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

[Commodore]

the way this show burns through plot is unlike any other, and it's awesome

it's better than Game of Thrones, not nearly as much sitting and talking, or walking and talking, everyone is always on the move with some objective

also, the "previously on" segments are really well done, gets the viewer in the right state of mind for the episode

 

[Mark Antony]

It really is refreshing as hell.

[Which Tyler]

Really enjoyed Osferth's arrival, a re-imagined Aldhelm as spin-master rather than mindless thug, Oda as Uthred's supporter.

 

Have to say, they're doing a good job of some of the books' clunkier parts; and he shaky cam for towards the end was actually really effective - for the first time since the Blair Witch Project.

 

First season was really good, but let down by Uthred's acting, and not enough time to let the characters breathe and develop. This season is better, his acting has improved tenfold, but i still wish for another episode or two to let things develop more naturally.

[Zorral]

On 4/22/2017 at 3:06 AM, Pliskin said:

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Because he was betrayed by his friends. And that happens a lot. In every book, actually. It's somewhat a boring trope. Christians need him to save Christiandom, they call for him, and when he's done saving them, they turn on him, and he needs to leave... Rewind.

When he fights his enemies, he never fails.

 

Serials!  They all work like that.  There is the forumula so it can be kept going as long as its profitable enough. 

Cornwell has perfected the technique -- see Sharpe.

 

 

[Commodore]

agree it has the potential to become formulaic, but so far it's not a problem

[Zorral]

2 minutes ago, Commodore said:

agree it has the potential to become formulaic, but so far it's not a problem

I agree. 

 

[Which Tyler]

It's also worth mentioning that when "fighting his enemies" means fighting to the death; he kinda has to win; because dying would put a bit of a kybosh on continuing his story.

[Pliskin]

No, you can lose a battle and stay alive, you know...

Otherwise, plenty of Danes (including Guthrum, Ragnar, etc) would already be dead.

Spoiler

In the books, Cornwell attributes practically all the failures of the Saxons to Aethelred (even though he says himself that it's not fair to the historical figure), and Aethelred never really dies from it (oups, spoilers).

 

[Relic]

57 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

No, you can lose a battle and stay alive, you know.. (oups, spoilers).

How about instead of saying "oops spoiler"  you use the spoiler tags? 

[Pliskin]

22 minutes ago, Relic said:

How about instead of saying "oops spoiler"  you use the spoiler tags? 

I should have probably stayed with the example of the Danes, but <SPOILER>'s failures seemed more representative. I edited my post, sorry.

But let me reassure those for whom the edit is too late, it doesn't say anything about the character's fate, really.

[briantw]

10 hours ago, Which Tyler said:

It's also worth mentioning that when "fighting his enemies" means fighting to the death; he kinda has to win; because dying would put a bit of a kybosh on continuing his story.

You could level this complaint on a lot of shows and books, though.  You can be pretty sure in most instances that your main character isn't dying.  Even in Game of Thrones this is largely true of certain characters, and that show more than most others is known for killing people off.

[Zorral]

16 hours ago, briantw said:

You could level this complaint on a lot of shows and books, though.  You can be pretty sure in most instances that your main character isn't dying.  Even in Game of Thrones this is largely true of certain characters, and that show more than most others is known for killing people off.

Well, once in the first season 1

Spoiler

he and / or Leofric were saved in their duel to the death by a Danish invasion.

 

[HexMachina]

On 21/04/2017 at 9:09 AM, GrimTuesday said:

I think that they are doing a fine job on making Alfred unlikable. Seriously, it bums me out knowing that he will eventually win. The fact that after everything they have gone through, he still treats Utred like garbage makes me dislike him rather intensely. I get that for the people of the time, god and religion were part of their reality, but the way that Alfred acts, make me want to see him under some Dane's boot.

Agree. I thought Alfred was unpleasant but somewhat likeable in season one but they've done a great job making me wish he would die this season. In a good way though, not because I'm fed up of the character. I also love to hate his wife.

On 22/04/2017 at 7:44 PM, Which Tyler said:

Really enjoyed Osferth's arrival, a re-imagined Aldhelm as spin-master rather than mindless thug, Oda as Uthred's supporter.

 

Have to say, they're doing a good job of some of the books' clunkier parts; and he shaky cam for towards the end was actually really effective - for the first time since the Blair Witch Project.

