A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: S1/EP2 "Hard Salt Beef"

We break down the second episode of The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms "Hard Salt Beef" and focus on Dunk’s self-worth, Baelor’s quiet strength, and how small acts of kindness carry more weight than a tourney crown. Grief, class, and legacy collide as a hedge knight hunts a sigil, a sponsor, and a future worth remembering.

Chapters

• 0:00 Cold Open And Stark Monologue
• 1:19 Episode intro
• 2:24 Listener questions
• 2:48 LQ: Anyone upset the show episodes are only 30 mins?
• 5:00 Hard Salt Beef details
• 5:48 No theme song an issue?
• 6:51 Ser Alan's manhood in display
• 8:27 Ira Parker's flashbacks or visions?
• 10:23 Egg's insolant mouth
• 13:36 Dunk meets Prince Aerion
• 14:18 Dunk enounters members of the kingsguard. Fancy Armor!
• 16:30 Prince Baelor and Maeker
• 20:42 The Tall with Too Tall
• 25:09 Steely Pate
• 26:13 Arion Vs Baelor: Targaryen Contrasts
• 26:21 Jousting at night
• 27:40 Blackfrye Rebellion
• 29:07 Ser Alan's legacy
• 31:14 Ep rating
• 32:13 Dancing with Dragons Outro

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:08

Splendid riding tonight. The part with the fish was disgusting. Something matters, sir.

SPEAKER_02: 0:16

The great knights live in the hedges and die by the side of a muddy road. You think not? Charlie wasn't gifted with disorder lands. He drank and he whored. He was a hard man to know. And no friends either. He lived nigh on sixty years and never was a champion. What chance do I have? But he was good to me. I wasn't his family. But he kept me like we were. He raised me to be an honourable man. All these noble lords can't even remember his name. His name was Sir Ireland of Penny Tree. And I am his legacy. On the morrow, we will show them what his hand has wrought.

SPEAKER_03: 1:18

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Dancing with Dragons, your go-to podcast for everything relates to Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, and everything else from George R.R. Martin's World of a Song, Vice and Fire. I'm one of your hosts, Minwan, I'm here with my co-host Tony, and today we're continuing our coverage of the new Game of Thrones spin-off show A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Yes, we'll be diving into the show week to week and recapping the episodes as they roll out, sharing our takes and breaking down everything we need to know about the show. Sometimes on the podcast, we like to start off the episode with a Litson West Cerosi news segment where we talk about any latest news or announcements regarding any of the projects related to George's world or anything that George has going on, you know, himself with his personal projects, but there's nothing really to talk about this week except the episode itself, so I'm ready to just dive into it and get started. Um how are you, Tony? First of all, before we talk about the episode.

SPEAKER_05: 2:06

I'm doing well. And after last night's episode, I was wishing that we would record right after the episode. So but we can't really do that. We gotta, you know, re-watch. I don't know if you've rewatched it, but sometimes I rewatch episodes and take my notes. But I was just so kind of hyped up for this episode, and and I was ready to go last night. That being said, I do want to uh get into some questions that were sent last week, and I forgot them. So I want to apologize to the people who sent questions last week and respond to them, and then we could get into the actual second episode. So Axel underscore brandmarks writes, Love Lionel already. Lionel Baratheon. Uh Westerossi won, Lionel Baratheon is the MVP, and Caden understood Crippin writes, is anyone else upset about the episodes being 30 minutes? The first episode was great, though. We've talked about the length of episodes since we first read about them being, you know, 35 minutes or less. I didn't feel it to be short. It felt like it was perfectly paced, even though I think I think the total time was maybe 32 or 31 minutes. But I don't know. What do you think about the the length?

SPEAKER_03: 3:14

Because the first episode was like 40 minutes, so I I actually thought that both episodes were really well paced, the premiere and the second one. Um that being said, not much happens in the second episode. Like I I I forgot how long it takes in the book, but it's probably maximum a page and a half or two pages, and they make like a whole episode out of it almost, or the character's name and the word for it. But the guy that makes the armor, it still won't take that much. I mean maximum, maximum, maximum of ten. I I love how I just went from one to two to three to four to ten. It doesn't take that much time in the books, and like utilize the 30 minutes well, even though there were some weird additions. Well, I think you know what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_05: 3:54

Yeah, yeah. And also, I will talk about that right now, but the biggest one that took the most time was the tug of war that was added on, which was a fun little scene. It gives you more of a uh a telling of people's dynamics and character and and who they are. You ever see the memes where there's a guy who's pushing the train, and that's people like that's egg helping in the tug of war because he can't really do anything.

