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The Last Kingdom II - NO MERCY [SPOlLERS Season I & II]


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15 minutes ago, Dr. Pepper said:

I don't really understand the Guthred story.  Was he really just some random person who became a king because some priest dreamt it.  I'm assuming that priest has a longterm plan and Guthred is an easy way to get him to his goals, but how exactly did they know about Guthred?

Guthred is actually Cornwell's version of a historical figure: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guthred. He's supposed to be the son of a former warlord

He serves Eadred's purposes, even if that purpose is the strengthening of Christianity and erosion of Danish rule over Northumbria (yes, Guthred is Danish, but he converts to Christianity). 

In the show the implication seems to be that Gisela orchestrated the plan to have her brother's ransom paid so he was freed.

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Enjoyed the first two episodes.

It's a good show don't get me wrong, but that cheesy monologue intro of "I AM OOOOTRED SON OF OOOTRED AND LAST WEEK THE DAYYYYNES DID THIS ETC" is very off putting it actually sounds like a pisstake parody. Thankfully the episodes usually redeem it.

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46 minutes ago, Mark Antony said:

I like the previously on alot actually. Never thought it was cheesy :dunno: 

I like it BECAUSE it's a bit cheesy and self important,  sort of like Uthred himself is. 

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Probably my favourite episode so far. I actually think it I,proved on the way this part happened in the books. I also thought this was the man who plays Uhtred's best performance so far, I really bought his being broken by slavery. 

I love Hild, and i'm very happy the way they have gone with her character.

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21 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Probably my favourite episode so far. I actually think it I,proved on the way this part happened in the books. I also thought this was the man who plays Uhtred's best performance so far, I really bought his being broken by slavery. 

I love Hild, and i'm very happy the way they have gone with her character.

I agree it was a very good episode. I think it's saying something good about the show that we care about the fate of even relatively minor characters like Hallic (half the time I've no idea how to spell character names in this). 

I did like the absurdity of the marriage-by-proxy, I also liked the angry Mercian King.

Uthred killing the Abbot was another in a long line of stupid decisions, but I'll admit it was very satisfying. Alfred is getting better at his manipulations and turning every situation to his advantage.

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Best episode so far.Poor Halig.That was a shitty way to go.:( The scene in the field with Uthred and Hild was very touching.They have a genuine affection and respect for each other.I was just looking at the tv credits of the actress who plays Hild (Eva Birthistle) cause i was pretty sure i had seen her in a BBC drama with Cumberbatch and yup,it's in a tv show called The Last Enemy.

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The pacing on this show is a breath of fresh air. Shit actually happens. But I would have maybe liked to have seen a little more of Uhtred/Finan becoming bros. Not saying it wasn't believable or anything but they were just kinda bffs all of a sudden. Definitely dont think it improved on the books for that. 

Nice to see Alfred manipulating Uhtred again. 

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I guess I don't have to hide spoiler then.

That was very good. Alexander Dreymon was very good and is starting to feel right on as Uhtred. I like Finan and he looks fairly close to what I imagined him looking like. The slavery parts were equally great and horrifying and they managed the to capture that part of the book well. More Ragnar is always a highlight too. Plus Siegfried's goodbye to Aelfric was the comedic highlight of the episode.

I liked Halig, but I was completely expecting him to die here. I never quite got what purpose he filled on the show and now that both Finan and Sithric are here, it seemed obvious that he had to go. 

I was good to finally get some boat scenes too, although I'm disappointed that we did not get the red ship hunting them.

Uhtred gutting the Abbot was very satisfying, albeit stupid.

Overall I think season two is great and I probably like these three episodes more than any of the S1 episodes. I still think the pace is too high though. Things just happen without any proper time to develop, especially the romance with Gisela and the friendship with Finan, who we are really barely introduced to.

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18 hours ago, dooog said:

Highly enjoyable episode.  Uhtred's being humble lasted all of about 5 minutes until he got a haircut and sword :D

I don't think humbleness really suits him.

I guess I don't have to hide spoiler then.

We've not been doing a very good job of hiding spoilers, have we? Maybe the thread title should be updated?

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The obvious drawbacks of having a fast pace manifest themselves again with the "We are bound" of Finan. Half an episode is not really enough to convince us viewers of that, and therefore the statement doesn't have the impact it should.

Otherwise, amazing episode.

Spoiler

Was Eadred the one killed in the books? I seem to remember it was a priest of Aelfric.

 

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No problem with the pacing and thought they did a decent job of showing the time passing. The irish lad

sailed around with Uhtred for ages and they're buds now, grand I can accept that.

That episode had enough material for about 40 episodes of The Walking Dead

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 That was a crazy good episode...hand chopping....being eaten by dogs...a nice battle and to top it all off, Ragnar going berserk on Kjartan,wow but that was fucking brutal! :stunned: Credit to Tobias Santelmann for some really good acting in that scene.:)

Great to see Aethelwold back with Uthred.Missed his snark.:D

Brida calling Uthred Arseling just brought back memories of Leofric :crying:

It seems Brida has sort of forgiven Uthred,what with the playful kick to his butt at the end! :lol:

"Your woman has the balls of a bear!" - Finan the wise :lmao:

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It was an extremely satisfying episode. Ragnar going beserk was one of my favorite tv moments in a long time. 

The actors of Uhtred and Ragnar have some great chemistry, really believable as "brothers". Also can't get enough of the Beocca and Uhtred relationship. 

Show is fucking hilarious as well, always find myself laughing a shit ton throughout.  

 

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The battle was good, but I had hoped for something a little bigger and more substantial. Something a little bigger that would have taken up a little more runtime than it did. I'm also actually a little disappointed to see Kjartan and Sven go so soon. I had hoped that they would get a little bit more depth (not that they had much in the books) and I quite liked the actors, especially Alexandre Willaume who played Kjartan. And I kinda wonder how a small group of people without shields managed to hold-off a full shield wall? I'm glad the scene with the dogs was scaled down though, that is easily my least favourite part of the book.

Tobias Santelmann was great in this episode. I have always liked his Ragnar and he really got the chance to shine here.

Finan is pretty good to and I'm glad to see that his funnier side is intact. Getting Aethelwold back in the fold was great too. The scene with Beocca and Thyra was very good too.

I really like Siegfried and Eric and I think they have managed very well with the screen-time they have been given. And I agree with Siegfried, he can be pretty funny. I want more Haesten though.

Spoiler

So this should basically be the last we see of Ragnar right? They're moving on towards Swordsong and Ragnar only make one appearance after this, if I recall correctly. 

 

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