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TLK Season 3 - The Good, The Bad and The Sexy

(Spoilers ahead!) 

I have a love hate relationship with season 3. I want to say it’s my favourite but also it kind of pisses me off. Or rather, some of the characters and plot lines piss me off. Yet I still very much enjoyed it. Can you tell I’m conflicted? 

I’ve gotta start off by saying how much I fell in love with Finan, Sihtric and Osferth. Sihtric had a major glow up from season 2 where he looked like a boy, now turned into a GORGEOUS man. Osferth grew into a warrior, but he is still so kindhearted. Finan is just Finan and we love him for it. 

Aethelflaed is another character who gets to shine. Since her whole situation at Beamfleot, she has become a warrior and a powerful leader just as the real life version of her was and it is so good to see that portrayed on screen. Now, let me explain why Brida makes me so irritated. She does especially so in this season. Brida has suffered, that I will not deny. I feel for her, I really do, but her constant need to make others suffer too is just irritating. Uhtred has suffered just as badly if not worse than her, as have many other people, and yet she is the only one that essentially spiralled into madness. I really hate it, because I really want to love her. I just cannot with the direction they have taken with her. Spiteful, vengeful and angry does not suit her. She was badass enough as her season 1 self. 

Skade is another character I despise. But, as is said of her, she is poison to all men. It’s just who she is. She’s not meant to be likeable. I just wish someone would tell her to shut the fuck up or perhaps punch her in the face. 

Aethelwold is as slimy as ever. His ending was pretty satisfying. Ragnar being avenged, but also seeing Aethelwold’s true colours as nothing more than a grovelling turd. Unlikeable character, yet I enjoyed his journey. 

Shoutout to Thyra and Beocca for being the most wholesome characters in the show. My heart aches for them and I hate the way it ended for them both. Thyra’s death was beyond unnecessary and just hurt. 

You can probably justify everything that happened in this season. I just think a lot of unnecessary things happened. Regardless, season 3 is pretty awesome.

ARNAS FEDARAVICIUS as SIHTRIC KJARTANSSON THE LAST KINDOM 2015-2023

TLK Season 1 - It’s Good

(Spoilers ahead!)

My mum introduced me to The Last Kingdom in 2021. I was late to the club, but I fell in love quickly. Season 1 was an awesome introduction to my now favourite series out there. Let me explain why.

The first two episodes of this season had me hooked. It was a questionable choice to rush through Uhtred’s childhood with the Danes (which was a rather large section in the first book of the TLK series). I still fell in love with the family though. I can’t picture anyone else as Uhtred, nor Brida. Emily Cox and Alexander Dreymon have undeniably chemistry, although I definitely would say they make better friends than lovers. 

Alfred is probably one of the things that I was most pleasantly surprised by. David Dawson is... incredible. He brings such a quiet intensity to the character. I will have more to say about him when I talk about later seasons. Only good things. 

The story of season 1 flows well. It is well paced, mostly. It’s bingeworthy, yet every episode can be enjoyed as a single one. Travels to Cornwalum and Cynuit felt more like side quests than actual plot drivers. Perhaps that’s just me.

There are some characters which feel unnecessary (*cough* Wulfhere *cough*), some which I think deserve more screen time. Aethelwold is a slimy piece of shit but his character is so well done. It’s made clear he’s not meant to be liked, and it works. I don’t like his character, but I do enjoy his character.

I don’t want to say this is a huge downfall of the season, because it is truly fantastic. However, I feel like Iseult’s storyline was kind of rushed. Of course, they have to have limitations on screen compared to the pages of a book. I just didn’t connect that well with her character. 

I hate to say it but I didn’t really like Hild either. In later seasons, I grow to like her, but in season 1 she is just kind of useless? Save for the scene where she comforts Lady Aelswith, she just kind of is there without doing anything of value. 

Leofric, however... Man did his death hit me hard. Leofric was a character that is a great right hand man to Uhtred, while also being a warrior in his own right. He doesn’t blindly follow him, and doesn’t treat him with immediate respect. Uhtred is not his lord he is his friend. We don’t learn much about him, yet he is so likeable. I loved him, and it was a shame to see him go. 

What a good opener this season is to the series. As a huge history nerd, I find it difficult to watch a lot of historic dramas (for a lot of reasons), but TLK is one of the few that I an enjoy unconditionally. 

LILI REINHART as BETTY COOPER RIVERDALE | Chapter One Hundred and One: Unbelievable

REIGN | 1x13 x 2x03 x 3x05

The Last Kingdom + beginnings and endings

TLK Season 4 - The Best???

(Spoliers ahead!)  

I don’t know if this is an unpopular opinion or not but… I think season 4 is my favourite of the lot. It’s very difficult to say for definite which I like the most, but when I sun up the pros and cons of each, 4 is quite possibly the one I can say I enjoyed the most. 

There are a lot of new characters or ages up characters that are introduced this season. Usually I don’t enjoy when there are so many new introductions all at once but TLK always does it well. Maybe it works because there is so much death anyway, they kind of just fill in the gaps. 

Speaking of death… Thyra was done dirty is season 3 and now Beocca has been done dirty. I say that lightly, because while I hated his death, it did make sense in some aspects. He died protecting Uhtred’s son. As a father figure to Uhtred himself, that just kind of comes full circle. Moreover, he died where his story began: in Bebbanburg. After Thyra was already gone, I think I can kind of accept this. It broke my heart, but death is meant to happen. Not everyone can always die of old age like they do in the books. People want to see drama on screen. 

The character progression in this season is phenomenal. We see so many people grow out of old, bad habits or come to have new views of life that just feel so satisfying. There are many examples of this, but Lady Aelswith is probably the most prominent of these. She has always been an interesting character though not particularly likeable, but I actually kind of love her now.

Uhtred, however, is someone who also has a big change of character this season. He becomes less of a warrior and more of a father, not just to his own children but to Aethelstan and Aelfwynn. He becomes a protector rather than a fighter. And I love that. I love to see how many times he fails only to keep going because it is love for his family that drives him forward (both his children and his men). 

The friendships have developed tenfold. Stiorra was right when she said that Uhtred’s men are his family. They feel so close knit and the dynamics are so good. Good fucking job to the actors for just being able to translate real life friendship into on screen friendship. It’s so real and honestly I just want to give them all hugs, all the time. 

Eadith??? Hello??? I love her. Her and Finan have CHEMISTRY, so I’m rather disappointed that they didn’t do something with that in season 5, but also I’m so glad to finally see a female character that doesn’t need a man. I found her a little annoying during the first watch but after countless rewatches, she’s actually very likeable. I am very happy with her. 

Episode 6, I think, is one of my favourite episodes in the whole show. Am I being dramatic when I say that I love the little family dynamic they make  while on the run? Maybe. But it’s nice to see them running for once rather than fighting. Bad way of phrasing it, perhaps. The quiet moments in the woods, though, are ones I enjoy a lot. And Finan playing with Aethelstan is the cutest shit I’ve ever seen.

Young Uhtred and Stiorra are so well casted. We love Sigtryggr. Brida continues to be a menace that I despise. Also, fuck the Welsh (only in this, love my Welsh folk in real life).

Uhtred and Aethelflaed + The Battle of Tettenhall

i live for their reactions to merthur honestly

Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova Thunderbolts* (2025) dir. Jake Schreier