SPEAKER_03: 4:20

Oh no, I don't know, I don't know the meme.

SPEAKER_05: 4:23

Like, because you know a train is moving no matter what, and then you see somebody like like they're pushing the train forward, but they're not really doing anything anyway. Uh okay. Also, um a shout out to Westerosy One. Um, they have a great page on all social media platforms. So please uh follow them if you can. They they post numerous times a day the news updates, articles, fun uh uh posts, and I I do want to give them a shout-out.

SPEAKER_03: 4:51

Yeah, they're amazing. Um they already help us with podcasts.

SPEAKER_05: 4:55

Yeah, so hopefully one day I'm gonna send them a message one day to see if they want to join us.

SPEAKER_03: 5:00

Okay, so let's get into the episode. Episode two has a weird title. Hard salt beef. Definitely a weird title for anything related to Game of Thrones. The episode is directed by Owen Harris, who also directed the previous episode, and he's also going to be directing one more episode um in season one. The episode was written by the showrunner, Ira Park, and the date Aziza Barnes. This episode is dedicated to her, um, as she sadly took her own life. I think it's just been like a month before the episode's premiere, so make sure in peace.

SPEAKER_05: 5:28

When I read that, I go, Well, I mean, we don't know what people are going through, and it's horrible. I think she was young.

SPEAKER_03: 5:35

Yeah, she was only like 32.

SPEAKER_05: 5:37

Yeah, that's that's a baby. Yeah, so just condolences to her family and friends. Um, I do want to say when I was watching this episode, I was just smiling from ear to ear. We mentioned about the pace. I do have one complaint, and it's not okay, it's not about the actual show, it's about not having a theme song. I don't know if I don't know, I'm picky and being nitpicky. You know, we get we were disappointed with House of the Dragon just recycling the GOT theme, and we got all hyped up on the first House of the Dragon. Well, okay, they're gonna just use the Game of Thrones for the first episode and they'll have their own distinct theme. Um no, we didn't get that. So I I honestly thought and hoped that we get a new theme for Duncanai. So that's just me. I don't know what your feelings about that.

SPEAKER_03: 6:20

I don't mind, honestly. Um, like I want a good soundtrack, like a good score for the show. I think we have that's um the music from the first episode, but I'm I'm content with a good soundtrack, like a soundtrack album for the show. It doesn't necessarily have to be a theme song. I yeah, I have no major issue with that, honestly. And I think at least not right now.

SPEAKER_05: 6:42

That's just me. I mean, again, that's not that's that's not gonna take add or um subtract from my rating. It's just me thinking out loud. Last week we had a scene where there was an eruption of diarrhea, and we're like, okay, what's going on here? That's the one little scene that we're talking about. What is she thinking about? This episode starts with Sir Arlen walking out of his dwelling, or whatever you call that. Showing all his knighthood. Okay, we've seen that before in Game of Thrones and Hosta Dragon, but not so prominent and not like okay, we're staring at it for like a minute. Anyway, they they show that for basically. I I watched it inside the episode after the the the show, and they were talking about this, and they're saying that it was a prosthetic, and um, we wanted to show anyway. Uh we won't get into it.

SPEAKER_03: 7:40

Yeah, we don't need to talk about it because it was so unnecessary. Like, I don't even want to talk about that. So unnecessary. And there's nothing, it was supposed to be like com like comedy. It was comedy, but also people laughed, but was not funny.

SPEAKER_05: 7:54

I think it was disturbing. So I well, here's what my my thoughts on it. I think it was to show what type of person he was. Well, and he even uh just crossed Doc mentioned that he was not a good person to other people. He just he wanted he kind of had the the characteristics of Robert Barrett, and he wanted to take half phone, whore his way through life, and he him doing that was probably so natural to him. But anyway, I it it really caught me off guard because it was just like okay, I've seen that before, but we'll get to also what what Ira Parker said, he mentioned something that they were using flashbacks, it's something that other the other shows did not do. But when I was writing my notes, the other shows did do that. We had Game of Thrones with brands showing the past, but I don't know if if that's considered a flashback or a vision. Is there is this a different can we make the distinction of brand going back in time and using a is that really a flashback?

