Starfleet Academy: 300th Night

I'm a bit late getting to my thoughts about last week's episode of Starfleet Academy, in part because it was a clear "part one" in need of a "part two" for full context. Ah... but if I wait to actually watch part two before I write about part one, I'll lose the purity of my current uncertainty about it. So here we go, my "still processing" thoughts about "300th Night."

As a year at the Academy winds down and cadets are bound for Betazed for the dedication of the Federation's new government seat, Caleb (with help from Sam) is finally able to retrieve coded messages from his mother, Anisha. But with her calling for a meeting outside Federation space -- whose borders are about to be closed due to a credible threat from Nus Braka -- the only way Caleb can get there is to steal a shuttlecraft. And Caleb's Academy friends aren't about to let him go it alone. As they proceed to their rendezous, Chancellor Ake takes a skeleton crew on a rescue mission. But all of them may end up on the wrong side of the border when Nus Braka springs his trap.

I think the biggest area of uncertainty for me in this story is simply that it doesn't feel like we've gotten enough Starfleet Academy yet for it to fully land. I understand that 10-episode seasons are all Star Trek in the streaming age can give us now; gone are the 20+ episode seasons of the last generation. And I'll be the first to admit that quantity over quality wasn't always a trade that worked in favor of some of those past series.

But the issue is, this episode asks us to believe in friendships that have built up over a year at school -- and it simply doesn't feel like even a fraction of that time has gone by. Sure, they've been telling us about the passage of time all season, giving us a mid-semester break, and saying very explicitly here that it's been 300 days that our cadets have been at school. But there just haven't been enough episodes to show, not tell, this passage of time. Not enough episodes that feel like they unfold over a course of weeks or months. Not enough episodes, period. So when Sam, Genesis, and (a more reluctant) Darem all throw in to help Caleb on his "mission to Mom," it's much more the performances and chemistry of the actors that sell their loyalty than the situation or script itself. 

Still... if you just get on board, the ensuing adventure is quite fun. They travel to an alien world that is rendered for the audience in rather elaborate and effective detail. And little time is wasted in finding Mom, bringing Tatiana Maslany back onto our screens. Of course, having seen Orphan Black, I'll pretty much always think that every movie or TV show she appears in is underusing her considerable talents, but she still elevates the story as she gradually realizes how her son her changed -- particularly in the past year.

It's kind of wild to me that another episode omits Lura Thok. (Is she not a main character on this show?) And I'll admit -- until we saw Darem "glitter barf" again, I wasn't entirely sure whether the first time really happened, or it was just Sam's perspective on what happened. But despite those couple of goofy choices, I found this episode overall to be a pretty rousing action-adventure.

But, like I said at the top... also an incomplete one. I'd call it a solid B. In the season one finale, I'm hoping for an episode that uses all the characters effectively in some way, like the premiere did. I'm expecting a big scene between Holly Hunter and Tatiana Maslany, and I hope it stuns me. I'm sure I'll get a big Paul Giamatti performance. But also -- with the show already set for a second season, I don't have to pin all my hopes on just the next episode to satisfy. 

Enterprise Flashback: Cold Station 12

When last we left the Enterprise crew, they'd been bested by a group of genetically engineered "Augments," aided by the devious Arik Soong. Fans tuning in for the conclusion were surprised, however: "Cold Station 12" turned out to be a continuation.

Soong and the Augments set their sights on a biological research station where genetically enhanced embyros are kept in storage. Enterprise may have help in stopping them, if Archer can get through to Udar, a "defective" Augment with limited gifts. But there's also a personal stake in the confrontation -- Phlox's longtime friend Dr. Lucas works on the station and is directly in harm's way.

With the decision having been made to tell this story over three episodes, it shouldn't be surprising that it essentially follows a three-act structure. What's perhaps more surprising is that this middle "act" suggests that the main character of the story is Arik Soong. At least, he's the character with the conventional story arc. Part one positioned him as a villain and the "smartest person in the room." Now in part two, he learns he's neither of those things; Malik is plotting deeds more clever and dastardly than Soong could conceive or condone. This episode sets the stage for Soong to turn against his "children" in the final act. 

