrule. So him fighting and getting back up, winning this fight is so much more, it sends a message. It's for all. It's for all. So, like, when you're watching the crowd, it is like watching Rocky Balbo, honestly. of this guy who the crowd doesn't really seem all that for. And as he keeps going, despite all obstacles against him,

Starting point is 00:16:06 he just keeps getting a bunch of hits like Rocky. He's getting him fucking beat up like Rocky. Then he wins the crowd over like Rocky. And by doing that, it is inspiring to the point. And that's what makes the Baylor moment so tragic when he is ultimately like, you know what? I will, we need a man like you. We need good men like you.

Starting point is 00:16:25 And then, bam, we lose that. Chad, this is good luck to you now. And I think that's sort of the, it's like George R. Martin brilliance at its finest, because Game of Thrones, we are watching the chess match in real time. But this series, in its very subtle, nuanced ways, is the setting of the table.

Starting point is 00:16:50 And now that the board has been set, there is just all of the cascading, consequences that are going to unfold when you take, you know, the crown prince, the next in line, who was this like grounded, good, he, he stepped in because he still believed in that vision of what a knight should be. And you know that it's coming from a genuine place because even in that moment at the end with Duncan, you see that he is beginning to see, hey, maybe this kingdom that I'm going to inherit, maybe there is something good that can come from it and there are good people in it. And, you know, and I think he sees that an egg, you know, and it's just, I think it's so powerful

Starting point is 00:17:40 because it's a friendly reminder that it only takes one small action to have a rippling effect on the course of human history. All it took was drunken Sir Arlen to see a little bit of, young boy in danger. And even though he was probably drunk, his vow, his belief, his, it guided him in that one brief moment. And every single domino that falls leads to whatever history is going to be. And obviously, you know, Westrose has its own history. But it's really hard to not just think about that in the context of the world that we live in and just, yeah, all the small decisions people have made throughout the years that have led, have led us here to this moment, to this place. And so, I don't know. I just, um, I felt like they were able to, without it feeling so big and

Starting point is 00:18:38 grandiose, get us to this fundamentally personal and profoundly painful sort of moment. And, um, honestly, I'm just like, next to what, however Bruce, The Battle was this week, how do you even, like, you know, even knowing the story, I don't even know, like, how next week's episode is going to be mind-bending.

Starting point is 00:19:05 So, you know, I love this show. I really, I hope this, I hope this brings home all the Emmys this year. I really do. Because they've earned it. Well, and I love the depiction of Serlin because, like, the whole time you're in that flashback,

Starting point is 00:19:21 He's just drunkenly, you know, just like spouting off. Like, he's in so many ways appears the opposite of what a knight should be. But in the principles that he lives, he's better than most of the ones posturing as honest, you know, noble people or whatever. And, uh, and yeah, even though you almost never understand a word coming out of his mouth, you know, his example that he leads by despite his drunkenness, despite his hedonism, you know, is, yeah, a really great kind of nuanced counterweight to the types of people. that we're actually literally fighting in this episode. For all his flaws, at least he's human. You know, he demonstrates humanity and it's many facets.

Starting point is 00:20:01 I think, you know, these characters, the lords, the powers that be, they represent a removal from that humanity. And no else is that more self-evident and a bratty prince breaking a young woman's fingers because he feels threatened by her puppet show. So, you know, I mean, I think that's the craziest thing about all of this, right? Like, imagine being so insecure that the entire history of the realm is forever altered because you're just a pansy little bitch.

Starting point is 00:20:34 These puppets. Sorry, I'm not sure I'm allowed to say that. And blasphemed against my honor. Oh, boys. Do it again next week. Thanks for joining me for the Targaryen Family Hour. I appreciate you guys ascribing to my. way of life and if you guys want to as well then subscribe and hit the notification bell leave us your

Starting point is 00:20:55 thoughts on the show as a whole we'll be back for the finale next week much love people valer mcgoulas

The Reel Rejects - A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS 1x5 REVIEW –CONSEQUENCES ARE CATCHING UP!– FIRST TIME WATCH

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