SPEAKER_03: 8:57

I'd never thought to differentiate the two or that like it's what we're thinking of. I just never really thought about it. But I would consider this more of a flashback than a vision. It's not a vision at all, it's just a visual to accompany Dunk's narration, like to come accompany what he's saying, and therefore they're using flashbacks for us the viewers to get a visual representation of what he's saying. But yeah, it's it's not it's not a vision. I didn't realize that. So so sorry, this is the first flashback then, like the first proper flashback?

SPEAKER_05: 9:26

I think so. I mean we've like I said in House of the Dragon, you see you see visions, and then like uh maybe we could say Damon has visions when he sees the future. To me, the these little quick scenes are so effective to show the relationship between Arlen and Doug.

SPEAKER_03: 9:44

Yeah, and the more I think we're shown Sir Arlen, the more we understand considering that this was his answer and he where he started, like he was raised in Free Bottom, that's where he was born, and seeing how he turned out with all things considered, it just speaks up so highly of his character. Because we saw in Game of Thrones and Has the Dragon how anyone could be influenced by their surroundings, especially in Game of Thrones, I mean, and George's world. Um it's not nice necessarily because I'm not really enjoying the third and things, but at least it's if there's one necessary element to it that at least it highlights Dunk's goodness and and in in in contrast to how he was raised and what he was exposed to.

SPEAKER_05: 10:22

So no, last episode I said I wish we had more egg, and this episode we came out straight out of the gate, and he had a such a great scene in the beginning when they're walking into the camp, and he's just I mean, I think he's nine years old, right? Or ten, nine or ten.

SPEAKER_04: 10:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 10:43

And you would see uh it just caught me by surprise because he has such a foul little mouth. But in that moment, I don't know, he I just got the Arya Stark vibes.

SPEAKER_03: 10:54

Oh, I see that.

SPEAKER_05: 10:54

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03: 10:55

I really see that, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 10:57

But here's a little scene that I just love. And uh the person you hear talk first is a man called Leo Tyrell. I know him, not money.

SPEAKER_01: 11:10

It is not a shit mic. Pick up your feet.

SPEAKER_00: 11:16

This is a big microphone.

SPEAKER_01: 11:20

Leave me beef, please. Listen up to me.

SPEAKER_00: 11:46

Why do you treat these royal laptops like they are better?

SPEAKER_01: 11:50

They are my betters. You're too brazen for your own good. Sharon was a great knight. Someone will remember him.

SPEAKER_05: 12:00

I just love that little quote from a why do you let these royal laptops treat you like they're betters? And that's coming, you know what I mean? That that just hit hard. He he thinks that's just like I'm a I'm a hedge knight, and that's all I am. I need to know I need to know my place in this world.

SPEAKER_03: 12:17

Like the the story of Duncan Egg in United Seven Kingdoms, the Hedge Knight, like season one, is going to do for Duncan because that is really going to help kind of increase his self-worth. Because the funny thing is he's there to prove his worth as a knight and sort of like make a name for himself. But at the same time, he has almost little to no self-worth. We see it in that court, and we see it in the um the moment in this episode when uh I don't know, there was something that Egg said, and then Junk said, Oh, I usually get called stupid, and then he's just like daydreaming, he he's just quiet, and then Egg kind of looks at him and says, Okay, well, what do you do when they call you stupid? He goes, What and so it never occurred to Junk to like fight back or speak up for himself, so he he doesn't think that highly of himself, or doesn't think that I guess he he doesn't have that much self-worth or or or I don't want to call self-respect, but I guess like self-esteem. So I think that that's what uh egg is helping him establish.

