The internet has not been kind to the world of A Song of Ice and Fire in recent years. The long wait for new novels has frustrated fans all over the world, as Game of Thrones eventually outpaced the George R. R. Martin books they were adapting and thus told an ending to the story before the creator did. Then that ending got so much criticism from critics and fans alike — in my review of the final season, I wrote that the show limped across the finish line — that it has tarnished the memory of that iconic fantasy series, despite it still being one of the biggest achievements of television entertainment this century. Then there’s the case of House of the Dragon, the spin-off show, which got off to a strong start, but which also threw away a lot of the goodwill due to how unsatisfyingly the second season concluded. Although I knew how popular the Tales of Dunk and Egg stories from George R. R. Martin were to book readers, I didn’t sense a lot of optimism from the TV-only audience when an adaptation of them was announced as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Then I saw the, in some way, quite different new Game of Thrones spin-off (compared to the other shows) a few months ago, and I was delighted. Here was a show that had all the ingredients needed for the kind of storytelling that could revive the brand. It’s one of the best new shows I’ve seen thus far this year.