I get it, Brent Spiner is Star Trek royalty, and they wanted to give him a juicy part to play. But that does come at the expense of other characters. I think the story line that suffers most is that of Udar, the non-augmented Augment. We don't get any sense of why he would be loyal to the siblings who teased and abandoned him. That in turn makes it less impressive when Archer talks him into turning good. (All it takes is some info on biological relatives he's never known?) Worse still, Udar doesn't really do much once he decides to help our heroes... before getting coldly executed by Malik. I suppose this is the skeleton of a story arc. There just isn't enough meat on the bones to be convincing.

Maybe that time could have been claimed by taking out some of the dull scheming between Malik and Persis. This is "sexposition" before Game of Thrones caused the zeitgeist to coin the term. But it can only be so sexy on network TV, and it doesn't do nearly as much to reveal Malik's psychopathy as his actions elsewhere in the episode. (Most of his plans go straight to "then we kill a bunch of people," which Soong has to regularly redirect.) 

But there are plenty of nice moments sprinkled throughout. There's talk about the consequences of banning genetically research -- which, given the time this episode was made, was probably intended as a proxy for stem cell research. Genetic manipulation might have saved Archer's father from a disease... that sounds a lot like a proxy for dementia. But the issue isn't painted as clearly black and white. Because human society's technological reach exceeded its moral grasp, we're told over 30 million people died in the Eugenics War.

Elsewhere in the episode -- when we finally get to meet Phlox's oft-talked-about friend Dr. Lucas, it's delightful to find that he's played by veteran character actor Richard Riehle. (You've seen him in many places. But for better or worse, he's probably best known as the "Jump to Conclusions Mat" guy from Office Space.) Not only does the episode benefit from latent affection we probably have for this actor, but John Billingsley does what he does so well as Phlox, making us feel for Lucas through the strong feelings he expresses. When Phlox's life is threatened, we TV viewers of course know that he isn't going to die... but we don't have to believe he will for Lucas' reaction to land.

The episode ends with a literal ticking clock: a countdown until every lethal pathogen stored on the station is released to kill all our heroes left aboard. It's mystifying why Archer is the one sent up a ladder to stop it (right after having caught the beating of his life from Malik). But it's a fun cliff to hang from until next week.

Other observations:

• Even the Augments' underwear has tastefully ripped holes in it. Although they're clearly not wearing it under their actual clothes, or we'd see it through the, you know, tastefully ripped holes.

• The FX shot of stored embryos inside Cold Station 12 is an unusually unconvincing visual effect for the series.

• As the Augments flee in a shuttle, Enterprise fires some torpedoes and misses. Reed's not at the trigger. So... maybe it's not that Reed sucks as his job? Maybe it's the ship?

I wish this episode budgeted its run time a little better. But there's still enough I like about "Cold Station 12" to give it a B.

Enterprise Flashback: Borderland

After a season-long story arc, a season opening two-parter, and an epilogue to wrap it all up, the time had finally come for Star Trek: Enterprise to "get back to normal." But it had been so long, what even was normal for the show anymore? Star Trek fans would find out with "Borderland."

A group of "Augments" -- genetically-enhanced humans -- is stirring up trouble at the edge of the Klingon Empire and Orion Syndicate territory. Their actions threaten to destabilize the region and incite war. But how can these super-powerful beings be stopped? For that, Enterprise must turn to the unethical scientist who raised the Augments as children, Dr. Arik Soong.

The very first episode of Enterprise set the stage for an intriguing series: humans were stepping onto the interstellar stage for the first time. They were closely monitored by skeptical Vulcans, but they deftly managed their first encounter with the Klingons. Set aside the gobbledygook of the Temporal Cold War, and the prurient titillation of the decon chamber, and you could see the promise being offered by a "Star Trek prequel series." How did we get from there to the more distant future fans knew?

In my eyes, Enterprise stopped being about that almost immediately. Instead of charting a course for the future as we knew it, the show became a less interesting repetition of previous Star Trek series. The only real nod to it being a prequel was that everything was less polished -- the technology was less evolved, and the characters less intelligent. There are many theories about why the series steadily lost viewers. I offer this one: who wants to watch "Star Trek, but everything and everyone is dumber?"

Writer Manny Coto might not have been thinking in exactly those terms -- but when he was put in charge of the series for season four, he clearly had the same sense that Enterprise wasn't fulfilling its prequel promise. He had a vision for what the show should be like: constantly mining the franchise's rich history of hundreds of episodes for intriguing and underexplored ideas, and developing them in "mini-arcs" of two- and three-part episodes. More simply: let's dump out the Star Trek toy box and start playing.