SPEAKER_05: 13:14

I I yeah, I thought that was a great, great scene when they were just he was drinking or whatever, and he's like, they call me stupid, and egg is I think egg was waiting for some kind of anecdote or some kind of words of wisdom to say, well, I'm not stupid, I'm this, blah blah blah blah. And he goes, What? That was that was pretty brilliant. And more and more you see Dunk becoming more disimported in all the knights he's encountering, like the Leo Tyrell, like they have no respect, it seems like they have no values that Dunk thinks a knight should represent. Uh, but he gets to meet uh Prince Arion, and they have a quick interaction, and and right away we we make our decision that we don't like him. Yeah, he's arrogant, he's like he sees he's the opposite of Dunk, who's everybody's beneath him. Arian's horse like kicks like a stable hand. Dunk gets the horse and calms it down and takes it into the stable. I like how the show highlights Dunk's small acts of kindness, even towards the animal. The scene goes straight into him meeting the two Kingsguards, so Roland, Crackhill, and Sardano, Duskendale. And I think people are like having this discussion online about their armor because it's all white, and that's the way it's described in all the books.

SPEAKER_04: 14:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 14:34

It's the Kingsguard armor is all white, not gold. It stands out, and I think it said that the console designer for Game of Thrones, Michelle Clapton, decided not to use all white because she felt it wouldn't translate well on screen. So instead, she gave the Kingsguard more gold armor with white cloaks. Um, so right now, I mean, the only thing about white is it stains pretty quick. I coached softball and and I coached baseball before. And the one thing parents always tell me, please don't for the uniforms, don't have white pants. It's so hard to wash. And I go, Well, I like white pants because it looks so cool. But the unified I digress.

SPEAKER_03: 15:18

Also, funny enough, though I think the decision came from like a practical place where they just thought what would look better on screen versus what wants, um, for Game of Thrones versus Seven Kingdoms. I think that it kind of subtly plays into the like Saurian era that the Targaryen slash just the rule of Westeros. The white for me feels like a very subtle luxury. You know, even you said it to yourself like oh it's it's uh like a hassle to to clean it all the time. But Targaryen don't want to have to worry about that. They just feel I don't know, it just feels more Targaryen-esque, even though it's not the same in House of the Dragon. It suits them really well. And then with the gold armor it's almost like they're trying to prove that they're uh lavish and that they're luxurious and the ones that deserve to be on the iron throne, it's it's not certain. Whereas the white just makes it makes a statement, even though some people might not like it or they think it doesn't translate as well. I think I don't know. I I like reading into it just a bit too much, and I think that it could it could be twisted into this um meaning. I don't know, I like to think of it this way.

SPEAKER_05: 16:22

So no, that makes sense to me. Um I think gold, I go, oh, that was that's such a Lannister thing to do. Let's make everything go.

SPEAKER_03: 16:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 16:30

So I talked about Dunk's interaction with Prince Arian, and then we get to meet Prince Baylor, who is the hand of the king and the heir to the iron throne. His father is Darren the Second or Darren the Good. You're seeing the prince be such a ass, you're expecting the rest of this family to be the same way, and it throws you off guard to see Baylor so um accommodating, respectful, honorable, and kind. You know, he doesn't have to listen to this hedge knight, he could have just thrown him because get the heck out of here. You know what I mean? Like, I don't have time for you. Juxtaposed to his brother, Prince Makar, who we meet, who is foul-mouthed, bitter, and irritable. And we get to understand that we we gotta remember that this man is the father of our beloved Maester Amon, Prince Makar. So the banter between Dunk and Prince Baylor for me is the highlight of the episode. I think this is my favorite scene. You want to see this is the type of Targaryen who was level-headed. You okay, we want to see the Targaryen lay this on the throne.

SPEAKER_03: 17:36

Yeah, I like that you mentioned that he's a very level-headed Targaryen and how that's different for uh us to see because he's also presented very differently, like physically. He's he has almost black hair, he does not look like a Targaryen. That's because we mentioned Sensor House the Dragon recap, where we mentioned that um Green East in the book, she has um hair that's like white and black stripes, or like white with black streaks in it, or I'm not mistaken, it's it's that way rather than the other way around. Because they do have Baratheon blood, so it's just interesting to see and a very non-typical Targaryen on screen and in that way because he's very calm, very calm, cool, and collected.

SPEAKER_05: 18:12

And well, his the I I you're talking about Renice has Baratheon blood. Oh yes, sorry, his mother is a Martel.

SPEAKER_03: 18:21

Oh yeah, sorry, sorry. Like non-Targarian blood.

