February 2026 – Simon’s Incoherent Blog

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Season 1, Episode 6 – The Morrow

“Every day, at evenfall, Ser Arlan would say, ‘I wonder what the morrow will bring…”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

As expected, it was a reflective final ep of the first season of A Knight of the Seven (or is it Nine?) Kingdoms. Well, the day after the end of a big festival (which this medieval tournament was pretty much shown to be) is always a time for coming down from all the excitement and taking stock. The more so for this one, which has, after all, seen the death of the heir to the Iron Throne defending a lowly hedge knight.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Season 1, Episode 5 – In the Name of the Mother

“Get up! Get up, ser!”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Get up. Those two words echoed again and again through this week’s thrilling instalment of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, taking on a range of meanings from the despairing, to the inspiring. As I predicted last week, this was an incredibly violent episode. But, although I have now taken the opportunity to read all the books, even I wasn’t prepared for just how violent it would look onscreen.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Season 1, Episode 4 – Seven

“Oak and iron, guard me well,
Or else I’m dead, and doomed to Hell.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

After last week’s soap opera-like game-changing revelation, it was, perforce, a more serious tone in this week’s Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Dunk is languishing in a gloomy dungeon (though judging by the pouring rain outside, the Targaryens may have done him a favour there), while Egg’s Big Secret is out, and he’s had to go back to the less than welcoming arms of his family. Is this the end for our heroic buddies?

Hamnet (2025)

“To be, or not to be…”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

It’s my annual season for checking out the Oscar nominated movies before the ceremony. I never get through all of them, but I often encounter interesting films I wouldn’t otherwise have seen – this year, I was particularly impressed with Sirât, the Spanish movie in which a bunch of hippies in a pair of ancient Mercedes camper vans unwisely take on the punishing Moroccan desert in search of a rave. And of course I’d already seen Del Toro’s Frankenstein, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, and Ryan Coogler’s phenomenal Sinners – great movies all.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Season 1, Episode 3 – The Squire

“Ser Duncan only has us. And if he loses, he won’t even have that.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

It wouldn’t be Westeros without some political intrigue, backstabbing and skulduggery; and after two relatively sedate instalments, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms this week saw all these reliable staples trotted out. On a smaller scale than usual, admittedly – this is a lighthearted comic romp, so we’re not looking at the fates of kingdoms being decided by the deaths of thousands here. Just some infighting and dishonesty at a medieval tournament that Dunk still naively believes will be fought according to the rules of chivalry.