"Borderland" is the first episode of this new format. And while I won't claim that it's instantly a top five episode of the series, I think it does immediately feel like "what the show should have been like all along." I understand, they were trying to attract new fans to Star Trek. So maybe the show never could have been this from the beginning. I'm certainly not the person who can imagine what it's like to watch this episode without knowing who Klingons or Orions are, grasping what Augments are and how they relate to one of the most beloved Star Trek movies, or understanding that Arik Soong is supposed to be the great-(times-several)-grandfather of the creator of a fan favorite android. Is "Borderland" asking a Marvel Cinematic Universe level of "required reading" to be enjoyable?

Maybe. But I've done the reading.

I'm perfectly situated to pick up everything this episode is putting down. I already know that Brent Spiner is at his best when getting to cut loose and play any character other than Data, so I'm here for his take on the villainous narcissist Arik Soong. He's so irreverent, he even makes fun of some of the deficiencies of Star Trek: Enterprise -- what a non-character Reed is, how you can just go to the Trip/T'Pol relationship for a cheap thrill, how whatever is happening with the Augments seems far more Enterprise than anything happening aboard Enterprise.

Well... on that last point, I maybe don't quite agree. A lot of screen time this episode is given to squabbling among the Augments, which amounts to a lot of plotting and backstabbing (and so much villain monologuing) between characters we don't know. The actors in these roles are all cast for their looks. (And to be clear, I mean their model-like appearance, not for a match to the character names that are meant to imply a lineage with Khan.) Alec Newman, who plays Malik, is arguably the most recognizable -- at least, if you remember that there was a Dune TV mini-series in between the version David Lynch disowned and the modern Denis Villeneuve take. But Brent Spiner is in no danger of having to share a spotlight with any other actors in this story; the Augments can all just look good in their so-tastefully ripped outfits.

They can also kick some ass. With Wrath of Khan being the memorable "Augment" story in Star Trek, and with the conflict there being more psychological than physical, it's easy to forget that these guys are basically supposed to be Superman without the flying and laser eyes. So it's great fun watching two Augments take down the entire crew of a Klingon ship. Or watching Malik threaten Archer in slow detail because he knows that no one is fast enough to stop him. These Augments may not be the most charismatic villains in Star Trek, but they do feel menacing.

Along the way, there's a side trip into an Orion slave den -- a setting that holds an outsized position in classic Trek lore. It's entertaining to see professional wrestler The Big Show manhandle T'Pol, and even more entertaining to watch the big action set piece that follows. There are great moments of T'Pol getting even with her captors, Archer outsmarting Soong with a set of magnetic handcuffs, and more. I keep saying it: this kind of action stuff is what Enterprise is best at.

Other observation:

• J.G. Hertzler appears too briefly at the start of this episode as a Klingon. At first, I thought it was weird to cast such a fan favorite Trek actor in such a minor role. Then I decided that actually, who better than Hertzler to help kick off this new, past-honoring incarnation of the series? 

• Star Trek has a long history of luxuriating in "spacedock launch" sequences set to triumphant music. It's a bit weird how late the music begins in this one.

• T'Pol now sports Starfleet pips and an Enterprise arm patch. Of course, there's no way they're going to switch her to one of those jumpsuit uniforms.

• In the brig scene where Archer confronts Soong, I found the editing to be distracting. Most of the cuts are on "the other side of the glass" from the person speaking, so most of the dialogue in the scene is oddly processed and muffled.

I don't know that there's any kind of moral to "Borderland." And not every part of it works. But it is a lot of fun. It's a well-planted flag to mark this new (final) era of the series. I give it a B.

Starfleet Academy: The Life of the Stars

It's been a long time since I was involved in theater and acting. But even though you lose the "kid" over time, you never really lose the "theater kid." So you might think I was the prime audience for the latest episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, "The Life of the Stars." But as it turned out, it was the series' first real miss for me.

After a long recovery period, Tarima Sadal returns... but not to the War College; she has been transferred to Starfleet Academy. Her arrival does nothing to help mend a group of cadets still deeply shaken and fractured by recent experiences. So Chancellor Ake brings a new teacher in to help them confront their feelings: Lieutenant Sylvia Tilly is coming to teach them theater. But soon into the course, Sam collapses from the cumulative effects of a malfunction she's been hiding from everyone. Her only hope is for the Doctor and Ake to take her back to her homeworld... and more, for the Doctor to ultimately face the reason he's been so cold to her.