SPEAKER_05: 18:23

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 18:24

They have it's not just a pure, pure Targaryen like bloodline, uh, even though they tried to preserve that so many times. Yeah, I I really like seeing Baylor. I think it was a very good adaptation of how he was in the books. I like seeing the contrast between him and then Makar, who is kind of more of a traditional Targaryen, as well as Prince Aaron, kind of, even though he's a bit more, but we'll see that we'll get to that another time. But it's it was a nice contrast. Um I really like that's probably my favorite thing of the episode of that. And um just to I don't think we mentioned this, which is really funny because we just got straight into talking about the episode, but we don't need to mention it, it's just that we want to the whole idea or the premise behind this episode is that Dunk is trying to get into the tournament, but he needs someone to um like a vouch for him. So it's kind of brave of Dunk as well to do that for in front of Baylor, you know, he's he's the heir to the Iron Throne, he's the hand of the king, he's the first son. Just just to clarify, because I feel like even though I read the book um like the novella a couple of weeks ago, like at the beginning of January, I needed the refresher. So Baylor was the hand of the king, and then Maker is the second son, and also they're both important characters.

SPEAKER_05: 19:30

Yeah, you would think because um we get to meet uh Valar Targaryen, who is Baylor's son, and at the end, he's jousting it, he's jousting against a member of House Hightower. We get to see the High Tower Sigil. We don't get to meet them, but we we see the sigil. The scene is taken verbatim from the book, and but I think the performances from Carvo, Claffey, and I forgot the other name, Sproll, it just elevate the scene. Dunk wins Baylor over, correctly recalling Wanna Sir Art. Baylor was impressed. Um, and again, he didn't have to do this. He turned, I don't know, tourney host. It's not it's not that, but you know what I mean, like the the guy who's in charge of the tourney. He goes, I it's your decision, but I have no I have no problem with it. So obviously, when the hand of the king says I have no problem with it, you're gonna say, Okay, yes, I'll let him into in the tournament. Uh there's one caveat though, is that since Dunk is not Sir Arlen's true blood or his son, he cannot represent his house or have wear his sigil, so he has to come up with his own. And that's when we get to the scene with him and Tanzo Tutal and Egg.

SPEAKER_03: 20:46

And I'm really curious as to what you think of that scene because I was a bit disappointed.

SPEAKER_05: 20:52

With the and the scene between Dunk and Tanzil, and I thought it was very cute, and I thought you could see Dunk has the puppy eyes of love for Tanzil, and he's flustered with her presence, and you have Egg who's kind of helping him. Like he's looking at him like, bro, what's wrong with you? You can't talk.

SPEAKER_03: 21:08

I know, I know. And I I like that, but I hate safe, but I don't it's not how I imagine Tanz it. Like she looks great, like I don't it's not the actress's look at all. I think she's she's fine. It's just that I imagined her coming off differently. I imagined Tanza to be a bit more of like a bubbly personality, like someone that you could that even us as the viewers will instantly fall in love with. She felt a bit shy and um uh like weary, you know what I mean? Like she says something about oh, like all men, we see all men are bad, something like that, you know. I don't she says something like that. And I think it says the line from the book, but I just imagined her being a bit more confident than how she was portrayed. So maybe this is just because I maybe I interpreted it differently, or I don't know.

SPEAKER_05: 21:54

I felt it different. I thought she was way I felt like he was the I don't know, I imagine she was the bumbling lovable fool, and she's just like like she did not fumble her words at all. And I think she is quick witted, and she even mocks herself, and she hears Sir Duncan the tall, and she kind of not laughs, but kind of still giggles and she goes, Well, you know, when I was a child, you know, they call me tense or too tall, which you know gets Dunk too nearly saying that she's just the right height for him, but he can't really say it.

SPEAKER_03: 22:29

I know, I know. I like I I I'm not saying that she's completely not confident, like she does she is um well spoken much more than then Dunk is, and I like that we still kind of get the sense that she's not intimidated by him, but at the same time, it just felt that she she was a bit standoffish, I think. And I just I just imagined her completely differently, so that's maybe me problem. But um yeah, I I really like the way I imagined her. So um I don't know, maybe it's just it was it was different than what George intended.

