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A Penultimate Flashback Takes Too Much Time Away From the Bloodier Trial of Seven

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Dunk (Peter Claffey) on a horse in full armor in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 5

Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 5.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has been building towards Dunk’s (Peter Claffey) trial since his confrontation with Aerion (Finn Bennett). Episode 4 escalates the issue once Aerion insists on a Trial of Seven, forcing Dunk to gather six knights to risk their lives defending him, and to the hedge knight’s surprise, he finds the champions, including Prince Baelor (Bertie Carvel). That ending leaves Episode 5, “In the Name of the Mother,” to finally reach the main event as the trial ensues. While the fight itself is epic, it doesn’t take up the full episode, which includes a lengthy flashback to Dunk’s youth.

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The Trial of Seven Begins in ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Episode 5

Dunk (Peter Claffey) on a horse in full armor in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 5
Dunk (Peter Claffey) on a horse in full armor in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 5
Image via HBO

Immediately following Baelor’s decision to join Dunk’s side, the champions prepare for battle. Baelor, who has previously proven himself as a talented commander, takes charge, instructing them to stay on their horses and let him handle the three Kingsguard knights, whose oaths prevent them from harming him. Yet, as Baelor warns of the practical danger, nerves are high, particularly for Dunk and Raymun (Shaun Thomas), who have no experience. Even so, Dunk doesn’t share an emotional goodbye with Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), remaining optimistic for the boy’s sake and telling him to be there when he returns, calling back to a moment in Episode 2. Considering the series is primarily about their relationship, their scene together is important, proving how close they are as Egg spends the last moments before the trial speaking to Dunk rather than his father, uncle, or either of his brothers.

When it comes time to charge, Dunk hesitates, but Egg calls to his war horse, Thunder, urging him forward into the fray. Untested as he is, Dunk’s shield is quickly broken in the chaotic fight. Almost instantly, a broken lance stabs his side, and Dunk is knocked off his horse into the mud. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms wastes no time proving that, as knightly as Dunk is, he isn’t the unbeatable hero common within the genre.

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‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Episode 5 Explores Dunk’s Childhood

Dunk’s fall leads to an extended flashback to Dunk’s past before he met Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb). During the Blackfyre Rebellion, he was an orphan on the streets of Flea Bottom. Young Dunk (Bamber Todd) searches the wreckage of a battlefield, stealing anything he can take to sell with his friend Rafe (Chloe Lea). With nothing to their names, they are using the war to collect the funds to leave. While they sell what they find, they are stopped by a Goldcloak named Alester, but they escape, and Rafe even steals his ale skin. Ultimately, they walk away with enough to pay for passage, though Dunk has his doubts. Rafe’s insistence motivates Dunk to stick to the plan as he cares for her and doesn’t want to be separated.

However, they discover the next day that the price to sail away from Westeros has gone up, forcing them to remain in Flea Bottom even longer. Their problems grow when Alester returns, angry that Rafe stole from him. Learning that she sold the ale skin, Alester steals the money Rafe saved, but Rafe takes his knife in return. Realizing this, Alester slits her throat. Dunk responds by attacking Alester, only to get stabbed in the leg. Yet before Alester can do much else, a drunk Ser Arlan comes to Dunk’s aid, killing Alester and his accomplice while Dunk watches his friend die. This story provides a tragic backstory for Dunk with the death of his friend, yet it also explains why he is so determined to defend the smallfolk, as he once needed a knight’s protection.

Alone, Dunk mourns his friend until he sees Arlan stumbling through the streets. This time, Dunk decides to follow, leaving the city and limping behind the knight, who seems unaware of him. With no resources, Dunk grows sick and cold while Arlan drinks and sings at his own camp, but he eventually takes notice of Dunk’s suffering. As the boy collapses, Arlan offers him water and tells him to get up, beginning the relationship that eventually leads to Dunk becoming his squire. It’s an interesting backstory for Dunk, but its placement in the story interrupts the most climactic turn of the season, halting its momentum.