Simply put, I have a lot of issues with the episode. But most file under the heading: "you can't expect genuine participation under duress." That starts right out of the gate, when we're told Tarima has been transferred from the War College to Starfleet Academy against her will. It sure doesn't feel like it should work that way; if you enlist in the Coast Guard, they can't just transfer you into the Army instead without your approval.

There's a saying that describes art -- often: film, television, and theater in particular -- as an "empathy machine," and I believe that's true. But I don't think it follows that being forced to do theater against your will is just the thing to surface and process buried emotions. It certainly shouldn't help more than a skilled therapist could -- even though the episode tries to hang a lantern on that with a throwaway line saying therapy hasn't helped.

Even if you could accept the supposition that "everybody should do theater!" (too drama nerdy even for me), you then have to get over so many other hurdles. This show is set just shy of 1200 years in our future. Yes, there are plays in the real world that are that old and still performed today -- but not many. (Notably, Shakespeare isn't even half that old.) It's a big ask to think that a bunch of eager cadets (and one reluctant drifter) are going to connect deeply with, of all plays, Thornton Wilder’s "Our Town."

And even if you could accept that, how is Sylvia Tilly the right character to take them on that journey? Sure, Mary Wiseman is a trained stage performer, but I don't recall Tilly expressing any aptitude for theater (or even any interest in it) in five seasons of Star Trek: Discovery. And in any case, how can you bring Tilly onto the show about young cadets and not once have her address with them the fact that "I was a cadet like you not so long ago, and here's how I grew?" I liked the character of Tilly more than many, but I didn't feel this was a good way of having her cameo on another Star Trek series.

Over in the other plot line, we watched the Doctor amplify his already brusque behavior toward Sam with a parade of coldness designed to make us ask, "what's up with him?" Of course, we have to see a character be one way for it to matter when we see their conversion to being a different way. But the hole the writers dug for the Doctor here and throughout this season was so deep (he won't even hold her hand when she asks for comfort?) that I don't think there was a way to climb back out of it.

"Real Life" was one of the most pivotal Doctor episodes of Star Trek: Voyager -- and when I reviewed it, I called it clearly the best episode of the series to that point. But to undermine the Doctor's character growth there by saying that after that, he retreated from any meaningful relationships for centuries? It's a weird choice, and doesn't feel consistent with subsequent episodes of Voyager. I felt his decision to parent Sam had the same core flaw as the episode's other story line: how much can you commit to something that you're doing (mostly) against your will?

Though I found the storytelling to be quite a mess, I did at least enjoy a lot of the acting throughout the episode. Robert Picardo gave the Doctor's big confessional speech everything he had. Kerrice Brooks really gave us new shades of Sam; the situation actually felt serious simply because she wasn't the usual, bubbly personality she's been in previous episodes. And speaking of bubbly, I do love seeing Mary Wiseman again, especially in her interactions with Tig Notaro. Also, props to Zoë Steiner, who did great with one of acting's underestimated challenges: believably acting drunk.

Still, the good performances didn't really save this for me from being clearly the weakest Starfleet Academy episode we've gotten. (Not to mention one of the weaker episodes of "modern Star Trek" generally.) I give "The Life of the Stars" a C.

The Lowdown on the Lowdown

I haven't formally made a list of my favorite actors, but if I did, I think Ethan Hawke might be on it. It's not necessarily that I think he's one of the strongest actors -- he's not a performer who leaps to mind when you're thinking about either breadth of roles or depth of chameleon-like abilities. But I really like his tastes.

Hawke has starred in some of my favorite movies of all time: Gattaca and the acclaimed Before trilogy. And usually, even when I'm not as over the moon about one of his movies, I find something interesting about it -- from the examination of faith that was First Reformed, to the little-known science fiction film Predestination, to the inverted vampire story that was Daybreakers. When he decides to make a horror movie, it's something a bit outside the norm for the time, like Sinister. When he decides to do Marvel, he picks Moon Knight -- one of the more interesting of the franchise's television shows. Basically: I'm usually picking up what Ethan Hawke is putting down.

That long preamble brings me to Hawke's most recent television project, The Lowdown. He stars as Lee Raybon, self-dubbed "truth-storian" who runs a rare book store and writes for a small local newspaper in Tulsa. A classic "man who knows too much" scenario unfolds when he writes an article about a recent suicide, rousing the ire of his subject's brother -- who is running for governor. Has Lee stumbled onto a secret conspiracy? Will proving it get him out of trouble? Can he find proof?