SPEAKER_05: 23:03

So and and I mean this is probably the one downside of having episodes just 30 minutes because you can't really have that juicy, like six-minute scene with two characters to establish their I guess chemistry. Is is I gotta reread the thing. I I'm so awful in rereading stuff. And is Egg the one that recommends the the tree when they're talking about her painting his So I just looked at the the novella very quickly, and Egg is the one that suggested in the novella.

SPEAKER_03: 23:36

Uh it starts with Dunk saying that he hadn't really considered what he wanted to be on his shield. And what's a bit, I guess, sweet, but also kind of funny is that the first thing Dunk says after saying that he doesn't know is saying that the field should be the colour of sunset. The old man likes sunsets and the device, and then that's when I can says an entry, a big end tree, like the one by the pool with a brown trunk and green branches. Um and then Dunk adds a shooting star because that refers to their scene as well. Um under the stars of the first the first episode. I found it sweet that Dunk kind of honors their arden, and that's kind of how he you know we included the quote at the beginning of the episode. That's the only thing that he kind of focused on at first, rather than himself. And you know, some might say that this can be seen maybe, maybe as Dunk sort of having a weak personality, but I think it's developing the fact that he's the one that suggests adding the shooting star, it just shows that he is starting to think of himself as well because of egg, because egg says not the tree, because that's you know something that you were attached to. Like, correct me if I'm wrong, but did they show the the the shield? I don't think they did, or did they end up? They didn't think they did, okay. So like after it was painted.

SPEAKER_05: 24:48

No, they haven't showed the finished product.

SPEAKER_03: 24:50

Oh that no, that's what I meant. So I found uh uh like a picture of it on Twitter closing around somewhere, and it's a bit too detailed, like it looks like a painting, like props to to Tanzan and her skills. It's just not uh uh like a citizen, but it's it's it's nice, you know. It should have been a bit simpler, I think.

SPEAKER_05: 25:09

Uh so after that type of war and all that stuff, we get a small little scene with him and the stonemason called Steely. Is it Steely Pat Pate?

SPEAKER_03: 25:19

Yeah, Steely Pat, I think.

SPEAKER_05: 25:20

Pat, okay. There's a little a bit of a timeline shift because in the novella he meets with the stonemason before he meets with Prince Baylor. So they just switched up the timeline, which is fine. So you got Prince Baylor, who is seeing the type of person Dunk is. He he's seen that well, this this kid thinks he's humble and all I'm gonna help him out. And then with the stonemason, he says, Well, it's gonna be 800 silver stack because he wants to procure armor from him, and he and he goes, Well, I don't have that. And then he goes, Well, you know, whatever. He goes somewhere else. And then he kind of takes a moment, looks at Dunk and goes, Well, I'm not gonna help you out. He gives him two silver stags. He goes, I promise I'll give you the rest of the 598 silver stacks that I owe you. So I again he he for the for the people around him, he he's gonna get a lot of help um just because of the person he is. Prior to the jousting scene, I was digging the whole episode and I go, Wow, they're gonna give us some action here at the end, and it's done really well. We get a jousting scene at night for the first time from yeah, and we can actually see something beautifully lit. Uh, the crowd is crazy. I love the scene. Like, egg is just so hyped up. Um, we get to meet uh Prince Valar. Is that his name? That's how you pronounce it, Valar. I mentioned it. Yeah, so he's um Baylar's son. The scene, you know, you get these great scenes of jousting, and but at the same time, you get to see the squires who have to run in and out and help their their the knights, and you see uh eggs' face change, like, uh oh, am I gonna have to figure out how to carry that humongous lance and like give it to the knight? Because he can't he started he started doing the motion of his hand like carrying a lance. It was like I he probably weighs like 40 pounds, and the lance is probably gonna be heavier than him.

SPEAKER_03: 27:16

I know, I know excession living.

SPEAKER_05: 27:19

And at the same time, you get Sir Duncan reflecting on Sir Arlen. He's like deep in thought, he's looking at the at the action, but all of a sudden, I don't know, it's like it's sort of maybe a panic attack, and he's like filled with anxiety all of a sudden.

SPEAKER_03: 27:35

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like an existential crisis.

