TV Review: A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS: Season 1, Episode 5: In the Name of the Mother [HBO]

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms In the Name of the Mother Review

HBO‘s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Season 1, Episode 5: In the Name of the Mother TV Show Review. In the Name of the Mother is the best episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms to date. Not only does it have excellently executed drama and action, the two elements are combined in a way that makes the episode a ten.

Flea Bottom

It is very impressive how the show creators realized Flea Bottom and made it the dank, dirty place hinted at in Game of Thrones and described in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. The set and camera work in In the Name of the Mother drive home the almost woebegone environment of Flea Bottom for its nearly hopeless inhabitants, who, like drones, all but a few, go through their lives just trying to get by.

History and plight merge in Flea Bottom, where both are effectively used as a reason for escape. Like many born poor, whose story ends in only one way, Rafe (Chloe Lea)’s tale is no different. Rafe has a deftness of skill to effortlessly pickpocket people, yet that knowledge doesn’t inform her that keeping money in a visible purse, and not in her shoe, is a bad idea. Rafe’s hands and reflexes are quicker than her mind. Those reflexes, and not thinking through her actions, cut short a headstrong character of unrequited hopes and dreams.

Ser Arlan

Episode writers Hiram Martinez, Ti Mikkel, and Ira Parker make a wise move in finally showing Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb) fight in In the Name of the Mother. Fighting with a broadsword in close-quarter combat is not ideal, and Ser Arlan shows why, i.e., his sword clanging against walls and objects. Improvisation on the combatant’s part are what carry the fight, as one of the fighters is drunk and the other is a gutter wretch.

The Wound

Young Duncan (Bamber Todd) getting speared in the calf with a dirty weapon, creating a gaping wound that mysteriously doesn’t get infected, is a narrative oversight that I wish was not present in In the Name of the Mother, especially since an infected gash is what killed Ser Arlan (creating a blatant contradiction). Young Dunk’s laceration is presented to the viewer, and then the logical/biological thing never happens. If an untreated puncture is to be handled in such loose fashion, it shouldn’t be in the episode in the first place. It takes the viewer out of what is otherwise an entertaining backstory.

Before the Trial

What makes the Trial of Seven fantastic is the buildup to the trial, the puking, and untested nerves getting to a few “green boys,” illustrating that the combatants are not superhuman. They feel fear and show it.

It is the dread. Duncan feels it; Aegon feels it. They both try to show that they are not experiencing it to the other.  From the “Give me my lance” moment for which Aegon had hoped and trained, to the “when I come back” statement, it is all very touching and well-acted.

There are also the little things before the trial, like Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings) commenting about Prince Baelor Targaryen (Bertie Carvel)’s relationship with his mother, Baelor’s expression proving the quip accurate.

There is no fat on the In the Name of the Mother’s script. It’s all necessary dialogue and purpose, provoking emotion and anticipation and moving the emotional toll up and up so it’s equal to what will happen during the Trial of Seven. This strategy is successful. I don’t know how closely In the Name of the Mother’s script adheres to the source material, but like AMC’s The Terror, one hears a novelist behind the words.

Trial of Seven

When the Trial of Seven begins, it is a feat of television, second to none in its execution. It’s cinematic. The Trial of Seven is better than the viewer could have possibly imagined. It is mist-filled chaos with horses and lances racing by, pummeling, and then flying back into shadow and gloom.

The final combat scene in Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel isn’t even close to this, nor is Game of Thrones’ Battle of the Bastards. The combat in In the Name of the Mother is what Battle of the Bastards wanted to be but fell vastly short of for numerous reasons.

As the ongoing combat narrows In the Name of the Mother to Aerion Targaryen (Finn Bennett) and Duncan (Peter Claffey), it’s clear who has more practice at arms and who has the upper hand. The hits and the damage aren’t pleasant, unnerving at times, and they should be. Dunk’s grievous injuries call into question whether he will survive, and if he does, for how long?

The table turning is dramatic and believable during the Duncan/Aerion duel, the trial electrifying and brutal. Aegon “Egg” Targaryen (Dexter Sol Ansell) is worked into the trial’s proceedings at just the right moments, adding to the emotional side of the battle, buoying internal turmoil with the stakes of the carnage.

The Ser Aisling image flash and spoken words during the trial are used almost as effectively as the Galadriel ones found in Peter Jackson’s The Return of the King. Within In the Name of the Mother, the image flash and spoken words are not quite as potent as the latter, but they do add to the scene.

The ending to the Trial of Seven is fitting and ironic, with Aerion as helpless in Duncan’s hands as Tanselle was in Aerion’s.

The chance at royal service dying in the arms of Duncan with the death of Prince Baelor is in part unexpected, aggrandizing the episode, but also poignant. Duncan can’t rise too fast after his first major combat engagement. That would be anticlimactic. Dunk and Egg, I assume, still have many leagues to stride together.

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