I'd heard good things about The Lowdown when it ran last year -- but even with my stated interest in whatever seems to interest Ethan Hawke, I didn't get around to the show right away. It arrived when there was a lot of competition for TV time, and I hadn't really received personal recommendations from friends steering me toward it. But I have finally caught up with it... and I think I'd put it in that category of Hawke projects I'm "not over the moon for, though I do find something interesting about."

You could make the argument that whatever niche The Lowdown is serving is already served by the TV series Fargo; both shows tend to center on "regular people getting caught up in extraordinary events." But  Fargo's showrunner, Noah Hawley, now has his hands full with Alien: Earth. And more crucially, most seasons of Fargo are period pieces. The Lowdown is set in modern day, making the main character's almost anachronistic work in newspapers and old books a key element in his crusader complex.

Still, if you do want to go with "The Lowdown is like a season of Fargo starring Ethan Hawke," that works too. Especially because its interesting cast also includes Keith David, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tim Blake Nelson, Kyle MacLachlan, and Graham Greene. The overall story doesn't always feel airtight or edge-of-the-seat compelling... but the characters are always fascinating. (And perhaps never more so than when Peter Dinklage swings in to guest star in one episode.)

Besides Fargo, I could say The Lowdown is "kinda like" Justified, or maybe even Better Call Saul. Articles on the internet have compared it to True Detective, Peaky Blinders, and many others. The bottom line here, I think, is that there are probably many paths into this show. Once there, you'll probably find a show you don't like quite as much as the thing that led you there... yet you'll like enough to scratch the itch of the original thing you loved. In that spirit, I'll give The Lowdown a B.

Starfleet Academy: Ko'Zeine

I think one of the early strengths of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has been variety of interesting characters in the cast, ready-made to shuffle into different combinations for new storytelling. That's exactly what happens in "Ko'Zeine."

It's spring break, and the cadets are leaving on a variety of vacations. Jay-Den's plans with Kyle are disrupted when Jay-Den witnesses the abduction of Darem, and gives chase through a dimensional portal. It turns out this is all part of pre-wedding tradition; Darem's arranged marriage is at hand, and Jay-Den is to serve as his "ko'zeine." Meanwhile, back in San Francisco, Caleb has received dispensation to remain at the Academy under the watch of Jett Reno. But his own relaxation plans are thwarted when Genesis returns and goads him into escalating hijinks for her own secret ends.

I don't feel like there are any "major problems" with this episode... yet all throughout, I felt like little things about it felt just a bit off. Given the title of the episode, I'll dub the Darem/Jay-Den storyline the "A story," and start there. After a previous episode spelled out so clearly for us that Darem has issues with impossible-to-please parents, it feels a little off to now learn that Darem was already destined to be royalty-by-marriage. It's not that it doesn't track, exactly. (Impossible-to-please people are impossible to please.) It's just weird that no hint of this came up earlier.

The weirder behavior comes from the significant others in the story. Kyle is not at all put out by Jay-Den bailing on their Ibiza vacation. Jay-Den doesn't ever really show any impulse to reach out and let Kyle know he's alright. Darem's bride Kaira absolutely must have Darem at her side right now... until one speech from Jay-Den makes her decide that actually, it'll be just fine if she rules alone. And all of this transpires in a story that doesn't follow-up on the interesting tidbits we've already been given about Khionians: what's with the changing forms, why do they just look like humans on their own homeworld, are there more forms than "human" and "spacewalk-proof", are there any societal norms about any of that, and so on.

Over in the "B story," does it seem plausible that Caleb could have survived on his own for so long if he can be this easily manipulated? Has Genesis shown any indication that she's so sensitive to criticism that her "big dark secret" is hacking her records to remove any? Would it really be Jett Reno and not the Doctor watching over the Academy during spring break? And is a big reason this episode doesn't hit as well as the others because there's so little Nahla Ake (and Holly Hunter) in it?

What I do like is the writers resisting the obvious love triangle between Caleb, Genesis, and the off-screen Tarima. On the typical teen show, Genesis absolutely would have taken this opportunity to "take Caleb away" from a romantic rival; instead, Genesis pushes hard for Caleb to express his feelings to her. (It's less clear, though, if the writers are resisting a love triangle between Jay-Den, Kyle, and Darem... in part because Kyle hasn't been developed enough yet to be around to stay.) I liked the reinforcement of character growth for both Jay-Den (who keeps getting better at public speaking) and Darem (who, as Jay-Den points out, is really discovering himself at Starfleet Academy).

