Why 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' Audience Score is Divisive

Game of Thrones means epic battles, dragons, blood, sex…and that may be proving a problem for A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms as its debut brought huge viewership but a divided opinion. Why? Because there are some people who have never picked up a book and expect anything linked to Game of Thrones to be…well, like Game of Thrones. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms centers on Ser Duncan the Tall and his young squire, Egg, who were first introduced in the novella "The Hedge Knight." Unlike pretty much everything else in A Song of Ice and Fire, and certainly everything that has previously been adapted for television, the story tells of the pair's exploits as they navigate through the dangers of Westeros as fate degrees. The new series has found plenty of fans, and they have kept its Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter score bobbing along at a healthy 77%, while the first episode has landed on an 8.5 score on IMDb. Added to the show leaping straight to the top spot on HBO Max, and it looks like another big win for George R.R. Martin's fantasy saga. Under the surface, though, the series needs to bring something more if it is to win over everyone, as those negative reviews that have dragged its score down really just find the show boring and "nothing like Game of Thrones." Apparently, this is a bad thing in some people's books. What are Fans Saying About 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms'? With only one episode released, gauging the worth of an entire season on the reviews of its premiere is like trusting a dragon on the basis that it didn't roast you alive the first time you saw it. The opening episode introduces a whole new cast of characters to audiences, and that means it spends a lot of time on the fundamentals. As one negative review says: "Sadly this is not my Game of Thrones. Nothing happens. I don't mind worldbuilding but hope it gets more interesting." This is something that is echoed in several other reviews, along with complaints about "stupid humor that just doesn't feel like something out of Game of Thrones." Another similar review added that the episode was "so slow. All that happened was Dunk buried his pa, pooped, danced, and the episode pretty much ended." Of course, with a 77% score, the majority of people watching the series went into it knowing not to expect roaring dragons or the sweeping battles of Thrones – and they have been massively impressed with the series' debut for bringing to life something very different from the rest of the franchise. "People that have a non-existent attention span and a rotted brain will hate this," reads one five-star review, while another says: "It was a great change of pace and that stops it just being another Game of Thrones clone." A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has plenty of support behind it, and that will likely grow over the coming weeks as the series continues. With both the series showrunner, Ira Parker, and Martin having made it clear that there are many more stories of Dunk and Egg to tell, this could be an era in Westeros' history that HBO will be returning to many times.