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Dunk Faces Off With Aerion in ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Episode 5

Finn Bennett as Aerion in full armor in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 5
Finn Bennett as Aerion in full armor in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 5
Image via HBO
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Considering this is the penultimate episode, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has been overdue for some action, and the Trial of Seven is the perfect opportunity, yet it would have been even better if fans could see it more clearly. With fog obscuring the sequence, “In the Name of the Mother” officially gets added to the list of hard-to-see episodes in the franchise.

When the episode jumps back to the Trial of Seven, Dunk returns to his feet, only to be knocked down again. Aerion, in particular, refuses to let Dunk stand up, but Dunk fights back. A gruesome fight between the two ensues, with each accumulating injuries. When Aerion gets his sword into Dunk’s helmet, Dunk removes it for a better view, getting in some brutal blows as well and cutting Aerion’s leg so badly that he seems unable to stand. Maekar (Sam Spruell) rushes toward his son, but is pulled away in the fighting. Even once Aerion is downed, Dunk fails to end the trial, sinking to the ground before he can do anything else. As Egg desperately calls for him to get up, Dunk collapses further. Aerion recovers enough to get to his feet, and all seems lost, but just as the trial is about to be called in Aerion’s favor, Dunk hears Arlan’s voice again and rises.

The crowd cheers Dunk’s name as he faces Aerion again. Neither is nimble, but they are determined. Dunk pins Aerion down, beating the prince’s head until he yields. Once he has won, Dunk drags Aerion to the presiding lords and forces him to withdraw his accusation loud enough for the spectators to hear, effectively ending the fight. The battle between these two characters is impressive, but it’s a shame that the episode only truly focuses on two of the 14 combatants, limiting its scope.

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The Trial of Seven Has Dire Consequences in ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Episode 5

Prince Baelor (Bertie Carvel) in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Prince Baelor (Bertie Carvel) in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Image via HBO

Following his victory, Dunk falls, but Raymun and Steely Pate (Youssef Kerkour) catch him and see to his wounds. Steely Pate must cut the armor off of him after the damage he received, but they assure him that of the seven on their side, only Humfrey Beesbury (Danny Collins) died of his injuries.

Baelor joins them, offering his maester’s help, and Dunk pledges himself to the prince even as he struggles to stand. However, things take a turn when Baelor removes his helmet to reveal a nasty head wound from his brother’s mace that he can’t survive. Baelor collapses into Dunk’s arms as the hedge knight apologizes. While the episode allows Dunk to clear his name, it ends with another twist, heading into the Season 1 finale on an ominous note.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is streaming on HBO Max with new episodes on Sundays.

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Release Date

January 18, 2026

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Network

HBO

Showrunner
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Ira Parker

Directors

Owen Harris

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Writers

George R. R. Martin, Ira Parker

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  • Headshot Of Peter Claffey

    Peter Claffey

    Ser Duncan ‘Dunk’ the Tall

  • Headshot Of Dexter Sol Ansell

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Pros & Cons
  • Episode 5 centers on the epic confrontation between Dunk and Aerion.
  • Throughout the episode, Egg’s faith in Dunk shines, highlighting their relationship.
  • An extended flashback takes up a large part of the episode, interrupting the story’s climax.
  • The Trial of Seven is hard to see in the fog and its limited scope doesn’t give fans a clear picture of the fight.
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After stating that the truth is indeed out there, former President Barack Obama clarified his comments regarding extraterrestrial life.

Following up his interview that discussed “real” aliens — conducted by political podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen and published on Friday, February 13 — Obama, 64, took to Instagram two days later to address his claim. “I was trying to stick with the spirit of [Cohen’s] speed round, but since it’s gotten attention let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low,” he wrote.

Obama, who served as the 44th President of the U.S. from 2009 to 2017, concluded, “I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”

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Fans took to Obama’s Instagram post with light-hearted jests at his interview comments, with one fan writing, “Which aliens made you clarify this statement 😂,” and another writing, “Blink twice if the aliens made you say this.”

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Obama shone a public light on his extraterrestrial curiosity during an appearance on The Late Late Show in 2021. While speaking to the former show’s host, James Corden, Obama said, “The truth is that when I came into office, I asked, right, I was like, ‘Alright, is there the lab somewhere where we’re keeping the alien specimens and spaceship?’ And … they did a little bit of research and the answer was no.”