As a side note, in online circles, some credited this episode as the one that "revealed" Jay-Den Kraag is gay. I felt this was pretty clear in earlier episodes from his flirtation with Kyle, but since this is the moment many are commenting on it, I'll offer a commentary of my own. I really like the idea of Star Trek giving us LGBT characters in places you "wouldn't expect." It's interesting to show us that even a strong, warrior culture like the Klingons has gay men. But it's playing a bit into historically negative cliches to have Jay-Den be softer and more sensitive, and be an outcast from his family. And while we're on the subject, it's also playing into cliche for the show's other (half-)Klingon LGBT character, Lura Thok, to be coded as "butch lesbian." Fortunately, both characters have already been written as more than their respective cliches; I just wish they weren't starting from those positions.

"Ko'Zeine" wasn't a bad episode by any stretch. But I think it was the weakest so far of the series. I give it a B-.

Good Knight

After the series finale of Game of Thrones received "whatever the opposite of rapturous applause is" from the public at large, its spin-off series, House of the Dragon, became "whatever the opposite of eagerly anticipated is." Could there be an appetite for a third series based on George R.R. Martin's hugely-sprawling (but never finished) fantasy setting? That's what A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms sets out to test.

This series is based on a prequel trilogy of novellas by Martin. (He's said he intends to write more, but we all know the punchline of that joke.) Lowly hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall, called Dunk, gets into misadventures with his young squire Egg -- all some 90 years before the events of Game of Thrones. Season one of this new show, based off the novella The Hedge Knight, chronicles the duo's first meeting, and sees Dunk raising the ire of a powerfully-positioned enemy. A secret harbored by the young Egg may be all that stands between Dunk and a swift, unjust punishment.

I hope that any fans who soured on the original Game of Thrones open themselves up to this new show. The first spin-off, House of the Dragons, doubled down on many of the original series' excesses, with a tale spanning dozens of years, involving hundreds of characters, and featuring more CG dragons than a server farm could render in a year. (Which is why it takes two or three between seasons.)

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is, in almost every way, everything the first two series are not. It's succinct; the first season is only six episodes long, and the typical episode runs barely 30 minutes. It's focused; the story is squarely centered on Dunk and Egg, involving only the people who come into their orbit. It's grounded; while CG is certainly employed to enhance the setting, it is a tale of knights and jousting -- with no dragons or magic anywhere to be seen.

Also, perhaps most strikingly: there's humor! A Song of Ice and Fire is famously a book series that tried to take all this swords and sorcery stuff more seriously than the typical epic, and Game of Thrones took the lead from that when adapting the tale for television. But there were lighter moments -- in the early books, certainly -- that became but a distant memory by the show's final season. House of the Dragon is, if anything, even more mirthless, depicting Westeros as a cruel place devoid of lightness in any measure. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms manages to find the fun again. There are certainly dark moments, and the sort of monumental character deaths that are the bread and butter of Martin's writing. But also, there are a lot of jokes -- some actually laugh out loud funny.

With a story focused on just two characters, the dynamic between those two -- and the casting of the roles -- is of utmost importance. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms hits the bullseye with its two leads. Peter Claffey plays Dunk with a lovably perfect mix of intimidation and oafishness. Dexter Sol Ansell ably captures the wise-beyond-his-years qualities of Egg in one scene, while being an impulsive and immature young boy in the next. Together, the two have a tremendous rapport -- not quite father-son, not quite mentor-student, not quite brothers... but always just what the story calls for.

And again, what that story calls for is thrillingly tight. I've seen a few complaints online from people disappointed that when all was said and done, this new show gave them barely three new hours of Game of Thrones-related content. I myself found that quality over quantity was the order of the day for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. This lean, enjoyable story felt to me like the most consistently entertaining thing to happen in Westeros since at least the fifth season of Game of Thrones. By being something rather different, it effectively reminded me of what I like about it all in the first place.

I give A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms an A-. I find myself looking forward to its second season far more I am to the third season of House of the Dragon (coming later this year). And since they're reportedly already filming that second season, signs point to us getting it without the too-typical-these-days delay of several years.