Name: The Witch Who Made Me King review
Rating: 5.8

The setup

Ser Garrick is a knight of illegitimate birth, which in this kingdom means no crown. On a hunt, he challenges a stranger who already knows his name and offers him what he is riding toward. The arithmetic is political: he needs seven lords on their knees, has two, and the other five despise him. He means to win them by the sword; she mocks him as a glorified groom. Her terms are simpler. He is to come to her at moonrise and yield to her will, and by dawn one more lord will bend. Then the hunt turns back.

Episode 2

At moonrise the witch greets Garrick as if men always keep this appointment. Her terms get exact: a night for each lord who bends the knee, five in all, and she wants him, not his soul. Refusal means Haldan mocks him at his crowning while the regent picks a man of her choosing. A squire reports the regent's riders searching the woods. Garrick shrugs, and the witch tells him to send the squire off course before the bill comes due.

Who's who

Ser Garrick: an illegitimate knight with a sword, an ambition and five lords short of a throne
The witch: a stranger with inside knowledge of his politics and a very personal price

Verdict: 5.8 out of 10

Garrick's deal is a clean transaction: a night with her buys a kneeling lord, and he needs five. The witch is the stronger character by a mile, mocking his swordsmanship while reading his politics better than he does. Episode 2 spells out the price and adds pressure from outside, a sneering Haldan and a regent whose riders are already hunting him. A scoreboard built into the premise is a smart hook, and that alone makes the paid episodes tempting, even if the knight himself is still a sketch.