He also noted to Corden, 47, at the time, “What is true, and I’m actually being serious here, is that there are, there’s footage and records of objects in the skies, that we don’t know exactly what they are. We can’t explain how they moved, their trajectory. They did not have an easily explainable pattern. And so, you know, I think that people still take seriously trying to investigate and figure out what that is.”

Obama also said during a 2021 appearance on The Ezra Klein Show podcast, recorded after his Late Late Show spot, that if aliens were proven to exist that the impact of the confirmation would alter Earth as we know it.

“There would be immediate arguments about, like, well, we need to spend a lot more money on weapons systems to defend ourselves,” he said at the time. “New religions would pop up. And who knows what kind of arguments we would get into. We’re good at manufacturing arguments for each other.”

Obama noted that the world of politics, however, would not be impacted, “Because … politics is premised on the fact that we are these tiny organisms on this little speck floating in the middle of space.”

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Guy Ritchie doesn’t usually need an algorithmic boost to get people clicking, but streaming has a special talent for resurrecting the in-between movies. And Ritchie doesn’t have a lack of slick genre hybrids that aren’t quite as universally embraced as The Gentlemen, yet play incredibly well when audiences just want a tight, propulsive hit of cinematic wit and competence.

This week, one of his most debated post-2019 pivots is getting that exact kind of second wind: a brisk, star-powered spy caper that suddenly feels like a perfect one-sitting antidote to bloated action slates. The appeal is practical, not mysterious. At 114 minutes, it moves like a con job: clean set-ups, quick payoffs, and a cast that knows how to turn exposition into jokes and tension into rhythm. Jason Statham plays the cool-headed pro, Aubrey Plaza brings a chaotic edge, and Hugh Grant weaponizes smugness. So even viewers who bounce off the tone still tend to respect how efficiently it delivers its “mission movie” pleasures. Guy Ritchie’s brand is pace, and this is pace-first Ritchie.

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‘Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre’ Didn’t Do Well at the 2023 Box Office

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre didn’t have much theatrical muscle in 2023, and the grosses show why it quickly became a catch-it-on-streaming title. In the U.S./Canada, it opened to $3.14M and finished with just $6.50M domestic, meaning most of its ticket revenue had to come from overseas to even look respectable. Internationally, it did the heavy lifting at $42.49M, pushing the worldwide total to $48.98M. That’s not disastrous for a mid-budget programmer, but for a film reported to have a $50M budget, the theatrical run feels like a clear underperformance before marketing and distribution costs are even considered.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre is available to stream on Prime Video and HBO Max. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.


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Release Date

March 3, 2023

Runtime
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113 minutes

Producers

Jason Statham, Steven Chasman, Bill Block, Ivan Atkinson

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“I wanted to come on. It’s been two weeks since our mom was taken, and I just wanted to come on and say that we still have hope. We still believe, and I wanted to say to whoever has her, or knows where she is, that it’s never too late and you’re not lost or alone,” the Today show host, 54, said in a video shared via Instagram on Sunday, February 15.

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In the video — the fourth released by Savannah in the wake of Nancy’s disappearance — the TV personality was seen sitting on the ground of an outdoor garden. She wore minimal makeup and her eyes appeared heavy and bleary.

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The video was published just hours after Fox News Digital reported that local authorities had deployed a digital scanner to help track Nancy’s pacemaker. The outlet stated that the ongoing search introduced the “high-tech Bluetooth scanner placed on the bottom” of “helicopters” in an attempt to track the pacemaker’s signals.

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Savannah Guthrie has shared a new video statement pleading for missing mom Nancy Guthrie’s safe return less than four hours before the latest ransom deadline. “I just wanted to come on and share some thoughts as we enter into another week of this nightmare,” Savannah, 54, said in a video shared via Instagram on Monday, […]

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Pima County Sheriff Nanos told the New York Times on Friday, February 13, that the search for Nancy has engaged about 400 people in total. He also noted that a timeline for the potential safe retrieval of Nancy remains unclear. “Maybe it’s an hour from now,” Nanos detailed. “Maybe it’s weeks or months or years from now. But we won’t quit. We’re going to find Nancy. We’re going to find this guy.”

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News of Nancy’s disappearance broke on February 1 after a family member reported her missing and called 911 as a result.

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