SPEAKER_05: 27:37

It switches to we get to see Egg, you know, in the beginning of the of this episode, I put the audio of them talking and him saying Blackfire bastards, which I thought was a great call out, shout out to that Black Fire Rebellion. For those who do not know, Egg mentions the Black Fires, and he's talking about, and this was re recently to this timeline. So it was only like 12 years before the events of the Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. King Aegon IV had a he was like Robert, but times 10. He had a plethora of illegitimate children around King's Landing and I guess the realm. So in his deathbed, he legitimized them all. Damon Blackfire creates a new branch of House Targaryen, House Blackfire, and he flips the colors of the Black Dragon on the Red. He disputes King Daron II, who is the father of Prince Baylar and Makar. So do you get this basically a civil war? So it's a very interesting time in this Targaryen time. I mean, the Targaryen are just full of great stories and civil war and all that stuff. So the the fact that he mentions it, I mean, obviously he's not even born yet, it's so so close to the events of this show. I I thought it was a uh a a cool little, I guess, Easter egg mention for for the fans.

SPEAKER_03: 29:04

Yeah, that was a nice um Easter egg. I I enjoyed that. Yeah, after that, what kind of caught me was the um speech that Dunk gives, almost uh uh it's not really a speech, but you know what I mean. Like it's a monologue that he gives about Sir Arden. We included that at the beginning of this episode. And um I think we mentioned that it's like an existential panic attack that he's going through. All about Sir Arden and his legacy because he looked up to him and then he just kind of feels like this. I didn't really necessarily look up to him, but like he's someone that he knew all his life and he just saw the memory of this person vanish into nothing. So like that it kind of reinforced the one of the main themes of the Duncan Egg um novellas and stories, which is going to be about legacy. Um it's a big Westerosy theme, regardless, you know. I mean, something that's in Game of Thrones has to drag in it here, but having its presence in that moment also is going to be what uh will give Dunk uh more confidence and more of a drive to prove himself and make sure that he isn't forgotten and and be remembered. Uh and he would be because he's even mentioned Game of Thrones, you know. Yeah, I can't wait to see the rest of the story for that.

SPEAKER_05: 30:10

Yeah, it's gonna be fun to watch um once it's all done. You could just watch the whole thing straight. Yeah, it would be nice if HBO did that, like had the separate episodes and say, hey, here, you can watch three hours straight of the the show, but non-stop, no, no having to break at all. This episode was dunk and what Sir Arlen meant to him and what he wants to leave, like you said, the legacy. Um, this man kept him fed, he was his companion, gave him life lessons. I think at the end, he doesn't care about what others think of Sir Arlen. He knows his feelings for Sir Arlen, and that's what at the at the end is like I'm gonna show the with me winning this tournament. Uh I'm gonna prop your name up so all can know that Sir Arlen of Penetry was my my mentor. I thought that was a beautiful thing at the end, and and we'll get to see next week. Like I said, it's it's we've already seen um 35% of the show or 30% of the show.

SPEAKER_03: 31:11

Insane. Actually insane.

SPEAKER_05: 31:14

All right, so um what about your rating? Actually, you want me to tell you? I put a um little thing on Instagram for people to rate the episode, and at the moment, our followers are giving this episode I'm gonna say like an 8.4. This is from the from the followers. What is your rating for uh hard salt beef?

SPEAKER_03: 31:34

I'll give it like an 8.2.

SPEAKER_05: 31:37

I'm gonna actually give it higher than last week. I I really enjoyed this one more than the first one, to believe it or not.

SPEAKER_03: 31:44

Okay, so what is it, the nine?

SPEAKER_05: 31:46

No, no, no, not a nine. I'm gonna give it like an 8.6, just one point above. Okay, okay. I know that's you know petty, but I'm just gonna go with it. I'm looking up the IMDB. I think the first episode was currently at 8.2. You have to wait a few days until everybody starts putting their rating. Because sometimes you'll look you you'll look it up right after the the show, like an hour later, and it's like a 9.9. You're like, okay, calm down. Uh so currently it's at 8.6. Okay, that'll be all for our coverage of the Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, episode 2 of season 1. Uh, like I mentioned, next week we'll be covering episode 3, The Squire. In the meantime, to keep up with the podcast, follow us on Instagram at dancing with underscore dragons. We would appreciate it if you follow us on your preferred podcast platforms. Meanwhile, and I thank you for listening, and we'll be back next week. Peace out.