First of all it was great to get something to add to the Game of Thrones universe. That is the top universe out there in all of Cinema currently, so anything from there is first and foremost a huge blessing. Even moreso when it is well done like this one was.
Upsides
The story and dialogue:
GRR Martin is known for his great plot twists and dialogue and that standard was perfectly upheld here. He successfully set up the story like it was going in one direction and all of a sudden flipped everything before our very eyes. Just like he did in GOT.
In fact, I didn't know GRR Martin was the writer of this story when I began watching it, I thought some writers in a writers' room just came up with it because they wanted to make something for the GOT universe, but when I saw how well it was going I said wait a minute and went on Google to confirm and that's when I saw Martin's name.
The Characters/Cast
So many characters to love and be entertained by here as always. Another strong side of GRRM. Ser Duncan, Egg, Lyonnel Baratheon, Brute of Bracken, etc.
The casting was also quite perfect, nothing felt off or inadequate about anybody.
The Ending
That ending was great, dang! It would have been some type of way if Egg was allowed to squire for a Hedge Knight outside a castle, and at the same time it would have been some type of way if Ser Dunk accepted to become a Castle Knight (even though we would have loved that for him, but I think that would have been somewhat predictable and that would have taken the fun outta it).
It seemed perfect that Dunk stayed a hedge Knight and Egg ran away from home again to be with him. Just that it would be messed up when Dunk finds out and has to punish Egg somehow. It seems an arrangement that wouldn't result to this would have been better but I'm just biased towards this ending, I think it is totally subjective.
Downsides
Delaying the Action
We watched episode after episode waiting for the big action we were promised from episode 1. It was clear there was a big fight coming, Duncan was going to fight in the tourney and it was looking like that's the fight we'll get. But they kept delaying it, always making it look like it was going to happen in the next episode but it never did. At a point that just felt like a cheap trick to sustain suspense.
When the big fight finally happened it was great that it was really big and even bigger than whatever we may have been expecting, but..
The Big Fight Wasn't as Entertaining as it Should Be
Granted it was a big fight and it couldn't get bigger than that, it was suspenseful and a lot happened in it. But no one can deny it was quite clumsy, and that is not what you want from the biggest fight of a movie/series. This was the climax, we had been waiting for a big fight from the very start and now we got it but it was quite a clumsy fight? That was kinda a rip off.
Too Short
The series was too short. Only 6 episodes and each episode just above 20 minutes each. That was quite sad, the fans weren't satisfied at all, I wanted more, and so did a lot of people.
Conclusion
It's still a great season 1, though, and I'm still very thankful for it. I don't agree with IMDB's 8.9 rating. I'll give it 8.2, but that's not far off, so...
The End
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