 

First season was really good, but let down by Uthred's acting, and not enough time to let the characters breathe and develop. This season is better, his acting has improved tenfold, but i still wish for another episode or two to let things develop more naturally.

I too liked the shaky cam at the end, and the muted sounds. 

I also think the guy playing Uhtred has grown into the role. I wasn't convinced as of the end of season one but I've grown to like him now.

Cant really think of a weak cast member this season actually. Beocca has always been brilliant, and I love the brothers. Really great presence on the screen. Athelflaed was good in this episode (6) too.

 

Haven't seen tonight's episode yet, I've fallen a week behind but will try and get caught up. Is this a 10 episode season?

[GallowKnight]

18 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Haven't seen tonight's episode yet, I've fallen a week behind but will try and get caught up. Is this a 10 episode season?

IMDB has 8 episodes listed, and with the pace it's going that seems just about right.

Great episode. Erik and Siegfried has benefited greatly from having been in the season since the first episode and that pays of now. I think they are easily the best antagonists so far in the show. Whereas in the books the are fairly forgettable, Erik's and Athelflaed's romance aside (although not quite as forgettable as some of the later antagonists). The scenes with Erik and Athelflaed was great and so was the negotiation scenes. Haesten is suitably smarmy and evil.

Seeing Athelred get humiliated was also great. Aldhelm is a snake and it seems he is the brains of the Mercia operation. They have managed to Uhtred's men stand out pretty well and I really like the report between Finan, Clapa and Sithric. I look forward to see how Osferth fits in. Plus it was nice to see Rypere too. Pyrlig still feels kinda superfluous.

I am a bit disappointed that we did not get Steapa's wrestling match.

[Pliskin]

Great episode, and yes it seems that we have only 8 episodes, as what's left of Sword Song is just about one episode. Which is weird because there were reports of a 10-episode season 2... Unless they manage to cram the next book into 2 episodes?

As much as I liked the humiliation of Aethelred, it was really unrealistic, and not credible at all. Should it have happened, there would have been utter chaos in there, with everyone at each other's throat.

[Martini Sigil]

I saw that the Last Kingdom S2 comes to Netflix on May 5 --same day as Sense 8-- for us Yanks... does anyone know why this won't be on BBC America?

[Corvinus85]

3 hours ago, Martini Sigil said:

I saw that the Last Kingdom S2 comes to Netflix on May 5 --same day as Sense 8-- for us Yanks... does anyone know why this won't be on BBC America?

BBC America pulled out of producing the show, but Netflix stepped in.

[Martini Sigil]

7 hours ago, Corvinus said:

BBC America pulled out of producing the show, but Netflix stepped in.

well that certainly explains it...lol... thank you, sir.

[Zorral]

Dang dang dang!  This is a long week > weekend of professional and professional - social scheduling.  I won't get to start watching until maybe Sunday night (the 7th).  One could have worse problems in one's life, of course.  

 

It does bug me, rather, that pubs like New York Magazine that run the new and notable streaming for the month's television, don't consider TLK worthy of being listed in the notables' series bold face.

[GallowKnight]

That was a solid season finale.

The Wessex stuff was pretty boring but the rest of the episode made up for it. The rescue sequence was good, albeit very different from the book IIRC. I really hope the start using ships more but maybe that's just a budget thing.. The brief battle was pretty good, although I don't understand why they need to have suck complicated shieldwalls. Siegfried vs Erik was very good, as was Erik's death. Siegfried even managed to make the stump-knife seem kinda badass. Having Aethelflead be the one to kill Siegfried was a nice touch. Osfreth was suitability useless. Clapa went out like a badass.

Odda killing himself was kinda dumb though, wouldn't suicide be a big no-no in medieval Catholicism?

Overall I think season two was a great improvement on the first season in almost every way. I also think they did a way better job at fitting two books into one season this time around. Although I do think they season might arguably have peaked during the slavery-episode. Siegfired and Erik were great antagonists for this season and Björn Bengtsson and Christian Hillborg did a very good job. Mark Rowley was also a fine addition as Finan. I hope they can keep this up for future seasons, even though than are now moving into the weaker parts of the series. Maybe they can finally give Uhtred some proper armor too.